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Memories of local
people We
are always interested in memories of Alderbury and Whaddon. If you want to
contribute, please contact us.
Here we provide a selection of memories and we will add to this page in the
future, moving some of our older material to our archive section
so it remains available. Frank Moody remembers... This is an extract from the
correspondence of Mr Frank Moody. For most of his life, Frank lived in
Alderbury, working for the Longford Estate, except during World War II when
he served in the army in India. He was a member of a family who (including
his uncles and grandfather) have worked for six Earls of Radnor. He and his
wife once lived in the cottage next to the Green Dragon, on the Longford
Estate, and later, in Firs Road. He was actively involved in village life,
serving as Secretary on the Village Hall Committee at its beginning. He was
Secretary to the Parish Council for 25 years and Steward of the Whaddon
Methodist Chapel. A local history enthusiast, older residents still remember
his film shows of Alderbury. The Longford Castle Fire Brigade Frank remembers the
difficulties the village used to have with a reliable water supply and the
early days of the Longford Castle Fire Brigade. ‘One of the
problems of such a place as Longford Castle was that of fire, which itself
highlights the matter of water. Drinking water itself was a problem in
Alderbury, Whaddon and all around. The castle had a good supply, the source
of which came from the park at the Britford end, which has never been known
to fail. At the turn of the century a main was laid to Ivychurch, a reservoir
built there, and Longford and the surrounding villages have never been short
since. At each hydrant as well as a tap, there was a 3-ft hose connection for
fire hose. In the fire station by the estate house there was kept a small
steam engine which was always ready for fire‑fighting and capable of
pumping its own water (out of the river or a pond) or taking it from the
roadside through the system. As the years went by the supply was gradually
extended until the whole of the estate country from Alderbury and Whaddon to
Nunton and Odstock had a plentiful supply of water. Until that reservoir came
to Ivychurch in 1901, water was like the proverbial gold dust. Alderbury was
one of those places that sprouted small springs early in the year and then dried
up. People whom I know who lived and worked on the estate would say that it
would sometimes take 20 minutes to fill a bucket. As I recall the water
supply was taken over by the local authority in the 1950s. There was a
fire brigade at the castle from early times and when Stephenson invented
steam‑powered engines for railways and other forms of traction, there
were also steam engines to pump water to extinguish fires. All members of the
brigade had alarm bells in their cottages, all of which were connected to the
castle and we would make haste from wherever we happened to be. We had a
fairly regular fire drill at the castle for the maintenance of equipment and
checking hydrants etc. but chiefly to familiarise ourselves with the castle
layout so that we knew the easiest way to get out of the place and not get
lost. That was a headache that was solved in 1937 by the invention of the
Davy Fire Escape. This consisted of a coil of cord wound on a pulley with, at
its end, body harness (like a car seat‑belt) which you would contrive
to fit yourself into. A hook, fixed in the wall outside a window, would take
the ring at the end of the harness and you would step off through the window
and descend gracefully to the ground, These were fitted at strategic windows
on each floor and we all slept much better after that. To think of 20 or 30
people groping about in the darkness and smoke was a nightmare. The Davy Fire
Escape was wonderful! There was never a fire at the castle in my experience.
There was a fire in the north tower after the second world war. There was a
public fire service on call at that time so we let them deal with it. A
housemaid, having heard the dinner bell, popped her housemaid’s box inside
the lift shaft and ran off to her lunch. It was supposed there were hot ashes
in the box and the upward draught of air in the shaft fanned the ashes into
flames. I don’t know if any of the “Davy’s” have been used seriously but it
was always a comforting thought that they were in situ’. The installation of electricity ‘Electricity was installed in the cottage where I lived in Alderbury
in 1933. The castle went on the national grid about the same time. They had
had an electricity supply for a long time before that. They generated their
own by a stationary engine and storage batteries of 110 volt system. This was
set up on the ground floor of the estate office building. Fred Sheppard was
the electricity operator, assisted by Fred Rumbold. When, in the 1920s, horse
carriages gave way to motor cars, Fred Sheppard drove her Ladyship’s car and
Jim Perry drove that of the 6th Earl. They had a pair of Austin Twelves. In case of
breakdown or failure of the home-made electricity supply, there was a reserve
generating system set up at the mill across the park on the River Ebble
(which joins the Avon just below the castle). I think I remember it being
dismantled and the cable dug up in the early 1950s. The system provided only
lighting. Until the arrival of the national grid, cooking and heating were
done by fires of coal and wood; heating water probably by coke. At times when
there were no fires, paraffin, oil stoves or bottled gas were used.’ |
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Longford Castle today |
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In 1645, during the Civil War, Longford was placed
under siege by Cromwell |
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© 2008
Alderbury & Whaddon Local History Research Group – See our privacy
statement |
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