The Story of Heyford: Lost Street Names V4C2

Census Returns

There has been a census return once every ten years from 1841 onwards. The only exception was in 1941 because of war time. The details of these census’ are made available to the public when they are 100 years old. Therefore it is currently possible to look up the details for Heyford in 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891. They are held in the Public Record Office at Wootton Park.

Details from the Bryants map of 1837

NetherHeyford_BryantsMap_1837

Census returns are wonderful documents because they list the names of every occupant in the village, giving details of their ages, their occupations, where they were born, and their relationship to the head of the household (eg wife, son, servant, etc). The returns for Heyford during the second half of the nineteenth century show an abundance of agricultural labourers, brickworkers and furnace workers. They show a whole variety of crafts and trades people such as lacemakers, laundresses, beer sellers, coal merchants. bakers etc, and also those employed in domestic service at the Manor House and Rectory.

The census returns also state the address of the householder, but most of the returns for Heyford for this period give only very general descriptions such as “Heyford Village” or “The Green”. However the Census return of 1871 gives very detailed street names, many of which no longer exist. The following paragraphs takes us through the returns in the order in which they are listed. This may or may not be the same order as the route followed by the enumerator, but if we assume that it is, we can speculate about where these lost street names may have been located.

Brook Farm

NetherHeyford_BrookFarm

Watery Lane

The first four households listed by the enumerator were in Back Lane. Church Lane was at one time called Back Lane, but could the Back Lane listed here have been what is now Watery Lane? The next entries in the returns are Heyford Cottage, occupied by John Smith and Farm House occupied by George Tarry, farmer of 60 acres. Was this one of the former farm houses in Watery Lane? Perhaps Brook Farm?

Middle Street

The enumerator then seems to move through to what we now know as Middle Street because the next five entries are: the School House in Middle Lane, occupied by Thomas Stanton, schoolmaster, the Olde Sun Inn occupied by George Attwood, tailor and innkeeper; and three other houses in Middle Street. From here, he seems to have walked alongside the Green, where there were then no houses, to the Foresters Arms.

Heyford Cottage prior to 1880

NetherHeyford_HeyfordCottage1880

A view of the school site and farmhouse prior to 1880

NetherHeyford_Farmhouse&SchoolSite1880

Church Street

There are then many entries listed in the area that we now know as Church Street. This was obviously the heart of the village as there are eighty households listed in this area. It can only be speculation, but the journey seems to go right down to the Manor House, then on to the Church and Rectory, and all the way back up to the Green. The entries are as follows: The Foresters Arms, occupied by John Wright; the Primitive Methodist Chapel, the sub Post Office, occupied by William Treadwell, bricklayer, and his wife Millicent; seven houses in Billing’s Yard; seven houses in Front Street; the Manor House; ten more houses in Front Street; eleven houses in Masters Row; one house in Church Street; the Rectory; the Church; 15 more houses in Church Street, including Edward Capel, butcher; 2 houses in Robinsons Yard; one more house in Church Street; one more in Front Street; six in School House Lane; and finally seventeen in Grocers Row.

An old stone house on the site of what is now 5 Manor Walk

NetherHeyford_ManorWalk

The Green

The journey then seems to take us around round the Green. The entries are as follows: twenty-eight households listed as The Green; then Farmhouse, occupied by Thomas Starmer, farmer of 213 acres; thirteen houses in The Barracks; and four at Crabtree Corner. Where exactly were these places?

Weedon Road

Next he goes out along the Weedon Road towards Stowe Hill: two houses in Stowe Hill Lane; one called Primrose Cottage; one called Field House; two at a place called Pincham; then High House, occupied by William Thompson, boatbuilder; two at Flore Lane, both coal merchants; six at Stowe Hill; the Globe Inn, since renamed the Narrowboat; four at Stowe Hill Yard; the Anchor Inn, possibly the building across the A5 from the Narrowboat; and two more houses in Weedon Road. The enumerator seems to have walked along the A5, taking in one house at Tanborough and two at Aldermans Hill before turning back into the village down Furnace Lane.

Furnace Lane

Finally we come back into the village down Furnace Lane. There are four houses in Furnace Road, one at Heyford Wharf, one referred to as the Bricklayers Arms, occupied by John Dunkley, beer seller; and five in Wrights Yard, including George Payne, furnace keeper. Here, the enumerators journey ends.

Stephen Ferneyhough

Two views of the shop and post office as they appeared before the war

This photo lent by Judy Armitage, shows the newsagents and the group of cottages behind since demolished.

NetherHeyford_Shop_OldPostOffice_PreWar

This view shows the old Post Office, demolished in 1950s, Photo also lent by Judy Armitage

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

Volume 4 of 4 | Chapter 2 of 8 | Pages 7 to 11

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: When We Were Young (Village Lads) V4C8

Many people in the village today remember their childhood days of the 1950’s ‘60’s. The words below record some of the memories of Ken Garrett.

The School
When we were young, Heyford School had a uniform. The blazers had a school badge on the top pocket. It was a blazing torch motif as seen on the road signs for schools.

Sports days were held, as they are now, on the village green, but we also sent representatives to a county sports day which was held at the sports ﬁeld of Daventry Grammar School. Swimming lessons were also on the agenda and this meant an afternoon out on a Yorks coach to the Midsummer Meadow swimming baths, which sadly disappeared a long time ago, although the water was never that warm. A lot of people owe their swimming prowess to those days.

The headmaster at that time was Mr Woods who was quite strict, and if he found any of his class out on the streets after a certain time he would send them home saying that they needed to be at their best to do justice to their lessons the next day.

Gardening was also part of the school day and the school gardens were found in different places, ﬁrstly on the Bugbrooke Road, then in the jitty near to the new school house, and then in the garden behind the school itself.

The Fair
When we were young the fair always set up at the Furnace Lane end of the village green for Heyford Feast. The green was, to say the least, uneven at that time. It was levelled at the time the motorway was built. The dodgems were the main attraction, together with the octopus ride which was added later. The dodgem track had to be set up using large heavy wooden boxes in order that the track was level, and a series of steps up to the track side were to be found at one side. Because of this levelling process there was a big gap under one side of the track which gave us a great hiding place for our games of hide and seek or to read our comics, or dare I say it, to smoke our Woodbine cigarette which could be won on the penny slot machines.

The stallholders would often give out vouchers for free rides on the dodgems in exchange for us fetching water for them. This we did in churns similar to milk churns which were heavy, especially when filled with water obtained from the tap at the bottom of Furnace Lane. The stand where it situated is still there. And it tested our ingenuity to the limit – our home-built ‘go-carts’ were the normal solution. The landlord of the Foresters Arms, Tommy Rolfe, was also known to hand out vouchers although what the reason was, I cannot remember.

When the fair had been dismantled and moved on we would always search the ground where the various stalls had been in case there was the odd stray penny.

Fox and hounds, swimming, and scrumping
When we were young we played ‘fox and hounds’ in the evenings. This usually entailed two or three ‘foxes’ setting off to be chased after a suitable wait by the rest of the group. The boundaries for this pastime were normally the brickyard in Furnace Lane, the river on the other side of the village, ‘Lover Lane’ bridge on the Bugbrooke Road, and the canal bridge on the Weedon Road. Games like this would last for most of the evening and it was not unheard of to run across the river with water up to the knees in order to avoid capture.

We also swam in the river on warm summer days, either by the old Coach Bridge below the manor, or in what we knew as ‘the baths’ situated between the road bridge and Heygates. We did swim in the canal as well. Was it really cleaner that it is now? And this we did at White Bridge, or at Sandbanks which were to be found along the Weedon Road stretch between Swingbridge House and the road bridge.

After swimming and in season we were known to go scrumping in Bens Orchard, and if we weren’t caught we would climb the hay bales in the dutch barn that stood in the orchard and eat our ﬁll. If discovered it was every man for himself!

OH HAPPY DAYS!

Ken Garrett

The village lads

NetherHeyford_VillageLads_1950s

This photograph, taken in the early 1950’s, shows some of the village lads, including Tony Nickolls, Colin Haynes, Barry Nickolls and Brian Clements.

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

Volume 4 of 4 | Chapter 8 of 8 | Page 31 & 32

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Life at Heyford Mill V3C8

I was one of a family of three who moved into the mill house in November 1954. My mother had been a housekeeper at East Haddon where she lived in a tied cottage with my sister and myself. Due to ill health she had to give up her job, and of course the cottage. We met some friends of ours, Betty and Bert, who lived in the mill house. They put us up, but when we had been there some weeks they moved with Bert’s job on the railway, so we took over the tenancy of the mill house.

Primitive

It was very primitive to say the least, but at last we were in rented accommodation again. For the £1 per week rent we had a unique dwelling. Having no electricity, mains water, or gas, we used oil lamps and candles for light, and a large black range to cook on, for which we had to collect wood from around the fields. The coalmen Guy and Bob West couldn’t deliver coal to the door because the track was so pot-holed. They thought it would break the axle of their truck, so they left the coal at the second field gate.

In the kitchen we had an earthenware sink. Above it was a pump which you had to ‘prime’ to get the water up from the spring below. To prime it you had to turn the metal pipe (which swivelled) upside down, pour a pint of water down, and then pull a handle, much like a beer pump, and so get your water. The wash-house was a shed opposite the kitchen across the yard. It had a large metal copper which was mounted on bricks, with a space to light a fire beneath it, and so heat the water.

But the greatest delight was the loo! It was in a shed at the far end of the house. It had a wooden seat with a bucket below, which when full had to be emptied and the contents buried in the garden! Home produced manure! When you went after dark you had to go armed with various items — a candle in a jam jar to light your way, and a thick stick and a bucket to bang on to frighten the rats out of the building before you went in! But for all that it was a most happy place to live.

Flooding

We had to go across the fields to get the shopping from Mrs Courts shop, and we bought paraffin, candles and stamps from Mrs Blaney’s store. That was when the weather was fine. When it rained the house did get ﬂooded in the hallway and the main room, but the kitchen was above water level so that wasn’t too bad. When the weather was bad we had to paddle through the mud to the large dutch barn, then past two fields to the top gate (change from wellies to shoes). Then we walked along the main road to Upper Heyford and down the lane to Nether Heyford (Lower Heyford in those days). Sometimes the lane was ﬂooded near Crow Lane so we had to paddle through freezing water.

I married from the mill in 1955 and had my eldest daughter in April 1956. The ambulance taking me to the Barratt got bogged down in mud, but managed to get me to town in time for the birth. Then in September 1956 we were given a council house in Hillside Crescent with all mod cons.

It was a hard life at the mill, but at the same time an experience that my sister and I are pleased to have shared. We were the last people to live there and it is so sad to see the dreadful state it is in now.

Wendy Blackmore

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

Volume 3 of 4 | Chapter 8 of 17 | Page 17

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Heyford Mill V3C7

The Domesday Survey of 1086 includes a record of ‘Haiford with one mill rendering 16s.’ There has presumably always been a mill on this site since those days. The mill buildings are marked (though un-named) on Eyre’s/]effrey’s map of 1771. Bryant’s map of 1827 marks them simply as ‘mill’, but the one inch OS map of 1835 shows it speciﬁcally as ‘Heyford Mill’. There were a number of mills along this stretch of the river Nene – at Dodford, Flore, Heyford, Bugbrooke, Harpole, Kislingbury, and Upton. Sadly though, like most of the others, Heyford Mill has fallen into disuse.

The current buildings, though now derelict, consist of a millhouse, a cottage, and several barns and outbuildings. The building at right angles to the mill stream appears to be the oldest one on site and it is thought to have had an undershot waterwheel. The building on the south side of the stream is considered the most recent, and had an overshot waterwheel. There is a plague built into the front wall of the mill which states: ‘].D. — erected 1821, restored 1881’. The lower part of the buildings are of stone and probably form the original part built in 1821. The upper part which is of brick was probably added
during the 1881 restoration.

The mill in the early 1900s

NetheryHeyford_Mill_1900

This photograph, lent by David Banner, shows the mill buildings as they appeared in the early 1900s. The building on the left is the new mill with an overshot wheel. In the apex above the window is the plaque referred to in the paragraph above. The building on the other side of the bridge is the old mill with an undershot wheel. The slightly taller building in the centre is the mill house, and to its right is the stable block.

The Cosford family

From the late 1700s until the early 1900s the mill was run by the Cosford family. The militia lists of 1777 and 1798 for Upper Heyford both refer to ‘Thomas Cosford, miller, with one water mill capable of grinding 20 quarters per week’. The census returns for 1841 and 1851 show the occupants of the mill as being George Cosford, born around 1804. Also living there were his wife Sarah, their twelve children, and three servants. George Cosford died in 1867. The census return of 1871 shows the occupier as George’s son Edwin George. He was born in 1845. The Kelly’s directories of 1885 and 1914 both list ‘Edwin George Cosford of Upper Heyford’ as ‘miller using water power only’. Edwin’s son, Arthur Thomas, ran the mill with him.

The Banner family

During the ﬁrst world war, John Banner came to work for Edwin and Arthur Cosford as their miller. He later took over the rent of the mill and continued to run it with his son John. The Banner family continued to run the mill until it eventually closed in the 1960s. Around 1915 John Banner bought a bakehouse in Weedon where his other son James did the baking. They ground the grain at the mill and mixed it with other grades of ﬂour to make bread. James’ wife became known as ‘the bakers lady’ because she took the bread by cart to the villages.

After a lifetime of working in a dusty environment, John Banner developed ‘millers asthma’ and he eventually died in 1933 at the age of 63. His wife continued to live at the cottage until she died in 1943. She was the last member of the family to occupy the cottage.

Around this time, James and John bought the mill (it was originally only rented) and continued trading under the name of Banner Brothers. In addition to growing and grinding their own grain, they provided a milling service to other local farmers. Some of the farmers who came were Charlie North from Upper Heyford, and Billy Whitton, Reg Collins, and Oliver Adams from Lower Heyford. The route from Lower Heyford was along Church Street, through the Manor yard, across North field, and over Coach Bridge. This route from Lower Heyford to the mill is clearly marked on the 1834 ordnance survey map as a track, but on the modern map is shown only as a footpath.

Coach Bridge

Coach bridge was an ancient stone bridge, just wide enough to take a horse and cart across the river. However it had fallen into poor repair and was eventually dismantled in the early 1960s. Now it has been replaced by a simple concrete foot bridge behind Manor Park.

Bob Browning (1892-1997) recalled Coach Bridge with the following words which he wrote for the Prattler several years ago: ‘Take a walk down Church Street, straight on past the Manor House, across the ﬁrst meadow (I think it is called Manor Park now), and you will find a most unusually built bridge. The two sides are stone built, perpendicular, and it has a ﬂat top and very stout girders of oak with oak railings. This bridge must be centuries old and possibly was built during the Danish occupation as ‘Hei’ and ‘Forde’ are Danish words. ls this the place from which the village was first called Heiforde?’

Working life at the mill

From 1954 until 1960, the mill continued to be run by James’ sons Jim and Anslem. Jim, who provided much of the information for this article, described to me how the mill worked. The wheat or barley would arrive by horse and cart. It was carried to the top of the mill by a series of chains driven by the mill wheel, and tipped into the garners. It then ran via a spout down to the stones for grinding, and out into the tubs for the farmers to take away.

The wheel was almost certainly the one that had been there since the restoration of 1881. The cogs were made of applewood, and when they wore out, they were replaced by new ones made by a wheelwright called Les Phillips in Flore. The stones, which were of Derbyshire granite, each weighed more than a ton, and would last around twenty to thirty years. The bottom stone remained stationary, and the top one rotated. Both had grooves carved into them to allow the grain to ﬂow. Jim and Anslem both learned the trade of ‘dressing the stones’, that is carving or ‘pecking’ the grooves in such a way as
to ensure that the grain ﬂowed evenly.

The mill as it appeared in 1976

The photograph above is from a painting owned by Jim Banner. It was painted in 1976 by Harry Frost and shows the appearance of the buildings before they became derelict.

The closure

When the mill was working, the building shook with vibration. This eventually caused it to become potentially dangerous and too expensive to repair. This, together with the development of modern electrically-driven mills such as Heygates at Bugbrooke, made it necessary in 1960 for Jim and Anslem ﬁnally to close the mill. It was the last of the mills along this stretch of the Nene to close, and therefore marked the end of an era.

They applied for planning permission to convert the buildings into living accommodation, but it was refused because the area is in a ﬂood plain. When the river rises it occasionally breaks its banks, and it is not uncommon for the ground ﬂoor to become flooded with several inches of water. This really made it impractical to do anything with the buildings. Until the 1970s they were in reasonably good repair, but the damage created by vandals, together with the effects of the wind and rain, have caused them gradually to become derelict.

Stephen Ferneyhough

The Mill in 2020

TheStoryofHeyford-HeyfordMill2020_2

Photo by Tactico Photography:
www.tactico-photography.co.uk
www.houzz.co.uk

Jez Wilson

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

Volume 3 of 4 | Chapter 7 of 17 | Pages 14 to 16

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: Three Wise Men V3C16

Pictured here around 1950 are Wakeﬁeld Whitton, William Denny , and Bernard Kingston. Mr Whitton owned Brook Farm before it was demolished and replaced by the modern houses in Watery Lane and Brookside. Wakeﬁeld Way was named after him.

William Denny was of the family of builders. He built the council houses in Furnace Lane. Bernard Kingston as one of the bell ringers. All three were school governors, and they are seen here on the village green judging at one of the school events .

NetherHeyford_ThreeWiseMen_1950

Photo lent by Dorothy (nee Denny) and Bill Kingston

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

Volume 3 of 4 | Chapter 16 of 17 | Page 30

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The Canal Burst of 1939 V3C15

In October 1939, prolonged and heavy rainfall brought the canal level up dangerously high. A break of sixteen feet wide occurred on the Weedon bank, releasing 300 million gallons of water into an already swollen River Nene. The entire Nene valley became ﬂooded and water levels rose into the villages. There has been periodic flooding in the village from time to time, eased to some extent by the culvert inserted in the mid 1980’s. But the recent flooding during the Easter of 1998 showed us again the damage that can he done. On each occasion it was Church Street that bore the brunt of the disaster as is illustrated in these photographs, all taken in 1939.

Watery Lane

NetherHeyford_WateryLane_1939

Church Street / Manor Walk

NetherHeyford_ChurchStreet_ManorWalk_1939

Heyford Antiques (formerly Tops of Heyford)

NetherHeyford_ChurchStreet_1939

The Jubilee Hall

NetherHeyford_JubileeHall_1939

A view from the top of Church Street

NetherHeyford_ChurchStreet_2_1939

Extra photograph added 2020

NetherHeyfordCanalBurst

Bob Smith January 2020

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

Volume 3 of 4 | Chapter 15 of 17 | Pages 28 & 29

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The Ancient Order of Foresters V3C11

NetherHeyford_ForestersArms_1900

The Ancient Order of Foresters was a co-operative society. This photograph shows their gala day in 1900-1901. Could there have been any link between this and the naming of The Foresters Arms?

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

Volume 3 of 4 | Chapter 11 of 17 | Page 24

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The Tops V3C1

The photograph below was taken in the 1930’s. On the left is the Foresters Arms. There were then no houses between here and the Denny’s house on the corner of Middle Street. In this photograph the view is clear right across the field to Middle Street.

This land was then part of the Manor grounds and was grazed by hunters owned by the occupant of the Manor House. The horses used to stand there, looking over the fence at the passers-by. Note the old Elm trees at the edge of the field.

The road between this field and the Green was known then as “The Tops” because the children would use the flat area for spinning their tops. The houses which were built alongside the road here by Mr Denny in the 1930’s are sometimes referred to by local people as “the front row”.

The Tops

NetherHeyford_Tops_1930

Photo lent by Judy Armitage

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

Volume 3 of 4 | Chapter 1 of 17 | Page 2

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The Village Lads in the 1920’s V2C10

NetherHeyford_VillageLads_1920s

This photograph, lent by the Clements family, was taken early 1920’s. It includes Charlie Clements (back,left) and Arthur Parish (front, second from left)

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

Volume 2 of 4 | Chapter 10 of 11 | Page 25

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

The Story of Heyford: The Bricklayers Arms V2C9

Although we can’t be sure exactly when the house was built, the deeds date back to 1827. The earliest reference we have found to the name ‘Bricklayers Arms’ is in the census return of 1871. This shows that it was occupied at that time by John Dunkley. He was aged twenty-nine and his occupation was shown as beer seller and ironworks labourer. The Census returns of 1881 and 1891 both refer to John Dunkley, beer seller, although neither specifically mention the name ‘Bricklayers Arms’.

The earliest recorded memory of the pub was from Bob Browning (1892-1997). Bob recalled that it was run in the early 1900s by Tom Dunkley. He told me that Tom Dunkley was the son of William Dunkley who ran ‘The Boat’ opposite. Tom Dunkley apparently died by drowning in the canal.

The Bricklayers Arms in the 1930s

The Bricklayers Arms stood in Furnace Lane beside the canal. Like many buildings alongside the canal it had two floors at the front and three at the back. The building still exists as a private dwelling and is called Bridge Cottage. When it was modernised it was completely gutted and is now hardly recognisable as the same building because it had its top floor removed.

A small pub for local needs

Between the wars the pub was run by George Faulkner who continued to run it until the late 1930s. In the photo you can see the board above the door with the words:

NetherHeyford_BricklayersArms_GeorgeFaulkner

George Faulkner was grandfather to Ada Smith and Charlie Masters. Charlie remembers the pub from when it was in use. As with many buildings alongside the canal, it had two stories at the front and three at the back. The bar or tap room had bare Wooden boards with two or three tables and a handful of chairs. One of the tables was marked out for shove-halfpenny. There was no bar as such. When you wanted a beer the landlord had to go down the narrow steps to the cellar and fetch it in a jug directly from the barrel. The beer barrels were delivered by motor lorry and came from Phipps brewery in Northampton.

The pub had no water, but there was a tap at the railway cottages just down the road from where water could be fetched by bucket. There was no real toilet, just a little shelter with a drain, but no door. There was however a traditional oven heated by faggots. Some of the local people brought their Sunday roasts and Yorkshire puddings to be cooked in it.

Fishing Expedition around 1928

The man on the far right is George Faulkner.
The small boy beside him is his grandson Charlie Masters who lent this photograph.

Brickworkers, and ﬁshing trips

At that time the pub catered mainly for the brickyard workers. The brickyard with its coal-ﬁred kilns was warm work and so the pub was often opened for a short time at around 6.30 in the morning for the workers to buy beer to take to work. They would also go there at lunchtime and after work to quench their thirsts. Bill Nickolls who worked at the brickworks recalls that the beer was 4d per pint and that they sometimes played skittles. There was also fun in the evenings. Charlie remembers how Bill Nickolls’ mother used to carry a gramophone up to the pub to play music on Saturday nights.

Sometimes during the summer months a group of people from St James End in Northampton came by bus for a day’s ﬁshing on the canal. The men would ﬁsh while the women sat on the grass and chatted. They brought picnics and drank beer from the pub. There was a piano which would be man- handled out of the building so that they could have a sing-song in the sunshine. The photograph here shows the group from one of these trips. On the far left is George Faulkner, and the small boy beside him is his grandson Charlie Masters who provided much of the information in this article.

Hay barn, stables, weddings and coal

To the left of the main building was a hay barn. Underneath this at the back of the house was stabling for six or eight horses. The horses were stabled overnight by the boat people for which George Faulkner charged about 6d. In the hay barn above were three holes at either end through which the hay could be dropped through to the horses below. Sometimes the hay was cleared out and the barn was used as a function room. Charlie’s sister Ada and John Smith had their wedding reception in this room. To the left of the barn was a wall which was built of clinker from the Furnaces. This wall is still there.

George Faulkner also ran a coal business. The coal came by railway to Weedon and then on the siding in the brickyard. He stored the coal beside the pub in the yard where Tarrys now operate and delivered it around the village by horse and cart. There was a small weighbridge, just large enough for a small cart which was used to weigh the coal, and sometimes also sand which came from a sandpit in a field behind the yard.

Little Tommy

One of the visitors to the Bricklayers Arms was Little Tommy (Harris?). He was a shoemaker. If you wanted some shoes or boots he took all the measurements and two or three weeks later he returned with the finished article. He sometimes came to the village on Sundays. He took the bus from Northampton to Weedon and did some business there. He then walked along the A5 to the Bricklayers Arms where he bought eggs from Mrs Faulkner. He wrapped them up individually in paper and put them in his gladstone bag. On one occasion he dropped one on the ground and it broke. He asked Mrs Faulkner for a spoon and ate it from the ground so as not to waste it. He then walked on into the village and did some business there before taking the last bus back to Northampton.

The sale of the pub

Since the opening of the two furnaces in the 1860s the Furnace Lane area had been a hive of industry. Both the furnaces and the Brickworks were hot, thirsty work and the pub had for many years serviced the needs of the workers. There was also during this period much canal traffic. However by the time the Brickworks closed in the late 1930s there was little work left in that part of the village. So after sixty years or more the pub ﬁnally closed. Phipps offered to sell the house and land to George Faulkner for £100 but he didn’t take up the offer because he couldn’t afford it. And in any case it was time for him to retire.

Conversion to coal business

In 1950 Phipps Brewery sold the house to Fred Tarry. Fred Tarry, who lived in Bugbrooke, had returned from the First World War, but couldn’t find employment, so in 1922 he set up a coal business in his home village of Bugbrooke. George Faulkner had already run a small coal business from the Bricklayers Arms, so when Phipps sold the building in 1950 it gave Fred Tarry a chance to expand his business to Heyford.

In 1980 the house, which is now called Bridge Cottage, was converted to its present structure. It had originally had two roofs which met in a gulley in the centre. It was almost as though the back half had been added later because the brickwork of the front and back halves was not bonded together. The supporting wall between the two halves was damp from where the gulley couldn’t cope with the volume of water in heavy rainfall. So in 1979/ 80 some serious repair work had to take place. The house was totally gutted, with only the four outside walls left standing. The top storey was removed, a new roof was built, and the cellars below, which had been almost windowless (like the black hole of Calcutta) were converted to living accommodation.

Even today the coal business continues to be run from this house by Frank Higginbottom, his wife Thelma (Fred Tarry’s daughter) and their son Richard.

Stephen Ferneyhough

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

Volume 2 of 4 | Chapter 9 of 11 | Pages 22 to 25

Heyford’s Historical Heritage | How the books were created

Index | Covers

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: