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Arkesden
Arkesden maps
Historic maps of Arkesden and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Arkesden maps
Arkesden photos
We have no photos of Arkesden, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Wicken Bonhunt| Clavering| Newport| Audley End| Littlebury| Saffron Walden| Shaftenhoe End| Debden| Anstey| Barley| Barkway| Farnham| Elsenham| Hare Street| Braughing| Melbourn
Arkesden area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Arkesden and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Arkesden
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Essex memories
Ginger...
We arrived in Wendens Ambo around this year, and took residence in a little cottage in the grounds of a big house. Opposite was a pond in which moorhens spent peaceful days. Next to the pond was a field - I think it is a play area and park now. One of my enduring memories is of a grey horse that grazed in that field. He and I had a wonderful relationship. I would lie on the ground and he would munch the grass peacefully nearby, and when I wandered off and saw some juicer spot, if I called, he would come and graze there. I can even remember being underneath his giant belly, with no fear that he would tread on me. One day a man came to the fence and leaned on it, and when the horse saw this man, he suddenly charged off and started snorting and leaping near to the man. The man moved away and must have gone in... Read more
Sawmill
My Great Grandfather's brother used to own a sawmill in Newport in Wartime (World War II). His name was George Alfred (Alf) Ginger and Alf was married to Rebecca. My father remembers visitng the sawmill as a boy, seeing his cousin Seorus and hearing stories about how their house, situated near the mill, was haunted. My father's Uncle Ralph would make matchsticks stand up on end! I would be interested hearing from anyone who knows anything about the sawmill or my long lost relatives.
Rebecca Law
My great great great grandmother, Rebecca Law lived at Audley End Almhouses in the 1880's and 1890's. She lived to be 102 and her final years were spent living with her grandson and his family. The place she was living caught on fire and they took her out of the house in a wheelbarrow because she was bed bound.
She toiled until she was 70, when she was admitted to the Lord Braybrooke alsmhouses on the Audley End estate, where she remained until she was ninety. She went to live with her granddaughter, the wife of Mr. W. Carter, church clerk of Little Chesterford. Living in the same house are four generations - Mrs. Law, the centenerian; her eldest son, Mr. Thomas Law (also a centenarian)
The Leper Stone
My great aunt, Nora Buck, lived in the northern end cottage of Newport, aptly named Carnation Cottage as it overlooked greenhouses that were exclusively used for growing beautiful carnations until the outbreak of world war II. During those austere years the crop was changed to tomatoes for the `dig for victory` campaign. Each year, as a young boy, I visited my aunt, along with my parents, and I have many fond memories of Newport and Saffron Walden. After all these years I still manage to visit my auntie`s graveside in the parish churchyard. My great uncle died during that war. Nora`s close friend and neighbour, Mrs. Pallett, shared many a cuppa with her as her husband had also passed away during the war. A large obtuse stone can be found situated on the roadside just opposite these cottages. Legend has it that food was left by the villagers during the years when people suffering with leprosy tried to enter the village on the main London road. Nell Gwynn, who was... Read more
Relatives
I have no memories to share about Littlebury. I live in Derbyshire and my grandmother's side of the family on her father's side came fromthe Littlebury area. They lived in these parts from the 1800s. I would really like to know more about them, some settled in Derby and most stayed for generations in Littlebury. I can find information up to 1911 so please if anyone has any info, stories or pictures regarding this I would love to hear about it. Their name was Tinworth.
Thanking you,
Lynn.
A Patient's View
When I was eight I was admitted to Saffron Walden General Hospital for surgery. My parents were told that I would be discharged home at the end of the week. I vividly remember the feeling of being suffocated when the pad of chloroform was put over my face to anaesthetise me.
During the week a young girl was admitted to the ward with suspected Polio. She was put into a glass encased cubicle and the next day she was transferred to the isolation hospital. It was decided that all the children in the ward should be put into quarantine for three weeks, so my week turned into four! Visiting hours were restricted to a short time in the afternoon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and at the weekends as it was considered unsettling for children to see their parents more frequently! The weeks seemed very long. However, it obviously didn't affect me too adversely as, ten years later, I trained to be a SRN (State Registered Nurse!)
In later years... Read more
A Meeting Place
In the 1950's the building on the right of the picture was the Corn Exchange. The local farmers used to congregate there on Tuesdays which was market day. The buiding is now used as the public library.
Market day was not only stalls on the market square, as it is today. In the 1950's I remember that there was also a livestock market just around the corner from the market square. There were sheep and cattle. Next door there were hens, rabbits and auctions took place there. Later a pig market was constructed nearby.
When my grandparents, who lived in Derbyshire, came to stay, Grandpa would take me to the market. He enjoyed it as much as I did but for him it was also a novelty because there weren't any livestock markets in his home town.
