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Wix

Wix maps

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

Wix area books

Displaying 1 of 18 books about Wix and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Wix

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Essex memories

Memories From David Cheverton of Hope Cottage, Heath Road

In 1953 I attended Bradfield Primary School which in this year of 2007 celebrates its centeniory year. I have fond memories of many cricket matches during my time at the school playing against other local school teams. Mr Martin the Headmaster had lots of fast cars, to the delight of all the children. There was always a scramble on match day to see who would have the pleasure of going in one of his cars.
I lived in Bradfield till 1967 when I was 21 years of age, at that time Bradfield had a brilliant football team called ' Bradfield Rovers' and I was their Linesman for many a year. They won the Amos Charity Cup and many league titles.
Bradfield also had three Public Houses at that time, one was The Strangers where the football club spent most of its time. The other two were The Village Maid and The Ram and Hogget which is now a private dwelling.

Strangers Home

I lived with my father Denys and sister Mandy at the Strangers. I have many great memories of Bradfirld and the villagers. Who remembers the likes of Bill Long, George Jones, George Barnes and one I can only remember by the name of Blackie.

Fondest Memories Of Gt. Oakley 1938 to 1961

That was when I was born along with a bunch of other kids who grew up  with  me and with whom I played during the WW2 years and eventually went to C of E school together.  Mr Porter was a teacher there, he was still watching for enemy aircraft after it was all over and the boys would tell him "not one of ours sir" and off we would go to the air raid shelter yet again and wait and wait but of course nothing happened.   Miss Freshwater was another teacher then off we went to High School
after that.   Oh yes there was a Miss Brown also who later became Mrs Van Ryswyk.
During the war my Dad served in the Army, I didn't really get to know him until I was 7.  My Uncle never came back, he is buried in Italy somewhere.  My Grandad  Clarke was in the ARP and used to check on Mum and I every night when there were air raids.  So we... Read more

Houghbridge Hall-Gt.Oakley

In January 1949, my parents moved into Houghbridge Hall - on the winding country lane  mid way between Stones Green and the church at Gt. Oakley.
I remained there until called up for National Service in November 1952, and last saw it on my Christmas leave that year during which we attended Christmas Day service in the church.
Houghbridge Hall was a huge dwelling on about an acre of land, part of which was apple orchard and many outbuildings where we had about a thousand chickens, geese, turkeys and pigs on open range. We had to turn nearly all of our production of eggs over to the Egg Marketing Board. We bred all our own poultry which included Rhode Island Reds, Sussex and White Leghorns. The geese were Emdens.
We were a family of six, so the accomodation was adequate for our needs. All except mother had full time jobs in Colchester too!
My two younger brothers were also called up for National Service in 1953, and the remaining family... Read more

Mistley

I was born in Mistley at Ye Olde Mill House in 1930. My father Rupert Edwards was a family butcher and my grandparents lived at Shanghai Villa, Mistley. I attended Mistley Norman School and won a scholarship to Colchester High School. My early memories were of the swimming pool and the start of the Second World War. It was fascinating at first to hear accents from the north, see searchlights, and I really enjoyed watching the solders marching up the hill, and playing in the band after church, often the Coldstream Guards. I knew all the names of the planes and remember Brookes getting an incendary bomb, the smell lingered for ages.

Childhood Memories

I was born in 1951 and lived in Middlefield Road, Mistley with my parents, sister and brother. My maiden name was Lay - Flurrie. I attended Mistley Norman School in 1956 my teacher being Miss Temple, Headmaster was Mr Thompson. Other teachers were Mr James and Miss Jacklin. I remember having a bottle of milk everyday at school and when it was winter time the birds had pecked at the foil bottle top. I left Mistley Norman School in 1966 to attend Manningtree Secondary Modern. In this year 1966 I had a paper round after school hours and I would cycle to Manningtree to pick the papers up and my first stop on the way back was Brooks on Mistley Hill where the workers would be waiting for their paper. I have fond memories of times spent at Furze Hills, the old tree Nobbly which I would climb on, game keepers pond feeding the ducks and swans, also Blackberrying in the school holidays to earn a bit of pocket... Read more

Early Memories of Brook Street

Brook Street c1953
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I lived in Brook Street with my family between about 1958 and 1967. We lived at the bottom of the road nearest the High Street and opposite a large pond, which was a source of great entertainmanet to me and my sister at times! We watched local firemen practice fire drill, unrolling huge hoses and aiming the water into the pond then rolling up the hoses again when they'd finished. We sometimes climbed the wall surrounding the pond and dared one another to walk along it, and even walked along a ledge on the inner side of the wall, just above the water line - we must have driven our poor mother mad! The house we lived in is long gone now, and so is the pond. I'd very much like to know what the pond was built for and when.

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