Arthur Wastie was born in 1871 in a Church Handborough cottage,
where he grew up. Arthur courted his future wife Sarah Annie.Annie's mother said
that she disliked children and would not allow Sarah to marry until after her
death. Arthur walked to see Sarah every day for 11 years until her mother died.
He reckoned it was the equivalent of walking round the world. Arthur and Annie
came to Cumnor from Freeland in 1907, taking the lease from Lord Abingdon of New
Farm, then called Manor Farm, in the lower High Street. Whilst arranging the
move, Arthur rode from Freeland by horse or bicycle; he remembered passing Mrs
Webb at Valley Farm in Farmoor - she was looking anxiously for her husband
George to return from market. He was apt to be 'delayed'.
Manor Farm had land in Sand Field and west of the farm. Arthur employed four
full-time men and two casual workers. One worker was 'Butcher' Neale, who had a
finger missing from each hand. He was a 'good old boy'. It was a difficult time
for farming owing to the importation of cheap foreign produce.
During the first world war, Arthur became Group Leader of the Special Police, a
force established to act in case of emergency. His group included Monty Sherwood
(carpenter), Charles Wm Costar (woodman), Charles S. Costar (cowman), John Hale
(carpenter), Joseph Clack (labourer), Edward Busby (Cumnor Hill, civil servant),
Fred Cooper (labourer), Henry Lambourne (ex-soldier), James Webb (gardener),
George Sharlott/ Bateman ( army discharge).
Arthur's role included teaching the men to shoot, he himself being a skilled
marksman. On one occasion he shot his initials AW on a target and told them
'That's how to shoot!'. He was probably long-sighted.
During the war, German prisoners-of-war were stationed at Upper Whitley Farm.
One day Annie was working in her kitchen when a German prisoner appeared at the
window, shouting 'Pomp! Pomp!' He wanted a pump to inflate a football.
Visiting Hill End Farm one day, Arthur saw Fred Butterfield, the farmer who also
had a butcher's business in Oxford, killing cattle in an illegal manner. He
reported the matter and Butterfield went to court with £200 in his pocket -
though the fine imposed was less than he feared. Arthur used to kill beasts for
some local farmers.
On one occasion Arthur advertised for a worker, using a newspaper box number.
One of his own men applied!
Arthur told how Joe Pike worked for Percy Walker at Rockley Field Farm as a
shepherd. They were always arguing and Percy would regularly give Joe the sack.
One day Percy went round to Joe's cottage. 'Why haven't you come to work this
morning?' Percy asked. 'You sacked me,' Joe replied. 'I sack you about once a
week,' said Percy,'why should now be any different?'
In 1920 Arthur was persuaded by Lord Abingdon's agent to take a one year lease
of Tilbury Farm. It had 26a wheat, 17a barley, 33a oats and Barn Piece 5a. A one
year lease was not unusual at that time, after which a year's notice could be
given. Sometimes the first year was rent-free to attract a tenant in difficult
times. Eric, the youngest son, was born at Tilbury Farm; there were three elder
brothers: Stan, Sydney and Kenneth, and a sister.
In 1922 Arthur and Annie bought one of the two farms at Dean Court, arranging a
mortgage with Lord Abingdon's trustees. It included the land of Noble's Hole.
The farmstead was on the south side of the Eynsham Road, opposite Nixey's Dean
Court Farm. Eric used to play with the Nixey children. One day he went into a
field wearing a red jacket and was chased by a bull. Arthur kept ferrets and one
got into a neighbour's poultry yard - he rescued it and the damage was blamed on
foxes.
Arthur did not enjoy good health in the low, damp site at Dean Court. Eric
recalled: 'I remember mum carrying me upstairs and a rat ran downstairs.' Arthur
became ill and, worst of all, his son Kenneth died of tetanus at the age of
seven. In 1925 the family moved back up to Cumnor, where Arthur bought Leys Farm
from Lord Abingdon. For a time he also held a lease of Upper Whitley Farm, where
the house was occupied by Neale and Willoughby.
Leys Farm was worked with the assistance of one full-time worker, Albert Bowden,
later Frank Heavens, and one casual worker. Bowden was housed in a thatched
cottage in the Appleton -it still had a beaten earth floor and a ladder to the
loft bedrooms.
Arthur's son Sidney became a keen cricketer, playing for Cumnor, but he did not
see his future in agriculture. His son Stan was involved in an accident with a
Chawley Works trailer in 1928 and broke his thigh. Because the trailer had no
lights when it was getting dark, he was awarded £500 compensation. He wasn't
keen on farming and, against his father's advice, used the money to buy a radio
shop in Abingdon but the business failed.
At this time, Eric, the youngest son, was still a young boy. 'I went to Cumnor
School', he recalls, without sentiment. 'I remember being chased by Percy Walker
of Rockley Field farm, who was evidently tight, as he had no recollection of the
incident next morning. I used to scrump apples from his orchard. We had our
orchard at Leys Farm but his apples seemed to taste better.' Fred Farthing was a
tenant at 'Viamead' in the High Street and Eric remembers him sweeping water out
of the door after a summer storm and singing 'A life on the ocean waves'. Harold
Clack's old cottage nearby was of stone and thatch; the rear bays were poor, the
home for his motorbike till Harold got married. His father Joe Clack 'could walk
a young man off his feet when he was past 70'. Fred Messenger once sent Eric to
Bessie Pike's to buy some 'pigeon's milk chocolate'. 'Tell 'im to get it
himself', Bessie told him. 'I got my own back though,' Eric recalled, 'I took
the plug lead out of his motorbike and he was ages trying to get it started!'
Eric Wastie talking with John Hanson 2003.