Brook Row And Beyond
I was born in 1941. We lived at 4 Brook Row (where the public toilets are now). My family Arthur and Alice Mudge and myself Valerie Mudge.
During the war, my dad, well known as Doll...was the village policeman.
I was best friends with Stanley Fritter, who lived at 3 Brook Row with his family, his dad Arthur also known as Sweat and his mum Beattie. He has 2 sisters, Sheila and Pam.
My Auntie Grace and Uncle Horace Craddock lived at 5 Brook Row, and Auntie Alice and Uncle Snow lived at 2 Brook Row.
We had no toilets or running water, we had to collect our water from a tank at the end of the Row, and the nearest toilets were about 100 yards up the lane.
Stan and I used to play in the ditch, in the front of Brook Row, and on summer evenings we used to wait by the local shop (Hobarts?)for the boatmen to arrive from Grain because they gave us money and sweets which were in short supply at the time.
We rode our bicycles to Cuckolds Green, to help Harold Bradley in his fields, picking potatoes and peas. He was also the local barber.
Other people I remember:
Mo Muggeridge...the local farmer
Ivy and Fred...who ran The Ship pub
Bill and Polly Marsh...who ran the Nags Head
I attended Stoke School, the headmaster was Mr Godfrey, and our teachers were, Miss Goldie, Miss Cosgrove, Miss Fitzgerald and Miss Plewis who played the piano.
I remember the farm going up in flames, I think it was called Amos Farm.
I remember Bradleys shoe shop, Welshs Post Office and the butcher, Mr Stops, was a very good friend of my dads.
There was also Mr Thomas who owned the local haberdashers, and the second hand furniture shop.
One shop I remember well was Reynolds...which was very creepy as it had hardly any lighting.
The Doctors were Dr McDonald and Dr Tilley.
After the war, my dad was the local coal merchant.
We had local dances and entertainment at The Legion in Lower Stoke. Also we had a mobile cinema that used to visit on a Tuesday.
I left Lower Stoke in 1953 aged 13, and moved to Hoo.
It would be nice to hear any other people's memories of Lower Stoke between 1941 - 1953.
Valerie Dixon - nee Mudge
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RE: RE: Brook Row And Beyond
In 2001 I bought Forge House, seen from the High Street in one of the photos above. Alas it no longer looks like that, but I would love to know more about its origins (I have traced the foundation outline to about 1801 and I think it was old then) and indeed how it came to change.
I think there was work done in 1957 when the plot behind (now "Orchard View") was sold off, and again probably work in the 70s that resulted in the loss of the left hand chimney and the right hand bay wndow and caused the ghastly current white slurrydash finish. Parts of the walls are now (under the slurrydash) breezeblock, but I think the rear extension (now my drawing room, with two bedrooms above) went on before then, although the bricks of one wall that I know for sure to be brick not breezeblock are modern size and not the pre-1880 (is it) narrow bricks.
I'd also like to know about the old stream and the bridge that crossed it to the shop (now "Universal Stores"). My front garden seems to have occupied part of the village square!
Did it used to flood then as it does now? Now the stream is underground in a pipe and the bridge is under the tarmac, and I am sure that is part of the problem.
The Ship is now derelict and a developer wants to put 12 (!) dwellings on hit and Orchard View.
South View (in another photo above) now looks out on a 1960s council estate.
I don't know how viewers can contact me, but there must be a way since there is a membership that records an email address. I'd love to hear.
Comment from Richard Bridge on Sunday, 22nd March 2009.
RE: RE: Brook Row And Beyond
PS - Dr MacDonald now lives in Brook House, just a bit down from the public loos, built in I think the 60s, and occasionally in the 60s I used to play tennis in a club at at Cobham Hall and knew his son, who later for a while was part of a consortium that owned the Hogarth Arms in Grain.
I think the creepy shop must have been the old hardware shop or the old pipe shop in the High Street. Both alas got developed so one would be the Chinese owned shop and the other offices of a cleaning company (for a while a replacement Drs surgery) and the other post office run by Malook Panesar.
There is now a carpark opposite the Ship and the old cottages there have gone too.
The windmill is gone, but Mill House is still there and the Gorgeous farmhouse the other end of the High Street. Walnut Tree Farm is still there but is now a partly modernised house.
Comment from Richard Bridge on Sunday, 22nd March 2009.
RE: RE: Brook Row And Beyond
Re Forge House:
To Richard Bridge:
I only remember Forge House as it appears in the photograph, the owner in approx 1955 was Mr Fry, he had lived there for many years, but I didn't know very much about him, he seemed very elderly to me but I was only 15 at the time.
The stream (it was always known as the ditch) ran from the farmhouse, in front of our cottages, under the bridge, past the Legion, up to Cuckolds Green. There was an underground spring at the back of Forge House which pumped into a water butt situated at the back of the cottages (which is now the back of the shop). This was our only supply of water, but I never remember it flooding, or remember anyone ever mentioning that it had flooded.
I remember Dr McDonald's house being built about the mid 1950s. The last family I remember at Walnut Tree Farm were the Sayers.
My father had the big yard that was behind the shop,he ran his coal business from there.
When I am in the area I always visit Lower Stoke, just to have another look round, sadly it isn't the Stoke I knew, but it's still my family's roots, and my father's family goes back many, many years.
I hope this has been of some help to you, please contact me again if you need more information.
Valerie Dixon
Comment from Valerie Dixon on Thursday, 26th March 2009.
RE: RE: Brook Row And Beyond
A friend gave me a copy of your internet item which asked for news of Lower Stoke. I am first cousin to Valerie Dixon, daughter of Stanley Mudge, her father's brother. In the village in Norfolk where I live there is also a first cousin, Iris, daughter of Harry Mudge, Valerie's father's eldest brother. We have both lived in this Norfolk village for 20 years but only met last year! In Lower Stoke, my second cousin still lives, Margaret Boyce, nee Wilson. Her grandmother (my mother's sister) Emily Mallion lived in the old cottage, up the yard by the garage, on the right, now demolished. Margaret and Iris are the same age as Valerie and went to the same school. Valerie, if you would like to contact me by phone my number is 01760 723853. I am getting a friend to enter this on the internet.
Comment from Jean King on Thursday, 10th September 2009.