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Life in the Courts of Ock Street
Written by Jackie Hudson
At various locations along Ock Street and immediately behind the houses which lined the main street, there used to lie varying sized plots of land which each contained between 2 to 13 dwellings. The dwellings in these plots were almost all accessed through small alleyways which were no wider than the doors of the houses located on each side of the entrance. These “hidden” plots and their dwellings were known as “Courts”.
Initially, there were eight Courts located on the north side of Ock Street, called Courts 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 and twelve Courts sited along the south side of the Street, called Courts 2, 4, 6, 8 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24.
The "Courts" - were recorded more or less as described above as far back as 1838 on the St Helen’s map, but many of the buildings were known to have been in situe from the middle of the 17th century.
For the purpose of this article, I have used the 1901 Census as my source of information. With one exception, all of the Courts were inhabited at that time. Only Court 2 had disappeared - although three cottages located in Brewery Yard in 1901 are believed to be remnants of this court. The 19 remaining Courts housed just over 100 dwellings and around 380 residents. These residents were a large proportion of the town’s labour force and a look at their occupations provides a good insight into their life styles and their importance to the economy of the town.
Most of the women were employed in the clothing industry, probably the Clarke, Sons & Company factory in West St Helen’s Street. This factory employed many women and some would have worked on a piecework basis from home. The most common occupations were variously described as: button hole maker; machinist; needlewoman; seamstress; slop worker; smockfrocker; tailoress; trouser finisher; etc. A handful of ladies were recorded as being charwomen; laundresses or children’s nurses.
There was a far greater variation in the occupation of the men. A great many of them were employed as agricultural labourers and the census includes men who were cowmen; carters; oslers; ploughmen; and shepherds. There were bricklayers, carpet weavers; coal merchant’s labourers; fishmonger’s labourers; fruiterer’s porters; gardeners; marine store labourers; mason’s labourers; sawyers; shoe makers; etc. The towns breweries also accounted for brewers draymen, maltsters and even a brewers engine driver.
There were records of children as young as 13 being in full time employment at that time.
The vast majority of the properties in the Courts were small – most with just one main room downstairs and one bedroom upstairs, but that didn’t stop a number of very large families being raised in them.
A close inspection of the census information shows that many families had to foster their children out to neighbours – perhaps to a widow or widower living close by - or another member of their family, such as a grandparent or aunt. What is more, there are a great many examples of family communities dominating certain Courts, which would have made the logistics for sleeping large families much easier.
This would have been a very sensible tactic. There were many benefits of living close to your parents, siblings, children or other relatives. Without any form of welfare state, these extended families would have pulled together and helped each other out when times were bad – acting, for example, as banker, cook, laundress, nurse, child-minder, gardener, etc.
There is no doubt that times would have been hard. The dwellings had no inside power – no electricity or gas – and no running water. Cooking would have been on a coal or wood burning stove and for many this would have been the only source of heating in winter. However, on Sunday mornings, when the ovens of local bakers were not being used to bake bread, children would often be sent along the street to one of the bakeries, carrying roasting tins or casserole dishes, and for just a few pence, the Sunday lunch, (which they would have called "dinner") would have been cooked in the bakery ovens.
The dwellings would have had a main room downstairs, which would have been the kitchen-cum diner-cum living room and would most likely have been lit with a paraffin lamp. Candles would have been more commonly used in the bedroom. By this time, most of the Courts had water pipes and lavatories outside in the yard that were shared between the residents. There were also shared washing lines and residents were allocated a day when they could use them – which must have been a pain if it rained on your allocated day!
Residents in some of the larger courts had small garden patches which were often used to rear chicken and rabbits. Also those on the south side had the Ock Stream and Ock River nearby and this encouraged the rearing of ducks and geese. Being so close to the River Ock and Stream had huge disadvantages as well. This area flooded regularly in winters and many of the houses – especially those closest to the watercourse – became unsafe and officially recorded as empty. In fact, in dry times, residents would have put them to some use. Certainly there are records of some of them being used as washhouses and there is no doubt that others would have been used as over-flow accommodation.
For the most part, children would have had to sleep in the same room as their parents and in large families the children would have slept three or four in a bed “top to toe”, i.e. with one facing in one direction and the next in the opposite direction.
Virtually all of the dwellings in the Courts had been deemed slums and had been demolished by the mid 1930’s – a life changing time for the residents, who all had to be re-housed – but more of that in a future article.
Today, the only evidence that remain of the Courts are three of the entrances to the alleyways. The entrance to Court 1, located between Nos. 39 and 41, is not a typical entrance. It is an ornate archway which is probably twice the width of the majority of entrances, making it wide enough for a cart or carriage. The entrance to Court 16 can be seen between the door of the Chinese Take-Away, formerly Walter’s Café and the small cottage at No 152. The entrance to Court 6 can be seen adjacent to the door of No 92.
Many of the Courts were known to have had alternative names over the years. Court 5 went by the name of Willow Place. Perhaps there were willow trees in evidence here. How much better it would have sounded to have your address as Willow Place, rather than just Court 5! Court 9 was called Pump Court in recognition of the Carswell Fountain that was located on the wall adjacent to the entrance.
On the south side of the road, Bakehouse Cottages was the popular name for Court 10, one of the largest courts, located behind the bakery owned by Albert Miles in 1901 and more recently by Mr Holmes. Residents in Court 12 were no doubt proud to live in Ock View Cottages. Other names existed over time which recognised owners of the buildings themselves or adjacent businesses.
The Ock Street Heritage Group have tried hard to find photographs of the Courts to no avail. If you have one that we can add to our archives we would love to hear from you. |
The Michaelmas Fair
 | Written by Jackie Hudson
People have been enjoying all the fun of the Michaelmas Fair in Abingdon for centuries! For at least a hundred years, it has stretched from its original source at The Bury, which is in front of the County Hall in the centre of town, then along the High Street and finally along the full length of Ock Street. It is thought to hold the record for the longest street-fair in Europe.
Nowadays, if we live more than a couple of miles from the town centre, the chances are we will arrive by car or public transport, having arranged to meet up with family and friends, and then we will set out to enjoy the spectacle and the thrill of the many stomach churning rides and try our luck at winning a stuffed toy or other prize at one of the many amusement stalls – all of this under a blaze of flashing electric lights and with the accompaniment of loud, throbbing, music.
The excitement starts on the previous Sunday afternoon, when the Fair “runs in”. At a designated time, the showmen, who will previously have parked up their huge trailers on the perimeter of town, will make their way through the streets to take up their assigned position and then set about building their stalls and rides. In the evening it is traditional for the local people to join them in a service of thanksgiving.
But you only have to go back a couple of hundred years, to a time when there were no motor cars and no electric – not even steam power - and the fair then was little changed from the way it had been over the previous centuries.
In the “old” days, adults and children from out of town would have had to walk many, many, miles to get to Abingdon, or, if they were lucky, they would ride in on horseback or travel by horse-drawn cart or carriage. Most visitors from out of town would have had to stay overnight, perhaps with family or friends, or in a local hostelry.
They would have enjoyed amusements such as throwing and rolling games, using balls, coins and darts, just like we do today; helter skelters and swingboats; boxing and wrestling booths; theatres with dancing ladies; food stalls; and tents full of exotic caged animals and other strange and weird human phenomena. Musicians would add to the jollity, walking through the fair playing their instruments. The only lighting would come from the flickering flames of oil lamps and kerosene flares attached to the stalls.
Of course, in Ock Street alone there have been up to 15 pubs along the route – all operating concurrently - and there were others in High Street, on the Bury and in the adjacent streets, so these would all have been heaving with customers as well and adding to the merriment.
But the origin of the fair had a very serious side. In 1349, a third of the population was wiped out by the Black Death epidemic and this meant that there were insufficient workers to fill job vacancies around the country. At that time, employers were worried that those able-bodied workers who had survived the sickness would be in a strong position to force up wages. In the circumstances, a Statute of Labourers law was enacted. This required every able-bodied man to present himself once a year at a stated place to hear what wages would be paid during the coming year. In this area of the country, such pronouncements were made at Michaelmas, since this coincided with the time of year when hiring agreements for the next twelve months were traditionally renewed, and this eventually gave rise to our Michaelmas Fair.
This annual gathering of workers came to be known as the “Statute Sessions” and later on the fairs became known as “Statute Fairs”. Of course, the crowds gathering for the Statute Sessions would have been a captive audience and it is not surprising that people would have capitalised on the situation. After all, large crowds need to be fed, watered and entertained! The entertainment side of the Fair arose from these gatherings.
These same gatherings acted as a catalyst for those employers who were looking to hire workers and the many labourers who were looking for jobs and so the Michaelmas Fair in Abingdon also became known for miles around as a “Hiring” or “Mop” Fair.
Agricultural labourers, in particular, would arrive at the fair wearing a “mop” in their hat bands, or waist bands, or lapels, in order to advertise their particular area of expertise. A “mop” is an old English word for tuft or tassel and, therefore, a shepherd might wear a tuft of wool, a thatcher, a piece of straw; a carter, a tassel of whipcord; etc.
The small fair held a week later, and still called the Runaway Fair, provided the opportunities for unhappy employees to change their minds; for those who had already been sacked to find alternative employment; and for employers who were still looking for workers to have another opportunity to find the right man, or woman, for the job.
So for centuries this Fair has had its connections with Michaelmas Day and even when there was a change in the calendar in 1752, the organisers ignored the fact that eleven days were lost (you went to bed on the 4th and woke up o the 15th) and the fair continued to start on the “Monday before the 11th October”, i.e. as near as possible to the old Michaelmas Day.
In the early 1800’s, steam came on the scene and this revolutionised the fairs. Not only could the steam engines pull heavier loads than had previously been possible with horse and trailer, but now the “rides” could be power driven. The steam-driven Merry-go-rounds, Gallopers, Swing Yachts, and some so-called “white knuckle” rides, all became very popular with children and adults alike.
Many former residents of Ock Street still remember the last days of steam, the days when there was a strong bond between themselves and the showmen and their families. This is because the showmen had traditional spots which they returned to year after year. The names of Irvine, Wilson, Flanagan, Studts and Birds were familiar to all and many young boys would earn a few pence helping the showmen and their families build and run their rides. There are even stories of Ock Street men travelling off with the Fair when it left the town.
From the early 1900’s, there were yet more transformations, in particular the arrival of the motor engine and electricity. That was also when an American, W. E. Sullivan, invented a portable Big Wheel, which was to become a traditional annual feature, and it is when the tradition started of walking through the Fair with your fish and chips, wrapped in newspaper, and purchased at either Ruddock’s or Reeves – two fish and chip shops being located at the end of Ock Street on either side of the street!
The Fair remained partly a hiring fair until the early 20th century. An article in a magazine in 1917 described how: “Men would stand in a long line down the east side of the market place, (or Bury,) while the ladies took their stand under the shelter of the County Hall.” But by the end of WW1, it was reported in the local North Berks Herald that the hiring tradition was absent and the fair was for entertainment alone.
The Michaelmas Fair continues to be held according to statute and many Abingdonians are fiercely protective of this tradition. |
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Ock Street Morris Dancing in the early 19th Century
Written by Dr Jon Leach
Local tradition, backed up by newspaper reports, would suggest that morris dancing in Abingdon goes back to at least the 18th century, and was regularly associated with the June Fair in Ock Street. On market and fair days, this wide street was filled with horse-drawn vehicles and droves of cattle. Hemp-spinning, sack weaving and rope-making were important industries and were housed in large sheds and outbuildings. Numerous courts of small cottages, set at right angles to the main street, housed up to 500 people. In the two centuries leading up to 1900 the existence of at least 20 different public houses in the street was recorded. Jackson's Oxford Journal described the west end of the street as containing "miserable abodes of the poor" (June 16th 1834). Two years later the same paper tells us that:
The pleasure fair, once so noted in the Ock St., for country cousins, hams and gooseberry pie, approached somewhat its former eclat...
(Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 28th l834).
Highwaymen and pickpockets are reported to have been amongst the attenders at the fair.
Thomas Hemmings, who was “Mayor of Ock Street” during the 19th century, was born in Ock Street in 1814 His father was turnkey at Abingdon Gaol which was built in 1812 "and we imagine that he also was interested in morris dancing." (Percy Hemmings to the Director of Television, November 28th, 1938). The Census records show that Thomas Hemmings was an agricultural labourer and that his wife, Louisa, was a hemp spinner. They lived at Smith's Yard (Court 13) in Ock Street, and of their eight children at least four were morris dancers.
The first known account of morris dancing at this time occurs in 1825.
ABINGDON
On Saturday last the curious, laughable, and annual ceremony of choosing a mayor for the Ock Street in this borough took place according to ancient custom. We have taken the trouble to make enquiry into the origin of this practice, and it may amuse our readers to hear the result. It appears that although the Ock Street is situate within the borough, the inhabitants have always been considered a distinct people, and during the latter part of the 16th century, many and serious were the disputes between the rival parties. These continued till the renewal of the charter of the borough in the year 1700 (according to tradition), when it was agreed that all disputes should terminate in a contest for the horns of an ox, which was to be roasted in the Bury to commemorate the above event. The contest at length did take place, and the upper part of the Ock Street are supposed to have remained neuter as it is excluded from the benefits which were that day acquired by the lower part of the street. The street is divided into three parts - the lower being Piccadilly, the middle St. Edmund's Head, from the head of St. Edmond being placed in the wall of the house where he is supposed to have been born, and the upper part being the Fens, which reaches to the pavement. One of the privileges obtained on this memorable day was, that the victors should have the exclusive liberty to parade the town the day succeeding the Ock Street fair, with moris-dancers [sic], accompanied by a mayor chosen by themselves, and preceded by a mace-bearer carrying the aforesaid horns erected on a pole. This ceremony has been continued from the year 1700 to the present year. It was the custom till within these few years for the mayor of the borough to be present at the instalation [sic] of the Ock Street, mayor, [sic] to congratulate him on his promotion, to view the ceremony of chairing, and to invite him to parade the borough (according to ancient custom. By some means or other, however, this attention has ceased to be observed for some years, and the mayor of the Ock Street has been necessitated to ask permission of our mayor before he could parade the borough with the usual procession. Up to the present occasion our chief magistrate's sanction has been obtained, we believe, without hesitation, but this year it appears, that there would have been an absolute "end of all concession” and procession had it not been for the influence of J. Knight, Esq., and J Cole, Esq.
(Berkshire chronicle June 25th 1825, p3)
The next mention is ten years later in 1835
ABINGDON
The Mayor of the Ock Street was chaired as usual the evening before the Fair; the election this year having fallen on Mr. Thomas Leonard, an individual every way qualified to fill the important situation at "this crisis."
(Berkshire Chronicle June 27th 1835, p3)
In1849 the ceremony was mentioned in the local press and again in 1855:
ABINGDON
JUNE FAIR, WEDNESDAY...That portion of the Fair devoted to pleasure was as usual held and kept (for it partakes much of hospitality) in that portion of Ock Street known as the Fens. It was preceded by the ancient burlesque upon municipal institutions, the choosing a mayor of the locality for the year ensuing, who was duly installed and chaired with all the accustomed libations and honours, the individual selected for the mock civic dignity being one of the proper vagabond - we beg his worship's pardon, we do not mean of the mean kind, but of the free and rollicking sort.
(Berkshire Chronicle June 23rd 1855, p5)
In 1868 the absence of the dancers was commented upon:
...The pleasure part of the fair, consisting of about a dozen stalls, drew together as usual a bevy of young people, and it is worth notice that the Morris Dancers, who with their paraphernalia of the "Mayor of Ock Street", with his mace (a cow's head, the banner of victory in a fight between Ock Street and the town, in 1700), a violinist and a harlequin did not, according to their usual custom, parade the street after the fair. We think the "men of Ock Street" deserve to be complemented in discontinuing a custom "more honoured in the breach than in the performance," and from which we have always seen drunkeness ensue in all concerned.
(Oxford Chronicle, June 1868).
The possible explanation for their absence is given in another report:
The fair happening just in the swing of the hay harvest shortened the local attendance, but the general aspects of the fair were about on average...
(Abingdon Herald, June 29th 1868).
Thomas Hemmings was an agricultural labourer as may have been many other members of the morris dancers, whose names unfortunately we do not know, and the demands of the harvest may have prevented a full team from being got together. The fact that the fool is referred to as a "Harlequin" suggests a more colourful costume than the country smock worn in later years. The fiddler could have been Tommy "Gipsy" Lewis who played for the dancers in 1910 and 1912? He occasionally played for the Bampton morris dancers between l862 and l870 and used to camp near Hagbourne on the Downs. The reference to the dancers as the "men of Ock Street" shows the close connection between the dancers and the street. The morris dancers did not appear at the fair in the following year either but were in evidence in 1870:
MORRIS DANCERS - The ancient custom of electing a Mayor of Ock Street, which fell into disuse for two years past, has for some reason been revived this season. We understand that there were two aspirants for the vacant office, but the choice of the electors (whoever they may be) fell upon Mr. Emmens, who has before filled the same important position, and he was duly elected amid the chinking of quart jugs, with honours befitting the event. The following day, Tuesday, his worship, accompanied by certain Morris Dancers, and preceded by the ancient horns, dated 1700, perambulated the town; and to the strains of fiddle, from which, by the way, emanated very little music, they, notwithstanding the great heat which prevailed, kept up we may say a continuous dance, their strength being sustained not by aqua pura, as doctors described it, but by copious quantities of good English ale from the different public houses. The dancers were also accompanied by a person familiarly known to the residents of the Market Place for his great activity in search of and fondness for work. On this occasion some wags had smothered his face with black grease, adding considerably to the beauty of his appearance, while others, aware of the great cheapness of flour, had thrown considerable quantities over him. At midnight the "horns", for which many a free fight has taken place, were duly handed over by his worship to a gentleman who had lent them for the interesting occasion.
(Oxford Chronicle, June 25th 1870)
The returning of the horns to a gentleman who had lent them for the occasion is puzzling as it would be thought that they were in the possession of the morris dancers. There is the mention of the many free fights which had taken place for their possession. Perhaps the horns were placed into the safe-keeping of a local person of good standing, hence the reference to him being a "gentleman". The "Mr. Emmens" who was elected would be Thomas Hemmings, then aged 56.
Amongst Thomas’s sons, William and James Hemmings were old enough to be dancing at this time, it is also believed that George "Dolly" Hemmings, who came between William and James in age, was a dancer up to around 1900. It seems that the morris dancing kept up its regular association with the June Fair at this time:
...The old Ock Street burlesque of appointing a Mayor of that quarter on the eve of the Fair was kept up, and the "Morris dancers", with their insignia of a pair of mounted bull horns and a silver-mounted drinking cup, made the rounds of the town subsequently, performing their quaint dance.
(Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 28th 1873).
There is a photograph of Thomas Hemmings taken in 1874 or 1880 after he had voted for the last M.P. for the Borough. The original is on a glass plate that was rescued from Abingdon’s rubbish tip. He is in his working clothes, a smock top and a neckerchief. His postion of Mayor of Ock Street in 1880 is confirmed by coverage in local press in that year.
[Thomas Hemmings]… who is well-known in Abingdon by the appellation of "Mayor of Ock Street," and who for some years past has been annually elected by a number of Morris Dancers to fill this post, was again, on the 21st of June last re-elected. This event was followed by several days Morris dancing in the streets and the imbibing of considerable quantities of beer and other liquor…
Berkshire Chronicle, July 3rd 1880
Press accounts tell us that John Hemmings, the youngest son aged 20 in l880, was also a morris dancer. It is assumed that Thomas kept his position as Mayor of Ock Street up till his death on August 12th 1885 aged 71. The ceremony survived his death and William Hemmings, the eldest son, succeeded his father as Mayor. In 1910 he told Mary Neal that he had been elected nine times. There are newspaper accounts of the ceremony for 1887,1888 and 1890, but in 1891:
...The Ock Street Morris dancers were conspicuous by their absence this year...
(Oxford Chronicle, June 27th 1891).
However in the following year...
MORRIS DANCERS. This company of "jovial spirits" made their reappearance on Tuesday last, the day after June Fair.
(Abingdon Herald, June 25th 1892).
There is an interesting account for 1893 which again refers to the decline in the custom.
THE MORRIS DANCERS - The old custom of the Ock Street Morris Dancers has been revived this week, and caused some amusement. On Monday [June 19th] residents were invited by bills to vote for Hughes, whilst others were asked to vote for Cox. Whether the voting took place or not is not clear, but Cox appears to have been elected to the honourable position of "Mayor", for he and his dancers were out in the evening, when a number of places were visited. Wednesday was the "grand" day when the harvest was to be reaped, and the "Mayor", with his deputy and followers, including the "Horns", all gaily decorated, were early astir and perambulated the town, and drew a large number of people. The revival of this old custom is, however, far from what it used to be.
(Oxford Chronicle, June 24th 1893).
It is interesting that neither of the contestants were Hemmings although both William and James would have been dancers at this time. Presumably both Hughes and Cox were both old dancers as this was qualification for standing for Mayor, but we have no other reference to them. The Burgess Roll for 1893 lists Alfred Hughes of 126 Ock Street, and Henry Hughes of Court 16, Ock Street. As Alfred was still living in Ock Street during the 1910 revival but seemingly played no part in it, it is more likely that it was Henry Hughes that was elected Mayor. The Burgess Roll also lists Charles Benjamin Cox of Norrington's Yard, Ock Street, and Charles Cox of 31 Ock Street, the former is the more likely candidate being at the west end of the street.
There is no mention of morris dancing in the newspapers for the next few years, and this was a period when, in many of the English morris traditions, young men were not very interested in learning the dances, and old age was taking its toll on the original dancers. In this period of decline it is interesting to see that a pub called the "New Air Balloon" situated on the south side of Ock Street opposite the turning into Victoria Road, had its name changed to the "Ock Street Horns" in 1896. The building was demolished in 1960 to make way for flats. As can be seen photographs of the pub, there is a replica of the mask and horns over the front door, the date 1700 being painted beneath the mask, this can now be seen at the “White Horse” pub in Ock Street.
In 1898 James Hemmings’ son Tom started dancing, according to an article in "John Bull" which states that "Hemmings has been dancing with the Abingdon troupe for fifty-seven years", (June 18th 1955). The following year dancing took place but there is no reference to an election of the mayor.
...the custom of Morris dancing, an institution long peculiar to Ock Street, was in part revived.
(Abingdon Herald, June 24th 1899).
A future article will explore how this apparent decline in the Ock Street customs of morris dancing and mayor making was reversed in the following century.
Note: Photo of Thomas Hemmings believed to have been taken circa 1880.
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World War 1 - Ock Street Men Remembered
 | By Maureen Hudson
Some of the bloodiest fighting of World War One took place in the Flanders and Picardy regions of Belgium and Northern France. The poppy was the only thing which grew in the aftermath of the complete devastation. Doctor John McCrae was serving there, with the Canadian Armed Forces. He was deeply moved by what he saw and wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields”. This poem subsequently inspired the first Poppy Day appeal on 11 November 1921. Since then, the poppy has been synonymous with Remembrance Day – a day during which we honour and remember all of those who gave their lives in the name of freedom – not only those fighting in World War 1, but those in World War 2 and also all of the more recent conflicts.
During the Ock Street Exhibition, held in 2006, there was an exhibit based on the Abingdon (Borough) Roll of Service for World War 1. In honour of the many Ock Street men who appear on that list, it seems appropriate to repeat some of the findings at this time.
World War 1 was declared on 4th August 1914. By the end of 1914, over 100 men who lived in Ock Street were reported to have volunteered to fight for their country. Over the course of the next four years, there was a steady flow of men leaving home and the total fighting force rose to 280 men by 1919, the year the war officially ended.
Out of the 280 men from Ock Street, there was a casualty rate of 36%, with 42 men being killed in action, or dying from their wounds, and 66 reported as having been wounded.
Over half of the 280 had come from households where there were multiple volunteers. For example, there were six members of the Sellwood family from Court 9; five members of the Backhus family from No. 24, five Hemmings from No. 172, five Perrin’s from No 34 (2 died); four members of the Cox family from Court 24 (2 died), four Hemmings from No 123 (2 died), four of the King family from No. 169 (2 died), four from the Leach family at No. 82 (2 died), four Nortons from No. 153 (1 died), and so the list goes on.
Percy King from Court 22 was the first reported fatality on 10th September 1914. He was a member of the Royal Berks Regiment and was killed at Mons. George Church of 63 Ock Street died on 26th October 1914 at Ypres and Henry Stanley from Court 8 died a couple of days later in Zonnebeke.
Throughout the course of the war, word would have trickled back of those who had died, yet more and more men and boys continued to join up – many of them following in the footsteps of their brothers, as soon as they were able to leave school.
Imagine the torment for the whole community as news of each fatality reached home.
Handfuls of Ock Street men signed up to regiments, which included the Devons, Gloucesters, Hants, Lancs, London, Ox and Bucks, Scots, Warwicks, Worcesters and Yorks regiments. Unusually, there was also one in the Australian IF, one in the Canadian Winnipeg Rifles and one was a Cyclist. 22 men signed up for the Royal Engineers, where there no reported fatalities. Half a dozen men joined the RAF and another half a dozen, the Royal Navy.
As you might expect, the highest number of volunteers joined the Royal Berks Regiment. The Roll of Honour lists circa 80 personnel and these represented almost 30% of the total. All of these were sent out to join the fierce fighting taking place in the mud and trenches of Flanders Fields and of these 26 were killed and 33 were wounded
Three young men died there in the same battle on the same day. They were Albert Hemmings from 139 Ock Street, William Hudson from Court 24 and Victor Slatter from Court 16. They were all believed to have been casualties of early gas experiments used at the battle of Loos on 25th September 1915. Unfortunately, wind conditions caused more fatalities to our own men than to the enemy.
For many of these men there are no known graves. They were reported as “Missing – Presumed Dead” - so grieving relatives stayed hopeful for many years after the war that their loved ones would eventually return. And, of course, for those who were fortunate enough to survive, many arrived home being badly scarred in mind and/or body for the rest of their lives.
Two Ock Street men are known to have earned Distuinguished Conduct Medals. Harry Cox from Court 24 was one and George Badcock from No. 230 another. They were both in the Royal Berks and both came back wounded. The citation for George Badcock was issued by the War Office on 16th January 1915 and read: “For gallant conduct in defence of the forward trenches with a few men on 13th November when the 6th Infantry Brigade were engaged in taking up another position, he held on to his post so tenaciously that the enemy were led to believe his position was held in force.”
The last man reported to die was Lance Sergeant Jack Leach who was in the Kings Royal Rifles. He died at Le Catelet on 3rd October 1918, just a few weeks before the armistice was announced on 11th November 1918.
Although just a handful of men and their families have been mentioned by name in this short article, we remember them all. |
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Carswell County Primary School and its antecedents
Written by Jackie Smith
Early education in Abingdon followed a pattern recognisable in most country towns of a similar status; an early grammar school with monastic connections, charity schools endowed by local worthies and much later in the 19th century the proliferation of small private day and boarding schools which preceded the gradual introduction of universal free education.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century the educational system still relied heavily on religious organisations and voluntary bodies to provide schools. The two main organisations were the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church (1811) and the British and Foreign Schools Society (1814), an essentially non-denominational movement that was in the main identified with nonconformity. The schools sponsored by these societies were known as National and British Schools respectively and both operated in Abingdon.
In December1865 the Conduit Road Infants School opened its doors. It was also known as the new Church Infant School in recognition of the part played in its establishment by the Rev Nathaniel Dodson, Vicar of Abingdon, He had written to the Master and Governors of Christ’s Hospital to ask if they would donate a small plot for a new school in Conduit Field, then part of Lacies Court Farm, which was being developed for recreation and housing. Paragraph 62 of the scheme laid down in 1859 for the management of the charity by the Charity Commissioners made provision for such a contingency:
“The Governors may (subject to the conditions hereinafter specified) apply a sum not exceeding £500 towards the erection and establishment of an Infant School in the borough of Abingdon”
The stipulations were that the Governors should be satisfied that the school would be open to children of borough residents and of all religious denominations. The new school was designed by local architects Dolby and Spencer in the Gothic style fashionable at the time and cost approximately £500 to construct. A contemporary newspaper report praises the work by Miss Godfrey, daughter of solicitor and town clerk Dan Godfrey, who had previously superintended a small infant school in Ock Street. Today the original school houses the Early Years’ Unit at Carswell Community Primary School and is the oldest purpose-built building still in educational use in Abingdon.
The variety of buildings on the site of the present school reflects the different stages in the extension of educational provision since the 1860s. The next major development was the construction of the Board Schools in what was then known as Bostock Avenue. Separate schools for boys, girls and infants were built to plans prepared by the architects Redfern and Stevenson. Each classroom was furnished with Bennett dual desks - arranged in tiers - as used in the London Board Schools. Objections from nearby residents to the building work, an early documented example of “nimbyism”, necessitated the construction of a new road, Mayott’s Road, to provide an entrance to the schools from Ock Street, thus protecting the tranquillity of residents in Bostock Avenue and adjoining Conduit Road. Pupils were transferred from the British School in Ock Street which then closed its doors. On the first day there were 128 boys, 107 girls and 75 infants on the books somewhat short of the figure of 500 that the schools were built to accommodate.
The third phase of expansion on the site was influenced by the growing awareness of the need for continuing the education of older children to prepare them for life.In the mid-19th century the Science and Art Department of the Board of Trade fostered the development of technical education by a system of grant-aid to schools of design and technical schools often referred to as “South Kensington Grants”. By the late 1880’s local authorities could levy rates to finance this type of education and a technical education committee was set up in Abingdon to manage the distribution of resources. In 1908 Roysse’s (Abingdon) School presented plans to the borough for the erection of a manual workshop on its site. The following year this form of continuing education became more widely available with the opening of the Abingdon Manual School in a two-storey building, still in use in Conduit Road. Constructed by Berkshire County Council, which had assumed authority for educational provision in 1902, the Abingdon Manual School opened officially on the 25th January 1909. Evening classes in woodwork and cookery commenced in February with participants paying a fee of two shillings (10 pence). It was from these humble beginnings that the North Berks College of Further Education was created in 1964 on a new site in Northcourt Road.
The raising of the school leaving age as a consequence of the Education Act of 1944 had major implications for the site. Secondary modern education, which became obligatory under the Act, was accommodated for a time in the manual school buildings in Conduit Road. The pressure for more accommodation led to the construction of several buildings - considered temporary at the time - through the “Hutting Operation for the Raising of School-leaving Age” (HORSA) programme. A further change occurred in 1954 when the senior pupils, i.e. those of 11+, transferred to the new Larkmead Secondary Modern School in Faringdon Road. Carswell School then became separate infant and junior schools with the junior pupils occupying the former board school premises.
By the 1970’s the Conduit Road block had become the school library, offices and classrooms. A fall in the school role led to the amalgamation of the infant and junior schools under the headship of Mrs Enid Hawes in 1981. Abingdon College – as it had come to be known – was expanding and desperately needed extra accommodation. Most of the HORSA buildings in addition to the two-storey building on Conduit Road were acquired by the college as overflow accommodation for its courses in what was known as the “Carswell Centre”. Amalgamation with the Witney College and a consequent major building programme at the main college base in Northcourt Road resulted in the buildings being sold back to Oxfordshire County Council in 2002. This paved the way for the redevelopment of the site and for the necessary upgrading of facilities at the school to proceed.
In the summer and autumn of 2002 an all-weather sports pitch was created, most of the accommodation occupied by the college was demolished and the site cleared. All the HORSA blocks were demolished except for the one used as a dining hall and by the after school club. The two-storey building in Conduit Road became the school office and main reception. In 2003 the final phase of building work began in earnest with the construction of extra playground space, a car parking area, and a new infants classroom in addition to closing the gap between the two blocks fronting Bostock Road to provide IT facilities, in all four new classrooms. A specially designed play area was created for the Early Years Unit and the site of one of the demolished HORSA buildings, adjacent to Mayott’s Road was transformed into a children’s garden called “Gardenorama” that was officially opened by TV presenter Wesley Smith in 2006. Today the school has approximately 255 children on the roll. |
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