Old Hanham

I remember!  I remember!

I am old enough to remember when Hanham was just a village; when all knew everyone by name; before any of the Avenues were built – Wesley, Whitfield, Wiltshire, Creswick, etc., or any of the roads between Abbots Avenue and Memorial Road, and when there were only a few scattered houses between what is now Plowright House and our Hanham Abbots Church, with no street lighting either.  There was none of the infilling there now is in Church Road, Conham Hill, Martins Road and the Hanham end of Lower Hanham Road, and the last few hundred yards before reaching the High Street.  A large orchard stretched there on to Tabernacle Road, that part being named Orchard Road.

In those days you could enter field paths direct from our High Street, known as Hanham Street, and walk almost all the way to Hanham Mills by field and woodland.  There were not more that half a dozen houses in Whittucks Road and about the same number in Greenbank Road, then known as Herring Lane.  The two avenues leading off of it and going back to the High Street together with Woodyleaze were all green fields.

In those times there were large families, six, eight or more children.  I was one of eight, so was my dear wife.  Mothers of such large families had too much to do, with cooking, washing etc., (with no modern appliances).  In most cases there was only one breadwinner until some of the children were old enough to go to work.  For the majority, holidays were out of the question.  The only time I ever saw the sea was when we had our annual family outing by train from Lawrence Hill to Portishead and one outing to Weston with the temperance Group from Christ Church.  I recall a church outing more than 75 years ago to Castle Combe by four horsebrake; all able bodied men being asked to walk up Tog Hill to ease the load on the horses, with a halt at The Crown for refreshment and a rest for the horses.

Another Church outing was from Conham, opposite Beese’s Tea Gardens, to Saltford by steamer.  I remember how I and most Hanhamites enjoyed our much frequented tow path walks all along the river to Hanham Mills.  On our way we could hear the sound of hammer on chisel which seemed to ring out from the great hollows of the quarries all along the river bank and which was once described as the anvil chorus.

Those locals working in Hanham were mostly in the boot factories, market gardens, the pit and quarries.  I know of one boot factory where there was no heating in winter time and men worked in their overcoats and a heavy sack over their shoulders, fastened in the front with a large nail.  The usual time to start work was 6.30 am with a breakfast break from half-past eight to nine, then on to six o’clock!  Start the same time on a Saturday and work until one o’clock.

Hanham Post Office, on the same site as now, was in the front room of a Victorian type bay window house with the letter box in the side window, and you could send a postcard for a halfpenny and a letter for one penny, (old coinage) and be sure it would be delivered next morning.  I remember the pillar box built into the wall near the corner of Tabernacle Road bearing the name “Hanham Village”.

In those days there was no pension for elderly people nor children’s’ allowances, so the majority did not retire at sixty or sixty-five as now, but worked on as long as possible.  When they could no longer manage a full day’s work and had to give up their job they sought ways and means of earning a few shillings.  I have seen in a cottage window “Boots and shoes neatly repaired here”; in another “Plain sewing done here”.  I remember another woman who once a week made faggots and found a ready sale for a quick dinner, and another woman who made herb beer!

Some of the former pit and quarry workers could occasionally earn a little bit as grave diggers in one of the local burial grounds – anything to earn a few shillings.  The destitute had to rely on getting a little money and a couple of loaves of bread from “The Board of Guardian’s of the Poor” and a bit of help from relatives, friends and neighbours.  The only alternative was the workhouse, so different from the County Council Elderly People’s Home where I now reside, with carpeted lounges and easy chairs, a well furnished bedroom and hot and cold running water, and there is an excellent variety of food!

Yes!  I remember!  I Remember!

C A Painter

Taken from an article in the Parish Magazine of Hanham with Hanham Abbots (Feb 1988)