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Marsh House stands at the western edge of Freeman's Marsh, adjacent to Cobbler's Lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
It is approached by means of the ford across the River Dun, on the old road from Hungerford to Savernake across the marsh.
Catherine Bancroft has kindly supplied several captioned photographs of her family and the local area in the 1930s and 1940s.
Her father, David Abbott, has kindly shared (Mar 2012) some reminiscences of the time he lived with his grandparents Herbert and Ruth Cook between 1940-47.
The house was then called "137 The Marsh". There was no running water (a pump in the kitchen), no electricity (candles, Aladdin lamps and Tilley lamps were used), and there was a privy in the
garden.
Herbert ran a smallholding, with six cattle, and a few pigs and chicken. He ran the mild round in the Oakhill and Froxfield area. He was also Overseer of the Marsh, and was responsible for
reducing the nettles and keeping the marsh tidy.
David's mother worked for Mr Munford at the Hungerford Printing Works.
He remembers Mr & Mrs Hunt in Lock Cottage by Cobblers Lock, the
Bartholomews (retired farm worker) and the Brinds (with their daughter June) at 135 and 136 The Marsh - the two nearby thatched cottages. At The Barracks were maybe 4-6 families. One child sadly
drowned in Marsh lock.
In 1944 small landing craft trained on the canal and marsh. David was invited to have a ride on one, and the Americans gave him chocolate and a banana - his first during the
war. There were steam lorries still along the A4 road. The only taxi in the area was run by Mrs Perdue.
His grandfather was able to shoot rabbits on the common to help feed the family, and also a
few duck in the withy beds.
They both helped the Hollands at Hopgrass farm during the harvest.
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