Tag Archives: Mary Henderson

Eileen Smith, Mary Henderson: Upper Lee, Thorley

Thorley houses with Upper Lee and Thorley Brook

Thorley houses with Upper Lee and Thorley Brook


Mum said they loved going over to the Coopers at Upper Lee to Sunday School and then go in to the hall in Newport.  It was a treat for them.  They used to go and collect the milk in a jug from them at the farm. Mary Henderson b 1954

May Cooper used to do the dairy work for her brother. She made butter pats in the shape of swans, and cooled them in Thorley Brook, just where a little spring rises. When she made jellies and jams she’d cool them by floating them in the stream. Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921

Henry Cooper: Upper Lee, Thorley, 1900s – 1960s

Upper Lee

Henry (Harry) Martin Cooper (1877-1969) was born at Upper Lee Farm, Thorley, and lived there most of his life.  He had no formal education, but was self-taught having learned the basics from his mother. In 1902 his diary first mentions his bee-keeping activities, which provided additional income to supplement the income from the small family dairy farm.

Postcard of Upper lee

Postcard of Upper Lee

I remember my dad telling me the field names – Long Meadow, Goose Acres, Pyle Field.  I have a feeling that Grampy rented Vicarage Butts, but I couldn’t be sure.  He strongly objected to having to pay tithes for some land he had.  I wonder if that was for Vicarage Butts? Rosemary Cooper granddaughter of Henry



When it comes to fruit trees I can remember damsons, greengages and Victoria plums at Thorley, but I have no idea what the apples were, except plentiful. (There was a thorn apple that I was told by Mum to keep quiet about!)

I’ve a feeling there were apricots too? Grandma and Aunt May used to bottle lots of fruit but apart from plums I think it must have been mainly soft fruit. When they moved to Parkside my first memory was of the larder there with the shelves of jewel-like colours, the light shining through their store of bottled fruit brought from Thorley I think. At Upper Lee it must have been kept in the Dairy where there wasn’t so much light.  Stella Ridley, Grand daughter


Mum said they loved going over to the Coopers at Upper Lee to Sunday School and then go in to the hall in Newport.  It was a treat for them.  They used to go and collect the milk in a jug from them at the farm. Mary Henderson b 1954


May Cooper used to do the dairy work for her brother. She made butter pats in the shape of swans, and cooled them in Thorley Brook, just where a little spring rises. When she made jellies and jams she’d cool them by floating them in the stream. Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921


 


 


 


 

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Mary Henderson: Thorley, Blacksmith’s Lane 1940s
			

								


				

			
Blacksmiths Lane




Cottage in Blacksmith's Lane, Thorley
Cottage in Blacksmith’s Lane, Thorley


My Great Gran Henderson lived in the cottage by the stream, on the corner of Blacksmith’s Lane, the one up the village side.  So you had Hec Stone, whose father had been Blacksmith in the forge opposite, his family lived one side, then Great Gran Henderson came to rent hers, when James Enoch died. He’d been Chief Coastguard in Yarmouth. She moved down to Cowes eventually to a daughter, then Gran and Grandad took it on.


Gran Henderson was very strict. The children used to be over the fields playing and she used to blow a whistle to get them back, and everyone said: there’s Henderson’s whistle.  She was quite horrible really because she used to put them under the stairs in a dark cupboard. Marge was asthmatic and she said: I’ll never forgive my mum for doing that. Mary Hendersonb 1954


 

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Kitty Pearce: Thorley, St Swithin’s Church, 1920s -1990s
			

								


				

			
Kitty Pearce D


Kitty Pearce with her choir used to and put on nativity plays every year which packed the church out. She played the organ in Thorley for 50 years, right from when my mum was at school. I think she was one of the oldest organists ever; over 90.

Mary Henderson b 1954



Miss Kitty Pearce BEM was organist at St Swithin’s for 50 years. She retired in 1994 at 91, and died in 1998

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Mary and Sue Henderson: Thorley, railway gates 1950s
			

								


				

			
Thorley Map west from Hill Place Lane
Thorley Map west from Hill Place Lane


Hill Place Lane


Where the railway crossed the road, there was a little cottage where Mr. and Mrs Hoare lived, after Mrs Hoare managed to set fire with an oil lamp to the thatch of their cottage in Wellow. The cottage was completely destroyed and the Bishops, who lived in the other side, had to move out to Thorley.

Mrs Hoare was supposed to open the crossing gates first thing in the morning for the early train, but she wasn’t an early riser. Mum said she remembered hearing the terrific row when the train crashed into the crossing gates on more than one occasion. The sound echoed through the whole village. Mary Henderson b 1954

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Mary Henderson, Ruth Mills, Thorley School, Heytesbury Hall, 1950s, 1960s
			

								


				

			
Thorley School 2013
Thorley School 2013 , after closing it was known as ‘Heytesbury Hall’ . It was sold off in 1970s and is privately owned


I had been a Brownie and was very keen to join the Guides so I kept asking my mum to buy my uniform. She said it was a lot of money and she wouldn’t buy it unless she was sure I’d stick at it. In the end, she gave in and bought the uniform. Then a Youth Club opened in the old school at Thorley, and that was the end of me going to Guides. It was no contest.

A group of us used to walk out from Yarmouth, to play records and do whatever we did at Youth Club. Ruth Mills nee Kelleway b 1945


I used to go with my mum and Elsie Squibb to Beetle Drives at Heytesbury Hall, and at Ningwood WI Hall too. They were always lots of people there. Mary Henderson b 1954