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A story of everyday farming folk

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Feb 1, 2011

Just before Christmas WBR looked at a farmhouse in the hamlet of Southcott, within the parish of Pewsey. It was the usual story – an old farm which was worked by generations of farmers is no longer viable. The lands are sold off and the farmhouse is turned into a country hideaway for busy people. The transition from rural dwelling to sophisticated mansion necessitates a good lot of tweaking of the original fabric to bring it up to date, as well as extending the accommodation to provide services such as our rustic forbears would never have dreamed of (Southcott has a swimming pool and sauna!).


The hamlet of Southcott
The hamlet of Southcott, c.1960
Ref: P48999

Part of our remit is to look into the history of those that lived there before, and take a peek at what they were doing, partly to inform us as to how the building might have been used at a particular time, and although not strictly necessary, what sort of people they were.

 




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A Wiltshire Christmas Past

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Dec 18, 2009

Tagged in: ‘Wassail’ Harvey , www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/folk_play_search.ph , with Christmas carols , Wiltshire Community History , Wiltshire , We Wish You a Merry Christmas , wassailing , wassail bowl , villagers , verses , Thomas Ernle , The Britford First Carol , Tha Girt Big Figgetty Pooden , stories , spiced ale , songs , skating , seasonal decorations , school , Sarum Missal , sang , Salisbury Cathedral , rural Wiltshire , Rector , Rector , punch , poems , poems , plays , performed , New Year , mumming , mummers’plays , Monkton Park Community Primary School , minor gentry , Medieval , Limpley Stoke , late night parties , John Chandler , John Britton , John Aubrey , History Centre , heathenish custom , games , Francis Kilvert , folk tradition , Folk Arts , fertility ceremony , Felicity Gilmour , farm labourer , Everley , Evening Prayer , Edward Slow , dialect , dancing , crops , Cricklade , clergy , church , Christmas masses , Christmas Festivities , Christmas Eve , Christmas Day , Christmas , Chris Wildridge , celebrations , butcher’s meat , Britford , boy bishop , Boar’s Head , animals , Alfred Williams , Ales , A.G. Street , A. Lemoine , A Wiltshire Christmas , .Civil War

We have just been entertained by the children of our local school, Monkton Park Community Primary School, with Christmas carols and songs for History Centre staff and users. They ended with We Wish You a Merry Christmas and we would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. That set me thinking about earlier Christmas times in our county.


            Adverts in Wiltshire Newpapers, 1909
Adverts in Wiltshire Newpapers, 1909

For glimpses of Christmases past in Wiltshire you need to look in the writings of Francis Kilvert, Alfred Williams and A.G. Street. In Kilvert you will find the entertainments and activities of the clergy and minor gentry – dancing and games, late night parties, skating, and seasonal decorations in the church. Williams presents us with a view of the farm labourer’s Christmas while Street provides a mixture of famers’ and farm workers’ celebrations. To find out more please 'read more'...




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