I remember Chawley in the 1920s, its brickworks with seven
chimneys, each with an oven to make the bricks. There was a timber yard and
trees were brought here from outlying woods. The timber wagons were drawn by six
shire horses. If coming from Appleton they were unharnessed at Cumnor duck pond
and allowed to drink their fill - a wonderful sight never to be seen again. They
were stabled in Chawley lane and one summer evening a group of us youngsters,
playing cricket in the field where the car showrooms are now, spotted flames
coming out of the thatched stable roof. Someone ran to Mr Sallis's house (on the
corner of the lane) and he and one or two other men got the horses out safely.
The stables however were burnt out.
Mr Tipping was agent for Lord Abingdon, who owned Chawley Works, and Mr Reynolds
was manager there. They employed, 1 would think, about 20-30 Cumnor men, some of
whom suffered badly with rheumatics in the legs through digging out the blue
clay by hand.
One day, near Rockley, some oaks were being felled. It needed a hawser stretched
across the road to stop the tree that was being felled crashing. One must
remember that this being 1927, very very few cars used this road. The men, being
busy, did not notice an open tourer, driven by a chauffeur, with a lady and her
maid passengers. The driver failed to notice the hauser and all three were
decapitated. My father (the local policeman) was called to the scene. He had to
make a report to higher authority about it and an Act of Parliament was made
requiring red flags to be hung on hawsers across a road, plus red flags before
on each side. Another bad place for accidents was Cumnor crossroads, there being
no markings to denote who had right of way.
Between Chawley and Cumnor then was a great area of wheat crops. The first
houses as you approached Cumnor were Chawley Villas. 1 was born in no.2, then
the Police House; phone number Cumnor 2, Cumnor 1 being the Post Office. At that
time the Post Office was run by Mr and Mrs Hale, Mr Hale being a local builder
and undertaker.
There were no houses on the right-hand going into Cumnor, only Chawley Villas,
until you reached Mrs Hickman's just before the stile that used to lead down to
the Farmoor road. Mr Hale's Post Office and builder's yard was on the other side
of the stile. From Chawley Lane to Mrs Hickman's was one gigantic field used and
owned by Lord Abingdon for growing cereals. Somewhere in the middle was an oak
tree.
My first recollections of being taken to Oxford shopping are of one bus weekly
from Faringdon to Oxford, or going by Richards' motorised carrier's cart on
Wednesdays and Thursdays. If there was no bus or cart, it meant a walk down to
Cumnor Hill foot to catch an Oxford bus and a walk back up afterwards - very
tiring for 4 year-old legs! Many mothers and children walked even further. Mrs
Trinder walked from the Leys to Oxford and back.
I started school in 1927. The headmaster was Mr Denton Brown, the assistant
teachers Miss Lambourn from Appleton, Mrs Boyles, Miss Goundry; with Mrs Smith
and Miss Cynthia Chilvers in the Infants. Slates and an abacus were used, and
learning was by rote :'A is for Apple, B is for Ball...'. I was lucky for I was
taught to read and write by my mother just before I started school. I could
proudly read all the names of soccer clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, etc - the one that
beat me was Hamilton Academicals.
Mrs Smith taught the brighter infants. She used to bring sandwiches in for the
under-nourished and there were a number who must have blessed Mrs Smith. I know
for a fact that some poor children who walked from Eaton had more holes than
boots. They brought bread and lard sandwiches for mid-day meals. I thought they
looked wonderful. I kept on to my mother to make me a bread and lard sandwich.
It was awful! (Try one and see).
I know learning by rote is looked down on, but the standard of literacy was high
through it. The life of the school was determined by the bell; rung at 8.55 in
the morning and 1.15 in the afternoon. Village life being so peaceful then, you
could hear it at Chawley Villas. If you were late it was smacked hands for
infants, the cane for Standards 1-7. Holidays then were two weeks for Xmas, two
weeks for Easter, one week at Whitsun and five weeks in summer, plus two days
for St Giles Fair.
Standard 1 was taught by Miss Goundry. She lived in Oxford and came from Oxford
on a 'sit up and beg' bike. She was fair and strict, a spinster. Rumour had it
that her intended was killed in the 1914-18 war. She did not cane or smack you
but sent you off to Mr Brown. He marched you back and you got a single swipe on
each hand in front of your schoolmates. In this class you were told how to write
with a pen ( a wooden pen with nibs that buckled). Each pupil had an inkwell
slotted in the desk. In Standard 1 you did the maypole dancing for Empire Day,
and attended the War Memorial Service on llth November, sometimes shivering with
cold. Some of the boys attending the service are now names themselves. 1 often
passed it and read the names - it brought back memories of them in short
trousers, young boys who never had a chance.
Leaving Miss Goundry's class one went to Standard 2, ruled with a rod of iron by
Miss Alice Lambourn.
The boys' playground was in front of the school, the girls at the rear. There
was no playing field but a rumour was around that there might be one provided up
the Abingdon road.This occured two years later. To heat each classroom there was
a 'Tortoiseshell' stove, the legend on it 'Slow but sure'. These stoves were lit
by Mrs Lock, the school cleaner/caretaker. I always seemed to be in the back row
on bitter cold days. We didn't get a smell of warmth, but the teacher's desk was
placed just two or three feet from the stove.
The desks in Standards 2-7 were four-seater desks about ten feet long. Books
were kept in the desks and if one pupil wanted something in it, the three others
had to gather up their stuff because the lid was ten feet long. When Miss
Lambourne was teaching, everybody had to sit up upright with arms folded and not
a sound.
In this class I was introduced to tank-making. A cotton reel was nicked out on
each edge; an elastic band and a pencil were needed. They looked then like 1916
tanks. Every boy had one. The art was in tank racing along the desk, all four
boys holding the lid up so that Miss Lambourn could not see we were engrossed in
the race. One morning Miss Lambourn's sharp eye told her that our desk had been
up a long time. She crept up and caught us all. We got a real clout round the
ear, and no good going home to tell Dad or Mum or one would get another.
Our interests were cigarette cards, conkers; a piece of string; a hollow key and
a red match made quite a bang; marbles, hop-scotch. Happy days!
Mr Tyrrell (Reg Tyrrell's father) made a hayrick about four feet from the wall
in the boys' playground. Early November one boy, who shall remain nameless, lit
a banger but threw it at the hayrick, which caught alight. It went well. The
brigade from Oxford came but poor Mr Tyrrell lost half his stack. My Father,
being the Police Sergeant, had to interview the boy, who had run home. I think
nothing happened in that he only got a telling off.
Standard 3 was taken by Miss Beulah Lambourn, who married Arthur Boyles. She
also took Standard 4 and a teacher, Miss Holland, who came from Teacher Training
College to help her. Miss Holland was a young lady, the first one any of us had
seen with the then new fashion 'Eton Crop'. It made eyes pop out - pupils,
villagers, uncle Tom Cobley and all. But poor Miss Holland did not teach very
long, dying of leukaemia after probably less than six months in the village.
One big event in that period was the flying over Cumnor on various days of the
airships R-99, R-100 and R-101. Mr Brown called out the whole school to watch;
it was quite a sight.
About this time Horlicks was introduced in the winter and milk in the summer,
priced at 1d a cup and 1d for not quite half a pint of milk. Savings stamps were
sold at 6d each. You filled a book, then exchanged it for a certificate. 1 took
a shilling to school on a Monday - 6d for a stamp, 5d for Horlicks or milk, and
one penny for sweets for the week. My mother said by the time I left school it
would be a nice nest egg. Little did she know we had a war to go through plus
galloping inflation after it.
There were two shops in Cumnor. There was Mrs Didcock's general groceries store,
its ceiling so low anybody over 5' 9" had to crouch. In the shop big tin adverts
for Players Cigarettes, showing bare knuckle fighters in the boxing ring.
Adverts too for Black Beauty Shag, Red Bull Shag and Black Twist. 1 think the
older men chewed this. Mr Didcock ran a coal business with his horse and cart.
He'd lost an arm but had a hook in its place. His son Jirnmy was the village
cobbler.
The other shop was in 'soap suds alley' by the side of the Post Office. It was
kept by Miss Bessie Pike and her brother Shep Pike. Everybody liked to be served
by Shep because he just threw your sweets on the scales, 'near enough' for Shep.
We all had big bags.
Outside Mr Didcock's was the Green and pond. The Old Berks Hunt met here on
occasions, with the mounting stones. Mr Webb, in his white coat, brought the
hounds from Chawley (the kennels were at the end of Hurst lane). It was a very
colourful sight indeed.
Mr Holifield lived in the white house by the pond. He was a small builder. When
his father met with a bad accident, straw was laid outside in the road to deaden
the noise of the iron-wheeled farm carts so he could rest. All to no avail - he
lingered for a week and passed on.
Farms in the district included Mr May's at Bradley, Mr Tyrrell's in the centre
of the village, and Percy Walker's at Rockley Field Farm. Mr Walker had a parrot
who could hold its own in any swearing contest. Farming, Chawley Works and the
two builders were the main employers. Fred Costar was the roadman.
One exciting episode for us was when the army camped in Mr Tyrrell's field
opposite the school. It was a horse artillery unit. After four days all returned
to normal. More excitement was engendered when the tar sprayer and steam roller
came to do the roads. Some pupils' mothers told them to breathe in the tar fumes
as it would do them good. 1 don't know why.
The school had a terrible measles outbreak, including children from Farmoor,
Chawley and Eaton who were brought daily by Mr Franklin's bus. Normally about 80
pupils, during this epidemic we numbered 12, all sitting in the same classroom.
I myself didn't get it and I was most annoyed, having to go to school in lovely
summer weather while the measles pupils stayed at home. There was also an
outbreak of scarlet fever but not on the same scale.
The nurse came to the school at various times to inspect everyone's head in case
of nits, etc. Selected pupils also received a spoonful of malt, the nurse
choosing the pupils. The teachers had to give this after morning prayers daily.
My main recollection from Standards 4 and 5 is the accident to Raymond Webb.
There being little traffic, as soon as school was over, everybody rushed out.
This day poor Raymond Webb rushed straight into the road in front of a Rolls
Royce car. There was quite a dent in the car's radiator where Raymond's head hit
it but fortunately the Rolls was not going very fast. Nevertheless Raymond's
life was in the balance for a time and prayers were said for him in school and
church. He did recover after quite a time and came back to school. A barrier was
placed outside to stop children rushing out. The accident upset Mr Brown
greatly. When Mr Brown died about a year later Cumnor lost a good Head,
cricketer and choirmaster. He brought in his gramophone one day and we all
listened to the choirboy Duff singing 'Oh for the Wings of a Dove'.
Tradespeople called in Cumnor. Two bakers, both with horse and carts much like
the Wild West schooners : Mr Surman from Botley and Mr Hicks from Appleton. A
fishmonger came once a week from Oxford in a Ford van; he rang his bell, a big
brass affair, papers were delivered by paper boys on bikes. Mr Stroud came from
Wytham, selling paraffin and soap. He couldn't pass the 'Vine' at lunch-time but
his horse knew the route home. Everybody at this time used paraffin lamps and
candies, the gas and water mains not reaching Cumnor till 1933-34. Electric
light came the year after. Gypsies called selling big blocks of salt, clothes
pegs, etc.
Many ladies in the villages wore men's caps; it looked quaint.
There was a bread dole, though I never knew which charity provided it. I did
hear there was also a coal dole but cannot say for sure. But I did watch the
bread given out- on a Maundy Thursday if I remember correctly.
Late spring, summer and early autumn the men and boys collected round Workhouse
Corner. How now I wish I could have written down the stories they told. Many
older men would bring up the Great Snow of 1895. They would tell of getting up
at 4.30 in the morning to walk for an hour to get to work, clean and rig out the
horses for a day's ploughing, clean and feed the horses, then walk home,
arriving at 6 in the evening. Mr Lardner told the story of how, as an 11 year
old ploughboy back in the 1870s, he was given a public school suit with brass
buttons and tall cap with a tassle. He passed the foreman ploughman, in the fog,
who said 'Good morning, sir'. Mr Lardner said if he had known who he had 'sirred'
he would have tanned me. At the age of 11 he was getting up at 4.30 for an
hour's walk to the farm, eating his bread and cheese with a bottle of cold tea
in the burra of a hedge. The good old days!
A number of old men also told stories of the squire of Cumnor, and of how any
farmer would walk into the school and select how many boys he wanted for the day
to work on the farm, i.e. bird scaring, putting up the stooks, etc. Payment was
from 2d to 6d a day, given to mother.
All the older generation seemed to have the big 'turnip' watches. When the
church clock struck the hour, all watches came out and various times recorded:
'he's two minutes slow' or 'he's a minute fast'. The church clock never tallied
with any watch.
A visitor was Archy Bullock, a strange character but he made his own motor
cycle! It did about 10 or 15 miles an hour. To stop it, Archie jammed his foot
on the front wheel. At that time motor cyclists wore their caps with the peak at
the back. Archie wanted to know where did he get a cap with a peak at the back.
Someone told him at Capes, the big store in St Ebbe's. Poor Archie walked to
Oxford to buy the cap with the peak at the back. The story went that each store
sent him on to the next. Poor Archie went all round Oxford but returned without
his cap. He lived with his mother in a former chicken shed on Mr Walker's farm
at the back of the Bear Inn -their old rented cottage at Cutts End had been
demolished.
One day Archie was summoned for riding his bike without a light. The magistrate
asked him why he had been riding without a light and Archie said 'Well sir, the
Parish lamp was shining'. The magistrate, one Docker-Drysdale, asked the clerk
what it was. On being told it was the moon, he fined Archie five shillings but
paid it himself, laughing because he said the turn of phrase tickled him so.
Another character at this time was Eli Bargus, ex-R.S.M. Two pints at the Bear
and he was drilling his troops outside. He had spent a good time in India and
charitable people said he'd had 'too much of the sun'. In the end no publican
would serve him. Eli came from Henwood. 1 don't know what happened to him. One
character, who shall remain nameless, loved his pint on a Sunday lunchtime.
Rolling home merrily one day he met the Reverend Hall. "Drunk again", said the
Rev. "So be I, sir" came the reply.
Cumnor Cricket Club played where they do now. The Bennetts, Walkers, Mr Brooke,
later to become Home Secretary, the Boyles - a very good side indeed. Cumnor
Football Club played in a field now built on in Oxford Road; they were not a
strong team. The team sheets for both clubs were always put up on Walker's barn
(just past the pond) and every Tuesday we all went to see who Cumnor was
playing. One day we all had a shock : Cumnor v. Aston Villa. The team selected
was Euin Coaster in goal (he was nearly 80, walked with two sticks), Latcher
Bennett at centre-forward (he was over 75 and had been in a wheelchair for five
years) and other elderly gentlemen. All of us couldn't believe it. We wondered
and talked of little else, thinking Cumnor must be beaten by two or three
hundred. Not till Thursday was the real sheet put up, much to our
disappointment!
By way of entertainments, the Church ran an outing and so did the Chapel. When
the church or chapel outing came near, both Sunday School classes became bigger
- no one wanted to miss any free bullfights. The Bear and Ragged Staff always
ran a Tea and Races day, tea being in the Village Hall and the races in the
field next to it. The race prizes were a few pence, and everybody went home with
an apple, orange and toy. The cricket club ran a show in November called the
Cumnor Rouser. It was held in the yard of the Bear and Ragged Staff with side
stalls, hoop-la, etc., proceeds going to the club.
When 1 was six my father, being police sergeant, walked me down to the village.
He said 'My boy, you will never see this again'. A couple were living in sin and
they had been found out. The villagers were treating them to 'rough music',
banging tins, irons together. My father told them all to go home, which they
did, but the couple left in less than a month. I'm afraid nowadays 'rough music'
would be all over Britain.
Mr Buckingham was a small farmer and milkman who lived in Leys Road. He was also
the local 'bookie'. When Mr Hale and his men were building the new houses in
Oxford Road, we small chaps used to call in to take the bets in a sealed
envelope and put it through Bertie Buckingham's door before going to school. If
the punters had had a good day there would be a 6d reward, if a bad day nothing.
Mr Hales's firm outing was a day at Ascot Races.
Some of the older people in the village had never been out of the parish.
Appleton village was referred to as in 'foreign parts' and people from there as
'they foreigners'. Older people still used phrases such as 'Where bist thee
off?' The old age pension was termed the Lloyd George and some of the elderly
thought he paid it out of his own pocket. A form had to be signed every week and
countersigned by a responsible person in order to draw the pension and my father
told me quite a few were unable to write their own name.
(Jack Adams 1996, when he was living with his son and family in Lambourn.)