Over the years, Eastington has had its fair share of vicars that looked after the spiritual needs of the parishioners. Most carried out their duties unobtrusively and have disappeared quietly into the mists of time. However, there were exceptions. Perhaps one of the most notable was the Reverend George Thomas Altimus Ward, vicar of Eastington […]
Category: Local History
Memories of Eastington – Mrs Bliss
Megan Timbrell has deep roots in Eastington. Coming from a long line of Eastingtonians, she was born in Cress Green and lived there for many years at what is now Cress Green Cattery. Her mother, Mrs Sylvia Bliss, has written down some of her early (and amazingly detailed) memories of life in Eastington. Megan has […]
An Eastington Diamond Wedding and the Band of Hope
The subject of this article is the gentleman in the photograph below. It was taken in 1911 at the celebration of the diamond wedding (60th) of the venerable Nathaniel and Mary Partridge – “much respected inhabitants of Eastington” . The photo comes from an article in the Stroud Journal of the time, that reported what […]
Alcohol and the first Eastington Parish magazine
From the 1880s, through to the early years of the 20th century, ECN’s forebear – the ‘Eastington Parish Magazine’ – was distributed monthly throughout the parish. It appears to have been produced by the local Temperance Association, as each issue carried a prominent report of what the organisation had been doing in the previous month. […]
Betty Barnfield – memories of World War II
Betty was born in Bristol. Her family moved to Eastington in 1931 after her Grandfather, Charles Warner, asked Betty’s mother to help him at Green Farm Alkerton. They stayed there until Charles died on Christmas Eve in 1940 and the farm was sold in 1941. Betty then moved to the Hawthorns in Claypits, then later […]
Childhood memories of Eastington – Mrs Sylvia Bliss
Mrs Bliss, now 94, lived for most of her life in what is now the Cattery in Cress Green, and her daughter Megan has been documenting her memoirs. This time she reminds us what washing day was like in the times before the war – life may have been quieter and greener, but it was […]
Childhood Memories of Eastington – The Workhouse
Last time, Mrs Bliss noted that in the past, there was no sophisticated treatment or much state help for anyone ill, old or disabled, but that there was genuine care and neighbourliness ‘in the community’. There was, however,:- The Workhouse On the subject of care, the Eastington Parish Workhouse was built in 1785 of Frampton […]
Does anyone recognise these photos?
Noel Baker who used to be the vicar here is asking for help from anyone who might know anything about an old photo album. He writes: “Howard Beard and I are archiving a photo album that is just over 100 years old. The images seem to suggest the amateur photographer who compiled the album was […]
A Walk Down Middle Street
One of Eastington’s quieter backroads is Middle Street. This branches off the Bath Road en route towards Frocester, and wends its way up to Cress Green, where the road now ends. However, this was not always the case and in days long gone, it formed part of an important through route much used by carters […]
Memories of Eastington – from 1920
Megan Timbrell has deep roots in Eastington. Coming from a long line of Eastingtonians, she was born in Cress Green and lived there for many years at what is now Cress Green Cattery . Her mother, Mrs Bliss, now 94, has written down some of her early memories of living here, and Megan has been […]
Further memories of Alkerton House
In April 2016, in ECN 156, Steve Mills wrote an article for us about the now demolished Alkerton House, which once dominated the centre of the village. Click this link to dive into the ECN history archives to see Steve’s original article. The article was picked up by Simon Newton-Smith who wrote to us to […]
News from the Front
The topic of war and its impact on Eastington has cropped up in a couple of recent articles. Most attention has been focused on the Second World War, an event still ingrained in many people’s memories. However, what follows harks back still further, to the First World War, an event so horrendous that it touched […]
A notable Eastington auction
It’s true – you can find anything on the internet if you look long enough. At other times, things seem to find you. The subject of this article is one of the latter, and given the major changes taking place in the lower end of the village, its appearance was strangely timely. I stumbled across […]
War comes to Eastington
by Stephen Mills It seems that throughout history, men have left their homes and marched off to fight in wars in some distant land. For centuries, towns and villages remained largely untouched by these foreign conflicts, and by and large, the people left at home carried on as normal. Sometimes men failed to return, […]
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