Old photographs






















































































 




 





8 comments:

  1. Lots of lovely photos here. I lived in Hammerwich in the early sixties until I married in 1972. My family home was situated outside the village near the Hammerwich Railway Station - it was (and assume still IS) called Rose Cottage. My sister and I used to have great parties which upset many neighbours! We were known as "those Fletcher girls"!!! Happy Days! (I have lived in South Australia since 1973)

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  2. I happened across your website recently, whilst trawling the Internet looking for pictures of old Hammerwich.

    I am not, nor ever have been, a resident of the village, but spent just a week holidaying there in 1963 or 1964. It has been so long ago now that the exact point in time eludes me.

    A friend of my Mother, Mrs. Jane Franks, invited me to spend a week at a caravan in Hammerwich, owned by her relatives by the name of Lilley/Lilly (?), together with her nephew Nathan and niece Christina. For me, a child who had been brought up in West Bromwich, the opportunity was too good to miss.

    The caravan was sited in a field, belonging to a local farmer, either Bartlett or Barret; again the passage of time has blurred the details. Approached from Muckley Corner, via Marebath Lane, it would have been located in the field to the right of Coppice Lane, where there appear now to be fishing pools, and a few yards from a cottage on the same side.
    My first recollection as we entered the village for the first time, was of old farmer Bartlett/Barrett sitting by a pond on Marebath Lane, dressed in a manner which could have placed him anywhere within a time frame of the preceding 80 or so years.

    The occupants of the cottage were on friendly terms with the owners of the caravan, the ladies name was Muriel, a Yorkshire lass who worked part time in the post office. Her partner, whose name I cannot remember, worked at the South Staffordshire Water Works building on the A461 Walsall Road.
    Looking at Google Maps on “Earthview”, there appears to be a cottage where I remember it to be, though very much changed from the one that I knew as a boy. There was no electricity or running water. Lighting was with candles or oil lamps; cooking on a range; water came from a well in the garden and I suspect that the lavatory would have been an earth closet.

    What a magical experience it was those many years ago. Lying in bed at night listening to the steam trains rattling through the night. Walking over the passenger bridge at the old station and up to the church through fields full of ripe, golden cereal crops. Getting up at the crack of dawn to help David, the cowherd, to move the cows along Coppice lane. A vanished world and vanished people. I lost touch with all of them eons ago and wonder if any of them are still alive.

    Thank you for the wonderful pictures on your website. It brought the past back to me together with memories of a marvelous holiday in Hammerwich.

    Lee Timmins

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    1. The farmer was named Barratt, the old chap spent mist days sitting there, and whenever my sister and I had parties (noisy!) he could hardly wait for my mother to come home from a holiday to let her know what we had been up to! Happy days! 😊🍷😊🍷😊

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    2. My Nan and Grandad lived here from around 1983-1995 ish. I have so many wonderful childhood memories of this house and playing in the beautiful garden. I miss this house, such happy times.

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  3. I lived in the bungalow next door you had a brother called Lyndsey that I was friends with.

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    1. Yes my brother Lindsay, now known as Steve, is married with 3 grown kids and lives at Hazelslade near Cannock!

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  4. P S there is a B&W photo of children sitting in Hammerwich School - I beleive the little tacker sitting alone in front of the piano is my bro, Steve (Lindsay) Fletcher!

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  5. hi,what a wonderful blog you have created here,is this blog still active please ?

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