Page 7 - SHS Newsletter 2 Vol 3 Sept 29th 2020

From small acorns (3) Roebuck Cottages

rd
Ingrid Chalcraft’s 3 instalment of the BVM saga. My interest in Roebuck Cottages began long ago
when we used to walk down what we called
The BVM at last moves to larger offices in the High Pussycat Lane, but is known as Ram cat Lane
th
street and passes its 100 edition. officially.
This is a wide footpath leading from above the top
of Barrow Hill to Harpits Wood. I was told about a
More Space. group of cottages, long since gone, which had
Wonderful! Our page included an Inn. I always thought that these had
numbers had been stood in the field to the left of the footpath.
rising and Ray [Smith – Many years later I came across an old photo
see previous episode] showing Roebuck Cottages with the date – 1872.
was settling in well and we had purchased a It showed a number of people, presumably
residents of the cottages.
computer and got proof-readers to join the staff
to check for mistakes in copy and adverts. We had
passed our 100th edition on March 29th 1980.
Yes, our new office was away from the small space
under our stairs to a super double fronted office
in the High Street just before the Post Office. It
had several extra rooms and had belonged to John
Foster-Pegg (the Solicitor). We certainly needed
that extra space. (John moved back when we
eventually moved out to even larger premises.)
Alan had become very interested in all the activity
in the Vale and was building up many wonderful
items - History in the Vale, new projects and social Looking at maps of the area from various dates
activities. Letters began to arrive from readers the cottages are shown on the other side of the
which were printed for them - small ads were road (park side). However to me, after studying
booming and advertising was developing and the photo, and the position of the walls I find it hard
to place them there. The road position must have
looking really splendid.
changed considerably. More research is needed
The number of pages continued to rise and we to establish this.
took on even more staff - mostly local people. Yes, My History Society friend Jacqui Wragg has found
things were moving! more to come! information which she shared with me regarding
the tenants of the cottages, the oldest she has
[This episode arrived from Ingrid found – Joshua Tulk from 1779 until 1790, then
shortly after the BVM announced John Ash took over the tenancy and was given a
99 year lease from 1790. The Aish family
that the paper, which suspended (according to the census) then lived there
publication in March, would not be primarily, for almost a hundred years.
returning. Ingrid felt very sad that In the 1851 census two brothers and their families
the wonderful community paper were living in two cottages and the third occupied

that she and Alan had built up with years of hard by another family.
work had suddenly disappeared. It was reported In 1861 the three cottages were all occupied by
that a Facebook post announcing the closure had Aish families.
The Aish men tended to work in the building trade
been reached by more than 88,000 people.] masons or plasterers.
I aim to dig a little deeper with this story and will
let you know what I discover in the next
newsletter.

Contribution by Jude Watts

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