East Hendred, Oxfordshire

Grandad

I spent several summer school holidays in Didcot with my mate and grandad,
he lived in Newlands Avenue with my Uncle Bert. Grandad ran the bar in the army camp. He used to send me round to wake up the men first thing. The man in charge was a Sergeant Biggs. Mum worked in the post office where she met Dad,... [more]

The Prior family of Steventon

My grandmother lived in Steventon with her own grandmother around 1880. She was Florence Prior and her own gran was Eliza Prior who by then was a widow and a laundress living in Timsbury Cottage. I have tried to find the cottage but the only place I have seen with a similar name is Timsbury Villa. I sometimes wonder if it... [more]

The best time of my life

I was 8 when I moved to Steventon.  We used to live in Didcot while I was a baby.  I enjoyed Didcot and liked the town side of it.  Also we moved here because my mum and dad wanted to live in the countryside while I was growing up to my teens. My mum is called Sharon Tappin and my dad... [more]

Homesick

I went to Steventon as a 'Mother's Help' to an Italian family.  I came from near Manchester. I had to clean, look after a baby and a toddler and help with cooking.
But I had never been away from home before and decided it wasn't for me.  It was a lovely house on the Causeway which was a listed building. The... [more]

A year in England

At the age of 11 I lived in Steventon with my family at 103 The Causeway for the school year 1968-69.  This was a tremendous experience I have treasured all of my life.  I attended school at St. Michaels and went to church there.  My father was on a sabbatical leave as a college professor which is how we ended up... [more]

The big elm tree.

This is the best picture yet of that great old tree that I have found. I sat on its roots at the age of 5 years back in 1939, and all through the war it was a great place to sit out of the rain.
I have a picture of it when it was young, and a picture of its stump... [more]

I lived in the house immediately behind "the big tree" from 1973-1975. I was only 8 or 9 years old and have fond memories of climbing in the lower reaches of that tree. I have a photo my parents took of the tree in the winter, and one can see how massive the tree's upper branches and trunk were in spite... [more]

the green east hanney

I moved to East Hanney in 1956 at the age of 4, we moved to Manor Farm Cottage just behind the centre of the photo. the large tree on the left was known as "the big tree" and it was said that Oliver Cromwell camped there, the occupant of the house on the far end of the row was Mr Creed,... [more]