The name Market Lavington is a bit of a giveaway. It used to be a market town and, indeed, it is still a minor centre for the local area with more shops and facilities than might be expected in a village. A new one, just started is the Saint Arbucks coffee shop in a building which was once a part of the Lavington Supply Store. Their web site is at www.saintarbucks.info . We already have paper artefacts like the flyer below, in the museum.

St. Arbucks Flyer – one of the newest items stored for posterity at Market Lavington Museum

But we no longer have a department store spread over several buildings in the village centre but we do have reminders. On our stairway, and very hard to photograph we have a sign, similar to the one below but in better condition. This sign, which is in pieces, is in store. From time to time we unwrap the stored items to check for any signs of problems and the opportunity was taken to photograph this one.

A Lavington Supply Store sign dating from about 1900

The name, partly hidden, tells us that the proprietor of this business was A M Walton. Arthur Walton came to Market Lavington prior to 1891 with his wife Emily. We think this sign dates from the early 20^th century. We cannot find a photo which features this sign.

But here is one which says ‘Lavington Supply Store’ on the building which is now St. Arbucks. This photo dates from about 1904.

1904 photo of White Street. The staff of Mr Walton’s Lavington Supply Store stand outside what is now St. Arbucks, Market Lavington

For the record, we believe it is possible that in earlier times this building was an inn – The Lamb. The name Lamb Corner still survives for the crossroads.

It is always tempting to snap a photo of Market Lavington from Lavington Hill. It is like an aerial photo, with the village laid out before you. This example is believed to date from about 1970 – and judging by the colours it was the Autumn of that year. This would have been before the Dutch bark beetle caused havoc amongst our elm trees. The colours are very pretty.

Market Lavington from the hill in about 1970

The obvious building is the church, still there, of course and still looking much the same. To the left of the church is Grove Farmhouse, now consigned to memory. We have our wonderful Community Hall on that site now.

To the right of the church we can just make out our museum building and then the Old House. We can see the barn on Parsonage Lane and the Racquets Court. We can make out houses in Market Place with Spin Hill (the road) rising behind them.

The large white barn like building near the right was the workshop of the Wiltshire Agricultural Engineering Company. Behind that are the scattered houses on the sands.

In the foreground of the village, in front of the church is the little close of houses on Lavington Hill and between them and the church there are the houses on White Street, The Muddle and Church Street.

We like these ordinary photos at the museum – there’s nothing special going on. We just see the village as it was 40 or so years ago.

And of course, we can spot the changes since this photo was taken in about 1918.

Market Lavington from the hill in about 1918

This year, we have a photographic display concerning the railway and station at Lavington which you can find at the top of the stairs at Market Lavington Museum. We are able to cover the entire history of the line so far, for we have photos showing construction in the 1890s and can come right up to the newest steam loco, Tornado, passing through Market Lavington just a few months ago.

Here we see a couple of members of the station staff on the platform in 1954.

Lavington station and staff in 1954

That’s John Sainsbury on the left, with a colleague. No doubt, back then, working at the station felt like a secure job but Lavington went the way of many stations, falling victim to Dr Beeching’s plans to reshape British Railways. Closure came on 22^nd April 1966 although the goods yard lingered on until the following year.

John Sainsbury remained a railway man, but worked elsewhere. He still lives in the area and we have a recording of his memories as part of our Oral History project

Market Lavington Museum Oral History Prioject

This isn’t the first time, and it probably won’t be the last time that Market Lavington’s Jubilee Cottage occupies a slot on the Market Lavington Museum blog. The cottage was built at the time of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887 by Robert Oram. Descendants of Robert are still active in the village and even more dispersed members of the family are great supporters of the museum.

Here we have Ernest and Arthur Oram standing outside the cottage.

Jubilee Cottage on Northbrook, Market Lavington with Ernest and Arthur oram standing outside

Ernest and Arthur Oram of Northbrook, Market Lavington

There we see the two men, leaning on the fence, and both wearing leather gaiters to protect lower trousers from mud.

Ernest was born about 1902 and Arthur in 1904. They were the children of Henry Robert and Matilda Oram which would make them the grandsons of the Robert Oram who built the cottage. As far as we know, Robert still occupied Jubilee Cottage in 1911 but Henry Robert, Matilda and seven children lived elsewhere on Northbrook.

Perhaps by the time this photo was taken the next generation had moved into Jubilee Cottage. We think this must date from the 1920s.

Both men lived their lives in or around Market Lavington and Devizes.

Looking at the house, we can see the strange carved head above the door.

Carved head above the door of Jubille Cottage, Market Lavington

That no longer exists and neither do the flower pots built onto the gate posts.

Flowerpot on the gatepost of Jubilee Cottage, Market Lavington.

The windows have been altered too, but the cottage still looks much the same as it did then.

Some areas of the village don’t change all that much. The High Street is still very much the same as it was in this picture from roughly 100 years ago.

At the far end of Market Lavington High Street

Well, perhaps we should say the buildings haven’t changed much, externally. A similar scene today would have a lot of cars in it and we know many of the buildings have had extensive internal alterations.

The building at the extreme right had been built as a Quaker meeting house in the 18^th century but it was taken over by the Independent Church in the early 19^th century and remained as the Congregational Church until the new, bigger premises were built in 1892. They’d have been just behind the photographer. From 1892 the old chapel became the Sunday School for the Congregational Church until the 1960s, when the Powner Hall was built alongside the 1892 chapel. The old building was sold and was, for many years, an artist’s studio, retaining, still, many of the church features.

Further down on the right hand side there is The Police House. This photo could date from about the time that Sergeant Hillier had his sadly brief sojourn here.

The left hand side has a mix of residential and commercial premises – it is often hard to spot the difference but there were a surprising number of shops at this end of the village. The pavement in front of the houses on the left is now wider, in places much wider, than it was then.

Some of the houses still had their thatched roof back then.

At the far end of the photo we can make out the ‘bell tower’ on the Workmans’ Hall

Amongst new items on display in the museum this year is the clock which once served the village on that building. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at your museum in 2013.

The Royal Oak in Easterton has, for many a year been the only pub in the village. It is always a lovely looking place, sitting snugly under its thatched roof – truly a pub at the heart of a village. We actually don’t have many photos of the place but this one, taken from a high vantage point, shows off its olde worlde charms well.

The Royal Oak pub in Easterton

Of course, the photo is quite old – we don’t actually have a date but clearly it was taken before the single storey building alongside Oak Lane was removed. That building has some adverts pasted on the end wall.

Adverts pasted on the wall of a vanished outbuilding

One is for Royal Enfield Bicycles and the big lettering on the other says Wiltshire Estates. Nothing there helps us to date the photo.

Close up on the Oak. Can anyone date this image of Easterton?

The pub building looks similar to what we see today. Sadly we can’t get the same vantage point which, perhaps, was high up in the garden of Oak Cottage. But here is a modern shot of the pub.

The Royal Oak, easterton – a recent photo

This photo was given to Market Lavington Museum recently. It shows the Easterton Church Choir of the 1950s standing outside St Barnabas Church.

St Barnabas Church Choir, Easterton, in the 1950s

Since then, Jim, our Easterton expert, has worked hard to get people named. First of all, Jim numbered all of the people.

Then he sought help and has most of the people named.

1                     June Nash
2                     Rita Smith
3
4
5                     Roger Sainsbury
6                     David Bee
7
8                     Peggy Chapman
9                     Pat Stockley
10
11
12                 Marion Stockley
13                 Pauline Stockley
14                 Jack Shepherd
15
16                 Gladys Windo
17                 Bob Sainsbury
18
19                 Bill Stockley
20                 John Dodge
21                 Michael Bee
22                 Bob Godfrey
23                 Rev Arthur

Good work, Jim but of course we’d love to name the others. Can anyone out there in blogland help?

Today we are looking at a much older item than usual. Mostly, we don’t have what counts as ‘archaeology’ in Market Lavington Museum, but we do have a display cabinet devoted to finds on the Grove Farm estate – where Saxon and Roman settlements were uncovered and we do have other items found locally as one off items. That’s what we are looking at today.

This is a piece of shaped stone – clearly shaped to serve a purpose. It’s about 3’5 centimetres in diameter and 2 centimetres deep.

Part of a lead casting mould found at Northbrook, Market Lavington

This has clearly been deliberately shaped. Probably there was a second half which more or less matched, but without the hole through. The experts think this is a small crucible or a mould for casting something in lead. Lead shot has been suggested but we are not convinced due to the depression not being hemispherical. In fact, we are not sure how that depression can have filled, if molten lead was poured in at the top.

The top of this piece looks like this.

The recess used when pouring molten lead

Here we can see a recess into which molten lead could be poured so that it could pass through the hole and into the mould.

This item came from a garden in Northbrook and is believed to be from the late medieval period.

Of course, we’d appreciate any further information.

Here we show another recent photographic gift to the museum which Easterton Jim has got named for us. Here’s the original photo.

Easterton men building the vestry on St Barnabas Church in 1953

It shows Easterton’s St Barnabas Church having the vestry built on in 1953.

The people have been numbered – and because this image and another were on one page these people are numbered 24 to 29.

And the people are:

24 Bob Godfrey
25 Alec Chapman
26 John Dodge
27 Bob Sainsbury
28 ? possibly lived at Kestrel Cottages
29 Bill Stockley

Once again, many thanks to Jim and to Rosemary for making this picture accessible to many and helping to portray a little more of the history of our parishes. And if anyone can name number 28 we’d be delighted.

This medal is something we know little about. It is a medal issued by the National Rifle Association (of the UK).

The obverse or front shows the logo of the organisation.

National Rifle Association Medal at Market Lavington Museum

The bowman on the left is dated 1300-1500 and the rifleman on the right at 1860. The motto at the bottom is ‘sit perpetuum’ which translates roughly as ‘for ever’.

On the reverse there is a simple message in a laurel wreath.

The reverse of the medal

This simply says, The National Rifle Association 1860.

We think the date 1860 refers to the founding of the association. Regular competitions were held and we have no knowledge as to when this medal was won, or by whom. It came to the museum from our founder, Peggy Gye, in 1985 but has no further information.

Can anyone out there tell us any more?

Yes, the new season begins for us today and we look forward to seeing you in the museum during the coming summer and autumn months. Maybe you’ll get there today.

A lot of our work has been done in the closed season. Walls have been painted; the door has been strengthened and painted. The porch has been spruced up.

New displays have replaced the 2012 offerings.  This year you’ll be able to see a display on schools and another on views from the church in past times.  We get a look at the railway in another and can see a different range of clothing connected with getting ready in the morning on our mannequins. The clock which used to grace the village on the Workmans’ Hall is now on display.

Our stewards have helped out with a lovely spring cleaning session, making sure windows, and floors are in good order and removing the cobwebs which appear in the winter. Artefacts out on display in kitchen and trade rooms have all been given attention to make them look as good as possible.

Our stewards have also attended refresher sessions to make sure they know what is going on.

So now all we need are visitors coming to see our lovely, friendly village museum. It is, after all, your museum. We just have the good fortune to help with running it.

And here, as a reminder, is our kitchen range, part of the original house, still in its original place.

The kitchen range at Market Lavington Museum

At Market Lavington Museum we have no love for smoking but we can accept it is, sadly, an addictive habit and one that many people, in the past, took up. Once started, they found themselves unable to give up the habit, even had they wanted to.

We certainly do not favour the slaughter of elephants for ivory either but here we have an item of smoking history that is, in part, made of ivory.

It is a cigar holder, presented in a neat case which looks like a very miniature violin case.

Miniature case at Market Lavington Museum

Here we see the holder. The non-ivory part of this cigar holder is made of amber.

Amber and ivory cigar holder which once belonged to Norman Neate of Market Lavington

This little item – some 8cm long, dates from about 1900 and it belonged to Norman Neate who was the last commercial brewer in Market Lavington, selling his produce at a pub called The Brewery Tap on White Street.

You can see this item in our entrance room at the museum, displayed for the first time in many a year.

A tin for Lixen Laxative Lozenges at Market Lavington Museum

This tin which once contained laxative lozenges, dates from the 1950s. Was this the era for ‘regularity’? Our curator recalls the laxative chocolate – ex-lax – which his mother always kept. It was, apparently, delicious and our curator ate a whole tablet of it with the (now) expected and rather explosive results.

Lixen was obviously an alternative. The manufacturing company, Allen and Hanburys were a long established and well respected manufacturer of a variety of medicinal products. These lozenges came in a tin. It was some 8cm by 4.5 and less than a centimetre deep. Our tin has a price tag on the underside.

Our tin was sold for one shilling

That’s one shilling or 5p in modern money.

Other products came in tins like this and again, our curator recalls very sharp edges and the need to keep ‘Elastoplast’ handy to deal with the cuts the tins caused.

This tin has found a home in our ‘medical’ cabinet for the 2013 season. Perhaps others will have memories of medicaments that they could share with us.

For many a year, the wall on the left as you enter Market Lavington Museum has featured information about the Grove Farm archaeology. The dig revealed Roman and Saxon settlement in the area – and such a major part of the history of our area is worthy of display. It still is displayed, but the arrival of new items means some things have been moved. The new item that needed space was the old clock which used to grace the Workmans’ Hall. And that means the first ‘Treasures of Market Lavington’ that visitors are likely to see will include a display about the clock and the hall. The hall was built in 1865 and after something of a chequered history it still serves as a community building, housing our library and, of course, it is the Scout Hall. An explanatory history of the hall forms part of the display, which can be seen below. (This photo was taken before the full display was in place.)

We have taken the opportunity to increase the display about the fire brigades that served both Easterton and Market Lavington. The Market Lavington Fire Station desk was on display last year but now we have more information about the fire brigade and firemen who served our villages so well. Open the cupboard door to find the story of the fire engine built by Mr Milson, as told by Marjory, his daughter.

Regular visitors will note that we still have the Honeychurch dolls house on display on the same wall but most other items are new for this year. Do make sure you visit during the year to see all of the changes we have made during the closed season.

Today we are looking at an item found under floorboards – another chance to plug a favourite web site at http://www.wallwork.me.uk/floorboards.html – but that site is not connected with Market Lavington or Easterton.

Today’s item is, however for it was found during renovations at the former Volunteer Arms in the 1970s.

Matchbox found during 1970s renovations at The Volunteer Arms in Market Lavington

It’s a rather battered box of matches of the wax variety. Somebody, at some long distant time, has tried to mend the box with sellotape – useful stuff, of course, but not for use on precious items. The matches were of a variety called Springflap. This name referred to the box described on http://www.phillumeny.com/ as ‘a type of matchbox where, when the inner box is pulled from the outer box with one open end, and a flap energised by an elastic band flips out such that the inner box can be returned by flipping back the flap.’

The back of the box is decorated with a picture which looks to be of a Dutch scene.

Dutch scene on the back of the box

It’s a real shame about the sellotape!

The matches themselves are still with the box. They are wax matches – almost like miniature candles with a striking head.

The small wax matches inside the box

We are not experts on matches but we think these date from the mid-20^th century.

Today we are looking at a card sent to a Miss Hiscock in Winchester. It isn’t the first time we have done such a thing, but this time the address on the card matches one we can find in the 1911 census so we know who this particular Miss Hiscock actually was.

Let’s start with the message side of the card.

Card sent to Miss A Hiscock – a cook in Winchester who was born and raised in Market Lavington

We can see this card was posted in Oxford on March 27^th 1908. The message is short and tells us little. We have to remember that the Edwardian postcard was very much the text message of the time. It appears to be confirming an arrangement for ‘Annie’ to meet Miss A Hiscock. But that address matters, for we can identify from it that this was Alice Mahala Hiscock, born in 1882 in Market Lavington.

Alice’s parents were James and Amelia Hiscock and they lived at the Easterton end of Market Lavington High Street. Market Lavington born James was a blacksmith/engineer. Alice lived all her childhood in Market Lavington and we guess she attended the village school. In 1901 she was described as a domestic servant but she was living with her parents.

For the 1911 census, Alice was the cook for John Shawcross, a clerk in Holy orders who lived at Kenley, Barnes Close, Winchester.

We believe Alice married Wilfrid Waters in 1914. She died in 1975 in the Trowbridge area of Wiltshire.

And now let’s see the front of the card.

This card shows the part of High Street, Market Lavington where Alice lived as a girl

This would be a good choice, for we think the Hiscock family may have occupied one of the cottages on the right hand side of the road. It’s just possible that people in the picture are Hiscocks.

Back in the 1960s Wordley’s, the agricultural engineers, took over the yard between the butcher’s shop and the former hardware shop. The entrance to this yard was via an archway, more or less opposite the Market Place. The combine harvesters of the day were too big for the archway and it had to go which left this view.

Before Woodland Yard, Market Lavington – probably in the 1960s

What we see here is a pair of Massey Harris combines (they’d have been red) lost in a scene of dereliction. Heaps of all sorts would seem to surround the harvesters. Wordley’s had a ‘work in progress’ when the photo was taken. Sadly, we don’t have a date for the picture.

The houses in the middle distance are on The Clays. The house on the left has now sprouted an extension. Those on the right are near Chapel Lane – the footpath past the fish and chip shop.

Beyond we look up Lavington Hill on Salisbury Plain. The road is visible near the top of the hill. Don’t be confused by damage to the photo which produces the effect of a sunken lane by the chimney of the houses on the right.

These days the view is entirely different. The area is Woodland Yard and a number of traders have businesses in the area.

A similar recent view of Woodland Yard

Lords of the Manor enjoy their expensive pursuits. A part of the Pleydell Bouverie empire was the racquets court and no doubt many folks enjoyed thrashing a ball around in that building. Eventually, it became a dwelling and one owner didn’t like the name ‘Racquets Court’ and changed it to ‘The Fives Court’. The two games are different and later owners changed the name back to what the building was – ‘Racquets Court’.

But at the time of this photo it was called The Fives Court. It was 1972.

A view from the Fives Court, Market Lavington

The building was undergoing alterations and had scaffolding up. This allowed an intrepid photographer to scale the heights and get different views of Market Lavington from a high vantage point. This one is looking down Parsonage Lane to the village centre.

We can see, at the left edge, the lovely topiary at number 8 Parsonage Lane. This has featured before on this blog (click here). The neat rows of plants in that front garden would suggest that it was used for vegetables.

On the right hand side a car has its bonnet up so presumably is receiving attention. In front of it there is the delightful stepped entrance to The Old House which had also been a part of the Pleydell Bouverie estate in Market Lavington.

Roughly in the centre of the photo we are looking at the crossroads and can see a building which fronts on to White Street. That was once the centre of the Market Lavington department store owned by Arthur Walton. By 1972 what was left of the shop was a small clothes shop – where the hairdresser is now.

And once again we have that regular backdrop for our village under the plain – Lavington Hill.

We are actually looking along what was once the main road from Devizes to Salisbury. Parsonage Lane, White Street and Lavington Hill were all parts of this major thoroughfare. It changed when Salisbury Plain became a permanent military training area in the early years of the twentieth century. It was only then that the present main road, through West Lavington took over as THE route.

How wonderful to record a new book written about Market Lavington and Easterton. Local character, artist and museum volunteer, Pat Stacpoole has written an account of the road he has lived on for many a year – Kings Road. This road is in both of our parishes and for many the first surprise will be to know that the name has no royal meaning. Pat’s writing shows a great deal of love of the local countryside. As a bonus, you get two of his paintings on the front and back cover.

A copy can be read at Market Lavington Museum

Let’s start here with the front.

A lovely new book about Kings Road in Market Lavington. and Easterton It can be read at Market Lavington Museum.

Now, Pat’s own introduction.

This is the story of Kings Road, a Wiltshire lane that pretends to be a road. It goes from nowhere very special to nowhere else very special. Nothing dramatic has ever happened here. No great houses built, no battles fought and no kings have passed this way but, in its own small way, it has been a tiny vein through which the life blood of England has flowed. Its history is not even recorded in the fine village museum in Market Lavington, and, as it is on the parish boundary, it is not shown on the magnificent tapestry of the village made to celebrate the Millennium.

Along and across its narrow twisting way have passed shepherds and their flocks, a highwaymen and toll gate keepers, soldiers returning from the wars, jam makers, worshippers, railway builders and humble dog walkers. The gentle history of England sleeps here.

Those of us who live on or near the road enjoy the tranquillity of Wiltshire. It was not always thus. John Foster writing to a friend in 1790 described Market Lavington as “A place notorious for wickedness for miles around, with bull baiting, dog fighting, depravity of manners, pugilistic encounters, drunkenness and profanity. Thank Heavens we are (geographically too) above all this now.

Kings Road runs from Easterton up to a green sand ridge to join the road from Market Lavington to Devizes. Narrow and single tracked for most of the way, it sprouts even smaller lanes, rough, muddy and mostly cul de sacs. An unremarkable strip of English countryside, except to those who live there and love it, Kings Road’s only obvious distinction is the magnificent views it gives. To the north and west the Avon Vale stretches out towards Westbury, to the Mendips and infinitely beyond. To the south the escarpment, the line of the 7000 year old Ridgeway from Urchfont to Joan a’Gore, makes a shore line for the waves of clouds which flow across wild Salisbury Plain.

And finally, the poignant back cover.

The books back cover shows Windmill Lane – one of those old ways that lead off Kings Road

As our new season gets under way it is good to record that new items continue to be given to the museum. It can be so easy to offer us photographs for we are happy to accept electronic photos sent to us by email. Of course, we love originals, but when we get them, we copy them and the originals are kept safely away from too much light which can and does cause photos to fade.

A correspondent, Nancy, has recently sent us photos of Reverend and Mrs Frith. Nancy is a descendant of Violet Wilson, the Frith’s niece and we have featured her marriage on this blog. (click here).

The Reverend Frith (his full name was Edward Blackston Cokayne Frith) was a long term Vicar of Market Lavington serving for some 35 years in the 19^th century and the first few years of the twentieth century. But despite this long service and residence in the village and the prominent position the Vicar held, we know remarkably little of him and even less of his wife.  But now we have an image to go on.

Maria Frith (née Sankey) of Market Lavington Vicarage

So there we have Mrs Frith. We do not have a date for the photo but it looks like a younger Mrs Frith than the one at Violet Wilson’s marriage in 1900. In that photo, as well, Mrs Frith was wearing a spotted veil coming down to about nose level.

Our lady was born Maria Sankey in about 1830 in Wingham (or possibly Walmer) in East Kent. The Sankey family seem to have been quite well off. By 1851 her father was deceased – and may well have been in 1841, but her mother is variously described on censuses as ‘independent’, ‘landed proprietor’ or ‘fund holder’. For the three censuses in 1841, 51 and 61 we find Maria with her mother in Bath.

However she had married Edward Frith in Bath in 1856.

We cannot find Edward or Maria on the 1871 census but in 1881, 91 and 1901 they are at Market Lavington.

Maria died in 1904 and is buried in Market Lavington churchyard.

Edward died in 1906.