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Lilley
Lilley maps
Historic maps of Lilley and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Lilley maps
Lilley area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Lilley and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Lilley
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Lilley.
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My Gran Grandad Uncles
My grandad and grandma Sam Brown lived at 36 near the chapel, aunt Et and uncle? on the adjoining corner house. Until I was 5 we lived at Offley where I was born at the Wheelwrights during the 1990s. I was looking for this house which has been renamed, the lady living there kindly invited me in and I remembered some of the features of this house. We moved to The Flints about 1931 where my eldest sister was born and uncle Harry and aunt Olive? lived close by, their daughter's name was Betty. On Sundays we walked to Gran's over the Hoo, if my memory's right, I seem to remember there was also a windmill near The Flints. Also my uncle George and aunt? lived in council houses past the school and a pond on the right, cousin Gordon was one of their sons, other son and daughter I can't remember their names. Before the war we went to Gran's on holiday, we went over stile and across a... Read more
Bedfordshire memories
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 village next to the older cottages that did not have any internal running water, and this was the norm right up untill the late 1960s, when a lot of the houses were modernised. From memory, the water appeared to be not charged or metered as during the summer holidays you always could get a free drink and play around by leaving the standpipes full on to create mini floods!
I also remember the council lorry arriving on Wednesday afternoons to visit various houses around the village to empty the contents of the toilets. I recall the smell, especially in the summer!
Kevan Peters
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 its original use as a pub. I remember part of it being used for the doctors surgery, the doctor being either a Mr Probyn or a Dr Crill.
Visiting
The lady in the centre of the photograph walking towards the camera is Mrs Kate Silsby my grandmother who lived at 8 Tilehouse Street. When this was taken we think she would have been walking to St Ippollytts to visit her daughter Mrs Babs Brown.
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.
Car in The Churchyard
This car was parked in the Churchyard outside the provisions shop Halseys.
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.
