Pirbright memories
Here are memories of Pirbright and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Pirbright or a Pirbright photo.
Granny's House
This was the childhood home of my maternal grandmother - Louise Kate Leftwich - her father was the miller. She lived here until 1903 when she married George Barnes and came to settle in South Africa. Various members of the family have visited the Manor Farm in the last twenty years and have been received most hospitably. It has been beautifully restored. The view from the other side of the mill pond is still exactly the same as the one in the photo.
Swallow Cottage
William Stonard and Alice West lived in this house (called "Swallow Cottage"). They lived here from before 1901, through to William's death in 1935. William Stonard is my great-great-grandfather on my mother's side. Alice, his wife, was the village midwife.
Admirals Walk''s Legend
My mother lived in Admirals Walk during the Second World War. Her father was a Spanish official posted in London who hired the property to spare his family the bombing raids over the capital. The house belonged at that time to a British family whose members were serving in the army and could not live in Pirbright. Among the ancestors of that family there was an admiral who lost his life in the battle of Trafalgar. The name of the house stems from a legend according to which the ghost of the late admiral showed up on certain nights walking by the house. Although my mother never saw the spectre, as she would have wished, she keeps beautiful memories of those difficult days in Britain, full of courage and bravery. She still praises the beauty of the house and the countryside. Thanks to this site I was able to show her a picture of the house and to refresh the distant memories of her youth in England.
Barred
I remember my dad taking me to the White Hart Pub in Pirbright in the sixties, dad took great delight in telling me that it was the only pub he was ever barred from whilst a young Guardsman at the nearby Guards Depot in Pirbright.
Baker Family History
Early ancestry of John Baker and Cathrine Ockley Baker from Worplesdon was in Pirbright. John Baker's father, another John Baker, was married and lived in Pirbright in the 1570-1590 period.
The Bullen Family in Pirbright
Research has shown that Pirbright was the home for many of my relatives. Edwin Bullen and his wife Sarah resided at White Acre Cottage and 29 Railway Junction was the home of George and Charlotte Bullen. George and Charlotte had eight children, their names were Harriet, Caroline, Elizabeth, Francis, Henry, Edwin, Arthur and George. The year 1755 is my earliest record of a Pirbright resident. They were William and Elizabeth Bullen and their seven Children. Are the addresses I have mentioned still in existence? Perhaps somebody knows.
Memories of Surrey
Lock Keepers Cottage
In this photo, there is a cafe in the background. This house used to be the lock-keeper's cottage, owned by my great-grandparents. My mother used to play on a derelict barge opposite the house on the canal. Are there any Webbs still in Brookwood that remember Ted and Gert Webb, my grandparents?
I Lived in One of These Married Quarters! 1972-1974
I moved into one of these houses in the picture (Iremember which one but not the number) while living here I worked for (I think it was called R.F.G D.Q) parachute makers and then was a driver for the home office prison stores which were behind the married quarters. I do remember our house had a bathroom added on at the back ( it was so cold in the winter and with all the condensation you had to sit in thre bath holding an umbrella!) but the quarters opposite had a bath in the kitchen and only an outside toilet! They were lovely houses if only they could have had some money spent on them. I also remember picking lovely blackberries we picked on the derelict land at the back.
Knaphill & Inkerman Barracks
I was born in Nursery Road, Knaphill, and left Winston Churchill in 1972 and my first job was with RFDGQ with my friend Maureen Truman. I remember Valerie, Tony & Noel, and the boss was a lovely gentleman but sadly I have forgotten his name. I used to hang out around the barracks & know those houses. On route to school via Beechwood Road, I used to walk along the top of the high wall of the barracks...sure we were not supposed to! The barrack land where we did our cross country, is now full of houses.
Direct Enlistment
It was the 24th May 1955 when I arrived, with a number of other lads, at Inkerman Bks to begin eighteen weeks training that would "hopefully" see us depart with the somewhat doubtful tital of Military Policemen. My memories of the Depot & Training Establishment RMP are quite vivid, including the hallowed parade ground that bods like me were only allowed to set foot when under instruction (square bashing), then to B-Coy lines where after six weeks initial training one was learning to drive 15 CWT Bedford vehicles, also those awful 350cc BSA motorbikes (a very painful expeirience), one had to be competent enough to ride the thing backwards, stand on the seat with one leg extended in the air, if that wasn't enough one had to sit with legs over the handlebars then made to ride hands free. At this point in time, after being inspected vigorously, one was given permission to walk into Woking town-in uniform of course. At meal times for the first six weeks training each... Read more
Royal Military Police
I was in the Military Police stationed at Inkerman Barracks in 1962. It's a shame most of it has gone.
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Places this week
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- Gratwich, Staffordshire
- Seaton Carew, Cleveland
- Plymouth, Devon
- Borth, Dyfed
- Osterley, Greater London
- Kingsdown, Wiltshire
- Stroud, Gloucestershire
- Grantham, Lincolnshire
- Brynamman, Dyfed
- Hounslow, Middlesex
- Stanhope, County Durham
- Chadwell Heath, Essex
- Perivale, Middlesex
- Northfleet, Kent
- Harrow Weald, Middlesex
- Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire
- Frimley Green, Surrey
- Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire
- Tyseley, West Midlands
- South Woodford, Greater London
- ... and lots more - Browse this week's memories now.
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