Figs. 7 & 8:

Old Yard 1940’s-1950’s by John A.Taylor

John Alexander Taylor son of Alexander Murray Taylor and Christina nee Shirley kindly agreed to contribute his memories of a childhood spent in Cropredy.  He has also added his plans of Old Yard as he recalls it and made a sketch of Cropredy to show where people lived.

We were short of photographs and on his Sunday visits to his sister Christina Beatrice Taylor (Betty), the wife of Peter Michael Clementson (Mike), they managed to loan for retaking most of the photographs for this book.

Photo  23:

John Taylor, Helen Shirley, Christina Taylor, Colin Shirley, Betty Taylor, Alex.M.Taylor, at Fort William with Britannia in the background. The day the Queen was there. Aug.1958.  Taken by Margaret Dunn.

The material is not used in letter form.  The letters were dated 4/03/02, 25/03/02, 17/04/02, 24/04/02, 12/05/02.  First John introduces his family before going back to his childhood.

Father, Alexander Murray Taylor, before the war was in private service starting off as the hall boy at the big house in the village (Kirkoswald) where he was born; (and where Betty lives now), and finishing up as butler at Boxted Hall in Essex.  After the war he took up gardening and worked for Mr John Cheney (of the Banbury Printing firm) at Wykham near Bloxham.  He carried on gardening after moving up here in December 1956 until retirement. He was born on the 27^th of December 1907 in Kirkoswald, Cumberland and died on the 9^th of January 1983, at Great Salkeld, Cumbria. He married Christina Shirley on the 23^rd June 1934 in London.

Mother, Christina Shirley, after initially starting work in Banbury as a seamstress went into private service as lady’s maid to several ladies until marriage in 1934. She was born on the 7^th of April 1902 in Cropredy and died on the 18^th of January 1995 at Great Salkeld, Cumbria.

John was born on the 5^th of June 1935 at Banbury Oxon.  I was a draughtsman all my working life, starting with six years at Switchgear & Equipment Ltd, Banbury making high voltage outdoor switchgear.  The first 5 years being an apprenticeship.  First weeks wages £1-12s-5 1/2d.  My parents and Betty moved to the Penrith area in December 1956; I stayed at Cropredy with Colin and Helen Shirley until July 1957 expecting to have to do National Service, but at a medical a suspect appendix operation scar stopped that.  I then moved up here and started work with Rolls-Royce Ltd. On the intermediate Range Ballistic Rocket Project which later became The Blue Stream Rocket Project.  This lasted until 1973 when the project was abandoned.  I then went to work for Cowans Sheldon Ltd cranemakers in Carlisle, working mainly on railway breakdown cranes.  This lasted until the cut-backs in 1985 when I again was made redundant.  However having left there on Friday 29^th March I was lucky enough to start straight away on Monday 1^st April at ASE Ltd, again in Carlisle, this time making car safety belts.  ASE (American Safety Equipment) had been Kangol Ltd and has since gone through several ownerships, all American, and is now Breed (UK) Ltd.

Photo 24:

John A.Taylor outside Aunt Golby’s at 2 Chapel Row in 1936.

Betty, born the 5^th April 1939 at Colchester, Essex,.after going to Cropredy school went to Miss Mellors School in Banbury, firstly in Marlborough Road then at Springfields, Bloxham Road,  From there to Grimsbury County Secondary School and finally to the Tech at Woodgreen.  She worked as a tracer at Aluminium Laboratories before moving north.  She continued as a tracer at Cowans Sheldon for about 2 ½ years before starting her family: Shirley Denise born 26/10/1962 and William Alastair 8/2/1966. Betty lives just three miles away from John.

My nephew, Alastair, now has Colin’s tools which I expect includes the Golby tools [p15].  He, with his father Mike and mother Betty, have their own Building and Decorating business (Just the 3 of them).  It’s mainly repair work (glazing, building, plumbing, woodwork & decorating).  Betty did most of the decorating but has reduced the amount considerably this last 2 years and Mike doesn’t do any heavy work now since having a hip replacement op 2 years ago.

From the photographs you will see that Colin must have been in St. John Ambulance at some time.  I don’t know when or for how long.  He was in the Homeguard during the war.  The Homeguard’s hut near the top of the Oxhay Road was made from the back of a Carter Paterson lorry.

Towards the end of the war or soon afterwards Colin amongst others were ordered by the Government to go to London (Lewisham) to help in the reconstruction.  He hadn’t served in the armed forces because the Building Trade was considered what I think was called a “Reserved Occupation.”

I am sending a copy of how I remember Cropredy.  There may be some small errors in the Cropredy details, but my sister and I think it to be substantially correct.  Memory can get distorted after about 50 years (45 years in July 2002) since I left Cropredy [see Fig.9 p.69].

Now for a few of my recollections: 1940’s

The metal railings being cut down for the war effort.  Many were still stacked up in Banbury after the war was over.  At Monkeytree House I cannot recall the wire fence.  I had thought that there were iron railings before being cut down for the war effort but I may be mistaken.  There was a privet hedge there.

“TINS ONLY” collection points in the village.  There must have been nearly a dozen of them.  They were triangular.  Three sheets of corrugated iron fixed to three posts with “TINS ONLY” painted on them.  Unfortunately some people didn’t wash the tins before dumping them and this attracted many flies and wasps.

Moveable barriers were put across roads into the village to stop the enemy (wouldn’t have much). A tree trunk with a wheel on one end and the other end rotating on a metal pole. There was one just the village side of Claydon/ Mollington road junction, one just Williamscote side of the river bridge and I think the third one was by the school. 

I can remember seeing a German plane dropping the bomb which blew a rail out of the loop line of the railway to the back of Erikson’s farm (School Farm).  A bomb was dropped on another occasion in the field “Oathill” on your field plan (Oathill Field by Lambert’s Barn on the road to Claydon).     

70

There were quite a number of plane crashes in the area.  The one I most remember is the one referred to in Book 5. (The Wheelwright’s Apprentice. A & L Pettifer. p13). My sister and I had been walking with my aunt Mrs Golby down Oxhey Road about ½ an hour before it happened. A scar is still visible on the oak tree in Mr C.Whitaker’s field from when a wing was torn off the Wellington bomber.  The thing to do after crashes was to try to get some “aeroplane glass,” perspex.  From this we used to make brooches (horse shoes, crosses etc) and rings.

I think it may have been D-Day.  There was great excitement and confusion early one morning when parachutists landed in the village, their plane having been in difficulties and they had been ordered to bail out.  One landed in the big copper beech tree that stands in the Vicarage grounds (Now Vicarage Gardens). The parachute was hanging there for quite a while.  I think the parachutist managed to get down without injury.  Another landed near Mr Eriksens farm and when confronted by Mr Eriksen he thought he was on the continent as Mr Eriksen spoke with a Danish accent.  Others tried to get onto the workmen’s bus for Banbury and were taken off by the Home Guard.  The latter two incidents I believe to be correct but would not be absolutely sure.

I seem to recall that the Chapel Sunday School room was used as a “Rest Centre,” but what that was I’m not sure unless it was a reception centre for the evacuees that came to the village.

The Church Rooms were initially used for the Evacuees school until they became integrated with the village school.  The older pupils were taught there by Mr Dicky Larby.  We enjoyed being next to Mr Godson’s Bakehouse.  At morning break we would buy a small loaf which was steaming hot straight from the oven and have it cut in four to share.  There were several lots of four that used to do this.

As an indication of hard times for some folk then in 1946 three of us at Cropredy School, Gillian Cherry nee Coy, M----- G---- (from Claydon) and myself passed the scholarship (later 11+) for Banbury County School (later Grammar School, now Banbury School), but M----- never went as her parents couldn’t afford to pay for the school uniform.

On and around the Top Green, by the Chapel, we used to play rounders, dodge ball, french cricket, skipping, ball games against the chapel wall, “Tin can Tommy” (kick the tin), hide and seek, hop scotch on the concrete by the chapel gate, whip and top in the roadway at the chapel cross roads and hoops, the favourite being bicycle wheel rims although some boys resorted to car tyres.

The top Green used to be a good and easy place to find multi-leaved clover.  I say multi leaved as four was quite common as up to seven leaves have been found.

When I was still going to Cropredy school, that would be pre August 1946, we used to collect rose hips for a National War Effort scheme; sometimes even going out in school lesson time.

We boys had some strange ideas of enjoyment, watching graves being dug and going to watch pig killings.  The latter being for when they cut the pig open, after burning off the bristles, for the bladder to blow up to use as a football when it had dried out.  The pigs then were killed with a knife to the throat.

71

Photo 25:

John Shirley by Richard W.Cross’s wagon from Andrew’s Farm

At hay time we used to ride in Mr Cross’s Oxfordshire wagons down to the hayfield then walk back for another ride in the next empty one.  Yes, boys and girls played the games together and also rode the hay wagon.  I expect Mr Cross’s daughter’s Sylvia, Barbara and Margaret did too, although I cannot specifically remember them doing so.

At thrashing time we used to wait until the ricks were nearly finished to try and kill the mice and rats as they fled the stack.  Similarly at harvest time when the binder was getting towards the middle of the field we would try to hit the rabbits as they escaped.  Both of the above with sticks of course.

My sister has reminded me that a man used to visit Cropredy once a year, with three or four donkeys to give the younger children rides, backwards and forwards, between the Exservicemen’s Hall and the Chapel crossroads.  Also that evangelists used to come to the Chapel for a few weeks each year and hold “Sunshine Corner” meetings for the children.

Clifford Lambert’s mother sold skimmed milk at 8am and 4pm on weekdays to about a dozen locals.  Sometimes sneeking a bit of butter into the can so that no one else would know.  By the way the skimmed milk Mrs Lambert sold was 2d a pint.  My sister recalls this because once she was given 6d to go for the milk and got into trouble with mother for bringing back three pints instead of one.  Talking money, the bus fare on the early bus was for a child 2 1/2d single, 3d return and for adults 5d single 6d return.  In them days there used to be four bus routes through Cropredy.  The No.513 to Mollington, No. 514 to Claydon, No.516 to Chipping Warden via Williamscote and No. 529 to Marlborough Farm Camp (The Ammunition Depot near Kineton).

72

In the 1940’s the buses, due to a shortage of petrol, for a while used gas, which was produced by a sort of boiler affair on a trailer behind the bus.  It was such a poor fuel that the buses struggled on an incline, so much so that often passengers had to get off to get the bus up Hardwick Hill (coming up from Aluminium Works towards Little Bourton).

Coal was still brought south by narrow boat (barge) on the canal.  While being taken to Banbury, some was off loaded at Bradley’s and Bott’s wharves at Cropredy.  I can remember the canal used to get frozen over most winters then with the ice being thick enough for skating and for the impact of a sledge going down the access path to the towpath and off the edge onto the ice.  Mr McDougall’s field up Williamscote Road used to be another favourite place for skating as most winters it would flood then freeze over.

In the severe 1947 winter the men of the village were organised (I think by Roland Cherry) to hand dig out Williamscote Road and Mollington Road.  There were no mechanical diggers then.  Bread was delivered on horseback from Mr Godson’s to Williamscote.

Another thing some of us did was to go up the Church tower to watch the clock being wound.  I think it was Mr Buller that used to do it.  Occasionally he would take us up on to the top of the tower, but me, not having a head for heights wouldn’t venture near the side.  You will see from the Cropredy sketch that Mr Buller lived in one of the Brazenose College houses opposite the station.

What other recollections?  Mr Bernard Pargeter cut my hair with hand clippers, many a yelp as he accidently pulled a hair.  His hair cutting clippers were not shears but worked by more of a scissor action.  The cutting teeth reciprocating similar to a hedge trimmer (Fig. 11).

Most of the village with no mains water, only Brasenose properties had a private supply.  The rest of the village relied on the many pumps and wells plus the collection of rainwater. [The college allowed and charged several properties from 1893 to have water. 16 cottages on Cope’s estate (2 taps), Brazenose Inn, Constone, Vicarage, Co-op and cottages in New Place & a few others. BNC Water records].

Toilets were either pit or chemical (Elsan).  After the war when father got a car and there was still petrol rationing he got extra coupons for taking “nightsoil” up to Harry Dunn’s allotment, by Oxhay Road railway bridge, for burial.

73

During the war there was often army manoeuvres in the area and on one occasion they set up camp on the bottom Green and they took over Mr Bonham’s building nearest “Constone” as their cookhouse.

I mentioned “Constone”; that’s where I first saw television.  Mr Vincent called some of us children in to see the Victory Parade in London.  I believe it must have been that shown on June 8^th 1946.  The room was in total darkness and the screen was about 9 inch.  Mr Vincent was I believe a radio electrician.

There used to be “Pictures“ nights in the Exservicemen’s Hall.  I think they were monthly.  Albert Boot from Banbury used to show them.  I don’t know how they were synchronised but the sound track was on records not on the film in those days.

One more recollection from the 40’s and 50’s:  Betty reminded me that there used to be a mobile Fish and Chip van call round the village. We don’t know whose it was or from where it came.

[The dogs in the photographs?]  Colin’s first dog was “Mac”; brother of our dog “Don” which father brought with him, as puppies, on leave from the army on 1^st January 1944.  The dogs were black and white terrier type mongrels.  Colin later had a small sheltie, “Rory.”  The dog in the early group photograph must have been the Golby’s.