Lilley, Bedfordshire

Cottages in Lower Road

My dad used to live in the end cottage up until the early 1950s (the one next to the car). Both my grandparents lived there until about 1965.
The cottage was very small, with no running water and an old earth closet toilet. The water had to be collected in pails from standpipes every day.
These were dotted around the... [more]

Colemans Road

When I was small my mother used to help out in the farm run by Mr Coleson, which was behind the photographer. His son Tommy still lives there I think.
I remember collecting eggs and Mr Coleson drinking milk that was still warm from the cows he had.
The  house at the bottom is now called the Old Queen's Head after... [more]

My Heritage

Personally I don't have a memory of the Sun Hotel, but my late mother told me once that she thought her father's family either owned or ran the hotel. Their name was Taylor and they came from Hitchen and the surrounding area.

Halsey's Delicatessen

Our grandparents used to visit Halsey's weekly from Old Stevenage to buy their provisions. Now I with my sister visit regularly especially as we love the new owners' Kirsty and Damien's Tea Room. We take our children for 'tea' there and they think it's a real treat! Christmas simply wouldn't be Christmas without our Christmas Pudding Coffee, and Wild Boar and... [more]

Hitchin

The scene is the rear of The Sun Hotel.

Queen Street

The road is called Queen Street and shows St Mary's Square on the left where the market was held on Tuesday and Saturday every week. Beyond that is Portmill Lane and the back of shops and offices at the top of Hermitage Road. On the immediate right is the Telephone Exchange.

Car in the Churchyard

This car was parked in the Churchyard outside the provisions shop Halseys.

Man in Picture 1965

The white-haired man in the photograph, I believe, is my father John Neville. He was a police sergeant in Hitchin from 1941 until his retirement in the late '50s.