Our Village Tree Toolkit

Our Village Tree Creative Census in the by The Word Garden

Funded by Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership November 2015 – September 2016

1 2 Contents

Ouse Washes Settlements: Reflections, similarities and differences p11

Our Village Tree Toolkit p23

Ouse Washes Settlements: Official Census 1911 and Creative Census 2016 p37

Our Thanks p45

3 List of images

All of the historic material photographed was loaned from personal collections belonging to people involved in the Our Village Tree project.

All photography copyright to Helena g Anderson

Front cover Neolithic axe heads courtesy of Peter Bates p20 Our Village Tree Exhibition posters, 2016 Map courtesy of Libraries p21 Photograph of Hilgay Silver Band, courtesy of Colin Robinson p1 Photograph of the opening of the bridge at Hilgay, no date Datestone, Earith, 2016 p6 Photograph of Julie Palmer, 2016 and her grandfather Algernon p22 Our Village Tree copyright John Lyons Palmer, who operated a large Thresh and Tackle business in Hilgay p24 Stone sign, Kings Saddlers, Hilgay Village Hall, 2016 c.1910 courtesy of Julie Palmer p25 Our Village Tree copyright John Lyons Photograph of Duce family business in Over, c. 1940 Booklet, Over Memorandum, No.3, 1967 courtesy of Cynthia Duce courtesy of Cynthia Duce Class photograph, Ten Mile Bank, 5th November 1915 A view of Earith Bulwark, 2016 Word Garden workshop, Earith, 2016 p7 Photograph of Repairing the Bank at Magdelen, Hilgay, 1953 p26 Village Tree, Earith, 2016 courtesy Graham Dent Street sign, Hilgay, 2016 p8 Collection of Our Village Tree finds Ferry at Overcote, courtesy of Cynthia Duce p9 Word Garden workshop, Over Methodist Church, 2016 p27 Word Garden workshops at all three villages, 2016 p10 Photograph of Ledger from Kidsby Farm, Hilgay, 1948 courtesy of p28 Original programme for the play ‘Overflow’ written by Helen Mr Kidsby. This shows us the different tasks on the farm at that time, Culnane threshing corn, jobbing, beet, chaff, mustard, the number of hours Word Garden workshop materials, Earith, 2016 people worked and their wages as well as family names. We learnt p29 Our Village Tree exhibition, Babylon Gallery, Ely, July 2016 that this farm supplied mustard to Colman’s in Norwich for many p30 & 31 Photograph of OS Map of Earith, 1900 courtesy of years. Huntingsdonshire Local History Library p12 Lime Avenue, All Saints Church, Hilgay 2016 p32 Word Garden workshop materials, Earith and Over, 2016 p13 Word Garden workshops, Hilgay Village Hall, 2016 p33 Photograph of Hovertrain, Earith 1971 courtesy of Mark Bramley p14 , Earith, 2016 p34 Copy of original census 1911 sourced from www.ancestry.com p15 Word Garden workshops, Earith Village Hall, 2016 p35 Word Garden workshops, Hilgay and Over, 2016 p16 Earith, 2016 p38 Copy of original census 1911 sourced from www.ancestry.com p17 Over Carnival, 2016 courtesy of Nicola Power p40 Copy of original census 1911 source from www.ancestry.com p18 Original Census for Hilgay 1911, source at www.ancestry.com p42 Copy of original census 1911 source from www.ancestry.com p19 Photograph of Letter and Envelope addressed to Isaac Dent, Back Cover Village Tree, Earith, 2016 Haulage Agent, Hilgay courtesy of Ali Dent, Hilgay 2016

4 Words for Wash Days

From Earith to Salter’s Lode the lodestar watches over East Anglia Washes journeying through Roman remains to The Wash. Two channels drawn by hand, hand-built, fifty-two degrees north, one degree east, sculpt this historic landscape. Artefacts, memories, mattocks, lie silt-buried cheek-by-jowl in drains and dykes at the rainbow’s end where sky meets earth over Hilgay, Earith and Over. Peat, punts, marshland people survive fen-blow, flood waters; baton-down in changing mood, long for safety in deepest reaches of watery solitude, find tranquillity known only to the mascot heron seeking its edge- of-fen territory. Neolithic, Bronze, contemporary settlements thrive. Hidden deep: pots, pan handles, flint- heads, reed beds, long for- gotten signs of disaster at Friday Bridge. Fen Tigers, molly dancers, fen-folk, celebrate under nurturing sun, watchful moon, in this place of stillness, flux. Dream. Where else in this universe, as the owls fly, would you care to be?

©Jean Rees-Lyons

5 6 Where earth and sky meet

East Anglia is an ancient and mysterious stretch of landscape where a cottage roof can be below sea level. Once described as the Holy Land of the English, with the Celtic-named Ouse, at its centre, this slow flowing river has a course of some 143 miles. Here, people have a special kind of relationship with their natural environment, which has provided for, and maintained close-to-nature life-cycles for hundreds of years, mostly loved and protected by traditional values. In times of flood and fen-blow it is hostile and unforgiving, pushing its inhabitants to the limits of survival.

Someone asked recently, ‘What is The Washes? Where are they? I want to know more’. Our Village Tree project set out to answer these questions, and a few more besides. With new kinds of questions, creative ones, which may not have been asked before, we developed a Creative Census which we hoped would highlight their historic and social significance. We chose three very different settlements to research: Hilgay, on the A10 towards Salter’s Lode at Denver; Earith, a major drain construction site in the mid 1600’s, and Over, where there are significant archaeological discoveries being made. Once situated in fen marshland, bordering two parallel over-flow drains, creating between them a flow of fertile wash-water some 21 miles long, now called The Ouse Washes, became the focus of attention.

This Word Garden toolkit not only tells the story of the project team journeying through memory and stories, images and life patterns, it also tells of a journey which we found informative and interesting. We became contemporary ‘adventurers’ discovering anew the significance of the struggle to reclaim wild spaces for human activities preserving and reinventing the landscape in the process.

This toolkit is a celebration of the shared, yet disparate experience of people who live in one of the most unique landscapes in the British Isles. This claim to fame is no mean fact. The Word Garden together with Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership has been digging, delving, talking, walking, dramatising, recording, researching, photographing landmarks, buildings, archaeological findings, its many changing and varied events, identifying and securing its place in the historic and continuing heritage of .

Our Village Tree Creative Census, a hybrid of the formalised 10 year National Census and a Family Tree, set out to look at its people past and present. The Ouse Washes could have remained an uncultivated flood plain. Our findings provide a window into the lives of those who love, tend, live-by and preserve their stories and values, thereby creating a legacy for all to envy, so future generations may seek it out and re-remember.

7 8 Our Village Tree

The Heritage Lottery Fund supported Our Village Tree with a grant from the Community Heritage Fund, which is part of the Ouse Landscape Partnership Scheme. The project team, Jean Rees-Lyons, Writer, Nicola Power, Heritage Consultant, Helena g Anderson, Photographer, set about working collaboratively researching places and names, exploring archives, census data, memories and stories in discussion groups. We examined and compared national and parish archive records, discovered the significance of written work and creative processes; events in workshops and on location were photographed to provide new re-collections for participants to be made available to the three chosen villages: Hilgay, a farming community, Earith, a river-side community, and Over, an edge-of-fen community.

Our aims were to highlight and promote the special and specific historic, social and cultural heritage of each area. We recorded the significance of buildings, and places, past and present; we talked with people, young and older to draw out and re-discover life patterns. We found both similarities and differences in, and between, each village in terms of lifestyles, personal involvement and expectations, and in levels of satisfaction, involvement and activities in community life.

This toolkit shows how the Word Garden methodology could be used for your own development of a creative heritage project. Here are some examples of how we worked in each village location.

9 10 Ouse Washes Settlements: reflections, similarities and differences

‘ N i t h e r w a y , M i d d l e w a y a n d F u r t h e r w a y ’

11 12 Hilgay settlement: population: 1590 in 1911- 2409 in 2011

People were extremely interested in our intentions to discuss personal and social activities having taken part on a previous Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership project on archaeology.

Our approach was well received with participants both completing preliminary questions, and agreeing to bring to the next workshops: letters, records, photographs.They wished to discover, talk and involve others. We had previously explored and taken photographs of the village and its surroundings, and, both the first and second workshops had visual displays of census materials, including Name Index for 1891, images of buildings old and new, street maps and locations; and tables were prepared with workshop materials to be used by residents.

The second workshop was valuable and informative both for residents and in terms of new findings towards the making of the Creative Census. The whole occasion was full of interest and happiness as communication between participants increased.

It is true to say that Hilgay activities proved to be not only beneficial to participants, but also it provided the project with a picture of a cohesive community where many of its residents had knowledge of their ancestral history and interest in new members coming into Hilgay. Many wished there to be little or no change to the structure/socio-geographic nature of the village and its environs; they wanted to preserve its heritage, maintain its character and social pride.

You can find comparisons of Hilgay lifestyles past and present on pages 38 & 39.

13 14 Earith settlement: population: -cum-Earith 1004 in 1911- Earith 1606 in 2011

The workshops brought out local knowledge of place names, sayings, traditions, within-memory social activities; and village development, change of occupations, working in the fields and closure of local farms and businesses.

One young family, whose children enjoyed a drawing session, had attended especially after seeing the project advertised in the Post; this family had moved away and returned only to find the old family home now on the market, and that Auntie Alice had become part of their heritage memory to be always associated with Earith. Another couple stayed for most of the workshop time to examine, name some of the old streets, and to re-name plots of land, which now are housing estates. Other participants described a feeling of lack of social cohesion; that people did not talk to each other, or attend activities organised for the benefit of the community.

The workshop was useful in showing the very different attitudes and values of Earith in relation to Hilgay. The first an established, mostly older community, the second, more disparate, whose residents commute to work outside the village.

We displayed stimulus archive materials around the Village Hall to encourage awareness of locations, names, and changes in landmarks. This approach proved useful for provoking memories by this somewhat younger group of participants in the Creative Census making process. Given the significant location of Earith to the early construction of the drains of the Ouse Washes, it would be interesting to do further research there in order to help Earith residents value their historic landscape and cultural locality.

You can find comparisons of Earith lifestyles past and present on pages 40 & 41.

15 16 Over settlement: population: 899 in 1911 - 2862 in 2011

We prepared Over Methodist Church Hall with archive materials pertinent to the village, its history and peoples.

We found new research materials on social life making use of various handout materials itemised later in the tool-kit. A high point was the discovery of a play ‘Overflow’ which tells the story of the great floods of 1947, based upon extracts of conversations recorded in 1986 with residents of the village at the time, who took part in the efforts to save the river bank. A script-in-hand reading of a section of the play was performed at the Combined Day and filmed for OuseFest.

It was decided to hold the second workshop at Over Carnival. This proved to be successful and although the outdoor event took place on an extremely windy day, in fact, we talked to many residents and visitors and it brought a number of local ambassadors prepared to take an active part in the Our Village Tree Combined Day at Earith Recreation Pavilion. Everyone was interested in the work and purpose of the project which was well received with requests for more ‘of this type of project’. A video recording was made; children took part in Our Village Tree drawing sessions; many questionnaires were completed by residents and visitors.

You can find comparisons of Over lifestyles past and present on pages 42 & 43.

17 18 Collaboration, exploration and fun

During several workshops and special events for residents we intended to show how to bring together primary sources: census returns, maps, street directories, and contemporary writing, which sparked interest in the social, historical and geophysical shape of their village. This led to people investigating the history of their own home/dwelling, sharing their own personal collections of photographs, objects and memories.

Collectively we amassed a picture of each village whilst looking for physical evidence such as street names, building features, walkways, which told us much about the layers of history in that place. We experienced a fascinating way to uncover history both ancient and modern, which not only brought together individuals within each community, but also, brought the three communities together in a successful combined workshop day.

19 20 A village snapshot

In Hilgay, we learned about farming families, the Kidsbys, arable farmers who supplied mustard to Colmans in Norwich, the Veal family working on the land through generations, the Palmers who provided 20 steam thrashing engines to farmers during the seasons, and Dents Haulage which distributed crops and timber to other parts of the country.

In Earith, we have learned about the market gardeners and fruit growers, who used the river as the main transport route along with farmers and timber merchants. The Impey family developed a marina in the village and have kept up with the tradition of supplying wood crates timber for fruit and vegetables. We also heard about Earith Fair and bandy ice hockey from people sharing their memories and photographs.

In Over, a fen-edge settlement, where wheat was grown in abundance, and later orchards developed, we talked with descendants of the Duce, Mustill, Doggettt and Thoday families, local farmers and fruit growers who used fertile peaty land for growing plums, berries, and apples which were transported to the London markets.

21 22 Our Village Tree Toolkit

‘ E v e r y v i l l a g e c o u l d d o t h i s ’

23 24 Investigating a community’s past and creative development

Our Village Tree is far-seeing: an innovative and collaborative endeavour between people happy to share their own family’s history and personal research work in the form of memories, stories, sources and new findings, whilst developing new skills on the way.

We were able to see how each community differs historically and has been shaped over time within the Ouse Washes Landscape. We pieced together, through the lives of people from the past, and their descendants, with contributions from people living in the village today, new patterns of social attitudes, which harked back to ‘better times’ when everyone knew each other. We looked back to 1911 through the ages to see the different kinds of work carried out in each location and how different trades serviced each village. Together, we researched and recorded the changes through time in lifestyles, values and expectations through their contributions and capturing through photography the life of a community coming together to explore its roots.

25 Exploring the history of your village or town

Exploring where you live and past lives of local people is fascinating. It adds meaning to places you see as you walk and explore every day, visiting family, shopping, going to work. Finding out about how people have used the landscape in the past, different patterns of life and also how what you see today has been shaped over time, is of interest to all ages and helps create an identity for a place, encouraging a sense of belonging and pride.

There are many sources of information to start with: • Those in your village - buildings, street signs, date stones, walkways, houses, schools, churchyards, features and also people; and those who have lived in the village all their life, families who have for generations lived and worked in the village or town, and those who have collected archive data, memories and local knowledge previously - someone you may know as ‘the local historian’ who may have collected researchable/historic material over time, someone everyone goes to to pass on information or to find out about a place or event. • Historic information about your community can be held elsewhere: Local library - each library has a local studies section, large or small, maps, books written on the local area. • Church and churchyards - records of births, deaths and marriages, information about individuals or families. • Archives or local studies library - street directories, archived local newspapers, old photographs, census returns on microfilm. • Museums - displays on the history of the area, events, people who have been significant, real objects, objects to loan, sometimes archaeological, or records about previous historical research or projects. • Groups for local history or archaeology - information researched on specific topics about your community, collections of material relating to sites or places, which no longer exist.

26 Guidelines: Workshop activities on creative writing and expression for your creative census

Setting up a workshop in the community to explore the past can bring together people wishing to engage on different levels, some may be more confident than others. The way the event is promoted can help to confirm that a session is open to all and that all contributions are welcome. Once started, there is much to say; it brings confidence as people talk about their past, their lives and their stories. Sharing sessions are often the best place to start looking back as a group where people can contribute and memories and stories flow. From this connections can be made and ideas happen. This may lead to interviewing individuals in more depth, to researching particular aspects of the village and setting up projects, or sessions where others can use these memories and stories such as the school, children, families either as a one-off event or towards making something creative and new for the village.

Ideas to start with: • Take a walk around the village or arrange a group to walk around the village sharing what you know together, looking at architecture along the way. • Create your own map of the village or parts of the village and ask people to write their stories or memories about specific places and people. • Make special note of those places, which have left physical traces in the landscape, or in the memory of the walkers. • Hold a sharing event in a welcoming place in the community, where people come along and share their family photographs - add them to the map and talk about shared memories of an event or place.

27 Writing a story, poem or word-picture

• something you enjoy looking at; something you enjoy hearing about • an old nursery rhyme and re-write it for a young child today • how you remember an event that happened in your village • something happy or sad in your village which changed your life • look at the photographs and census forms set around the space, create a story between two characters • hobbies, games and sports, which your parents and grandparents may have told you about • school uniform; Sunday best; your grand-parents traditional clothes: caps; shoes • what was your favourite meal when you were younger? Do you still bake bread? • do you know any traditional ways of collecting herbs from hedgerows? • how the local shops have changed/closed; is there butcher’s shop, or a sweet shop for instance? • taking your children to school and pointing out special, historic places • the origin of your own home, what was there in that landscape before your house was built?

28 Create something new of your own or as part of a group sharing across generations

• from different fabrics, or found objects • crafts you may be interested in • pressed flowers from hedgerows • a new recipe for your village • a new song celebrating an event in your village • activities could explore fashion, food, childhood games, songs and wildlife • or what about an artwork, a textile or permanent feature for the village?

29 30 Discovering historic material: Maps - what do they show us?

They are visual and when overlaid can very quickly show what has changed and what has stayed the same.

As an example, in Earith, on the map below, the footprint of the village has always been along the river’s edge. There is now a small industrial park and new housing added where there were once fields.

On the old maps, people could see the original orchards of market gardeners, the quays on the river before the marina was built, see how original places were laid out such as Seven Holes Bridge. These are a good starting point to see an overview of the village and to use the familiar of what is still there as a way to navigate through the changes.

31 Discovering historic material: Street Directories - what do they tell us?

Street directories are fascinating in that they capture the businesses and trades in a settlement showing what jobs people did, how land was used and distinctive features of villlages, such as the Kelly’s Directory for Cambridgeshire. The main businesses and shops of a settlement are listed alphabetically by family name as a good illustration of how people serviced the needs of the local area year by year and which industry was predominant in a particular place e.g. market gardening; timber merchant; farmers; railway worker; fishing; haulage; orchard keepers; bee keeper.

Sometimes you can see businesses grow, diversify or when the needs of the village change - the first printers arrive in the village, motor repair shops or the area becomes more affluent evidenced when there are more of one kind of shop, furniture, clothes or banks for example.

These are a good starting point to see an overview of the village and to use the familiar of what is still there as a way to navigate through the changes.

Earith 1911 Census Family Names and 1924 Kelly's Directory of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire Frederick Jewson Timber Merchant

Arthur Barnes Thodey Thatcher and Furniture Dealer

George Seamark Cycle Dealer

George Dow Jobbing Gardener

Joseph and Maria Parren Builder

Frederick Seamark Beehive maker

Frank Skeggs Butcher, High Street Earith

Samuel Wright Provision Merchant (out of work)

James Bidwell Wright Farmer

32 Discovering historic material: Photographs - where do they take us?

• show places and buildings no longer there; sign-age; windows; street scenes; lighting; people; faces; hairstyles; clothes; hats; footwear • show children: how they dressed; how they played in the street, traditional games • show family images: recording ancestors; where they lived, how they earned a living, festivals and village events • the work of families in a village - what did they contribute to village life • photographs capture unique moments in history, personal life

33 Discovering historic material: Census Returns - where to find them and what do they reveal?

• local libraries: formal records • websites: www.ancestry.com, www.findmypast.com • they show names; ages; gender; child; addresses; occupation; family groups; where people moved from to live in your village • they show the composition of a household including family relationships/lodgers; size of house • if home is tied to the job e.g. shop keeper, horse-keeper, home worker • comparisons reveal death rates and infant mortality • compare between censuses to map where they lived - searching by year, address and surname • who lived in your street? Family; their first names and surnames, ages and what they did for a living • head of household, wife, live-in housekeeper, daughter, son, lodger • where they were born - locally or moved out of the area • how is their job described - school mistress, nurse, shop keeper, horseman, labourer, seamstress

The first census took place in 1911, when people could write their own details so we see their own handwriting and they choose what to include.

34 Discovering historic material: Interviewing people and gathering memories

Often interviewing people works well as a longer-term project with a series of interviews with different people, those with specific experiences or knowledge and those who remember far back. With tablets, smartphones, video recorders or a voice recorder these interviews can be saved easily as a legacy for the village and can be kept on CD, or as written memories, a scrapbook, a film or built into a new creative element, a sculpture, exhibition or event.

Hearing and recording real voices gives a special legacy to the community, as memories are intertwined with emotions, anecdotes, feeling and accents. History becomes even more real as a result. Gathering memories is like taking a walk with someone through their life, stopping and having a look at particular times with them, recording them so that others can hear about it too.

Examples of open questions to use: • Can you describe .....? • Can you outline .....? • How did it feel to start .....? • What was involved in making .....? • What kind of house did you live in? • Can you tell me how the room was laid out? • What was expected of you from that teacher? • Can you explain the process of making XYZ...? • What did it mean to you when you became a parent? • What makes these memories special for you?

Useful links The Oral History Society - www.ohs.org.uk/advice/getting-started/2/ Heritage Lottery Fund guidance on Oral History interviews Appendix B - Practical Interview Advice - www.hlf.org.uk/oral-history

35 Examples from our Creative Census findings

The general atmosphere is peaceful The community feeling, the school and the park Former travelling fair at Fairfeld, the river The church’s lime avenue, the second largest in Europe The many footpaths around the village So green Nitherway, Middleway and Furtherway The green island in the river is full of geese I’ve seen seals sunbathing on the island The tree outside the Village Hall is really alive People used to go shingle collecting Geese really do make a love heart with their necks Hod me dod game smashing snails

Patens Hive – eel traps This is my home village Over Carnival brings the whole village together for a day I hope for a continuing sense of community My village feels safe It has been our home for over thirty years and all our children have been brought up here Here and always here The enormous skies and sunsets

Landscape and people Keep the sense of space for walking and the countryside I love the village green at the centre I hope the community feel continues as it does today and the landscape, which gives us such joy

36 Ouse Washes Settlements: Official Census 1911 and Creative Census 2016

‘ T h a t t h i n g s s t a y t h e s a m e ’

37 38 Street Years in Lived Reason to move Your supplies and Family heritage Travel What is special about Village Event or Your Hopes for the Village Name Hilgay before to Hilgay entertainment in the village to Hilgay? Tradition in centres work where? Whittome 10 - 15 years Lincoln Rural area and Beach, Thetford, kings I have worked in the Winsford The community feeling, the school Hlgay Raft Race Continue to live here and my Mill friends here Lynn, Tescos village and the park children go to the school Keep the ethos Keep my village pub and shop'

East End Born here Hilgay Lived here all my life Kings Lynn, Village Hall Worked at Dents butchers Former travelling fair at Fairfield, Continuation of a viable village Six cinema Transport the river and the adjacent field for school, some more new housing, generations Norwich, Ely and Kings events the local well supported village Lynn The Church's lime avenue shop continues supposedly the longest in Europe Foresters 15 - 20years Ely Norfolk is cheaper to Norwich, Ely, , Son worked for Burwell, Community I would like to see a new hall Avenue buy property Downham Market and KL Dents as a general built to house activities to suit all labourer age groups so that the centre of Work from home as the village could be improved a childminder West End Born here Hilgay Lived here all my life D/Market, Great Treshing Tackles D/Market The church avenue We used to have a That things stay the same Five Yarmouth, Thetford Crisp Factory School, Playing Field carnival followed by a generations Kings Lynn, Norwich, Fish and chips in the Village Hall, River fete now raft race, book village sale, shell club, youth Bee Keeping club, vintage country show, Hilgay Silver Band West End Born here Hilgay Lived here all my life Great Yarmouth, D/Market Farmers in Hilgay D/Market Church Avenue Hilgay Vintage Show To stay the same, fields need to Four be kept as fields not housing generations estates West End 40 - 50 years Stowbridge Got married Village activities, Kings H and C Beart, Chatteris All Saints Church 2 day country fair Stay at it is Lynn, Stowbridge The Community West End 10 - 15 years Rainham Better life for our River park, friends, pub Kings So green That it doesn't get Essex children Cambridge, Lakeside Lynn overdeveloped

Tower Under 5 years New Start High Lodge, Beach, Self Employed Cross Park, river, fields, allotments, The friends of school Paint the water tower Road National Trust gardener County the Garage is important for Halloween Party and the A post office would be brilliant Ely parks and river, Kings memories Christmas Craft Fair Lynn, Online food delivery Tower Born here N/A Chapel, Local rotary club, Farm secretary and Retired Methodist Annual Fete at Rectory Road Four D/Market, Kings Lynn Director chapel generations Ten Mile Bank Silver Band East End 30 - 40 years I married someone Village activities, 40 mile I was a teacher at The many footpaths around the That Hilgay remains a vibrant from Hilgay radius the village school village, the rivers and the new community with school, reserve churches, shops and meeting places Lawrence under 5 years N/A To live near daughter Dents in the village, No March The general atmosphere and Lovely example of a Norfolk lane and grandson who Downham Market ambiance village live in Downham - peaceful Market

39 40 Street Years in Lived Reason to Your supplies and Family heritage in the Travel to What is special Village event Your Hopes for the Village Name Earith before in move entertainment centres village work about Earith? or tradition to Earith where? Hereward 20-30 years Fenstanton Council Property St Ives, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Daughter used to work in Huntingdon, Village community Christmas It doesn't over build so we keep a Bar Hil the village shop and post Cambridge feel Bazaar in school village feel but improve facilities at office Summer Fayre the village hall. Cooks Born in Lived in N/A St Ives, Cambridge Bonnetts - sister worked N/A - - - Drove Earith Earith for 18 there. Woodlands - sister, years then mother and I worked there. moved to Riverview - I worked there Bluntisham Mother worked in Carringtons boatyard Greenfields 15-20 years Cambridge good primary Ely or St Ives, Bar Hill, Yes Parish Clerk Huntingdon The river side No To remain the same school Huntingdon 40 - 50 years Huntingdon Work - we built Ely, Cambridge, and all local Family built the marina Earith The best feature is all Past fetes and I would love community spirit back - the Marina - villages, swimming in Cambridge from osier beds. Then the water galas local websites and facebook help. Westview and fetes in nearby villages. went into Timber company surrounding us. We Annual Huntingdon and the family still run this do not make enough pantomime in the industrial estate. of it. Earith Timber was originally supplying farm crates and set up by the manager of Jewsons . It began here. High Street 15-20 years Norwich Work -to be Bluntisham, St Ives, Cambridge No St Albans The river, watching it People find their voice as a equidistant Peterborough, Bury St Edmunds change daily and the community. Very lovely people but between wildlife it brings difficult to get to know Wellingborough and Thetford Darford 30 -40 years Chatahm Allocated a house St Ives and Soham to visit family, I work at KLM Engineering Ramsey My grandchildren like New Years Day Build housing at the right price to Kent on leaving the Ely St Ives, Milton Keynes and the parks, my walks, village attract younger people into the Royal Navy Cambridge allotment, the quiet pantomime, village but grew up in The WI fireworks on the this area ECA field Greenfileds 40 -50 years Norwich Change of Tea dances, St Neots, Fenland No Cambridge Gravel Pits - moved to Fireworks To remain a quiet and peaceful employment Light Railway, Huntingdon Earith not by choice flooding of village but circumstances causeway, and it is peaceful events at the school and village hall High Road 10 - 15 years London Company North Norfolk Coast, Bar Hill No Self- Friendly people and New Years Day It will continue to be a friendly relocated to area Tesco, Wyevale Garden centre, employed neighbours. Has the Walk caring community. I would like to working at feel of a country see the hedgerows cut. I would like home village but easy to houses on the High Street do more access road system to make them look pretty and cared for. The Riverview to reopen for lunches.

41 42 Street Years in Lived before in Reason to Your supplies and Family heritage Travel to What is Village event or Your Hopes for the Village Name Over move entertainment centres in the village work where? special about tradition to Over Over? The lanes 20 -30 years London To retire to London, Jazz at Willingham and New Maldon, Friendly Day centre That it stays the same, a lovely place to the country Newmarket, east coast for Jazz Near community live and nearer weekends - shopping in St Ives Wimbledon daughter mostly Mill Road 40 - 50 Hatfield, Herts. Family London, local activities, Teacher in Over for London and Friendly In 1986 primary New families continue to come, the years moved to Cambridge, Barhill 16 years Over community school took part in village character doesn't change and the work in BBC Domesday Book three churches will grow their Cambridge project congregation West Street 30 - 40 Gloucestershire Work Cambridge area, Barhill Working from At home Countryside and Carnival and Continuing sense of community years and born in home remotely city fireworks Scotland Overcote 30 -40 years Bassingbourne Looking for Village market, church fetes, Nurse in Over At home Atmosphere, this Vibrant happy community - hope it stays Road village life Willingham and Highgate Farm surgery for 10 years Littleport and has been our that way! Swavesey by car home for over 30 years and all our children have been brought up here Fen End 10 - 15 To move to Village WI, Football, cricket, Arthur Rank Village feels safe Keep the green spaces years Harwich and a larger darts, Cambridge, Peterborough, House, car Doncaster house St Ives and Ely - groceries online! Fen End 40 - 50 Willingham To find a Bar Hill, online, Cambridge Ely Publishing company home here and always the enormous sky that it remains a village in spite of years previously larger house from home here and sunsets Northstowe Felixstowe employing local people Long 20 -30 years Rampton, Cambs More space Tesco and village shop, Ely Nice village Continue much the same Furlong Willingham and Online Thornhill 10 - 15 Plymouth Work Colchester, Over Carvival, local Cambridge - bus, Landscape and Inclusivity Place years Leamington Spa shops car, bike people Longstanton King Street 5- 10 years Northampton Work in Walks around the village, Work in nice sense of Not too much development to keep the Wellingborough Cambridge National Trust places, Bar hill and Cambridge - go community - people countryside the same Cambridge by car are fond of the village High Street Under 5 Longstanton Better Sports in St Ives,food from Over Used to work in Cambridge by Being in the For it to keep its character years house and Swavesey, everything else Swavesey car countryside but Cambridge close to Cambridge King Street 30 - 40 Macclesfield Better Swavesey, Bar hill College by car Community More community activities years South London education James Under 5 Whittlesford Schools Cycling, cinema, Thetford, I love the village I hope the community feel continues as it Wadsworth years Cambs previously Cambridge and Milton Keynes green at the centre does today Close East Sussex New Road All my life 5 generations Born here Village clubs, Over community Brings the whole More affordable housing for Over young centre, Barhill, Huntingdon and village together for a people so they can stay in the village if Cambridge, online shopping day they wish to.

43 Contacts in Cambridgeshire we referred to during the project for primary sources and information

Cambridgeshire Archives Tel: 01223 699399 - www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/archives Wisbech Llibrary Tel: 0345 045 5225 email: [email protected] Lilian Ream Trust online collection of photographic images of Wisbech - www.lilianream.org.uk Huntingdon Library Archives Tel: 01480 372738 - [email protected] The Norris Museum Tel: 01480 497314 - www.norrismuseum.org.uk Cambridgeshire Collection Tel: 0345 045 5225 - www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/177/archives_and_local_studies/

Cambridgeshire collection of images online • Census 1841 – 1901 for Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely free access to www.ancestry.co.uk and www.findmypast.co.uk • UK Census, birth, marriage and death indexes, street directories and military records including both World Wars. • Street Directories Kelly and Pigot 1790s to the 1930s onwards • Free access to the British Newspaper Archive 200 Historic British newspapers includes the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, Cambridge Independent Press, Stamford Mercury, Hunts Guardian

Local History online gives details of all local history societies and groups in Cambridgeshire http://www.local-history.co.uk/Groups/cambs.html Mike Petty, local historian - www.cambridgeshirehistory.com/MikePetty/guides.html Cambridgeshire Association for Local History - www.calh.org.uk Local History Society - www.huntslhs.org.uk Cambridge Community Archive network - an online photographic archive - www.ccan.co.uk Domesday Book available online - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday

Please visit www.ousewashes.org.uk for a downloadable version of this book and resources from other heritage projects as part of the Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership

44 Our thanks to: The Participants, residents and visitors of Hilgay, Earith and Over, who contributed to the making of the 2016 Creative Census including:

Hilgay: Over: Earith: Ali Dent Carolyn Redmayne Hazel Lambert Alan Crane Cynthia Bidwell Lizzie Madder Elaine and Gordon Smith Helen Culnane Mark and Marion Bramley Julie Palmer Janet Garnett Mandy Pink Peter Bates Jeanette Fenn Su Smith Val and Dave Barrington Over Carnival Committee Earith Echo Stanley and Blanche Robinson Over Methodist Church Earith Parish Council Dents Butchers Over News Hilgay Parish Council Over Parish Council

Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership Community Heritage Fund Heritage Lottery Fund Cambridgeshire Collection Huntingdonshire Local Studies The Babylon Gallery, Ely Mike Petty

45 Our Village Tree copyright to The Word Garden 2016 https://www.facebook.com/thewordgarden Tel: 01353 860027

Project Team Jean Rees-Lyons – Writer Nicola Power – Heritage Consultant Helena g Anderson – Photographer 46