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Ashley Heath
Ashley Heath maps
Historic maps of Ashley Heath and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ashley Heath maps
Ashley Heath photos
We have no photos of Ashley Heath, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Ashley| Hales| Almington| Norton-In-Hales| Old Springs| Peatswood| Woore| Cheswardine| Pell Wall| Market Drayton| Madeley| Eccleshall| Hinstock
Ashley Heath area books
Displaying 1 of 4 books about Ashley Heath and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Ashley Heath
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Shropshire memories
Living in The Village in The 1950s
How I loved it there! My father, Richard Thomas, was Headmaster from 1952 - 1955 and we lived in the schoolhouse. I used to climb an ivy covered tree in the back garden and look all the way down the road to Market Drayton to spy for visitors. I had some lovely friends - Judith and Margaret in particular - and can remember going to 'Dicky Mitt's' shop and down to the Village Hall on Fridays to watch the travelling picture show [Old Mother Riley or a cowboy - the cowboys terrified me]. Mrs Swinnerton had a television, and we village children collected there on a Saturday teatime to watch 'Dixon of Dock Green'. I will always remember Cheswardine, and when I took one of my daughters to visit about 10 years ago I just burst into tears when I saw the old school and my old home. If anyone reads this who remembers me - fond wishes.
Housemaid
I am writing this on behalf of my mother-in-law, whose maiden name was Nora Aston. At the afe of 16 (she is now 95) she was sent to work at 'The Old Hall' as a kitchenmaid. She remembers the chauffeur picking her up at the station and taking her into the village to send a telegramo to her parents, to say that she had arrived.
The cook at the Hall did not like her and didn't want her in the kitchen. One of the housemaids had to leave because she was pregnant and so Nora was given her position. This job she had a liking for and remembers being taught how to answer the door and present the visitors' cards on a tray. She says there were 3 large houses, the village and nothing for miles, so she didn't go anywhere on her day off. She did however get invited to tea at the gardener's cottage.
Nora remembers Lord and Lady Longley having visitors frm India. There was an... Read more
Oh Happy Days
My father worked for a nearby farm, I know the owner was called "Dunne". My father worked two Shire horses, Blacky and Bonnie, side by side for over 12 years. I spent my childhood sitting on their backs, truly gentle giants. Gathering in the harvest would be long days, but we would all walk to the Four Alls in the evening and I used to walk Blacky and Bonnie there, there was a little lane alongside the pub called Sandy Lane, and my father used to bring some drink out to us and the horses loved it. I still have the original brasses that I used to polish all them years ago. Birds-nesting, fishing, rabbitting, you couldn't put a price on my childhood, to say it was happy would be a massive understatement. I feel for the kids today, we were never indoors. I also remember that the lady who ran the pub was called Fanny and she went down to the cellar and came up with a large jug... Read more
Family Connections.
My grandfather, William Simpson Bruchshaw, is the man coming out of the greenhouse with the plant in his hand. He was head gardener to Mr Munro Walker until Mr Walker died. My grandfather's youngest brother, Henry, was farm manager on the estate. While at Pell Wall, my grandfather experimented in growing tomatoes on potatoes in about 1908 I think. We still have the photos in the family. After he left Pell Wall my grandfather lived in Little Drayton. He died aged 91 in 1952.
School Days
I went to school here in the early 1950's. I have fond memories of the suroundings,
the buildings, the gardens, the landscape and of Market Drayton where some of my relatives lived and some still do. Since this learning academy was a live in school / college I remember that we always had good food. Some of the teachers and students came from other lands particularly from within the British Commonwealth.
Many of the students went on for further education at university and a lot moved around the world including myselfe where I settled in Canada in 1957 and have been here ever since. I have made several trips back to Pell Wall and the place still draws me to return again although in recent years some of the buildings have been demolished and the hall itself has been restored. It has been my good fortune to travel across North America and Europe extensively but the beauty of Pell Wall has always had a special place in my heart. Unfortunately... Read more
Buntingsdale Hall And Farcroft.
My first posting as as an L.A.C. Chef in the R.A.F. was to 22 Group H.Q. at the hall in May 1953. I was eighteen at the time and was to become chef to A.V.M. Merton in his residence, Farcroft in Market Drayton.
I reported to the guardroom and was then whisked up to meet the A.V.M. by his P.A. F/Lt. Jan Badini who I was told was a Polish Count. I think he must have been as he later told us about hunting wolves on his estate in Poland before the war.
I was later to live in Farcroft cooking for the A.V.M., his wife known to us as 'Agie' (behind her back), Cpl Davis, Pete Redcar and another batman called O'Gorman.
It was a quiet life for about a year before I was moved on to R.A.F. Bridgnorth.
The main thing I remember there was Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, coming to dinner and staying the night. I was given an audience the following morning with the Duchess... Read more
Lock Keepers at Tyrley.
My great grandfather worked as a lock keeper at Tyrley at the time of my grandmother's birth in 1883. My great grandfather named William Nixon married an Elizabeth Timmis whose father and brothers also worked as lock keepers at Tyrley and lived there. My grandmother Eva Nixon married Henry Thacker and he too lived near Tyrley and worked as a 'lengthsman' on the canal.
