Wistowpedia

The History of Wistow

Archives for April 2010

Joe Howes - Memories

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Joe Howes (son of Olive Howes nee Hales)

Aunt Lizzie (Polly) was the Wistow School Teacher for many years.
Polly lived on land opposite Juggins Farm in a bungalow no longer there.
Harry Woolley ran the school from 1913 onwards, which was church run.
The Howes family ran the Three Horseshoes pub from 1912.

The Three Horseshoes landlords were as follows;-
Howes family
Closed as a pub but occupied by a man called Adams
Reopened by Frank Harding (nicknamed ‘Pop’)
Bomber Wells
Mrs Rose
Mr Lilley (ex policeman)
Reg Stanton
Rolph Turner
John and Eileen Cooper
now Julia and Gerry

Joe Howes was born at 10 Oaklands Avenue in 1928, then lived at Upwood for a short while.
The Wistow Feast was on the weekend of 20th June for about 3 days.
They had a Wistow Cricket Match all week as well then, playing a different team every day.
There was an Open Air Prom dance on Miss De La Pryme’s lawn.
Ramsey Town Band played on these occasions as well.
The Church was full every Sunday back then.
There used to be a walk from Moss Lawn to Blackhurst Farm.
Joe went to the school in the village. Children could then either go to the Grammar School or Warboys.
The Assistant Teacher was Alice Whitehead.
There was a cobblers business run outside the Three Horseshoes pub.
A name from the village that Joe remembers was Mr James Swiffen who died on 20/7/1917.
There were May Pole dances on Miss De La Pryme’s lawn as well.
The Aggar family sold milk from a three wheeled trolley in the village.
Olive Howes helped to deliver the bread from the bakers in Mill Road. She even went to Kings Ripton on foot.
She found the Reverend Noble in the ditch one night, drunk, on the way back from Kings Ripton.
There were twelve Hales children, all survived, four children went to live in New Zealand.
Bert and Fred Hales lived in Manor Street.
The family had an unexploded bomb they used as a doorstop for many years - they weren’t aware it was unexploded!!
Names from the village were the Fosters (farmers), Dorringtons (farmers- lived in Ted Benson’s house, Mill Road), Miss Saunders and her dog, Mr Cook (lived in the Juggins house - he was the old miller, and had a big dovehouse in the front garden.)
The Brook used to be a lot deeper than it is now and could take small boats.

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David Titmarsh

Interview 2009

Harold ‘Jack’ Lindsell - Memories

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Harold (Jack) Lindsell - Harris Lane (in his 80’s)

At 12 yrs old he used to walk to Warboys for school.

Came to live in village at 4 yrs old from Warboys.

In Church Road, by the Bance’s land, was a place that mended horse’s harnesses.

Rev Pratt lived in Rectory.

Where Phone Box is now, used to have a Coconut Shy during Wistow Feast time and the Ramsey Band played there as well.

They used to regularly do a Xmas party for the children in the school.

Mrs Murrell and her son ran the Old Shop (the Shielings)- they did newspapers and was also the Post Office.

The Giffords ran the other shop which did womens clothes, but not food.

There used to be a row of cottages facing the old school.

There was also wooden air raid shelters in many of the gardens.

The Fosters, Dorringtons and Moss’s were the local farmers.

Used to have a May Pole during the Wistow feast as well.

There used to be a Bowling Green and an orchard down Church Road.

For the Coronation, they had a kids party by the old bowling green.

There was a beuatiful hand-drawn hearse in the Fleur de Lys, which was the funeral directors.

The Fleur de Lys landlord did the bell ringing as well.

The Gartons lived up the hill past the Bridge, which was an old Brickyard.

Harold’s dad was the old Blacksmith in the village, who worked from the Fleur de Lys.

In 1956 he remembers the Windmill being there, but not working then.

Oaklands Avenue near Harris Lane end was mostly blackberry bushes and grass, no houses at all.

In the Mill House lived Mr Bell, who ran a taxi business and was the local postman.

Rooks Grove Farm used to be called Lime Tree Cottage.

Ann Juggins is believed to have an old map of the village in her hall

Harold’s dad used to wind the clock in the church.

Toll Bar House used to be on the right by the Toll, which was the only house on that side of the road.

The Bus only came into the village on Saturdays.

For many years, most of Bridge Street was flooded.

Harold used to be the gravedigger in the village.

In the alley way half way down Mill Road, used to be barn, where a man hanged himself. (He might have been a Sansum).

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David Titmarsh

Interview 2009

Peggy Glover nee Coles - Memories

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Peggy Glover (nee Coles)- Kingston Way (about 75-80 years old)

Remembers a water pump near Fleur De Lys and by the Old School.

There was a Blacksmith in the Fleur De Lys, who came daily from Wennington village.

Also in Fleur De Lys, was the undertakers business, lovely hearse used to be parked there.

Charlie Buddles parents ran the Plough Pub.

The Sheilings was the local Shop and Petrol Pump and Post Office, which sold everything.

The other shop that closed only few years back, used to be run by Mrs Gifford, sold only certain items.

No electric in village till 1951/52.

Mr Harrison the vicar lived in the Rectory on his own.

Nick Peacocks dad was the local Special Constable.

John Green’s house by back of old Plough pub was the site of the local bowling green, which proved very popular.

There was a Wistow Football team for men in the village.

Had a Street Party for the Queens Coronation in 1952.

The Village Hall used to be the Chapel, which had Lantern Shows on there when Peggy a girl.

Peggy used to live in some cottages on land which is now the 3 Horseshoes Pub Car Park.

The Gartons used to live in a house on the left past the Bridge half way up the hill to the Toll.

Bridge Street often got flooded completely.

Opposite the Allotment Field, there used to be searchlight in the 2nd world war manned by soldiers.

Lots of evacuees in the village in the war, many stayed in the Fleur De Lys.

Girl Guides and Boy Scouts groups used to meet in the Village hall.

The young men of the village used to congregate outside the Plough Pub on the corner.

Mrs Buddle used to arrange several coach trips from the village, men went to Ascot annually, and there was a ladies club outing as well.

Peggy’s husband, Mr Glover used to volunteer to cut the grass in the churchyard.

Kit Garton lived in Vine Cottages on the left going towards the Bance’s farmhouse.

There is a small photo which the History Society has in its possession, which was of the May Day celebrations held every year in Miss De La Pryme’s place (called the Lodge)

On the 19th June or so annually, was held the Wistow feast, on Mrs Foster’s lawn (property called the Tellings). A fair was also held there.

There was also a Promenade dance held every year, which stopped in the 1950’s.

There was a Dance Hall on the land at the back of Porch House, the RAF men went as well during the war, Panto’s were also held there.

During the war, bombs landed at the end of Harris Lane.

Used to be a proper track leading to Upwood via Kingsland Farm

Win Robson did the costumes for the Panto’s, lived in a cottage in Manor Street.

Old family names, Gartons, Buddles, Litchfields, Coles (the Coles lived in the village for three generations), Abrahams, Sansums, Elmores, Lindsells, Peacocks, Bishs, Moulds and Burtons.

The Fosters family were large landowners in the village.

Dorringtons lived in large farmhouse on Bance’s old farmhouse land, which got burnt down.

Sansums lived in Old Schoolhouse, had one room as a school with a curtain across it, to separate younger and older children.

School closed in 1945 roughly.

Miss Geeson and Mrs Howes were two teachers.

Used to be dairy at Porch House, they used to deliver milk etc. daily on a bike.

Opposite Porch House was a bakery, Bertie Hales brought bread round to the village people.

Windmill was outside the village on the left on way to Kings Ripton before dip (called Huntingdon Road)

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David Titmarsh

Interview 2009

Porch House Deeds Listings

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From Patsy Coles Deeds of Porch House, Manor Street, Wistow

The oldest papers come from 1786, when the property was simply known as ‘the land almost nearly opposite the Manor House in Wistow.’

List of documents found:-

1786- Stanhope Pedley (lord of the manor) passed it to John Green.

1787- It was leased to Moses Joy, the local blacksmith, who worked for Daniel Bohagg.

1800- Moses Joy passed it to Thomas Robinson, with William Fisher as Trustee.

1808- Sir Walter Stirling and Richard Wallis passed it to William Dring and Henry Sweeting the younger (?may have been a trustee)

1816- John Dring passed it to Edward Johnson, who were workers for John Sherman and John Williams (John Dring marked the document with a ‘x’ - ? illiterate)

1834- Henry Foley was now lord of the manor, with Edward Western as Deputy Steward and James Western as Chief Steward.

The property was divided into several dwellings occupied by Edward Road, William Fletcher, Joseph Smeddows, John Jackson, Thomas Cooper-Nettleton and Faithful Chapman (a man) of Wistow (Innkeeper of the Plough Inn, Wistow)

1846- Henry Foley was Lord of the Manor of the Plough Inn, with Edward Western as Deputy Steward and James Western as Chief Steward. The tenants now were Joseph Smeadows, William Shepperson (carpenter), William Moulds, Jonas Samworth, Thomas Cooper-Nettleton, and John Macer.

1874- The road was now known as Manor House Street. John Thomas Shepperson (carpenter) passed it to Edward Fellowes. Frederick Robert Serjeant was Deputy Steward. Both William Henry Fellowes and Mr Fisher William Macer were reported as deceased.

1891- Edward Western now listed as Steward, and Elizabeth August Foley was Lady of the Manor. Elizabeth Shepperson (widow of William Shepperson) and formerly Elizabeth Mary Day mentioned, with tenants of Jackson Buddle, William Turnill, George Turnill and George Phillips.

Another document in 1891, talks of an Award of Enfranchisement (under the Copyhold Act of 1852), where John Thomas Shepperson got some Compensation Money.

1892- Elizabeth Shepperson was allowed to live in the property, until she died in 1896. Edward Foreman, a builder from London, bought the now four tenements, he was the nephew of Mrs Shepperson.

1899- Albert Gibson was Steward of the Manor now.

1906- Edward Foreman deceased, executors were William Arthur Foreman and Edward James Knowles Foreman of Great Raveley. Also mentioned in document were John and Mary Ann Harrity. Road still called Manor House Street, but had also been called Town Street at some point. The current tenants mentioned were Thomas Peach, George Sansome, Arthur Willows, with one empty tenement.

1933- The current tenants were Walter Smith, Ben Baker, Mrs Taylor and ?Mr or Mrs Upchurch.

1935- Mary Ann Hanritty Deceased, and passed it in her will to Sarah Jane Agger (?her daughter). It was now known as Porch House.

1961- Sarah Jane Agger deceased.

1963- Mrs Doris Jenny Fawkes inherited it and sold it to Fred Kilpack Peacock. It was still four tenements, and the street was still known as Manor House Street.

1964- Fred Peacock passed it to Elizabeth Mary Hartley.

1965- Another document showing that Mrs Hartley owned it.

1992- Mr and Mrs Coles bought it from Mrs Hartley.

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David Titmarsh

March 2010