Farm At White Hill
A Memory of Kinver.
My father Jenkin Evans and mother Valerie Evans lived at Potters Cross Farm, White Hill, Kinver from just before the Second World War. This is the farmhouse which you can see which still exists to this day. They raised four children, Jayne, Helen, John and Hadyn who were all educated locally in the village. Kinver was a much quieter place in the 1950s and 1960s, less cars, more characters and more open space. Kinver as as village was expanded greatly during this time. The cottages on the right hand side of the picture were knocked down in the late 1960s and replaced by three modern houses. I remember Sammy Shuker, The Shentons, Old Mrs Meese who lived in the old row, 6 cottages in all. Opposite the farm house was a field that is now Silver Birch Drive. The pavement up White Hill at this time had no kerb stones - it had a thin grass verge only. White Hill itself was good for go-karting down with our home made go-karts made out of planks of wood and pram wheels with bit of baler twine to steer them.
Well who of you out there remember me? Please get in touch or do you have any memories of the farm or my Father?
Cheers John
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The earliest history of the Farm is when my father, Peter John Needham, lived there as a little boy. Up until the age of 7 years he was born there and his parents, my grandparents, Jack and Edith Alice Needham, kept the farm with cattle and used the horse and plough to farm the fields.
Dad had five brothers and sisters, Reginald Squire , Bill, Mary, Ted, then he was next in age, last of all was Aunty Ruth, who is now 90 years of age and lives in Australia. Dad and Ruth are the only ones still living. Dad is 92 years of age now. Dad was born 25th April 1928, on the farm.
Dad tells me that his grandparents lived in the the house opposite, called The Grange. His grandad was called Squire Needham and nan was called Matilda.
Jack, my dad's dads father, went to work as a cowman in Nottingham, at Collerton Hall and met Edith Alice, his mother, who was in service there. He brought her home to live at the farm in the early 1930's.
Dad tells me that Jack Needham was born in 1892 and Edith his mum, was born 11th March 1888.
The Evan's family came onto the farm after them in the late 1930s.
Edith was originally from London and had five sisters. Her father was a drayman in London.
Dad states there were three shire horses who worked the farm. Maggie, Captain and Kit. There was the waggon that the horses pulled. They used to take the horses through Kinver Village, to the Vine Pub, to feed on the meadow there. One horse once ste a shirt and Nanny Edith us said to have put her arm right down its throat, thus retrieving the shirt.
A plough was used to farrow the fields, at the rear of the farm. Mangols were grown to feed the cattle. There were also geese and ferrets kept there.
Across the road in Whitehill, were six cottages and a lady called Cath Lippett, grew up there, and married to become Cath. Roden. My mum and dad used to visit her on a thursday, with my Nanny Edith, as she lived close by after moving off the farm.
Jack Needham, became ill with his chest and lungs, from working the land and so The Needhams were forced to move away. He died at an early age of about 40.
It is believed that Matilda Needham, from The Grange, in Whitehill, Kinver, has a relative in the churchyard buried in Wolverly, who was called Len.
Hope this entry gives you some joy to remember your childhood Marion.
Best wishes Lynne Shelton. (nee Needham). 10th February 2021.
Lynne Shelton. 10/2/2021.