Bicton and the Isle revisited

 

Mother and I have had a couple of days exploring the haunts of Mother's childhood and family memories.  It has been great fun and here is a little insight to where we have been.  I have taken photos of old photographs so that I know who lived where.
The Reynolds family and the Griffith's lived at the Isle.  (My Grandmother and Grandfather) Ray Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Griffiths were married in 1917 and had known each other since their childhood.  The first photo is Granny Griffiths (1851- 1936) and she had five children three boys David Richard, Frederik William and Henry Charles and two girls Mary Elizabeth (my grandmother and Mother's mother), and Sarah Jane.  Granny Griffiths my Mother's grandmother lived in the cottage next door to her sister Mary Blor.  The four cottages have been knocked into two houses as seen today.

 Sarah Jane (Sal) with her mother Jane Griffiths

Jane Griffiths (My Mother's favourite Grandmother)

Granny Griffith's house

At the top of the lane near the main road is the Big Tree as it was known!

Entrance to Isle Estate on way to the Grange and Sarah Reynolds' house

Granny Jane Reynolds (1817 - 1909] with Ray Thomas as a baby, and George Leveriche's daughters (Jane Reynolds had one son from her first marriage).  Her sister Mary married a French count and lived in Paris. Jane Reynolds nee Lewis  aged 17 went to join her sister leaving for Paris  by stage coach from the Lion Hotel Shrewsbury which took her to Dover where she caught a sailing ship.  She married a man Leveriche in France and had a son named George Leveriche. After her husband  died, she returned to Shrewsbury taking the train from the coast. (The railways were developed and ran to Shrewsbury in 1840. ) Jane was well dressed in the French style and as a result was mobbed on arrival in Shrewsbury. A Peeler came to her aid and took her to a Guest house near Castle Gates.  The next day she walked from Shrewsbury to her family at the Isle. Bicton.  She later married a widower, Reynolds and had one daughter, Sarah.

The Grange home of Jane Reynolds 

This was the cottage where Granny Morris lived. She was known as the lady in the village who laid out the dead.

The house where Sarah Reynolds lived and her son Ray Thomas was born. (next to the Grange where her mother lived)

John Thomas former Butler at the Isle Estate

Sarah Reynolds in her wedding dress

Sarah Reynolds married John Thomas who worked as a Butler at the Isle Estate. He had a passion and good taste for good wine and was sacked for drinking from the Estate wine cellar.  He continued to have a drinking problem and could not hold down a job for any length of time.  Granny Reynolds, John Thomas'  mother-in-law threw him out of the house putting his possessions at the wicket gate. She did not approve of his behaviour, he persisted with his drinking,  could not hold down any form of employment and frequently stayed away from home.  Every time he returned home he left Sarah pregnant before taking off again. Sarah and John had one daughter Winifred Jane and four boys John, George, Fred and Harry. 

Harry, Ray Thomas , Sarah Thomas their mother and Sheila Thomas, Ray's daughter and my mother and Betty. 

Isle Estate Top Lodge 

The river Severn circumnavigates the Isle, hence its name

The Old School House Bicton