Lower Beobridge

Gatacre Hall

I was taken to the ruin of the hall which was almost completely overgrown. Shortly afterwards a newspaper article appeared about Lord Gatacre abandoning the property earlier in the century. I recall a tree growing up through an old car but there was still a lot of furnishings in the building. In 1964 I acquired one of the nameplates from the GWR steam locomotive Gatacre Hall which I had for nearly 20 years. I also met one of the Gatacre family who lived near Claverly. I am searching for more information on this fascinating place.

I was working for a builder from Claverley and we were doing work on the Gatacre estate and 3 of us decided to try to see the ruined hall; after hacking through what seemed a "veritable" jungle we came upon the outer walls where there was an ancient car covered in undergrowth. I also remember a farm on the estate which was run by a family named Hyatt who remembered Squire "Calfery" Gatacre when he lived at Gatacre Hall. After the hall fell into disrepair, the squire on his return had a bungalow built to live in. It was always said that whenever the squire went in to any of the farms on the estate he recognized furniture from Gatacre hall, "allegedly". I also remember being told by a man who grew up in the area that he remembered the library just after the hall was abandoned, some of the books (tomes?) were so big, a wheelbarrow was needed to remove them.

Third World Conditions in The English Countryside.

It is all too easy to look back to the past and remember an idyllic picture of country life and forget how it was in reality, I often think back to when I was growing up in Claverley in the 1950s and 60s. My parents, younger brother, and I lived in a tied cottage which came with my father's job as a farm worker, this was no picture postcard house by any means, in fact it was a semi-hovel. It was the middle house of three and consisted of a small room with a door which opened to the outside. There was a lean-to kitchen with barely enough room for a small table, an electric oven and boiler, a tin bath and a sink with a single cold tap, also there was a tiny room off the main living area which was used to store anything and everything including my mother's vacuum cleaner, etc, and there was a cellar which flooded on a regular basis. Upstairs there was a landing bedroom which... Read more

My Family

I was born in Burnhill Green in June 1955. Most of my mother's side of my family were born there. My mother's name was Doris Mytton, and my grandfather's was Richard (Dick) Mytton. He worked on the Dartmouth Estate (Patshull Hall) for the 4th Earl.

Summerhill Disco's Wednesday Evenings

Summerhill House Hotel c1965
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

A group of us, boys and girls, would go to the Summerhill disco every Wednesday. We went to Summerhill School just up the road in Lodge Lane. It was the days of Babychams and Cherry B's and dancing round your handbags.

Oak Farm

My great-grandparents Lived at Oak Farm, Oak Lane, Kingswinford. Their name was Bradley.

Cot Lane Childhood

I went to first Glynne Primary & then Hazlemere School and l played with friends in the park along Cot Lane. If anyone knows Angela or Josie Strong as were or Norman & Adam ? who lived in Cot Lane in the mid-end 1950s I would love to reconnect with them. My family moved away and I lost touch.