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Anne Cannings emailed the Virtual Museum (January 2026) with a long email setting down a summary of her research into her family and the many connections with Hungerford. The key surnames were Barnes and Payne, but it also includes reference to the Lewington, Apps and Cannings families.
It is so carefully written that I am including it here in full without any significant edits.
Dear Dr Pihlens
I'm writing to you following a note from my cousin Iris Lloyd, who wrote to me some months ago regarding a talk your son gave on Bridge House at a Probus lunch; apparently she shared a story about my maternal grandmother Dorothy Barnes (Dolly) who was cook at the house and used to pass food to her beau, whom she married.
In addition Iris enclosed a photo of the tombstone of Stephen Payne and Sarah Martin, as well as your letter in reply to her enquiry.
Iris' note has been glaring at me from my desk for several months, so this Christmas I resolved to look out some relevant information over the holidays and write to you. What follows is a brief snapshot of much more detailed information about the Barnes / Payne families and some of the properties in Hungerford.
Where to start? First, you might want to sit comfortably with refreshment of your choice.
My mother Nancy Rosemary Barnes was born in Hungerford in 1927. Both her parents had a long family association with the area and family tracing has found strong ties between the Barnes, Lewington and Payne families. Mostly they were agricultural workers or similar based around Ramsbury, Eddington, Lambourne and surrounding villages. These are people who leave little in the way of written records and so I am slowly continuing the work of an aunt to capture their stories.
I have read most of the virtual museum website and have found it useful in placing the family stories and memories passed on to me. Two names on there are especially familiar: June Prictor ( a cousin) and Bill Barnes, my great uncle.
My aunt Margaret Earl (nee Barnes) completed a very extensive family tree with photos, documents and dates etc that might be of interest. Sadly, she died a couple of years ago, and in clearing out my mum's house in rather a hurry, all this material was 'put away safely'. So, what follows is what I could easily find, plus some contributions from family members. One find was the brief Family Tree attached. It shows how my maternal grandparents are actually related, although they themselves were unaware. In rural communities when there were few families and people didn't travel far, this appears quite common. I live in a Surrey village now and the four 'original' families have a very complex intermarriage family tree.
I have used the attached Family Tree as a framework to share some stories and memories that may be of interest to you or the virtual museum; each red capital letter on the Tree corresponds to the details below.
For clarity, I should add that Iris is a cousin on my paternal side and totally unrelated to what follows. It is one of life's coincidences that a member of my father's side of the family now lives in the midst of my mother's family history.
A Stephen Payne and Sarah Ann Martin
My great great grandparents. They are the couple in the photo of the tombstone Iris gave to you, and you confirmed that they are buried in Holy Cross Church Ramsbury.
As far as I know, they both came from Ramsbury. You will see that Stephen's sister Ann Payne married a George Lewington. We have been unable to find a direct link to the WF Lewington listed at 12 Charnham Street in 1939 but work continues.
B William 'Tom' Barnes and Sarah Eliza Payne: 19 Atherton Cresent / 13 Charnham Street
My great grandparents. ‘Bill’ Barnes’ parents, he is their eldest son.
It was common in the Barnes family for men to not use their first name. I have no idea why. William was known as Tom and is the WT Barnes referred to in the 1939 entry for Shekels Cottage aka 13 Charnham Street.
As far as I know, they married in 1901 and lived in the outskirts of the town, probably as agricultural workers. Their first two sons, Bill and Benny, were born in Aldbourne / Lambourne.
19, Atherton Cresent
The first documented Hungerford connection is for Tom and Sarah at 19 Atherton Cresent in the 1921 Census. They must have been the first tenants but how did they qualify for public housing?
Fred (Benny) is 18, there are 2 sisters and a baby, Alec, at 11 months. This puts 20 years between eldest son Bill and youngest, Alec. Husband, wife, 2 adult children 2 young children and a baby. Quite a household.
Most fascinating is that Tom is listed as a Fishmonger, who works from home. Fred his son is an ‘Assistant Fishmonger’. I can find no link to any of the fishmongers on the High Street, and there is no history in the family of this. My best guesses are
- Tom is a market trader / itinerant trader who maybe delivers fish.
- It is Tom’s idea of a joke and was said to disguise anything else he may have been up to. This would fit with various family stories.
Tom, and his sons Bill and Fred spent most of their lives shifting occupations; Tom has been a labourer, cartman, worked with horses, as well as, apparently, a fishmonger! Bill was well known as a boot mender from 1948 but had many rural occupations prior. Fred was variously a labourer, chimney sweep, boot mender, small holder, chicken farmer, to name a few.
13 Charnham Street
I am unclear when they made the move from the Cresent to 13 Charnham Street but certainly by 1930. From this point there are many family recollections.
It was listed as a Refreshment House but our family recalls as a café and sweet shop too, no doubt to catch the Bath Road trade. The front room was the 'shop/cafe' and the family lived in the room behind and above.
The Shop was in fact run by Sarah Payne ( she has never been referred to as Barnes in our family), despite being in her husband’s name. It is unclear if they rented or purchased. I have no details of Tom's occupation at that time but it is likely to be agricultural, unless still a fishmonger!
Sarah is a legend in our family for all the wrong reasons. She was renowned for being mean, a dreadful cook, dirty and penny pinching. My grandfather Fred (Benny) Barnes said she made them eat thin stew on one side of the plate which you wiped clean with a slice of bread; it was then turned over for dessert. Plates were washed once a week. He always said he left home as soon as he could. It might explain why he and Bill spent so much time in The Lamb
My own mother and her siblings also had very clear, consistent and painful memories of Sarah, their paternal grandmother. On one visit as young children ( living in Hungerford at the time) they eyed up the rows and rows of sweet jars. Eventually Sarah opened a sweet jar, took out a single toffee and cut it in 2 for my mother and her brother. That would have been about 1932? It was the only 'gift' she ever recalls receiving.
Later in the blitz when my mother had moved away near to Biggin Hill airfield ( see below), my grandmother Dolly Barnes sent my mother Nancy and her 4 siblings as evacuees to Sarah Payne. They arrived via Hungerford station, which my mum clearly remembered. All of them have said it was the worst few weeks ( records suggest months) of their lives. My mum recalls they all slept together on a single mattress on bare boards in the little loft in the sloping roof on the left of the property. In those days it was just an attic space and you could see the night through the roof tiles. Unheated. Washing facilities in the back yard where the horse was kept. When word eventually reached her father Fred Barnes ( my grandfather) he immediately arranged their return.
13 Charnham Street has changed almost beyond recognition since then. The wall across the side entrance has been added, enclosing the yard. Inside it has been much modified and when my mum visited in the 1990s she was astonished at the changes found in an estate agent's details. I think her wartime attic might be a ‘dressing room’ now! As far as I know, it was not called Shekels Cottage during Sarah's lifetime. I'm unclear when it ceased to be a shop, but I would guess on Sarah's death approx. 1960. I hope to find more on this.
I want to give Sarah the benefit of doubt; maybe she wasn't cut out for domesticity and today would be a successful businesswoman. But the family evidence is damning.
C Stephen William 'Bill' Barnes
My great uncle. My grandfather's elder brother.
You are already familiar with Bill Barnes. Just as he was legendary in Hungerford, he was too in our family. I remember him as a jolly cheerful man with a twinkly eye and constant laughter. He never lost his west country accent and when he and my grandfather Fred (Benny) got together they always laughed over the old days, over a few beers. They were ‘as thick as thieves’.
In fact they were a couple of rogues in their young days. They were known to go poaching, were occasionally barred from The Bear ( probably for fighting) and often to be found in The Lamb. Which was conveniently across the road from 13 Charnham Street. It was a family joke that both his wife (Gert) and his mother Sarah took his Sunday lunch to The Lamb whenever he failed to return home.
Both he and my grandfather played in the town band. Somewhere I have photos of the 1932 jazz band for the carnival. They both played trombone but I think at this time my grandfather played a squeezebox, which we still have.
Both Bill and Benny managed to talk themselves out of war work and both had "the gift of the gab". I'm not sure when they trained as boot menders; when Bill bought 2 Charnham Street in 1948, Benny had been a cobbler for 10 years. They both had the gift of reinventing themselves, from an early life as agricultural workers, through many trades and roles. As far as I know, neither was ever ’employed’ by someone else.
D Hannah Eliza Lewington and James Palmer Apps
My great grandparents.
This is where things are complicated but relevant.
Hannah Lewington’s parents left Hungerford when she was about 13 (?1885?) for work in Keston, Kent. Her mother Ann died quite young (her body was returned to Hungerford) and Hannah became housekeeper for her father and brothers. She met and married James Palmer Apps who was poacher turned gamekeeper nearby at Rouse Farm. I believe he was somewhat older than her.
Hannah is remembered as a funny, witty and kind person, widely liked. She died, I think, the day I was born.
While she, as far as I know, never returned permanently to Hungerford, she did send her eldest daughter Dorothy to Hungerford in 1918/9, at the age of 15/16. Which brings us to Bridge House.
E Dorothy (Dolly) Maria Apps and Frederick George 'Benny' Barnes Bridge House / 13 Prospect Road
My maternal grandparents.
Where the story comes together at Bridge House.
Frederick George Barnes, 2nd son of Tom and Sarah, was born in Lambourne in 1903. Following family tradition, he did not use his first name and was always known in the family and locally as ‘Benny’. No one knows why now. As well as being the slightly younger, and just as unruly, brother to Bill Barnes, he also led a fairly itinerant life. He often recalled working in the fields around Hungerford, especially as harvest time, when the wheat and straw were still gathered by hand. He was expert at handling the heavy horses and learnt how to ‘thatch’ a stack. Family stories suggest both he and Bill played very active parts in the Hocktide celebrations, but the details are now lost.
When he met Dolly, he would have been living in Atherton Cresent, possibly an ‘assistant fishmonger’. By the time my mother was born in 1924, he was a ‘Master Chimney Sweep’; we think Master means self-employed. Fred was always looking for next way to earn money!
Dolly Apps, daughter of Hannah Lewington and James Palmer Apps, was born in Nash, Kent in 1903. At 14 she was sent out to service at a local Manor house. With the outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918 Dolly was sent to an aunt (her mother’s sister) in Hungerford to either recuperate or avoid the pandemic (versions vary!) Eventually she found ‘a position’ at Bridge House. By the time she married in 1924, she was the Cook (she was indeed a fine cook). By all accounts Dolly enjoyed working at Bridge House. I have some monogrammed silver serving spoons which Dolly told me were given her as a wedding present from her employer; Bridge House is the most likely source. She gave them to me a few years ago.
We do not know exactly how Dolly met Fred (Benny) Barnes but key to their courtship was the scraps of food he persuaded her to hand him from the little side window at the back of Bridge House along the canal towpath, a story both of them repeated to us over the years. This presumably would have been risky and a sackable offence. Was he fishing for his father’s ‘fishmonger’ business? By all accounts she refused him several times before agreeing to marry in March 1924. They married at Hungerford Registry office and moved into 13 Prospect Road. How they managed this I do not know, but Fred could talk his way into most things.
In 2008, when walking the canal path on a visit to Hungerford my older sister Christine met ‘the Admiral’, the then owner of the House and shared this story. Indeed, growing up we always knew this as ‘The Admiral’s House’, but I don’t think it was Dolly’s employer!
F Nancy Rosemary Cannings (nee Barnes) 13 Prospect Road
My mother.
Nancy was born at 13 Prospect Road, on 2nd September 1927, followed 15 months later by her brother James (Jim). I believe these were new semi-detached houses similar in style to Atherton Cresent. Mum always recalls living in Hungerford with pleasure and still thinks of it as ‘home’. She attended the new school built 1910, from the age of about 4. She recalls walking down a lane, across the high street, and up a lane the other side. This she and her brother did without adult supervision, unthinkable now. She loved the school and the teachers.
These houses are much altered now and I think the numbering may have changed too.
When Nancy was 6, (1933) Dolly and Fred moved back to Kent, to look for work. Fred cycled all the way to Keston / Nash, sleeping in hedgerows, his Sweep’s equipment tied to his bike. Helped by the Apps (his in-laws) Fred found work at Rouse Farm, eventually securing a farm cottage. Dolly and the now three children followed in a van later. They lived at Rouse Farm Cottages for the rest of their lives.
As told above, Nancy and her (by then) 4 siblings returned to Hungerford as evacuees in the blitz, but the stay with Sarah Payne at Charnham Street was so bad they decided to risk being near Biggin Hill Airfield instead. Whilst evacuated, they attended the ‘little school’ behind the main 1910 school. I think it might have been the primary school? All the evacuated children were taught together. I have seen records showing that the majority of the evacuees came from Macklin Street school in London, perhaps a link to the prominent Macklin family in Hungerford? Or just a co-incidence?
By now Fred was a boot mender and had a workshop in the grounds of their little smallholding at Rouse Farm. Nancy collected and delivered the shoes. This is maybe why Bill Barnes decided to become a boot mender after the war. He certainly visited several times.
Today, at 98, Nancy is living in a nursing home in south London. Her dementia means I can no longer ask all the questions writing this has prompted. I do wish I had listened more carefully years ago to all the family stories. Her most treasured book is your pictorial History of Hungerford; she cannot recall much but your book is one of the few things that she still responds to, happily chatting about the pictures, especially Hocktide and the Tutti men. We look at it most weeks.
I apologise for such a long email, and so long after Iris’ original note. It’s a fraction of the records we have and when I retire I will have more time to look out some photos or other items that might be relevant. I hope some of the above has been of interest.
With kind regards
Anne Cannings
The Canal Wharf, 2011