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Abinger
Abinger maps
Historic maps of Abinger and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Abinger maps
Abinger area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Abinger and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Abinger
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Abinger.
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Lightning Strike
Since this photo was taken the top of the large tree in the background has been hit by lightning. Around four or five feet of bare wood sticks out at the top of the tree. I don’t know when this happened.
Surrey memories
Childhood
i was born in guildford in 1986 and my parents had just taken over abinger post office and stores this is the house in the middle of the photo with all the ivy (that wasnt there in my time) the window above the shop was my parents room the spare room and the lounge are the rooms to the left. i loved living here and have many great memories of going to abinger village school, fishing in the stream, playing on the green and in the ruffs going to the abinger arms(probably the 1st pub i ever went to) and the tea rooms at the clock house now apparently i have heard that these tea rooms have moved to my old front room and front garden! i also remember the teddy bears picnic and the teacher who made me wear a bear mask one year, playing pooh stcks in the stream, pony rides on the front part of the green. i remember bonfires either at the cricket club or holmbury... Read more
Living in The Squre Shere
Photograph No. 1. I was born in July l940 – Virginia Le Roux. The house on the left of the picture was where I lived until I was nearly 13 with my parents. The long narrow upstairs window was my bedroom. My mother’s mother and brother also lived in the house. My uncle - John Grover had a shop to the left of the porch, where he sold fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, some of which he grew himself. During the war people would come from Dorking and Guildford to buy fresh fish. The fish came from Harlow’s of Grimsby in wooden boxes, when the empty boxes were returned to Grimsby, my uncle used to fill them with rabbits and other game caught locally, because food was scarce due to food rationing. My uncle used to smoke kippers in a shed near the stream. He also kept the white ducks which swam along the stream. I have... Read more
Born And Raised There
I was born in Shere in 1942 to the youngest child of George and Margaret Bryant. The Bryants were a well-known Shere family, my father being the eldest of nine children born and raised in the village. I had a very happy childhood in the village, attended the village school as did my older brother and sister and several cousins. I remember the Shere bonfire nights which were very enjoyable. I left the village in the sixties and now live in Adelaide, South Australia. My elder sister still lives in in Shere with her husband who was until retirement one of the local postmen. I have only happy memories of my birth place. I was baptised and also had my confirmation at St James's Church in Shere.
Living in The Butcher's Shop
Just on the right up a slight hill and only just visible is the butcher's shop. It was part of the Albury Estate but a new butcher could not be found so it was sold out of the estate and my father, Kenneth Parker, bought it. He redesigned the interior, renaming it 'Whitecroft' after the name on an old map indicating the owner of the field upon which it was built and lived in it for about 15 years. There was a slaughterhouse in the garden. People would ring for many months after we moved in to order joints of meat. I caught the bus to school in Guildford each day; there were 2 bus companies in those days. The owner of the garage opposite had a pair of Basset hounds called Austin and Morris, appropriately! On the right of the garage is the Post Office which had a good selection of sweets as I remember. On the left of the garage lived Mrs Boxall, a lovely old lady whom... Read more
Boys' Camp
By kind permission of the Lord Ashcombe, the Holy Trinity Junior Boys Club, Wimbledon, camped for four weeks every year on Ranmore Common. Most of us were choirboys, so we augmented St Barnabas's choir for their services twice each Sunday. Lord Ashcombe read the lessons. At that time there was a dairy next to his house, Denbies, and he gave us our milk. (The estate has since been turned over to a vineyard.) The two orderlies for each day would take a gallon can to be filled; it was heavy, so it was carried on a stout stick between them. His other kindnesses included providing straw from a farm for our palliasses, preparing the campsite, adding wood for our campfire, and inviting us to Denbies for tea with him and Lady Ashcombe. His vacationing grandsons and the local boys made up a cricket team to play against us, and we gave them a return invitation. The Ranmore people used to look forward to our annual visits just as much as... Read more
Take A Horse to Water
When I was about 11 or 12 in the 50's I used to ride from Bookham over to Ranmore quite often. I would take a packed lunch in a rucksack and off I would go for the day all on my own. When I got to Ranmore, I used to tie my pony to a tree and go in the post office and ask the man for a bucket of water for my pony. Then we would stop on the edge of the woods somewhere, I'd sit on a log or on my jumper or coat on the ground and let my pony graze whilst I ate my lunch and read a book.
