The Spring – 1978

We have another view of the road known as The Spring today. This one is some 17 years newer than the one we saw yesterday. It was taken in 1978 and shows a view across the field once known as the Warrington Field. By 1978 part of this had become the front field at Lavington School and part of it belonged to Dauntsey’s School. Here’s the image.

A Spring view in 1978

The most prominent feature in this photo is the tree which stands in the grounds of Lavington School. This is a Wellingtonia Fir and was planted in 1887 to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

To the left of the tree we can see a reminder of an earlier use of this field.

Former cricket pavilion

This building had been originally erected as the cricket pavilion in about 1910. Charles Awdry, who owned the Manor at that time, was keen on cricket and laid out a very classy ground with a superb pavilion. After Charles’ death in 1912 and then the outbreak of World War One, the cricket pavilion found other uses. At the time of this photo it was probably the home of the Lavington School caretaker. It has now been demolished and a small estate of houses, ‘Pavilion Gardens’ stands on the site.

The photo shows the house once known as The Alban Estate, lining The Spring beyond the pavilion.

There is another house to the right of the tree.

Gardener’s Cottage, Clyffe Hall

This was the gardener’s cottage for Clyffe Hall and would once have been lived in by James Lye. He was known far and wide, particularly for his skill in raising fuchsias. He developed many cultivars and many are still available. Gardeners could grow these Lavington developed plants for there is a James Lye Fuchsia collection, dedicated to preserving the known James Lye varieties and, just maybe, finding some of the lost ones again. You can see their site at http://www.jameslyefuchsias.co.uk/

That’s quite a bit of history in a small area.

The Manor Sale of 1916

Sale catalogues can be very interesting items and this one, complete with well reproduced photographs certainly is.

Manor sale catalogue – 1916

The bulk of the estate had been sold off following the death of Charles Awdry. James Welch, the father of the man whose war diaries and letters can be seen here acquired and kept the auction catalogue for the remainder of the estate. This was sold off in 33 lots on July 28^th 1916.

Buildings in the sale included

Bouverie Lodge, now happily rebuilt after the awful fire there.

The Fishing Cottage which also still exists.

The cricket pavilion which stood where the houses of Pavilion Gardens have been built.

The manor house itself.

Let’s take a look at a description of lot 23 which included the pavilion.

It sounds delightful.

James Welch, we guess, was at the sale and recorded price and buyer.

So we think the ground and pavilion were purchased by Mr Holloway for £535 (or maybe £555).

Lavington School now occupies part of the former cricket field.

The old pavilion is lit up.

Back in the Edwardian era, more than 100 years ago, Charles Awdry held Market Lavington Manor and he wished to indulge in his passion for cricket. He had a high class cricket field laid out and built a pavilion to suit it. The pavilion was at the corner of the ground, where it met the road we call The Spring. That’s next to the entrance to Lavington School these days.

The cricket era was quite short lived and when Lavington School was built, the pavilion was converted into a home for the caretaker.

And that’s what we see in the photo below.

The former cricket pavilion in Market Lavington, floodlit in 1977

This splendid image shows the house floodlit at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.

Since then, of course, the old pavilion has gone and modern housing called Pavilion Gardens stands in its place.