Westford
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Westford books (7 available)
Westford memories
Read and share memories of Westford and Somerset inspired by Frith photos
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Somerset memories
Memories
I've just discovered that my G.G.G. Grandfather's brother, Albert Fouracre, was the Licensed Victueller at this pub in 1891. Does that mean he was the Landlord?
A memory of Rockwell Green contributed by Julie McCormack
Evacuation
My memories of Wellington are ones of feeling very homesick. I went there in November 1940. I stayed at the Vintage Hotel. I believe Mr & Mrs Joseph were the proprieters and they were very kind to me. They had a daughter named Betty but I was very unhappy, I was only there for a couple of weeks, it was decided I was to go and stay with my aunt who was billeted elsewhere in the town, but I just wanted to go home. I will never forget Christmas 1940, my grandparents came to see me. When they arrived I remember saying to them "I've got three shillings and four pence, please take me home" (about 17p). Needless to say I ...read more here
A memory of Wellington contributed by marie doughty
Anna's outing to the Wellington Monument
I have driven up and down the M5 so many times and seen a monument on top of the Blackdown Hills. Each time I passed I have wondered what it was and so eventually I got hold of an Ordnance Survey map and identified it as the Wellingotn Monument. I promised myself that one day I would actually NOT drive past but I would make an outing specifically to go and see it. And so today I took my wife Elizabeth and granddaughter Anna for a picnic to Somerset.
We found a small muddy National Trust car park which was filled with half a dozen cars, then tramped along a bumpy puddle strewn track for half a mile ...read more here
A memory of Wellington contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Mother's memory
My mother is now 86 years old and her short term memory is failing fast. She can remember things from her childhood more easily. She was born in Silver Street, Milverton in 1921, the daughter of Percy Frank Moore and Hilda Winter. Percy was a local baker and he would take her on his bike to deliver bread around the village. She says she played in an area of land called the "the Kill".
Percy was later persuaded to join his brothers in Cambridgeshire and the family moved in about 1927-8ish to the flat fens. Hilda never got over the move, and hated the flat landscape all her life.
A memory of Milverton contributed by Carole Chiverton
Extracts From Westford & Somerset books
Redevelopment of the Parade started c1870. Lime
trees were planted in the 1880s to start the Avenue.
The buildings to the left of photograph 31223 had
just been built, replacing houses with walled gar-
dens. The building in the centre of the row, at the
end of Bancks Street, was all that remained of the
older buildings. Then a bank, it is now an estate
agents. The building protruding at the end of the
row, in Wellington Square, is now a bank. Capron’s,
the building on the far left, became a well-known
garage. It was Minehead’s first garage, established
in 1908. Two other garages were established before
the First World War but a petrol shortage during the
First World War meant horse drawn carriages and
bicycles remained popular until the 1920s.
An extract from from"Minehead Town and City Memories".
The architectural style is actually one which
is common to areas around the Bristol Channel.
The oldest cottages are based on what is known
as a ‘cross passage’ design, whereby a passage
runs straight from front to back door, dividing
the house. In the original cottages there were
usually two rooms on the upslope side of the
passage and a ‘shippon’ (cow shed) on the
downslope side. In medieval times the living
quarters would have been heated by a fire in the
middle of the floor of the main room with the
smoke simply drifting out through the thatch,
blackening the roof beams as it went.
One house near Church Steps is called the
Hearth House, implying it originated from such
a cottage. None survive in their original state
and all have been enlarged. Most were enlarged
upwards, with bedrooms added, their little semi-
dormer windows breaking the line of eaves.
When this happened, the smoke from the fire
had to be diverted, so it was usual to add a
tall chimney to the front of the house, with a
bulging bread oven at its base. This tended to
happen in the 17th century, when the town grew
prosperous and chimneys became a status symbol
for householders showing off their new wealth.
An extract from from"Minehead Town and City Memories".
A promenade walk had been established along the street in the 1880s,
when some of the gardens were removed. Now, the level of the road
was raised to prevent flooding of the cottages on the far side. Hence,
they are now partly below road level, with a retaining wall in place to
buffer them from the floods which still arise from time to time. Most
of the doorways are still equipped with slots in which to insert boards
when there are flood warnings.
An extract from from"Minehead Town and City Memories".
One of Campbell’s White Funnel fleet, probably the ‘Britannia’, ties
up at the pier. The ‘Britannia’ was built in 1896 and was one of the
best known and one of the fastest passenger ships of its day. Its full
promenade deck and reliability in all weathers made it very popular.
It survived use as a Second World War transport and was afterwards
refitted with an additional funnel. It was eventually taken out of
service in the late 1950s.
An extract from from"Minehead Town and City Memories".
The buses on Quay Street are probably Western National service buses. The double-decker shows an advertisement for
Hatcher’s, a department store in Taunton. The Quay became the traditional starting point for bus services from Minehead.
The National service started in 1927 and ran to Dunster, Taunton, Bridgwater and Dulverton. It became the Western
National following merger with the motor services of the Great Western Railway in 1929. The buses met each train and
took passengers on to Lynton and beyond. It gradually bought out most local bus companies, except Blue Motors and Scarlet
Pimpernel. The latter specialised in excursions and, between the First World War and the 1960s, up to 44 coaches a day
left Minehead with up to 1,400 passengers for trips to the surrounding countryside. The first motor coach to operate from
Minehead in 1908 caused much opposition for its intrusiveness. Both Western National and Blue Motors continued to
start journeys here long after the pier was removed and the harbour ceased to be used by boat passengers.
An extract from from"Minehead Town and City Memories".