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Little Laver
Little Laver maps
Historic maps of Little Laver and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Little Laver maps
Little Laver photos
We have no photos of Little Laver, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Matching Green| Fyfield| Matching Tye| Ongar| Sheering| Hatfield Heath| North Weald| Greensted-juxta-Ongar| Potter Street| Old Harlow| Hatfield Broad Oak| Sawbridgeworth| Harlow| Little Hallingbury| Blackmore| High Easter| Epping| Thorley| Fryerning
Little Laver area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Little Laver and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Little Laver
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Essex memories
Schooldays in The 1940s And 1950s
I was born during the Second World War in 1942, the 8th child to my parents at Goose Bridge, Matching Green. My parents were Scottish and people thought they were foreign. My dad worked for Mr Gemmill's farm and drove a lorry for him so he was exempt from call-up for the army till they were so short of drivers that he was called up and went to war when I was six months old, I was three when he returned so I was scared of this strange man who brought this big doll home for me. When I went to the local school, there were just two classes. Major and Mrs Elders were the teachers and if you were very naughty you either got the slipper across youir backside or the ruler across your knuckles or back of your legs. There was an open fire in the winter and also a big boiler to warm us. I remember Mrs Reddington the school cook who cooked lovely dinners and every... Read more
My Ancestors
My Grandfather was born at Matching Green in 1879 His name was Charles Pavitt.He had many bros and sisters ,James William Henry Emily .His parents were Joseph and Jane Jane was born 1851 nee Radley Joseph was born 1848. The Pavitt family would have been quite well known . I myself have never been to Matching Green but it is a place I feel I would like to see because of the family connection
Eccentric Artist
I remember cycling to Matching Green from Harlow in the early Seventies, as a 16 year old, exploring with friends one summer evening and coming across a cottage garden filled with strange but delightful 'art works' made out of domestic ironmongery. There were lots of metal people and devils, all brightly painted standing amid the overgrown garden among the flowers. It was very magical. Someone told us they were made by the eccentric man who lived in the attached cottage which stood on the corner of the Green with the lane leading to Harlow. Everything was grubbed up and vanished in the late Seventies. Can anyone tell me more about this story, is there someone still living who has the whole tale?
Matching in The Ealy 1950s
My aunt lived in Church Cottages for many years in the 1950s and for a couple years my family also lived at Church Cottages. When we left I still used to return and stay with my aunt during school holidays. This house had been 3 cottages that were knocked into one. It had (and still does I believe) white snowcemmed walls and a thatched roof. At one time it had two large commercial greenhouses and a field of blackcurrent bushes. Houses were built on the field in the 1960s. The strange assortment of people, made of cement over wire and painted by the maker in the front garden of the cottage were called Horace's Horrors. Horace (I think his surname was Saville) had originally been the village smithy - I can remember watching him make horseshoes etc. He was a very shy gentle man who used to partly hide his face when he chatted to you. It is said he made his own false teeth. The Smithy was located on... Read more
Memories From my Childhood
I moved to Matching Green in 1944. My mother, Gladys Hoxley (nee Curry), ran the village store, called "the Stores" which had previously been run by my grandfather and grandmother, Ernest and Edith Curry. It was lovely with a large orchard full of fruit trees and a stream running through. My paternal grandfather (Henry Hoxley) helped my mother with the shop and I remember the farm workers coming in for their "baccy". The fair came once a year in October which we all looked forward to and my father Leslie Hoxley played for the local cricket team when he came out of the Army in 1945. I attended Matching Church of England Primary School until 1952 where Major and Mrs Elders were the teachers. In November the Essex Hunt left from the Green lead by Mr. Dudley Ward who was then Master of the Essex Hunt. In May all of the children went onto the Green to celebrate May Day and we danced round the maypole. In 1945 Larry Adler... Read more
Fisiting Grandparents
Church Road - there was a row of old ricketty cottages where my grandparents, Thomas and Alice Wilkinson lived. Next door to them was an old lady always dressed in a long black skirt and a hat. She talked to herself and we were half scared of her -but realise now that she was lonely. Miss Prentice used to make lovely home made sweets. The Old Rectory was Edie Talbot's house and the beams were covered up by plaster, I didn't realise it was so lovely.
My grandfather worked on Sweicher's (?) Farm, he was born in Bobbingworth (Bovinger) My grandparents are buried in St, Mary;'s Churchyard but I couldn't find the gravestone last year. My baby uncle Harry is also buried there.
My grandmother used to tell us of the ghost in the vicarage that used to pull up the bedclothes in one of the bedrooms! I think my mother's cousin Peggy, used to run the village shop at one time.
We used to... Read more
Evacuation to Essex
My mother and some of her family were sent/lived in Fyfield Ongar for a short time during the Second World War. They moved there from West Ham in London. Her only memory of where she lived is that it was a large house with swords arranged high up on the walls. Her only other memory is of a pub with the word 'Black' in it - we've located that! Any info will be gratefully recieved.
