You are here:
Raunds
Raunds maps
Historic maps of Raunds and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Raunds maps
Raunds area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Raunds and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Raunds
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Raunds.
Add your memory of Raunds
or of a photo of Raunds.
The Hall
The Hall had three impacts on my life. Firstly the library was open there on Mondays and Thursdays and for many years I visited on both as I was an insatiable reader. You began with one ticket but eventually managed to persuade the librarian to give you two. On Mondays,you were supposed to have one fiction and one non fiction book, but the librarian on Thursdays was much nicer and let you have two story books.
The optician Mr Rixon was also there on Thursdays so from the age of ten I visited him once a year. At the beginning you sat in a big old arm chair to have your test but one year, he'd gone high tech. and had a proper metal chair. I wasn't keen at first as this looked too much like the dentists.
The Hall Grounds were wonderful in the 1950s and early 1960s. What a pity so much of them has been built on. We used to go down on summer Sunday evenings to... Read more
Raunds County Infants School
This photograph shows the Raunds County Infants School - the County Modern School was behind the Infants school and the two were joined by some flat-roofed shelters.
I started at the County Infants school on my 4th birthday in 1948 and my father started work there in the same year as the caretaker of both the Infants and the County Modern School (or 'the big school' as we knew it then). Teachers at the Infants school included Miss Eady, Mrs Bull and Mrs Whittam and in the summer, when the weather was good, we would have lessons in the open-air classroom that can be seen on the right of the building. There was also a Miss Knighton, who was like a nurse, who used to regularly tip spoonsful of cod liver oil down our throats. I soon got to know my way round 'the big school' because if any child had an accident (?) or there was some other problem, I was often asked to go and find my... Read more
E Coles, Ladies' Outfitter, 37 Brook Street, Raunds
The house on the left is the one in which I was born. It had a shop underneath and a living/dining area on the ground floor and bedrooms and a bathroom and living room upstairs. The living room provided an excellent vantage point to view all the proceedings at the Methodist Chapel opposite. Never a wedding was missed and Mum would lower the shop blinds when a funeral was in progress. Our mother had the premises built in 1933-34. Next door were Ernest and Hilda Putt who had a hairdressing business. Their grandson Graham Holloway was born there, he used to visit and we would play together in the yard or across the littte rickety bridge which joined a strip of vegetable garden to their property. We were allowed to help ourselves to mint to make mint sauce for the lamb on Sunday! Mother was assisted in the shop by her younger sister (my aunt), Hilda Coles who was chiefly responsible for buying at the London fashion houses. On many... Read more
Northamptonshire memories
Duke of Wellington
My aunt and uncle used to run the Duke of Wellington Public house, Hazel (nee Austin from Irthlingborough) and Bill Forscutt, previously they ran the Bell in Little Addington for a few years. Bill died some years ago but in 2007 Hazel is still going strong.
Duke of Wellington
My wife Gail and I had our 2nd son born at the 'Duke', we were licencees for about 3 years till around the end of 1980. We met some great people and have good memories. I wonder what happened to 'Johnny and the Jailbirds' ... and would love to know what happened to Maurice Middleton.
chrispresto23@hotmail.com we now live in Aussie..
Stanwick, The Duke of Wellington
My memory of The Duke is that this was the public house that I first ever got drunk in. I was 17 and had just joined up in the Army in Boy Service. That Christmas I was on leave and went with family friends to the Duke. I was told I was not old enough to drink and the friends said if I was old enough to wear a uniform I was old enough to drink. So the filled me up with Double Diamond Beer. It was Boxing Day 1958. People I remember being in the pub at the time were George Roast and Charlie Seamarks. I was born and bred in Stanwick, sang in the church choir, went to the local school, and had my hair cut by Jummy Morris.
The Rookery
The parade of shops situated on the right was once the site of a large house called The Rookery, we lived at the Rookery from 1956 -1962. This adjoined the old Procea Products factory where my father worked for many years as a lorry driver/mechanic. Procea was famous for making slimming bread. The Rookery was owned by Procea and split into 3 houses, (we lived in the centre house), Jack Thomsons (manager at Procea) had some of the rooms and the Brailsford (dentist) family had the house closest to the factory. Sadly The Rookery was pulled down in the mid-60's. The house was grand with large windows and very high ceilings. Today The Rookery would have been a listed building and saved for future generations to enjoy. The 60's have a lot to answer for in building terms, the shops which now occupy the old Rookery site do nothing for the high street except perhaps making a little more room as the Rookery was situated nearer to the road, even... Read more
