Ben Hayward was an Easterton farmer, born in the 18th century but living most of his long life in the nineteenth. In 1824, Ben commenced making notes about his life in a notebook. He continued making some notes for 60 years.
Many of the early notes are concerned with farming, but as time went on and Ben gave up farming, his enthusiasm for bird life shines through.
The curator has been copying this book. Descendants of Ben wish to keep their own family records. Amongst Ben’s writing is ‘The Lavington Hawking Song’.
"Lavington Hawking" as written out by Ben Hayward
One piece of the jigsaw proved hard to find – just where did Ben Hayward live? The answer came (it agreed with previous guesswork) in a scrapbook entry found just a few days ago by a museum friend in Easterton.
Extract from Ben Hayward's Will
So we now know that Ben lived at Kestrels, along Oak Lane.
Market Lavington Museum 
March 28, 2010 at 7:57 am |
[…] by a green woodpecker strutting its stuff. One could imagine former parish residents, John Legg and Ben Hayward reaching for their notebooks to record the bird […]
April 13, 2012 at 5:29 am |
[…] own right, but it has local provenance, coming from Kestrels, Easterton, the house once occupied by Ben Hayward. There’s no suggestion that this airer dates back to his time – most of the 19th […]