| This email was received on 22 September 2010 :- I was browsing the internet and came across your site. I am the great great grandaughter of William Stephens who was Manager of the Lime and Cement works in Wilmcote, he worked there from about 1851 to his death in 1892. His father John Stephens came from Redditch and married Elizabeth Price who lived in Wilmcote in 1832. He was 16, she was 19 and 7 months pregnant with my Gt Gt grandfather William, who was born in August 1832. I can only assume John Stephens came to Wilmcote to work at the quarry. Tragically Elizabeth dies in 1837 along with her 2 young daughters, but William survived and can be found in the 1851 census living with his Grandparents John and Mary Price, and by now at age 18 he is a clerk at the stone works. William married Elizabeth Climer in 1860 and had 3 children, Frederick, my Gt grandfather, John and Elizabeth. By 1871 William is a managing clerk at the Stone Works and by 1891 he is listed as Manager Lime and Cement works, but he dies in 1892. Frederick followed in his father's footsteps and by 1901 is too Manager of the Lime works. Frederick marries the school mistress Jane Hanley and they had 2 sons. George Hanley Stephens joined the merchant navy and was tragically drowned when his ship the SS Aburi was torpedoed by the Germans in the Irish sea in April 1917. His name is on the WW1 plaque at Wilmcote church. William Archibald, my Grandfather went on to become a clerk at Midland Bank as the Quarry must have closed in the early 1900s and then got transferred to London, where my father was born. My father is Martin Stephens and his brother George went back to Wilmcote after the war and lived in the house that William lived in, The Quarry manager's house in Aston Cantlow Road. He ran a market garden and had greenhouses in the garden and sold tomatoes. His son Christopher still lives in that house. I would love to hear from anyone who has links with my ancestors or who knowledge of any records for Bull, Greaves Lakin. Regards Anne Thorn (nee Stephens) |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| Wilmcote, Warwickshire |
| Wilmcote lies about 4 miles out of Stratford, a mile to the west of the main road to Birmingham. It is a pretty little village, which contains the finest of the Shakespeare properties, Mary Arden's House, which, according to tradition, was once the home of Shakespeare's mother. When I lived in Wilmcote, many of the older locals laughed at this and said that the original house was on the other side of the road ! In recent years it has been shown that they were indeed partly correct. The home of the Ardens has been established as the neighbouring Glebe Farm (not a name that I ever knew it by - it was Holmes's Farm !) and the name Mary Arden's House has been transferred to it, the original property having been renamed Palmer's, after Adam Palmer who owned it in the 1570s and 80s. How legends are debunked !! I can imagine a certain old Wilmcote resident, (known locally as the "Bishop" and now many years departed this life), chuckling away in the bar at the Masons' ! So the only problem now is, when Mary Arden's House is mentioned, a lot of us will be thinking of what is now Palmer's ! How confusing ! All the postcards which appear on our postcards page are, of course, old cards and show the original Mary Arden's House, ie Palmer's. Clear ? |
The Masons' Arms. I lived in Wilmcote during the 1940s and 50s. My parents, Bill and Vera Gregory, ran the
Masons' Arms from 1944 until 1963. I've done a bit of research into previous landlords - the following dates are
the years in which I found the references, and don't necessarily cover the entire period of the person's tenancy
!! If you have any better information, please let me know !!
1874 - George Stockley 1881 & 1884 William Stockley 1888-1904 John Bromley
1908 &1912 Albert Edkins 1916-1936 George Overton 1940 Percy Stubbs
1944 Eileen Stubbs 1944-1963 Bill Gregory 1963-1984 John Cockram
1984-1987 Ray Rutt 1987- Keith Snow
Thanks to Scott Cockram for the updated information.
Masons' Arms from 1944 until 1963. I've done a bit of research into previous landlords - the following dates are
the years in which I found the references, and don't necessarily cover the entire period of the person's tenancy
!! If you have any better information, please let me know !!
1874 - George Stockley 1881 & 1884 William Stockley 1888-1904 John Bromley
1908 &1912 Albert Edkins 1916-1936 George Overton 1940 Percy Stubbs
1944 Eileen Stubbs 1944-1963 Bill Gregory 1963-1984 John Cockram
1984-1987 Ray Rutt 1987- Keith Snow
Thanks to Scott Cockram for the updated information.
| Wilmcote Festival. I never knew there was a Wilmcote Festival until I found an old postcard showing the procession ! I presume it stopped for the war years and was never revived. Have a look at the postcard on our Wilmcote page. It shows the procession going up the hill towards the Masons, passing the old chapel, with Holmes' Farm on the left. Are you in the picture - some of the children may well still be alive. ?? The postcard was produced by C W Thornton, 20A Wood Street, S/on/A. |
| Wilmcote Station. I spent many hours here collecting train numbers. I've included a postcard from 1992 on our postcard page - it shows GWR Locomotive no 6024, King Edward I - King Class locomotives were never allowed to run through to Stratford in the 1950s ! Does anyone remember Sid Webb, the signalman who used to live in one of those cottages just across the bridge ? He let me and his son Jimmy put pennies on the line to get crushed; we sometimes helped him run the signal box, and if we were lucky we got a ride on the banker when it went back down to Stratford. |
| Wilmcote Cricket Club. We had a good cricket team in the 1950s. It was revived and organised by Herbert Bonehill, who I believe is still alive aged 94 (in February 2008). We played in Monk Mason's field at the bottom of Cantlow Hill. If there are any former players still around who would like to get in touch, please do so ! I have a team photo from about 1954 if anyone is interested - it's in a box in the attic but I can easily find it ! Get in touch on gregoryolney@aol.com (See the email from Bob Evans below) |
| If you have any memories, odd facts or information about Wilmcote, please email us. |
| I've subsequently received an email from Sue Holmes who tells me that the Wilmcote Festival was revived in 1992 and is held every two years. It now covers a full nine days (1st - 9th July in 2006) and involves all the community. It includes two days of open gardens, various musical/dance evenings, guided walks, cricket match, children's activites, culminating on the last night with the Wilmcote Proms on the village playing field, with orchestra fireworks etc. |
| In July 2008 we received an email from a former Wilmcote resident, Jane Hewlett (nee Hewins) who is now living in Australia. Her father was Arthur (Brock) Brooks. He was a friend of my father and used to drink in the Mason's. Jane had a brother John and a sister Judith, both of whom I remember from when I lived in the village. Jane's cousin was David Wright, son of Norman Wright and Jane's Auntie Minnie. David played cricket for Wilmcote and was I believe the second player to score a century for the club. Jane sent the photographs below, and also a postcard of the Wilmcote Festival which you can see on our "Wilmcote" page. If you can identify anyone in any of these photos, please email us ! |
| The 1950 infant's class at Wilmcote School. Are you in the photo ? If you can help with identification, please email us. |
| The Wilmcote Festival about 1932. The boy on the left in front of the flag is possibly Jane's brother. |
| Jane's mother Mary Bannister (aged 4) and her cat by the Lych Gate. |
| A group in the Village Hall - do you recognise anyone ? And does anyone remember the mobile cinema which used to show films in the Hall in the 1950s ? |
| Wilmcote School 1908. Cissy Bannister is the little girl next to the male teacher. The lady teacher is Grace Bromley's mother and Ern Bromley's wife - they lived in the cottages by the Lych Gate. Do you know anyone here ? |
| This lovely old postcard of the Eighteens was posted in 1910 and was sent to us by Sylvia Smith, who is one of 26 great grandchildren of Mary Anne Jeffs, who was born around 1854 and baptised in 1856. She is also related to the Wilmcote Giles family, and would love to hear from any Jeffs or Giles in Wilmcote. Her email address is sylvia58@btinternet.com,so please get in touch if you think you may be related. |
| We'd be delighted if you would sign our Guest Book ! We welcome suggestions, corrections and constructive criticism - or just say "Hello !" and tell us where you come from. |
| The following email was received in January 2010. My name is Bob Evans, perhaps some older residents might remember me? My parents were Sam and Irene Evans ; they left Wales in 1926 during the depression at that time, they came with my brother John and my adopted brother Walter Farrer to live in no's 1/2 the eighteen cottages where I was born in 1930. I attended the Wilmcote junior school at the age of five and remember the teachers being Mr Needham, Miss Moore and Miss Perry. I then went on to the senior school in S-on-A, I played soccer for the Wilmcote junior team and later in my teens and early twenties I was the wicket keeper for the village cricket team. I well remember playing with Herbert Bonehill, David Gregory, Bob Bennett, Jack Wyatt, Ron Bailey, David Wright, Monk Mason, just to name a few. My wife and I were married in 1955 when I worked for Mr Bob Ancell, we lived at Billesley before coming to live here in Adelaide Sth Australia 42 years ago. In two months time I will be 80 years young. We are both still enjoying good health and greatly enjoy travelling around this great country in our little motor home. We now live in a retirement unit after recently selling our home of forty years which we found was getting too hard to maintain. I won't write any more in case this note comes back again as before, but if it is received it would be great to hear from anybody who might remember us. By the way I recognize my photo sitting on the Mayday float taken in 1936. I remember Beattie Munroe blacking my face with a burnt cork to become an Indian squaw. John Hewins was also mentioned on one of the Wilmcote home pages, I remember John very well we were very good friends. Best wishes to all from a sweltering Adelaide,(43 deg again today) Bob and Jean Evans. My Email address is <tangie@arcom.com.au> |
| ............................................................................................................................................. |
Wilmcote Pictures. No, not pictures of Wilmcote, but a mobile cinema used to come to the
Working Men's Club every couple of weeks in the 1950s. I remember seeing the original version
of "King Solomon's Mines", and Laurel and Hardy in "Way Out West". Does anyone else
remember this ?
And also Mr Higginson once showed us kids some movie films he took on a visit to New York.
Working Men's Club every couple of weeks in the 1950s. I remember seeing the original version
of "King Solomon's Mines", and Laurel and Hardy in "Way Out West". Does anyone else
remember this ?
And also Mr Higginson once showed us kids some movie films he took on a visit to New York.
| ............................................................................ |
| ............................................................................ |
Custom Search
| Postcards of the Past |
| Reproductions of postcards with a (Z) following the description are available to buy from Zazzle - just click on the (Z) ! Similarly, GC = Greetings Card, P = Print, ST = US Postage Stamp, K = Key Ring, FM = Fridge Magnet, SM = Souvenir Mug, X = Xmas Card. |
Custom Search