Great Sampford, Essex

week ends

Fishing in whitleys farm pond with don martin eyes glued on the water for tench bubbles. catching one of two pounds and scared half to death of it getting off the hook [ granny knots] ..riding in trailers full of warm wheat.. birds nesting down the old farm and falling in the moat. getting shouted at for riding my bike on... [more]

A search in progress

Finchingfield to me, in my younger days, was a place that Dad would take Mum and me to on a Sunday afternoon drive. Never to stop for very long but it is a place that leaves a snapshot in your memory.
Being an adopted child I did not realise at the time that Finchingfield would play a large part in a... [more]

In My Day

In my days in the village I recall the upstairs room of the Guildhall having a snooker table where the men used to gather, this would be shortly after the war. Of more interest to me was the Library that was situated downstairs.  As a very small child I was able to borrow and read books of all kinds which stimulated... [more]

Growing up in Finchingfield

My family Ken and Joan Blake owned the Church Hill Stores (opposite the Church) from 1945 to the early 50's then we lived in the village until 1957. I have many memories of my time in Finchingfield and many faces and events come flooding back. This picture shows a row of cottages known to me as The Causeway where in my... [more]

A child's memories of Thaxted

I was only six years old when I was taken to Thaxted by my father, in 1941. We moved from Start Hill near Bishop's Stortford, reasons were the war and the Yanks which we will not enter into. The first thing that struck me and still lingers in my memories was the church and its very pointed and high steeple. When... [more]

time gentlemen please!

We came to live in Thaxted in about 1950, and though we lived in one of  the Borough Cottages, Bolford Street, which then were in a bad state, for me,  fresh out of an institution ( I was only eight), it was the most wonderful place - and I still feel that way about it. I had my own bedroom, and... [more]

Our stay in Thaxted

In 1969, my father, a MSGT in the USAF, was stationed at RAF Wethersfield. While waiting for base housing, we rented a beautifully situated place named Barn Cottage, a 600-year-old converted stable. Our landlord, Mr. Ainsworth, lived above us with his charming family in Prior's Hall. The place commanded a magnificent view of the valley and town, and... [more]

Where my mum was born

Thaxted is where my mum was born in 1907.