CLAVERING RECORDER’S REPORT 2012

FEBRUARY: The History Group had its annual work party on a fine, sunny Sunday morning at Clavering Castle, part of our ongoing commitment to help look after Clavering’s Ancient Monument – we have done this now for almost a decade. This time we cleared scrub from the sides of the moat at the west end, opening up the view from the Dam meadows.

APRIL: The ‘Middle Street Stories’ project was launched, with residents hoping to put together house histories. Tony Lye, a most excellent treasurer since the group was formed, moved to Saffron Walden, and a new treasurer elected, Rod Homer.

MAY: Saturday 12 May was a red-letter day when we hosted the Dig & Sow village dig, a huge success with 29 test pits dug all over the parish and thousands of finds analysed by Dr Carenza Lewis of Cambridge University. They included a 17th century trade token (photo).


Photographs were taken by kind permission of the owner of the 1877 Methodist Chapel on Hill Green being converted into a house, retaining features of the old chapel... Some Australian visitors were shown round the village as happens most years – this time related to the Piggott family.

JUNE: The village Jubilee celebrations included a jubilee walk, a village picnic, a bakery competition, lighting a beacon (photo), jubilee mugs for schoolchildren and the opening of two nature trail boards with free leaflets funded by grants obtained by the Clavering Countryside Group.

JULY: The Balaam family at Place Farm once again held a farm open day which was very well attended and included displays of farming photographs and antique farm machines.

SEPTEMBER: My new book, Clavering at War, was launched with a well-attended coffee morning, with reunions taking place with people not seen since the war, and much new material added to the Clavering archives.


Extracts from a new analysis of the 19th century Clavering Poisonings were published by the Saffron Walden Historical Journal, taken from a PhD thesis by Victoria Nagy, an Australian student who has studied the trials of Sarah Chesham of Ponds cottages, who was hanged for the crime at Chelmsford in 1851… urgent works to repair and restore the plaster in various parts of the church were carried out … we have lost a number of valued elderly residents this year, and also heard about the death in Scotland of Barbara Maine who lived at Mill End Dairy Farm, Clavering as a child during WW2 and recorded her memories on DVD.

OCTOBER: The 9th annual evening course took place with 50 people signing up to attend Douglas Kent’s six lectures on conserving vernacular buildings... Clavering Village Hall celebrated its 75th anniversary with a tea party in the hall, attended by over 100, including June Holland who had presented a bouquet as a young child to the VIP who opened the hall on 1937. A display on the history of the village hall was on show and a framed memento presented to Eggie Abrahams

NOVEMBER: Members of the evening course enjoyed a visit to Saffron Walden, looking at two medieval houses and a tour of the houses in Castle Street. .. The 6th annual Eileen Ludgate Memorial Lecture featured a talk by Prof Anthony Tuck about the history of the Clavering family who took their name from the village in medieval times – donations of £65 were afterwards given to Clavering Church. .. The Village Sign was put back in place at Blacksmiths Corner, after being taken down as it had rotted away at the base. ..the Parish Council is still discussing what to do with the redundant BT phone box at Skeins Way, having acquired it after requests by the Local History Recorder and others who believe it is an important artefact of redundant technology, just as much as the village pumps.

DECEMBER: The evening course members enjoyed a second visit, this one hosted by Bill Hardy at St Barnabas Barn, Thorley which proved very interesting.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: The History Group’s oral history project continued with 38 interviews so far by Joy Barrow and Jane Laing, all of which produce new information and photographs. Selected interviews are edited for the Clavering Remembered series published by the History Group which launched 4 more titles, making 8 altogether.

NEW RESEARCH: Many internet queries were dealt with and cataloguing is ongoing, using the RUTH database system – most recently Eileen Ludgate’s notes on the Clavering manor courts, many of which she translated from Latin, my own WW2 research, collecting photos of Clavering Church weddings and memorial service sheets from funerals, noting stories in old newspapers, collecting parish ephemera, scanning club records, photographing events and changing scenes, etc.

NEW ACQUISITIONS: An old wooden board rescued from a garage has appeared. relating to a 19th century grant to provide additional pews to seat the poor in church – enquiry is being made in CofE archives to see if the original grant can be copied as the lettering is too faint to read and needs restoration… the Saffron Walden Archive Society gave us copies of deeds relating to Clavering from a solicitor's office, including land transactions and legal documents relating to the Congregational Church, the Guildhall and the British School… Stuart Moore donated his landscape studies and maps, before his move to Somerset… Victoria Nagy sent a copy of her thesis on the Sarah Chesham 19th century case. Masses of new material related to WW2 has been added.

RECORDING CLAVERING TODAY: The work of recording current village life never ends but hopefully will prove useful to villagers of the future.

Jacqueline Cooper
Clavering Local History Recorder