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Carswell

Carswell maps

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

Carswell photos

We have no photos of Carswell, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Buckland| Stanford In The Vale| Faringdon| Radcot| Bampton| Longworth| Uffington| West Hanney| Kingston Lisle| Woolstone| Buscot| East Hanney| Grove| Watchfield| East Challow| Wantage| Shrivenham

Carswell area books

Displaying 1 of 7 books about Carswell and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Carswell

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Oxfordshire memories

Strange But True

My father was a bank manager in Faringdon in the 1970s and managed the accounts of the Pusey estate and the Hornby family, owners of the estate. On one occasion, during an annual fete, Dad was asked to act treasurer of the fete. He asked me to help him. On that day, two Puseys were in Pusey village.
My Pusey family was based in Oxford, where my paternal grandfather was employed in the University. His father was, I believe, a butcher in the St Clements area of the city.
In my father's family were six children, three sisters and three brothers, of which my father, Frederick was the fourth child. There were five Pusey cousins: John (son of Guy and still lives in Oxford), me, (son of Hugh and now living in Somerset), Michael (sadly deceased), Peter and Anne (sons and daughter of Harold). Peter lives in Malvern and Anne lives in America. There were also two non-Pusey cousins: Mary and Jane (daughters of Vera Heath, the youngest sister... Read more

My Home 1962

I was born in Bampton in 1957, my family moved away to Dunstable to give us a start in life. I have always and always will reguard Bampton as my home. I visit when I can which is about once a year. I walk around the village which brings back lots of memories. The times I remember are of going to the fields in May to get wild flowers to make a garland to take around on the spring bank holidays, also watching the Morris Dancers and the shirt race. I will never forget my childhood at Bampton. I will always class it as my home.

My Maslen Ancestors

My great-grandparents were married at Little Coxwell 1864 and my grandfather was born there in 1864 also, my great-grandfather was called John Maslen and his wife was Jane (nee Haines), they had come over from the Wanborough/Bishopstone area of Wiltshire, perhaps looking for work as John was a farm labourer. My grandfather was also called John. I am coming to Little Coxwell shortly to see the church they were married in and my grandfather was christened in.

The Pound

I used to live in The Pound at Goosey. As a pub it seemed massive to me when I was a lot younger, now I realise that in fact it was really small and intimate for a pub. I used to love the huge open fireplace, the smell of the wood smoke mingling with the smell of the beer. I used to spend many sunny afternoons exploring the village green with its ponds and marshes, fallen trees to climb, secret places to explore. As a child it seemed like an extremely safe and wonderful playground and I have never felt the same about anywhere else I have lived since.

I Too Lived at The Pound

When I lived at the Pound I was a lot younger and at 28 took the licence of a closed rundown empty pub called The Pound, that morning I pulled my first pint in a pub in Oxford for the Oxford Mail to get a look of the new landlord of The Pound, ‘a recipe for disaster’. That night I pulled my first pint for real and handed it to the customer, he said "Can you squeeze a double scotch into that?". Looking at the foaming head and thinking making money was going to be easy if they all do this, I said "Yes!". He handed the pint back to me and said "Well, fill the glass then!". A lesson well learned. A couple of months later we decided to have a lamb roast. On the night some of the students I lectured during my proper job, came to help, we offered lamb and real sausage hot dogs, during the evening one of my students gave a man a sausage in... Read more

My Wonderful Years in Fernham

I was born in Fernham in 1936 in the thatched cottage on the green (now known as Corner Cottage, opposite the church), as was my mother before me. The house was my grandmother's, Mrs Mary Brown. My grandfather Harry Brown was a freelance carpenter and made everything rustic from sheep hurdles to coffins in the small workshop (now derelict) on the opposite side of the road as you are about to climb Hobb's Hill. My memories start some time before I started school at Longcot around the start of the Second World War. What a time for a young boy to live! It was an area full of military action and personnel, lots of aircraft from Shellingford and Watchfield aerodromes and constant air traffic, both German and Allied, as north Berkshire was on the homeward path of RAF returning from raids, and likewise the Luftwaffe going home from bombing Coventry and the like. Then the the Yanks arrived, "any gum chum" . I believe I'm the third oldest village survivor... Read more

Free's - Post Office And Grocery, Longworth

Having spent the first seven years of my life in Longworth, I remember Free's shop vividly. The Frees were friendly, welcoming people. Mr Free had curly hair and wore a tan-coloured kind of overall-coat. Mrs Free wore glasses on a chain. They ran the Post Office and sold all kinds of groceries and household goods, but I remember it for the sweets and ice creams – my favourite was a block of lemon mousse that you ate from a rectangular wafer cornet.

The sweets we enjoyed from Free's included Barrett's sherbet fountains and 'Jamboree Bags', which contained a novelty gift, a lollipop and lots of pastel-coloured, powdery-flavoured sweets, plus some toffees wrapped in waxy paper.

Mr Free also did home deliveries. My mum would order her groceries in a red-covered notebook with a little window at the top with her name in it. Mr Free would deliver the order once a week, with all the goods packed into a large cardboard box.

We used to... Read more

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