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Rock maps

Historic maps of Rock and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Rock maps

Rock area books

Displaying 1 of 12 books about Rock and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Rock

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Worcestershire memories

The Milk Bar, Tenbury Road, Clows Top

The Oxleys.

Deep in the Worcestershire countryside…at the foot of Clows Top hill,
Lies the house called the Oxleys…a once sweet antidote to life’s bitter pill.
The family home of the Keegan’s…where visitors ambled from afar,
Holidaymaker’s or day-trippers en-route …on coaches…motorcycle or in a car.

Long gone is the catering van…selling breakfasts and cream teas,
Well-manicured lawns…and the fruit bearing trees.
No more antique farm carts…painted lovingly every year,
Time and tide has sadly taken its toll…releasing a heartfelt tear.

Past memories of better days…and long warm summers spent,
Camping in their fields with my family…will never relent.
Getting to know the Keegan’s…Terry…Mary…Bryan…Allison…Ricky and Roy,
Was a blessing from heaven…bestowed on everyone who stopped by.

Terry was a Guinness Rep…whose second love was the history of the heavy horse,
And Mary was the brains behind the catering van…and the farms driving force.
Terry was a horse brass aficionado…with a huge interest in tractor seats,
Mary was the perfect hostess and loyal friend…to everyone she meets.Read more

Home to my Huxley Ancestors

Many of my 'Huxley' ancestors were 'hatched, matched and dispatched' here. A most beautiful church in a very special place. Well worth a visit.

Growing up in No 3 Eardiston View

My name is Derek Hall, the brother to Martin Hall & Pamela Hall, we used to live at No 3 Eardiston View in Menith Wood in the 1960s with our mom Velta Hall. I am now 58 years old living in London with four grown up children from two mariages, I commute to Southampton where I work on Esso Refinery. I was wondering what happened to all of the village children that would now be around my age:- The Fumerollers, Nick-Tine I know Frank who was the best man at my first wedding in Lichfield was killed in a road accident in Stourport in the 1970s, Michael Edwards, Francis & Janet Holt, Jacki Bradley then there was Jimmy Birch, Colin Bentley, Jimmy Sherif (Sheko). I have been out of the UK in Africa most of my life since leaving the security and happiness of childhood, I do really miss the life in Menithwood. I am remembering the good and not so many bad times, swimming in the Team at Eardiston,... Read more

Mr Maude

The Elms Hotel c1960
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Please let me know if you remember Mr Maude who lived at the Elms for many years. I was told at the time he had been twice Lord Mayor of London. Many thanks in anticipation of a reply. Jayne

Button Oak

I lived in Button Oak during 1942/43 and worked in the Wyre Forest for 'Bob' Harris who was the Forester. Along with two of my mates, Denis Mills and Hubert Till, I made frequent trips into Bewdley to go to the pictures or get my hair cut. The cinema was just over the bridge (is it still there?) and we left our bikes for safe-keeping chained outside the chip shop for a penny. Denis still lives in Bewdley but Hubert unfortunately died several years ago. Tommy Batchford ran a lorry in those days and used to collect the pit-props we produced on the Cadbury estate and we'd go with the load and transfer it to open trucks in the railway sidings. On one trip we were flagged down by the local postman who'd found a dead deer trapped in the roadside fence (or snare?). We delivered it quietly to a butcher in Bewdley. In Button Oak I lodged first with Hubert's mother and later with Alf and Mrs Wilkes and... Read more

The Swing Boats Ride  on The Riverbank

Looking back now I think I must have been terrified when my dad took my sister and I on the swing boats which swung out so far you could see the water of the river underneath you. As you pulled the rope harder the boat would go higher. It was a regular "treat" each Sunday when my dad would take us on the Midland red bus from Wolverhampton to see my grandparents who lived in a little cottage by a public house called the Dog and Gun. My garndfather grew all his own vegetables and had a well in the garden where we would pump water from, and my grandma had fresh milk in jugs which stood on a stone flagged floor in buckets of water to keep the milk cool (no such luxury as a refrigerator). I loved just being there and I'm so glad I have these special memories.
While we were there we would also visit my aunt and uncle who lived in Arley Kings in a... Read more

Winter of 1963

Witley Court Church Interior c1965
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I moved to Great Witley in 1954 with my family,we lived at the Engine House,which used to pump the water for Witley Court. I attended Witley school from 1954 to 1960, the headmaster was Mr Wyton,a memorable time for me, living on the farm enjoying the freedom that modern society cannot provide.
The winter of 1963 was a long one,and now at the age of 14 I enjoyed sledging and snowball fights with my two brothers Philip and Michael.
One of the greatest memories of that winter was the frozen pool above Witley Court,called the Washing Pool,a popular fishing haunt for midlanders. My father owned an ex army Willy's Jeep and decided that the ice on the pool would support its weight easily,which it did,and almost on a daily basis we all drove the jeep on the pool spinning and sliding around,Philip and I also took our old motorcycles on the ice, spending more time off the bike than on,but fantastic fun,looking back I realise how dangerous it was,but we... Read more

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