Christmas in Southam Workhouse
Cardall's Corner - Dec 2019 - Linda Doyle
The workhouse was the last place anyone wanted to be, whatever time of year, but especially so at Christmas. Whilst the poorest people could survive during ...
The English Civil War
Cardall's Corner - October 2019 - Linda Doyle
Over the last couple of years, a group of Warwickshire enthusiasts have been translating 17th century Civil War Parliamentary loss account documents. The Southam group has been ...
The 1939 National Register
Cardall's Corner - August 2019 - Linda Doyle
After Britain declared war on Germany on 3rd September 1939, it was announced that ‘National Registration Day’ would be on 29th September. This ...
A Childhood with books
Cardall's Corner - July 2019 - Linda Doyle
Even today, in this technology-dominated age, children are still encouraged to read books, and for many of us books were a big part of our childhood experience. As a 1950s child, I ...
Summer Exhibition: Toys
Cardalls Corner - May 2019 - Linda Doyle
High days and holidays, birthdays and Christmas, were probably the only times in the past when a child would receive a new toy or book. Here in the Collection we have a few of those very precious toys ...
Southam’s 19th Century Dairy Industry
Cardall's Corner - April 2019 - by Linda Doyle
You don’t have to be a farmer to know that the better bred the cow, the better the profit. Enclosure allowed for the segregation of small herds, enabling farmers to undertake breeding selection. At the turn of the 19th century, landowners and farmers were beginning to take advantage of Southam’s central position on the drover’s …
Southam Fire Brigade
Cardall's Corner - January 2019 - by Linda Doyle
An old adage describes fire as being a good servant but a bad master: fire provides basic needs for life, but can also destroy in an instant. Today the risk of fire is less than it was when houses had open fires and thatched roofs - sparks could cause disastrous …
Wills, Probate and Edward Tomes
Cardall's Corner - August 2018 - by Linda Doyle
Old Wills and probate make incredibly interesting reading when researching families and local places. Admittedly they will only be found for those of means, but for the more lowly of us, if we know who an ancestor worked for, then they are sometimes named in their employer’s Will as a beneficiary. The …
Farming, Cement, Wine & Hats
Cardall's Corner - July 2018 - By Linda Doyle
William Griffin (1791 -1861) was one of a large family of Griffins who lived near Southam and was a tenant farmer of mixed arable land and pasture at Stockton Fields. His family had been farmers in Fenny Compton before 1660 and had moved via Farnborough and Avon Dassett to Stockton in the early 19th century and there they stayed ...
Southam’s Workhouse
Cardall's Corner - June 2018 - By Linda Doyle
Today, Southam’s Primary School stands where once stood Southam’s solemn and imposing Victorian workhouse (see photograph from 1910). It was a domineering place built in 1837 on Welsh Road West, then called Workhouse Road. The enclosure of land at Southam in 1761 brought to a head the need to provide for the poor …
Southam’s Rectory
Cardall's Corner - May 2018 - By Linda Doyle
Over the years Southam town centre has had many changes, but one of the more dramatic was when the old Southam Rectory (see picture) was pulled down in the 1960s to make way for a new library, police station and magistrate’s court. ...
Education
CARDALL’S CORNER - September 2017 - By Linda Doyle
Last year was the 140th anniversary of Ladbroke village school being built which corresponds with the Victorian requirement to make education something that all parents were obliged to provide for their children. Whatever their standing in life education was now compulsory, plus it had to be paid for! This was not exactly welcomed as it took away [...}