Aspenden, Hertfordshire

85 High Street and Mark Doel Butchers

The house on the right was and still is (2009) a butchers shop. My dad Mark Doel bought it from the Ward Lewises who had bought from Sid Howlett in the 1970s. I can remember there used to be stalls and stables behind the shop where animals were kept, as it was also a slaughter house. On one of my first... [more]

Looking after Mungo Walker at Wyddial Hall

My mother - Peggy Barker - looked after Mungo Walker, the grandson of the Heaton-Ellises when he returned from Kenya as a 7 year old in the late 1930s. This was only for a few months until he went to boarding school. She was supposed to be teaching him Maths but I think from the sound of it, they just had... [more]

My Great Grand Parents Wedding

My great-grand parents - Charles and Sarah Roblett - married at Layston. Their daughter Dorothy Roblett married Christopher McHugh, of Archers in Buntingford. The wedding here took place some time between 1920-1940, the church was open air and they married on Christmas Eve. Chris and Dorothy had three children, Christopher, Bernadette (my mother) and John. They passed away over 20 years... [more]

The Bell Hotel, Hare Street, Buntingford

I have recently discovered that my Great Grandfather John Main originally from Devon (a shoe maker) and then in Brixton, London as a Dairy Manager owned the Bell Hotel in Hare Street around 1905.
My Grandmother lived there as a little girl and would often tell us stories as children about how it was haunted and about secret panels etc and... [more]

My memories of Wyddial

My father's people were from Wyddial, their name was Pinner. I was baptized at St. Giles, along with my sister. (My parents felt I should be old enough to remember this event). The dish in the font was cracked. I later stayed with my cousin Angela, she lived in Buntingford, her parents were from Aspenden. For the six weeks I was... [more]

The Walkern Weir

Last year, as part of a two month trip from New Zealand, in mid September, my wife and I made a pilgrimage to Walkern, the place of my paternal ancestors. During the war I was taken by my mother and grandfather to Clay End, near Walkern where we stayed for a few days to avoid the bombing in London. I don't... [more]

I lived in Standon  from the 1950s onwards till 1969 & then came back!!

My dad ran the butchers shop in the High Street from 1951-1969, Victor John Ward. I went to the school at the far end of the High Street (now residential). Headmaster was Mr Eric Norman Butler. I remember May Day, and dancing in the High Street ... more memories than I can write! School journeys? Sports days on the rec...Westwoods newsagents....Catons... [more]

The Picketts of Standon

The majority of my father's family lived in and around Standon from 1600 onwards and one of them was the Sexton of St. Mary's and another was the innkeeper of The Three Horseshoes at Farnham in 1881. My Grandfather was born in the Three Horsehoes. Does anyone have any connections with the Pickett family?