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Stoford

Stoford photos

Displaying the first of 2 old photos of Stoford.   View all Stoford photos

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Stoford maps

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

Stoford area books

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

Memories of Stoford

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Wiltshire memories

Chipperfield's Circus

The Village c1955
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In fact these are not Lotmore Cottages, which were along the road that leads to the River Wylye, immediately left in the photograph past the front of the Royal Oak pub on the left, about 50 metres down on the right.  I know this because I lived in Lotmore as a small boy, in the first of two semi detached cottages.  There was a hilly field opposite that led up towards Grovely Wood.  Chipperfield's Circus used to rest in this field when not on the road.  Sometimes there were elephants there.  Old Mr Chipperfield made me a wooden dog on wheels which we called Chipperdog.  Lotmore was demolished many years ago and some late 50's council houses now stand on the site.

Granny''s Home

I have never visited Druid's lodge, but have been brought up with stories of it.
 It was for some years the home of my Grandmother.  She was the daughter of Thomas lewis the Irish Race horse trainer.
  Thomas was installed in Druids Lodge about 1907 by Lord Cunliffe who owned the 1913 Derby winner Aboyeur.  Thomas was his trainer.  
Granny went to school at the Gadolphin school for girls in Salisbury.  She was about 16 at this time.
Stephen Donaghue was one of the young jockeys there at the time.  According to my granny, she taught him to write his name so as to be able to sign cheques !
 If anyone reading this small article has anymore information on Thomas Lewis, I should be grateful.  Although he died in 1938, I do not know what or where he went after the start of the 1st world war.

Great Gran

My great-grandparents lived at Barford, they lived at the Dairy, Dairy Road. I visited there not long ago to find their graves, Harry and Harriet Fry, which I did. I also visited a lady called Wyn Fry a few years ago, she was married to my gran's brother. But then I never heard from her. I tried to find out what happened, can anybody help me?

My Grandfather

This is approximately the year when researching my family history that I became aware that there is a plaque in the church for my grandfather, George Reginald Mundy of the Wiltshire Regiment, who was killed in action on 23/7/1916 aged 40.  He left a widow and 5 children, the youngest being only 3 months old.
My grandmother died  in 1932, only 4 years before I was born, and yet I cannot remember any of my grandparents being talked about.
Kath Jones, nee Mundy


A Faked Photo!

This is a faked photo! Stone 56 is upright only because it has been drawn in on the negative - the clue is that Stones 21, 22 and their lintel 121 had collapsed before stone 56 was straightened in 1901. (If you are not a Stonehenge geek that probably was too much information!) The original photograph was also used as a postcard, but I guess that when stone 56 was straightened in a welter of publicity they decided to alter the print, not knowing about the other changes they should have made. Editor's note: Thank you for the information, you are quite right. We often find older images in the collection have been altered to 'update them'. This is all part of the history of the archive so we cannot alter the position of the stone. However, your information has been noted in our database.

John And Hannah Kyte

Just found out my great great grandparants, John and Hannah Kyte lived there. John's occupation was horse carter. Hannah's maiden name was Huberd.

SORRY, BUT WE USED TO CALL IT GIBBS AND SPEW

Three Swans And Brewery 1992
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Yes, I worked there when I was 15 with two other boys. I remember Tony Fletcher and Alan Blackman (are you still out there?). It was a dark warm place when on full tilt, it looked like London in the fog. I remember the characters like old Seth, he could drink beer straight from the fermentation tank whilst it was still hot, yes, it was free, we used to have a ration of two pints a day hence I was legless after my first, then I used to save it till the weekend to sell to the oldies who could drink as much as they could get. Seth was a bomb, he loved the gee gees but it would take him 26 minutes to go to the bookies and back so he devised a way of getting out. I didn't know where he did work in the brewery, only that every now and then he would come to where I was on the barrel wash, it was a monster to... Read more

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