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Harpole
Harpole maps
Historic maps of Harpole and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Harpole maps
Harpole photos
We have no photos of Harpole, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Duston| Althorp| Great Brington| Road Weedon| Lower Weedon| Weedon| Milton Malsor| Northampton| Blisworth| Hardingstone| Spratton| Moulton| Watford
Harpole area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Harpole and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Harpole
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Northamptonshire memories
Car Project.
The Morris car depicted in the photograph was overhauled and bodied by my late father, Arthur Parker, in 1951-2. He had removed the body from a c1937 Morris 8 van, overhauled the mechanics and the chassis, and built from scratch a new shooting brake style body. As a 7-year old I was thrilled to be able to help with the work and immensely proud of the result. Unfortunately, when father came to register the car the authorities decided to demand the full purchase tax which hadn't been levied on the original pre-war commercial vehicle. This sum, in the hard times of the early 1950s, was difficult to find and the Morris sadly had to be sold to cover it.
Cappels Shop
I remember going into Cappels shop in the late 1970s and buying kali and liquourice. I also remember going down to Coach bridge, swimming with my friends, and a man called malcolm used to come over on his penny farthing, good times were had by all.
The Shop
Church Street, at the end of this my parent's shop, home until dad decided to retire to Badby. Next door the Roman Catholic church. Anyone else remember the processions down Church Street when it was Remembrance Sunday or the Church Fete with Rose Queen on the trailer surrounded by attendants. Running for the bus along there too, especially if you needed to get to Northampton in time for school as I did. Further up the street the cobbler's shop and Mr Gates coal merchants. Can you imagine we had 4 shops all in that one street in the 1950's, most villages are lucky to have one now!
Train Crash
On April 18 1967 I was on a train travelling from Northampton to London. It was a sunny April afternoon, with a few small white clouds drifting across the sky. The train was about a quarter full and we rattled along peacefully until we reached a point just east of Milton Malsor.
Suddenly there came the urgent sound of a train's siren blasting repeatedly, followed by violent braking, then the rending of metal and smashing of glass. The train shuddered and vibrated and I got down on the floor, thinking this the safest place. As crouched there I vividly remember dust particles dancing up and down as we shuddered to a halt, and the pipe of a man who had been smoking near me go bouncing past my nose.
We had collided with an empty coal train travelling north, and many wagons were derailed and flung into a heap. Our front powered carriage was derailed and pitched down an embankment. After a long stillness and silence... Read more
When Young
goint to the Savoy Cinema to see and hear the Compton Organ, the cinema has now been bought by thr Jesus people & restored to its 1930,s decoration.
the name of Alan Ashton rings a bell, was he conected to the Savoy/ABC cinema years ago.
the town has altered quite a lot since those days of the 1940/50,s not as i like it these days.
i am in my late years now (75) but love the past.
Memories of War - The Forgotten Casualties (1) - by Patricia Bolter
I am entering these memories on behalf of my mother in law - Patricia Ross (nee Bolter)
Running to meet Dad, just a young man, in uniform for the first time coming home to show us in pride. Providing for the family had been difficult, even tried sweeping snow. I have listened to "The Little Boy That Santa Clause Forgot", could only cry "I don't want my Dad to go away" but what does a 4 year old really understand. We had watched Dad and Uncles dig a shelter in our yard and played getting into it quickly, it was dark and damp. Mum fell down the steps but we were "SAFE. Save The Children? What have we learned? Fetching Granny and relatives to share our shelter for the first air raid, cushions on head for protection from shrapnel. Naive . .
Issued with Mickey Mouse gas masks in a cardboard box with a shoulder string, the smell of rubber, no understanding of why they are necessary.
Gwendoline Hodges
It is as if my grandmother Gwendoline Edith Hunt, nee Hodges, has ceased to exist. For years and through various forums I have searched for information about her and her family (Wooton locals....Horace and Ethel Hodges who lived at Resthaven Road for many years) yet have had no luck. She is listed as having died at the age of 30 in 1941 at Parkfield Avenue.
There is a bit of a sad tale, that she left 3 of her 4 children (one of which was my father) and put them on a bus to another relative, they were in foster care for many years. The other child, nobody seems to know what happened to her.
So many questions, unanswered due to being unable to find any living relatives of hers. My father's family seem to have either selective memories or none. Foster care documents cite that she tried to contact her children prior to her death, but she was prevented by my grandfather who by all accounts was a... Read more
