Years
of the 2000 YEARS of the WOLDS
WoldsHistorical Organisation
Preface to onlineedition
Nearly twenty years have elapsed since this booklet appeared in print. Since then many of the articles have resurfaced as web pages on the Wolds Historical Organisation web site. However the coronaviruslockdownseems the right occasion to create a digital version.
Sadly the original fonts are no longer on my computers, so there is a slight change in the way the text appears compared to the print edition.
Where possible I have replaced the printed black- and-white images with their colour originals. Otherwise I have made no attempt to update any information (except references to the WHO website) as this booklet is already part of the history of the Woldsvillages. One change of note is that the Six Hills Hotel (formerly the Durham Ox Inn) has been owned by the Carpenter's Arms charity since April 2017.
Bob Trubshaw Chair WoldsHistorical Organisation April 2020
2000 Years of the Wolds Contents
Edited by JoanShawand Bob Trubshaw Preface 3
ISBN1 951734 33 4 StMary'sWymeswold 6 The restoration of StAndrew's, Prestwold 9 © Copyright WoldsHistorical Organisation 2003 What census data can show 12 PDFedition 2020 Six Hills then and now 14 The moral rights of the authors have been Place-names of the Wolds 16 asserted. All rights reserved. The Polish Camp at Burtonon the Wolds 20 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior Polish poppies 27 written permission from the WoldsHistorical Extreme gardening - the life of Organisationexcept for brief passages FrederickWilliamBurbidge 29 quoted in reviews. The mills at Cotes 30 Human remains found on a Wymeswold WoldsHistorical Organisation building site 32 2 Cross Hill Close, Wymeswold Heroes of Waterloo 33 Loughborough, LE126UJ Burtonon the WoldsWeslyanMethodist Chapel 37 [email protected] Dating a well-known view of Wymeswold 38 Previously published articles and details of Have you got a cheese press in your garden? 39 current activities by WoldsHistorical Organisation are onlineat WilliamEdwardBailey 40 www.hoap.co.uk/who LucretiaNoon 42 A poor man's petition 43
Letter to the Editor 43 Chariman'sreport for 2003 44 Preface
PatriciaBaker, Chairman
This latest WoldsHistorical Organisation publication follows the theme of our exhibition held at Loughborough's CharnwoodMuseum in January 2003. The title is the same but although some of the material is repeated, it also has articles based on new research. The exhibition '2000 Years of the Wolds' brought together projects and contributions from WHO members and artefacts from the Leicestershire Museums' collections.
On display were the Iron Age pot, discovered during the second phase of building at Orchard Way,
Right: The charred navigator's notebook recovered from the German bomber that crashed near Burton, as displayed at Charnwood Museum during January 2003.
Below: Overall view of the WoldsHistorical Organisation's '2000 Years of the Wolds'
2 Above: Orchard Way, June 1990: excavating the upturned Iron Age pot (arrowed). Members of Leicestershire Museums Service with Susan Thorpeon right.
Left: The late Iron Age pot restored. It is about 2,000 years old and is the oldest evidence we have for settlement where the village of Wymeswold developed. However Iron Age settlements were scattered farmsteads; nucleated villages only came into existence 800 or 900 years later.
3 Wymeswold, in June 1990; a charred navigator’s web site. notebook from the German bomber that crashed Articles relating to Burtonon the Wolds, Hoton, near Burtonvillage school during the Second World Prestwoldand Cotes had been previously put War; Roman and medieval pottery recovered when on line at www.burton-on-the-wolds.org.uk by field walking around Wymeswold; ancient Rod Ward. Together these two Web sites documents from the collection of our late and much provide an excellent archive of WHO research missed Chairman, AlecMoretti, and many other and, thanks to the wonder of the various search items relating to the history of the Woldsvillages. engines, are able to be found by people from all over the world as well as locally. 2000 years of The Wolds is the fourth booklet written and produced by the WoldsHistorical As Chairman I wish to say ‘thank you’ to Joan Organisation, following on from A portrait of Shawand Bob Trubshawfor their hard work in WymeswoldPast and Present (1991), A Walk producing this booklet and to all the around Wymeswold (1994) and Wolds contributors for the research carried out. Reflections (1997). In addition, since 1991 members have published an annual WHO Finally I cannot finish this preface without Newsletter which has recorded details of the paying tribute to our late Chairman, Alec organisation’sactivities and research. This Morettifrom whom there are two posthumous booklet is published in place of the 2003 contributions in this booklet. Aleccontinues to Newsletter. be greatly missed by WHO members and many others to whom he was a great source of In November 2002 GinnyWestcottcreated a information. Thanks to the kind co-operation of Web site for Wymeswold Alec’sdaughters, Margaretand Ruth, the WHO (www.wymeswold.org) following on from the has been able to go through all of Alec’s work carried out for the Village Design papers, photographs and computer files relating Statement. Among much other current to local history. These have been sorted and information, regularly updated, are included indexed and most have been retained by the over forty articles previously published in WHO, and are available for research. The Portrait of Wymeswold and the WHO original old documents will be deposited with Newsletters. Census information from 1881 to the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester 1901 gathered by AlecMoretti, and transcribed and Rutland.Photocopies have been taken for by John Chestertonis also on the Wymeswold the WHO archives.
Some of the old documents relating to Wymeswoldcollected by AlecMorettiand on display at CharnwoodMuseum in January 2003.
4 StMary'sWymeswold
Pioneering ecclesiologyin Leicestershire
Bob Trubshaw
The interior of StMary'schurch in Wymeswoldis, in The Gothic revival and the science of ecclesiology almost every respect, a 'typical' English parish The style gurus of the Gothic revival came together church. Rows of pews, a pulpit set to the side of the in 1839 to form the Cambridge CamdenSociety chancel arch, choir seats flanking the chancel, and (CCS). Soon after its formation the CCSpublished a an altar table at the far east end. This layout list of do's and don’tsfor church layout which they epitomises what we think of as a parish church. promoted as a science, dubbed ecclesiology, with rules that should not be broken. These rules were Yet at the time A.W.N.Pugindesigned this church based on a revival of Gothic architecture that Pugin interior in the mid-1840ssuch an arrangement was was already pioneering both in his buildings and his quite radical and almost entirely novel in the county. influential books. The aim was to invoke the 'Ecclesiology' had become manifest in splendours of the medieval churches and cathedrals, Leicestershire. This article attempts to provide a although without 'Popish superstition' and idolatry. summary of these pioneering national ideas and In Contrasts (published in 1836) Pugincontrasts show how the restoration of StMary'sinfluenced images of the noble Middle Ages with 'degraded' restorations throughout the county. contemporary ones. For him Gothic expressed 'all we should hold sacred, honourable, and national.' The freshness and vigour of Pugin'sGothic designs
The interior of StMary'sWymeswoldfrom a postcard taken during the first half of the twentieth century.
5 were understandably imitated by his The CCSabhorred these interiors. They represented contemporaries, although his death at the age of 40 everything that was 'ungodly' about services based in 1852, meant he did not live to see the extent to on preaching. The Oxford Movement, with its which his ideas dominated architecture in the emphasis on a liturgy based on the celebration of second half of the nineteenth century. communion, might have seemed overly-romantic, even 'Anglo-Catholic' to its critics, but by the 1830s There is a deep underlying irony here. By this time and 40sit was gaining support. At this time any Britain was the most prosperous country in the changes that would help get more people into the world, leading the way with industrial and churches was welcomed. What could not have agricultural innovations. At the time when railways been expected in the 1840swas how the ideas of were revolutionising the speed and ease of transport, the ecclesiologistsand the 'Anglicans' would change the favoured style of architecture harked back over both the layout and the liturgy of nearly every parish five hundred years. This remarkable chink in the church in the country. apparently overarchingself-confidence of Victorian Britain led to public buildings, from the humblest of The Gothic emphasis on 'heavenward-pointing' parish churches through to the House of Commons, columns and arches had, by the early part of the being designed not in a new modern manner as nineteenth century, come to be associated with might be expected but in imitation of medieval profound religious thinking. By the 1830sthere was Gothic. a good understanding of Gothic architecture. The style especially favoured by the revivalists was The reason for this derives from the nature of the dubbed 'early Middle Pointed', that is the Decorated Reformation in England. Whereas in many style of about 1300. Careful copying was European countries the Reformation had led to a encouraged while 'inventive innovation' was total break with previous religious traditions, in condemned. CCSpublications criticised church England the formation of the Church of England restorations and rebuilding, often making harsh under Henry VIIIretained rather more continuity. overall assessments based on pernickety deviations Rather than being deprecated, medieval from their ideals. ecclesiastical architecture came to have rather 'romantic' associations. By the early nineteenth Yet the layout of the 'idealised' Gothic church, with century England was associating the Gothic style chancel, side aisles and high open roofs fitted poorly with a noble, idealised past. with the liturgical requirements. What made sense in the fourteenth century did not make sense five Even if the early stages of the Reformation in hundred years later. Side aisles were originally England were more evolutionary than revolutionary, constructed to house side altars, which were not in succeeding centuries the liturgical practices of the wanted; they were not constructed to allow easy Church of England evolved significantly. By the visibility into the chancel. The problem of how to eighteenth century the practice was for communion fill the chancel, apart from putting the altar at the to be celebrated no more than three or four times a east end, was resolved only in the later part of the year. People went to church to listen to the nineteenth century when choirs became customary. preaching; the main focus of the church was not the The high open roofs lead to stylish interiors but altar but the pulpit. This often stood at the east end defeat all attempts at effective heating. But the CCS of the nave, blocking the chancel arch. The promoted these idealised Gothic interiors so congregation sat within the confines of box pews, successfully that by the 1890sthey had all-but swept which were rented out and embodied the 'pecking away the various changes that had evolved between order' of the local families. Sometimes the pews the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. were arranged 'collegiate style', that is, facing each other. At the west end a gallery, often intended for Emerging ecclesiologyin Leicestershire singers or musicians, was typical. Roof spaces were Anyone who browses through John Nichols' History usually concealed behind plastered ceilings. In and Antiquities of the County of Leicester cannot Leicestershire this arrangement has survived almost miss the illustrations of every parish church in the unchanged at Wistowand Kings Norton, two quite county. These were drawn in the late eighteenth different churches that in their distinctive ways are century and are very much a 'warts and all' representative of eighteen century church interiors. depiction of their state. An air of dilapidation
6 pervades many of these engravings and, in some aisle windows were based on work in the finest cases, either the nave or the chancel is roofless. In Lincolnshire churches. Pugin'sdesign for the lavish truth, at the time about half the churches of north porch is freer but still within the authentic Leicestershire were in good repair and of the rest medieval idiom. A small 'chapel' was added on the only about twenty needed major structural work. north side of the chancel for an organ and is believed to be one of, if not the earliest, such organ The first major restoration of any Leicestershire chambers on a Victorian church. The fittings church in the nineteenth century took place throughout were to Pugin'sdesigns, even down to between 1829–32 at ApplebyMagna. The churches the binding of the Bible and the wall-mounted at Burbage, Norton-juxta-Twycross, Chilcoteand candle-sconces with their reflectors. The finishing Countesthorpewere partly rebuilt in 1842. All these touches were the painting of the chancel roof and a incorporate aspects of the Gothic revival but none set of texts carefully chosen to suit their position." make a clean break with eighteenth century interior layouts, and the copying of Gothic decoration is The painted wall texts were victims of the 1955–9 often somewhat heavy-handed. restoration but – if it is possible to ignore the overly- obtrusiveceiling fans installed in the 1990s– in Despite the widespread influence of the CCS, only other respects the church is essentially as Pugin two people in Leicestershire joined. One was Henry intended. Alford, vicar of Wymeswoldfrom 1835–53. He joined the CCSin 1844, the same year that he Curiously the chancel was set out with 'choir stalls' commissioned the leading 'idol' of CCSideals, – but the idea of having a choir in the chancel only Pugin, to restore StMary'schurch. Alford's gained acceptance much later in the nineteenth involvement with the CCSfits well with his close century. The seating plan in the chancel seems to connections with Cambridge. Then, as now, Trinity anticipate, probably rather too hopefully, that College in Cambridge was the patron of people from Trinity College would attend major Wymeswoldchurch. Alfordwas a Fellow of Trinity, festivals. (One of the unachievedambitions of the which is why he came to be vicar of Wymeswold. ecclesiologistswas for the chancels of parish Presumably he encountered the CCSas a result of churches to once again be occupied by large his close connections with Cambridge; indeed the numbers of clergy.) CCSseemed to have especially intimate links with Trinity College. The next church in the county to be restored was at Anstey, where work took place between 1845–6. With Pugin'sappointment in 1844 to restore St Intriguingly this very competent use of the Gothic Mary'sat Wymeswoldecclesiologyand the Gothic revival style was by the local building firm, revival arrived in the county 'fully formed'. Pugin Broadbentand Hawley. The appearance of the had already rebuilt a number of churches in the interior at Ansteysuggests that the work at Gothic style during the 1830sand, at the time of Wymeswoldprovided considerable inspiration. working on StMary's, was producing thousands of drawings for the decoration of the new Houses of Henry Alfordcelebrated the completion of Pugin's Commons, which were being rebuilt by the architect work at Wymeswoldin 1846 with a book detailing Charles Barry. Pugin'svisionary designs. There can be little doubt that this volume found its way into the hands of The chancel restoration was paid for by Trinity clergy, churchwardens and architects throughout the College, and the CCSshowed their support by county and helped to inspire the desire for making a grant of £10. The local church historian restoration in the Gothic style. GeoffreyBrandwoodhas provided a concise account of Pugin'sinvolvement: From the 1840smajor restorations and rebuilds swept through the county, peaking in the 1860swith "Work began with rebuilding the south aisle, the thirteen to seventeen churches in Leicestershire removal of the gallery, and brick wall blocking the being worked on at any one time. Most of the tower arch. The style was Decorated and is an necessary work had been done in this area by the interesting mixture of copyismand invention. The end of the 1890s. By the 1890sthe interiors of most
7 churches resembled what, just fifty years before, had WymeswoldChurch, c.1846. been the radical approach which Puginhad GeoffreyK Brandwood, Bringing them to their manifested at Wymeswold. StMary'swas now knees: Church-building and restoration in 'typical' rather than innovatory. Leicestershire and Rutland1800–1914, Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Sources: 2002. Anon. [H. Alford], History and Description of John Glen Harries, Pugin, Shire Publications, 1994.
The restoration of StAndrew'schurch, Prestwold
Sir ChristopherPackeacquired the estates of Cotes times. The nave was rebuilt by the Packefamily in and Prestwoldin the mid-seventeenth century. 1743 and the interior was fairly typical of eighteenth Initially he and his family lived at the fine Cotes Park century churches, with box pews, a west gallery and House but his eldest son was described as being 'of a pulpit in the middle of the nave on the north wall. Prestwold' by the year 1682. Prestwoldbecame the By the mid-nineteenth century such interiors had family's principal residence sometime around 1700 become seriously unfashionable so, when the church after the house at Cotes burnt down. was further restored in 1890, the nave furnishings were replaced. Little is known of the house at Prestwoldof this time, although the remains of a Jacobean building survive Fortunately two photographs taken before 1890 as the core of the much-enlarged building of the survive, showing the interior of the nave as it was 1760s(which in turn was extended in 1805 and designed in 1743. again in 1842 when the house also acquired its Italianateexterior). The chancel of Prestwoldchurch contains various sepulchral effigies, many of a very high artistic StAndrew'schurch stands close to the house. The standard. tower and chancel have survived from medieval
Marble effigy of Charles HusseyPacke(died 1842), attributed to Westmacottjunior by NiklausPevsener.
8 Prestwoldchurch before 1860 looking west.
9 Prestwoldchurch before 1860 looking east.
1 0 What census data can show
The national censuses which started in 1841 and comparing the Wymeswoldpopulation in 1851, have taken place every ten years since (except 1941) 1891 and 1981. By separating people into male and provide a fascinating insight into life over the last female, and into different age groups, these charts 160 years. The information on age, number of make it easy to see that in 1851 there were far more children, occupation and place of birth might at first children and young adults than in 1981. They also sight seem to be rather meagre. However Alec show the substantial decline in total population from Moretti, with his background in geography as well as a peak of about 1250 in 1851, to just over 800 in an interest in local history, showed that this 1891 (which was to be typical of the village until the information can be interpreted in various ways that 1960s), then climbing to 930 by 1981. shed more light on the changes in Wymeswold. Alecalways intended to develop this information For the WHO tenth anniversary exhibition back in and add details from later censuses, although sadly 1997 AlecMoretticreated a series of histograms he never did so.
Wymeswoldpopulation in 1851 by age groups Age
Total population 1223 Total males 598 (shown on left hand side) Total females 625 (shown on right hand side)
number of males in number of females in each age group each age group
11 Age Wymeswoldpopulation in 1891 by age groups
Total population 863 Total males 409 (shown on left hand side) Total females 454 (shown on right hand side)
The reduction in population since 1851 is thought to be a result of adults moving to Loughborough and other local towns.
number of males in number of females in each age group each age group
Wymeswoldpopulation Age in 1981 by age groups
Total population 930 Total males 476 (shown on left hand side) Total females 454 (shown on right hand side)
number of males in number of females in each age group each age group
1 2 Six Hills then and now
This plan of Six Hills was drawn in 1876. It shows the Durham Ox with the farm house opposite and the chapel of ease built by Rev Sawyer of Old Dalbyin 1837.
The Durham Ox Inn depicted in the frontispiece to Leicestershire and its Hunts by Charles Simpson (published by John Lane in 1926).
1 3 Six Hills in the late 1940s. Photograph by MrF. Lumbers from Leicestershire by Guy Pagetand Lionel Irvine, published RobertHale 1950.
The Six Hills Hotel in September 2002.
There are no hills at Six Hills – it is near the tive 'moots'. The Roman roads remained in use centre of a plateau about 350 feet above sea for many centuries as drovers' roads, as is level. The name is a corruption of 'SeggsHill', confirmed by the original name of the inn there perhaps derived form the Anglo-Saxon personal – The Durham Ox – which is frequently names Seggaor Secca(see Bob Trubshaw's associated with drovers' resting places. article in the 2000 WHO Newsletter). The A46was widened to a dual carriageway in At Six Hills the Roman Fosse Way crosses a 1964. The Durham Ox changed its name to minor Roman road running from the ironstone the Six Hills Hotel in 1950. The building was ridge above Long Clawsondown to the River extended in 1954, 1964 and again about 1990. Soar at Barrow. The site was probably the meeting place for the Anglo-Saxon administra-
1 4 Place-names of the Wolds
Bob Trubshaw
Place-names can be tricky to understand as the spellings are often corrupted. Much depends So, what light can place-names shed on our on a scholarly understanding of the earliest ancestors? By the time Williamthe Conquer- written versions, which often only go back to or's men were documenting the details of the Domesday Book of 1086, even though the England in 1086 most place-names in the place names are much older. Unfortunately the Midlands had been in use for several centuries, Domesday versions can be corrupt as the although Leicestershire place-names were scribes, fluent in Latin and Norman French, especially prone to change around the ninth struggled with the alien dialects of Old English century as a result of settlement by the Vikings. which was based on Germanic and Scandina- Indeed, in the Wreakevalley to the west of vianlanguages. However once place-name MeltonMowbray, almost all the settlement scholars have 'done their stuff' some fascinating names betray Scandinavianinfluences, yet there insightsinto local history begin to appear. is good reason to believe the villages existed before the Vikings took control. The Anglo-Saxon era is often referred to as the Dark Ages simply because so little written We refer to the area above the 300 foot history has survived. But this is misleading contour line and centred on Six Hills as the because in other ways much of the history of 'wolds', and this is an Anglo-Saxon word. The this era is still part of our lives. 'Non- exact meaning is debated but probably meant documentary' evidence of this era is, quite an area of woodland (perhaps quite scrubby literally, all about us and reveals just how woodland) with clearings for arable farming. It much Anglo-Saxons created the basis of would have been thought of as rather modern life. The modern English language has 'marginal' land, at least for arable farming, certainly moved on from the language of the although the scrubby woodland could have eleventh century but key aspects – such as the been used for the foraging of pigs, geese and different grammatical structure from other other livestock. All the Woldsvillages lie in a Germanic languages – are a result of changes rough circle on land just below the 300 foot that took place about 1100 years ago. The contour line, with their parishes stretching out fundamentals of the British system of law – into the higher ground to meet at Six Hills. such as 'innocent until proven guilty' – are distinct from Continental 'Roman' law (despite the efforts of EUbureaucrats) and these date In the Roman period there is no reason to back to the effective law making of King Alfred suppose that settlement in the Woldswas and other Anglo-Saxon kings. The efficiency significantly different to the rest of the region, with which Williamthe Conqueror's men were and would have been characterised by small able to prepare the comprehensive information farmsteads about 1 to 2 km apart. The small needed for the Domesday Book reveals there Roman town of Vernemetumon the Fosse Way must have been an proficient administrative to the north of Six Hills would have required system operating throughout the country in late the surrounding area to provide food and fuel. Anglo-Saxon times. Although the boulder clay is rather heavy for arable, the land is well-suited for stockrearing and dairy produce. This is supported by the More especially, the settlement pattern of finds from two Roman settlements discovered to 'nucleated' villages and the connecting roads of the east of Wymeswold, where the pottery rural England today results from a revolution in included a fragment of a cheese press. farming practices during the eighth or ninth centuries; previously settlement was typically dispersed farmsteads. However place-names Vernemetum is a fascinating place-name as it are usually older than the nucleation of translates as 'Great (or Especially) Sacred settlements into villages, as the names originally Grove', which strongly implies that the Roman referred to the units of land that evolved into town is on the site of an Iron Age shrine – parishes. probably an area known in the eighteenth
1 5 Hotonchurch on the 'Ho' – note how the ground drops away past the PackeArms. century as 'The Wells', which is where an early than elsewhere, which is quite reasonable for a Anglo-Saxon church stood. However it is unlikely more marginal area regarded as 'wolds'. that there was any significant settlement on the site of the Roman town during Anglo-Saxon times. The only personal name in the Woldsvillage names is Wigmund(pronounced 'Wymond' as the With the collapse of the Roman administration 'g' in Old English is pronounced like the modern and the abandonment of towns in the fifth century 'y'), who gives his name to Wymeswold . But this the Woldsarea may well have become depopu- is 'Wigmund'swold', not his tun or ham, so lated. Research elsewhere in Leicestershire and seemingly he did not live here. Plausibly he is the east Midlands suggests a substantial 'shrinking' the same Wigmundwho had a ham at Wymond- of upland settlements. If this happened here in the ham, about sixteen miles to the east. Woldsthen within a few decades any fields would have reverted to scrub and young birch trees. By the time Anglo-Saxon settlement was Prestwold likewise is the 'priest's wold'. This well underwayand places were beginning to does not mean a priest was living there, rather acquire the names we now know them by, quite that it was woldthat was either owned by a priest conceivably the Woldswere quite heavily or where the revenues went to support a priest. wooded and probably sparsely populated. As we know there was an early Anglo-Saxon Indeed, early in Anglo-Saxon times there may church on the site of Vernemetum, perhaps this is have been few farms on the Wolds, although where Prestwold'seponymous priest was based. probably some makeshift shelters for those tending foraging animals. Hoton is the tun (settlement) on the hoh, a heel- shaped promontory. It is a fairly common place- Leicestershire place-names most commonly take name, often spelt Houghton(although Portsmouth the form of someone's name followed by '-ton' or Ho uses the shortest possible spelling; and Hose '-ham' (both meaning 'settlement' in Old English), in the north-east of Leicestershire is simply the as with Syston, which derives from Sigehae'stun. plural of hoh). The church at Hotonis clearly However the Woldsarea has none of these forms, situated on the hoh, as the land drops away to suggesting that 'ownership' of the land came later north. At Hobyin the Wreakevalley the
1 6 Normantonchurch, situated about eight feet above the normal level of the River Soar.
Scandinavianword for settlement, -by, replaces the Old English word -–tun, creating a hybrid of Waltonon the Wolds is the settlement of the Old English hohwith Scandinavian-–by. 'walsh'. This is the origin of the modern word (Sometimes such hybrids are the other way about, 'Welsh' but in Anglo-Saxon times referred to the as with Grimston which is a Scandinavian indigenous Celtic-speaking people. Clearly at the personal name, Grimr, with the Old English –ton.) time the place-names came into use there was something unusual about having 'Welsh' people Old Dalby is also a topographical description, this in a village. Is this evidence of 'Balkanisation', of time the by (Scandinavianname for settlement) in native people being displaced and confined to the daelor valley (think of the Yorkshire Dales). specific settlements? At a somewhat later date The 'Old' is a corruption of 'Wold', which was Normantonon Soar was distinctive because this added fairly early to distinguish (W)Old Dalby was the home of the Normans(people from from Great and Little Dalbyto the south of Melton Norway – the Norman conquest of 1066 was still Mowbray. Old Dalbywas also known as Dalby in the future). One can imagine Scandinavian on the Wolds. seafarers sailing up the Soar and taking a liking to some land on the riverside. The church now stands precariously on a cliff and this land well Widmerepool is the 'wide mere' – a mere being a above the floodplainwas presumably the focus of pool. The '–pool' was added at a later date when the original village. the meaning of 'mere' had been forgotten. (A good example of such 'repetitive' place-names is Breedonon the Hill which means 'hill hill on the The threat of Viking invasions in the eighth hill' in Celtic, Old English and Modern English century led to England being defended by a respectively.) Willoughbyon the Wolds is also a number of specially-created Burtons. These were watery place-name – it is the by (settlement) small defensive structures that may have acted as among the willows. Seagrave is the set (ford, pit the garrison for a full-time group of soldiers, or or pool) with a graf(ditch). Nether and Upper perhaps as mustering and training places for a Broughton are the settlements on the broc part-time force. These soldiers needed to be not (brook). too far away from wherever they were supposed
1 7 to be defending, but not so close that their Seggaor Secca(implying that the person was boredom or merry making became a problem for buried under a mound or hlaw, as with the others. In Leicestershire there are three Burtons. mound known as Secklow, which was excavated BurtonLazarsis clearly situated to protect Melton during the construction of central MiltonKeynes). Mowbray(which by this date was already the Or SeggsHill may be a corruption of an Old most important market town in the county after English word for weapon, secg, which also Leicester). BurtonOveryis part of a cluster of suggests that this was a meeting site because the parishes focussedon a royal estate centre at Great right to vote at Hundreds was only open to free Glen. Burtonon the Wolds is more of anomaly men, that is those who had the right to carry a but is probably sited to provide defence for the spear. Some such administrative meetings were river crossing at Cotes. There was probably not a known as wapentakes, a word which translates as bridge over the Soar at this time as the river may 'show of weapons'. have been fordable. Such wide shallow areas would allow any unwelcome Viking long boats Wysall is where the weohwas – a pagan temple coming up the Soar to be more easily attacked, or shrine. Such a place-name could only be the furthest downstream that such a defensive distinctive if there were relatively few of these, strategy was possible. although there is another weohnot so far away, at Wyfordbyto the east of Melton. There was There is also a possibility that Burtonon the possibly a different type of pagan shrine, known Woldswas created to defend a high status site as a hargh(which gets corrupted to 'harrow' or near Wymeswold– perhaps the early church at 'arrow') just to the west of Six Hills, as suggested Vernemetum(especially if this was a locally- by the modern Harrow Farm and the old name for important minster). Indeed the location of Burton the upper reaches of the River Mantle, the Arrow, would enable both Cotes and the Wymeswold and the name of one of Wymeswold'spre- area to be equally well defended. Enclosuregreat fields, the Arrow Field.
Cotes is a rather mundane place-name as it is Such pagan place names are actually fairly rare, related to our word 'cottage' but meant a basic although Thrussington in the Wreak valley is shelter, presumably for people waiting to cross Thorstein'ssettlement – an undisputably over the Soar. (If there was no bridge in Anglo- Scandinavianpersonal name incorporating the Saxon times then after heavy rain the river would name of Thor, the god of thunder who is not be safe to ford and travellers would need to commemorated in 'Thursday'. This is paralleled wait – perhaps for several days – before the water by Grimston which, as already noted, is Grimr's- levels dropped sufficiently.) To the south of ton– and Grimrwas a nickname for Odinor Leicestershire there is Caldecott, which means Woden, commemorated in Wednesday. 'cold cottage' and also suggests a primitive shelter. Caldecottchurch is on the site of a And finally, a place name that looks like it refers Roman villa, so perhaps some of the ruins to a burial mound or barrow, but is not, and one provided such a basic refuge. that does not looks as if it refers to such a barrow but might have done! Early spellings suggest that Curiously the name for the administrative district Barrow on Soar is probably named after a bearu (or 'hundred') in which the Woldsare situated is (a grove or wood) rather than a beorgor 'barrow' 'GoscoteHundred', which means that the (burial mound). Loughborough is more probably meetings took place at the 'goose cottage' – that Luhhede'sburh, meaning a defensive site – is, a shelter for the person looking after the geese, perhaps the 'toot hill' (or look out) which once and perhaps where the flock was penned in at stood near the parish church and which has been night. Conceivably this Goscotewas akin to perpetuated in the name of Toot Hill Road. It just Caldecottand among the Roman ruins at might have taken its name from Luhhede'sbeorg Vernemetum. However, as I have explored in an (burial mound), in which case the burial mound article in the WHO Newsletter in 2000, maybe might have become the base of the toot hill. this Anglo-Saxon meeting place was where the Fosse Way crossed a more minor Roman road at As ever, place-names often pose more questions Six Hills. This same article also discusses the than answers, but they do offer an unexpectedly possible origins of the name Six Hills, which is a rich insight into the so-called 'Dark Ages'. relatively recent corruption of SeggsHill. This may derive from the Anglo-Saxon personal names
1 8 The Polish Camp at Burtonon the Wolds
Joanand Peter Shaw
Britain's involvement in World War IIhad been The first documentary evidence of Polish refugees the direct result of Germany's refusal to withdraw living in Burtoncomes from the minutes of the from Poland, and Polish forces had fought Barrow Rural District Council. At the meeting on valiantly alongside her own during the conflict. 27thSeptember 1948, the clerk reported that Their country had suffered terribly as a result of there had been a request for the collection of German and Russian occupation and partition, refuse from part of WymeswoldAerodrome being and many of their compatriots had endured years used as a Polish resettlement camp. At this stage of harsh exile. very little had been done to make the old service quarters suitable for their new role; in the words As preparation for combat became less urgent, the of one resident, 'they were very meagrely fitted British Government was able to reallocate some of out'. Up to eight families were crammed into the its military resources. Huts larger huts, blanket partitions providing the only that had served the privacy. The old RAF lavatories and washing WymeswoldAirfield It was just my mother, my three-year-old became surplus to RAF facilities had been brought requirements and these brother and myself, I was eighteen months back into service and part of were offered as a hostel for old. In the middle of the night they came the canteen on the RAF Polish refugees. communal site set aside for and told us to pack the things ... the newcomers.
WymeswoldAirfield had From Migrant Memories, Migrant Lives been opened in 1942 as an By January 1950, there were operational training unit for approximately one hundred Bomber Command. Very little of it was actually in families living in the camp and it was proposed the parish of Wymeswold; the main runway was that Barrow RDCshould take it over. The Council in Prestwoldand Hoton, landing strips and agreed to accept responsibility for the camp, parking bays extended like fingers across the together with three other sites, and the huts were Wymeswoldto HotonRoad. The community converted into separate units, the Ministry of buildings and living accommodation lay within Health paying up to £200 per dwelling and the the parish of Burtonon the Wolds. Ministry of Works supplying the cooking stoves. It was estimated that the dwellings would be required for a period of five years, an estimate Leicestershire had several military bases during that proved somewhat optimistic. the Second World War. Their buildings were mostly prefabricated, never intended for long-term use, with little in the way of foundations. A few By the following January, 43 families had been are still standing, but within the next few years the transferred to the new Burtonon the WoldsPolish physical traces of this period of the County's Housing Estate. history will be lost. From the 17thFebruary 1951 the Council also The 1951 census lists 3,214 Polish-born people in took over management and collection of rent for Leicestershire; there are no exact figures for both the hostel and the newly converted Burton.The populationsof Wymeswold, Hoton accommodation and the following rents were and Prestwoldwere roughly the same in 1951 as approved: they had been in 1931 whereas the population of Burtonhad risen from 297 to 938. The Air Bedsittingroom 10s.0d.per week Ministry had estimated that they would continue One-bedroomeddwelling 11s.6d.per week to retain up to 550 servicemen at the Airfield and Two-bedroomeddwelling 13s.6d.per week expected a similar number to move into the Polish Hostel; the 1951 census suggests 180 servicemen Three-bedroomeddwelling 15s.6d.per week and between 400 and 450 Poles. Four-bedroomeddwelling 16s.0d.per week
1 9 A view of the BurtonPolish Housing Estate from the Loughborough Monitor August 1951, identified as Site No.9, Koscielna.
Of the ten accommodation sites for the aerodrome Four of the huts on the Centralnasite were situated in Burton, eight were converted for handed over to the Polish Relief Society at rents housing the Polish families. Type and construction ranging from five shillings to two pounds a week. of the buildings varied, Thorne, Laingand Nissen Hut No.4became a dance hall, No.5a shop and hutmentsbeing used, and there were roughly canteen, No.6a recreation room and No.7a twenty units on each site. reading room and library.
The Lainghuts were the most numerous. They Most of the maintenance work was carried out by were of light timber-frame construction, covered Loughborough companies, but occasional with plasterboard and felted, roofed with payments were made to local builder R.G.Shaw. corrugated asbestos sheets, all internally lined Doubtless the condition of some of the huts was with plasterboard, and they were erected on a worse than others because there were spasmodic light concrete base. They measured roughly 18 demolitions from 1954. feet wide by 60 feet long with a height of 8 feet at the apex. The Thornehuts were of similar design. Accommodation was simple, electricity and water The typical War Office Nissen hut was semi- was laid on and the units were connected to the cicularin section, 16 feet wide, 36 feet long, with main sewer, but the streets of the Estate remained steel ribs, timber purlins, covered and lined with unlit until 1953. It should be remembered that corrugated steel sheetingon a concrete floor. most residents of Burtondid not get piped water until 1949 and electric street lighting was not The sites were given Polish names: PolesieUlica, installed in the village until November 1950. Not WilnoUlica, LwowUlica, Szpitalna, Koscielna, for another twentyyears were all the permanent Polna, Slonecznaand Centralna.In 1955 local houses connected to a main sewer. residents asked if the sites could have English nameplates in addition to the Polish ones, but this Local people received payments of rent for the proved difficult since in some cases there was no sites, among them the Countess of Huntingdon direct translation. For the benefit of tradesmen etc from BurtonHall and farmers WalterSleigh, Harry the former site numbers for each group of huts Seal, Samuel Towleand A.T.Brickwood. were brought back into use and fixed next to the Polish nameplates.
2 0 Airfield
Site No.2
Village Hall
Site No.1 Greyhound Inn
Site No.3 BurtonHall
Fishpond
Manor Farm
Site No.5 Site No.4
Burtonon the Woldsin 1948 drawn from RAF maps and aerial photographs. Most of the wartime buildings still stand. Site No.6was probably the first to be occupied by the Poles. The canteen and church on the communal site were used at that Site No.9 time. An exact translation of the names used for the BurtonPolish Housing Estate is not possible; the closest English interpretation would be: Site No.1PolisieUlica(suggesting a marshy or waterlogged area); Site No. 2 LwowUlica(from Lvov[Lemberg], a Ukraniantown near the south-east Polish border); Site No.10 Site No. 3 WilnoUlica(Vilnain Lithuania); Site No.4Cenralna(the Polish community site); Site No.8Sloneczna(a sunny place); Site No. 9 Koscielna(meaning church or chapel); Site No. 10 Polna(a place in the field); Sewage disposal sick quarters Szpitalna(the hospital). works
2 1 Wymeswold
Sowters
Lane
Communal Site Site No.6
sick quarters
chapel Site No.8
Site No.7
WaltonBrook
2 2 The huts converted by Barrow RDCfor the use of Polish people were mainly of the Laingtype shown here. (Illustration after British Military Airfield Architecture by Paul Francis; publ.PatrickStephens1996.)
For most of the newcomers, Burtonwas their first five to eleven plus were taught in three classes by settled home since the outbreak of war. However, the head and two assistant mistresses. However, no sooner had the project to upgrade the huts got the teachers at the Polish school were making under way than plans were revealed for the every effort to prepare their pupils for mainstream auxiliary squadron based at the Aerodrome to be education (at the end of replaced by three 1949 they were running permanent fighter They gave my mother half an hour to get ready, nineteen English classes at squadrons and the Poles that was at 4 o'clock in the morning ... the camp) and when school were faced with the reopened in January 1950 possibility that they would seven Polish children were once again be moved on. From Migrant Memories, Migrant Lives admitted. Initially, language Their fears proved to be and lack of cultural unfounded. understanding did present a few difficulties, but the Burtonheadmaster and the Polish teachers The Polish people got on well with their English and education officers continued to work together neighbours, but remained a self-reliant society. and there is no evidence of further problems. National customs were maintained and the Polish language continued to be used but there was a The actual number of Polish children who will to integrate into the local community. attended BurtonSchool is not recorded. Most if not all of the Polish people were Roman To begin with, the headmaster at BurtonSchool Catholic and some parents preferred their children was instructed not to accept children from the to have a Roman Catholic education. camp. The school was old and cramped with two small playgrounds badly in need of repair, pail The Polish estate had its own church with fittings closets were still in use, washing facilities were and furnishings made by the congregation. In the minimal and the heating system was far from words of a visitor it was 'beautifully decorated'. efficient. Children whose ages ranged from under
2 3 An adjacent hut was converted for the use of their men who worked at Wrightsof Quorn.Seldom priest. Marriages were conducted in Polish fashion were the men able to make full use of their skills and usually took place at the Roman Catholic or qualifications, and lawyers and trained Church in Loughborough with the Polish priest engineers were forced to take jobs as labourers or officiating. factory workers.
Despite early doubts on the part of a few local MargaretMarshallspeaks of an old Ukranian residents, there quickly grew a mutual liking and living at the camp who enjoyed helping her father respect between the two with the harvest 'perhaps communities. This was We had two solid weeks going by train in the he liked the bit of money, helped in no small way but I think, more, he just by the kindly local cattle trucks to Siberia… liked the smell of the hay postmistress MrsBriggs After we arrived in Siberia we were just thrown and the corn'. Some of the and Harry Seal, one of the women also took out of the train onto the snow and were told by village farmers (it was Mr advantage of seasonal Seal who smoothed things the Russians, "here you live and here you die" … work on the farms and Sue over when the Countess It was very snowy, the snow was over a metre Elliothas memories of objected to all the them singing as they washing hanging out in deep, frost was very severe, 10thFebruary returned from the fields full view of BurtonHall). 1940 …there was no food, no shelter, people clad in their traditional Burtonvillagers learnt to were freezing to death. black dresses and appreciate such delicacies headscarves. as gherkins pickled with From Migrant Memories, Migrant Lives dill, poppyseedbread, The first wave of large- and creamy Polish sweets scale demolitions probably started in 1955 with and their children managed to master some of the LwowUlica.By mid-1955eight dwellings on the common Polish words and phrases. Polish ladies site had been cleared and by the spring of 1956 still enjoyed wearing traditional dress at their another fifteen. In June 1956 the Clerk told the dances but also embraced that most English of Council that arrangements had been made to traditions, the Women's Institute. Local children transfer families from 'Site 2' to other properties as joined their Polish peers at the camp cinema and and when they became vacant and that the site in the Centralnarecreation room, the Union flag was now completely cleared. flew alongside the Polish national flag. Under the guidance of MrK. Pagacz, a theatre was created, and in January 1953 the Poles put on their first The Ministry of Health and Local Government production with liaison officer K. Sadowski decided that all such camps should be closed by providing English translations for the benefit of the the end of 1958. In January 1957 the Burton audience. estate still had 122 families, and the Council turned their attention to the ways open to them of housing those who did not or could not make In Loughborough the Anglo-PolishSociety, with their own arrangements. Gradually families were Sir RobertMartin as President and DrSchofieldof drifting away, some settled in Loughborough, Loughborough College as Vice President, worked others further afield. CharlieNojawas just one of with the wider English and Polish communities to several men to take his wife and children to organise sports and social events and exhibitions. America.
MrSadowskihad been an economics student In September 1957, the Clerk reported that houses when Poland was invaded. He had escaped after at Silebyhad been offered to five Polish families three months in a concentration camp, and joined on the estate and three English families (although the free Polish Air Force. He had acted as liaison basically a Polish community, in the latter years officer since the foundation of the resettlement the estate also housed several English families). camp and was in charge of the invoice depart- These allocations allowed two more sites to be ment at Petters to the east of the village. Some of derequisitionedand cleared. Later that year, his neighbours also found work at Petters but people employed at Quornwere granted many of the men had to travel to Loughborough accommodation at Rothleyand Woodhouse or one of the surrounding villages in order to earn Eaves, but despite 62 people being employed a living. MrChrisMills of WoodhouseEaves in the Borough of Loughborough, Loughbor- recalls driving to Burtoneach day to collect Polish ough Council was unable to offer assistance.
2 4 Liaison Officer MrS. Sadowskibuys sausages from MrTrybockiat the Polish shop on Site 4. From the Loughborough Monitor August 1951.
Barrow RDCcontracted with MrReederof Close houses were built on Site No. 2, parts of Chilwellto demolish the remainder of the huts SpringfieldClose on Site No. 3, and the upper as soon as they became vacant. They received section of SowtersLane and Seals Close on Site £10 for each shell plus £5 for the fittings. No. 6. The sick quarters and Sites 4, 8, 9 and 10 have returned to agricultural use. For some time the Council had been deliberat- ing on the question of providing permanent Sources: homes in Burtonfor some of the Polish families. In April 1959 approval was given for § Barrow Rural District Council Minutes the erection of four Gregorytype houses and § Burtonon the WoldsParish Council Minutes four Gregorytype flats at a cost of £13,428.0s.11d.In the meantime, MrBailey § Records of Burtonon the WoldsSchool from the Greyhound Inn invited the remaining § Maps and information from RAF Museum, Polish people to a meeting to discuss the Hendon possibility of employing a private contractor to § Local newspapers build houses in the village. There is no § 'Migrant Memories, Migrant Lives: Polish evidence that any of the Polish people took up National Identity in Leicester Since 1945', residence in the Council's new houses and KathyBurrell, Transactions of the Leicester flats, and MrBailey failed to get sufficient Archeological and Historical Society, Vol. 76 support to make his proposition viable. § The Charge of the Right Brigade written by RobertInnes-Smith, BrawdyBooks, 1998. The last entry in the Barrow Rural District Council minutes was made in May 1960 and Acknowledgements: concerned an empty property; it is unlikely that many units remained occupied by that time. We are grateful for the help given by the Loughborough Polish community, residents, ex- Site No. 1, on the Loughborough Road, has residents and friends of Burtonon the Wolds, now reverted to woodland although lilacs and Loughborough Library and the Record Office other flowers have survived. The Somerset for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
2 5 Polish Poppies
Sally Davies in conversation with Sue Elliott, Jenny Marsonand Peter Harrison
'They were the most independent, self-supporting, there and back on a Saturday morning if we hard working group of people. I never remember wanted to go to the pictures.' anyone saying – oh that one was awful, or that one was unkind, or that one, you know, was a The sisters were small children when the Poles thief. There was none of that.' Sue Elliotthas lived first came to Burtonand teenagers when the last in the small north Leicestershire village of Burton family moved on in 1960. They still occasionally on the Woldsall her life and she and her sister see people who lived in the Polish camp and who Jenny Marsonhave vivid memories of an influx of remember them from those days. refugees which more than doubled the population of the village. Jenny tells of a recent meeting with an elderly English woman. In 1948, when the present 'She'd been invited with her Queen was a young bride, sister to have dinner with one of Burtonhad a population of the Polish chaps and his friend approximately 300. It also had and, to cut a long story short, a number of empty barracks she'd married him. They lived up within its boundaries, which on No.1site for about four years. had been used by the RAF Well, her husband had died last during the war to house year and she'd come back to servicemen and women where their house had been (in attached to the nearby woodland now) to scatter his WymeswoldAerodrome. Over ashes.' the next few years approxi- mately 100 Polish refugee families were moved into the The sites all had Polish names – vacant billets, which the local PolesieUlica, WilnoUlica, authority had converted into Szpitalna, Koscielna, Sloneczna homes with the aid of a and Centralna, but the locals Government grant of £200 per knew them differently. family. Many of the refugees had been released from 'How we knew them in the concentration camps. village was No.1Site, Cricket Pitch Site, Sewerage Site, The Polish estate had its own Hospital Site', remembers Sue. hospital and ambulance, two 'And there was a shop – the deli nurses and a doctor, a chapel – where they could buy the and a priest, a gym, a mortuary Polish sausage and all that – all and a cinema. The cinema their type of food – and the showed films twice a week and lovely sweets! We weren't the locals were invited. They showed mostly allowed to go in the shop, but when I used to go English films – Laurel and Hardy and the like. round [the estate] delivering papers with my Peter Harrison, who was a teenager at the time Mum, people gave us tips and sweets. I asked a remembers how exciting that was: Polish man I know to bring me some of the sweets when he went to Poland a year or so ago and I sat in the sun up by where the Hospital Site 'The nearest cinema before that was in Loughbor- was and ate the lot – I can taste them now. They ough (about 5 miles away) – and we had to walk were so lovely.'
2 6 Polish graves in Burtonon the Woldscemetery. Photographs by Peter Shaw.
As the last of the huts was vacated the sites were have gone smoothly – there is mention of poor bulldozed, but the remains can still be seen all attendance by the children and on 29thJune around the village as well as more permanent 1950, the record reads: memorials. The village burial ground contains several Polish graves, including one of a widow, 'Another visit from Polish Education Officer. I EleanoraBacz, who was brought back to Burton pointed out that all Polish children were absent. in 1973 to be buried with her husband who had Reason given, 29thJune was a Saints Day.' died in 1956. There are other reminders. There is no further mention of these children and 'When the lilac's out,' Jenny recalls 'there's a Sue only remembers there being one Polish girl purple one in the woods where No.1Site was and when she was at school. The sisters believe that, there's still daffodils that come up there, because as the Poles were Roman Catholic, the children they always had their gardens planted lovely, probably went to the Catholic school in even though it was only a row around the house. Loughborough. They grew poppies and the poppies are everywhere – purple, lilac or pinky, even white. Many of the refugees were highly qualified And not just here, you can see them in the professionals, unable to follow their professions in gardens in Loughborough – Polish poppies. I've England. The Loughborough Monitor of 17th always called them Polish poppies.' August 1951 tells of lawyers and engineers working as farm labourers. The article goes on to 'That's it', says Sue. 'That was the first time I'd say: seen poppy seed bread. They baked their own bread and that's what they used the seeds for.' 'There are countless stories of personal tragedy to be told – of homes wrecked and careers ruined.' The sisters don't recall there having been many children on the sites – there was Josef, who used Sue remembers one woman in particular. to whistle through his teeth, and Bronislav, who was handsome and had a racing bike, and Sue remembers a family with twin boys and a baby – 'Big Alice, we called her, because she was so tall. but they didn't mix much with the village She used to ask me in a lot – this was when I was children. delivering newspapers – and she had photographs of three very blonde, very beautiful girls – the eldest would have been about nineteen – and At first such children as there were were taught on they had all been shot and all she had left were the camp as the Poles hoped that they would those photographs. Her children and her husband soon be able to return home, but as they began to had been taken out and shot at the front wall. realise that this would not be possible, at least in the short term, they applied to send them to the village school. There is a record in the school log Oh yes, they'd had bad times. I think that's why of a visit by the Polish Headmaster and they were so happy living in the accommodation Headmistress in December 1949 asking if the they'd got. They were always singing.' school would be prepared to accept eight Polish children in the following September and 'I was Jenny remembers how clean the houses were. informed that these children would be able to speak English'. However, things do not appear to 2 7 'I can see it now – looking in through the its museum. Another, previously unknown, windows – the shine on the lino.' carnivorous pitcher plant was brought back too and named NepenthesBurbidgeae. I ask if there were ever any problems between the two communities. Overall the expedition was a great success. Burbidgeand Veitchbrought back about 1,000 'I've thought about this. Say if the same thing species of tropical orchids, ferns and other happened today?' wonders Jenny 'How would plants. Many of these were hitherto unknown people feel? Well people don't like it, do they? All varieties. Indeed he discovered a new genus of these illegal immigrants and nobody really likes it, ginger plants. These are named after him: but I can never, ever remember feeling like that Burbidgea. [about the Poles] not ever. I can never remember anything being said.' Burbidgewrote a book of his experiences, called Gardens of the Sun published in 1880. He was also the author of Cultivated Plants, Their Propagation and Improvement. On his Extreme Gardening return from Borneo he become curator of the gardens at Trinity College, Dublin, where he remained until his death on Christmas Eve A book entitled Garden Plants of Leicestershire 1905. and Rutland is not the place one expects to find Source: Garden Plants of Leicestershire and tales of being shipwrecked, riding buffaloes Rutland by GrahamJackson. Available for across crocodile infested waters, and living £7.50 plus 50pp&p from the Honorary among head hunters. Even less likely that all Secretary of The Leicestershire Group of The these events – and much more – arise in the National Council for the Conservation of Plants course of one expedition by a man born in and Gardens, whose address is 1 Cumberland Wymeswold! Road, Loughborough, LE115DE.
His name was FrederickWilliamBurbidge, who was born in 1847 to a Wymeswoldfarming family. After serving an apprenticeship as a gardener he went off to work in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswickand Kew.
When he was 30 he was asked by Peter Veitch, a member of the well-known Chelsea nursery, JamesVeitchand Sons, to join him on a 'plant hunting' trip to Borneo. On a good day they were entertained by the Sultan of Sulu. On a less good day his shoes were eaten by wild pigs. On an even worse day he was ship- wrecked. Fordingthe TampassukRiver by riding on the back of a buffalo to avoid the crocodiles seems to have been a good day too, especially as he was now in the interior of Borneo and living among tribes with a tradition of head hunting. Contracting malaria must have meant many bad days however.
On two occasions he climbed Mount Kinabalu – all 13,500 feet – to seek out the giant carnivorous pitcher plant (Nepenthesrajah) which grows only on this mountain. It is capable of digesting a rat! Although it had first F.W.Burbidge. been discovered in 1851, Burbidgewas the first to bring a living specimen back to Britain. On its arrival KewGardens made a wax model for
2 8 The Mills at Cotes
Loughborough Lower Mill and Loughborough began a lawsuit, maintaining that the Lords of Upper Mill as they looked in the nineteenth the Manor had the right of grinding the corn at century and Loughborough Lower Mill in 1990. Loughborough, and complaining that inhabitants were being enticed away by the The Lower Mill is situated but a few yards from millers at Dishleyand Garendon.This was the village of Cotes and is commonly called followed by complaints against others, Cotes Mill, although actually in the parish of including Farnhamof Quornand the Skipwiths Loughborough. The Upper Mill was half a mile who had built a windmill at Knightthorpe. upstream at the western extremity of Burton parish. The two mills, known as the King's In all, ten suits were brought. Witnesses stated Mills, belonged to the Manor of Loughborough that the Huntingdonmills took too large a toll until 1810 and probably stood on the sites of and were unable to grind at times of flood or those mentioned in the Domesday Survey of drought. Men collecting grain from Loughbor- 1085. ough for grinding at rival mills had their horses impounded, and the dispute spread to the town People living within the Manor of Loughbor- bakehouses. ough were expected to take their corn to be ground at these mills but by the sixteenth At Leicester Assizes in 1698 – almost a hundred century other local millers and mill owners years after Katherine'soriginal complaint – the were vying for trade – offering a cheaper and verdict was given in favour of the defendants, better service. In 1610, Katherine, widow of the and from that date the people of Loughborough Earl of Huntingdonand holder of the Manor, could freely decide which mill to use.
A view of Loughborough Upper Mill in the nineteenth century by W.E.Cooke.
2 9 Top: A view of Loughborough Lower Mill in the nineteenth century by W.E.Cooke.
Bottom: A similar view of the Lower Mill in November 1990; photograph by DavidShaw.
3 0 Human remains found on a Wymeswoldbuilding site
Bob Trubshaw
Late in the afternoon of Tuesday 15thJuly 2003, which means that the police do not have to take workmen moving a large pile of topsoil on the any further interest. The skull was handed over to Soar Valley Developments building site between Heritage Services team who will clean it and then East Road and Brook Street at the eastern end of keep in the museum store at Barrow. Wymeswoldwere surprised when a human skull rolled out of the earth in front of them. The Without expensive radiocarbon dating there is no police were called and a search for other human way to know how long ago the man lived. Initial bones was made. The skull was taken to Quorn thoughts were that this might be a Roman burial Police Station for safekeeping overnight. (perhaps of someone who lived where late Iron Age and early Roman pottery was found nearby The following lunch time there was a meeting during the construction of Orchard Way in June between representatives of the police, Leicester- 1990) but, despite considerable effort by the shire County Council Heritage Services (until Heritage Services archaeologist and a subsequent recently known as Leicestershire Museums), the follow up visit by myself, no other fragments of developer's site manager plus myself, attending in bone were found and the site as a whole has a my capacity as Archaeological Warden for surprising absence of any archaeological artefacts. Wymeswold. The constabulary's scene of crime The topsoil heap contained earth from a large part officer was a professionally-trained archaeologist of the site but the part of the heap where the skull who specialised in human bone analysis – appeared comprised of soil scraped from the certainly the right man for the job! He examined surface, as it contained lots of turf and other roots. the skull, which was generally in a good state of So the skull could not have been more than a foot preservation, and identified it as that of a male below the surface before the topsoil was aged over 40 at death. The man had lost all his disturbed. back teeth (molars) during his life, one to a major abscess, and the bone had healed over. The four So this unexpected find presents something of an remaining front teeth were quite heavily worn enigma. The best guess is that this skull was down, strongly suggesting that he had regularly deposited here on its own without the rest of the eaten food which contained grit; this is quite bones. This could have happened at any time, typical of flour prepared by traditional milling perhaps quite recently. The man could have died techniques in use before about AD 1300. So the at any time before about AD 1300 and may not scene of crime specialist was quite confident that even have lived in this area. the man had died more than a hundred years ago
The skull of a man who died, aged at least 40, sometime before about 1300.
On the left of the photograph representatives of Soar Valley Homes and Leicestershire County Council Heritage Services inspect the part of the top soil pile where the skull was found.
Photograph by Bob Trubshaw.
3 1 Heroes of Waterloo
PhilipWhite
Visitors to PrestwoldChurch will have seen the Quiberon, his Dragoons defeated insurgents in impressive monument to Sir ChristopherPacke, Ireland. As a Captain commanding a troop he woollen trader and CromwellianLord Mayor of escorted the captured French General Humbertto London, who retired to his Cotes and Prestwold Dublin. He was raised to Major of the 4thRoyal estates in 1660. The Prestwoldline continued Irish Dragoons in 1798, and two years later he through the elder son, Christopher, and in the became Lieutenant Colonel of the 71stHighland Church there is also a poignant memorial to Sir Light Infantry. In 1806, at the recapture of the Christopher'sgreat-great-grandson Major Robert Cape of Good Hope, he was wounded, and later ChristopherPacke, who was killed leading a suffered three wounds while fighting in South cavalry charge at the battle of Waterloo. America. He was captured with General Beresford at Buenos Ayresbut both escaped. Returning to A supposed Anglo-Irish Europe, he fought at descendant of Sir Roleiaand Vimieraand Christopher, Major was with Sir John Moore General Sir DenisPack, in the rearguard action also fought at Waterloo and evacuation from and this is an account of Corunna, Spain. He the separate paths the became ADC to the two men took to glory. King. In 1810, following the Siege of Flushing, where he stormed and In RobertChristopher captured batteries held Packe'sday, Prestwold by a force five times his was a thriving village, own, he served under boasting an inn and a Wellington in the church school. Robert Peninsular War against would have learned early Napoleon's armies. to ride and shoot. In a letter to his mother from Eton in 1798, aged 15, Around 1812, the he wrote that he wished Household Brigade, i.e. to join the army on the 1st and 2nd leaving school and from Lifeguards and the Royal the choices given to him Horse Guards, also by his father, he opted for a cavalry regiment. He became involved in the joined the crack Royal Regiment of Horse Guards Peninsular War. In March 1813, the Duke of in 1800 as a Cornet, rising to Lieutenant after Northumberland wrote from AlnwickCastle to training and some service experience. There is no Captain RobertPackewho was commanding a record of field service until the Peninsular War. detachment of Royal Horse Guards at Thomar, and mentioned a squadron detached to Portugal. On 21stMay 1813, he congratulated Major Packe Meanwhile, 16-year-oldDenisPack joined the in Lisbon on his promotion, saying he had hoped 14thLight Dragoons in Ireland, and after being to recommend him for Lieutenant Colonel, but the cashieredfor striking Captain Sir GeorgeDunbar, regiment was onlyallowed two. In February 1814, he re-enlisted and had a meteoric rise through the Robertwas awarded the Vittoriamedal for ranks. In 1794, serving in Flanders, he carried a gallantry during the battle, and Frederick, Duke of despatch into besieged Nieuwport, escaping by York, the Commander-in-Chief, sent his and the boat. He was made Lieutenant and, after action at
Sir DenisPack. From a print by Sanders, reproduced from Who was Who in the Napoleonic Wars by PhilipJ.Haythornthwaite(published by Arms and Armour 1998) by kind permission of Weidenfeld and NicolsonMilitary.
3 2 including the Royal Scots, the 42ndRoyals and the 92ndGordons, drawing cheers. He had a temper – a rhyme after his escape ran, 'The Devil break the gaoler's back that let thee loose sweet DenisPack' – but he was very popular with his men, 'one of those who says "Come, my lads, and do this", and who goes before you to put his hand to the work'.
Both RobertPackeand DenisPack were wounded opposing Napoleon's army at QuatreBras outside Brussels on 16thJune 1815.
The Highlanders, although severely mauled by Ney'scavalry and artillery, stood firm. Two days later at Waterloo, DenisPack's brigade occupied left of centre near La HayeSainte.Early on, they repulsed a massive attack by D'Erlon's15,000 strong infantry. They were protected by the reverse slope and hedges, and although their The memorial to RobertChristopherPacke in Dutch-Belgian allies broke, they closed the gaps Prestwoldchurch. Photograph by PhilipWhite. to the skirl of the pipes, with DenisPack calling: '92ndeverything has given way to you. Charge'. Prince Regent's congratulations. Writing home about Spain, Robertsaid, 'French General Clausel Fortunately, at that moment, 2,000 heavy British at Vittoriasuffered heavy losses with 1,500/2,000 cavalry of the Union and Household Brigades, led killed and taken prisoner, our men enjoying by Uxbridge, Ponsonbyand Lord Edward immense plunder, doubloons, dollars, French Somerset, with Sir RobertHill and RobertPacke crowns. This is not cavalry country. Our horses heading their blue-tunickedRoyal Horse Guards, are in cantonments, two lost by a stable roof hit the French hard, creating havoc, killing 2,000, falling in and poison. I was left with only one taking 3,000 prisoners and two eagles. They horse in Salamanca. I met up with Henry [his charged too far and were badly cut up by French brother Lt-ColHenry Packeof the 1st Guards] at lancers and curassiers.Of the seven cavalry Salvatierraon 25thJune 1813 after the fight of the regiments, only the Royal Horse Guards – the Brigade'. In August 1814, back at Windsor Blues – maintained a semblance of order, and Barracks after crossing from Calais following although barely 200 sabres, helped to bring off Napoleon's defeat and exile to Elba, he wrote to and protect the Household Brigade survivors on his sister Maria: 'Wellington and York are coming the way back. But they took severe casualties. to see the regiment and give us dinner. I am busy Later Blücher'sPrussiansarrived to ensure discharging men and casting horses, then Napoleon's defeat. returning to Prestwold.I am sending 2 hogsheads of wine from Bordeaux for father'. In a letter to RobertPackeon 24thJune 1815, his mother said: 'Lord Wellington's despatch DenisPack, commanding Portuguese troops, had mentioned that many excellent officers had fallen been occupied at Busacoand blowing up and [she had] heard RobertHill was wounded. Almeida'sdefences. In 1812, now a Brigadier Thank God you appear to be safe and command General, he helped to capture CiudadRodrigo, of the regiment will probably devolve on you. We later distinguishing himself at Salamanca and have a new horse for you 55 guineas. On the Burgos. Promoted to Major General in 1813, he estate the corn is doing well, the keepers say there fought at Vittoria, led a Division in the Pyrennees, are plenty of pheasants and partridges and the Nivelle, Nive, Orthesand Toulouse, was grounds are like a rabbit warren. Father is well wounded eight times, awarded the Peninsular except for gout'. Gold Star with seven clasps and was knighted. On Napoleon's escape from Elba, he took command Sadly, Robert'spromising military future was of the Highland Brigade in Picton'sDivision. not to be. According to Farrington'sDiary, 8th Accounts of a Brussels review describe 'fiery Sir July 1815, MrW Hanburycalled on Robert's DenisPack' leading his kilted Highlanders, parents to tell them he had been killed in the
3 3 Family tradition among the Packs of Kilkenny is that their branch is descended from Lieutenant Colonel SimonPack(e), the youngest son of Sir ChristopherPacke, who settled in the Queens County. SimonPack fought at the Battle of the Boyneand Limerick, and was stationed at Dundalk.The above pedigree was drawn by FrancesBell, a family genealogist. Joy Cross's book "PrestwoldHall to BranksomeTower" profiles Sir Denisand shows a similar, though less detailed, pedigree.
Sir Christopher'sson, Simon, died in 1701 and was interred at Prestwold.A possible explanation for his presence in Ireland may be connected with the fact that as Governor of the Merchant Adventurers Company, Sir ChristopherPackewas granted land in East Meath.
GeorgeHusseyPacke, the nineteen year old son of RobertPacke'shalf-brother Charles JamesJnr, fought at Waterloo as a Cornet in the 13thLight Dragoons and was wounded. He later inherited the Prestwoldestates.
3 4 charge of French currassiersat Waterloo. A sword DenisPack Beresford. was run into his body and he had a cut to the Sources: head. He had died instantly, having had two horses killed under him. In And They Rode On, PrestwoldHall to BranksomeTower, Joy Cross, MichaelMann, Dean of Windsor, wrote that Bournemouth Local Studies' Publications 1993 R.C.Packewas killed when charging French currassiersbecause their cavalry swords were two inches longer than the British ones, the longer Who was Who in the Napoleonic Wars, PhilipJ. reach being aimed at the throat, and the Blues Haythornthwaite, Arms and Armour 1998 had no breastplates. RobertChristopherPacke was buried on the battlefield. The officers of the Personal Narrative of a Private Soldier in the 42nd regiment in which he served for over fifteen years Highlanders, anon, London 1821 erected a memorial in the north choir aisle of St George'sChapel, Windsor 'in testimony of their Memoirs of Major General DenisPack, D. Pack- high veneration of his distinguished military merit Beresford, Dublin 1908 and regret for the loss of a companion endeared to them by his amiable manner and virtue'. His parents erected the monument in the church at An Infamous Army, Georgette Heyer, Ballantine Prestwold.On it is a sculptured battle scene and Publishing Group 1977 an epic poem describing his courage. Galloping at Everything – Appraisal of British In 1816, Sir DenisPack married Lady Elizabeth Cavalry in Peninusularand Waterloo, I. Fletcher, Beresford, the daughter of the 1st Marquess of SpellmountPublishers 1999 Waterford. They had four children. Sir Denis became Colonel of the 84thRegiment of Foot and Papers relating to the Packefamily of Prestwoldin Lieutenant Governor of Plymouth. He died in the Record Office of Leicester, Leicestershire and 1823 and was buried in StCanice'sCathedral, Rutland Kilkenny. His eldest son, ArthurReynellPack, godson of the Duke of Wellington, emulated his Family papers in the possession of FrancesBell, father's military career and became a Lieutenant descendant of ArthurReynellPack. Colonel, his youngest son was heir to Field MarshallLord Beresfordand changed his name to
3 5 Burtonon the Wolds
WeslyanMethodist Chapel
Not everyone in Burtonon the Woldswas in In 1802 John Yeoman and John Blunt, both accord with the teaching of the established residents of Burton, became trustees of the new church. John Wildman, probably Burton'smost Methodist Chapel in Wymeswold, and they, along influential inhabitant in the late seventeenth with Methodists from East Leake, were century belonged to a prominent Roman Catholic instrumental in founding the Methodist Chapel in family and the name of GodfreySmith of Burton Burtonon the Wolds. appears in the Quaker Book of Sufferings. The Chapel was built in 1809 on land 'fronting In 1800 AnnHarrison, AnnCooke, George Town Street' and measuring ten yards by nine Harrisonand AliceCookeapplied at the Leicester yards. The tablet over the door commemorates not Quarter Sessions to hold services in AnnCooke's its foundation but its rebuilding in 1846. home which was probably in the centre of Burton close to where the Lion's Mouth Fountain now The Chapel ceased to be used for services in stands. This is the earliest evidence of dissenters March 1998 and has now been converted to actually meeting together in Burton. living accommodation. The building is easy to find as it stands to the east of the petrol station.
Previous page and above: The interior of Burtonon the WoldsMethodist chapel in May 1998 Photographs by Bob Trubshaw.
3 6 Dating a well-known view of Wymeswold
Far Street with StMary'schurch and old cottage by StockwellStores, taken between about 1908 and 1918, and reproduced on a postcard in the 1990s.
The Wymeswoldschool log books have an entry for 1908 stating that the children were taken to see the pinnacles shortly before they were installed on the top of the tower. (Information from AlecMoretti.)
The timbers from the cottage to the left of what is now StockwellStores were used to keep a bonfire alight at the end of the Stockwellall day and all night on Armistice Day, November 11th1918. (Information supplied to WHO by Ginny Westcottafter her conversation with RonalineHibbertwho remembers her father, Harry Jalland, recalling when he was a small child and helped his father take the timbers from the old cottage to keep the bonfire alight.)
3 7 Have you got a cheese press in your garden?
In earlier centuries, many people made their own cheese. Rennet was stirred into milk, the whey was drained off and, after stirring, agitating and cutting, the curd was put into a mould or cheese vat and pressed. Many farms and large houses had cheese presses.
The cheese press stones pictured here are all in Burtonon the Wolds.Two are bases and show the drains that allowed the whey to escape while the cheese was being pressed, two are upper stones that provided the weight. Examination suggests that none belong together.
Since the stones are rather heavy, the chances are that their partners are still in Burton. Is there one Photographs by Peter Shaw. in your garden?
3 8 WilliamEdwardBailey
AlecMoretti
Few head teachers can have served their school During his time at the school WilliamBailey must for as long as WilliamEdwardBailey. He was have seen many changes. Besides teaching the appointed to WymeswoldJunior School in 1878 'Three Rs', he introduced aspects of science for and remained there until 1920. Throughout most which he gained Government Teaching of that time he kept the school logbooks and Certificates. In the years prior to World War I he recorded events as they occurred. ran evening classes in horticulture and agriculture, being paid seven shillings and sixpence for each Williamwas the son of Francesand AnnBailey. class, and one of his assistants took dressmaking He was born in Shepshedin 1855 and went to St classes for which she was paid two shillings per Michael'sSchool where he became a pupil class. In 1914 he started a school garden where teacher, presumably a sign of his abilities. In the the boys worked and produced vegetables. 1871 census for Shepshed, he is listed as a Parents were charged 1½da pound for early scholar of 17 living with his parents in Forest potatoes; broad beans and peas were also sold. Street. From Shepshedhe went to StPeter's WilliamBailey also gained certificates in Art, Teachers' Training College at Peterborough and Music and Drill, and comments on these were he completed his training there in 1877, gaining a made from time to time in the school records. First Class Government Certificate. Wymeswold Junior School appears to have been his first Another innovation was school trips. Some were appointment. According to the school logbook, simply walks up the lanes to identify hedgerow there were 64 boys and 54 girls in the school and plants but trips to Charnwoodtook place and in there were 53 pupils in his own class. Assisting 1907, on a more ambitious scale, there was an him were two assistant teachers and two pupil outing to Skegnessby rail. There were a hundred teachers. The separate Infant School had 59 pupils on this – it would be interesting to know how and the teacher in charge was JessiePounds with they got to the station! He was occasionally a 'monitor' who was described as being 'in charge forced to close the school due to illness, and in of the babies' room'. The Junior School and Infant 1910 the children were given an unexpected School were combined for all secular purposes in day's holiday when nine teams of bellringers 1903. visited the church, all no doubt keen to show off their skills! When Williamwas appointed, his salary was fixed by the Governors who paid him £40 a year Williammust have found the work very hard and and allowed him all the school fees paid by the in 1900 it was reported to the Governors that he pupils, which amounted to about £45, plus half was in need of a 'long rest'. A temporary head the grant paid by the Board of Education, about held the fort for three months. £43. The two latter amounts presumably varied according to the numbers attending school. He In 1909 the school was transferred to the care of was also allowed £5 for housing. The school log the County Council, though officially still a gives his total salary as £138. By 1893, schooling church school, and this must have involved extra had become free and the Board paid a fee grant administration. The Director of Education, Mr (depending on numbers attending) of about eight Brockington, visited the school on several shillings per child. WilliamBailey received four- occasions in the following years. fifths of this plus half the basic grant which seems to have depended on how well the Board thought the school was doing. The Governors then paid The cane is recorded as a method of punishment him £42 plus £8 towards the cost of his housing. throughout MrBailey's headship, but in the The Governors were not always generous; they logbooks he records that he preferred to reason declined to make good his loss when the school with the girls rather than use corporal punishment. was closed for three weeks in 1918 due to epidemics of whooping cough and chicken pox. MrBailey's first home in Wymeswoldwas next to the present Post Office in Far Street. The identity
3 9 Above: The Lilacs . Right: Ferrimans. Photographs taken autumn 2002 by Bob Trubshaw. College and the 1901 Poor Law Valuation gave the rent as £12. of his first wife is not known. The 1881 census records that she was SarahAnnand some five years older than himself. The marriage is not It is interesting to learn that Williamwas expected entered in the WymeswoldRegisters but she was to undertake other tasks in the village, including probably the daughter of WilliamCooper, a that of Parish Overseer (of the poor?) unpaid, and butcher, and his wife Mary.Were they married Treasurer of the Flower Show, for which he was elsewhere? If so, where? There is no record in the paid £1 a year. In addition he was voluntary registers of SarahAnn'sburial at Wymeswoldbut church organist for a number of years. There is a by December1887the widowed Williamhad brass plaque by the present organ commemorat- married IsabellaFerriman.Isabellalived a couple ing this service. of doors from Williamin Far Street, probably at the house now called Ferrimans.The 1891 census WilliamEdwardBailey retired in 1920 after forty- shows them living there with their fist son, two and a half years' service. He died in 1925 WilliamEdward, aged three. By 1901 they had and was presumably buried in the cemetery on moved to The Lilacs (opposite The Hermitage) in RempstoneRoad. He was succeeded at the school the West End with their sons William, Frederick by MrHives. and Ralph.This house was owned by Trinity
ZaccheusFerrimanwas born at Wymeswold, gives an account of the meeting in his book the son of a local painter and decorator whose Reminiscences of a Bashi-Bazouk(1897) – "I premises stood near the WeslyanChapel. happened to make the acquaintance of a young Zaccheuswould have been too young to Englishman in a fez, with freckled skin and light remember the Anglican rector Henry Alfordbut grey eyes named Ferryman [sic]. This young when Alfordrestored the village church it was the fellow was English Tutor to the sons of Hakim boy's father he engaged to decorate the chancel Pasha, the rightful heir to the Khedivateof roof and organ. Egypt". Ferrimanalso became Professor of Ferrimanwas educated at Loughborough English Lit at the University of Cairo and was an Grammar School and returned there shortly before outstanding linguist. He wrote a number of his death to present a selection of books to the books describing the countries and peoples school library. around the eastern Mediterranean, among them His life was spent mostly in travel especially Turkey and the Turks (1911) and East and West in the Near East, a region upon which he became of the Hellespont(1926). a recognised authority. He was a war corre- Ferrimaneventually returned to England spondent during the Russo-Turkishconflict and and died in Finchley, where he is buried. reported for the Daily Chronicle on the Near East action in the Great War. From The Writers of Leicestershire by Michael The famous travel writer EdwardVizetelly Raftery(Leicestershire Libraries 1984). once encountered Ferrimanin Constantinople and
4 0 LucretiaNoon
JoanShaw
LucretiaNoon was baptised at Barrow in 1716. The daughter of NicholasMason and Ann Bushnell, she belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families on the Leicester- shire Woldsand was related to the Stevens family of Quorn(Samuel Stevensowned Quorn Place, now the QuorndonFox). Her husband Thomaswas a Mountsorrelhosier. Lucretiadied in 1781 and her will gives a fascinating insight into the fashion of the day and demonstrates well the value she placed on everyday things.
Unto my brother, WilliamShalcrosse Mason of Burton-on-the-Wolds, two pieces of fine linen cloth, made of flax, of the value of one shilling per pound, which are of my own manufacturing, and I desire he will from time to time appropriate them to the use of my son EdwardNoon.
To my sister Elizabeth Loemy black bombazeengown and petticoat, also my purple and white striped cotton gown and petticoat, two flannel petticoats, black quilt, four shifts, half a dozen white aprons, half a dozen night caps, half a dozen shift sleeves, and four muslin handkerchiefs.
The rest of Lucretia'spossessions were left to her eldest son John who inherited the family estates in 1788 and built BurtonHall. They included household goods and furniture, a gold watch and 'a diamond and other rings'.
Lucretiais buried in Silebychurchyard along with four of her children.
The quilt referred to in Lucretia'swill was probably a quilted petticoat, shown here worn under a striped dress.
4 1 A Poor Man's Petition*
(Impromptu.)
ThomasBasfordhas had a sad loss, “An old ’ard-working, hexcellent'oss.” This loss puts a stop to Thomas'slabours, And he humbly solicits his kind-hearted neighbours To give him a trifle, his loss to repair By buying another at Loughborough fair. Had this ’osshe has lost now been alive It would have fetched, at the lowest, one pound five; But as it has died for the want of corn, “It wont fetch more than a crown at Quorn.” If all gives him sixpence that reads this letter, Then Thomaswill quickly set up a better; He'll “draw folks' coals, and taters, and stubble, And won't give nobody no further trouble.”
* This appeal was written to assist ThomasBasfordin raising a small sum to compensate him for his loss, and so well did the inhabitants of Wymeswoldrespond to it that Thomasafterwards said he collected sufficient money to buy two “’osses.” — C.N.P.
This poem is by ThomasRossellPotter and published in Poems of the Late Thomas RossellPotter (of Wymeswold) produced in 1881 by his son Charles NevillePotter for private circulation. The poem is undated but probably written in the 1850s.The footnote is by his son. ThomasBasfordlived in Brook Street and was a sawyer by trade, although it sounds as if he was willing to turn his hand to anything so the loss of his horse would have affected other villagers.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Editors' reply: PackmanRoad appears on the 1792 enclosure map for Waltonon the Woldsand Dear Sir PackmanLane on two plans drawn up for Mr Mundyof Burtonin 1818. We have failed to Seeing the very informative display in the find more recent references. The name museum during January, and noticing the road probably came about because this stretch of marked as Nottingham Road, running from the road was the regular route of packmenor WaltonBrook Bridge to the old Prestwold pedlars, although it is possible that it was used School, has reminded me that it was never by attorney SimonPakemanwho held the referred to as Nottingham Road in my day but important post of steward of the honour of rather as PackmanHill. Leicester in the latter part of the fourteenth I wonder who thought to name it century. If anyone has any helpful information Nottingham Road and did they never ask what please contact Joanand Peter Shawon its real name was? 880055. Yours etc MargaretMarshall(neeTowle– late Manor Farm, Burton)
4 2 Chairman's Report for 2003
PatriciaBaker
I cannot begin my first report as Chairman The first summer walk took place in fine of the WoldsHistorical Organisation weather though this was not strictly without paying tribute to AlecMoretti, who necessary for the most interesting and held the post for so many years. His death informative visit to the Leicestershire in August 2002 was a major blow to us all; Museums Resource Centre at Barrow on his leadership, active research, abundant Soar. I was not able to join the visit to knowledge and sound advice are, and will Swanningtonbut those present report that continue to be, much missed. the very pleasant evening was made all the more enjoyable by a very informative tour The 2003 programme began with a of the inclined plane led by DenisBaker. difference. JasonKing returned to deliver 'The Battle of the Somme'. Thankfully the Our programme after the summer break is power failure which cut short his visit in also varied. It begins with a talk on livery October was not repeated and on this companies by ArthurDenny, and continues occasion the talk was completed and slides with KeithChallisspeaking about Laxton and artefacts properly seen. and its Open Field System and Ben Beazley on the History of the Leicester Police Force. Members have enjoyed a variety of topics In December we have our annual at our meetings. We marvelled at the Christmas Dinner but details of this still ingenuity and lavishness of the Victorian have to be finalised. We must thank Dave reservoirs of Leicester described by Colin Marshallfor organising a most enjoyable Green, enjoyed the Search for Garendon dinner at Normantonon Soar last year. Abbey with BrianWilliams, and were fascinated by GeoffHollis'stalk about My personal thanks go to our Vice- HathernwareTerracotta. We were also Chairman Bob Trubshawfor his work in delighted, particularly the ladies, not to placing the WHO archives on the WHO's have been around to wear the original website; to JoanShawand Bob Trubshaw corsets described by SarahWilliamsin her for their sterling work in producing this talk on Symington'sof Market Harborough. booklet; to DavidKeenefor taking the minutes and acting as our Secretary; to Further to the talk by GeoffHollis, DavidMarshallfor looking after our members of the WHO visited the premises financial affairs and to the members of our of HathernwareTerracottato see the committee for lightening my work production process for themselves, and schedule. were able to see pieces being made for the renovation of the DoultonFountain in Finally, I must express my appreciation to Glasgow. A truly memorable visit, long members and visitors for turning up in all may the company continue. weathers to support our speakers. Without you there would be no WHO.
4 3