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Clavelshay

Clavelshay maps

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

Clavelshay area books

Displaying 1 of 11 books about Clavelshay and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Clavelshay

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Somerset memories

Monkton House

Monkton House c1960
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I lived with my family in this house for a few months when we first arrived in England from Northern Ireland, it was being renovated by one "Gassy" Harris and was full of the smell of sawn timber. A few years back I revisited the house briefly and met with someone who I think was doing some temporary gardning, though his main profession was thatching, and had worked on that very renovation; now I have lost his name. I attended West Monkton School and got befriended by Johnny Curry, whom I subsequently met up with again at Taunton School, but then lost contact with. There was a boss-eyed stallion in the field behind the house which bit me on the bottom.

Post Office West Monkton

The Street c1955
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I lived here from around 1952 until the late 1960s with my parents RF and WM Marsh who ran the Post Office and Stores. My father used to deliver groceries to customers over quite a wide area, some of whom lived in Coombe (in another photo) and some lived across fields further into the hills where geese used to try to attack the car wheels! My father passed away at home in 1974 and my mother kept the shop going by herself (with helpers) until around 1977/8. I understand that it kept going until the Post Office cuts in 2008. Earlier there was a butchers shop further up the Street and possibly another shop of some sort.

Maternal Family History And Onwards Dictated by my Mum Age 84

My name is Hilda Mary Fenn nee Hurman. I was born at Yarford in 1924. My father was William Thomas Hurman, my mother Caroline Elizabeth nee Tucker. They are buried in the village churchyard. My two sisters and I were all married in the village church in 1952 and had receptions in the village hall. As children we attended the village school - Mr Hawkins was the headmaster - we attended youth club, brownies, guides, choir, Kingston players drama group. My best friend was Margaret Mead of The Bungalow, Fulford, she lives there still. We spent our days roaming the fields, collecting milk, harvesting, riding on the hay carts. When it was the Silver Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary, the village held a carnival and all the children and adults dressed up for a parade and a tea was held where prizes were given. All the children received a mug. When the Coronation of George 6th happened there was a similar event and another mug was given. In... Read more

Meeting my Great Grandparents

My name is Margret Russell. My maiden name was Margret Lewis. I live in Australia.
My father Wilfred Charles Lewis was born in Taunton Somerset. His maternal grandparents were Martha (nee Harris) and Samuel Critchard who were from Kingston St Mary where they raised a family of eight daughters and one son.
Martha and Samuel operated the Norton Fitzwarren Post Office for many years. When the death of Samuel occurred, Martha with the help of some of her daughters continued running the Post Office for a few years. Samuel also operated a shoe making business in a room of their home above the Post Office. Last year I was very fortunate to be able to come to the UK to meet my father's family of whom there are many still alive and many more of my 2nd cousins. It was such a surreal time for me as my father passed away when I was very young and I never had the oppourtunity to inquire of his family in the... Read more

Walnut Cottage

My Grandparents ran the post-office at Moorland when I was young, we used to visit every Sunday. I loved the atmosphere and the peacefulness of the village. My grandad was Charles Kitch, also named 'Fido', but I can't find out why. Does anyone out there know? Walnut Cottage is very much the same as I remember, and the orchard where pigs and chickens were kept had an abundance of apple trees, especially Morgan sweets. Most of my family seemed to originate from that area, those were the days. I also remember how high the canal used to be, scary as a child. I used to pick blackberries with my cousin who lived with my gran. I'm doing my family tree, I have come across a Kitch Drove and wondered how that came about, also Kitch bridge. If anyone can help I would be delighted, and most grateful. Linda Kitch

Shopping Memories.

My father was a greengrocer and his shop appears in this photograph on the left side going into the Rex Cinema arcade, a butchers shop was on the right side. During the war years and into the very early 1950s, he was the largest greengrocer in Bridgwater, having the Eastover shop and one in Taunton Road, my parents looking after one each. They also had a third shop which my sister ran for several years. That section of Eastover, including the Rex arcade, Mr Jeal the ironmonger and several other shops were demolished in the early 1960s to make way for the rather bland row of shops that now occupy the spot.

Holidays

The Town Bridge c1960
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We spent many a happy holiday in the Bridgwater area, sometimes staying on a farm just outside Bridgwater and in later years in a flat in the holiday village in nearby Burnham on Sea. Many wonderful memories of my dead parents and dogs!

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