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Little Bedwyn
Little Bedwyn maps
Historic maps of Little Bedwyn and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Little Bedwyn maps
Little Bedwyn photos
We have no photos of Little Bedwyn, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Great Bedwyn| Wilton| Hungerford| Savernake| Durley| Chilton Foliat| Chilton| Ramsbury| Eddington| Burbage| Mildenhall| Kintbury| Easton Royal| Wootton Rivers| Aldbourne| Brunton| Collingbourne Kingston| Ogbourne St George
Little Bedwyn area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Little Bedwyn and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Little Bedwyn
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Wiltshire memories
When I Was A Child.
My father was born in Great Bedwyn, his name Arthur Maurice Hatter. When I was young in 1952 we were invited to stay with a member of his family in 47 High Street, I remember they had a wonderful garden, layered with full flower beds, also they had a summer house in the garden, today it may be called a conservatory, that is where we stayed.
Almost opposite number 47 was a garage that looked like a wooden barn and we had our old Humber repaired there.
In Church Street on the right hand side was a stonemason and the names of some of his family was engraved above the entance to the shop, these were from family killed in the first world war. In St Mary's Church there are headstones with the family name, I would dearly like to know more as I know very little of my father's family only that he had a brother named Raynor [not sure of the spelling] and his father was a preacher... Read more
My Childhood Days
My memories of Great Bedwyn are spending my holidays with my gran and grandad William and Beatrice Alderman in Castle Rd and my uncle Dennis. My uncle and grandad were both signalmen at Great Bedwyn and I used to go down to take their tea. It was lovely to watch the steam trains go by. My gran took me on lovely walks up through the forest where we would sit and I would make daisy chains with my cousin Shirley. We would go to the man who made baskets and I can still remember my gran buying me a little basket with orange weaved around it. I also loved going to the bakers where there was the lovely smell of bread and cakes especially the lardys which they still make. When I got older I used to spend nearly all my weekends there. Sadly my gran and grandad and uncle are no longer alive but I still visit the church yard where they are buried along with my uncle Bill.... Read more
My Gt. Bedwyn Family.
The Eastman Family lived in Gt. Bedwyn from 1735. My Grandad lived in Brook Street then later at Railway Terrace, until his death in 1934. My Grandad had died several years before I was born, but I have vivid memories of my Grandma Carrie; she died in 1951. She was a tiny woman about 5ft 2ins - I was taller than her when I was 10 years old. She had very long hair which she put up in a bun on the top of her head. She took it out to brush it at night and I remember it was not that grey even when she was 80. I think she used to say she put soda in the water. She wore long lace-up black boots when she was going out, her best dresses had long sleeves and were quite long with lace collars and bibs. She always wore a starched long white apron over her dresses when she was at home. Both my Grandparents are buried in the "new"... Read more
The Vicarage Boys
My two brothers, my sister and I were evacuated from London to Great Bedwyn at the begining of the Second World War.We were billeted in the vicarage opposite St Mary's Church, the vicar's name was Mr Phillips. My sister Joan was later billeted with Mrs Downton who lived next door to Police Sergeant Stokes. I have so many happy memories of life in the village. I worked for Farmer Kerr at harvest time, leading a huge Shire horse and cart to collect the threshed stooks of corn to where they were building a rick. My brother Christopher and I had our portraits painted by Mrs West, I would love to know if it still exists. Sadly Christopher died in 2008.
Melrose Cottage, 8 Shalbourne
In the 1950s and early 1960s my brother and I were fostered to a Miss Little and her sister at 8 Shalborne, there were several children living there and I have many fond memories of our stay. We used to sleep in a caravan in the meadow at the back of the house, water was drawn from the well in the garden, and most of our food was home grown, or "swapped" with other villagers. Mabel and Margeret were the most loving and kindest people you could wish for strict but fair... Mabel used to clean the church as well as do all the gardening, look after all the kids and care for her sister. I remember the lady next door was called Mrs. Moon I think. Many happy times were had running over the endless fields. The bus used to come once a week to take us shopping to Hungerford, a great day out with sweets as a reward, if we were good boys. One other boy I loved... Read more
Levers The Butchers
My memories of Wilton are very fond and still are as my grandparents owned Levers the Butchers in North Street. Finding this site was a real pleasure as I can remember some of the later photographs from when I was a child. I would be really pleased if you had any photographs or history of the Levers as my grandparents are now dead and so is my father and aunt. I often visit Wilton just for nostalgia!
If you are interested, I may have some photographs of the shop and North Street so please let me know if you are.
Ye Olde Gate House
This picture is of the Old Gate House, taken from the West Street side. The sign over the front door was "Ye Olde Gate House". It was a very old house and is shown on some of the old maps of Wilton. It had two addresses - The Gate House, West Street, Wilton, and No 1 St John's Square, Ditchampton.
My Grandparents, Arthur and Selina Loveless lived in the house from 1912, and my Mother Audrey Loveless was brought up there with her sisters. Mum often told me how West Street flooded when she was a child and people had to use small boats to go up the street.
The house had a living room, a parlour and a scullery downstairs, and a toilet outside joined onto the side of the house. Inside the toilet there was a cavity high up, at the top of the wall, which accessed a "secret room". My grandfather always told me Dick Turpin the highwayman hid there from the law officers,... Read more
