Stonehouse memories
Here are memories of Stonehouse and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Stonehouse or a Stonehouse photo.
Childhood 1952 Onwards
I think Stonehouse had something for every age growing up. Brownies, cubs, scouts, and guides. A youth club and a coffee bar. Always somewhere to explore, the canal, Doverow for sledging, the brickworks and always scrogging apples and pears from the Wycliffe college orchard. We went to the Methodist church and youth club where we were always encouraged to join in, with Junior church in the morning and sunday school in the afternoon and the best for us teenagers was the evening service when we would go afterwards for coffee to the manse, I think half the fun was meeting with the boys from Wycliffe.
Growing up in Stonehouse meant that you knew so many people and if my Mother was shopping in the town, I could ask in the butchers or the newsagents etc and they would know where she was. We moved to the Park estate when I was six and I think that nearly every house had a child of my age in the family and... Read more
Good Old School Years
Hi, my name is Pat Cheah (formerly Cook). I grew up in Stonehouse. I wsa just reading through some of the memories and would like to add a few of my own. We lived up on Doverow for many years. Doverow was one of my many places to play, my friends and I liked to play on top of the water tower, in the woods where we would pick bluebells and pitch our tent. I had so many happy memories of Stonehouse. To go to the movies we used to get Mrs Short to take us in, to which she took so many of us. I came back to Stonehouse for a visit seven years ago now, what a change I saw, all was different up in Doverow. I did get to see my last home in England before leaving for Canada. I am still in touch with my best friend who was five when we met, we are now in our seventies. If anyone can remember me, I would... Read more
When I Was A Boy
Now a resident and Parish Councillor in Devon the Frith photos of Stonehouse took me instantly back to my early years growing up in the village. Not surprisingly one of my earliest memories is of the celebrations surrounding the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953. Little did I know then that some 51 years later I would stand before her at Buckingham Palace as she pinned an OBE to my chest. Having spent some time in a Gloucester hospital with TB, I convalesced at Standish then, having recovered somewhat by 1953, by now at the tender age of 7, I was dressed as a court jester along with all the local kids who, standing in drizzling rain, paraded around 'the Rec' behind the High Street and later in a Copner Close decorated in red, white and blue and arranged with a long string of tables laden with party food of the day. As it grew dark I walked up Doverow with my mum to watch as... Read more
Not Far From Stonehouse is Standish
A very short distance from Stonehouse is the tiny hamlet of Standish. Both these places have an unusual connection to my family.
Firstly from my great grandparents' time in the early 1800s to the later part of the nineteenth century.
My mother's maiden name was Agg, her mother's maiden name was Denman. It was Mr and Mrs Denman who lived for some years in a well built two storey house in Standish, a photo of which my mother kept all her life, which is now handed down to me.
Sadly my wife of 39 years passed away in 1993. I married another fine lady in 1995, and we took a trip back to England that year for me to meet her parents who had recently moved from Sussex to Stonehouse near Gloucester. While there I became curious to try to find the very house that my great grandparents had lived in. I used the original photgraph for comparison. Within an hour I found the house, had... Read more
Oldends Lane
I was evacuated to my grandparents' cottage in Oldends Lane, Rosetree Cottage. Their names were Helen Harris and William Harris. I remember going round to the Spa Inn pub and waiting in the garden for them, sometimes I was asked to pick the skittles up while the people were playing skittles. My grand's brother had a farm next to their cottage. Their names were George and May Harris. They were great times, at least I would go down there after the war with my mum, dad and sister.
Memories of Gloucestershire
Fairview
My memories of Oldends are many and happy - My grandparents - Oscar and Violet Lane (known to many as Mrs Oscar) lived for many years at Fairview. where they brought up their family Victor, Alfred, Bob and Grace.
As a small girl in the fifties - Fairview seemed huge with a vast garden with a stone boundary wall where my sister Margaret and I would sit and chat to anyone going past.
Next door was Mr Wells the milkman and opposite was Price's farm where we used to love to go and visit the horses - Punch and Judy ..or pick the blue bells from under the hedge in the far field.
Many an hour was spent sitting in the hut with the crossing keeper...now was that Less Arrowsmith ? helping him open and shut the crossing gates...whatever ever would the health and safety guys say about that now !!!...I also used to visit the Spencers too - who looked after the railway station that now... Read more
Ebley The War Years
I have many very happy memories of Ebley and the local towns and villages that I explored with my best friend Jimmy Stratford (now passed on). We traveled far and wide on our cycles, even though we were then not teenagers. We had no fear then. There were village shops, Mr Cordwell's shop, the Post Office shop, plus two others. We could get our sweets (with our ration book coupons of course ) at the pub. There were two there that time. The village had a train halt where we could go to Stroud. Everyone seemed so kind then. Oh yes, we had an air raid shelter too, built on part of the pub's car park area. I have many memories of this charming village, and the school.
Middle Street.
Myself and 2 brothers and 2 sisters lived in Middle Street for over 10 years. I think we moved away in 1969. I have wonderful memories. Hot summers, cold winters. Our house back then was Bourne Cottage. We had neighbours called Mr amd Mrs Cole, they were ancient but lovely. They had a dog that was old too and smelt so bad. Another person I can remember was an old man, partly sighted. His name was Mr Miles, our parents taught us to look out for him. We always said "Hello". There was also a family who lived up the road from us. I remember the daughter, her name was Margaret Coole. Some days the smell of cow dung in the village was overpowering, but somehow reassuring too. On some quiet nights we could here a distant train. It was the most beautiful place to live as a youngster. I'm sure looking back myself and my siblings were a sorry sight, but I'm sure our laughter still echoes around... Read more
Ancestry Harman Family
The Harman family lived in "The Fields" on the Description of Emumeration District, listed on the 1851 census. "The Fields" was listed between Bowbridge Lane and the "Middle of Strouds Hill".
Old Pike House
My ancestor Henry Fisher lived here according to the 1881 census with his wife Amelia and their 10 children! He was a maltster, so I will have to research breweries.
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