Old Pictures of Castle Hedingham

Here are some more old pictures of Castle Hedingham. I ran out of categories, so these are an odd (but hopefully interesting) mix.

This is the view from Sudbury Hill as one enters the village; Forge Green is directly in front of us. New Park, a small housing development built in the 50s on land which had until then been part of the castle estate, is on the left where once stood the gate in this picture, which makes it easy to appreciate the controversy that New Park must have caused - it changed the nature of this scene appreciably. It's a lovely spot from which to appreciate a summer evening's sunset, with the church tower protruding above the nestled peg tiled roofs, all framed by the low hills towards Wethersfield. Apart from New Park, the scene has changed little since this was taken (it's postmarked 1913 as far as I can tell), and all the houses in this picture still stand. The house directly in line with the road was a pottery until the 1990s. The card itself is used, and is signed by a rather indignant Annie, who, writing to Mrs E Wilkinson in Market Harborough, asks "Did you receive the photo I sent as you have never wrote our house at the bottom" (sic).

Just about the only change in this picture is the loss of the iron railings outside Magnolia House; I expect that they contributed to the war effort. It shows St James' Street, and its junction with Majendie Lane (as it is now known - it had no separate name until quite recently). The horse and cart are standing outside a building which remains a shop (highly unusually); it's now Mortimer's Stores, the general store and post office. In Majendie Lane, at right angles to the main road (St. James Street), is Baines' shop (the Baineses were depicted in "Living Whist" on the first page of these old pictures). Nowadays, the premises are home to Buckley's Tea Room and emporium. The Art Place is next door, just out of sight.

This is obviously a much later card, and is taken from the opposite direction - the photographer in the first picture would have been standing pretty much in fron of the prominent white gable of Hedingham House, slightly to left of centre on this card. It's a view that hasn't really changed at all today. Just visible slightly to the right of centre is the old magnolia tree which eventually gave the Magnolia Team Room (now renamed Buckley's Team Room) its name. Sadly, it had to be felled around the turn of the 21st century.

This is Joseph Jay and his shoemaker's shop in St James' Street. This building, now known as Spencers, has changed very little - the bay window looks pretty much identical, and could well be the one shown here. Ruth Meyers, who is Jay's great, great granddaughter, was kind enough to give me permission to publish this picture. She tells me that the Jay family lived in Castle Hedingham from about 1700, through atleast five or six generations; most were cobblers. Joseph lived from 1829-1908. His third son James was also a bootmaker in Castle Hedingham.

This photograph was taken from even further up St James' Street, at Forge Green, and looks back towards the centre of the village. I'm very grateful to Jeremy Winder for submitting this and several other pictures here, which come from his family's collection. Joseph Jay's shop, shown in the previous picture, is just to the right of centre here.

The second house in this photograph was home to Jeremy's family. It still stands in Queen Street.

This is a view from the opposite end of the road. Whilst the houses on the right of this photograph have survived, the buildings on the left were replaced early in the twentieth century, sadly. The street now seems more open and less narrow, but perhaps has lost some character as a result. I'm not entirely sure what the gentleman standing in the road is doing, but his companion seems concerned!

Detail of picture above, showing characters close-up

This is the last of Jeremy's pictures. Presumably, the two ladies in the detail are members of the Harrington family, whom he is researching. There are many Harringtons living in the village to this day. He believes that all of his pictures were taken in 1906, or earlier.

Queen Street

When this picture was taken there was no requirement for the present day traffic priority system! Little else has changed, however, although the house on the immediate left looks quite different now, as a result of having been plaster rendered and painted. Just visible in the distance, and on the right of the road, is a small building which has also disappeared.

Clearly not a village scene! This is HMS Hedingham Castle, a minesweeper which entered service just after the end of WWII and was broken up in the 50s. However, her bell hangs with pride of place in the village Memorial Hall.

Crouch Green

This scene, showing Crouch Green (about one mile south of the village centre) is much more peaceful than the modern equivalent. It's quite likely that the green was the original location of the churchyard cross, erected as a war memorial in 1921 after spending many years supporting the cellars of the Falcon Inn ("Crouch" is derived from "cross").

This photo must be much earlier. The road shown is now the A1017, but almost the only recognisable feature is the cottage in the centre of the picture, which still stands. Without this, I don't think I'd be able to orientate myself!

This is the same cottage, probably at about the same period. A very wintry day! I'm very grateful to Andy Smith for allowing me to use these photographs.