Ashow is a village hidden away down a cul-de-sac near Stoneleigh Abbey. The charming timber-framed cottages have been altered since 1900, which caused me some problems in identifying them. Many ...
Many of the thatched cottages in Polesworth burned down due to the nature of their construction including Little Jim’s cottage. The cottage on this page was near the Chetwynd Arms ...
Little Jim’s cottage is no longer there (not altogether surprising, when looking at the photo from 1970) but the cottage, and Jim himself, is immortalised in poetry:
The cottage was a ...
Demand for accommodation in Alcester area was particularly pressing as the Maudslay Motor Company transferred virtually all of its production operations from Coventry to a “shadow factory” at Great Alne ...
I was born at what was then no.11 Main Street, Clifton-upon-Dunsmore. My grandparent’s home was initially known as Pleasant Cottages, and later became no.1 Avon Cottages, Rugby Road, before finishing up ...
Little Lawford Hall had an unfortunate history involving a ghost and a murder. It belonged to the Boughton family and in Elizabethan times one of them lost an arm.
The one-armed ...
Within the records held at the Warwickshire County Record Office are those related to the papers of Phelps and Bracebridge & Co., Soap and Alkali manufacturers (CR181c/3). Despite conducting their ...
This charming cottage stands beside Ned’s lock on the Stratford-upon-Avon canal. It was built around 1812 for a former lock-keeper, or lengthsman, who would have been responsible for operating the ...
This photograph was found in a Building Byelaw application file from 1937, for the erection of a house, milk shop and dairy: the photograph of the site was taken by ...
Even when on holiday it’s difficult to escape…
Anyway, the pictures are of Lyeden New Bield, Northamptonshire. Unusual inasmuch as what you see is not a ruin, this is the state ...
The bombing of Coventry in November 1940 was one of the more destructive raids of the Second World War. A week later, about twenty children from my junior school in ...
Pulling sharply off the A45, you go down the pathway to the farm. Bouncing over the ridge and furrow to where I am directed to park along with the others, ...
Previously, we had seen the struggle for survival of the ‘Parrott House’ in Stretton on Dunsmore. Threatened with demolition, a solution had been found where the house was bought by ...
Rewind back to 1975, and we’d left the Parrott House story at a time when the building was under threat of demolition. The owners at the time have failed to ...
On a recent visit to Charlecote Park I watched people in Victorian costume at work in the kitchen.
Ragging
One was ‘ragging’ – making new items from recycled pieces of material. You may ...
Baddesley Clinton is a moated manor house in the care of the National Trust with a fascinating history. On a recent visit I was entertained by musicians in Tudor costume ...
My grandparents Henry and Amy Robbins lived in part of the old mansion buildings which stood on the site of the present Mansion Close until it was demolished in 1964. ...
William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582 at Temple Grafton Church. He was 18 years old whilst she was 25 and three months’ pregnant, quite common in those days. Her ...
Gibbet Hill Farm House faces the Gibbet Hill road and forms part of a rectangular enclosure comprised of farm buildings with a substantial stone wall to the front . The ...
At the time George Wise inherited Woodcote he was unmarried, and at the age of 53, already had another home in Surrey. He died in 1888 and the family estates ...
The origins
The house is known locally as the ‘Parrott House’ after its owner, Mr. Parrott. The Parrotts were one of the ‘traditional’ Stretton families. Anne Langley reports how John Green ...
As Clandon Park House in Surrey went up in flames so quickly in April 2015, it showed once again how fragile the items of the past could be. To me, ...
In the mid 19th century, this Georgian house with its unusual and distinctive central arch was the home of Elizabeth and Richard Johnson. They were the aunt and uncle of ...
Although somewhat dilapidated in the present day, Guy’s Cliffe House has had a full history, with much change over a number of years. Even in its current isolated state off ...