Family Tree 1

Note 1 Anne Barker more properly Ann - see certificates relating to her further down this page.

Note 2 I have a note that Mary Clayden's parents were William Clayden and Anne

Note 3 I have a note that Isaac Wright's parents were Isaac Wright and Elizabeth Cornhill

4

Ann aged 19 marries William Chapman on 24th September in Wimbish. Here Ann and William are pictured together. The date of the photo is unknown but is perhaps earlier in the year as Ann is not noticably pregnant, their daughter Mary Anne being born only a few days after their marriage, on 29 September 1861, and was registered as Mary Ann Chapman Barker. She married just as Chapman.

Ann Chapman (nee Barker) living with widowed father James and her husband William. Their children Lizzie (6) and Mary Ann (9). Also John Barker (13). Address 18 Radwinter Road. Date of this photo unknown. Ann looks to be in her early 20s, so photo could date from 1860s.

James Barker dies. The Memoriam card card states that he was interred at Wimbish Churchyard so perhaps his wife, Mary, was too - see photos 111-112

Ann Barker with Fred, the last of her sons. She was aged about 44 here.

Photo taken 22nd May at Epping Forest. John Barker stands far right with his hand on his mother Ann's shoulder. She is about four weeks from her 55th birthday. This photo also appears as photo 30 further down this page with a list of the rest of those seen.

Ann Chapman (nee Barker) living with husband William and their son Frederick (17) at Vine Cottage in Mill Road. This photo was taken around this time. The vine that once flourished at its southern end can be clearly seen.

Vine Cottage was originally two tenements, one at first occupied by Ann and William Chapman and later fully occupied by them. Before the water tower was erected in the 1940s water came from wells or the village pump. When the 1980 picture (photo 21) was taken the cottage was being re-thatched by a Polish thatcher who said previous re-thatchings had been done one on top of each other for many years.

Right - Jesse Portway and wife. Jesse was born in 1863 in Radwinter to Charles and Mary Portway. Their children were, Joseph b1861, Jesse 1863, Cecilia 1870, Winfred 1877, and William (age not given). His father Charles was a bricklayer.

Generation table

Photos of Wimbish people and places past and present

Emails from people with Wimbish or Barker connections

The memories of Ben Taylor of Wimbish

Mr Norden shoe-ing a pony at his blacksmith's shop in the slip road halfway between the old chapel and the 184 Road before World War One. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)

57

Wimbish winners at the 1927 Saffron Walden Horse Show . Ted Langham is holding the reigns of the front horse. Sid Saville is holding the reigns of the back horse. In the cart are Stan Saville, holding reigns, and Will Swan.
(Photo courtesy Janet Swan)

58

Date unknown, possibly 1920s. Caption states . . . .

A Double funeral. The Dell.
Front hearse - Frank Buck, Jack Portway, Joe Swan, ? Lanham, Bert Taylor.
Back hearse - Herbert Ketteridge, Billy Mansfield, Albert Ridgewell, Will Swan, Joe Stalley

(Photo courtesy Janet Swan)

59

The old star in June 2010, hidden by high hedges.

62

Outside the old Star Inn, Wimbish, are from l-r: Sid Coe, Laurie Coe, George Swan, Charlie Taylor, Ben Taylor and Oliver Taylor.
(Photo courtesy Janet Swan)

63

Another look at how the Star used to be. The pub sign is just visible on the left. In the wagon is Jack Wright the blacksmith. William Swan is on the horse preparing to go to a traction engine rally at Elms Farm, Wimbish. The lady on the right is Valerie Berryman.
(Photo courtesy Janet Swan) (Lady on the right identified by Richard Coe)

64a

Sitting with the driver is Sarah Minnie Chapman, later to become Mrs Everard Ingram. Note size of cart wheel relative to young man besdie it. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)

74

New House Farm pictured in June 2010 not quite as above due to the trees obscuring it more, but showing it as having few changes made to it.

77

Images by the
church porch

95 96

Another postcard of Wimbish Church. This card was posted in Saffron Walden in 1948 so the photo dates from before that time.

   ...........................................................Photo.Right - Sylvia Cottage, where I was born

       I have very few memories as I was a small child when my parents moved...I do remember falling in the duck pond and the milkman who used to arrive in a three wheeler van....perhaps blue in colour. I also remember being on the bus to Dunmow (green & cream) when it broke down...rescue was a long time coming! My aunt and uncle lived in Elsenham, and another aunt was married at the Friends Meeting house there. What I can also say was that all my family found refuge in Wimbish and despite the difficulties many, many happy hours were spent there. All my cousins spoke of the laughter and endless cups of tea. My parents used to tell the story of the Stock family who kept a tin on the mantelpiece with dead mice in it and every evening used to feed the cats!!!
      What I remember most poignantly was my father speaking so eloquently of the wondrous North Essex skies - the sunsets and sunrises. It is a memory that stays with me. I envied him his knowledge of the land and the techniques that now form part or our history. I am privileged to now live in France close to the Marais (marsh land) a vast, open space with beautiful open skies which remind me very much of North Essex.
          Every year my family meet for a Goose Supper just before Christmas, and this year i am going to talk about the family history...Wimbish will feature! I will be running off the whole of your article for everyone to look at ....so a big thank you.        . . . . . . . Best wishes, Linda Malindine.

The Reminiscences of Ben Taylor

.....Ben Taylor was born in 1895 in the parish of Wimbish, like his father and his grandfather. In fact, it is said that his family of Taylors can be traced back in the district for nearly 500 years. He was born in the house known as Star Cottage close to the old Star public house, one of ten children. He had three sisters and six brothers and, except for one child who died in his teens, all his brothers have lived to over seventy years of age. He has lived all his life in the village, save for the time he spent in the army during the First World War. He went to the village school, and his name and deeds are forever enshrined in the pages of the old punishment book.
....BBen left school at 14 and during the five years before WW1 found work where he could, often working with or alongside farm steam driven machinery. At the outbreak of war he signed up at the Star pub and saw action at Flanders and other places in France where he experienced the horrors of war. He was wounded and invalided out in April 1919. He spent a long time in convalesence and spent the rest of his life with one lung.
...B

Ben in his Essex Regiment uniform during WW1
117

When recovered Ben got an apprenticeship with a company in Wales where his brother Oliver was already working. Meantime another brother, Charles, who had worked on a farm at Wimbish before joining the army, was demobbed in 1920 and subsequently went to work at Lower House Farm, Wimbish until 1923. At this time Ben and Charles started out on their own as Taylor Brothers Steam Rolling Contractors. It may have been that Government money available to help ex-servicemen get startesd in businesses of their own was a help in buying their first steam engines.
...BThe purchase was a considerable one. The down payment was £200 with seventeen monthly payments with interest that brought the total sum to around £450, and amount that in 1923 was a very large outlay. Work must have been forthcoming for the final payment was safely made in the summer of 1924. For their money they got a secondhand Aveling & Porter Steam Roller along with a secondhand living van and water cart. In 1930 their brother Oliver came to work for them. Over the years the brothers bought a number of steam rollers, foreseeing the need for runways as WW2 approached and buying more suitable machinery. Their forsight paid off and they were gainfully employed on many of the East Anglian airfields. ...B

Steam engines for work slowly became steam engines for pleasure as the brothers continued to buy engines to prevent them being scrapped. Many were restored and taken to rallies. Their last job that they used a steam roller for was in 1964 and the business was sold in 1967 when Ben was aged 70. Oliver had already retired and Charles was in his late 60s. Ben became president of the East Anglian Steam Preservation Society in 1968.
..BCharles died in 1974, Oliver in 1976 and Ben in 1979.

From left to right - Charles, Ben and Oliver Taylor c1960s
(Photo courtesy Janet Swan)
118

A photo of Ben Taylor's Mother, Elizabeth Taylor, taken outside the front door of their home at Star Cottages. The younger of the two girls is Dinah Taylor and the older girl is Ethel Taylor, Ben's sisters. Ethel was older than Ben by six years. Photo dates from c1903.
...Elizabeth Taylor was formerly Elizabeth Salmon and her father was John Salmon who was the Landlord of the White Hart
(Photo courtesy Ken Taylor)

119

The 1901 census records the Taylor family as -

James Taylor, head, aged 48
Elizabeth Taylor, wife, aged 40
Bertie, son, aged 16
Oliver, son, aged 13
Ethel, Daughter, aged 11
Benjamin, son, aged 5
Lavinia, daughter, aged 3.

(Ben's brother James not at home on the night of the census)

A photo taken by Ken Taylor at a rally at Ingatestone in the early 1960's of Ben driving his favourite Traction Engine Lucy May, named after his wife.

Left - Ben Taylor in his yard (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)
127
Below - Work in Ben Taylor's yard (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)
128

Threshing at new House Farm c1890

129

Blacksmith Jack Wright in Mill Road. The date is unknown (possibly 1950s as there seem to be two cars in the picture) but on the right is Mill Cottage when it was still two cottages. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)
130

...Further along the A130, about 100 yards from the Old Forge, opposite Little Gowers Farm, stood the wheelwright’s shop and cottage, owned by a man named Blanks. Mr. Blanks was also the Village Bobby. I well remember being told of an occasion of a Flower Show that was being held in the meadow between Westleys and the cottages in Collier Row. Mr. Blanks had said he intended staying the night in the field to keep an eye on the exhibits, which had been, brought there on the eve of the Show.

The Post Office and village stores (Postcard from Alan Moore collection 132

...The Saffron Walden Weekly had to be delivered on Saturday to Elder Street and Wimblsh Green. Several of the Coe family served as errand boys for Mr. Buck, as did the Taylors, followed by the Swans. The Bucks owned about fifteen cottages at Howlett End. At the back of the shop was a well - the only really good drinking water in the area. In the summer, however, it was often dry, which meant either a tramp of half a mile to Well Mead Spring in the valley owned by Broadoaks Farm or drinking the water from local ponds if these hadn't dried up too. At one time Benjamin Buck kept twenty pullets and a cockerel. He had brought them up from chicks. The pullets had just started to lay when, during the night, thieves stole all the pullets save one. On the henhouse door was found pinned next morning a note saying:

Sarah Coe
(Photo courtesy Richard Coe)

.....Laurie also owned several horses, carts and traps and, ran, a carrier’s business to Saffron Walden and back. He would also hire them out for weddings and other parties. War wounds and old age caused him to retire in December, 1969. I knew the Star for over seventy years, and enjoyed many a happy night with its rough and noisy customers. Many stories were told and jokes enjoyed, often while playing Dominoes, Rings, Darts or Ring-the-Bull, during which time several pints, of beer were consumed. I first remember mild beer there costing 2d per pint, and the last pint before the Star closed as a public house on Monday December 22nd 1969 cost 1/lOd. It had been a public house for nearly 100 years and held by Laurie Coe for over fifty.

133

Additional identification kindly supplied by Ken Taylor. The photo outside the Star does in fact show Ben's younger sister who's name was Dinah Taylor; she is the girl on the back right of the group of children, the one with the large-brimmed hat. She was James Taylor's youngest daughter and Ben Taylor's sister. Next to her is Ivy Langham. The photo shows not only Ben's father, James, but also his uncle Manassa (James' brother) with the matching beard on the far right. The three small children in the front of the group are my Father Leonard Taylor (the left one of the three) who was dressed up for the photo as a girl by his older sister Flora Taylor standing next to him. The other boy on the extreme right was my father's eldest brother James. This detailed information was given to me by my Aunt Flora who was responsible for the dastardly deed of dressing my father as a girl!!! I believe the two in the pony and trap were Savilles. Many thanks to Ken for this wonderful information

The Mission Room (here called the chapel) on the left (postcard from Alan Moore collection)

137

.....Pinkneys Farm was a fair sized farm, and there were eight to ten horses kept and between eight and twelve men employed. Mr. William Wiseman was farming here when I first remember it. Opposite the farm was a pond, known as the sheep pond, in which the sheep were dipped, but I remember it first for the many slides I had on it during the winter. Just past the pond was a small cottage owned by Jack Parking and his wife, Sally. Jack was a cobbler, and his work was strong but very clumsy. As a schoolboy he made me a pair of boots I could wear on either foot. Jack had a club foot, but could run pretty fast, as many of my school friends knew, as he chased them from his orchard, helping them over the hedge with his club foot.

Collier Row as Ben Taylor would have known it.(postcard from Alan Moore collection) 138

....Westleys Farm was farmed by Henry Giffin when I first remember it. Westleys, the house, was rented by Mr. William Bruty. He had a groom, a gardener and a butler. He had shooting parties every weekend and his shoot exceeded 3,000 acres and included Rowney Wood. Twenty or thirty beaters were employed for Friday and Saturday, with a wage of 2/6d per day with a lunch of bread and cheese and beer. This was the main income for many single men during the winter.

Wimbish windmill (postcard from Alan Moore collection)
139

...In the thatched cottage close by the Mill House, Mr. and Mrs. Chapman lived. He owned a pony and trap and did carrying of people and goods to Saffron Walden and other places. In the next house, part slate and part thatch, now known as, St. Helens, Mr. Matthews lived. He played the organ at Wimbish Church and, in conjunction with Rev. Walsh, formed the Wimbish drum and fife band. Mr. Matthews was a shoemaker, and was a very good tradesman, neat and strong.
....In the field opposite was a large pond, from which most of the drinking water for the school and nearby cottages had to be ferried. The pond was known by all as Mellay, though its proper name was Mill Field Ley. The water, was good and clean, and I well remember the schoolmaster sending two of the bigger boys with a pole and two buckets slung between them to fetch water for the school. The cluster of houses near the school was known as Tye Green.

Maypole farmhouse showing stud and beam work during restoration in 1992 (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) 140

....A Salvation Army Hall was built near the farm early in 1900. Further down the road is a house, part thatch and part slate, which had an off-licence for the sale of beer. It was known as The Pudding. This later became a nursery and was known as White House. A quarter of a mile down the road was Garretts Farm. Mr. Ridgewell farmed here at the turn of the century and it was later farmed by Mr. H. Raven and his son, John. This farm was hit by bombs during the Second World War.

....Before coming to Lower Green I remember two thatched cottages on the left. These were burnt down and were replaced by two brick ones. Several thatched cottages stood on Lower Green, and no hard road went up to them so there was plenty of mud in the winter.
....The first person I remember to farm Lower House Farm was Mrs. Wright, but it has been farmed by the Stock family for more than sixty years. An old man, Mr. Chapman nicknamed Darkin, was a hurdle maker and thatcher. His donkey cart was made almost entirely of ash poles. He was a very swarthy man with a dark beard, long brown hair and had brown piercing eyes. Nearly all of us boys were afraid of him, but he was really a kind and generous man.
....From Lower House Farm we go up the green lane to Ellis Green, now registered as common land. At the end of the lane a small field surrounded by a moat was the site of a large house owned by a man named Ellis. Keeping left, further down the lane were two thatched cottages, but these have now disappeared, having been allowed to fall down. I can remember a man named Chapman living in one of them. The two thatched cottages on the right hand side of the lane were known as Broomfield Cottages, and were owned by Wimbish Parish Church Council. These have now been sold.
....I remember two characters who lived down Ellis Green. They were rough and lived rough. The people living at nearby Highams Farm used to keep chickens. Running in to the main hen house was a large pipe so the chickens could move freely in and out during the day. At night a slide was dropped over the end of the pipe. One of these two men, who was very wiry, crawled along the pipe one night and grabbed as many chickens as he could reach, pushing them back down the pipe to his friend, who filled up a sack. He them went back home, leaving the first man in the pipe. Unfortunately for him, trying to crawl backwards he became stuck. There he remained until the next morning when he was found. The police were called, and when they visited the house of the man who had gone home he was found tucked up in bed with the stolen chickens running around underneath it.......
....Approximately 200 yards across the meadows was Elms Farm. This has been farmed for as long as I can remember by the Wiseman family. A road from the A130 near the Dell was a private one to the farm. Another road, a public one, from the A130 passed within a short distance of the farm and on to Ellis Green. An amusing incident happened at the Elms Farm many years ago. A man named Tom Cromp attempted to fly from the high thatched barn by fixing two barn fans to his shoulders. These barn fans were made of wicker and were used for carrying chaff for feeding cattle. They were approximately 3’ x 2’6” and very light. These he intended to flap with his arms. This he did and landed straight into a deep muddy moat just below, and was only saved from drowning by the help of his pals.

From Lower House Farm to the School via Wimbish Lower Green.
...Along Lower Green on the right were a pair of thatched cottages. One of these was used by the Salvation Army before the Army Hall was built. On the right, further on was Mill House. Mr. Edgar Mynott carried on the business of miller and baker. When I first remember it part of a windmill stood in the yard. It was a tower mill but its sails were missing and for some time it was driven by a portable steam engine when required. The business was closed down after the Second World War. A puff bought from the miller when he passed the school was more than enough for a boy or girl’s dinner.
....A man named Mr. Abe Stalley, who worked for the miller, had driven back from delivering around Walden and unharnessed the horse. He was then told to deliver a sack of flour, which, weighed 20 stone, to some cottages on the Upper Green road. These cottages were half a mile by road and approximately 300 yds. by a footpath across the fields. Stalley said to the miller, “Is that all there is to go ? On the reply being “Yes”, he said, “I’m not going to harness a horse to take that up there, I’ll take it on my back.” This he did, without pausing for a rest.
....Several cottages were built on the left, In one of them lived the gamekeeper, Mr. Stalley, and next door to him his son, Joe. He was a carpenter and jobbing builder. On the right was a small farm cottage. A religious, service was held here in part of the house every Sunday morning. The Joe and the Donkey was an off-licence and shop. At this time it was kept by Mr. David Stalley the gamekeeper. This is now a private house. Dottley Lane, leading to Sampford, had high hedges on both sides, mainly bushes. On Boxing morning the labouring men would gather in the lane and light a fire of faggots. Then they would send to the Joe and the Donkey for a bushel (4 gallons) of beer, and when this was empty it would again be filled. There were stories told, and singing and dancing took place and a goodtime was had by all.
....There were several thatched cottages adjoining the Joe and the Donkey. The road was very poor leading to Wimbish Green, this part only having two hard tracks for the cart wheels. A large Camp, consisting mostly of wooden huts, was built during the Second World War between here and Hodges Farm.
....Now to Rayments Farm, which is on the right, and on the left are several cottages, in one of which lived Joe Frost, a bricklayer and jobbing builder. There were several cottages and small farms between here and Maypole Farm - Stonnards, Little Stonnards, Hodges and Joyces.
....Wimbish School Green was where we played. There were many large holes in it and one of the games we played was called foxes. One boy would be the fox and had to run from one hole to another, chased by the other boys, then he was caught someone else had to be the fox. Another game was called cats. The cat was a piece of wood 6” long. This was pitched at the hole, and another boy would defend the hole with a stick three or four feet long. If he hit the cat he had to run to the next hole. He was out if the cat was caught, but he was also out if the cat went into the hole. Running from one hole to another counted as runs, the same as cricket. Another game was called ducker. Two large stones were set one on top of another. One boy would be picked for ducker. The other boys threw stones to knock off the top stone. Sometimes the players got hit by a stone, but cuts and bruises were all part of the game.
....The schoolmaster was named Smith,and his teaching was done with the stick. His daughters also taught at the school. His wife and one of his daughters are buried in Wimbish Churchyard. At school, I always remember fearing that if you didn’t do something right you were going to get the stick. If you couldn’t spell you got the stick - whatever you couldn’t do you got the stick. When I went to school in the morning I thought to myself I shan’t get through the day without getting the stick - spelling - I always got the stick for that. I didn’t get the stick for sums and I didn’t get it for recitation - I could tell the tale even in those days! Sometimes we had a school concert. Miss Smith was good at organising these. Singing, little plays and recitations. I remember reciting “Little Boy Blue”. Parents were charged 6d at the front and 4d at the back. We seldom had School Christmas Parties. Nobody bothered to give us those. Bright children were pushed up into higher classes. We left school at fourteen.

Wimbish School 1901
(photo courtesy Richard Coe)

Wimbish School 1901 - note the children lookingout of the window
(photo courtesy Richard Coe)

Wimbish School 1901
(photo courtesy Richard Coe)

Wimbish School 1911, with around 50 children in all. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) 141

Wimbish School around 1914. James Taylor is back row extreme left next to teacher; his brother George Taylor is back row extreme right; his sister Flora Taylor is in the front row 2nd from the left, and another brother, Leonard Taylor is extreme front row centre of the three smaller boys. The teacher looks the same as in the photo above. Perhaps readers of this website can fill the names of some of the other children. (Photo courtesy Ken Taylor, son of Leonard Taylor in photo)

142

Wimbish School around 1916. This time Leonard Taylor is in the back row second from the left and his younger brotherJohn (Jack) Taylor is in the back row extreme right. (Photo courtesy Ken Taylor)

143

From the School to Wimbish Church
....Mr. Billy Frost lived in one of the old cottages on the right. He was shepherd for Charles Kettley, who farmed Wimbish Hall Farm, Georges Farm, Cole End Farm, Abbotts Manor and Tiptofts. Below Georges Farm was a small plot of land called the Pyckle. Here Mr. Frost had his lambing pens. They were made of straw some eight or ten feet high and approximately eight square yards in area. Here he spent many cold winter nights looking after his flock during the lambing season. At Wimbish Hall Farm a man named Cracknell was farm foreman. He often chased the Sunday School boys from his orchard, where they had been after his apples and walnuts. Some ten to twelve horses were used on the farm, and often Charles Kettley would be round on his horse before 5.00 a.m. Although he had two sons and two or three daughters I do not think he had any grandchildren.

144

...The Reverend Walsh was Vicar at Wimbish Church when I first went to Sunday School. He was a very kind man but very strict. We could play around the churchyard and meadow so long as we did no damage. We were sent to Sunday School before 10.00 a.m. but rarely arrived in time, reaching the church just in time f or the 11.00 church service. We would take our dinner with us - bread and cheese - and then stay down at the church, spending our time in the Sunday School near the fire in winter if cold, until the afternoon. In the afternoon we attended. afternoon Sunday school. After this it was church again with, father and sometimes mother watching us, who would tell us off afterwards if we did not sit still. The Vicar would nearly always bring some apples for us after our dinner.

The part of the church wall the boys
climbed where the tower used to be

145.

Bygones.
...There was usually plenty of work in Wimbish. Today more people work outside it than in the village. A farm labourer could earn twelve shillings a week. He had to be at work by 6.00 a.m. and worked until 9.00 and then had half an hour off for breakfast. Lunch was from 2.00 until 3.00, though later it was changed from 1.00 to 2.00. Work finished at 5.30. In Cambridgeshire the men went on until 6.00 p.m. and the wages were possibly only eleven shillings. The closer to London, the higher the wage, It used to be a six day week and, at times like harvest, sometimes seven. Money was tight. The cottage might cost £4 or £5 a year rent. Food was plain and good, not like today, puffed up sawdust and you don’t know what’s in it. There was never much choice. When father went to work he took a hunk of bread and cheese and sometimes butter as well. He would arrive home about 6.00 p.m. Mother would have cooked a suet pudding and bought a week’s supply of half a pound of streaky pork for about 3d or 4d. Gravy was poured over the potatoes and the pudding. Sometimes we had a rabbit, - they were never out of season. My dad would catch them with a snare or a dog. The dog had to be a good one - quiet and quick. If the dog barked dad would sell it. He had to have a quiet dog for catching rabbits or the farmer or gamekeeper might hear it barking.
...Jack Challis, the fish man, would come through the village shouting “Herring-O, Herring-O”. They would cost 1d or 1/2d, depending on size. As children we always had enough to eat. I can never remember going short. My dad had an allotment between a third and half an acre. He would grow potatoes on half of it, yielding 10-14 cwts., and barley or oats on the other half. He used to sell the corn. Green vegetables were grown in the garden. Dad usually kept one or two pigs. I remember buying my first suit, which cost eighteen shillings, from Haywards of Saffron Walden. I wore it from when I was sixteen until I had grown out of it for Sunday best. Then I wore it for work, and by the time I left it off it wasn’t fit to go in the rag bag.
...My brother was more crazy over steam engines than me. He earned twelve shillings a week as cook boy on the engines, which was the same as my dad earned on the farm. Mind you, he had to be at work by 4.30 a.m. and work a twelve to sixteen hour day. He would often bike twenty miles to work on Monday morning. He would stay during the week in the steam plough van, returning home late Saturday. I can remember cycling thirty miles to Great Totham, Goldhanger and Heybridge and being ticked off for arriving ten minutes late on Monday morning. I was expected to have the roller on the road by 7.00 a.m.
...I remember a strike among the farm workers just before the First World War for more money. They came out at Burnpstead and Ashdon. Henry Wiseman of Wimbish was sharp. He didn’t want to see his harvest ruined. He gave the men what they wanted, sixteen shillings a week. In other areas the men stayed away from work some were sent to prison. One was an old reserve soldier, and when war came they didn’t bother about prison. He was let out to serve his King and Country. He fought right through the war in the Horse Artillery or Transport. One battle he laid alongside his wounded horse that froze to death in the night. The shelter from the horse’s body saved his life. Work and life was hard in those days.

Index List for Ben Taylor's Memoirs
(not directly searchable in this document)

Locations Other Than Farms ...... Barb Field - Brick House - Broomfield Cottages - Cement Factory Hill - Cobblers Cottage - Collier Row (Now Mill Road Cottages) - Debden Aerodrome - Dell (The) - Dissenters’ Cemetery - Dottley Lane - Elder Street - Ellis Green & Moat - Four Turn Hill- Joe &. the Donkey - Howlett End - Little Amberden - Little Stonnards - Lower Green - Mellay - Middle Field Ley - Mill House (Tye Green) - Newport - Oak (Or Royal Oak) P.H. - Osborne’s Cottage - Parish Barn - Post Office - Pudding (The) - Pyckle (The) - Radwinter - Rowney Corner - Saffron Walden - St. Helens - Sampford - Star - Thaxted - Thunderley Hall - Tithe Barn - Tye Green - Upper Green - Well Mead Spring - White Hart P.H. - White House - Wildings - Wimbish Green.

General Subjects ........ Blacksmith - Bombs - Brewery - Conditions of Employment - Cafe (Elder Street) - Cobbler - Cycle shop and Garage - Edison “Gem’ phonograph - Essex Show - Fair (at White Hart) - Flower Show - Hurdle maker - “Killing Shop” - Mangle Room - Miller and Baker (Wim. Gn.) - Miller (Tye Green) - Off-licence and shop - Old Forge - ponds - “Ring the Bull” - Sawpit - Sheep Farming - Steam Engine (portable) - Mill - Steam Roller - Thatching - Threshing - Tower for taking levels - Toys (Wooden) - Undertaker - Village Shop - Water supplies for drinking and Wells - Wheelwright’s Shop - Windmills - Postmills - Wind-pump.

Farms ....... Abbots Manor - Broadoaks - Causeway End - Cole End - Elms - Freemans - Garretts - George’s - Gunters - Highams - Hodges - Joyces - Little Gowers - Lower House - Maypole - Marshall’s - Mellors - NewHouse - Pinkney’s - Ricketts - Rayments - Stonnards - Tiptofts - Westleys - Wimbish Hall.

Personal and Family Names ....... Belfrey, Jack - Blanks, Mr - Bruty, Wm. - Buck, Benjamin - Challis, Jack - Chapman Family - Chapman, “Darkin” - Coe Family - Cornell, Joe - Cracknell (Fish Man) - Cromp, Tom - Ellis, Mr. - Franklin Family - Frost, Joe, - Frost, Billy - Giffin, Henry - Hare, John Bunyan - Harrison, Mr. & Miss - Haywards of Saffron Walden (Tailors) - Holt, Miss - Kettley, Charles - Marshall, Chap. (Star Inn) - Munson family - Norden, Mr. - O’Connor, Billy - Osborne, Saul - Pallett, Jim - Parkings family - Raven, H. & Son - Ridgewell, Mr. - Sharp, Mr. - Smith, Mr. & Miss, Schoolmaster - Swan family - Stalley's - Stock's - Taylor family - Thompson, Mr. - Wiseman family - Wright, Jack - Wright of Star Inn - Wright, Mrs. (Lr. House Farm)

Religion, Education, Social etc ....... Wimbish Church (All Saints) - Sunday School - Services - Choir - Outings - Drum and Fife band - St. Paul’s Church - Vicarage Meadow - Wimbish Newsletter - Rev. Walsh (Vicar) - First World War - Second World War - Fire Watchers - Rev. W.P. Witcutt, (Vicar) - Mission & Mission Hall - Salvation Army - Thunderley Church - Wimbish Parish Council - Recreation Hut - Gladstone League - Saffron Walden Weekly News - Wimbish School - Marshall, Mr. and sister Betsy.

These memoirs are from the Wimbish Village website at www.wimbish.org.uk and have been adapted from the free download available there. Photos have been added.

George.W.Ingram, who created the index for Ben Taylor's memoirs, pictured at his Hendon home on July 27th 1990, the day before his 90th birthday. It was with George that I made my first visit to Wimbish in August 1980. It was to be thirty years before I made a return visit in June 2010. AJM

The Reminiscences of Jim Acker

I have not got permission to reproduce pages or direct extracts from the book or from the internet version but for interest and the purpose of recording them here I describe the references.

On page 37 the origin of farm names is discussed. It seems that the present Aldridges Farm was known as Barkers Farm in the 16th century. Barkers Farm is mentioned on page 52 as being left to almshouses in Walden.

On page 40 there is an extract from a 1488 will. One of the witnesses is Thomas Barker.

On page 56 there is reference to a highway being in disrepair. The road in question is described as leading from Wimbish Hall to Anthony Barker's.

On page 59 the subject of non-conformism and burials other than in the churchyard are discussed. One such burial is that of John Barker in 1690 in his own land at Dorre Mead, a field which is stated as being at Cole End. It is also stated that his burial was followed in 1692 by that of his daughter's child in the same field. It is also stated that Isaac Barker was buried in a private burying yard.

For a time Grard sheltered at the Wiseman's Sothwark house. A few months later he returned to Broadoaks where his hosts urged him to set up his headquarters there again but he refused so as not to expose them to further danger. He remained in the country until just after the Gunpowder Plot when he returned to Rome.

Mr Wiseman was able to buy his release and in spite of two further raids on the house in subsequent years was later knighted. Mrs Wiseman later gave birth to a son to whom the property descended but the last member of the family is said to have been killed in a duel in London in 1678.

The house seems to have passed to a Protestant branch of the Wiseman family and then by marriage to the Claggets. It then became a Moravian Brethren school and in 1745, during the second Jacobite Rising, was again suspected of being a Jacobite headquarters and was the subject of a march upon it by people from Thaxted. The house was barricaded and little is thought to have resulted from the action. A year later the school recolated elsewhere.
.......Since then, according to accounts written in the 1930s, little is known of the house and its owners. The greater part of it was demolished in the 1800s but the remaining part is where the hide was. The hide was rediscovered and opened in 1931.