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Woodlands St Mary
Woodlands St Mary maps
Historic maps of Woodlands St Mary and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Woodlands St Mary maps
Woodlands St Mary photos
We have no photos of Woodlands St Mary, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Chilton| Chilton Foliat| Lambourn| Eddington| Hungerford| Ramsbury| Aldbourne| Kintbury| Savernake
Woodlands St Mary area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Woodlands St Mary and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Woodlands St Mary
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Berkshire memories
Looking For Lambourne Relatives ...
Having just visited the Lambourne parish town in June, 2009, we were anxious to connect with any persons with Lambourn surname. Not having found any, we would appreciate any advice for finding the histories of such who lived in or around the region (Berkshire on south to the coast). Our specific line of the clan left from Chievely around 1856 or so to London, then on to St Louis in the USA. They converted to the Mormon religion then settled at Salt Lake City. Son Alfred Edward Lambourne, born in Chievely, learned art in London, became a very accomplished landscape artist in western US. Look him up on internet. We have much more information if any one is interested...
Please contact me regarding any books, magazine articles or persons to contact for finding more of the story from the English side of the 'pond'. Alfred's father William was born in Lambourn, we are told.
Thanks for any assistance.
Jim L (lambj1129@yahoo.com)
My Grandfather Wanted to be A Jockey
Robert Benson, also known as Toby, left his Manchester home in June 1901 and came to Lambourn to be a jockey. He was apprenticed to Captain Ossie Bell at York House, but was sacked for giving racing tips to punters. He had some involvement with the training of the 1928 Derby winner, Felstead, so must have been back with Captain Bell at that time. He never did become a jockey.
In 1911 he lived at Crowle Cottage, which I am hoping still exists, as we are coming to Lambourn this year to have a look round.
He and his first wife Elizabeth Kate Dudley, had 13 children, of whom my mother was number 12.
School!
Memory of the hated Catholic school I was sent to, me being one of three Church of England girls, meant I was treated like an outcast! Beautiful house, and grounds, I learnt to ride there, it was my only way to get away from those awful nuns in their long black habits. I loved the horses, all the time I was there you would find me with them, or standing in the passage at night in the dark facing the wall, while the rest of the world slept! Spooky! Oh yes, detention was my second name. Such a shame that wonderful house and grounds belonged to the church, a lot of cruelty went on there, thank God I wasn't sent on to its sister school, New Hall! It went on to become Norland Nannies after that, I would be interested to know what happened to it.
School, Denford Park.
I wrote a while back, does anyone ever read any of the messages written? I asked if anyone knows what happened to the Catholic convent run by nuns at Denford House? it became Norlands Nannies, but what happened after that? I also know that it is haunted!
Happy Days at Denford Park
I spent three happy years at Denford - the nuns loved us to pieces, and I felt that they always acted in our best interests (though maybe nowadays one might frown at some of the 'best practices' of those days ... but fashions change ....).
Sister Mary Ben driving a tractor as we picked potatoes in the autumn, picking snowdrops for Covent Garden Markets in February, roller skating, playing in overgrown bomb craters (magical - really!). Sister Mary Peter's library, our gardens with Sister Mary Anrew, roast potatoes, bread and cheese, but junket - juck. More privileged pupils had riding, dancing and tennis lessons, but I never felt disadvantaged by not having any of these 'extras.' The nuns inadvertently instilled us with the basic principles of feminism long before it became trendy. It was an all female world (except for ancient Father Darcy and Othello the handyman) and we absorbed the feeling that we (future women) were capable of doing whatever we... Read more
Denford Park
I came here from Austria with my sister to work as au-pair girls in this boarding school. We found an ad in a German newspaper for girls to help with domestic chores etc. My sister and I wrote to the Mother Superior, (Mother Magdalene John) applying for the job(s), and to our surprise we got a reply back within a week from Mother Superior, offering us both jobs straight away! Needless to say we were over the moon having been given the opportunity to go abroad to work and learn the language. But convincing our parents that we really wanted to go was no easy task, anyway, eventually they consented and we packed our bags and set off on this new adventure. Back in 1959, people rarely went abroad to work. so it was very exciting indeed! We took the train from Mayrhofen in the Zillertal to Innsbruck and from there the train to Ostende in Belgium. Taking the ferry to Folkestone and the train to Victoria. from... Read more
Best Place to Live
We moved to Hungerford in 1987 just two months before Michael Ryan shot 14 people. See that white house way down on the left with one window in the top, well I lived in the house just after that. You can't see it very well but it is sited on one of the old mills and is called Mill Hatch. So called because the hatch where the water turned the wheel is still in the back garden. We had trout that lived in the garden and I would fish for them with string and bread but no hooks. They took the bait immediately and I would be able to lift them out of the water before they slipped off the string and fell back into the water. I wonder if they are still there?
