Memories of Theydon Mount

Family
I, Ernest Freshwater, son of Edward Charles Freshwater, was born in Theydon Mount on 1st January 1893.I first saw light of day in the cottage at 3 Mount End] close to what was called the Horse pond, where the farmers watered their horses.
I had two older brothers, Walter, who was killed serving with the Grenadier Guards in France in 1916, and Ted, who is now 89 and lives at Bury St Edmunds.

My father died, aged 32, the year after I was born. Later on my mother married Walter Freshwater, no relation to my father (?). My step-father had been living with his grandmother in the back half of the cottage where we lived [2 Mount End]. He was the son of Harry Freshwater, who lived in the house at 8 Mount End.

[R V-H: Ernest's mother eventually moved into that house for several years until her death in 1960 at the age of 93. I used to pick her up from there and take her to church.]

School Days
I was three when I first went to school in the village. I can still remember my first day. Mrs Sparks and Miss Bower were in charge of the school at that time. The school building was smaller than it is now, and consisted merely of one main school-room in which, all at the same time, there was the babes class, and one or perhaps two other classes.

There were generally about 30-35 children attending the school. Each child had a desk and a slate. The books, paper and other school equipment seem to have been provided by Mr Prance, the Rector at that time. The children walked to the (old) Rectory at Stapleford Tawney on the footpath across the fields to pick up whatever was needed.

Once a year there was a party at the school, at which Mr Prance gave each child a Bible or some other book. On these occasions the children used to put on a play. I remember taking part in one of these with my friend Beatrice Fathers (eldest sister of Dora Fathers), in which we gave a little recitation which went:-

Grandad said, "To the mountain tops we climb.
It's not done in a minute; take one step at a time."

In another play, I remember having the part of a railway porter, and saying,

“I’m a busy porter man
Who puts the luggage in the van.
Blow my whistle and say 'All right'
Blow it again and show my light"

It was the schoolmistress who produced these plays, which were always a great occasion in the village and everyone came to them.

Another of my school friends was Flora Bardwell. By the time I left school at the age of I3 Mrs Darby had become the schoolmistress. I called on her when I came back to England in 1955 and shared many amusing recollections with her, including how badly we all behaved on her first day at school. She remembered but forgave me.

Work
My first job on leaving school in 1906 was milking the cows and looking after the pigs at Hill Hall. The Duke de Moro was living there then. The farm manager was a Mr Ames (or Haines?). Work started at 6 a.m. and finished at 6 p.m., except on Saturday when work ended at 5 P.m. We always had Sundays free. I was paid six shillings a week. There were no 'perks' in the way of free milk or farm produce. I stayed at Hill Hall for 2 or 3 years and then went to work at Little Tawney Hall. The owner was a Mr Bianchi, a bachelor whose father lived at Theydon Bois and who seemed to know- little about farming. The farm manager was a Mr English. Besides milking the cows I worked in the fields, hoeing mangolds and so on.

About 1913, I left there and went to work for Joe Hills, the grocers in Epping, whose shop was where the International Stores now is. My job was delivering goods in a pony and cart. I came up to Hill Hall nearly every day where, by now, Mr and Mrs Charles Hunter were living.

Life and Leisure
My mother made almost all our clothes when we were boys, but there was also a school clothing fund into which the children paid a penny or two pence per week and at the end of the year school clothes would be bought for them with the amount collected. These clothes generally came from Dearloves or Pynes in Epping. There was never a proper shop in Theydon Mount but my stepfather's mother sold sweets from her house, and we children would go there and buy a halfpenny's worth. Joe Hills, the grocers, used to come round the village on Mondays and collect the orders, and then return on Tuesday or Wednesday with the goods. Most people in the village collected their milk from Tom Miller's farm (now Sawkins Farm). They would generally collect a halfpenny or a pennyworth at a time. A halfpenny would buy about a quart. The milk was always skimmed. No one bought full cream milk as we do now. The meat came from Kirkby's, the butcher's in Epping. They would take orders one week and bring the meat round the following week. Most families had a meat meal about once a week. You could get a good joint for a shilling or two shillings, which would last the family almost a week.

The water tor the village came from a well near the blacksmith's (now Tarlins Farm), There was a tank alongside the well, which is still there, and a pipe ran down from this tank to the village. Another deep brick-lined well was at the top of school hill, but this is completely grown over now. Some people used to draw water from what was known as Weir Pond (near Roselands), but this was not advisable; Miss Mabel Sumner was once taken seriously ill because of drinking the water from this pond, from which the cattle also drank.

As a young man in Theydon Mount, I and others were in the habit of going into Epping nearly every Saturday night for recreation, walking across the fields most of the way. We did not normally visit any of the pubs in Epping. Our recreation generally consisted of buying winkles and cockles at Old Moore's fish shop and chasing the girls. You could buy hot fish and chips in Epping even in those days, but I do not remember ever doing so.

In the summer time Theydon Mount had its own sporting activities in the old back field behind where Mr Perry used to Live (where Mr Jack Chaplin lives now). We used to play cricket and rounders. We walked everywhere and thought nothing of it. When old Mr Latchford, father of Jack and Ellen ('Nellie', who later married Archie Prior) fell sick, Nellie and I walked to Abridge to get him a bottle of medicine from the doctor.

[R V-H: On the recording he is referred to as the Health Doctor, implying that there were other sorts of doctors, but he seems to have carried out all the normal GP's duties, inducting vaccinating the babies in the village.]

St Michael's Church
My stepfather was a Churchwarden at St Michael's. Every Sunday all the village children attended Sunday school, which was held up in the gallery at the west end of the nave. (Gallery removed about 1925) Miss Jessie Prance, one of the Rector's daughters, was in charge. We used to learn a verse or two of a hymn. After Sunday
school was over, at about 11 a.m., we came down into the body of the church for the service.

Some of the congregation used to sit in the gallery during the service; it was a particularly popular place for those men who enjoyed singing. Charlie "Waggles' Stubbins had a very fine voice. (Several of us had nicknames: why Stubbins was Waggles I do not remember I was called 'Old Toff. One of my brothers was called 'Six
Foot'. As far as I can remember, no nickname was given to Mr Prance, the Rector). Besides taking Sunday School Miss Jessie Prance also played the harmonium, which at that time, was placed halfway along the north side of the nave. Jack Latchford and I used to sit in the small pew alongside the harmonium.

My mother, generally alone, but sometimes helped by us children, was responsible for cleaning the church for many years. In particular every springtime everything was turned out and the church floors (which were then oak planks) were scrubbed. On this occasion, all the family were made to help, at least the girls, if not the boys

Our family was also responsible for lighting the fires in the church. Heating was provided by a large iron stove that stood in the corner near where the harmonium stands today. There was also a small stove in the vestry, line fires had to be lit by 7a.m. in time for the morning service. Mother also told us boys, when we lit the
stoves, to dust the pews. 1 guess she did not want the ladies to get their bottoms dusty - sorry, I mean their dresses dusty!

[Even at 85, there are still traces of boyhood humour in his remarks!- R V-H]

John Miller, a local farmer and one-time churchwarden, supplied the wood and coal required, which was kept under the stairs leading up to the tower. He always sat in the same place, namely the pew which used to stand just inside the door on the left, in the corner by the font. This pew was removed about 20 years ago because it was rotting away. In those days the church, when not in use, was always locked and we kept the key. Harry Sailing (the father of Billy Sarling) used to ring the bell, which could only be rung from up on the first floor of the tower. Miss Prance always looked after the church flowers which involved merely the contents of two small brass vases.

The children were generally confirmed about the age of twelve. The confirmation classes took place at the (Old) Rectory at Stapleford Tawney and the Confirmation Services were held in Tawney Church.

Mr Bardwell, the blacksmith at what is now called Tarlins Farm, made the Church gates. The forge and the adjoining house were owned by a Mrs Merriday (or so her name sounded). She had a deaf and dumb daughter and did a lot for the church. The Tarlin family came after her.

As children, Mr Bardwell puzzled us. Apart from having two wives (Nothing to suppose these were concurrent rather than consecutive- R V-H), he had a shed which we never managed to get into and in which we we're sure he was making something mysterious.

His church gates also had a bit of mystery about them. When I used to take the Hill Hall cattle down to feed in the field near the church, they would never walk on the church side of the drive near the gates, but crossed over to the other side near the
well, from which drinking water was taken up to Hill Hall by tank cart.

The 1914-18 War. Marriage and Emigration

At the age of 21, on 18th November 1914, I joined up in the Royal Artillery. My brother Walter had joined the Grenadier Guards before war broke out and had intended to make a career in the army but, as I said earlier, he was killed in 1916. My other brother Ted had an invalid wife, so he got an 'extension', when eventually conscription was introduced, and he went to work in a munitions factory at Woolwich, near where his wife was living. All the lads of my age in the village joined the Services voluntarily; there was no conscription in the early days. On joining the Army, I trained at Lewes in Sussex and at Aldershot. While in training in England I only had a few chances of getting back to Theydon Mount but on 10th July 1915, I got married to Ethel Hancock of Hamets Estate in Epping. We were married in Theydon Garnon Church. In September that year I was sent to France, and did not return to England until 1918. After a short time in action in France 1 was senl lo Salonika in Greece. I stayed there until 1918 when I was invalided home, unfit for further service due to malaria. Ethel and I lived for a short time in Pinner and then moved back to Theydon Mount. I was only officially demobilised from the army at the beginning of January 1920 and immediately, on 20th January, we emigrated to Canada with some of Ethel’s friends. I had long wanted to go there, and two of my closest friends from Theydon Mount, Tom Stubbins and Colin Cameron, were already out there.

The first of our three sons was born in Canada in 1921. Ethel and I brought him on a visit to England in 1924. (This son died in February 1978.) I was only able to stay for a few months, but she remained until our second son was born on Christmas Day 1924, and then she brought our two sons back to Canada in March 1925, where later on we had our third son.

70 Years On
Theydon Mount now (1974) compared with, say, 1904? Several things strike me. When you walk through the length of the village now, chances are there will be nobody about. Seventy years ago there were always friends and neighbours in the road, eager to have a yarn. The road through the village was a rough gravelled road. The two ponds were clear of weeds. There were, of course, many fewer houses. The school was the hub of the village. No electricity of course paraffin lamps were the rincipal source of illumination. Most of the footpaths seem to have disappeared. The small fields of the old days have been stripped of their hedges and made into less attractive large ones. In St Michaels Church it is sad that the gallery and the Hill Hall family pew have gone.

Above all, it is the deadness of the village that strikes me most - no visible life in it now.

[Note from Mr Robert Vernon-Harcourt: The tape-recorded conversation on which these notes are largely based was made during a short visit to England by Mr Freshwater in 1974, with a few points added in subsequent correspondence. For those who knew Ernest Freshwater, I am glad to report that in his last letter, dated 16th March 1978, he seemed in good spirits.]
Tragedy at Theydon Bois in 1940

On Monday 18th November 1940 60 men of ‘A’ Company the 6th Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borders were billeted at Yates Retreat, a huge pre-war tea room and playground in Coppice Row, Theydon Bois. A sentry on duty outside saw an object descending by parachute. He had heard an aircraft circling earlier, and assumed that it must be an airman who had been forced to bale out of his stricken aircraft. However the object was in fact a parachute mine, one of two dropped by an enemy aircraft. One landed in Piercing Hill, but the other brushed the roof of the Retreat before hitting the helter-skelter and exploding. The Retreat was completely blown apart, and thirty soldiers were killed, and a further sixty were injured.

There is a memorial to them in St Mary’s church in Theydon Bois. This was unveiled on the 18th November, 1998, on the fiftieth anniversary of the event.