Village Social History
Here are some items from the past – let us know if you have others we can include.
Bob Suter has uncovered a fascinating story he was told by Michael Gardner, son of Margaret Gardner who lives at Cotswold View. As a child, Michael was told about a true incident that happened in Tresham in 1894. A good friend of Michael did some extensive research into this and wrote up an account of his findings, entitled The Tresham Murder?
Tresham used to have its own football team, The Tresham Wasps, and run its own Sunday School. Again, our thanks to Michael Gardner for retrieving these memories.
“Village play stopped“, circa 1965
Biography of Archie Hartrick , a remarkable man who lived in Tresham from about 1898 – 1908 and who painted the reredos in Tresham Church.
And I have received an interesting email from Richard Blanchard, dated 23 Nov 15:
I lived in Tresham during the war, from about 1941 to 1944, with my mother, brother, aunt and two cousins. We had previously lived in Coventry and Bristol and moved to the country to avoid bombing. We lived in a cottage, owned by the Duke of Beaufort, almost opposite the entrance to Daniels’ farm. The cottage had no electric or water and the only heat came from a coal fired stove. The house was long and narrow with the narrow side facing the road. My aunt and family lived at one end and my mother, brother and I at the other end. There was quite a steep hill behind the cottage that led to a valley below the house. A horse lived there and I remember dropping my coat on the ground which the horse seized and tossed it up in the air.I was about 3 when we first moved to Tresham and I thought it was a wonderful place. We children roamed free all round the area. I would love to have had the same freedom in all the other places that I have lived in over the past 70 years. In the summer we helped with the threshing, being paid a penny for every mouse we caught. We also picked blackberries for Robertson’s jam, getting about 1d per pound.
I remember getting water from the well, which was down a slight hill from the main road, possibly Well Hill. and falling into the well. I think the side of the well in which I fell was quite shallow..
Winters were very cold. My brother went to school in Wotton-under-Edge and I remember the school bus often had to deal with snow.
I live on an island off the west coast of Canada now, but hope to go back in the next few years to see if I can find the house in which I used to live.
Hope this is of interest.
Richard Blanchard
I read Richard’s letter to Margaret Gardner who came to live in Tresham in 1948. Daniel’s Farm is now Furlong Farm, so I guess Richard lived in Furlong Cottage or Homeleigh Cottage. Margaret remembers villagers standing outside their houses with blackberries they had picked waiting for a man from Wotton to buy them. [Ed]
