Blackmore: Disney family

The Disney memorial inside St Edmund & St Mary Church, Ingatestone.

In the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore, on the north wall is a memorial to Edgar Disney (1810 – 1881). It reads:

Sacred
to the memory of
Edgar Disney
of The Hyde
Ingatestone Essex
and of
Jericho Blackmore Esquire
Born 22nd December 1810
Died 8th December 1881
He that believeth in the Son hath
everlasting life, he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life
St John chap iii, ver. xxxvi

Below is a brass plaque:

This tablet
is erected by the Rev W Callendar Vicar of Black
more in grateful recognition of
the kindly munificence of Edgar Disney Esq of the Hyde Ingate
stone to whose generosity (independently of various donations from Parishioners
and others) the successful restoration of the Church of
St Lawrence is mainly due 1878

In Blackmore’s church records we find that the churchyard was enlarged in 1885, through a gift of land by “Edgar John Disney of Jericho House … Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd Battalion Essex Regiment” [Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies. DSA 1/15/3 f395]. E J Disney was also churchwarden in 1885.

I suspect that the father lived at the family home - The Hyde, Ingatestone - and the son at Jericho, and it was he who caused the memorial to be erected. We know that at the time The Hyde was full of antiquities assembled on grand tours mainly by a Thomas Brand Hollis, a single man who died in 1804 and left his entire estate to his friend the Rev. Dr. John Disney, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities and a Doctor of Divinity. His son, Edgar’s father, also a John, continued to collect works in Italy and catalogued the entire collection in 1846. Most of the sculptures were given to the fledgling Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 1850, presumably to make house room, and to this day the core of the museum’s collection is referred to as the ‘Disney marbles’. After Edgar’s death in 1881 the remainder of the collection was sold at auction by Christies.

Readers may be interested to know that there is an identical memorial at Ingatestone (see photograph). Recorders of the Brentwood & District Decorative and Fine Arts Society (NADFAS) have just finished a five year project researching the entire fixtures and fittings of St Edmund and St Mary Church. In an item in ‘The Journal’ (September 2010) specific mention is made of the Edgar Disney memorial which “displays the heraldic ‘quarterings’ of 23 different families”. Two guided tours of the church were given recently by Graham Brereton, the leader of the recording group.

There is another, but different, memorial to the Disney family at Fryerning Church. The family are buried in a large vault to the north side of St Mary’s Church.

The Disney family originated from the village of Norton Disney in Lincolnshire. Walt, the cartoonist, must be a distant relation but to suggest direct linage is, to be frank, a Mickey Mouse story.


Bibliography:
Thomas Brand Hollis and the Disneys of Ingatestone, written by Graham Brereton.

Blackmore: Longbourne Family

Received
17 July 2010

Hello,

I am currently researching an ancestor of mine who lived in Blackmore named William Thomas Longbourne. He owned the Jericho Priory in Blackmore in the 1840s and 1850s. Similarly, his half-brother, Charles Ranken Vickerman, mother, Ann Freemantle Longbourne Vickerman, and other family are listed as living on Church Street in Blackmore in the 1851 census before moving to Mountnessing.

Do you have any information on the Longbourne/Vickerman families who lived in Blackmore? I am based in London and if you have an office or centre in Blackmore, I'd love to visit.

Thank you so much for your help,
Nick Perkins

Replied
18 July 2010

Hello Nick

Thanks for your enquiry. I should start by saying that ‘Blackmore Area Local History’ is not a business but a forum to record and exchange information on family, local and social history for this part of Essex. I do this as a keen amateur historian for pleasure.

For information about your family, a good starting would be the page on the main website devoted to Jericho Priory, which stands in Church Street by the Priory Church of St Laurence, in Blackmore (http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/blackmorepriory.html ). Additionally the Names Index gives references to Longbourne and Vicerman (http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/historyindex.html ). You need to be aware that Jericho Priory, Jericho House and Blackmore House are all names for the same premises.

During the course of research into the Priory Church of St Laurence, I discovered your family held the advowson, the right to appoint the parish priest at Blackmore, from 1887 to 1899, succeeding the Crickitt (or Crickett) family. They made only one appointment, that of Revd. Walter Layton Petrie in 1888, who remained Vicar until 1922.

Reverend Thomas Raffles Hoskin succeeded Reverend William Callender on 25th May 1883. He was appointed by the Bishop of St Albans, “by reason lapse”. He died whilst Vicar and was succeeded by Walter Layton Petrie on 5th May 1888, “on the presentation of John Vickerman Longbourne of Peacocks in the Parish of Margaretting”. [Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies. DSA 1/14/1 f318]

On 2nd February 1899, “the advowson a perpetual right of patronage of and the presentation to the Church and Cure” was transferred from “Charles Rankin Vicerman Longbourne, of Number 7 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex, Solicitor, and his heirs and assigns … to be vested in the Bishop for the time being of the said Diocese of Saint Albans … the Right Reverend John Wogan. [This] will in our opinion tend to make better provision for the cure of Souls in the parish”. The document is in the Essex Record Office [ERO D/C/Pc96].

Best wishes

Andrew

Received
21 July 2010

Andrew,

Thanks so much for your help. Do you know of a local history or genealogy society in the Blackmore area? Thanks for all the work you have done on the website.

Best,
Nick

Replied
23 July 2010

Hello Nick

Blackmore does not have a local history, heritage of genealogy group. The nearest history societies are at Ingatestone, Brentwood, Ongar and the High Country, the latter of which I am a committee member. Stock’s history society gives more emphasis to family history. In the neighbouring parish of Willingale the village has just launched a ‘Willingale Community Archive Project’.

Thanks for your kind comments on the website. Hopefully this fills the gap.

Regards

Andrew

Blackmore: Jericho Cup 1940

A Silver Cup (illustrated) was recently sold on E Bay for £9.99 (plus postage). It was presented by Lady Rickitt who owned Jericho Priory during the Second World War. I am not sure she actually lived there because the property was commandeered for military use, certainly during the latter part of the conflict when the Americans were at their air base at Willingale. As the seller says, it is “an interesting illustration of the retention of village events”, and indeed a tangible reminder of those times. I did not know of the event.

“SILVER PLATE TROPHY-JERICO CUP BLACKMORE-PRESENTED BY LADY RICKETT
“This is a silver plated trophy goblet with great local interest. It stands 19cm (7.5 inches) in height and is engraved 'Jerico Cup Blackmore Vegetables Only Presented by Lady Rickett 1940'. This relates to the village of Blackmore in Essex where Lord and Lady Rickett were prominent local gentry occupying Jerico Priory. Also an interesting illustration of the retention of traditional village events such as flower and vegetable shows during war time.”

Blackmore: Jericho Priory

Many visitors to the church are intrigued by the house behind the wall known as Jericho Priory. Whilst some know that this was the birthplace of Henry Fitzroy (1519 – 1536), King Henry VIII’s bastard son, others are then disappointed to learn that the building subsequently was reconstructed. Revd. Philip Morant, one of Essex’s earliest historians in print (1768) suggested that, “This is reported to have been one of K. Henry the Eighths Houses of Pleasure; and disguised by the name of Jericho. So that when this lascivious Prince had a mind to be lost in the embraces of his courtesans, the cant word among his courtiers, was, that He was gone to Jericho. Here was born his natural son, by Elizabeth Tailbois, daughter of Sir John Blount” [Morant. p57]. It is highly unlikely that Henry Fitzroy was conceived in Blackmore, as some locals would like to claim. What is more probable was that Elizabeth Blount, later married to Gilbert Tailbois, was sent for a period of confinement to Blackmore Priory when clearly seen in Court she was with child. Blackmore Priory in 1518 was a small, quiet, Augustinian Priory which nine years later was suppressed by Wolsey having only four Canons in residence. The Nave of the former Priory still exists as the Nave of the Church. The remainder was pulled down by the Smyth family around 1540 – 1543 after acquisition of the site. The footprint of the Priory foundations is now in the garden of the private house, referred to as ‘Jerico’ in the will of John Smith, dated 1543. The family built Smyth Hall, to the south of Wenlocks Lane, and were present in Blackmore for five generations until 1721. Smyth Hall was also known as Blackmore Manor. Morant says that the site of the Priory was sold by Thomas Smyth about 1714 to a ship builder, Jacob Acworth. William Holman (1719), from whose manuscript work Morant drew material, wrote, “The manor of the priory of Blackmore lyes by the Church and be called Jericho most of it is pulled down & new built under the foundations … they dug up bones & found a coffin of lead about a yard away full of … bones. Jacob Ackworth of London Kgt a Shipwright bought the Estate of Mr Smith about 7 years ago” [ERO T/P 195/9 #20 f10]. Holman adds that Ackworth was “knighted at Portsmouth August 30 1722 by Kg George [IV]”. Down the years the house has had various names: Manor of the Priory of Blackmore (or Blakemore), Jericho Priory, Jericho and, Blackmore House. Architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner in the first edition of ‘Buildings of England – Essex’ (1954) referred to the building as Blackmore House. In the latest edition, updated by James Bettley (2007), it is referred to as Jericho Priory, giving it a date of c1715-20, perhaps a little later, and adding to Pevsner’s commentary, “On the garden front deep plaster coving fills the recess between the tower arches” [Bettley/Pevsner. p142]. Pevsner though thought the building akin to the mid-sixteenth rather than the early eighteenth century, giving Syon House near London and Ince Castle in Cornwall as examples. David Coller in ‘The People’s History of Essex’ (1861) adds that the house subsequently underwent “many changes, improvements and enlargements, to adapt it to modern requirements. Sir Jacob Ackworth, who purchased it, at the beginning of the last [eighteenth] century … made many additions to it; and in the course of the works a small lead coffin, about a yard in length, and filled with bones was exhumed. Other memorials of the past have occasionally been turned up on this spot; but, save for the church near, not a stone or other fragment of the Priory now remains. Even the foundations have gone. We recollect some forty years ago [c1821] observing a stone which appeared to have been taken from the old ruins, upon which an inscription was still half legible, used as a door-step for a house in the neighbourhood. The shrubberies and lawns of Blackmore House have long since extended, and flower-beds have been planted, and kitchen gardens flourish in luxuriance over the very spots where the friars feasted and monks prayed” [Coller. p221]. The stream that feeds the moat around Jericho House is nicknamed the Jordan. The proximity of the garden to the church appears to have been a problem. In 1817, the Archdeacon of Essex made a Visitation to inspect the church building. A catalogue of failure is recorded [ERO. D/AE/V36. Vol I. f95]: Remove the Earth and Rubbish from the Church and Chancel where necessary as much as may. The Tiling is getting very indifferent and must from time to time be repaired and at such times new Lathed. Weather boarding and shingling wants painting. Shingling wants repair. Underpinning of Tower wants repair. West end Wall of Tower wants a whole colour. Remove the Ivy from the South wall. Grub up the Fig and other Trees on South side and stop the Eaves. Same side window frames so[uth] side want repair and paint. Fruit Trees East End of Chancel must be taken down and the Wall repaired and well secured. NE Buttress wants repair and a Pipe placed to take off the Water. Remove the Gutters from eaves on South side unless the drain is properly attended and kept clean by Mr Preston. Solution of Vitriol. Vestry must be repaired with White Brick. Owing to the general bad state and conditions of the Church the Archdeacon did not make any Order but deferred doing so until he had considered the same more fully. The margin note states: The Chancel pavement of this Church as green as a Pasture Field and the Church the most cold wet and comfortless of any in the Archdeaconry there being only two loop hole windows on south. Earlier (1766), Revd Thomas Smith described Blackmore as “a small village con[sis]ts about 50 families”, having “about 80 houses” in 1790 and “about 100 families – about 500 souls” by 1810, with “three families of note, Mr Crickett, Mr Waller of Fingrith & Mr Fearths of Jericho House” [Guildhall Manuscripts ms9558. Diocesan Book 1766 – 1811]. White’s Directory (1848) states that W.T Longbourne, gent, occupied the Priory, and Kelly’s Directory (1856) confirms the name as William Thomas Longbourne. Coller says that in 1861, “the manor of Blackmore, and that of Fingrith … belong to James Parker Esq.” [Coller p222]. About this time Jericho came under the ownership of Edgar Disney. It formed part of a more substantial estate covering Copyhold Farm, High House, Hardings Common Farm on Paslow Common and Burgess. This was a total of 255 acres in Blackmore and 207 acres in High Ongar. The assignment of the lease of the Jericho Priory Farm estate in 1872 referred to the vendor’s obligation to leave “all hay, corn, and straw in ricks, bins or on the threshing floors” [ERO D/Dw T73]. In the north aisle of the church are two memorials recalling Edgar Disney:

Sacred to the memory of Edgar Disney of The Hyde Ingatestone Essex and of Jericho Blackmore Esquire Born 22nd December 1810 Died 8th December 1881 He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life St John chap iii, ver. xxxvi Also: This tablet is erected by the Rev W Callendar Vicar of Black more in grateful recognition of the kindly munificence of Edgar Disney Esq of the Hyde Ingate stone to whose generosity (independently of various donations from Parishioners and others) the successful restoration of the Church of St Lawrence is mainly due 1878 The churchyard was enlarged in 1885, through a gift of land by “Edgar John Disney of Jericho House … Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd Battalion Essex Regiment” [HALS. DSA 1/15/3 f395]. Presumably this was the son of the above. E J Disney was churchwarden in 1885. Thomas Reed Hull was certainly living at Jericho in 1885. His family resided there for some while. He gave land for a churchyard extension in 1899 [ERO D/C/C50/2]. Thomas Reed Hull, of The Priory Blackmore, was buried on 4 February 1915. The final record appears in 1927 when James Henry Hull, again, gave land for a churchyard extension but reserving exclusive right of a portion, but it was never used [ERO D/C/C78/2]. He was the Vicar’s Warden in 1926. The Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting for 1940 record that, “Lady Reckitt also offered the gardens of Jericho Priory to augment in any way Church funds, either by way of a small charge for admission on Sunday evenings, or to hold a Sale of Work” [ERO A10631]. The house was used during the war for military purposes. On the social side, in the 1960s the Church held an annual Garden Fete and a Flower Festival. The Rose Garden at Jericho Priory was also used “by kind permission of Mr & Mrs E B Marriage”. The Marriage family were owners of Jericho Priory until the late 1970s. Andrew Smith Bibliography Bettley & Pevsner. The Buildings of England. Essex (2007) Coller. The People’s History of Essex (1861) Morant. The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex. Volume I (1768) Essex Record Office Guildhall Library Manuscripts Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

BLACKMORE HISTORY NEWS - FEBRUARY 2008

Blackmore’s heritage comes to life this February with ‘Through Changing Scenes: a history of the church and village in words and music’. The event will be held on Saturday 23rd February at the Priory Church of St Laurence, starting at 7.30pm. The music is provided by Tuneful Accord directed by Christine Gwynn, and the words, researched and written by me, told by members of the congregation. It is a repeat of the successful event held in 2005. Profits will go to church funds. Tickets are available from Blackmore Post Office.

There is no doubt that the popularity of the BBC TV series, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ has encouraged many to research their family history. It is, apparently, the second most popular hobby – gardening being the top. I read an article in the ‘Essex Journal’ recently which, stated the obvious in my view, said that local history and family history are closely linked. Although I would say I am interested in local history (defining the geographical area), it goes without saying that the lives of those who have contributed (or otherwise!) to the area are vitally important. Inevitably research crosses the invisible boundary into social history too.

On the blog now is a feature about the Caton family in Blackmore (Essex) in the nineteenth century. I was able to help Wendy Snowdon with her family history research by directing her to various resources which many genealogists may not have come across. You might not be a member of this family, one of whom was a churchwarden, but this is a ‘Case Study’ which hopefully encourages you to delve deeper and understand more about your ancestors. I would be glad to hear your comments.

My forbears come from Mountnessing, the parish to the immediate east of Blackmore. My great-grandfather was schoolmaster at the beginning of the twentieth century. His son, Walter Reed (my great-uncle), also became a school teacher, and in 1950 gave a speech, probably to students at his school in Norwich, entitled ‘Retrospect’ recalling the village of Mountnessing in his childhood. Such, almost unique, material is too good not to publish on the Internet. It doesn’t fit into the Blackmore Village website (http://www.blackmorevillage.co.uk/) and is the reason for calling this blog ‘Blackmore Area Local History’.

In terms of the area covered, I consider it to be roughly Epping to the west, Chelmsford to the north, Billericay to the east, and Brentwood to the south. All sides of my family seem to have hailed from this part of Essex since at least 1900.

The possibilities for inclusion of material seem endless. Over the years I, and other members of my family, have received or taken photographs of the area so it would be good to scan and upload those. Pictures of Blackmore appear down the left hand side of the text.

Coming soon to this blog
- Jericho Priory
- a feature on Stondon Massey
- my grandfather’s postcard collection of Brentwood from the beginning of the twentieth century

Coming soon to Blackmore Village Website
- an index of Blackmore ancestors
- a transcript of the 1910 Electoral Register.

Blackmore: D W Coller. People's History of Essex (1861)

An extract from ‘The People’s History of Essex’ written in 1861 by D.W. Coller.

Proceeding two or three miles further to the west we reach Blackmore, which is bounded by Ongars, and forms the verge of the Hundred in that direction. It is now a small and pleasant village, considerably improved of late years, but in old times it must have been a place of some importance as the site of a monastery and an occasional home of royalty. Henry VIII., as we have seen, was often at Jericho House, which appears to have been substantially a portion of the priory. since, if it were not actually connected with the buildings it stood close to them, and formed the mansion of the manor of Blackmore, the whole of which belonged to the monks. The house is still standing within whose retired shade the stern religious reformer sheltered his vices from the observation of the followers of his court; but of course it has undergone many changes, improvements, and enlargements, to adapt it to modern requirements. Sir Jacob Ackworth, who purchased it, at the beginning of the last century, of the family of Smyth, to whom it was granted at the dissolution, made many additions to it ; and in the course of the works a small leaden coffin, about a yard in length, and filled with bones, was exhumed. Other memorials of the past have occasionally been turned up on this spot; but, save the church near, not a stone or other fragment of the Priory now remains. Even the foundations are gone. We recollect some forty years ago [c1821] observing a stone which appeared to have been taken from the ruins, and upon which an inscription was still half legible, used as a door-step for a house in the neighbourhood. The shrubberies and lawns of Blackmore House have long since extended, and flower-beds have been planted, and kitchen gardens flourish in luxuriance over the very spots where the friars feasted and the monks prayed. The monastery was never of very great importance. It was founded by the family of De Sandford, either in the reign of Henry II. or King John, for canons regular of the order of St. Augustine; but though it was endowed with several manors, and had lands and other rights in Margaretting, Willingale, Broomfield, Shellow Bowels, Norton [Mandeville], Writtle, South-weald, Kelvedon [Hatch] and Stondon [Massey], its whole income in 1527 at £85. 9s. 7d. Although the reformation had not commenced, it was dissolved in that year, and the property granted to Cardinal Wolsey, for part of the college he was endowing at Oxford. On the fall of the Cardinal, two years after, it reverted to the crown, and soon after passed in exchange to the abbey of Waltham, which, by the deed, had a grant of a fair of three days, on the 9th, 10th and 11th of August; and less than a century ago [c1780] this was a cattle mart of some importance. On the general crash of the monastic property, the manors were granted by the king to the Smyth family, descended from Sir Michael Carrington, standard-bearer to Richard I. in the holy war, who subsequently acquired other property in the neighbourhood, and was long located at Smyth’s Hall. The property of the parish is now [1861] divided. The manor of Blackmore, and that of Fingrith, once in the Mildmay family, belong to James Parker, Esq. The latter was originally held by the De Sandfords and De Veres of the king, in capite by grand sergeanty, viz. “the tenant having the honour of being chamberlain to the Queen of England, of keeping her chamber, and the door of the same, on the day of her coronation; and of having for his fee the furniture of the chamber, the beds, basins, &c;” but this has been laid aside, with other ridiculous usages and tenures of the former times. Though the claim was made at the coronation of Queen Anne, and again at that of Queen Caroline in 1727, it was disallowed.

The Church, there is no doubt, was a part of the old priory. The cloisters, in fact, appear to have abutted upon the wall of the south aisle; and it was here that the monks assembled for matin worship and mass. The western end appears to have been part of the original old fabric, low, and heavy; but upon this has been engrafted an elegant, light and lofty building; and at the point where the two join, the tasteful pilaster of a later day may be seen dove-tailed into a heavy Norman pillar. The tower is of wood, on the same principle and pattern as that of Margaretting, - probably by the same architect, as both belonged to the monastery; and Suckling supposes that the massive Norman walls and columns were left because the monks contemplated raising a goodly tower of stone, but having emptied their treasury by the other works, their taste yielded to necessity, and they wound up with a spire of timber. The sacred edifice is dedicated to St Lawrence, whose martyrdom is represented in stained glass over the door; and on the wainscoted roof of oak are the royal arms, among them those of Richard II., and of some ancient and noble families, who are probably thus commemorated for their gifts or endowments to the monastery. At the end of the chancel is the burial place of the Smyths, with its decayed tombs and half-obliterated inscriptions. It is a singular fact, however, that only one solitary remnant of the funeral monuments of the monastic inhabitants remains. An old grey stone, worn by time and tread of the worshippers, and robbed of its elegant-shaped cross of brass, lies in the chancel; some years ago might be traced on this, in the Saxon character – “To the memory of the just Prior, Thomas De Vere”. Here too, lies one of the expelled clergy and victims of the Commonwealth: on a grey marble stone, beneath the arms of the Lynch’s appears the following epitaph:

“Here lyeth the body of Simon Lynch, Rector of Runwell, who for fearing God and King, was sequestered, prosecuted, and persecuted, to the day of his death of Gog and Magog, and left issue Elizabeth, Sarah, Symon, and Ithnel, to whom the Ld. Be merciful, who died on the 19th of June, 1660, aged 60 years”.

Local benevolence in former days provided largely for the poor of this parish. A house, garden, and orchard, called Claydons, were left by George Callice in 1580; the rent of the Bull public-house and 10 acres of land, by Thomas Almond in 1728; a rent-charge of £3. 5s. secured by John Witham, on lands at Blackmore; 10s. left by H. Waller, in 1601, out of a farm at Ongar; £2 left by J. Simonds in 1606, out of Copyhold Farm; £4 from the house and garden left by William Peacock, and purchased by the parish in 1724, subject to certain charges; these to be distributed in bread. Sir S. Powell in 1618 left 40s. a year out of Smyth’s Hall, for eight poor women; and a rent-charge of £3. 5s., purchased by the parish with various donations, is distributed amongst 18 of the poorest. Bell Rope Piece – half an acre of land – is left to supply bell-ropes. These charities form together a handsome income. Pauperism, however, is as rife in this parish as elsewhere – so true is it that charity often destroys the self-reliant spirit which can alone form a class of independent poor.

Essex: Book Review - Buildings of England

Those interested in local architectural history have keenly been anticipating the completely revised edition of Nikolaus Pevsner’s volume by James Bettley. Now available, at 939 pages, it is over twice the size of the previous edition despite the subsequent ‘disappearance’ of part of the county – Barking, Romford, West Ham etc – into London. It’s a colossal achievement, five years’ work, well written, and completely updated to reflect latest research, covering the New Towns and omitting the buildings that are no longer with us.

To see how accurate it is, I checked my local parish. It includes Pevsner’s famous line on the bell tower slightly amended: “Blackmore possesses one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive, of all English bell towers, built (according to tree-ring dating) in 1400” (p.141). The dedication of the church is properly stated (“St Laurence” not “St Lawrence) and Blackmore House, properly titled Jericho Priory which since 1954 “deserves detailed investigation” (p.89 previous edition) has now been accorded such an entry.

Inevitably there are some updates required to the work even on release: the Community Hospital at Brentwood (p.174) has recently been demolished; the north doorway of St Peter & St Paul, Stondon Massey (p.754) is no longer blocked but forms the entrance to a new toilet facility; the Harlow Study Centre closed a matter of just months ago at St Andrew’s Netteswellbury (p.460) with documents transferred to the town’s Museum. Such changes naturally reflect our changing use of buildings. Writing a volume such as this must be like painting the Forth Road Bridge, if you will excuse the analogy.

There are 123 lovely new colour pictures replacing the black and white ones of the 1954 edition. Unfortunately the inside of the Blackmore bell tower is omitted but locals are compensated by a drawing of the framework of Stondon’s belfry (p.26), being a representative example of the county’s craftsmanship. It’s not a cheap book (on Amazon, £23.99) but a wonderful reference and update to the original.

Andrew Smith

Blackmore: Second World War

Joan M Jones describes life as an A.T.S. driver, 1941 – 1945, on the BBC’s Peoples War site.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/39/a7049739.shtml