Jane Nelder in front of The Brick House, Swerford.
Looking over the valley to Swerford village from The Brick House garden.The following is an account of life at The Brick House, sent by Veronica Mansour, great granddaughter of Henry Edward Nelder and Jane Nelder (nee Lamb), and granddaughter of Laura Nelder.
The Brick House –Swerford - Oxfordshire
I would like to tell you about what I know about the Brick House passed on to me by my relatives.
The Brick House in Swerford was always known by that name because of the bricks it was built of. All the other cottages were made of Hornstone the local stone of the area.
My Great Grandfather Henry Edward Nelder along with his wife Jane Nelder nee Lamb moved from Great Tew into the Brick House in 1891 with 7 of their children .Henry Edward worked as a farm hand and Jane had worked at the Big House owned by the Bolton’s in Great Tew as a cook, the governess at the time taught Jane to sew and Jane taught the governess of the children to cook.
The legends have it that the Brick House was haunted but this did not deter my Great Grandfather Henry Edward Nelder he said that he would soon haunt it with his family ! The Brick House had been empty for 11 years.
He lived there until he died on
15.4.1929. They went on to have another 6 children whilst living there His wife Jane lived there until around 1940 and along with Ada her daughter until they moved to Sibford Gower to live with Elsie, Jane’s daughter (Elsie lived until she was 96 years old) Jane’s son had advised them to move as he thought the Brick House was too isolated for them now that most of the family had moved away. During the second world war Elsie had evacuees from the East End of London living with her - a mother and her children .
The Brick House had a big kitchen – a bread oven by the side of an open fire place – iron chain with pot for cooking – the oven was heated by faggots of wood that the children would collect.
It had 3 big rooms and the floors were covered with rush mats. There were stone slabs on the floor in the parlour and a Dairy on the ground level with bottle green glass windows which was part of the previous farm building.
They would store fruit in the cool room.
The Brick House had 9 deep stairs to upstairs to three large bedrooms.
And a small staircase with 5 steps to the attic which had a tiny window which looked up the lane.
The children would often experience the sounds of “bumps” in the night.
The toilet was outside and consisted of 2 wooden seats with a large wooden cover and trap door at rear.
There was also a well.
There was the drover road at the back of the Brick house.
Across the field there was a little lane to the Mill. At the bottom of the garden at the Brick house there were the kissing gates – which lead onto the fields. Wheat was grown in land around the house and harvested to make grain for bread – it was taken to the village Mill for grinding.
There was a shop in the village.
Growing up there my grandmother Laura remembered many things like
The beds being warmed with the warming pan, and fishing for crayfish in the
stream
You could see The Mason Arms from the Brick House.
The fields were surrounded by trimmed hedges.
Many “tramps” used to come by looking for work and a meal in repayment for their work.
My Granny Laura (Edward and Jane daughter) remembered going to school in the village and dancing around the May Pole, with her sisters Miriam and Elise .Her sister Miriam was May Queen one year. Laura was so happy dancing around the may pole that when it was her turn to hand over to her sister she would not give her a turn!
My grandmother Laura left school at 11 years old. Before she could leave she had to sit the labour exam and when she passed this she got her certificate to leave school. At first she helped her mother around the house and also her grandmother, Charlotte Lamb who lived up in Potato Town on the Cross Road at Banbury /Chipping Norton Road.
Charlotte her granny had the plant “honesty” growing in the garden,
(known as the money plant) and would say to Laura when her money tree bears Britannia on the petals she would repay her for all the work she had done. Granny Charlotte would smile when she said this to grand daughter Laura - at that time the penny had Britannia on it.
Grand daughter Laura used to walk up to her grandmothers by herself and come home alone sometimes in the dark. Grandma Charlotte would tell Laura she would be safe as her Guardian Angel would look after her. Finally at aged 15 Laura went to work Foxcott Manor in Buckingham. The Manor sent a pony and trap to fetch her she later came back to Banbury and worked as a Maid.
Great grandmother Jane would walk with the large pram to Hook Norton to do her shopping or send the children with the pram to the shops for her.
When my auntie was growing up there around 1927 she remembers them killing a pig along side of the road near Potato Town.
Her brother ringing the bells for
Sunday Service and then afterwards nipping off instead of going to church – until the next week when the ministers wife was waiting for him and promptly marched them back into church. They would walk across the fields to church and school but have to go around by the road when the weather stopped them going across the fields she remembers her brother bringing back a snake from down the lane!
Seeing Mark Gough a relative of the Lambs carrying a wooden yolk around his shoulders with buckets of water on them.
Her brother recalls going on a big shire horse to the next village to get the horse shod and youngsters calling after him shouting “someone new had come to the village” My father remembers having to be helped down from this large horse and helped again to get on it as he was very young.
And Farmer John Busby who lived with his sister Martha at the farm house.
I think that in 1975 a man from Wiggington bought the Brick House and
when he had it pulled down he wanted to keep the green glass window but the builders knocked the whole lot down.
Now there is a modern house on its site and all that remains is the stone wall at the end of the garden.
Buried in the church yard are a number of my relatives
Henry Edward Nelder aged 77 years (1929)
Jane Lamb/Nelder aged 88 (1947)
Melinda Nelder Moore – first born child – aged 42 years (1918)
Horace Arthur Nelder aged 15 years (1909)
Ada Nelder 59 years (1938)
There are other family members buried there too but the tomb stones have worn over the years and they are difficult to find.
Sent by Veronica Mansour – great granddaughter of Henry Edward Nelder and Jane Lamb/Nelder and Granddaughter of Laura Nelder veronicamansour@hotmail.com 21.09.2009.
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