Family memories

Sorting through boxes that have been stored in my garage for several years, I came across some from my childhood home, a farm in the Mendips in the West of England.

In these boxes, amongst old linens and embroideries, was a farm smock. Several of the pieces of  embroidery were embroidered by my maternal grandmother but I don’t know about this smock.

I have no idea how long my family were tenant farmers there although I understand that my father, who had two older sisters, was born on the farm.

In the box, there were also the details of the sale of the Mells Estate in 1923, owned by the Horner Family, of the rhyme “Little Jack Horner sat in the corner”. Being a late child I never knew my grandparents but I know that at this time, my grandfather bought the farm where he had been the tenant farmer.

My family lived in the farm at Lot 13. I had 4 older brothers and I grew up there before leaving home to go to college.

There are other interesting documents and photograph albums for me to explore and looking into my family history is part of the research I want to do.  

Here I think lies the basics of my research for our next exhibition ‘Inhabit’.

Carolyn Sibbald