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Colerne
Colerne maps
Historic maps of Colerne and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Colerne maps
Colerne area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Colerne and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Colerne
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Colerne.
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Colerne in The Second World War, Continued (2)
Following my previous memories, it might be worth mentioning one or two of the Colerne shops and tradesmen. On the south side of the marketplace, opposite the 'cross tree', was a shop, a greengrocer's I think, kept by a man called Louis Jenkins. Further along the High Street, at the corner of Tutton Hill, was a butcher: I don't remember his name; and somewhere near there, on the north side of the High Street, was the pub, 'The Six Bells'.
The tradesman I remember most clearly was the local baker, Mr Bence, known for some reason as 'Blower' Bence. He went round the village with a pony and cart, selling his bread, including rolls that were known as 'Blower Bence's Penny Loaves'. They were like a miniature cottage loaf: a small round roll with an even smaller one stuck on top, and were much in demand by the children.
Colerne in The Second World War - Continued
Those of us at Colerne school who passed our 'scholarship' exam at the age of about eleven usually went on to Chippenham Secondary School, which probably goes under a different name now: it's at Hardenhuish, just off the Malmesbury road at Chippenham. We walked from Colerne at about 7.30 a.m. to catch the train at Box, about two miles away. This train consisted of a small tank locomotive and two carriages, and was known as 'the Bunk'. We then had another walk of about a mile from Chippenham station to the school.
Like most boys during the war, I was interested in aeroplanes, so being near Colerne airfield was a bonus for me. I remember the arrival of some of the American aircraft which were supplied to the RAF under the 'Lend/Lease' scheme. In particular, a mock dog-fight over the village, between a Hawker Hurricane and a Curtiss P-40 'Tomahawk'.
As far as I recall, the airfield was bombed once or twice, probably by just one or two aircraft, but... Read more
Colerne From 1916
My grandparents lived in Colerne, my mother Minnie Louise Rowe was born there around the 1880s and my father William Simpkins lived in Colerne with the Aust family from when he was a baby. I was born in Bath in Kingsmead Road in a nursing home, we used to visit my grandmother Rowe in Colerne, she lived in Rose Cottage. In Colerne's High street on the Bath end was a very small shop and on the right side of it was an alleyway which led to my grandmother's garden. The cottage was on the left, and the toilet which was a bucket-style toilet was on the right. This was used for fertilising the garden, and helped grow a wonderful patch of rhubarb which we ate stewed or in pies when we went to visit. She also had several apple trees which we used to harvest. The next cottage down from my grandmother was lived in by a little old man about 5' 4" called Ike Tanner who was considerably older than... Read more
Bank House
My memories are of my Aunt and Uncle's house. They lived in Bank House from the 1930's until 1992 when my Uncle died. We had some great times there. He kept a pig and chickens and had a great vegetable plot. We would sometimes go to the Liberal Club for a game of skittles. My Uncle was a member of the local parish council. His name was Commander Cheetham. They were both well respected members of the village.
Colerne in The Second World War
My parents and I came to Colerne in late 1939, having left London shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, and lived at Ford, a few miles from Colerne, for a few months. That winter, of 1939-40, was a hard one, as I remember. My father worked for a building contractor on the airfield at Colerne, and I remember him coming home one day with a piece of telephone wire coated about an inch thick with ice.
Our rented house at Colerne was in Watergates, just across the road from the school playground. After a few months there, we moved to lodgings in a large house called 'Elmsleigh', owned by an elderly lady, Mrs Froude, and her daughter, just off the market place. Near the house gate was an old elm tree, known as the 'cross tree', surrounded by large stone slabs and blocks. No doubt the tree is long gone, probably replaced by another, but I imagine the stones are still there.
I remember one... Read more
Wiltshire memories
Family Connections.
This is a picture of myself with my sister and brother and my sister's friend. I was 13 years old. My sister Theo is the girl with the handbag, she was 9 years old and my brother John was 3 years old. We had been to the local store Bences and are standing outside the smallest pub in the county, The Chequers Inn. Our family home was at the top of Glovers Lane. The garden with dad's apple and cherry trees can be seen in the photograph running the full length of the lane.
Boy in Photo
I think the boy in the picture is my cousin Michael (Jake). He moved into 39 Bargates with his parents my aunt and uncle in 1955 one of the first residents. My aunt and uncle still live there.
