In the 1890s when our grandmother was a teenager, long before she was our grandmother, she left home and went to live with her Uncle William Barham and Aunt Julia who lived at Geddington.
So we decided to have a look round the village to see if we could find any trace of the Barhams.
First we went to the ancient church and walked round the churchyard reading the gravestones.
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| The Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Geddington |
Apparently Uncle William and Aunt Julia ran the Geddington village store and the Post Office from the 1890s to the 1920s, so we went there to enquire, but no.... the people who run the Post Office now are new and not familiar with the village. The Post Office building is 17th Century and was once the Royal Oak public house.
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| Geddington Post Office |
We went home disappointed but we had a great day exploring Geddington.
But since then I have been in touch via the internet with a couple of people who have been able to supply me with information about the Barhams and a photo of Uncle William's grave in the churchyard.... we probably walked right by it looking the wrong way!
For more posts about my trip to England, please scroll down.
I love that you were on this mission...Were you able to go back to the Graveyard?
ReplyDeleteWhat a FABULOUS trip this was, my dear....I hope you will find out even more about The Barhams....
(You know we have a street here in Los Angeles called 'Barham"...it's not far from me, actually....You've made me wonder what the derivation of that name is...!)
Looking forward to more of this great trip of yours....!
What a pity you didn't get more information on your visit, but at least you have been there 'walking the same walks' as your relatives.
ReplyDeleteI'd feel disappointed too that no one knew any of the local history.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been in the York Regional forests for several weeks. Too much other stuff going on!
Glad you accepted the challenge to locate family information Shammikite. This kind of detective work can be fun I think - Dave
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story, I thought it was interesting to hear... I would of loved to do something like that... I love old building cause they have such great culture around them. Its just a cool feeling also.
ReplyDeleteOne of the great pleasures of my first visit to the UK was driving on the highway to Heathrow and having my son-in-law point out a small church nestled quite close to the roads:
ReplyDelete"14th century," he said. Wow. That kind of thing has always blown my mind. I grew up in ND, and after not even 100 years, structures there have been weather beaten to death or near death. NO really old buildings like these. So wonderful to see this!!