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Aston

Aston maps

Historic maps of Aston and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Aston maps

Aston area books

Displaying 1 of 8 books about Aston and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Aston

Aston memories
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Displaying a selection of personal memories of Aston.
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Vine Cottage And Blacksmith Shop

William Wright lived in Vine Cottage, Aston, there was a blacksmith shop beside the house, across the road was the orchard with many fruit trees and all the animals. I used to spend time there in the summer with Aunty Edith and Uncle William, I lived in a town in Gloucestershire so it was a wonderful treat for me to stay at the farm. We had to feed the animals morning and night, I was scared of feeding the turkeys as they would rush at the food buckets and I thought they were going for my legs, we collected lots of chicken eggs, did vegetable gardening, picked fruit, cleaned up the place a bit, walked to Walkern to visit my granny Clements, walked to Shephall to visit Aunty Joyce Canfield and Susan. On Sunday I went to Sunday school at the mission at Aston End.

Hertfordshire memories

A Childhood 1940s

My grandfather bought Hendersons in c1911 and it was the principal drapers and furnishers in the town until my Dad sold the business c1961. It then became a John Blundells and is now I believe the Waitrose in the Old High Street. In the just post-war days, apart from the normal shops like Woolworths and Boots, Stevenage was possibly best known for its innumerable pubs. From the Marquis of Granby on the Great North Road towards Baldock, to the Roebuck nearly in Knebworth - there must have been over 20 - it was impossible to do a full pub crawl in one night! Are The Two Diamonds, The Red Lion, The Unicorn, The Marquis of Lorne, Our Mutual Friend, The White Hart, The White Lion still in existence? The other thing was the outlying Greens - Fisher's (where I used to go riding on Tom Kelly's horses c1950...Ah! (Thalia Danks and Marigold Gibbons, where are you now?) and Todd's in particular but there were others that I now... Read more

Heaven

This is simply my most favourite place in the whole world! No words can describe the peace and tranquility I feel when I walk along The Avenue with my family and dogs. The autumn months are my favourite! The range of colours in the trees, the conkers falling to the ground, and the sound of the branches swaying in the wind. Here I am at peace with the world. I wish it were longer, I could walk for ever!

Great School

Grammar School 1899
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I went here from '63 to '66. Superb school with great teachers. Sadly, now part of the great comprehensive education disaster.

Ancestry

Letchmore Green 1899
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My Great Grandfather, George Joseph Moules, was born at Letchmore Green in 1873.

How it is Now

Shop in The High Street 1899
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The shop shown is now a Costa Coffee and the pub next door is a restaurant, once the White Hart where Charles Dickens stayed.

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 remember but I was told by my mother that I fell into a weir and had to be rescued by my grandfather. We stayed the night at the White Lion hotel and asked where there was a weir. After a bit of thinking a local pointed us to one hidden in bushes near the church. A sort of path disappeared into the bushes and leaving my wife looking at the church, a grabbed a camera and pushed through the bushes to find a path. About 50 yards in I saw the water. I can't understand why, but I drew back in fear of an old concrete weir in front... Read more

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