Ivy Lodge

Ivy Lodge is a fascinating house at the Easterton end of High Street, more or less opposite the old Congregational Church. It is a listed building and the listing citation reads:

House. Late C17 and 1832. Greensand rubble with brick side elevations, slate roof. Two storeys, reducing to single storey and basement on right. Three bays. Central stair hall plan with kitchen to right, parlour to left, and rear wing on left converted to drawing room and second entrance in early C19. Re-entrant angle infilled with dairy, now general purpose room. Central half-glazed door within wide arched porch. Twenty-paned sashes, the upper floor having brick patching from an earlier scheme of fenestration.

Right front added early C19, windows etcetera said to come from Erlestoke Manor, re-erected here approximately half metre in front of original end. This has central door within metal lattice porch, and flanking large 12-paned sashes and arched brick lintels. Roof hipped. Interior remodelled 1832 (new dwelling extension referred to in deeds). Left room of earlier work has angle stack and binder with stop and scoop chamfer stops. Main chamber above has similar beam with double leaf shaped stops, bar and pellets. Stair split to upper and lower levels, with high early C19 drawing room with cornice. Front has butt and threaded purlin roof.

That’s not the easiest reading so let’s see the building in a postcard recently acquired by the museum.

Ivy Lodge, Market Lavington on a postcard sent in 1908

The fascinating feature of the house is that the designer had a real desire for symmetry from the outside, made hard by the sloping conditions. To overcome this, the window to the left of the porched entrance is actually on two floors. The top half of the window is at the bottom of an upstairs room whilst the bottom of the window casts light into a downstairs room.

The house is still there and still looks much the same.

The card was posted in 1908 by a visitor who was staying at the house. The house was occupied then by Dr Lush.

Back of the card, sent to Mrs H B Strofton

The recipient was Mrs H B Strofton, a lady who was born in New York but who was British by parentage. Her husband Herbert Bernard Strofton was a commercial traveller working in Drapery.

The card as is often the case, is little more than the equivalent of a modern text message, but May, who sent it, comments on the ‘sweet little house’ and the ‘nice garden’.

A great addition to the museum’s collection.

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Who are the Pierrots?

Pierrots originated in France. Indeed the name really means little Peter. But the sad character, pining for love of Columbine (who of course goes off with Harlequin) became pretty well an internationally known character.

This leads us to a recent gift to our wonderful museum. It is a postcard featuring a Pierrot troupe.

A Pierrot troupe – but who are they? Where are they? When was this taken?

Sadly we are short of the three Ws. We don’t know who, we don’t know where and we don’t know when. The other side of the card may hold clues.

The back of the Pierrot card

Sadly, there isn’t much information there. The card has not been posted so has no post mark with a date. There’s no suggestion as to what stamp should be used. But there is a publisher’s name.

Card produced by Burgess Brothers of Market Lavington

The card was produced by Burgess Brothers of Market Lavington Wilts. This gives us about a thirty year range starting in 1918.

But over to you, the readers. The card clearly has local provenance, but do you remember this troupe anywhere in the area? Or just maybe you were a member of it? Were they locals having carnival fun or was it even a visiting set of professional people? We really would like to know who, when and where.

Do, please, get in touch if you can help.

 

A Mystery Postcard

Postcards ought to be obvious. A decent postcard has information on it which tells you where it is. But this one doesn’t. However, it is a truly lovely card.

A postcard at Market Lavington Museum – place and people are not known.

So, the question straight away is, does anyone recognise this delightful rural scene?

Or how about the people shown?

Or maybe the lovely push cart might mean something to somebody.

The card does have a local interest for sure, for it was sent to an Easterton address. We think it may have been posted in Market Lavington, but we look at a barely visible postmark with the eye of hope.

What we know for sure is that it was sent to Mrs Emily Chapman and was posted in September 1928 for Emily’s birthday. Emily’s husband had the initial W. and they lived at The Clay in Easterton. We can find Emily and William Chapman listed as voters on the 1939 Electoral Roll, still at The Clay, Easterton.

Emily Jones married William Chapman in 1928 and they did, indeed, live at The Clay, Easterton. We believe Emily had been Emily Jones and that the couple had married in 1927

A Souvenir of Market Lavington

Today we have a postcard sent home by a soldier visiting a camp on Salisbury Plain. It is a multi-view card.

Postcard entitled Souvenir of Market Lavington

The five views shown are of the church, exterior and interior at the top, the church from the recreation ground in the middle, Church Street and Clyffe Hall Hill.

The post card has a Pond Farm Camp post mark

The card was post with a half-penny stamp and it carries a Pond Farm Camp post mark. The day and month are clear – August 10^th. We think the year is 09 – 1909.

Card message – from brother to sister.

The message is typical of the era – basically saying I’m still alive with a little bit of news. It appears to be sent by a chap called Irvine.

The card was in Walton’s series; presumably this was the Mr Walton of the Lavington Supply Stores.

Recipient – Ruth Ann Briggs of Halifax, Yorkshire

The recipient was Miss R A Briggs. Ruth Ann Briggs was about thirty at the time, a single lady living with her mother and great aunt. She was a worker in worsted manufacture. The family came from and lived in Halifax in Yorkshire.

She had a younger brother called Irvine Briggs so we expect it was him who sent the card.

 

A fun postcard

But without much real connection to Market Lavington

In Edwardian times, and these days, there were seaside cards designed to be fun – quite different from photographic cards. Many were made with a blank space where a place name could be overprinted and this resulted in a quite incongruous card for Market Lavington.

Father is such a big swell in his bathing suit - a fun postcard from the Edwardian era at Market Lavington Museum

Market Lavington is pretty well central in landlocked Wiltshire, yet this card clearly shows a coastal scene with the sea vanishing into the distance. A family with a very fat father are enjoying themselves in the water.

The base card is common enough. One wonders how many were sold with the Market Lavington name added.

Our Local Express at Market Lavington

Comic postcards, such as this one depicting an imaginary train, allegedly at Market Lavington became common in the Edwardian era. This card, at Market Lavington Museum, was obviously considered of interest and amusement value – sufficient to have it framed. That means we can’t look at the back of the card for any publisher marks or postage dates.

Comedy postcard - Our Local Express at Market Lavington

What sellers might tell us on internet auction sites can provide some information. A virtually identical card, but purporting to be a small town in Shropshire was posted in 1912. A card for the same town, along a long closed railway, was posted in 1918 and sold for more than £10. Another, but for the Isle of Wight, was posted in 1938. This one, offered for sale at the start of 2010 did not sell at the asking price of £2. We do not think that our card, battered and creased as it is, has any real cash value.

These cards were printed with the main image in large quantities and then cheaply overprinted with the text – ‘Our local express at …..’. The place name varied but in all other respects they were identical with the same foreground characters, one asking somebody to wake him up when the train passes. There are the same characters on the roof of the train attempting to keep it going with punt poles and the same green flagman perched precariously on the signal arm.

As far as Market Lavington is concerned, this card is really very unfair on the Great Western Railway. Our line was opened at the dawn of the twentieth century and was built as a main line, shortening the route between London to the West of England. Throughout its life, trains seen in the Lavington area have been modern for their day (although the present trains – the original Inter City 125s from the 1970s and 80s must now be nearing the end of their lives). Sadly, Lavington no longer has a station and the trains rush past The Folly and through Parham Woods in a cutting before getting onto the embankment that leads to Lavington Viaduct.

Rest assured, rail travellers – the old postcard we have in the museum, was never anything but a comedy card.