Taunton, Somerset

Meeting my Great Grandparents

My name is Margret Russell. My maiden name was Margret Lewis. I live in Australia.
My father Wilfred Charles Lewis was born in Taunton Somerset. His maternal grandparents were Martha (nee Harris) and Samuel Critchard who were from Kingston St Mary where they raised a family of eight daughters and one son.
Martha and Samuel operated the Norton Fitzwarren Post Office for many years. When the death of Samuel occurred, Martha with the help of some of her daughters continued running the Post Office for a few years. Samuel also operated a shoe making business in a room of their home above the Post Office. Last year I was very fortunate to be able to come to the UK to meet my father's family of whom there are many still alive and many more of my 2nd cousins. It was such a surreal time for me as my father passed away when I was very young and I never had the oppourtunity to inquire of his family in the UK. I spent 7 weeks in the UK most of which were in and around Taunton. I walked from Taunton in the rain to Norton Fitzwarren to visit the gravesite of Samuel and Martha Critchard, my great-randparents, where I introduced myself to them. It is a feeling I will never forget and it made me feel very sad that I had never known about them. It was beautiful to visit the site of my great-grandparents' resting site which is in the village church graveyard situated near a beautiful flowering tree, it is such a lovely peaceful resting site. I came back to Australia very blessed and also wishing that I lived in Somerset. Thank you. Margret

maternal family history and onwards dictated by my mum age 84

My name is Hilda Mary Fenn nee Hurman. I was born at Yarford in 1924. My father was William Thomas Hurman, my mother Caroline Elizabeth nee Tucker. They are buried in the village churchyard. My two sisters and I were all married in the village church in 1952 and had receptions in the village hall. As children we attended the village school - Mr Hawkins was the headmaster - we attended youth club, brownies, guides, choir, Kingston players drama group. My best friend was Margaret Mead of The Bungalow, Fulford, she lives there still. We spent our days roaming the fields, collecting milk, harvesting, riding on the hay carts. When it was the Silver Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary, the village held a carnival and all the children and adults dressed up for a parade and a tea was held where prizes were given. All the children received a mug. When the Coronation of George 6th happened there was a similar event and another mug was given. In the evening we walked up to Wills neck on the Quantocks and there was an enormous bonfire. The village was quiet with not much traffic then and everyone knew everyone else. Several family members are buried in the churchyard including my Aunty Nancy and my uncle Frederick George Tucker is on the War Memorial, he died in Mesopotamia at the age of 19 - My father worked for Somerset County Council in the highways dept clearing hedges and maintaining roads etc. My two sisters Isobel and Olive and my brother Douglas remember the evacuees from London - Olive Ings and her sister. My sister Isobel began to date local boy John Victor Lock when they were 14 at Youth Club and are married and still living in Taunton. My Aunt Nancy worked for Mr Adams of Okehills, Taunton as a housekeeper and later retired to the small bungalow he had provided for her next to Pyrland Hall school ( now known as Kings Hall ) The post office and village shop was part of the County Stores business in the town of Taunton and managed by Mr William Thomas. As a child, my family moved to 3, Parks Cottages in Parsonage Lane and after I was married in 1952, I returned to help my parents until they both died in Christmas 1959. My daughter, Rosie, brought both her children John and Isaac to attend the local school in 1992. She helped at school functions and Mr Andrew Padfield was head tacher then. She also ran the village playgroup for a year before returning to her nursing career.

Post Office West Monkton

I lived here from around 1952 until the late 1960s with my parents RF and WM Marsh who ran the Post Office and Stores. My father used to deliver groceries to customers over quite a wide area, some of whom lived in Coombe (in another photo) and some lived across fields further into the hills where geese used to try to attack the car wheels! My father passed away at home in 1974 and my mother kept the shop going by herself (with helpers) until around 1977/8. I understand that it kept going until the Post Office cuts in 2008. Earlier there was a butchers shop further up the Street and possibly another shop of some sort.