Historical photos

The scene on entering Pirton in the year 2000 was very different from 100 years before. First impressions would have been one of an unkempt farming village, typical of many in the English midlands. The roads were rough and unmetalled, the ponds unfenced, there would be no kerbs, pavements, or street lights, no cars, road signs or street names, telegraph poles or TV aerials. Today, the village has been ‘townified’ and ‘tidied up.’ It appears to be deserted during much of the time on a weekday. But in the 1900s, it was very rural and busy, bustling with people. Houses were small and so people spent much of their time outside. Many of the men worked in the farmyards within the village, women walked about plaiting straw as they went, children played in the street, cows were driven through to be milked, and pigs ran loose. The blacksmith and wheelwright noisily plied their trades. For much of the year the place would be muddy and it is likely that the air would smell of farmyards and domestic wood fires. A characteristic of the village would have been tall trees, many of them elms, open spaces and several orchards. The visitor, instantly recognisable as a “foreigner,” would have eight shops to choose from and seven public houses in which to buy a drink.

1919 Blacksmiths Pond during the drought of 1919. During this exceptionally dry summer, the water table was so low that the wells in the village became ineffective. Fred Handscome, seen standing by the pond and recently back from the USA, helped alleviate the situation. Because there was no public water supply, he arranged to bring water by cart from the spring at Rackpits, at the foot of the hills besides the Driftway, the footpath that leads to Apsley End. He also carried out work to increase the depth of the wells to bring them back into use.

1900s Little Green and the Blacksmiths Pond. The pond appears to be fairly full, flooding into the road. Railings were not added until 1917. Flooding was a regular occurrence before a drainage ditch was dug to take the overflow along Walnut Tree Road to Larkin’s Pond in the Bury. The domesticated ducks belonged to Dickie Weedon who lived in one of the cottages known as Workhouse Yard (since that is what the cottages originally were), just visible between the trees beside the pond. Many people kept ducks in the early years of the century as a way of earning extra money.

1910s This is Palmers Row along Little Green, sometimes known as Laburnum Row as laburnum trees were planted in front of some of the houses. Frank Palmer, a travelling butcher from Shillington, bought the houses in 1890 and they were described in the sales document as “the best in the village.” Each had two bedrooms, a sitting room, and a kitchen with a range for cooking. The wash-house with its copper and the shared privy were across the yard. Mains water was laid on in 1934, but electricity was not connected until the houses were sold to their tenants in 1946.

1930s Looking down Royal Oak Lane with Elm Tree Farm on the right and the thatched barn of Little Green Farm beyond. Royal Oak Lane is a recent name – on the 1880 Ordnance Survey it was marked as Dead Horse Lane, but in the same year the School admission register called it Silver Street. The local name was “Hog’s Turd Lane.”

1936 A church fancy dress procession coming up the High Street. On the left next to the pond is the slaughterhouse where Harry Davis, the pork butcher, killed the village pigs. Behind it is the pole carrying electricity and the first telephone line to the Post Office opposite. On the right, next to Cromwell Farm, is Cromwell Terrace, and just beyond that the door of the shed where “Amanoolah” Shepherd kept the village bus.

1940s Looking from the Fox towards Little Green with Cromwell Terrace in the background. The barn in the foreground belonged to the Fox and housed carts. It was used as a village notice board as it was close to the only bus stop.

1900s Looking up High Street towards the Methodist Chapel on the left. Andrews Cottages, three adjoining brick built cottages, with rendered upper floor and fenced in small front gardens, are followed by four slightly newer cottages built in the Arlesey White bricks with a red brick banding. The road is uncurbed and appears very dusty, but the following photo, 40 years later, shows a footpath, but the road is still uncurbed.

1940s Looking down High Street, the Wesleyan Chapel is on the right. Christopher Dawson, who lived in one of the Hammonds Almshouses next to the Chapel, is drawing water from the standpipe. Even though mains water had been laid on to some houses in the 1930s, standpipes were used until the 1950s.

1979 Looking towards the Knoll with Ashton’s Bakery in the background. Ten Steps the cottages beyond the bakery were originally known as Baines Yard. The row of cottages on the left had an alley running behind called Pudding Bag Alley.

1907 New Row – also known as the Twelve Apostles or Merry Arse Row --- in Holwell Road. The picture is taken from a postcard sent to Clara Males by her sister Jane. The 1901 Census shows that nine members of the Males family were living in the four-roomed cottage, the third from the left. Jane, who was 17 years old and was a strawplaiter at the time of the Census, later became the supervisor at the Glove Factory.

1935 Looking down West Lane from Holwell Road, where neighbours are watching the Silver Jubilee Procession. Amos Reynold’s thatched cottage on the right was accidentally burnt down in 1947. This area is prone to lightening strikes and its replacement was struck more than once in the next 50 years. An adjacent row had been destroyed by lightening in 1902.

1931 A heavily laden harvest cart being drawn by a cart horse called Punch along Hambridge Way to the farmyard where its load would be added to the stack being built. This trackway is part of the Ickneild Way, which links the Ridgeway to the West with the Peddars Way to the East. It is likely that Pirton originated partly because it lay on this important prehistoric trackway. Jack Baines is leading the horse.

1930s It used to be said that one needed to be wealthy and have “£100 and a pig” to live in Pirton. It was also said by the residents of Hitchin that the villagers were so stupid that they had to look in the pond to see if it was raining. Most houses kept a pig at the beginning of the 20th century with neighbours contributing to the swill and receiving part of the pig when killed. Pigs wandered the streets – and a piglet outside the Blacksmith’s Arms was probably not uncommon. Note that this one is walking away from the slaughterhouse!

1930s The picture taken in Maltings Orchard captures one of the last survivors of a square of walnut trees (background left) which gave the farm and lane their names. Walnuts were harvested by striking the trees with sticks. Sometimes school children would scrump the walnuts, but Mr Bryant the headmaster held regular hand inspections to identify the giveaway black stain. The rickyard on Maltings Lane can just be seen in the distance. This was the site of the maltings.

1950s Toot Hill covered with Elm Trees before they were attacked by Dutch elm disease in 1975. After all the diseased elms had been felled, a Tree Planting Committee was set up in 1977, chaired by John Stephenson. Hundreds of saplings were planted over the next 25 years by the Committee or the Parish Council, but it will be well into the 21 century before the landscape regains some of its former appearance – the preservation order on the Toot and the Bury means that trees cannot be planted on these ancient monuments.

1950s An aerial view of St Mary’s Church and Crabtree Lane. In the foreground are Crabtree Farm and the flower nursery run by Jack Burton. Next to this are the telephone exchange, now part of a private house, and Pollards Almshouses.

1948 A view from the Church tower looking towards Middle Farm with Danefield in the background. This road was named after the big, open field opposite the end of the road. Traditionally, the field had always been known as Danefield, but it was not until 1835 that 28 skeletons of Danes lying in two parallel lines were uncovered by men working in the field.

1900s The row of sixteenth century cottages on Great Green. The rear gardens of these houses used to stretch to the road behind which was known as Back Lane or Mudwall Lane. The Town House used to stand in the corner of the green to the right of the picture. It is not clear what this building was used for but it may have been an early poorhouse.

1920s The White Horse on Great Green. The Green used to be divided into two – Great Green (still so called) and Chipping Green, where the village sign now stands. As chipping stands for market, it is likely that the bi-annual animal fairs took place here. Later in the 20th century these events were replaced by fun fairs, with roundabouts and swing boats. The greens belonged to the Lord of the Manor. The Parish Council first approached him in 1895 to transfer control to them, but this did not actually happen until 1940. The land was registered as common land in the 1960s.

1940s A view from Toot Hill looking over what were the outbuildings of Pirton’s first motor garage, which sold petrol and carried out repairs. The two buildings on the left – the original National School and next to it the blacksmith’s forge with a large door -- have now been demolished. The building in the centre is the original Post Office, with Pirton House behind. The public house, the Cat and Fiddle, now a private house, is the separate building on the right.

1931 Great Green looking towards Wood Lane. The two 16th century houses on the right used to be Mudwall Farm, with a farmyard behind the house. It was on land where Pirton Court was built in 1851. In the 19th century, the farmhouse was divided into three and the village blacksmith, William Newbery, lived in the house on the right.

1900s A view of Bury End with Three Gables on the right. The thatch on Three Gables was removed in the early 1920s. The shallow pond in the foreground was used by the nearby blacksmiths as a source of water. The Parish Council Minutes record that the pond was cleared out in 1901, but it dried up early in the new century, possibly because of better drainage.

1930s The same view taken perhaps about 1930. The Baptist Chapel is behind the thatched plait school on the left of the photograph, with Jack Lawrence’s cobblers shop just in front. This part of the Green was used by the Bucket family, who lived next to the Chapel, to graze their horses.