Category: Meetings 2010-2016

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.

 

The Society was treated to a fascinating lecture by Alison Hobson and Sue Middleton on the origin of Fairford place names in their presentation “In ffaireforde aforesaid”. The product of months of research in Gloucestershire Archives and elsewhere, Alison and Sue explained the origins of many of the familiar (and, in some cases, lost and forgotten) place names in and around Fairford, some of which date back to medieval times. Using original documents and maps unearthed during their in-depth study, they showed how names have changed over the years but the basic topography of Fairford has remained remarkably stable; even some medieval field boundaries can still be found in situ today. A new occasional paper (No. 11 Fairford Street Names) which records the origins of all of Fairford’s streets has been produced to accompany the lecture.

Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork gave a fascinating talk to a packed audience on the connections that the Cotswold district has had with aviation starting with the very early days of ballooning in the 1780s up to the testing of Concorde in the 1970s. He spoke about Royal Flying Corps airfields of the First World War, such as Rendomb and Leighterton, and the Royal Air Force airfields of the Second World War, such as Broadwell and Fairford. He also mentioned the county’s connection with the aviation industry, especially the ‘local’ firm of Gloster which made Britain’s first jet aircraft among many other types. The speaker focussed very much on the human side of aeronautical history as he spoke about some of the famous and less well known individuals who have played a part in the Cotswold’s aviation heritage.

To mark the 50th anniversary since the closure of the Fairford Branch Railway, to a packed audience Colin Moulden gave an extremely interesting and informative presentation of the route of the Fairford Branch Railway in its 100 years of existence until its closure. Colin showed views of the railway how it was then and what is there now. The talk satisfied both the local Fairford historians and the Railway buffs. You can find out more information about Fairford Branch Railway website.

Colin has also written a booklet to commemorate the 50th anniversary which is available from Fairford History Society.

Hugh Brewster from Toronto, who has recently a published a new book about the first class passengers on the Titanic ‘Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage’, came to Fairford especially to talk to members about Fairford’’s connection with the Titanic, the Countess of Rothes. She lived at Fayre Court, Fairford for a time and there is a memorial to her in St Mary’s Church. Hugh had been speaking at the Broadway Festival on Francis D Millet, the painter of Carnation Lily, Lily, Rose who painted the work in Broadway, Worcestershire. He has also written a charming children’s book entitled Carnation Lily, Lily, Rose which has references to our own Edwin Abbey, the artist who lived at Morgan Hall, Fairford. Francis Millet also died on the Titanic. Hugh gave the audience a riveting, well illustrated talk about his longstanding connection with the Titanic. As a publisher he was involved with Dr Robert Ballard in the discovery of the location of the wreckage on the ocean floor and published a book on the subject. He sold his publishing house to become a full time writer but it seemed he was always drawn back to the topic of the Titanic. He wrote a book in connection with the blockbuster film which came out and in 1997 and to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking in April 2012, he produced his latest book. He has delved in the greatest depth about the social lives of this elite Edwardian set of first class passengers and their interactions which each other.

The talk reviewed the Titanic’s fatal voyage and the subsequent rescue of the survivors. It was a highly entertaining and informative talk and we are grateful to Hugh for taking time from his busy schedule to visit Fairford and talking to FHS.

He finished most poignantly with an image of a pair of shoes lying on the mud at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean indicating the position that a body must have lain until consumed by ocean organisms – reminding us what a terrible disaster it was.

June 14th 2012 at 7.30pm Fairford Community Centre

Hugh Brewster is the author of the recently published book ‘Gilded lives, fatal voyage: the Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and Their World’ and will specifically mention Fairford’s connection with the ship, the Countess of Rothes. Canadian, Hugh will have come straight from the Broadway Festival where is giving a lecture on Francis Millet, the artist who died on the Titanic.

Tickets Price £5 (Members £3). Books will be available for sale and signing.

For further details please contact Alison Hobson 01285 711768 email: enquiry@fairfordhistory.org.uk.