The Story of Heyford: The Jubilee Hall V1C7

The Jubilee Hall used to stand just behind the memorial green, on the opposite side of the road to where the Butchers and Patisserie are today. It was a stone barn with a thatched roof and was used as a meeting place for clubs and events much as the village hall is used today .

It was an ancient building, possibly built in the late 1600’s at the same time as ‘The Springs’, the thatched stone house which still stands today just behind the site of the Jubilee Hall. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the house and barn were occupied by a family called Smith who ran a laundry there. Bob Browning who was born in 1892 recalled the laundry but we don’t know for sure whether it was run from the house or the barn.

The name Jubilee Hall is believed to have originated from Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, probably her Diamond Jubilee of 1897. It may be that this was when the barn began to be used as a meeting place rather than as a laundry.

In 1914 the house and barn which had been owned by the Church were bought by the Ward family The Jubilee Hall continued to be used as a meeting place until around the time of the second world war, and we have several local memories of it from the 1920’s and 1930’s.

The Jubilee Hall

JubileeHall_NetherHeyford_1920

Photo lent by Janet Randall

This photograph, lent by Janet Randall, was taken in 1920. n the far right is the old Post Office. To the left of this can be seen the scaffolding from the building of the New School House. In the centre of the picture is the thatched house known as ‘The Springs’, and in front of this is the war memorial. Note the size of the oak tree beside it. The building on the left is the Jubilee Hall.

Memories of the Jubilee Hall
In March 1981 there was an article published in the Prattler, written by Marjorie Hamborg, based on information from Mr and Mrs Amos Lee, which gives a good insight into its use. This article is reprinted here in italics but we have also added some additional information based on the recollections of a number of other local people.

From The Prattler March 1981
“Our readers may have noticed that to the left of the thatched cottage facing the Memorial Green there is an old wall built of Northamptonshire stone. As this is now being reshaped to camouflage the building of a garage, I thought it would be of interest to know a bit about the history of this part of Heyford. So I visited my friends Mr and Mrs Amos Lee in Furnace Lane as they can give us new villagers some of the history of the Jubilee Hall that used to stand on this site.

At one time this was the only place where the young folk could gather, and here they came to play darts, skittles, rings, bagatelle, and a bit of boxing.”

It was also used for private parties. Dorothy Kingston had her Wedding reception there and Tommy Rolfe of the Foresters supplied them with a ham for £1.

The Pussyfoot Club
“The hall was mainly used by the men of the village, was teetotal, and was given the name ‘Pussyfoot Club’. The ladies of the village were invited when a dance was held there. Mrs Dorothy Kingston remembers them well, the fiddle being played by Lily Porch and Bern Kingston, and the piano by Lily’s sister Phillis. I also understand that Mrs Cameron from the school also used to take part. There was a small stove around which wet clothes could be dried in bad weather.”

Bob Browning who was born in 1892 recalled that ‘it was open six evenings a week between 6 pm and 10 pm. You could buy drinks there and play skittles. Sometimes there was also boxing, done in those days with bare fists.’

Bill Nickolls also remembers the Pussyfoot Club. The youngsters came from 5 pm to 8 pm. They paid a halfpenny per night to play darts, billiards, skittles and cards. Later the older ones came. They took it in turns to run the bar. Bill remembers on one occasion how somebody put a firework in the keyhole. The door jammed and they had to escape through the toilet window by climbing on the bucket.

Bill Kingston remembers the dances on Saturday nights. His father Bernard, and Lily Porch (later Mrs Green) played the violin. They danced waltzes, the military two-step and the lancers (a formation dance).

“However partly due to agitation by mothers whose sons became too fond of the card games carried on there, and partly to difficulty of getting committee members to organise events, the hall fell into disuse.”

The Laundry
“Before Mr and Mrs Ward came to live in the cottage Mrs Lee’s stepmother had a laundry there and Mrs Ada Smith can remember as a child seeing Mr Lee trundling his basket of clean laundry up Furnace Lane.”.

Cobblers Shop
Another person remembered with the Jubilee Hall during the 1930’s was Sid Eales. There was a small wooden hut next to the Jubilee Hall in which he ran a cobblers shop. He had been injured during the first world war and walked with a limp. He not only mended shoes, but would also take bets on your behalf if you wanted him to.

Fire wood and the black market
Jack Haddon had a timber yard a little way up Weedon Road Where the Randalls now live.

“Mr Lee tells me that during the second world war years the hall was used for chopping firewood and he remembers what a grand employer Jack Haddon was, working alongside Mr Lee, Mr Andrews, three or four women from the village and others, and there was a good trade with the bundling machine working at full blast. The wood came from as far as Brockhall Park and was stored in the paddock at the side.”

Jack Haddon apparently also did some black market dealing there during the War. There’s a story which says that while a deal was being struck inside the hall there was some panic because the local bobby was seen approaching. “Don’t worry,” said Jack reassuringly, “he’s only coming to pick up his joint!”

The Final days
When at last the hall was no longer used it fell into disrepair. Around 1954 the building had become unsafe, and when David Ward removed one of the beams it finally collapsed. Mr Ward had the wall built along the boundary line and many of the remaining slabs of stone disappeared in various directions.

Weedon Road/Furnace Lane

JubileeHall_NetherHeyford_FurnaceLane

Photo lent by Janet Randall

This photograph shows the view along the Weedon Road. The Jubilee Hall is on the right hand side and Sid Eales Cobblers shop can be seen at the end of the building. On the left of the picture is the butchers shop and slaughterhouse. Note also the telegraph poles and the lack of proper kerbs and pavements.

Margorie Hamborg and Stephen Ferneyhough

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 7 of 13 | Pages 13,14 & 15

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

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The Story of Heyford: The Toilet Cart V1C6

Until the l950’s there was no main sewage in the village. People had no proper sanitation, just an outside toilet with a pit or a pail. Some of these little buildings still exist as tool sheds or stores but most have gone. Inside the toilet was a bucket which would be emptied around once a week, usually onto the allotment.

Then some time in the early 1900’s the parish council organised a weekly collection of buckets. Bob Browning recalled how two men were employed with a horse and two—Wheeled cart to collect the contents once a week. The contents would be taken away for disposal. The cart had two wheels for easy tipping.

Bill Nickolls recalls that in the 1920’s there was a special cart for the purpose, shared with Bugbrooke. Jack Earl who at that time organised the collection, had to go twice a week with a horse to collect the cart from Bugbrooke. Collection in Heyford was on Monday and Friday evenings. People would put out their buckets, much as they do with their dustbins nowadays, and the cart came to empty the contents. Jack employed Bill Nickolls and Jo Charville for this task. They were provided with boiler suits, gloves, wellingtons, and flashlights with batteries. The pong was bad but the pay was good! It was done late in the evening after people were mostly indoors with the windows shut. The contents were taken to a ﬁeld beyond the houses on the right hand side of Furnace Lane where they were emptied into a trench and ploughed in. Even so the ﬁeld was littered with paper which had escaped the trench and blown around in the wind. Sometimes two journeys were necessary and sometimes only one. There were also one or two places on route where the buckets could be ‘unofficially’ emptied (if the contents were mostly liquid!) to avoid the need for two journeys to the official dump.

In the 1930’s the collection was organised by George Faulkner of The Bricklayers Arms. Bill Kingston remembers him parking the cart under the oak tree on the memorial green waiting. for his helpers to arrive — Ted Charville, Jo Charville, Amos Lee and ‘Tankie’ Haynes.

There are stories of one or two accidents. An evacuee boy called Tony Sweet was walking backwards up Furnace Lane where there was an ‘avenue of pails’ and he tumbled into one of the buckets. He seemingly got a good telling off because he took a lot of cleaning up. There is also a story about ‘Mucky Matthews’, who apparently fell backwards into the cart when his horse reared. Hence his name!

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 6 of 13 | Page 12

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The King William Pub V1C5

The building which is now number 24 Furnace Lane to the left of the old bake house used to be a pub called the King William. It was listed in the 1891 Census return as the ‘King William IV’ and it was occupied at that time by George Collins, a blacksmith. There is a pear tree growing up the side of the building and some of the local people say-that it took its name ‘William’ from this. Bob Browning recalled that it was run before the ﬁrst world war by a man named Leeson but it did little trade. It was last occupied as a pub in the 1930’s by a man named Waters but there seems to be nobody left who remembers it in use.

The building used to have a cellar but when the wooden floor became rotten it was ﬁlled in with rubble and concreted over. The present house still has holes in the wall from when there was a dart board there. .

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 5 of 13 | Page 12

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Heyford’s Bakeries V1C4

There has presumably been baking in Heyford ever since there has been a settlement here. Both Heyford and Heyford Mill are mentioned in the Domesday Book, and the proximity of the mill meant that there was always a local source of ﬂour.

There are several records of baking in the village during the 1700’s and 1800’s:
– The Militia list of 1777 mentions Henry Burch and Robert Burch as Bakers.
– The 1841 Census lists John James, Joseph Claridge and John Cole.
– The Kelly’s directories in the 1800’s show several bakers:

Mrs Margaret Jones, baker and shopkeeper, 1854
William Claridge, baker and retailer, 1864
Isaac Woodhams, baker, 1864, 1869, 1877, 1885, 1890
Charles Smith, 1869
Daniel Roe, 1877

Until the first world war the building on the corner of Furnace Lane and Weedon Road (now Tops the hairdressers) was the Bakers Arms pub, so called because the landlord Mr Pinnock had a small oven for baking bread. A small oven was also discovered in the old post office building when it was demolished in the early 1950’s.

The Faulkner family
But from the 1890’s to the 1940’s most of the village’s baking was done by Thomas Faulkner and his family. He had two sons, Walter and Wesley, and ﬁve daughters. Much of the following information came from his great grandson Dennis Clarke.

The Faulkner family ran two bakehouses. The first was in the red brick house (now number 19 Church Street) owned by Thomas Faulkner. He ran it with his son-in-law, Fred Furniss. They were from staunch Methodist families well respected in the village. They didn’t drink or smoke. Thomas Faulkner was for many years a lay preacher at the Methodist chapel, and was also the ﬁrst chairman of the Parish Council.

Then some time during the first world war he established a second bakehouse with a larger oven in the building which is now number 22 Furnace Lane. One of the reasons for needing a larger bakehouse was that he supplied bread to the Weedon Barracks. It was run by his son Wesley. This became the main bakery in the village and was active for more than 30 years. His other son Walter had a bakery in Northampton.

The flour room was upstairs and the flour was fed down to the bakery via a chute. The dough was made up the night before, kneaded into loaves, laid in tins and allowed to rise. The oven was lit between three and four in the morning with faggots of wood. When it was the right temperature, the ashes were removed and the bread put in. The oven, which was well insulated, kept warm for several hours, but even so it was an inaccurate science and it wasn’t unusual for a loaf of bread to be not quite cooked in the middle.

Sunday roasts
Although the oven was used mainly for baking bread, it was also used on Sundays to cook the roasts. The villagers would bring their joints and Yorkshire puddings to be cooked while they were at church or chapel. You would put the joint on a trivet in a baking tray with the yorkshire pudding mix underneath. The fat from the meat dropped into the yorkshire pudding mix as it cooked. Wesley Faulkner charged 2d for this service. Bill Kingston remembers sitting on the flour bin waiting for the joint to cook. Sometimes it was difficult to recognise your own joint. Mrs Dorothy Kingston remembers as a girl picking up their joint on one occasion only to be told by her mother when she got home that it was somebody else’s! When the joints came out, the cakes went in.

The bakehouse in Furnace Lane also had a little shop which sold not just bread and cakes, but also sweets and cigarettes. In the back yard they kept pigs and chickens as most people did. Outside the back door was a well and a handpump which is still there today. They also kept a pony and trap which Wesley used for making deliveries in the evenings to Stowe, Farthingstone and Litchborough, often not returning until late in the evening. The pony and trap were later replaced by a motorised van.

Wesley Faulkner pictured with his delivery van in the 1930’s

NetherHeyfordBakehouse

Photo lent by Dennis Clarke

Changing times
The bakehouse continued to run until around 1945. However, by this time larger bakeries were being established in town and cheaper mass-produced bread and cakes were becoming readily available through the other village shops.

For some years after this, bread was delivered to the Village by ‘Cooey’ Faulkner, the ‘Midnight Baker’. He was Ruskin, the son of Walter who had a bakery in Abington Avenue in Northampton. He got his nickname because he delivered bread, often late in the evening and announced his presence by calling “Cooey!” Some people left baskets hanging outside their houses for him to leave the bread if he was very late. Part of the reason for his lateness was that he was always read to accept a cup of tea if offered one! Today the house is occupied by Dennis Clarke,a great nephew of Fred Furniss, and great grandson of Thomas Faulkner. The oven, though no longer used is still in place.

From the 1940’s until the 1980’s no bread baking took place in the village. We had moved into times of mass—production and faster road systems, so most of the bread came from large bakeries outside the village. The installation of gas, and then electricity meant that most families the 1950’s had small ovens in their own modernised kitchen.

The Bake-house in Furnace Lane

NetherHeyfordBakehouse_FurnaceLane

Photo lent by Judy Armitage

This photograph looks towards the bottom of Furnace Lane and shows the old bake-house on the left hand side. To the left of this on the far left hand side of the picture is the building previously used as the King William pub. You can see here the frame which held the pub sign. Opposite the end of Furnace Lane you can see the little building which was the original Methodist chapel built in 1838 with the plaque above the upstairs windows. To the right of this is the old thatched post office, demolished in the 1950s, and to the left is the thatched cottage occupied by Mrs Anne Clarke, Heyford’s midwife for many years, which was demolished in 1969.

Heyford Patisserie
In 1985 the Heyford Patisserie was opened next to the butchers. The business had been started two years earlier by Wendy Allen who began baking at home. Her first order was from Carol at the Olde Sun to produce pies for bar meals. Then word got around, the number of customers grew, and the business became too big to run from home. At around that time, Malcolm Tarbox (the butcher) acquired the buildings in that block. The old slaughterhouse at the end of the block was renovated and converted into the present patisserie building. On 3rd November 1985 Wendy moved into her new patisserie which gave her not only much better baking facilities, but also a retail outlet. So began a service which was much needed in a village which had doubled in size since the 1950s. Although the bread came from Tees Bakery in Grafton Street, Northampton, all the pies, quiches, and puddings were baked on the premises.

Then after 11 years of long hours, six days a Week, Wendy decided to retire and the business was taken over in 1996 by Lesley Parker who continues to run it in the same way today.

Stephen Ferneyhough

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 4 of 13 | Pages 9,10 & 11

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The Methodist Chapel V1C3

The chapel buildings
Methodism was very much a part of village life in Heyford for almost 130 years. It ﬂourished from the 1830s until the 1960s. The ﬁrst chapel was built in 1838. This was the small red brick building which still stands at the top of Church Street, immediately to the left of the Heyford Stores. It has a barn style roof with a single beam across the middle, and there was originally no ﬂoor upstairs. It has a blank plaque on the front wall and it still has signs of the tall chapel windows. It was converted to a private house in the 1870s.

According to the religious census of 1851 there was a general congregation of 50 in the afternoon and 50 in the evening. lt is hard to see how this number of people would have fitted into such a small building. It must have been standing room only.

In 1879 the existing building in Church Street was erected. lt was built by Alfred Marsh on land donated by Thomas Faulkner, and services continued to take place there until the early 1960s.

The founding family
There is a typescript in the Northamptonshire Record Office, unsigned and undated, which gives some details of one of the families involved in much of the chapel’s history. This typescript refers to Mrs J.S. Gammage who as a young girl around the turn of century was of the fourth generation of village Methodism. It records how, ‘in 1835 when the early pioneers of primitive Methodism missioned the village of Heyford from Northampton, Mrs Gammage’s great-grandmother gave them a welcome and shelter. She also helped in 1838 to secure the first Methodist Chapel in Heyford, owned by the Northamptonshire circuit, at a cost of £65, furniture included.’

Mrs Gammage’s mother ‘was given to hospitality. The saints of god found shelter and refreshment beneath her roof.’ Her father, Thomas Faulkner piloted the chapel for over 50 years until his death in 1917. ‘No man was more typical of the staunch Methodist and radical stock of the Victorian age than Thomas Faulkner. The oppressed looked to him for succour, and the poor found in him a friend. The earliest impressions that the writer of this document had of Mrs Gammage (which must have been around the 1880s) was ‘of a little girl dressed all in white, asking the local preacher for the hymns in the new chapel, then after the service taking him home to her fathers house to tea and introducing him to the missionary box, and pleading the cause of the little black boys and girls in a far-off land.’ The musical service at Heyford also owed much to Mrs Gammage. ‘At the age of twelve she took charge of the organ and became secretary of the Sunday School, and later became choirmaster.’

MrsFaulkner

Mrs Gammage’s mother, Mrs T.G. Faulkner.

The chapel interior
At the rear of the chapel was a gallery in which there was a large pump organ with two keyboards and a series of pipes. For almost fifty years from the early 1900’s this organ was played by Mrs Evelyn Clarke, a daughter of Wesley Faulkner and grand-daughter of Thomas Faulkner. Her two sons Keith and Dennis both remember operating the hand pump. Keith remembers how he had to watch a gauge which showed how much air was in the organ. When the gauge reached a certain level you had to pump air in by hand. It was tempting to allow the gauge to run low and risk silence in the middle of one of the hymns as the organ ran out of air. Dennis remembers as a youngster how the services seemed to be long and boring. Either side of the organ in the gallery was seating for the congregation. Downstairs, just inside the door there was a pulpit and there were wooden pews stretching to the back of the church. The carpets and upholstery were supplied and maintained by Pearce’s of Northampton and were rich blue in colour. The windows at the front of the church were stained glass and included the images of Mr and Mrs Thomas Faulkner.

The chapel business
Also in the Northampton Record Office is a the ‘minute book of the Heyford Trustees and Chapel Committee’ which has periodical entries between 1925 and 1960. Below are some details from this book which give a ﬂavour of life in the chapel during that period.

May 1925 — it was agreed ‘that we install electric light at the Heyford Church and school’

June 1929 – an envelope system was established to enable members to ‘promise to contribute the sum of … per week towards the amount required for carrying on the work above church.’

Mrs Ralph Clarke 6d / W Faulkner 3d / Miss Furniss 6d / Mr and Mrs Furniss 1s Od’ / Mrs Thompson 3d / Alice Eales 3d

Feb 1937 – the general chapel committee acting on behalf of the Methodist Conference paid a grant of £10 ‘to aid the extinction of the debt of the Lower Heyford Methodist Chapel’ and also ‘that the trust should be renewed before long as the number (of trustees) living is now only ﬁve.’

]an 1938 – ‘we record that Miss Furniss be reappointed secretary, that Mrs Humphrey be the treasurer, that Mrs Clarke be reappointed organist, that the assistants be Miss Furniss and Miss Faulkner, that Mrs King be reappointed caretaker with remuneration as before, that the property stewards be Mr Warwick and Mr Faulkner’

Jan 1939 – ‘that Mr Arthur Humphrey be asked to procure a new ash bin’

Nov 1940 – ‘we record with sincere regret the death cy‘ one of our members brother Wesley N T Faulkner who passed away on Oct 19th 1940 and was buried in the Lower Heyford cemetery. Mr Faulkner had an almost lifelong association with the church… he was a local preacher, a class leader and a society steward’

Feb 1941 – the minutes refer to ‘Heyford Methodist Chapel (formerly Primitive Methodist)’

July 1941 — ‘that we receive with pleasure the gift of land adjoining the chapel from Mrs Wesley W Faulkner’

July 1942 — ‘that the repairs done by Mr W ] Denny to the front boundary wall of the chapel have been satisfactorily completed and that the bill of £22.7s.4d has been paid’

Dec 1949 – ‘the meeting received with joy the inspiring and generous offer of Messrs Pearce regarding the renovations of the interior of the church… it was agreed that Mr Pearce ’s suggestion that the organ be brought down into the body of the church and the gallery be partitioned off be adopted’ .

Feb 1953 – ‘as the pipe organ had not been brought down into the church as agreed because of its need of repair, the minister offered to enquire whether it had been disposed of as being beyond repair. No deﬁnite information had reached the trustees as to its condition and whereabouts. It was noted that it had been in working order when removed. ’

Feb 1959 – ‘new heating arrangements were discussed and it was decided to have electric convector heaters installed, these to be obtained through the kindness of Messrs Pearce and Co at wholesale prices’

Feb 1960 — ‘we record with sincere regret the passing of our dear friend and brother Mr Luther Furniss u/ho served the church in so many ways’

The Methodist chapel in the late 1930s

MethodistChapel_NetherHeyford

Photo lent by ]udy Armitage.

The end of an era
The last people to be married in the chapel were Keith and Brenda Clarke in 1953. The last christenings were of their children Elaine and Trevor. The congregation by this time was very small, certainly smaller than that of the Baptist chapel.

Keith & Brenda Clarke Wedding 1953

Brenda&Keith_Clarke

Photo from Trev Clarke, 2019 “The last wedding to be held there, my mum and dad – Brenda and Keith Clarke”

By 1962 the chapel had virtually ceased to function. All the original trustees had died, and some of the few remaining members transferred to the Baptist chapel. In 1963 some of the pews, together with the stained glass windows which depicted members of the Faulkner family, were also moved from the Methodist to the Baptist chapel.

Between 1962 and 1965 there was considerable legal correspondence to establish ownership of the chapel, and of the land adjacent to it that had been donated. In 1965 it was ﬁnally sold to the Northamptonshire Association of Youth Clubs, and the Youth Club was formally opened in the Autumn of that year. After 130 years, Methodism in Heyford had come to an end.

Stephen Ferneyhough

Stained Glass Windows

“Following the closure of the Methodist Church these windows were installed here in recognition of the loyal work done by Thomas & Elizabeth Faulkner for Jesus Christ and his Church in this village.”

Update Jez Wilson – November 2020

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 3 of 13 | Pages 6,7 & 8

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

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The Story of Heyford: Thomas Faulkner V1C2

Thomas Faulkner was born in 1839 and died in 1917 at the age of 78. He was undoubtedly an influential member of the Heyford community. He was a baker by trade, he was one of the early chairmen of the parish council, and for fifty years he ran the Methodist chapel. On his death the Northampton Mercury printed that ‘his genial manner, kindly heart, ready sympathy, and active interest in all local and social matters, gained for him the respect, admiration and popularity of all with whom he came into contact, and his death will be mourned by a large circle of sympathisers.’

Photo lent by Dennis Clarke

An interview with Thomas Faulkner
In 1911, shortly after his golden wedding anniversary, the Mercury published an interview with him. That interview gives a wonderful insight into his life in the language of the day and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the Northampton Mercury.

From the Northampton Mercury, Friday 29th December, 1911
On Christmas Day Mr and Mrs T.G. Faulkner of Lower Heyford celebrated their golden wedding. For it was on Christmas Day 1861 Mr Faulkner fetched his bride from Abthorpe. “We were married at Caldecott” Mr Faulkner told a Mercury representative. “The Wesleyan chapel there was the nearest place to Abthorpe licensed for marriage in those days, and as we were Dissenters we preferred to be married at chapel, even at the cost of a little inconvenience.”

“I was born at Heyford and have lived here all my life. My first work was on a farm at threepence a day. Later I went in for shoe work. In those days many of us in Heyford got work to do from Northampton. I worked for Henry Marshall and also for Bostocks. We walked into Northampton to take our work in. It took all one’s time to earn 18s. I should say 16s was the average and you didn’t do that with the eight hour day. In those days Heyford was more prosperous though than now. There were two furnaces to give a lot of employment.”

“You gave up shoemaking?”

“Yes and I took up a bakers business. A bakehouse had long been unused and we rented it. I stuck to that ‘till my son took it over some years ago. Now I help him a good bit though.”

“What was the price of bread then?”

“Eightpence the quartern (4lb) loaf. I have known the price as low as threepence halfpenny on a contract. I can remember when people used to buy ‘sharps’ from us to make their own bread. The high price was not so good for bakers as the lower. We had to pay so much for flour and then of course we sold a good deal less. The reason bread was so dear at first I believe was bad harvests and a war.”

Mr Faulkner had been prominently associated with the public and religious life of the village. A staunch Liberal in politics he has always taken an active part in the general elections, and to him the Earl Spencer is still the ‘Honourable Robert’ of the seventies and eighties. “Oh yes” he said, “we had lively times but very little bitterness. I have always got on well with the Conservatives and with the Church people even though we did differ.”

For many years Mr Faulkner was a member of the Northampton Board of Guardians. “Compared with the other boards in the country” he said “the Northampton Board has always treated the poor in a most humane spirit. Coming into contact as I did with people from all over the country my blood boiled at the harsh manner other Boards treated the out relief cases.”

A member of the Parish Council and one of the School Managers, Mr Faulkner has done much good work for his native village. He has also been a prominent member of the AOF which he joined a few weeks after his marriage. For some years he was secretary to his lodge, and has held the office of treasurer for thirty years and more. Many times he has been a delegate at the High Court and has passed the chairs of the Northampton and Wellingborough District.

The Northampton Mercury, 1911

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 2 of 13 | Pages 4 & 5

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

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The Story of Heyford: Heyford’s Midwife V1C1

Mrs Anne Clarke was a midwife in Heyford for forty years. Born around 1846, Miss Bateman as she then was took a nurses training course at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. She was sent to Heyford to recover from housemaid’s knee, where she met and married Thomas Clarke. He was a village man who worked at the old brickyard in Furnace Lane. They bought a little thatched cottage that used to stand on the corner of Church Street, opposite the little village green, and had nine children. Mrs Clarke later took an interest in midwifery and became the village midwife for forty years, and it is said that she was reluctant to give up even then.

Outside her house Mrs Clarke kept a long pole which was used to tap her bedroom window should she be needed in the night. She attended all confinements on her own and visited her patients daily for two weeks. One story suggests that she had two confinements at the same time, one at Upper Heyford and one at Upper Stowe, and a pony and trap had to rush her from one home to the other. She made one delivery on a boat on the canal. The next morning the boat had gone. She had to give evidence in court as the baby had not been registered. They later traced the family up north.

Mrs Clarke is remembered as always wearing a hat and shawl, carrying a black bag and a supply of candles and sheets, as some families lacked these necessities. She could be seen every day at noon with her little white jug fetching her half pint of stout (at a cost of 2d) from the pub ‘to keep her going’. Her charge for a confinement was 7/6d which could be paid in instalments of 9d at a time. As families were larger and closer then, it is possible that these instalments were a regular allowance in the family budget for a while.

She had a brother in America who regularly sent her a dollar note which was a great deal of money in those days. On her old age pension of 10/-she managed to fatten up a pig for the winter, pay 1/- for a bag of coal, and still manage her half pint a day!

Anne Clarke was a widow for a number of years and died during the 1939-45 war at the age of 95. Several of her descendants still live in Heyford and no doubt have heard many a tale of their grandmother or great-grandmother.

Shirley Collins

House

Photos lent by: Mick Lilley

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 1 of 4 | Chapter 1 of 13 | Pages 2 & 3

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Book series – Heyford’s Historical Heritage (Foreword)

It is mostly the towns and cities that have their histories recorded, but many Northamptonshire villages have published their records in various ways. Heyford too has a rich historical heritage, and this series of booklets is one way in which we can record some of our local past, both for our own interest, and for the benefit of our descendants.

Heyford was mentioned in the Domesday Survey as `Heiforde – 2 hides and 1 virgate of land’. The mill was also specifically mentioned, ‘rendering 16s’. But even before then the area had been occupied. The Romans were here as was evidenced by the remains of a roman building found in Horestone Field in 1699. Stone axes and flint scrapers have been found, suggesting that earlier peoples also settled in the area. The word `Heyford’ takes its name from either the old English word ‘heg’ meaning hedge or `haeg/hage’ meaning hay. Hence Heyford means either ‘the ford by the hedge’ or ‘the ford over which hay is carried’. The proximity to the river and the fertile land around it means that this has always been a good place for a settlement.

The Church was built in the early 1200s and the first rector was Ralph in 1216. In 1601 it acquired its first two bells. Nonconformists have been here too. During the 1700s there were Quakers living in the village. Then in the early 1800s the Methodist and Baptist chapels were built, both flourishing well into the twentieth century.

The village has been most fortunate in having had a school since 1674. It was endowed by William Bliss of London, a native of Heyford, and has ensured that for more than 300 years the children of Heyford have had the opportunity of a good basic education.

The digging of the canal in the 1790s and the opening of the railway in the 1830s brought new trade to the area. Towards the end of the 1800s the two furnaces were in operation, followed later by the brickworks. This meant that the Furnace Lane area between the canal and railway was a hive of industry. Trade in lime, coal, bricks and iron ore created a flourishing business community.

There have been many meeting places where the business and social life of the village has been conducted. Activities in the Manor House, the Rectory, the Jubilee Hall, the Old Sun and Foresters Arms, the Church and Chapel Rooms, the School Hall and the Village Hall have all played their part in shaping the evolution of our village.

The Green is another important focal point. It has played a central role in the village for as long as anyone can tell. It is very much a public place and has been used for fairs, fetes, sports days, football, cricket, and many other village events. It therefore breathes life into the village and is justifiably called `Heyford’s lung’.

During the 1960s the village changed its character enormously. It became transformed from a rural agricultural community with a stable, but ageing population, into a modern thriving community with good communications and many new faces. It still remains a wonderful place to live, with a rich heritage of which we can all be proud, and which it is our responsibility to preserve for future generations.

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Book series – Cover photos

The Story of Heyford

The cover photograph, taken by Brian Clements in the 1990’s, shows a view of Church Street taken from the top of the church tower.

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Book series – How the books were created (Afterword)

‘The Story of Heyford’ was a series of 4 books published by the Nether Heyford village community as a result of the research work completed during 1996-1997

The Heyford Local History Group

These booklets were born out of a small group of local people meeting together with the aim of recording Heyford’s past. The group became known as the `Heyford Local History Group.’

The first meeting was held at the house of Eiluned Morgan in Church Street in the Spring of 1996. During a series of informal meetings we discussed how we could collect information, photographs and stories, how we could involve other people, and in what form the information could be recorded.

The people involved in these early meetings were Eiluned Morgan, Ken Garrett, Shirley Collins, John Smith, Pam Clements, Stephen Ferneyhough and Steve Young.

Our original aim was to publish a paperback style book with photographs, probably by the end of 1998. We held two open meetings in the school hall, one in October 1996 and one in February 1997. At these meetings we had various information and photographs on display. At the second meeting Barry Highfield gave a short talk about Mrs Court’s shop and we showed a video of old Heyford photographs. About forty people came to each of these meetings. We served tea and coffee, we made new contacts, we collected more stories, and both occasions were good social events.

By this time however it had become clear that the funds necessary and the time commitment needed to publish a full scale book were beyond our means. All of us in the group were working full time and had various other commitments. So the idea of a series of smaller scale booklets came about and what you see here is the result. There will be several booklets in the series, but with no formal structure. We have worked on the principle that it is better to write down the information as we find it, publish it and then move our efforts on to the next subject. We can always add to it in a later issue as more information becomes available.

By the people, of the people and for the people

Many local villagers have contributed to these booklets by giving information, lending photographs, offering documents, telling stories and exchanging memories. Their names will appear with particular stories as you read through them. It is truly a history prepared by, written about, and published for the people of Heyford.

However we would like to make several particular acknowledgements in relation to the preparation and publishing of these booklets. All the people mentioned below live in the village. Use of school facilities for our open meetings: Alan Watson, headmaster; Scanning and preparation of photographs: Tim Beard of Manor Park; Typesetting and origination: Bill Nial and Key Composition; Printing: David Farmer and Heyford Press; Financial support: The Prattler

Accuracy

Whilst every effort has been made to report these stories accurately, please understand that much of the information has come from memory, recollection and hand-written notes. These booklets have been written to capture the ‘spirit’ of the village rather than to catalogue a series of facts, flames, names and dates. We do hope that you enjoy reading them.

Stephen Ferneyhough, Editor

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

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