Wimblington and Stonea Past and Present

September 2006 by Margaret R.Dunham

The village of Wimblington, to the west of the A141. whose name means "the farm of Winebealds people" lies between Doddington and March.  The  Wimblington and Stonea village sign designed and carved by Len Hopkins, was unveiled on 5th June 1982 to commemorate the Royal Wedding and stands on a small green opposite the junctions of Addison Road, Norfolk Street and Church Street.

Our double sided sign symbolises the history of the village.  The Heron, a native of the Fens, symbolises original marsh dwellers, a keen eyed expert angler adapted to this watery environment.  The Shield portrays the network of Waterways, which provide the Islands of fertile pastures and crops which now flourish.

The "Black Oaks" frequently unearthed are reminders of constant need to conserve the reclaimed land.  like ghostly oaks history is always being unearthed.

The Roman Villa at Stonea Camp is one relic of an early invader repelled by nature.  The Norman overlords found little welcome here.  The Saxon hero, Hereward the Wake made use of the natural defences of the Fen.  Cromwell and his Ironsides made use of the natural fortifications during the Civil War.  Then came a more powerful invader in the shape of the Dutchman who laced the Fen with drains and dykes which not only gave birth to the thriving farm industry but provided ample sport with rod and line.

On the reverse of the sign are carved 3 columns, Ten Horse Brasses, Heraldry of the Country which tell the story of the village.  The Church and Chapel stand at opposite ends of the village, but are joined together in service of God and the community.

The School, founded in 1818 has tended the needs of generations.  The Historical pageant enacted by local children on the day that the sign was unveiled was a typical example of the Schools many extra tutorial activities where parents and teachers work closely together..  In bygone days sentinels in the shape of wind pumps kept watch on the land their electronic off spring maintain their unceasing vigil.  The Area is changing again, with new wind generators for power being built, all around us over the next 5 to 10 years we have nearly turned a full circle.  A perfect balance between land and water was achieved "Wash Lands" were created to absorb water and when dry they provided rich pasture for fine cattle.

The tilling of the soil and transport of produce was the domain of the "Heavy Horse" and locally bred Percheron and Shire.  These fine animals were in great demand as draught horses, for coal cart and Brewers dray - bottom middle. (Blacksmith).  Then came the "Iron Horse".  The village Railway Line and Station now lie buried beneath the motorway; it has joined the Roman Villa and the Oaks in history.  The horse and the train have been replaced by modern transport methods operated by contractors based in the village and the old thatched barns have stepped aside in the village for the sophisticated Grain dryer.  These horses kept the village Blacksmith busy at his forge and his skill is still evident in the wrought ironwork of the sign.

May 2005 by Margaret R. Dunham

When I started writing about "Wimblington Past and Present" and "Times Remembered" way back in 1997/8, I was concerned that many of Wimblington's old places and old "characters" would be forgotten in time and nothing would be recorded.  So I started to write.

Since that time there have been many changes in Wimblington, we won the Best Kept Village many times.  We have lost two shops and now we have just the Post Office shop left.  Then new houses and new people came to the village.

People wanted changes, new groups and new interests, and along with many other new groups, Wimblington and Stonea History Group was formed.  This group has proved to me that the History of Wimblington is well looked after, and will be documented just as it should be.  We have new technology to do this;  there are people in that group that are equally interested in the history of Wimblington, so I have decided that this will be my last publication.

Of course if you have a story, send it in.

April

I know it's a funny time of the year to be thinking about Christmas presents, but it was the sight of an old grey garment that made me think!

Toys were very hard to come by.  A china doll was what every little girl wanted, but because it was wartime, they were almost non-existent!  Sometimes, one would be handed down from an older family member, but a lot of toys were hand-made.

One Christmas my mum, who was good at making things, made my sister an elephant, from an old grey pair of trousers and its ears were lined with pink material.  It had eyes embroidered on, and the elephant became a well loved toy.  Many dolls were made of cotton material, with dresses, and petticoats all made on sewing machines or hand stitched or knitted by industrious fingers.  Some dolls were hand knitted with faces sown on afterwards, or embroidered on.  My aunt, who worked in a factory, in Cambridge during the war, sent us a doll made from old stockings, (washed first of course)  these had been filled with stuffing to make the head, arms, legs and body.  The hir was made from long pieces of yellow wool, and the clothes were made from pieces of cotton material, but the thing was, the legs and arms were extra long making it an unusual sort of doll, but we still loved it.

Orange boxes were made into dolls houses.  You had to be very lucky to have a relative with a dolls house, which you could play with very carefully.  We spent hours cutting out shapes from old cards, and sticking them into scrapbooks.  In the shops now I have seen specially cut out shapes for doing just that!  So in spite of having no T.V. and only "Dick Barton Special Agent" on the radio, to keep us happy, we never had the chance to get bored.

March:

Audrey Fountain has sent in the following information of the Girl Guide Company she belonged to, in Wimblington.  She says:  "To my knowledge the first Girl Guide Company in Wimblington was formed in 1937.  My two sisters and I had been asked if we would assist Miss Alice Jones (Captain) who was a School Teacher residing in Stonea to form a Company in the village, as we had been Guides before moving to the Fens.

The response from the girls in the village to join was outstanding, and they were all keen to learn the skills set out by the Guide Movement.

We occupied a hut next door to the Anchor pub for our weekly meetings, which was often quite cold in the winter months, no luxuries like central heating in those days.  Even in those far off days, we collected and stored newspapers for recycling in the early war years.  I have a photo of:- Mary Jones, Barbara Hudson, Joan Wild, Muriel Bradshaw, Audrey Bradshaw, Roma Hicks, Doris Hassock, Gwen Heaps, Joyce Lemmon, Enid Hills, Doris Bradshaw. Gwen Tibbles, Alice Jones (Captain)

February:

In the December/January issue of the Wimblington News, I recalled the Guides and Brownie Groups that we had in Wimblington.  I said I did not know of any Scout Groups in Wimblington, so I was delighted when three people had information of a Scout Group about the 1946 era.  Peter Redhead and Gerald Goddard both spoke of the group and Gerald even had a photo taken at Scout Camp at Cromer.

Then I had a telephone call from Cyril Parkinson.  He told me that Mr. Stowe the headmaster used to go to camp, with the Scouts, together with Rev. Dobson who was the group leader.  The Group also camped at Ely and Snettisham.  Another interesting fact Mr. Parkinson told me was that when the Group was wound up, the group's flag was "laid up" in the church, then, if a new scout Group was formed the Flag would be used again for that Group.

The following are the names of the Scouts in the photo:  J. Perry, J. Edgeley, D. Franks,       D. Burrell, D. Dobson (Rev. Dobson's son), A. Parker, S. Spendalow, J. Wilson, P. Miller,    J. Clapham, M. Goddard,  the underlined names are Scouts from Doddington.  Other members of the Group (not on the photo) were Peter Redhead, Sid Redhead, Bill Bradshaw, and Roland Aspinall.  Thank you very much to all who provided the information for this month.

also an email from Australia:

Merry Xmas from Orange, NSW., Australia

I would be very grateful if you could help me find the ancestors of George
Dunham (Farmer and Publican who was born in Benwick in 1789, died  10th
October 1858, buried at Doddington. He  married  Elizabeth Miller at
Doddington on 20th April 1809. Witnesses were a John and Mary Dunham. I am
guessing that these two were George's brother (maybe older) and sister in
law?

Can you also find out the name of the Pub and farm of George and Elizabeth?
George and Elizabeth had the following children ,Fisher, John, Susanna,
George, Elizabeth and Edward. George junior (married Mary Grimwood) moved to
Lancashire and died 22nd March 1898.

thank you

December

When we turn the clocks back, what springs to mind?  Dark dismal days of November?  Or the prospect of Christmas looming with all the expense and work it brings!  You can shop early for food and presents, these days, with all the freezers and other things that modern living brings.

As children, we did not have gas or electric central heating, we just relied on coal to heat our home, we would rush home from school, usually starving hungry ready for our tea.   What more satisfying than a long toasting fork and a thick slice of bread, and toasting the bread in front of the blazing fire that mum had got ready for us.  Unfortunately, as it was war time, butter was in short supply, so we had to make do with margarine or dripping.  We used to put our rationed cheese in a small bowl, which we put in the coal oven and have melted cheese with our toast.  Delicious!!  It was cheese with a rind on it, sometimes people called it "good old mouse trap cheese!"  Afterwards we would sit by the fire and watch, as those spurts of blue gas would make pictures in the flames and coals.  It is not quite the same to sit in the glooming, now we don't have a coal fire to sit by.

I cannot say that I miss a coal fire, freezing cold on one side of your body and scorching hot on the other side which was nearest to the fire.  Nor do I miss the ashes that had to be scraped out before the fire could be laid again or the sticks to chop, (I never did pass my girl guide badge for making fires!)

We had Brownie and Girl Guide groups in Wimblington.  The Brownie Pack met in the reading room at the rectory and Mrs. Dobson, the Rev. Dobson's wife would take us each week.  Miss Cornish (Miss Cornish was the Head mistress of the Cromwell School, Chatteris, at one time.) used to take us for Girl Guides meetings each week and we met in the Chapel Rooms, in winter.  We always had a badge to work for.  Knots were always a mystery to me, although I can do a Reef Knot and not a Granny Knot!"  But a Round Turn and Two Half Hitches, well you might as well speak in Japanese!  In summer we would gather at the Rectory and be able to have campfires and make "dampers" with jam inside.  If you want to know what a "damper" is ask any girl guide!!

As far as I know there has never been a Scouts group in Wimblington, our son went to Doddington for his scout meetings, and he passed many more badges, as well as swimming, map reading and camping.  Happy Christmas.

*****

November.  Wimblington Gala Week - circa 1920

Wimblington Gala Week started with Hospital Sunday in early July; I think it was the first Sunday in the month.

Of course in those days there was no NHS, so money had to be raised by the local people for the day to day running of the hospital.  I can remember the first ambulance being bought with money raised in this way.  The morning started with March Town Band assembling on the Hill.  They marched up Addison Road, along March Road, Bridge Lane, Eastwood End, back along King Street and into church for the morning service.

The band was proudly marshalled by PC Hill and Mr. W. Cutteridge, who I think were both old soldiers, and how they could march!  Mr. Cutteridge wore a grey bowler hat and held a little walking stick under his arm.  The volunteer collectors would collect money from all the houses along their route and there was great rivalry amongst them as to who could collect the most money.  On one occasion I remember George Burkett (gardener to Mr. W. Bellamy, Bills grandfather) borrowed a penny-farthing bicycle and did his collection on that!

In the evening the band once again assembled at the Hill but this time marched along a shortened and different route, going up Addison Road, along Doddington Road, to Chapel Lane and once again to the church for the evening service!  After the service the band formed a circle on the Hill and gave a recital.  Bert Ward played a solo on the cornet.

At this time the Reverend Hill was the rector in Wimblington and he was a very popular man.  He always wore a top hat on a Sunday.  On one occasion he got into the centre of the band circle and invited the parishioners to throw coins at his hat to raise even more money for the hospital.  My uncle played in the band so on that day he had dinner and tea with our family.  Other band members enjoyed the hospitality of other people in the village.

At the end of the day the collection boxes were brought in and the money counted by Fred Cutteridge, Arthur Peacock and Arthur Broker who, at that time, was Clerk to the Parish Council.

George Peacock.

Footnote.  Speaking to older long-time residents of Wimblington, the hospital mentioned was most probably Addenbrookes.  We had a railway Station then and once you had got to the station, the journey took you to Cambridge and Addenbrookes.

*****

October:  Public Loo's I have known but not necessarily loved.

Having just come back from holiday in this country, I have been able to pass judgement on several public toilets.  The best were in Pershore and Evesham, Worchestershire.  They were extremely clean and fresh, tiled in white tiles with a surround of clover pink and navy, with clover pink paintwork.  The basins and toilets were sparkling clean.  The flushing units were automatic as were the taps.  No Graffiti anywhere.  Of course in other towns there were plenty of not so good or even filthy ones!

I expect you have your own horror stories of public loos both in this country and abroad.

It is possible to tell before entering the door what sort of condition they are going to be in.  Firstly - the smell tells you!  Is the floor awash with water - or worse?  Does the bolt on the door work properly?  Is the toilet pan clean?  Is there plenty of toilet paper?

One loo we went in, had the toilet roll outside on a short stand, you had to tear off the paper and take it in with you.  With just one roll shared between four cubicles it soon ran out.  But ever resourceful, I always carry a few spare sheets in my handbag, loo roll is handy for mopping up all sorts of things, wiping sticky fingers and worse nose bleeds!  Throughout the years we have been able to acquire many tales of other loos.  I can re-call the most unusual - it was before the days of standards, rules and regulations.

The toilets were on a farm site, which we had visited, to buy some cream and eggs, (again we were on holiday).  The farmer had turned what used to be the old pig sties into toilets, but they were a bit rough and ready,  with breeze block walls, and huge mirrors that had been bought at a local sale, those Victorian ones that people had above fireplaces, right across the walls, so that the ladies could make sure they looked their best as they sallied forth from the loos.  You had to be there to get the full effect!

Another excellent loo was in Truro, they were famed for their "Best of British".  Their loos had had many awards.  The lady that looked after them had everything clean and polished better than some peoples houses, of course flowers adorned every surface, she was immensely proud of them too.

On reading this article my husband commented that the gents toilets are just as bad, but occasionally there are some good ones.

*****

June:  James' Shop.  

My Aunt who now lives in Australia, told me that she went into James' shop when she was about seven years old with 3d to spend.  She wanted a doll that was 9d, but of course was 6d short, she never did get that doll!  Makes you think how much children spend on today's toys, and whether they are appreciate them any more than my aunt would have done with her 9d doll.

It's all to do with the weather!!  When I started this article our swallows/swifts were not to be seen circling in the skies looking for insects.  They usually arrive in the last week of April.  So I was rather concerned when here in the middle of May they still had not put in an appearance.

We have lived in this house for 40+ years.  When we first came here there were, what seemed to be hundreds of birds, soaring into the sky, nesting in the eves of houses, on the telegraph wires just outside our bedroom window., all twittering away, all most as soon as the sun came up and they would wake us up with their noise.  Then later on they would be all jostling for a good position on the telegraph wires as they waited for "the off".

Today - a lovely warm, sitting in the garden sort of day - I have seen quite a few swallows/swifts.  They must have been waiting for the nice sunshine to arrive.  We did have nearly 3 weeks of cold rainy weather!  It is lovely to see them back with us, at least now it feels like the summer has arrived!!! 

*****

May:  It all started with Hot Cross buns!!!

I bought my mother - Mrs. Olive Ellington - some Hot Cross buns no Good Friday.        Mrs. Ellington has always lived in the village, she went to Wimblington School, and is one of Wimblington's oldest residents; she remembers many of the old village shops.

In the middle of the village in Addison Road, stands a boarded up shop front with a house next to it, with the windows bricked up.  Mum remembers the shop when it was a thriving bakers shop.  It belonged to Mrs. James.  The bakers were Mr. Len Hutchinson, Mr. Cecil Norman, and mum thinks there was a man named Mr. Brighty.  Mr. Len Hutchinson used to go round the fens, with a horse and cart, delivering bread and cakes.

The bakers used to bake bread, rolls, cakes, and at Easter hot cross buns, it was a real treat to get them straight out of the oven and eat them!  What a treat it would be these days!!  The charge for cooking your cakes would be 1d each, in "old money" and they also made pies, or cooked the customer's pies and other food.

The counters in the shop were, on the right hand side, haberdashery and on the left, grocery.  Paraffin was sold in the back of the shop, and the shop was heated with paraffin.  Grace James served in the shop.  At Christmas the smell was of oranges and paraffin, and whenever Mum smells oranges, it always reminds her of James's Bakers Shop.  The house next door had an iron archway (it was a green verdigris colour) over the door with roses and clematis growing on the archway.

The post office was an "Open All Hours" type of shop, (but no Arkwright behind the counter) and it sold nearly everything.  The strange thing was that the telephone box was inside the shop to the right and had a "tardis like" appearance.  Now, we would find that very strange to have a phone box within a shop.  They sold wallpaper and boots and shoes, together with all manner of other things, these were stored in a shed next to a pub called the Unicorn.  The Unicorn was kept by Mr. Cyril Parkinson's father and it stood in the area  of where Governess Close is now.

If you have a tale of "Old Wimblington" to tell, please send it in.  People who have just come to live in Wimblington are eager to know what it was like in the past!

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