ALONG THE MAIN ROAD IN THE MID 40’s

Coming into the village from Northampton you passed the Digby house on the right – pebble-dashed and white.   Jack Digby worked at the carriage works at Wolverton and probably at that time commuted using the village railway station.  On the other side of the road and up the bank was a wooden building used by the military during the war.  Coming into the village proper there is George Bonsor’s high gabled barn, subsequently converted to a house, and his farmhouse facing the road.  He was good to the village, allowing his field to be used for football and the school sports.

Adjoining his farmhouse was Cherry’s dairy where one could purchase milk and at this junction of the road stood the large Elm tree on a triangular patch of land to one side of which stands the village school serving all ages of children.  At the time it was under the very able headmaster Joe Cole.  There was no trucking the children around the County in those days. The building was to double in size over the next fifty years.

Opposite the school was the Council yard and the shed which housed a steam roller, one house further along, on the right, was the village bakery run by the Sturgess family using a traditional oven and still making bread by hand although they would eventually become mechanised.  Like many villagers they kept pigs in the back garden and poultry down the lane.

Moving on we would pass the Phillips family paper shop, it being still a stone thatched property with a pump outside.  They ran a similar enterprise in Milton. On the other side of the road was the all important telephone box as ordinary folk did not yet have their own phones and opposite was the residence of our village photographer Walter Alexander, who subsequently made a small showcase where he illustrated his work as “The Passing Show”.

Crossing back to the other side of the road there was Mr. Hill’s little cobblers shop which had that lovely smell of leather and from his doorstep you viewed the Royal Oak, a Phipps Brewery house, which was thatched and had railings at the front protecting the windows.  There was a large horse chestnut tree to one side, the tenant Sam Brown had a large collection of birds eggs which he eventually gave away.

The village Post Office was opposite the pub with a bay window and a flight of steps to the door, the mail was still sorted locally in the sheds at the rear and local postmen delivered the mail hereabouts.  Local knowledge was important as the majority of houses had not yet been given numbers.

Behind the Post Office and with two petrol pumps on the street was Freeston’s garage where you could obtain paraffin (or was that Youngs?), get your accumulator charged, buy or have a bike repaired, purchase paint and wallpaper, find a taxi and even have your car serviced or repaired. The four brothers were a village institution and were obviously well thought of.

Again crossing back across the road to the two thatched cottages and forge that stood at one side of the Cross.  The blacksmith still plied his trade although this was probably decreasing as the war had been instrumental in introducing the Fordson tractor some of which had wide mudguards, which we youngsters would ride upon.

Doug was one of the residents of the cottages on the Cross and he would get very irate when the Americans parked their fuel tankers on the Cross and smoked in the vicinity.  There were obviously tanks and convoys regularly passing through the village during and after the war, with additional journeys being made to the tank training grounds at Showsley.   The Post Office sorting shed and Young’s advertising hoarding, which advertised what became Rootes group vehicles, were eventually demolished.  This followed young Cholkers accident with a prefab-carrying articulated lorry in a dangerously narrow part of the High Street.  The accident could also have been induced by the advertising hoarding, which had reflective cats-eyes embedded in it for night-time impact.

Inside Young's shop was a typical general store of the time, half the size of the present shop with Oliver blending and packing the tea.  Bacon was cut to the thickness required and the range of alcoholic beverages, groceries available was substantial.  On the walls were buckets and pans - most types of household hardware were stocked. In later years when the cellar was cleared they even found the old moulds used to make the boat candles.

The adjacent houses appear to have stopped serving teas by this time but property owning John Foster, living in a house to the right, supplemented his income by selling fruit and keeping a flock of hens in his paddock which eventually became part of Westbrook and Pond Bank. Another of his enterprises was hiring out the "Labour Party tables" and trestles which were stored in his old bakehouse.   No charge was made - you gave what you thought would be suitable.

Moving down four properties brought us to Burbidge’s yard where, in the many sheds, caravans and vehicle bodies were made, wood was sawn.  Old cars were kept at the bottom of the yard - ideal for playing in.  Opposite was the Police house where Fred Wooding resided, keeping law and order in the Parish.  A good policeman!  Two more houses down lived the man from the Pru, one of the early residents to have a car.

Opposite stands the church still much the same then as it is today except we had a choir in those days.  There may be less hostility now between the congregations of the two places of worship.  Alongside the church the old rectory was still in use by the vicar and was reached by a long drive from the main road.  Off the drive to the right was the old coach house, used as a garage and an apple store (upstairs), alongside Kendrick kept a few pigs in later years. The coach house and a large section of retaining wall was subsequently demolished to improve the bend at the bottom corner.  The graveyard was still open for burials although Eddie did at times murmur about using the roadways for graves.

Passing from the graveyard to another Phipps pub - The Sun, Moon and Stars - was in the care of Wally Rogers and Marg Collins.  The pub had a wide following.   Marg looked after the small garden in the corner of the yard, which was probably church property, and the old garage was where the Wiggins coal lorry subsequently parked. The row of cottages running down to the canal, behind the pub, was called Phipps Cottages at the time with at least one of the residents providing teas for the fishermen in earlier days.

The old mill was in use as a store and, since the bottom bus-stop was sited right on the bridge, one could shelter under the loading bay awning in inclement weather.  There were still houses in the yard of Grafton House and the land at the rear was used for storing army vehicles for a time.

APOLOGIES FOR ANY ERRORS OR INCONSISTENCIES DUE TO SENILITY!                    Jim Payler,   Feb 2006