A Century of Change

Gradual change is inevitable and over the centuries King's Sutton has changed much as any other village.  In 1901 the population was 1057, whilst the 1991 census shows a figure of 2082 and it is during this century that the greatest development has taken place. At the start the village was centred around the Church and the Square.

The first fifty years of the last century saw the village grow slowly, expanding first along Richmond Street and then the Astrop Road area. With these changes came other developments, in the form of local employment, better communications and services.

In the second half of the 20th century the change was even greater and faster in terms of housing, population, more control exerted from outside the village and with it a greater dependency on those outside sources.

In this section villagers recall the past, their happy days and their sad times and memories of friends they knew. Some tell of the effect the village has had on their lives and we hope that they will give the reader some pleasure in bringing back memories or allowing others to learn more about the village and its people.  


Written Memories 
                     

Jack Essex

I was born in 1922 and spent my early years in Wales Street or station Road as it was then known.  This was where most people lived and where we played and from where we went to school. 
Happy Days! The pavements were covered in hopscotch pitches, we played football in the Greens, paddled in the river Cherwell, and played hide and seek in the streets. At night we knocked on someone's door then ran like blazes before they caught you or recognised you. (If they did they told your Dad and then you were for it!) Yes,good days, very little money but, when you were as happy as we were, what did you want money for?

In 1928 there was a very severe winter and the lake at Astrop froze over completely. The house being empty after the death of Lady Brown, her son-in-law and daughter, Col. and Mrs Fisher, invited the villagers to take part in the skating. The lake was shaped like a figure eight so the
gentry skated on the top half whilst the village folk and their children either skated on the lower half or stood and watched the others try their fancy skating.

Then came the war. I remember standing under the lamp post at the top of Banbury Lane, about ten of us in number, all about 16 years old. It was just after the Prime Minister had announced on the wireless that England was at war with Germany.

The difference it was to make to our lives was only to be known years after. First came the soldiers, then the airmen, followed by the Americans but, before all of these, came the evacuees. Mostly from London, they lived in all homes, rich and poor, if you had a spare room then you took them in. A lot of people made their homes here and did not go back to live in London again. My in-laws did just that.

  Mrs Edith Wyatt in Station Road with Win (Blunt) and Ivy (Ingram) circa 1930's

The war was responsible for some terrible things. One good thing it did was to bring the girl who married me all those years ago. We have four children, ten grandchildren and I am still as happy as when I played hopscotch in Station Road, in 1930."

Thirty seven years later his nephew David Essex was born and he has written about very different memories. 

Since being born in 1959 at 25 Richmond Street many things have changed, such as the Post Office, run by Bert and Gwen Taylor. We bought eggs from Mrs Plank who kept chickens at the rear of a filling station in Banbury Lane. We bought chips from Radbourne's chip shop and had our hair cut by his brother, Leslie, in the wooden building in Richmond Street. 

On Sunday afternoons we would go to Mrs McGinlay's shop in Astrop Road, to buy ice-cream or sweets, long before B & Q ever thought of opening on a Sunday! Fruit and vegetables were bought from Mr. Strutton's shop along Astrop Road.

I remember Mr Ron Cox of Station Road coming to sweep our chimney at regular intervals and I would be sent out to see if the brushes were coming out of the chimney pots. When we went to catch the train, instead of walking across the line as now, we walked over an old iron bridge to the far platform.

The Recreation Ground had a hedge all around and we would often play there or, for football and cricket, we would play in thefields at the back of our house. You could bat in Arundel Close and hit the ball into Blenheim Rise which were then allotments. Weekend mornings I would go off early with my Dad to Home Farm and on Saturday afternoons we would go to watch King's Sutton play football in the paddock by Greycourt or cricket in Astrop Park.

Fred and Dorothy Dale

In 1935 Fred Dale came to King's Sutton from Tyesely, Birmingham. He worked on the Great Western Railway as a linesman in the signalling department. He met Dorothy, who lived in High Street, where she was brought up by Mr and Mrs Owen. When the village carrier, Mr George Barber, died the business was taken over firstly by his son, Jim and, later, by Fred Dale who carried goods from Banbury and the surrounding area.

One of his jobs was to carry wines for S.H. Jones, the wine merchants. When Arthur, his son, joined him, Fred applied for a B licence to allow him to drive within a radius of 200 miles. Thus Dales Transport was born.

Soon Dales lorries were travelling overseas and in the early 1970s it was decided that the firm was too large for a family concern and was sold to Cherwell Silos.  Initially, Arthur stayed to help with the transfer of the business.

John Fortnum

"I was born in 1911 and now live in Banbury, but as a young man, I lived with my family in King's Sutton, for many years in Station Road. At 14 I  found a job with Brummitt's of Banbury working 54 1/2 hours a week for 10 shillings.  During the General Strike of 1926 I walked to andfrom work as there was no public transport and I couldn't afford a bike.

In 1927 I joined the Great Western Railway Co. as a boy porter earning £1 a week before stoppages. I stayed on the railways for the rest of my working life exceptfor war service with the Royal Engineers. I saw action

in France, being evacuated from St. Malo during the Dunkirk retreat. I served with many other local railwaymen including Denis Hickman, Chris Timms, Ivor Stacey and Geoff Messer.  Returning to King's Sutton I rejoined the Great Western and became a relief station maste9: at one time at King's Sutton. I enjoyed taking part in village life as Parish Clerk, at church where I was a boat-boy, and I especially remember the football team of 1935, which won every cup going. As club secretary 1 arranged a special train to take the King's Sutton supporters to Bicester for the final.''

Janet Bevis (nee Cousins)

"In 1878 my father, John Arthur Cousins, was taken as a three-year-old by his family from Upper Paradise to a house and Grocer's shop in Red Lion Street.  My grandfather died when my father was ten years old, leaving his mother and sister to carry on until he was old enough to help; finally he married and later his wife took over the business.

The shop was very small, but held quite a lot of goods, a large shelf was on the right hand side at the top of the wall, about two feet from the ceiling. Underneath this came all the drawers, made by my father, then more shelves. There were even more shelves round the other two sides of the shop, a counter runningfrom the window on which stood the scales and weights at one end and bottles of sweets at the other end, near the window. The window itself always had a shutter fitted each Saturday evening until Monday morning. The door was extraordinary, like a stable door, the bottom part being held by bolts keeping people on the outside, but having a very loud knocker.

The goods we received came from Banbury, a traveller came by train to call for the order and also to collect the money. In between his calls we would put an envelope in our house window and the carrier, Mr Will Barber, would call up to see what we wanted. He used to bring most of the goods back on his horse and cart. Other commodities, ordered through the post or through travellers, came by rail. 
                                                            
                                           

In those days we used to have 8 gallon barrels of vinegar, cheese was in 60 lbs. rounds in a wooden case: after opening the case we had to rind the cheese and cut it in wedges. Sugar was weighed from 1 cwt. sacks.  Butter, margarine and lard from 40 pound blocks.  Nothing was prepacked, all was weighed from bulk. Opening hours were early in the morning until 8 o'clock at night and Tuesday was early closing. 

Then came the Second World War and with it came rationing. Each person in the village had to register. Sugar, butter, lard, fats and cheese were rationed.  Eggs were not available so we had dried eggs which were very good. The coupons were cut from the ration books and we sent them up each month to get our next allocation of goods.  In November 1944 our terraced house had two dwellings next to it and the one next to ours had paraffin in the cellar, which caughtfire.  Before the fire brigades came it was well alight and burnt down the shop and the thatched roof Neighbours came from all around and helped my parents remove all the goods, taking them to their different homes. Mrs Queenie Stevens stored the majority of it.

Our business then carried on in High Street together with my sister's general store. After ten months we came back to Red Lion Street but on the opposite side of the road. Shelves and the counter were put in the front room, retaining the old drawers from the original shop.  My mother and I ran the shop and if we had a holiday my sister used to look after our  customers and we looked after hers.  This system continued until my sister died and my husband and I took over.  We used to have quite afew customers who would bring order books for delivery. These were assembled in our slack periods which kept us quite busy until 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening, so we were glad of our Sunday rest.

Thanks to our loyal customers, to whom we are grateful, we were quite contented without holidays each year. My husband wanted to retire at 60 but so many people were content with our service, and I was glad to have a chat with them and very often hear their troubles and help them when I could.  I always persuaded him to carry on a little longer; a little longer lasted longer, years passed, then we found we had to give up. We would have sold our business or let it but, owing to competition from supermarkets, it would not have been fair to whoever took over.  Mr Taylor of Ne-wlands Stores was willing to take over our stock and customers for which we were thankful, so, on August 31st 1991 we happily closed down. "

Blanche Timms

"Although I was born in Lynton, North Devon in 1911, my father, Alfred Ridge and my mother, Bessie, had to move to South Wales to find work when I was 10 months old. We lived in Bargoed for afew years but during the Thirties work for my father, who was a tailor, became very scarce and  so they decided to come to King's Sutton where my brother, Jack, and his wife lived in Paradise.

My  father, my eldest sister and I came first by train and found a cottage in Red Lion Street for rent and so my mother, younger sister, Gwen and brother, Bill, joined us. They arrived in a van with the furniture. The cottage was very small and we had to put the sitting room furniture upstairs and the wardrobe in the living room.  It was strange to be living in the country as there was only one gas lamp on the village green and that was put out at 9pm. There were no flush toilets, those who had no garden to bury the bucket contents had to put the bucket in a wheelbarrow and take it to their allotment.

Every Sunday evening after chapel we had to carry waterfrom the tap by  the Bakehouse for my mother to do her washing on a Monday. One day my mother was on her knees cleaning the passage floor when the door opened and a man started to wheel a barrow of manure through to the back.  Mother was up in arms and refused to let the man go through!

Apparently it was the only cottage with a through passage to the neighbours' back gardens. Mother went to see Mr Spokes, the owner, and he agreed to have a wall knocked down at the top end of the gardens to let people get to their own garden.

My brother Bill went to the village school and we three girls bought bicycles and went to work in the sewing factory in Mill Lane, Banbury.  The factory closed down around 1932 so we went to work at the Aluminium Factory. We worked a 48 hour week for 6d. an hour until we got married. Just before we married we moved into a bigger house in Station Road. My eldest sister, Phyllis (Cis) married Tommy Wyatt, Gwen married Chris Timms and I married his brother, Reg Timms and we all had cottages in Paradise. After the war my other brother, Fred Ridge, and his wife also came to the village.  My father continued his tailoring and during the war when Falconbury School was evacuated to Astrop Park he did all the repairs for the staff and boys. My mother was a village 'mid-wife' who helped deliver babies and she also laid out the dead."

Janey Marchington

Frank came from Oldham in the 1930s when he could find no work in his native area. First he found a job near Stoke Poges, found accommodation for his wife, Janey and their two children and then sent for them to join him. Janey arrived on a Monday and the next day Frank came home to tell her that he no longer had a job. It was a case of last in, first out. They then had to survive on 32 shillings dole money and their rent was l7s.6d. 
Frank looked around again for work and, hearing there was employment at the Northern Aluminium Co. in Banbury, came to this area. Derek, their son, had to stay with his grandmother for 6 weeks whilst Frank bicycled round the villages looking for accommodation. Janey packed up their belongings and, after borrowing £15 for the removal van, arrived in King's Sutton where Frank had managed to rent a cottage in Bull's Lane from Mr Spokes.
He earned £2. 1Os. a week and paid 4s.6d. rent. Having made their home in King's Sutton they both contributed greatly to the social life through Frank's love of football. Janey was always busy with other ladies catering for various functions such as teas for the elderly, whist drives and teas at football matches.
Frank died in 1987. He served this village for many years on the Parish Council, the District Council, and was a school manager.

Leonard Green

My grandfather, Leonard Green, was village blacksmith and both he and my grandmother originated from North Newington.  As a child I was told he used to walk from North Newington to Twyford Mill every day where his job was looking after the horses. Coal for the Mill was collected from King's Sutton station by horse and cart. Grain from the Mill was delivered as far away as Bicester, also by horse and wagon.  When my grandfather obtained his Farrier's Certificate in 1901 he purchased the Forge in Richmond Street and started his own business.   Apart from shoeing horses, he also broke them in, if he had a difficult horse, he would fill a wagon with coal and drive the horse up to Newbottle, he always reckoned by the time he got to the top he would be manageable. He repaired harrows, ploughs and ironware for cart fitting and general use.  
Opposite their thatched house, which was demolished in the mid-1950s, was a grass verge, I can remember that being lined with farm implements, of all shapes and sizes waiting to be repaired for local farmers.   He would repair the kiddies' prams and make hoops for them to play with -  I still have one of those hoops. Grandfather kept pigs and Grandma had a jar of sweets which she doled out to any child bringing potato peelings - I was never allowed to have one of those sweets. He grew his own potatoes and barley on rented land - now known as Dairy Ground, they had contract threshers and steam tractors to thresh the barley. The whole family and others worked late to complete the job.   We had rabbit for supper - if we were quick enough to get them as they scuttled out of the barley.
He was also Village Constable, one of his duties, when the fairground people came, was to see that they did not come on to the Green in front of the Church before time. The fair people would never enter his house, but you were made very welcome if you visited their caravans.  I recall them  being very spick and span and shining. When Grandfather shoed their horses they paid in cash and always left the Green tidy and on time.  He walked the country paths to ensure they were kept open, but also to get the farmers to ring their pigs. Grandfather never saw the sea, he always said the countryside around was beautiful enoughfor him - why did he want to see the sea?   On Sunday mornings several men walked to Nell Bridge - I believe there was a Mr Stanbury (carpenter) and a Mr Taylor (butcher) amongst them, they discussed their business - much as the modern men do now on the  golf course. I loved to go with them, to watch the boats go by and the steam trains pick up water. He loved animals and children and, although a big man and very strong, he was kind and gentle.  I have seen him pick up the anvil, relatively easy and move it across the forge. When my parents brought me to King's Sutton, we would alight at King's Sutton station and I could hear the anvil 'ring'  and I would say 'That's my Grandfather'. The forge was demolished in 1978, I still have the anvil, some of his tools and his leather apron. Several 'hand made' horseshoes sit on the pelmet at my home. The bungalow known as The Forge was built behind the old Thatch House and in front of the Forge itself, some of the stone used in the bungalow is from the other cottages that stood alongside Grandfather's home. When they had moved into the bungalow, then their old home was demolished. Nowadays both the forge and their home would probably have had preservation orders put on them - but it is what is called  progress!  The old Thatch House had very thick stone walls, (about 18"-24"), the  chimney was straight and you could see the steps where at one time the children were sent up to sweep the chimney.

At one side of the fireplace was an oven and the other side was a copper for water with a brass tap on the front. All water was collected from a pump and even when the  water was piped to a tap indoors, Grandma preferred to use the pump in the yard. She complained that the tap 'spit and splashed'. The stairs of the old house twisted and the bedroom floorboards were the downstairs ceiling. The stairs came to what was known as a landing bedroom. Downstairs, thertwas a sort of cellar with a lead sink, this is where they cut up and salted the pigs. The usual thing would be to have a side of bacon hanging in the living room, as long as it was well-salted it would last for several months. For our wedding present we were offered money (£8.00) or a piece of bacon, as we were rationed at that time we chose the bacon which lasted us for a good few weeks into our married life. Grandmother was superintendent of the Methodist Church, but as Grandfather had caught a disease from the horses, which caused him to lose all his hair, he would never be seen without a hat and therefore never  entered a church, he would stand outside if he was attending a funeral or a wedding, I know his baldness caused him great embarrassment."


Jeff Judd (Owen Judd)

My parents moved to King's Sutton in 1919 soon after they were married and lived in Richmond Street.  That year my father bought the coal business from Mr  Arthur Jennings. I was born in that house and the coal yard was situated to the rear. My earliest memories go back to 1927. I can vaguely remember the model T Ford  lorry that carried a one ton load of coal. This lorry, when carrying a full load up Newbottle Hill to Lord Birkenhead's residence was not reliable compared to today's lorries. The exhaust, which went partly through the cab, would become red hot and set fire to the floor boards. This obviously required emergency action! Having stopped the lorry on the hill it was a problem to get started again and often gave trouble.  My father supplied coal to Lord Birkenhead and his family. They would burn thirty hundredweight of coal during a weekend house party entertaining royalty and politicians.

;           
In 1930 my father bought a 30 cwt. Chevrolet - RP 8687. This lorry was far more reliable although occasionally gave problems. My father allowed me to take the wheel on farm tracks when I was about ten years old. In school holidays I would spend all my spare time helping my father with coal deliveries. In 1941 I made myfirst journey collecting coal from the Coventry pits. Once I had five tons of coal on the two ton Bedford lorry. At that time the Bedfords were well known to have poor brakes. On this occasion in Coventry, as I approached traffic lights they changed to red. I applied the brakes which failed and I sailed straight through - a hair-raising experience! Because of the air-raids on Coventry not all roads were open and not all traffic lights in operation. Roy, our Labrador, was afamiliar sight riding on top of loads of coal, he would ride all the way back from Coventry on top of a load in all weathers and loved the experience. My father retired in 1946 due to ill-health and sold the coal business to Mr Ewart Medley who lived in Adderbury.

Gerald Radbourne

My parents, Fred and Annie Radbourne, lived in the house at the bottom of Richmond Street and that is where I was born in 1924.  My father worked on the Great Western Railway as a shunter and, with others, used to cycle to work all hours of the day and night. In his spare time he would go across the local farms shooting rabbits. He was accompanied very often by Mr Bert Wyatt and Jimmy Tombs, and when I was old enough to have my own gun I would go as well. My first memory of going with my father to the primrose spinney up Dirty Lane.

After I left school I worked at King's Sutton Co-op as a delivery boy. I had, in the past, helped George Bevis with his grocery deliveries, so I was used to riding a bicycle with a basket loaded on the front. I had also helped Jack Cousins and George Bevis in the Fish and Chip shop washing the potatoes and chipping them. Little did I realise then that I would start their with my own business in 1955.  Working at the Co-op whilst I was there was Mr Ted Keen (Manager), Pat Bran who later married Harry Ayriss, the baker's son, and Margaret Addison, now Mrs Wilson. It was hard work then as everything had to be weighed. I later worked at Charlton, the Central, Grimsbury, Adderbury and finally at Souldern until 1954. When I was 17 years old, in my spare time, I worked as an artist's model for Mr Stanley Davis who had a studio upstairs in the Old Church Hall. He did illustrations for Woman's Journal and Woman and Home. In 1955 my wife and I took over the fish shop from George Bevis who had taught us how to fillet and skin the fish before cutting into portions and how to make the batter and to make sure the oil was the right temperature for frying. The potatoes were washed outside in a machine manually and when it was cold and icy it wasn't very pleasant.

We had customers right up to ten o'clock at night. It was a very long day as we had to pick up the fish at 6 o'clock in the morning off the train from Grimsby. In 1955 we moved to The Willows and this made life a lot easier. There our son, Clive, was born. In 1960 we bought a plot of land from Jack Hermon next to his builder's yard in Dairy Grounds and by March 10th 1961 we had moved into our new shop and were living in the flat above. We called our new premises 'Richmond Stores'. At the time we were having our shop built the Reema houses were springing up like mushrooms. Jack Hermon was also the local undertaker and we could hear Fred Hayward making coffins in the workshop that formed the dividing wall from our property. When Mr Hermon retired the buildings were demolished. We had bought all new equipment for our fish and chip business and it was sheer bliss to use an electric potato washer and be in the warm. Fish and chips were only 1s.2d. a bag. After our youngest daughter was born  we decided that perhaps we should sell the equipment and fish fryer and take life a little easier. A few years later the newspaper round came on to the market and we decided to expand the business. It was back to getting up early in the morning marking up the papers for the boys to deliver and then opening at 7 am instead of 8 am.  After thirty years in the retail business we reluctantly sold the business to Mr Leighton Anderson and family. We moved into Glebe Rise on November 4th 1985. We are still getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning to  mark up papers but the bliss of knowing that you can do what you want for the rest of the day without having to watch the clock is heaven. That's my wife's opinion. Me? I wish I could put the clock back and still be running my shop.

Glyn Wyatt

I remember vividly the community spirit of King's Sutton when I was young. Whole families gathered at the river in the summer for picnics and swimming. Newbottle woods was a very popular place in the spring and it looked much different then with lawns for picnics and countless primroses and bluebells which the children picked.
 
In 1954, when I was eight-years-old, I used to help Mr Flowers of College Farm.   One day I was asked to bring home the Shire Horse and when I got near to Mr d'Erlanger's house I thought I would ride the rest of the way.
All went well for a while but what I didn't realise was that the horse had a young foal and when she heard her young one whinny, off she went at full speed with me hanging on for all I was worth! Unfortunately the horse didn't see the farm gate until the last minute. She dug her heels in with sparks flying and me flying up over her head. The horse shattered the gate and I was bruised all over. Needless to say it was a goodfew years before I rode another Shire horse.
Fetes and gymkhanas were held regularly in the village and these were attended by all the villagers. In the winter months the meadows by the station wouldflood and freeze over - an opportunity for families to go iceskating.
Most of all I remember the freedom we children had to roam the countryside at will, discovering the wild life, bird's nesting and scrumping, (heaven help us if we were caught!).