Steventon memories
Here are memories of Steventon and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Steventon or a Steventon photo.
12a The Camp, Hanney Road, Steventon.
My memory of Steventon started in 1947. For those who don't know about Steventon Camp, it was a disused army camp about 1 to 2 miles from Steventon village, on the Hanney road. (I see the storage depot is still there, which when I was a lad was full of army lorries.) My family (Victor and Kathleen Davis, my sister Kathleen and myself) lived at no 12a, it was at the far side, away from the road, second one in from the corner of the camp facing open fields and Steventon. To be honest, itwas a bit basic, but clean, for us children it was a great place to live. The reason we came to live there was because of overcrowding at my gran's in Marcham and her ill health. We moved out, and with nowhere to go, squatted on the camp like so many people in our situation. 12a consisted of half an old barrack block (all made of wood) with two bedrooms and one big room for... Read more
The Prior Family of Steventon
My grandmother lived in Steventon with her own grandmother around 1880. She was Florence Prior and her own gran was Eliza Prior who by then was a widow and a laundress living in Timsbury Cottage. I have tried to find the cottage but the only place I have seen with a similar name is Timsbury Villa. I sometimes wonder if it is the same place. My own visit to Steventon was around 1986. I remember visiting St Michael's Church and having a picnic in the next field among all the cowslips and other wild flowers. It was beautiful. I walked around the churchyard and found many tombstones for the Prior family including one who was in the Grenadier Guards and was killed in the First World War. Intriguingly, I found a stone with an inscription remembering Stephen Prior who died 30 May 1864 aged 46. I am tempted to guess that this is my own great-great-grandfather who married Eliza the laundress. Who knows?
Grandad
I spent several summer school holidays in Didcot with my mate and grandad,
he lived in Newlands Avenue with my Uncle Bert. Grandad ran the bar in the army camp. He used to send me round to wake up the men first thing. The man in charge was a Sergeant Biggs. Mum worked in the post office where she met Dad, who was stationed at Harwell.
Grandad would come to Hertford by train and return to Didcot so I could spend
my 6 weeks with him. My uncle owned several cars, there was an XK 140 or E Type outside the house from time to time. Grandad's name was Mr A A Attwooll. Does any body remember him?
Regards,
T R A Johnson
01992 551708
tom@johnsonbutchers.co.uk
Thanks for letting me put this down.
The Best Time of my Life
I was 8 when I moved to Steventon. We used to live in Didcot while I was a baby. I enjoyed Didcot and liked the town side of it. Also we moved here because my mum and dad wanted to live in the countryside while I was growing up to my teens. My mum is called Sharon Tappin and my dad is called Clive Tappin. So far we have been here for a year and I really like it here and also I am settled in to the school.
My name is Rebecca Tappin.
Homesick
I went to Steventon as a 'Mother's Help' to an Italian family. I came from near Manchester. I had to clean, look after a baby and a toddler and help with cooking.
But I had never been away from home before and decided it wasn't for me. It was a lovely house on the Causeway which was a listed building. The family didn't own it. I remember the lady making me wash and iron all my bedding while my mum sat with me in the kitchen to take me home!
A Year in England
At the age of 11 I lived in Steventon with my family at 103 The Causeway for the school year 1968-69. This was a tremendous experience I have treasured all of my life. I attended school at St. Michaels and went to church there. My father was on a sabbatical leave as a college professor which is how we ended up there for that year. I now in 2007 am hoping to return with my family. My friend was Howered Wilkins. My parents reguarly had drinks at the North Star pub. My brother and I loved recording the engine names and numbers of trains as they passed and became friends with the men who operated the trains gates manually. I am Jim Steamer from the US.
Memories of Oxfordshire
Matthew Kimbers Cross
As a child I remember a cross made of iron painted green at the roadside between the two turnings into East Hendred. It bore the name "Matthew Kimber". Daffodils would appear there in the spring. Can anyone tell me what it was about?
When my family moved to Sutton Courtenay in the 1960s this was the only shop left in the old part of the village. It was a fabulous place with big glass jars of sweets behind the counter, I used to visit here as soon as I received my pocket money! It was run by the Mussells, I think (pronounced 'Muzz-ells'). My sister got a job there on Saturdays. Unfortunately it eventually closed in the early 1980s.
The Village of Fond Childhood Memories (1955 )
I would have been three years old back then, living, as we did, at 77 High Street with my grandparents (the Dentons). Harry (my grandfather) used to keep bees and was regularly praised for his beautiful floral front garden. I, my brother (Desmond) and our parents later moved to Frilsham Street. The village is still my most favourite place in the entire world as it encapsulates all my cherished childhood memories. I left the village for work, aged 17, in 1969 but still seem to know it like the back of my hand decades later.
George Orwell
George Orwell (real name Eric Blair), who was the author of '1984' and 'Animal Farm', is buried in All Saints' churchyard.
Evacuation to West Hendred From 1941 to 1946
I was evacuated at the age of 4 yrs with my mother, Catherine and younger brother Alfred. We had been buried alive in a shelter, in Upton Park, East London and only saved when someone heard my mother screaming for help. I don't know how we got to WH but am told my mother arrived in the same dress she was wearing when she was dug out, it was soaking wet still. I wish I had got more information from her before she passed on. My father had to stay behind in London and eventually joined the army for the duration. My three elder sisters, Joan, Kath and Patricia had previously been evacuated to Wantage and in time we all came to live at Alpha Cottage in the village.When we arrived in the village , we were put up at The Vicarage, next to the church, and was looked after by a lady who was known as Lady Gwen Evans. I started school in the village in April 1941 and... Read more
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