Halstead, Essex

blacksmiths

I attended the grammar school 1936-9. Whilst waiting for buses home I used to talk to the local blacksmith. I said to him ,"My granddad uised to be a smith"
When I told him my surname was `King` he asked "Was he Tom King ?" I did not know as my relative had died when I was two but asked "Why?" I was told "All smiths named King were `Tom` Many years later checking the family tree I found it was correct ,three generations of smiths all surnamed King were either named or nicknamed `Tom`.The first was at Aingers Green Gt.Bentley. I then wondered was Dick Turpin`s partner in crime,Tom King a forebear of mine ? It seems NO, it was only a nickname ,his real name was Matthew !

Where I grew up.

I lived most of my life in Sible Hedingham, as a family we moved there from London in 1962.  I was just 2 years old at the time. My father Robert Farren, "Bob" as he was best known and my mother Ivy, took over the licence of The White Lion, Church Street.  Growing up I never imagined that I would ever live anywhere but there.  My parents retired after 28 years behind the bar.  
The White Lion can be seen in picture S276003 of Church Street, it is the second building on the right hand side of the photograph. The first building is, or I should say was a General Store.  You could buy just about anything there from linens, clothing and yarn to cheese and sugar.  It closed somewhere around 1972 and was turned into a private residence.  The Lion was originally a workhouse and had several cottages on the premises, two of which I can still remember - they were in what is now the car park.  They were demolished after the last occupant died when I was still quite young but I do remember having tea with the old boy.  On the opposite side of the street was what was the Burgermasters house named "Cherry Bounce."  Further down the street was Crestwell Farm on the left, this was at one time a working dairy farm but I never saw any cows there.  I spent a lot of time over at that farm, the son of the owners was a good friend of mine and I especially remember churning butter and patting it into squares, it was hard work but delicious.  On the same side as the Lion was "Old Mrs Otto's" cottage.  I loved going to see her, she was ancient or so it seemed to me at the time, but she had been everywhere and was fascinating.  She had a great collection of THINGS from all over the world and would tell me stories all day long.  She made really disgusting puddings and always insisted I take them home for my dear father.  He hated them too but always "thanked her very much" when he saw her over the fence.  She had no children that I can remember but when she died a nephew took over her cottage and threw away most of her wonderful treasures.  She did give me a charm bracelet once and I treasure it to this day.  The next house is "Tape House".  Now one house it used to be two cottages. Aunt Lucy as everyone called her lived in the first one and my sister when she married lived in the second. There are 16 years between me and Susan so I was only 6 when she married.  No inside plumbing except a fuacet in the kitchen, cobblestone floors and a fireplace as big as a small room.  
There were leaded light windows all through the house. We used to take a bath in an old tin bathtub in front of the fire filled with hot water from pots on the stove and the small immersion water heater above the sink.  My brother-in-law kept an amazing menagerie of animals in the back garden - pigs, ducks, chickens and rabbits, we were never short of meat.  He was a volunteer fireman and when the fire siren went off he would jump on his bicycle and pedal down the street like the wind, sometimes I would try to catch him up but he always beat me.
A few houses down and over the bridge on the opposite side of the road lived the Church Verger Norman Vagg and his wife.  Their house was the least modernised of them all, one electric light in the kitchen and an outside pump for water.  But when you had a power cut and you needed your Brownie uniform ironed that was the place to go.  Always a steaming hot cup of tea and a slice of homemade fruit cake there.  Norman and his wife only had one child and he died as an infant.  They where like grandparents to me and I know my visits were always welcome.  Every Saturday lunchtime he would ride up to the pub on his bike for a half pint and I would steal his bike to ride down to the bookies and put on bets for my dad.  I thought he never knew but of course he did. I used to go with him up to the church, St Peter's, and we would spend many hours trimming around gravestones, and my favourite climbing the clock tower and winding the weights up that kept the clock ticking.  I spent a great deal of my childhood around that church.  Many people are afraid of churchyards but I saw no reason to be afraid.  I knew most of the families with relatives in there, they were all friends.  Sadly Norman was hit by a car riding his bike to the church, he never recovered and the driver was never to my knowledge caught.  That was just a few of the memories I have of Church Street, of course I have many more.  In all of Sible Hedingham there isn't one bit of it I haven't been to from Southey Green to Bottle Hall.  Maybe one day I will return, I'm certain it won't be the same but I'm sure the people will be.  My name is Anne and I moved away to the USA in October of 1992 but my heart is still in good old Sible.

The Ransons move to Castle Hedingham

We arrived in Castle Hedingham around the turn of the year 1964/5, Mum, Dad, my three little brothers and myself. Our newly built house was just out of shot to the left of this photo of Pye Corner. Mum & Dad's friend Tony owned the white Alvis car parked on the green. We were very excited be in our big house. It was a cold winter and Mum was trying to get us settled in. Like all new houses it had it's teething problems.
We all eventually went to De Vere primary school on the other side of the village and made lots of friends, some of whom we still see. Also on Pye Corner was a lovely old house called Astles. It belonged to a man called Mr. Kelk. His granddaughter, Charlotte showed me all the nooks and crannies of the house and garden which fascinated me and began my interest in old houses that continues to this day. Mr. Kelk's house has recently been beautifully restored by some very talented people.
The 1960s were good years to be children. We wandered through fields in warm summers, picked blackberries in autumn and enjoyed sledging down Scotch Pastures in snowy winters. In spring, we played amongst primroses and bluebells in the woods. I hope the flowers are still there. I do not think children get the same freedom today.
In the last year I have been back to Castle Hedingham a few times. My parents are still there and my brothers nearby. Those little cottages in the picture have all been restored and many new homes followed ours. Alas, our modern lifestyle has brought the end of most of the village shops, but I think the village still has it's character. I love to go back and revive my memories.

Braintree County High School

I own a picture of the students of BCHS taken in 1947.  Such a view has many many names and connections. There is the headmaster Dr. Cordingly [he of the famous stick]. Here is the vicar Hartley Brook's daughter. My old girl friend Shirley, and members of my class including Billy Cranfield, Ron Whittaker, David Woodward, Valerie O'Neill and a crowd of others. There also is "Madame" Elliot who tried in vain to teach me french. I visited the school a couple of years ago to discover to my distress, that it was no more. Perhaps some of those I have named will contact me. I am a physician in Oakland California USA...yes me, the most unruly nuisance of a kid back then...Malcolm Stewart-Morris.