Author: Alison Hobson

At our October meeting Carolyn Heighway gave us a vivid and authoritative account of Gloucestershire from the end of Roman rule to the coming of the Normans. It is a long period, over 600 years, and only thinly documented through at least the first half of that time. We rely on Gildas as one of the few voices from what we used to call ‘the Dark Ages’ and Bede who was much later and also quite partisan.
She drew our attention to the high quality of artefacts, notably from the recently discovered Staffordshire hoard, that show a skill and sophistication that contrasts with our picture of Anglo-Saxons as being rather primitive. A local example would be the finds from the cemetery at Butler’s Field, Lechlade which are well displayed at the Corinium Museum.
She also looked at civil organisation using the system of ‘Hundreds’ and religious organisation through minsters. By the end of the Anglo-Saxon period the parish system had been generally established with each parish having its own church.
The talk illustrated well the importance of archaeology in filling out our knowledge of a period in which the written word only gradually came into prominence.

Our September lecture was a double header, both halves delivered by Chris Hobson. In the first part of the evening we looked at Fairford Park, the fine house built by Valentine Strong in the mid 17^th century. We were given the context of who had been lords of the manor and how the office came into the hands of Andrew Barker. We also had the valuable context of other buildings by the same architect. Fairford Park evolved with time with notable changes made by Sir John Soane. The last part of the talk was the sorry tale of the demolition of the great house. Like other fine houses that disappeared in the 1950s a combination of war-time damage, economic change, the limits on National Trust funding all contributed to decisions owners had to make on the survival of their property. There were some vivid photographs of the dismantling and destruction of Fairford Park. But there were also illustration of the survival of some items from the estate such as the orangery now to be found in Yorkshire.

After a pause for coffee and chat we reassembled for a session on the Tame family. Chris has been working on a book about the Tames. In the course of his remarkably thorough researches he has uncovered many new facts. Most notably the phrase in Leland asserting the Tames came out of the house of Stowell was shown to be a confusion and that John Tame’s forbears had actually lived in Fairford. Most helpfully Chris had been able to frame a family tree of the Tames. We were given a portrait of an upwardly mobile family living against the background of Tudor England with all its glories and uncertainties. Clearly the Tames made themselves useful to the powerful men of the period, having enough money to lend to the mighty and reap the rewards. We intend to publish the results of Chris’s labours.

After the short business meeting when the Chair, Geoff Hawkes reported that the Society is in good health financially and has over 140 members. Maurice Jones has resigned from the Committee and Gill Peachey and Sue Middleton were welcomed as additional new members. He thanked all who had helped FHS during the year.

John Higgs then showed a selection of early picture postcards. In Great Britain the first post card (pre-stamped) appeared about 1870. The divided back postcard was issued in 1902.

John explained that although postcards can be a useful local history resource, pictures are not always what they seem and the postcard makers were not always truthful. A splendid ‘real photograph’ (obviously an impossibility) of a Zeppelin being shot down highlighted by searchlights with surrounding explosions was variously captioned as being over the North Sea and over south east England. They had a supply of picturesque clouds to insert over a plain sky. The same oarsman appeared superimposed on different views of the River Lea. Many picture postcards were issued showing aspects of World War 1, most looked extremely posed

However, the practice of making personal photographs into postcards is of great benefit to the local historian. Pictures of large houses, long since disappeared, their servants, views of cities and villages, streets, buildings, rivers etc. are all very informative, but the local historian must be aware that photographs were sometimes not always what they seemed.

 

 

There is much more to making sense of footpaths than first appears to be the case. Alan Pilbeam took us through lots of aspects in his talk to the May meeting. For instance he encouraged us to look for paths to the local mill. In medieval times it was compulsory to use the local mill which was under the control of the lord of the manor. Quern stones were a very expensive investment so the lord of the manor and his miller ensured the business got a good return on their investment by not allowing private mills. So a path to the mill from surrounding farms is one to look for.

Similarly in Anglo-Saxon times the church was organised into scattered minsters perhaps 10 or miles apart with a group of clergy who travelled out to settlements spreading the word. As the landscape filled out with more churches and the parish system was established so the minster pattern faded. It is still possible to detect traces in the landscape. Other paths have quite a recent history. Alan Pilbeam gave examples from the Forest of Dean where people had to walk long distances to their workplace because they were not allowed to live on crown land and so settled on the edge of the forest. This was one of those talks where you felt the need to go to your Ordnance Survey maps afterwards and examine the network of local paths and pick out features like deserted villages.

It is has been difficult to distinguish the various phases of building, in part due to the Victorians making it a tourist attraction. It is also unknown who lived there but Cirencester was the second city in the country and there are several large villas within striking distance of the town. The surviving mosaics in the triclinium are considered to be of equal standard to those in found in Rome or Pompeii. They are also likely to have had beautiful frescoes painted on the walls. This was the room where the Romans liked to to dine in style.

When a geophysical survey was carried out on the farm land just beyond the villa, it was discovered that the north and south range extended by a further 20 metres beyond the present villa. There is a lot still to be discovered and some more excavation will be done this summer.

About ten FHS members took part in a follow-up visit to Chedworth Roman Villa on May 9th. Nick Humphris acted as our personal guide on an inclement afternoon. It was very interesting to see new range of buildings, and wonderful to see mosaics that had not been exposed for hundreds of years. We are all looking forward to a return visit in August to see the archaeological excavation.

 

Over 40 members attended the ‘Come and Meet Mr Therm’ meeting. John Lang, a former employee of British Gas showed some very nostalgic footage of the ‘Mr Therm’ advertising campaign. Surprisingly it started in the 1930s, Mr Therm went through various incarnations in green, red and white. The film showed the changes as gas appliances became part of the home. Having hot water on tap was a major improvement for the 1950s house wife. Examples of a gas iron, a gas television and a gas hair dryer were shown.

With the advent of gas from the North Sea, British Gas undertook to convert all appliances in every household – what an undertaking! And some real horror stories were revealed – like a teapot affixed to the end of outlet pipe of a gas fire with a tube attached to the spout which vented out of window. John then took us through the subsequent privatisation of British Gas. Lastly he explained how gas was made at our own Fairford Gas Works. FHS, with the help of research by the U3A Industrial Heritage Group, have issued a publication about the Gas Works.

 

Edwin Cuss gave his customary excellent presentation of postcards and photographs to an audience of about 60 members. He first showed us pictures of the sites which no longer exist – the Salvation Army Chapel by the Marlborough Arms, the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Milton Place (closed 1925) and the Ebenezer Chapel in Coronation Street (closed 1919). The latter two continued in use as secular meeting places until the mid 20th century.

The Congregational Chapel in the Croft also closed in 1919 and was used for other purposes (including the Home Guard and school dinners) until it was demolished in 1965.

 

Foundation Stone 

Pictures were shown of the old and new Chapel at the RAF base and at the site of the Polish Hostel in Fairford Park which had also been the US Army Chapel when it was the Military Hospital during the war.

He gave us details of the complicated history of the Chapel in Milton Street and of St Thomas of Canterbury RC Church in Horcott which was more straightforward. He finished with some pictures of St Mary’s Church, one of which was his most treasured rare postcard of the windows boarded up during World War II.

After coffee about twenty members set off to visit the sites of the old chapel then meet at St Thomas’s Church where there was a guide to help answer questions and the Milton Street Chapel was also open for us to view the interior.

We then returned to the centre of town to visit the site of the Congregational Chapel in a member’s garden, this was really interesting as we could compare it with what we had seen in Edwin’s pictures.

Thanks to Edwin Cuss for yet another very interesting and informative presentation and to St Thomas’s and the Chapel for permission to visit.