Wokingham Memories It Shall Be.

[Phodgetts]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum, a great find.
I have been researching the Knight and Bristor families of Winkfield Row, Bracknell and Warfield. I recently made contact with a previously unknown cousin who has a huge picture and photo collection of his extended family and in amongst the collection is a wonderful picture. I am not sure as to the date or even the town, though judging by the ladies clothes in the image it must be around about WW1 or just after, but certainly given the design of the car in the picture it is before WW2. Is there anyone here that might be able to offer suggestions as to what the event may be? It looks to be a happy event as opposed to a funeral of a dignitary as the bunting is out. Hope to hear some news soon. Thanks in advance for your help.

[RanR]

Any chance of you seeing what is written on the shop sign hanging on the right hand side of the road?  It might give someone a clue.

Sorry I can't help with it although I'd like to say that it was Wokingham because that's the main area I know.

I'm interested in your Knight research though.  I have Sophia Knight marrying John Wyatt in Reading St. Giles in Feb 1766 (with Joesph Knight as bondsman for the licence).  John Died in 1769 - they had a daughter named Sophia Wyatt born 1767 in St, Mary's Reading - and after becoming a member of the Kings Road Baptist church in Reading in 1770, Sophia married a widower named John Millard in St. Mary's 18/9/1778.  She died in Reading in 1820.

Do any of these names sound familiar to you or do you have any Knight records for the Reading area (or have any idea who might have)?

Thanks very much and I hope you get to find out more about your photo soon.

[Phodgetts]

Thanks RanR, I have tried everything to get a glimpse of that pub sign and I just cannot get enough from it to get the name. So frustrating! I have also been in touch with a classic car magazine to see if anyone can identify what the car is without any joy.
Regarding Sophia Knight, I have not managed to get as far back as you yet. It is intersting though that I do have a number of Sophia's in my line so there could well be a connection. How many other Knights do you have that lead up to the 1840's. If you could fill in that gap I could tell you if there is a connection. Alternatively you could have a look on my Tribalpages website and have a look at the Knights I so far have listed on there. If you are interested PM me for the link. By the way I have no Wyatts at all in my line to date.

Philip

[Phodgetts]

Hi RanR further to my PM this is the image of the school in Wokingham that my G'mother went to during the 1930's I think it would be. I have not managed to locate it yet.

[RanR]

I can't be certain and would need to investigate further but my first thoughts are that it is along Barkham Road.  I don't live in Wokingham now but when I did in the 1960s - 1980s there used to be an old people's home along the lefthand side of Barkham Road as you went out from the station (before Folly Court where they trained the Guide Dogs for the Blind dogs.  On the other hadn, there were lots of large houses down Murdoch Road (off Easthampstead Road that could also have housed something as large as that.

Possibly even on Finchampstead Road or Easthampstead Road itself.

Looking on the 1901 census there was a place called Wixenford in All SS parish that was a large school housing about 80 staff boarders and servants, in the Easthampstead Road area near Holm Grane and before the Crooked Billet (near the railway line crossing now).

There was also something called Bigshotte Rayks? that was in St. Sebastians parish off Finchampstead Road housing 21 boarders, staff and servants.

See what you think.

[joyce341]

 This looks like "OakFields" the childrens home I was in from1953 to 1956,along Barkham road at the top of the Hill,on the left,it was closed as a childrens home in 1956 and made in to a home for the elderly,we were transfered to Murray House in Station Road,then I went back to my family a few months later.
I can still remember the layout of the house.
Joyce

[joyce341]

 From what I remember,I was five when I went there and eight when I left,up the front steps,to the right was the house mothers quarters,I saw tv in there once when I was ill,Mr and Mrs Elliott were the house parents,to the left of you large stairs going up faceing the front of the house,straight ahead,the playroom,to the right the dining room,with doors out to the back,the other side of the playroom,the Kitchen,then small back stairs,at the bootom of the back stairs,across the passage to the front of the house was the washroom,we had our washbags on hooks here,red tiled floors and duck boards,this was where we came each morning to wash,the middle windows upstairs if my memmory serves me correct were bathrooms,the far left at the front,the sick room,we had big walk in airing cupboards where we would line up to collect our clean clothes,of the sick area,I believe the top floor was boys,middle girls,our bedroom was called sleepy hollow,the back was a huge field.
Joyce

[RanR]

That's the name!  I knew it was Oak - something.  Well done in remembering all of that for so long.

I saw a few photos of the end house at Shute End on a Francis Frith photos website, named as the Grosvenor School but I knew that it wasn't the same building as your picture.  So ... do we assume that the school was moved from Shute End to Oakfields and then turned into the children's home?

Interestingly enough, the Holt came into being just after the 2nd WW but to my knowledge that was never for boarders (maybe I'm wrong there).  It certainly didn't seem to have had the space for boarders when I was there in the 1970s.  The old house (with the library and the staff room and other offices) wouldn't have been anywhere near large enough compared with Oakfields to replace Grosvenor School.

I'm not sure when Luckely Oakfield opened.  Maybe that was provided as an alternative once Grosvenor School's building became the children's home.

Is the old people's home still there?  I imagine it probably is as it used to be well cared for and would still be needed. 

If anyone can confirm that it is, then cross the station at the level crossing going down the hill from the town, towards Barkham and Arborfield.  As the side roads begin to lessen in number (I think the last on the right was Woosehill Lane), there should be a large building set back from the road a bit on the left hand side just after Woosehill Lane and before the road on the left with Folly Court Guide Dogs for the Blind on the corner.  That building on the left is Oakfields.  After that it used to be pretty much countryside until Barkham but I bet that's all changed now!

Hope that helps you to identify your Grosvenor School building.  Is it the one that you went ot see and found knocked down?  I hope not.  Thanks Joyce for confirming it.

[behindthefrogs]

The photograph is of the property in Broad Street Wokingham which until about a year ago was the Arts Centre and about five years earlier included the local library which moved there from the Town Hall in 1970. 

It has recently been converted into flats and shops.  Only one of these is currently occupied a restaurant which is entered through the central door.

For most of its history it has been called Montague House and is believed to be named after Henry Montague a master at Kings School Canterbury.  It was originally built in the 17th century but was substantially rebuilt by John Roberts in the early 1800s.  His family occupied it until 1886 when it was sold to Isiah Gadd (whose name can just still be faintly seen on the side of his shop at the top of Station Road)

Grovenor House School for Girls was originally in what is now Tudor House the doctors' surgery at the top of the Terrace.  It moved into Montague House in 1920.  In 1957 the house was sold to Berkshire County Council and the school moved to Finchampstead Road  where it still exists as The White House School   

David