The item we look at today is not a recent metal detector find, rather it was found some 25 years ago – maybe more – and given to the museum back then.

The item is a button, and we know little about it, apart from the inscription on it.

Bath and Somerset Lunatic Asylum button found at Drove Lane, Market Lavington

As we see, the button, which has a metal loop on the reverse for sewing it onto a garment, is marker, ‘Somerset and Bath Lunatic Asylum’

We can trace something of the history of the asylum through the Somerset Council website at

http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=17545

The land for the site was purchased in 1844 and a competition was held to design the structures. The builder was Mr Kirk of Lincoln. The stone was quarried and dressed on site and the lime burnt close by. The asylum was originally called ‘Somerset County Asylum for Insane Paupers’. The asylum opened in 1848 and housed 350 patients. The establishment was intended to be largely self-sufficient and had its own water supply, gasworks, smithy and sewage treatment as well as farm. More land was bought and leased over time until the site was 307 acres in extent. A separate hospital block to the northeast was built in 1867 to house 30 female patients.

The original design of the site included ‘airing grounds’, gardens for the various categories of patients. There was also an apothecary, plumbers shop, shoemakers shop and brewhouse. In 1854 ‘Besides attendants there is an engineer, a bailiff, a gardener, an assistant gardener, a carter, a cowman, a baker and a brewer, a cook and a porter’. In 1876 there were 668 beds, twice the original intended capacity. In 1927 the site’s gas works became redundant when the hospital was connected to the town’s supply. Electric lighting was installed in 1928. {5}

The buildings were demolished or converted for other use in 2006.

The UK finds website at

http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=31877&limit=recent&date=1122150535
shows a similar button and suggests it is late 19^th or early 20^th century.

None of this explains how the button came to be found in a cottage garden on Drove Lane, Market Lavington. The Market Lavington area, had its own private asylum at Fiddington and the Wiltshire county asylum was at Roundway, Devizes.

Any ideas?

Bill for car repairs by the Lavington and Devizes Motor Services Ltd

The work was quite substantial. The cylinder head was removed so that cylinders could be cleaned – decarbonising used to be a common job followed by grinding in the valves. Perhaps the job on the differential sounds most complex, involving welding and lathe work. It looks as though the work even involved repair and refitting of a rear curtain. Cars used to be fitted with a simple curtain mechanism which could be closed by the driver if he or she was dazzled by a following vehicle.

We see on the bill that the company managing director was F H Sawyer. Again, we have seen Fred before on these pages. Who was the person who signed to say he’d received the money? Signatures can be hard to read. Maybe a blog reader can help us with that.

In these days of 11 digit phone numbers the simplicity – almost quaintness of ‘Lavington 13’ seems amazing. But we can see that the company was quite substantial, with offices at Devizes and Shrewton as well as Market Lavington.

There are different ways of comparing the worth of money in the past with money in the present day. In terms of income, somebody who earned the money paid for this bill in 1929 would earn about £800 today.

We looked at the outside of a processor’s envelope back then. Today we look at the inside.

Part of a 1929 negative wallet

We can see the negatives peeping

Photograhy has, of course, changed out of all recognition. We are now in the digital era and  enlargements are so easy. Even enlarging the old negatives which we see peeping in the wallet, is relatively straight forward. These are big enough to scan and then software can convert the negative to a positive.

Some of these images were taken at the wedding of May Potter to Bill Elisha in 1929.

Bill Elisha and May Potter married in Market Lavington in 1929

We have Bill and May in the middle here with a couple of young bridesmaids who were May’s nieces. We do not know who the other folks are. Maybe you can help us.

Another photo of Bill and May Elisha's Market Lavington wedding

Do email if you can name any of the people here.

Today we’ll look at a small silver coin. It has been put alongside a centimetre rule to give a guide to size.

Let’s turn the coin so we see it upright.

The Market Lavington found half groat is around 350 years old

The other side of this coin has indistinct markings but it is clearly a half groat (sometimes written as one word – halfgroat) and it dates from the period of the English Commonwealth – the time of Oliver Cromwell. Coins like this were first made in 1649. It is made of silver but it will have little value for there isn’t much of it. But of course, it has value to us at the museum for it indicates that people were roaming the fields on Lavington Hill 360 years ago. I expect there was a very annoyed person when he found he’d lost his coin

In cash terms a half groat was worth two old pence. But that is equivalent to more than £15 in terms of average earnings. It was a significant loss.

But thanks to the metal detectorists it has been refound and now has a home in Market Lavington Museum

Old map of Market Lavington. South is at the top of the map

For people used to our wonderful Ordnance Survey maps, it can be hard to get your head round this one. The arrow at the left points south. South is roughly at the top of the map, the opposite of what might be expected. That means west is to the right and east to the left. It’s confusing.

Let’s try to get our bearings. The main road through the village is marked ‘from Urchfont’ at the left and ‘to Westbury’ at the right. It has M Lavington in bold along it.

There is a wooded area close by the road, called The Ham. That’s the name of the residential close which now occupies that area.

The interest in this map lies in the way there used to be many different roads or tracks. For example, what is now regarded as a footpath, starting from The Hollow at the foot of Lavington Hill, is marked as the road to Warminster. This would have involved getting up the hill in West Lavington and on via Imber.

There are interesting area names as well. The strip of land alongside the road up Lavington Hill appears to be called Hoofles Common.

We don’t actually have a date for this map. Can anybody help us?

Typed notes on Fiddington House, an asylum at Market Lavington

The notes transcribed

In 1816 a Mr Willett, linen-draper in Devizes took premises* in Market Lavington which he named the ‘Market Lavington Retreat’. The Gazette of March 27^th 1817 carried an advertisement for this home for the insane. The conductors announce that they have taken for their model the celebrated ‘Retreat at York’, and describe their grounds as ‘pleasantly situated with several acres of ground appropriated to horticultural pursuits, calculated to induce the patients to take bodily exercise’.

The Asylum filled so rapidly that in 1832 when Fiddington Hill Farm and Manorial Rights came up for sale Mr Willett bought these new premises and enlarged and adapted them. It was 1834 before the patients were transferred to their new home where they now had fifteen acres of garden and grounds for recreation. A press notice advertising Fiddington Retreat speaks with enthusiasm of the lovely surroundings, and stresses the fact that there is now ample space for ‘maintaining these distinctions desirable according to the circumstances of life’.

Ann Saunders, in her book entitled ‘Russell Mill’**, says, ‘Uncle Willett and Aunt established a lunatic asylum. My aunt made the house comfortable and uncle made it lively. He laid out the grounds and built the house at Fiddington’.

*Those first premises were at Palm House, High Street, Market Lavington

** We have a photocopy of this book at Market Lavington Museum

Building Lavington Viaduct - a photo by Alf Burgess

We can see that the viaduct is brick built. This provided much income for the local brickworks.

Today we’ll look at the back of the photo for Mr Burgess had pasted an advert onto it.

Burgess of Market Lavington advert on the back of the photo

The simplicity of a late Victorian ad is quite charming. There are no hidden messages suggesting you’ll succeed better in life by spending a bit more at Burgess of High Street, Market Lavington. Instead there is basic information about some services that could be offered.

So who was Alf Burgess?

Alfred was born in Coulston, a few miles to the west of Market Lavington in about 1860. His father, William was a farm labourer. At the time of the 1861 census young Alfred was just 11 months old – the youngest in a line of children which William and wife Mary had had. The oldest was already 17.

Alfred was still in Coulston in 1871. William and Mary had had just one more child who was now aged 8.

But in 1881 Alfred was in London, working as a footman for Lady MacNaughton in Eaton Square, Westminster. Perhaps it was in London that he decided on his future trade.

By 1886, Alfred was back in Wiltshire for it was in that year that he set up his photographic studio in Market Lavington. And the next year, 1887, he married Marion Grey who originally came from Scotland, possibly the Paisley area of Glasgow.

Alfred did not confine his photography to studio shots. He also took local scenes and made and sold them as postcards.

In 1891 at the time of the census Alfred and family lived on High Street, Market Lavington. Apart from wife, Marion, two youngsters had been born, Robert was two and George was aged one.

The census in 1901 shows an increased family of Robert, Alfred (George?), John, Hugh, Allen and Charles.

Alf and Marion Burgess outside their Market Lavington shop

Sadly, the date given on this photo is wrong, for Alfred died in 1918. Wife, Marion, joined him in Market Lavington churchyard in 1935.

Those of us over about 36 will remember the euphoria which surrounded the marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne and Diana Spencer, his young and pretty bride.  ‘The Fairytale Romance’ was a common phrase at the time and a royal wedding certainly lifted the spirits of a country beset with problems. We had country-wide riots, hunger strikers in prison in Northern Ireland and world leaders being shot at, to give a few examples. A royal wedding was just what was needed to give us all a feel-good factor.

In Market Lavington, we had street parties and today we feature the party at Northbrook.

Children at the Northbrook, Market Lavington, street party for the marriage of Charles and Diana in 1981

Here we see, from left to right, Mel Sadd and Belinda Matthews as the happy couple. Further down the table there’s Lee Clarke, Adrian Matthews, Kerry Sadd and Si Frost. They are tucking into a good spread of party fare. As we can see, it was very much a fancy dress party – and that wasn’t confined just to the youngsters.

Adults at the 1981 Northbrook, Market Lavington street party

Here we can see adults and a couple of babies as the evening part of the party fun began.. By now, the fancy dress was largely discarded.

Happy days – and happy memories for some folks.

Sadly, of course, the fairy tale marriage came to an end.  That’s different from the Northbrook couples. Their marriages seem to last well.

One given to Market Lavington Museum recently does have coloured plates to accompany its King James Bible text.

Daniel in the Lion'a Den - a biblical image

But what makes this bible special for us is the inscription.

Inscription in the bible. Marjorie Oram and her parents, Henry and Matilda were Market Lavington residents.

So, the bible was a gift for Marjorie P Oram from her mum and dad for Christmas 1929.

Marjorie was born in 1910 although anybody seeking her birth record had better type her name as Margery. In 1911 she was the youngest of seven children of Market Lavington born Henry Robert Oram, a bricklayer and his wife Matilda. Matilda had come from Imber.

In 1947, both Marjorie and her father were recorded by a Pathé news reporter who was dealing with a story about very heavy bombing on the ranges causing damage to houses. This 1 minute’ news clip is available on line (in preview quality) at http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=13727. In this amusing film you will see and hear Marjorie, her father Henry and also Charlie Davis standing at the gate of his Northbrook house.

Henry died in 1953 and Marjorie in 1984. Marjorie has children still living in Market Lavington. It got quite emotional when Ted, one of her children saw the clip for the first time ever, recently.

Charlie, too, has relatives still in the village. His nephew is Keith at the newspaper shop.

Market Lavington Museum was recently given the winner’s trophy from the rally organised by St Barnabas School in 1988. By then trophies were cheap and plastic and some might class them as a bit tasteless. But here it is.

Trophy for a car treasure hunt organised by friends of St Barnabas School, Market Lavington in 1988

The trophy had no name on it – merely the name of the event.

The badge on the trophy reads St Barnabas Treasure Hunt

At St Barnabas, they operated what got called Scatter rallies. There was no set route. Competitors studied maps and clues and then went off their own way to solve them.  There was always a proviso that in the event of a tie the person who drove the shortest distance would win. One such event (it happened to be set by our curator) was thought to involve a minimum distance of fourteen and a half miles. But the winner made use of tracks and did it in less than that. Happy days!

The events were run by the PTFA – the parents, teachers and friends association and profits were used to raise money for the school. It is good to have a memory of these days in the museum so our thanks to that 1988 winner who decided to part with his trophy.