Cassington

A Child's Memories of Eynsham

A Quaint Corner c1950
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I lived in Eynsham for just 6 months when I was 9 years old.  My mother was doing her health visitor training in Oxford and so from Monday to Friday we lived in a rented cottage in the village and I attended the local school.  At the weekends, we returned to the family home in Stafford.  I have such happy and vivid memories of that episode in my life; it seemed to me that we had stepped back in time to some bygone era.  I shared a bed with my mother - the mattress was made of horsehair and it was lumpy and tickly.  We had a paraffin stove that made me feel sick at times, I did not like the smell.

I would fetch the bread from the bakery and see it being taken from the ovens on spatulas on long poles.  I would walk to school through the alleyways between the thatched cottages.  

The school was wonderful - having come from a large town school,... Read more

The Queens Head

As the ex-landlord of the Queens Head in Eynsham have many fond memories of the village and my customers, and cricket club of which I was president-1975-78.
Known as the village with the most pubs, of which i have visited all, including a race in which the contestants had to drink a pint at each pub, i finished some what worse for wear, but happy. Carnival day was a great day for publican with an extension, , it was not unusual to run out of glasses, although everybody behaved and enjoyed themselves. Great village, great people.

Jim Rand  

Landlord of White Horse Inn

The White Horse c1960
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I believe the White Horse was run by the Pratley family in the 1940s - 1950s. Jack Pratley married my father's cousin, Kathleen (nee Keen).

I am slightly confused as the name of this pub is sometimes recorded as the "White Horse" and sometimes the "White House".

Kathleen's grandparents (my great-grandparents), John and Louisa Jarrett, are buried in Bladon churchyard. John Jarrett lived in Belmont Cottage in Heath Lane, Bladon, until his death in 1947, aged 90. He had been Head Gardener at one of the large estates locally. His daughter, Maggie Maisey, and her husband Jack, continued to live in Belmont Cottage; I believe Maggie (my great aunt) died in the 1980s. Jack Maisey's father used to run the Bell Inn at Long Hanborough.
Sue

White House

The White Horse c1960
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I was born in Bladon in 1954 and the pub in mention was called the White House, I would think the pronounciation if I have spelt it right was in the locals West Oxon way of speach and White Horse can sound the same.

The Bell Inn, Long Hanborough

I have a long line of ancestors from the Jarrett and Maisey families who were born in Long Hanborough.

James Maisey, born in 1852, was originally a game keeper who became landlord of the Bell Inn in the late 1880s. He and his wife Mary Ann (my great-great aunt) had at least ten children. Among them was Frederick Thomas Maisey, who joined the Police Force and worked in Romford, where he met his wife.

After he retired, Frederick took over as landlord at the Bell Inn, which I believe they ran for several years, into the 1940s. They used to keep pigs in the back yard.

In reply to comments on Maisey and Jarrett families in Handborough. My husband is a Maisey descendant from Warwickshire and Handborough. James at the 'Bell' was his great-grandfather's brother, having worked on the Blenheim estate as gamekeepers for many years, his great-grandfather living at the Head Keepers Lodge and Fishery Cottage on the estate. We have a 'tree' back to James and Jane Maisey 1737. Please get in touch. June.

Maisey Family - June, Please Contact me

June, you left a very interesting memory about the Bell at Long Handborough, but it doesn't seem to have a link to contact you.

I would like to compare family trees with you.

Liz