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Barnston
Barnston maps
Historic maps of Barnston and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Barnston maps
Barnston photos
We have no photos of Barnston, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Little Dunmow| Great Dunmow| Felsted| Pleshey| High Easter| Stebbing| Great Easton| Great Waltham| Great Saling| Rayne| Great Leighs| Takeley| Little Waltham| Hatfield Broad Oak| Panfield| Shalford
Barnston area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Barnston and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Barnston
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Essex memories
Living at 5 New St Great Dunmow
I lived at this address from when I was about 11 years old, my mother (Charlotte (Lottie) married Charlie Childs around that time, he was the village baker and I have wonderful memories of him teaching me the business, and also eating his wonderful bread, especially the 'Huffers', a kind of roll, and of course the cottage loaves. After Charlie died the actual bakery was transformed into another house, my sister Madeline and her husband lived there for years until they both died. I have wonderful memories there, and I am sure everyone who knew Charlie's Bread was sad to see him go the way he did, he was in his 90's and one morning down in the kitchen he put the kettle on for a 'cup of tea' when his sleeve caught fire on the gas ring, it was an awful way for that wonderful old man to go. I live in Victoria Canada B C now with my family, but my daughter who is married to an American... Read more
Longleat
My grandfather Cecil Welch, who was the local estate agent and auctioneer based at the Old Town Hall in the High Street, bought several old cottages next to the blacksmiths in Church End for his son John and wife Peggy, at the vast cost of £600. She came from Wiltshire and changed the name from Jackman's to Longleat. They had been living with their in-laws at Kasama on the Stortford Road and they needed their own home as they had just adopted a baby - that being me - Pene. They had married just before he left for the Second World War in 1942 but had never really lived together. My father kept a diary and wrote of the many hours he spent at his new house finding blocked off windows and hidden fireplaces, and what had been a near hovel with rats in the back garden and drunken brawling at night became a family home for myself and my parents. I remember picking at bits of plaster between the... Read more
1966-1982
Ford End is now a shell of its former self, almost like the UK. When I was a child in the village, growing up, there was no better place to be. There was a shop, two pubs, the Spread Eagle at the top of the village and the Swan at the bottom of the hill, a dairy, post office, village hall, cricket pavilion and not forgetting the C of E primary school that I attended from 1970 to 1977 before going on to my secondary school in Great Dunmow. As children we used to race home-made go-karts down the hill in Back Lane, sometimes even down Brook Hill (the main road) without any injury or major incident. We had fields, streams, ponds, trees to climb and the River Chelmer was only a short walk for a bit of fishing or, in the summer, swimming. Happy days that I will never forget.
Ghosts at The Mill
I lived in the mill from 1978 to 1982 with my parents, brother and sister. I was only five when I left but I have memories of seeing a lady and man both dressed in very old fashioned clothes around the mill pond. and nobody ever saw them except me. I'm sure they were looking after me and making sure I didn't fall in the water.
It was a very creepy house and I remember our dog Polly would go mad in the hall at night. When we left the mill my mum went back one day and saw some builders inside doing the house up, my mum asked to look around but they told her to hurry as they don't stay in the dark, my mum asked why and they said because they heard children screaming and a huge bang as if someone had fallen down the stairs in the hall... They went outside thinking some children might be in the drive but there was nobody around. I'm... Read more
Living at The Mill
My father bought the mill in the 1960s and we moved in 1976 to South Africa. During the years living at the mill we all have plenty of memories spent living there. The most memorable was the first time we encounted the ghost of the mill. My mother called my two brothers and sister and myself into the hallway and demanded to know who had been playing the grand piano in the main lounge. We were not allowed in there so she was not impressed that we had broken the rules. We all looked at each other in amazement. Suddenly we heard the piano music again. Mother armed with a brass poker stick in hand went with all of us into the main lounge, to our surprise no one was in there. It was a bit creepy at first but after a while we all got used to hearing the music. It was a woman who used to play on the grand piano and it was beautiful soothing music that... Read more
The Mill at Felsted
I went to school at Felsted from 1960 to 1963. We had to do physical exercise every afternoon and because I was no good at sports I usually had to go for a run. This mill was a favourite destination. It took about 15 minutes to run here from the school. We would lean on the fence on the right of the photograph for a few minutes before going back.
The Old School House
In the early 60's the Old School House was used as the school art room. The sign on the right of the photograph belongs to a cafe known to pupils as "The Hags". When we had pocket money it was a treat to go to the Hags for hot buttered toast.
