Ancestry at the Rectory - Monday April 30, 2012

Addington, Buckinghamshire

As I approached the front gate of the church, a woman came running out from the rectory. She was the owner. She asked if I had left the photos in the mailbox. We talked for a few minutes until she realized she had better get back to her two year old who was playing outside. Then she invited me in for coffee and said that she would show me the inside of the house.

I just wanted to scream. I'd get to walk around in the house that my ancestor lived in for 33 years? And who knows how many of the family visited and even stayed there. They walked in that yard, and on those floorboards. Now I would be too. I couldn't believe my good fortune. Neither could she, at being able to live in this house.

Heading in the driveway to the rectory. It appears to be a staddle stone on the left.

The whole house, inside and out, is being renovated. Hopefully the new owners will take it back to the brick on the exterior walls.

Facing away from somewhere around the front door you can see the church tower next door. It seems fitting that my relatives are buried between the two buildings.

Two photos of my great-aunt Kate's first born, 'Roy' Baker (born Dec. 1912) in the rectory yard. In the first, he is shown presumably with Christiana Stevens, Mackwood's second wife. It would appear that my great-aunt Kate Stevens and her brother Edward Stevens stayed in this house around the times they were married.

I don't want to post a lot of photos of someone's home especially while it's under renovation so I'll just show inside the front door. I sat in the kitchen with the owner, became quick pals with her little boy, and had a most enjoyable visit.

The above photos are from the internet when this house was on the market. It had been listed at £1,650,000; I suspect it sold for closer to £1,300,000.

The back yard from a window - wheatfield in the distance of the top photo.

This seems an odd placement for a hedge. I wonder when it was planted and if the new owners will take it out.

Ancestry at the Church - Monday April 30, 2012

Church of the Assumption of St Mary the Virgin, Addington

I wouldn't doubt that every member of the immediate family could have been in this church and the rectory next door. 

Edward John Stevens

My grandmother's brother, Edward Stevens, shown here at about age 16, was married to Ruby Vale Cottam by Mackwood Stevens in this church in October 1910. His sister Kate (below) was present at the wedding. I wish I knew if my grandmother talked about him - he was the only brother of four to live beyond his 20s. He lived to be 86.

 Kate Winifred Stevens

My grandmother's only sister, Kate (Kitty) Stevens - who just happens to be near and dear to my heart, was married here in March, 1912 to Jack/John Fielden Baker before they moved to South Africa. She lived for only 55 years and passed away on my birthday, a couple of decades before I was born.

Mackwood Fielden Debroyd (Roy) Baker

And their first born, Roy Baker, was baptised here in January 1913.

*  *  *  *  *

I wanted to get back inside the church. Out before the church is a green area like an island surrounded by lanes on all sides. A man was out there exercising his springer spaniel.

I decided to go knock on the door of the big manor at the property on the other side of the church, which I had passed on my way in. I walked down a straight driveway only to find that it didn't lead to the house.

 At the end was a yard that looked like a park, with a fountain in it.

I went around to the next driveway. The front door of the house was open but nobody answered when I knocked. Maybe it belonged to the man with the dog and around there they don't have to worry about closing and locking doors.

I went out to the road and the man came along and commented on the large puddle. I asked if he knew of anyone who might have a key for the church. He suggested I try Izzy and led me around a corner and pointed out her house. It was another huge, older brick building but with large newer windows - called the Tithe Barn. 

Her dog barked when I opened the gate so she came out her door. She was a nice looking, friendly woman, younger than me, wearing a blue and white scarf. She said the church should be open but she would come over with me to check. She didn't seem to mind me interrupting her day and thought it was neat that I'd come to this little place from so far away.

Here again I felt a little like I was in a Midsomer Murders episode where Chief Inspector Barnaby knocks on a door of a country house and a woman appears who invariably, no matter what time of day, is perfectly manicured with hair and make up done, wearing a scarf or a necklace and earrings - looking as though she's about to go to a ladies' luncheon or an event that royalty might attend. Izzy could have been one of those women.

I said I'd be very embarrassed if the door was open. So of course it was. The handle was a big ring - I didn't realize it had to be turned. Obviously I don't go to many churches.  

It was handy that she was there though because she turned on all the lights.

IN PIOUS MEMORY

MACKWOOD STEVENS

THE BELOVED PRIEST OF

THIS PARISH 1886-1920

R.I.P.

When I mentioned hearing that there was some sort of memorial for grandma's Uncle Mackwood, she said yes, and she thought she knew right where it was. She led me to it next to a stained glass window. Well, that was something I didn't know existed. There is a candle in front of it and she said they light the candle. It was an emotional moment for me to see that. She said she'd leave me to it and just asked that I turn off all the lights when I left.

But first, outside the front door, she said she figured she knew where the photo was taken of Granddad and supposedly Christiana Stevens (Mackwood's wife), which I had shown her on the way over. Facing away from the church door, she pointed diagonally to the right in the rectory yard. The photo shows fields in the background and a fence that is still there.

I wrote in the guest book and left two photos - of Thomas & Mary, and Arthur who are buried in the churchyard. We don't have a picture of Norman, the fourth family member buried in that row.

I heard a plane and ran outside to see it pass across the front of the church. Either it turned around or another came along on the same path the other way. There must be an airfield around.

It was cold inside. I looked at the windows and took photos. Then I went back outside, where it was blissfully warmer, and went over to the grave markers again. I picked up a few small stones from the walkway and put them in my pocket.

From the net: 'The windows now have the largest collection of Netherlandish glass in any church in the country, and are thought to have been collected by the first Lord Addington (restored  in the 1970s).'  

Internet picture of Netherlandish glass

From the net: 'This roundel is formed from a single circular pane of glass. The glass-painter drew the design with a simple brown/black pigment composed of iron filings and ground glass. He then highlighted areas of the design in yellow, in a technique known as 'silver staining'. To do this, he painted a silver compound onto the back of the glass. When the glass was fired, this compound changed colour, in a lemon-yellow to a burnt-orange range depending on its concentration. Silver staining was first used on window glass in Europe in the early 14th century.'

Interestingly, on a TV show last week I saw this very thing mentioned - making yellow from silver, and apparently gold turns to pink or red.

Ancestry in the Churchyard - Monday April 30, 2012

I'm not sure how much family history I want to put on here. I may start another blog for that. But here it can't be ignored since this was the reason I came to Addington. This place was the cornerstone of my whole trip.

My Grandmother's family had a connection to Addington through her uncle Mackwood, rector of this church for at least 33 years. Mackwood's parents moved from Devon to Oxford and they were buried here in Addington presumably because of him. He seemed to be a central figure in the family.

Why my Grandmother's grandparents moved to Oxford is anybody's guess. Maybe it was to be closer to Mackwood for support because they not only had their own children to look after but their young grandchildren as well. My Grandmother's parents died young - her father at age 38 in 1885 and her mother at age 35 in 1887. However, we don't know where her grandparents were between 1884 and 1891. In 1881 they lived in Plymouth. Three years later in 1884 it appears they were selling a house in Yealmpton, Devon, and by 1891 they lived on Woodstock Road in Oxford. 

St Mary-the-Virgin church

At the church I tried the door but it wouldn’t open so I went around the corner to the left to my family’s tombstones.

I heard clippers behind me and saw an elderly man clipping grass. He had cycled past me on the way in. He wasn’t a caretaker though; he was tidying the plot of a cousin.

He didn’t know where I could find a key but suggested trying the rectory or another house next to the property.

The rectory, just behind a fence at the end of the yard where my family's crosses are located, was apparently being renovated because a number of workmen were in that yard. They had a radio blaring. Hmm, this wasn’t how I pictured visiting my ancestors’ graves, listening to rock and rap.

My ancestors' four headstones viewed from behind. I had yet to discover that Mackwood Stevens and his wife Christiana are buried in this yard. We don't know where. Either their markers are unreadable or, for some reason, they chose not to have them. Therefore, at least SIX family members are buried here.

My Great-great grandparents

Thomas Jones Stevens & Mary Maddick Stevens (nee Sanders)

Here I am at the tombstones of my great-great grandparents. Thomas Jones Stevens' cross is on the left and I am looking at the one for Mary Maddick Stevens.

(B21) THOMAS JONES STEVENS / BORN JULY 24TH 1824.
ENTERED INTO REST / AUGUST 19TH 1901. / GRANT HIM, O LORD, ETERNAL REST: AND LET LIGHT PERPETUAL SHINE UPON HIM. (Footstone) T J S
My father was also born on July 24th.

The lettering is difficult to read now. This detail picture with easy-to-read text may have been taken in 1904.

(B19) MARY MADDOCK STEVENS / BORN SEPTEMBER 23RD 1823
ENTERED INTO REST / MARCH 22ND 1904 / MY PRESENCE SHALL GO WITH THEE / AND I WILL GIVE THEE REST. (Footstone) M M S
We have seen both spellings of her name: Maddick/Maddock.

Two of my Grandmother's brothers

Arthur Vivian Stevens  

(B24) ARTHUR VIVIAN STEVENS / BORN MARCH 31ST. 1881

ENTERED INTO REST / SEPTEMBER 26TH 1904 / REQUIESCAT IN PACE (Footstone) A V S

(B16) NORMAN ARMIDALE STEVENS / BORN AUGUST 4TH 1884
ENTERED INTO REST / JUNE 20TH 1901. / "A BETTER COUNTRY AND A HEAVENLY" / HEB: XI. 16 (Footstone) N A S

This old photo may have been taken in 1904. Crosses were not yet in place for Arthur Vivian, left side with flowers, and Mary Maddock (Maddick), between the two larger crosses. He died in September and she in March of that year.

After a while I left the churchyard and wandered over to the rectory next door, which is to the right out the gate. I learned from the young workmen that the owner woman had just gone out. Children’s toys were in the yard. I decided to leave a couple of photos in their mailbox, not knowing if they’d find them of interest or not. Both photos were of Roy Baker (Great-aunt Kate’s first born) in that yard, rectory in the background. I quickly snuck down to the other end of the house just to see in person that part which was in the photos. I jotted some info on the back of the pictures before putting them in the mailbox.

If I had to pick a 'best day in England', this would be it

My walk to Addington
Monday, April 30

In the play with Cate Blanchett, her character said ‘Amaaaazing’ over and over. That’s how I feel when I’m in Addington - amazed. This day was like... magic.

Sunday had been a much needed rest day so I didn't mind at all that it was raining. I had the best sleep of the trip last night and I slept in. It was a surprise to wake up to sunshine streaming through the windows. Good, because this was the day I’d be walking to Addington, rain or shine. Not long after Jeff left yesterday, there had been a problem with the internet connection. It came at a bad time because I had planned to look at a map and check out a walking path. I called a contact number he had left. His associate came over, had no luck getting my notebook connected but started up Jeff’s computer so I could use that, but by then I was ready to leave.

I headed off blind, just hoping to find my way.

Down the road from the town of Winslow a letter carrier drove up and stopped in a driveway. I asked for directions. He told me to continue along, pass under a bridge, etc. 'Er, you do know it’s some distance away, maybe three miles to Addington?' (I think it was just over two miles.)

It was so warm that I had to take off my jacket. At the bridge, two white doves appeared from nowhere, from behind the shrubbery on the right. I said aloud, 'You've got to be kidding.' They banked around me, and circled around and around sometimes opposite one another as if pivoting around an imaginary centre point. 'Hi Glenn. Hi Mom,' I said and I watched them circle diagonally ahead and left until they drifted out of sight. I was starting to get a very good feeling about the day.

At an intersection was a sign pointing to Addington. Whew, I'm on course. A plane flew over when I got there. Anyone who knows me understands that I connect Glenn with airplanes, so it gave me the feeling that he was watching over me.

Turn to the right and carry on. I seem to be out in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know where Verney Junction or this sign was. I may have turned around and looked at the sign behind me at the intersection.

It’s a good thing Jeff had taken me to the church before because there are no signs to indicate where it is. The road leading to it looks like a very long driveway. Fields with sheep were to the right and I could see the equestrian centre farther ahead on the left. I turned left down the long lane, not entirely sure I was going the right way. Eventually, I spied the church poking up through the trees.

It's odd now to make every decision for myself - to not run things by another person. I wondered if this day would feel worthwhile in the end. Was my late start for a reason? I was enjoying the scenery though, which was more beautiful than I’d expected, and the weather was perfect.

Sheep suit England - I always enjoyed seeing them. I'd smile at thinking back to Glenn's sheep imitation.

Now we're getting places. 'Addington Manor' it says on the gate posts. As small as this place is - 'a village which has averaged only 100 residents over the past 200 years,' according to one website - manors in Addington are still an area of confusion for me. The original Addington Manor was built in a different location and was demolished after 800 years or so. The 1st Baron of Addington and the 2nd Baron of Addington lived in the second house which was demolished after WW1, and now there is a third house. However, the equestrian centre, which is not in this immediate area, is called the Addington Manor Equestrian Centre.

 'Cross Bucks Way.'

 'North Bucks Way.' I can't believe I'm here in Buckinghamshire.

It had been raining!

There's the church.

 Later, I will go down this road at the back of a central green area.

Ahead, not far from the church is another large building - it was getting hard to tell one from another. A sign out front read: Park House, Addington Place, Addington Grange. I would knock on the front door later. Somewhere around here another plane flew over.

I'm nearing the church.