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Benington
Benington maps
Historic maps of Benington and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Benington maps
Benington area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Benington and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Benington
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Hertfordshire memories
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
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.
Childhood
I remember spending the first twelve years of my life in Haltwick, we lived in Sunnny Side Cottage, my brother and I would go down past the pub to get water from the well and we would play in the woods and fields. We moved to Dane End when I was twelve, it was much the same just a nice peaceful place to grow up in. I sadly moved away and only came back to bury my father in Little Mundon Church some thirty years ago I and I haven't been back since. From the pictures I have seen it changes very little I will always rember going to the pictures in the village hall, making gokarts out of old prams and riding them down the hill from Gladstone Road, going up to the old chalk pit where they dumped lorry loads of army helmets it would keep us happy for hours, I would go to the orchard that used to belong to Billy Ives and... Read more
Childhood Memories
I remember when I was just a young teenager... you could roam around the village and just about everyone knew you.
I loved to wander down to Mill Stream Lane with my jam jar and fishing net and walk along the stream searching for stickle backs and anything else I could catch. The fields behind us would whisper in the breeze and the sunlight would filter through the trees and glisten on the water below. Life was not so demanding, not worried too much about stranger danger and you knew that you was nestled in a village that looked after its own.
I remember old "Snowy" who had worked for years in the local butchers shop.
I remember Mr Warner one of our primary school teachers...looking back he was a steady influence in our lives and rarely raised his voice to his students even when we caused him to quieten us down from chattering too loudly.
There was a post office and a general store and dear old... Read more
100 Years of History
I am a collector of Wattons history. I have been collecting postcards, photos, in fact anything to do with Watton. I have old blacksmiths tools made by the blacksmith in 1910, over 600 postcards, stories and memories and a great deal more. I have been on TV with my collection. and done exhibitions, talks, village walks and talks. I travel all over the country to see ex Watton residents, seeking more items and stories to add to my collection. This is a hobby and it is nice to keep all the Watton bits togther in one place for people to be able to look at. The exhibition cost me over £600 (of my own money) to get together. I had free entry and over six hundred people attended. I have started to write a book with many photos and stories of the village, this is a book I feel I must write so the many people that have given me so many items can see they are being used well. If... Read more
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!
