Ark In The Square: Polesworth

A Memory of Polesworth.

I had heard so much about this village & surrounding areas from my father, Arch Wallbank, who was born 1896 @ 46 Watling St. the corner of New st. he left for NZ in Oct. 1913 & died Auckland 1965..
My Knight relations had lived in this house (butchers) & a Methodist Lay preacher..James Knight. My Wallbank grandpa drew this cottage in many autograph books & sketched a framed one in black & white. Before the house & Little Jim's cottage were demolished or burnt, a NZ cousin visited & photographed both. On slides. I've been told many stories & even have a tape of Charlotte Knight telling us what to see when we came to Warwick in 1974. jawbones, Gorby Knob, Gypsy Lane, St Editha's & churchyard where many Knights are buried. Jean Wood has sent books out here or written me. I still have 1st cousins Walton in Whitehouse Rd. I have 14 paintings of Grandpa Wallbank's, both water colour irises & oils of dogs & horses. The landscapes came to my father for Birthdays, 1914 onwards. I've traced my ancestry down from Nuneaton to Polesworth to Dordon where my father was an apprentice baker. The shadow of his brick bakehouse is still on the wall of 2 New St.: cake decorating was his speciality & wheat sheaves in bread for harvest festival. My biggest thrill was to visit Dordon Chapel: my husband preached & I played the organ briefly. All the woodwork was grained by Grandpa. My Bible was given to daddy when he was leaving Dordon, my Hymn Book is still in use today as a Methodist. My naughty little boy father had sat where I was.
Their Dr was a Smart: a teacher was Chinn, I think.
best of all was meeting two aunties & two uncles who I'd heard so much about. I'd love to come again! at 78 I don't think so!!
Marie Hall, widow with Christine & Bruce in their 50s with 2 kidz each.