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Snelsmore Common
Snelsmore Common maps
Historic maps of Snelsmore Common and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Snelsmore Common maps
Snelsmore Common photos
We have no photos of Snelsmore Common, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Chieveley| Hermitage| Newbury| Cold Ash| Peasemore| Thatcham| Hampstead Norreys| Frilsham| Kintbury| Yattendon| Compton| Crookham| Brimpton
Snelsmore Common area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Snelsmore Common and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Snelsmore Common
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Berkshire memories
All Good Things Started at Boxford
I have very early memories of Boxford Primary School. The school teachers were Mr and Mrs Alderman, Mr taught the older children and Mrs the young infants. I attended both, I started in the infants and sat next to a Jennifer Fox, then moved on to the juniors, We had good times playing in the play ground. People who I remember are: Gerald and Andrew Schmidt (sadly Gerald was murdered, God bless him, he was a great guy), Raymond Childs, Chris, Treavor and Richard Cannings, Kevin, Chris, Russell, Ashley and Anita Knape, Kevin Tarbox, Fatty Sharp, Robert Kemp, Tim, Anne Blunt, and lots more.
I remember doing country dancing, in a strange way I really enjoyed it.
I also remember leaving school in the afternoon and running like mad down to Mr and Mrs Stancliff's who owned the mill, they used to leave a message to say if we could use their swimming pool, it was fantastic fun in those days. Mrs Stancliff would bring out orange squash for us... Read more
Childhood in Benham Valence
It was in April 1950 that I was born in the Victorian wing of Benham Valence - actually in the flat above the garages - a very primitive dwelling with no bathroom or indoor toilet. Unfortunately the whole wing was found to be in such bad repair that it was demolished completely in the 1980s. The great house of Benham Valence itself lay empty and neglected save for the scant attentions of the then caretakers - either the Mildenhalls or the Husbands. My memory fails me on this.
My father Dick Clark was a forester for Suttons Estates. Whilst my family lived there they made friends with the Pococks - Martha and Ray - who lived in the Mill House in front of the lake. Their house has also been demolished as it began to subside into the mill race which ran beneath the house. The large house presently on this site is the converted mill itself.
In my childhood I always referred to the Pococks as Nan and... Read more
Allen Family at Stockcross
What did they put in the water at Stockcross?
I am just wondering as my great-grandad George Allen was born at Stockcross in 1831. He was a gardener but astonishingly he married three times and even more amazing he celebrated his golden wedding with his third wife.
The family story is that he didn't like children yet he fathered an awful lot! This has been told to me by my aunt Doris Lacey who remembers her own childhood in the First World War and being rather frightened of George. He must have been tough to have worked as a gardener, became a widower twice, married three times, fathered three families and lived to the grand age of 94 !!
I visited Stockcross in the 1980's and wondered as I walked in the churchyard whether great-grandad had tended the gardens there. I picked a sprig from an ancient yew tree there and took it back with me to give to my aunt - being... Read more
Stockcross - The Cricketer's Inn
The Cricketer's Inn, Stockcross
There used to be a pub called the Cricketer's Inn at Stockcross. The publicans were good friends of my father Pat Gallagher (who ran the Clock Tower Inn in the broadway in Newbury).
Harry and Trixie Hewitt ran the Cricketer's at this time and they had 2 daughters Sue and Sally.
I used to love going out there with my father when I was very young. Harry and Trixie were a great, colourful couple and I remember the smell and feel of their home and gardern and pub.
Every year there was a Publican's Ball where everyone would get dressed up and have a really good time. I was 16 when I went to my first and last ball and Trixie and Harry sat at our table with a load of other friends including girls and guys from the Clocky.
Contributed on 10 April 2009 , by Lorraine Kopp
My Uncle Aunt And Cousins Lived Here
My uncle and aunt lived here from roughly 1948 to 1958. We lived on Oare Common and visited them at the Castle regularly.
In the living room was a large hook and apparently someone in the past was hung from the hook and has haunted the castle ever since. Another aunt lived at the top of the Castle, she was deaf and dumb. I remember lots of adders around the grounds.
A Visit to my Birthplace
Delighted to find this photo. I was born in Grimsbury Castle in 1946. I came to America at age three and know very little about the history of the Castle and surrounding area. I did visit the Castle in 1971. The appearance was much the same as it is in your 1955 photo. There were in fact adders close by even then. At the time I thought it would be lovely to see the inside of the structure. So I knocked on a thick wooden door. As I stood there I noticed that the door was heavily laced in cobwebs. But, a bottle of milk was next to the threshold. So, I knocked again. Just as I was convinced that no one would answer, a toothless cleaning lady with soot on her face pulled opened the door and said "Wa du ya want?" in an incredibly gruff voice. I asked if I might have a word with the owmer. She said "Not here" and closed the door. I couldn't leave... Read more
Living in The Hermitage Area
We lived at 101 Oare Common. Our family lived at the above address from 1937 until 1949. I started to attend Hermitage Primary School in 1938 and left there in 1948, during that time we had three headmasters, Mr Cudby, Mr Friend, and Mr Enever, two teachers that I remember were Miss Bushell and Miss Matthews. One Sunday morning during the Second World War we were woken by a very loud explosion, some time later we were out for a Sunday evening walk and came across a huge bomb crater in woods not far from Wellhouse. Denis Bowman
