John Swan of Derby remembers Weldon

Why someone living in Derby should have an interest in Weldon in Northamptonshire. Good question! It is mainly a collection of coincidences. To set the story in motion, my father Reginald John Swan, born in Kettering, moved to Weldon with his mother, Mary Ann Swan, nèe Hart, (born in Wellingborough) after her marriage to William John Mason. My blood Grandfather, also Frederick John, who was born at Lowick, died very young, before I was born. William Mason and Mary Ann Swan were married at Kettering and set up home at Church View, Weldon.

Leslie Marvin outside Church View

So the scene was set. There was a brother and two sisters, all from the first marriage. The eldest son travelled with the fairs, looking after the traction engine and generator, and finally settled in Bradford. The eldest daughter, Dora, went to live in Brigstock after her marriage to Cecil Flecknor, the local thatcher, and the youngest daughter, Jane Helen, married Ernest Freeman and set up home in Tee’s yard which was down a jitty behind the off licence opposite the King’s Arms. There were three residences in this yard. A family by the name of Tee, hence the name of the yard. I can only remember one name in this family. This was Charlie, a little older than myself. A Mrs Hammond and the Freeman family consisting of Fred, (dcd. In Perth, Scotland), Marjorie, (in Corby) Joan, (dcd. in Gretton) David, (still living in Weldon in Bridge Street, and Terry.(Living in the Halifax area). My father went to Glenfield in Leicestershire to follow his girl friend, Violet Hayward. As far as I know, they never married, but lived in rooms in Glenfield.  Violet died from the effects of TB about twelve months after. She is buried in Weldon Church Yard as  Violet Hayward/Swan. That is the connection with Leicester .End of first coincidence. My father stayed in Glenfield and met my Mother Margaret Ann Fossey. They were married in Glenfield in 1926 and I was born in 1927.  The next coincidence is quite remarkable. The Leicester area at the time, was covered by Midland Red bus services, and for some inexplicable reason, ran a service every Sunday from Southgate Street Bus Station in Leicester to, of all places, Weldon! The fare for me was 2 shillings and sixpence (about 12p). The bus left Leicester some time about 11.00am and arrived at the King’s Arms car park about 12.30. There it stayed all day. Therefore, one vehicle and two men (driver and conductor) spent the day doing nothing. I think the return journey left Weldon about 6.00pm. This was very convenient for us at Glenfield, because we were able to maintain contact with my Grandmother and her family in Weldon. I was put on the bus at Leicester, and the conductor handed me over to someone delegated to meet me at Weldon. This way I was able to come to Weldon, and spend all my summer holidays, either at my Grandmother’s, or Aunt Jane’s. My Grandmother kept the family together, and at Christmas she had a house full. The children slept end to end in two of the bedrooms. Originally, the house only had two private bedrooms, with one opening out from the top of the stairs. My father made partitions to allow this to be private. I usually was in this room. One night, during an air raid (WW2) I was here and heard a German plane flying down the beam of one of the searchlights, stationed on Oundle Road, and machine gunning as it did so. Never heard any details of casualties from this. Another wartime hazard were the smoke canisters along the side of the roads in the area. These were lit, depending on the direction of the wind, to screen the Stewart and Lloyd’s iron works at Corby. Sometimes I used to sleep at Aunt Jane’s down Tee’s yard, because my Grandma had Irish lodgers from the works, and from our bedroom we could see the flame from the gas burner at Corby. Weldon was a great place for children. My Grandfather had a smallholding on the Kettering Road where quarry workings had taken place in the past. These were now over grown with small bushes and trees, with many small hills, probably made by the spoil from the workings. We called these ‘the hills and hollows’. There was another smaller lot of these on the left hand side just leaving the village on the Kettering Road. I cannot remember ever going into these, but I didn’t need to when we had such a wonderful lot at the smallholding. Here, we also had the caves. From memory, these did not go in too far, as they were blocked up a little way in. It was possible to go in one entrance and out of another. When the war started and the US forces arrived, we had another new exploration site. The public footpath which went through the smallholding and came out somewhere near the COOP shop gave access to a dump which served the various US bases close by. Rich pickings could be had here. This was the start of the throw away age as introduced by the US way of life. Back to the quarry site. When I was a little older, 14 years or so, I left school, and one of my new work friends and I at holiday times, cycled from Leicester via the Langtons to Weldon, where we camped on the top of the cave entrances. Good job we didn’t sleep walk. One evening, John Mason had come to the smallholding to check on things and we put a fright up him, because he saw the light from our candle shining through the tent, and thought he had seen a ghost! When we were camping, we used to draw water from the well used by the residents in the ‘black huts’. This was situated across the road from this residence and about 50 yards down a track. I later learned that the family who lived here were named Swan and are almost certainly related. The next few items are a motley collection of memories from various times in Weldon. Billy Mason sometimes took me up to Bears Lane where he had some sheep. He used to have to catch them, one at a time to take sheep tics from them. There was a small pond in the middle of this field. At other times we went hay making in this field. Once my Aunt Jane took us all through the woods (which at that time were only new seedlings) to Brigstock to visit her sister Dora Flecknor. On the way back, ants were swarming, and I started to run home because they were all over us, and that didn’t suit me one bit. The US forces had a pub just at the edge of the village, on the Stamford Road,  with a proper signwritten sign ‘The Lady In The Bath’. I do not know any details. My cousin Fred Freeman and I used to sit on the low wall which was at the front of the King’s Arms, and guess what make of vehicle it was which was coming along the road. Not too many in those days. Just a few oddments:- The footpath from Church Walk to the Kettering road. The yellow irises massed on the side of the bridge away from The Leys. Billy Masons funeral, buried in the Churchyard with his first wife. Fetching water for Church View in enamel buckets from the spring near the Church. Always ice cool and crystal clear. Going with Grandad Mason to ‘Buffs’ events. Attending the Sunday School in Little Weldon. Seeing the walking diggers around Weldon. Using the toilet at the top of the garden of Church View. Leave the door open and you could survey the garden. The soil in the garden was like black sand. It could not be spade dug. Residents of Church Walk:- Mrs Bull and daughter, living next door to Church View. Someone in the bungalow across the road. Also the two storey house. Both of these in my old photos are derelict.  Paddling in the Leys Brook. Going up the Benefield road during the war, with my cousin Fred, to watch the US planes coming home from raids. Sometimes it looked as if there was not much left of the plane, large holes and bits missing, sometimes with one engine not working.

John has a family history website at  http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/swansnorthants