CD1

(71 mins)
 

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BORN WINSFORD 1907 / FAMILY BACKGROUND / FATHER AND GRANDFATHER STONEMASONS FOR ACLANDS / CHURCH BELL RHYMES / WINSFORD / RINGING BELL FOR WORK

Born Winsford 1907. Father William, mason for Aclands. Mother Ellie Florence Hayes Hawkins, born Withypool. 1 brother, 2 sisters. 1 sister still living, 92. He was 2^nd child. Brother died at 96, younger sister died several years ago. Grandfather died at 94, grandmother at 90. Mother's mother died in her 40s, tragic. There was a live bullet from WW1 in turf on fire which went off when she was cooking, shattered the saucepan and pieces went into her head. She was about 30 when it happened. Insane after, a merciful release when she died. Mother had 5 brothers in London police force.

Mother's father worked for Dulverton Council with horse and cart.

'Stell [?sp ?steal] the sheep and burn the wool, goes the bells of Withypool.'

'A new nail in an old board goes the bells of Winsford.'

Grandfather was stonemason with Aclands as well. They lived in first cottage on right past Karslake. Description of Winsford. Ringing the bell for work. [Back to top]
 

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HOME / BEVINS / SCHOOL / MR DICKER / PLASTIC COLLARS / LIGHTING SCHOOL FIRE

Home very comfortable. Large garden. Bevins.

Highest number of children to school was 112. Came from Bridgetown, Comer's Gate. Tarr Steps, Knaplock, Upcott, Leigh Farm, towards Dulverton. Mr Dicker schoolmaster. School very good. Mr Dicker played organ at Exford every Sunday, cycled there.

 He was at school with Maud Bale [now Harding] and Fanny Bale [now Jenkins] [they were cousins]. Remembers day went to school. Red egg. Wore plastic collars. When he got older his mother cleaner school for 4 or 5 years and he used to go up early in the morning and light the stoves (aged 10). Left school at 13, he thinks. War on then. [Back to top]
 

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MR DICKER READING WAR NEWS / WW1 / HORSES ON WINSFORD HILL / SOLDIERS PLAYING TRUMPETS / TRUCKING HORSES OFF / NO-ONE EXEMPT

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Mr Dicker read the war news to them from the newspaper every morning. Remembers day war broke out. Horses on Winsford Hill. Grandfather a gamekeeper for Acland [?check, as well as stonemason]. WW1. Soldiers rode through Winsford playing their trumpets, before war. Remembers walking back from Dulverton station to Winsford with his father, over Winsford Hill and seeing them trucking the horses off. A cousin had his horse taken and met it in France.

Not many men about then. A dozen would have gone from Winsford. No-one exempt. Father was in the Engineers. [Back to top]
 

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LIFE WITH FATHER AWAY / MILKING COW / MOTHER / MOTHER'S CLOTHES / MAKING STARCH / SHIRT COLLARS

Life with father away. Brother left school at 12 to work at Nurcott. Mother coped well, would do gardening and work on farms. 'I learnt the way to milk cows. And I always remember, down at the Royal Oak, I milked a cow and I cried because I couldn't carry the bucket, because it was too heavy for me.'

Mother a fine woman. 16 stone in her prime. Active, took long daily walk with her dog. She was one of 11, and they were all big. She didn't eat a lot. They were a long living family. Mother knitted her own black stockings. Wore coarse aprons made out of sacks and red flannel petticoat with dress on top. Sisters used to wear flannel knickers and vest.

Making the starch for washing. Shirt collars. [Back to top]
 

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WASHDAY / SELF-SUPPORTING / NAIL BOOTS / TURNING MANGLE / SCYTHING / FATHER'S VARIED SKILLS

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Washday. Keeping pigs and fowls. Butcher once a week. Parents never bought a vegetable. Self-supported. Everybody wore nail boots. They were called Hold Fast. Parhams in Dunster used to sell them. With tips and cues [?sp], steel plated. A good pair of Hold Fasts cost twelve and sixpence. Cleaned them with blacking.

He would turn the mangle for his mother. Brother didn't because he left school at 12 and went to work at Nurcott. KB was 10. His 3 grandsons haven't a clue about gardening. They [KB] used to learn skills. Mole catching. Scything when young. Scything on first day working for Council, no-one knew how to do it, only Sammy Farmer [story re-told later, CD2 track 7].

Laying hedges. Father could do anything, would knit his own nets for rabbiting. He used to thatch the ricks and re-sole boots. [Back to top]
 

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FATHER'S JOB / WALKING FROM FARM TO FARM / WHORTLEBERRIES / PUNCHBOWL / COTTAGES FATHER HAS BUILT / GRANDFATHER / FATHER BORN CUTCOMBE / WINSFORD THEN

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Father was about 5ft 10. Looked after all the farms, building and maintaining. Walked up over Bye to Withycombe, Great Ash, to Knaplock, Tarr Steps, back to Highercombe, Broford, Hollam. There was a carpenter, a mason and a labourer. Tribble [?sp] was the foreman, he had an Exmoor pony in a cart. Walking from farm to farm with father. Father pulling him on shovel. Father would carry his own tools.

Picking whortleberries on Winsford Hill. Lots of people out. Sixpence a quart. He likes the Punchbowl.

Father built Springfield Cottages for £100, same at Bridgetown for Hollam, £100 the 2 together and 2 at Great Ash, now a small farm he thinks.

Grandfather was also a mason. Died before KB left school. Father born at Cutcombe. Grandfather and father walked from Cutcombe to Liscombe to build that house. Winsford years ago was all thatched, then they stripped them and put tiles on. Cottage on left opposite Karslake House used to be farm. If you go down 3 feet you'll come to concrete floors, from the farmyard [?check, possibly BJ putting words in his mouth]. Used to be monkey puzzle tree opposite Karslake on bank. [Back to top]
 

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GRANDFATHER / WINSFORD TRADESPEOPLE / CARATACUS STONE / FIR PLANTATION / PORTUGUESE / ALLOTMENTS / PIT SAWING / ACLAND ESTATE BOUNDARY

Grandfather. New houses built where grandfather lived. He lived in little cottage joining Rest and be Thankful. Gone now. He was a little short man. Lived at Ball Cottage when they came to Winsford.

Winsford quite a busy place. 2 tailors shops, bread shop, builders.

Grandfather worked up to the fortnight before he died. He was pitching the stables at Nurcott. He was 84.

Father built surrounds to Caratacus Stone in 1900s. Remembers seeing the plans. It was a shelter to preserve stone. There used to be a big fir plantation the other side, called Contess [?sp]. The Portuguese cut it down during WW1. Allotments used to be a wood. Describes pit sawing. Pits probably still in allotments, down at the bottom near the water. Portuguese cut it because there were no men left at home.

The plantation belonged to the Aclands. Acland estate used to run nearly down to Exeter, to Killerton. Acland/Luttrell boundary at Hopcott Hotel. Describes exactly where boundary runs, along stream. [Back to top]
 

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ACLAND ESTATE / PUB / BUILDING BRENDON ROAD / ROUGH SAMPLES / MOLLY PHILLIPS / GOING WHERE THE WORK WAS / HAULING STONES

All houses in Winsford belonged to Aclands. And the pub. David Evans used to keep pub. Great big man with bowler hat, to one side. Had 2 daughters. Pub different altogether. No meals. Hasn't altered outside. One bar. Beer served from barrel.

When Brendon road came, from Coppleham to Brendon Two Gates, Council built great big hut by Northern Mill. 30 or 40 there. One man as a cook. Pub good trade then. Johnnies and all sorts on the road. Local people used to cycle from Kings Brompton and Dulverton every day. He worked on road a bit. Drove lorry.

Road was all done by hand. Half the road at a time. Pitching. Done with pickaxes and horses and carts, 1928 or 29.They didn't have lorries until they were nearly at Exford. There were rough samples there. Burglars and thieves. Working near Exford once, detectives working there arrested man in lunch break. Molly Phillips murder. His brother-in-law found her on Codsend Moor. Tells story. Murderer never found. His younger sister married her brother.

A lot of local people worked on the road. No work around then. People came from all over the country, you didn't know who they wee or what they were. Solicitors, school teachers. There a couple of years. One man stayed behind and became charge hand on Dulverton Council. They all disappeared. You had to go where the work was.

He drove a lorry hauling stones. Has lived all over the country. [Back to top]