The Family Tree

A few months back I was contacted through a DNA match by our 8th cousin who lives in East Sussex in England. He was able to fill in some gaps on Me Jen’s maternal side and we, in turn, were able to fill in the gaps of what happened to our line going forward.

Well today we met said cousin – Trevor. A lovely man who has done years worth of research in the areas of Beckley, Northiam & the near surrounds, and it appears that our ancestors lived in these two tiny villages for centuries.

We started our tour at St Mary’s Church in Northiam. We met the lovely Trevor and he had done his homework. It turns out that we have quite a connection to this church with baptisms and marriages and no doubt, funerals.

Right next to the church is the old Rectory. Get a gawk at this gaff! This one, along with a lot of old rectory houses around England are now privately owned.

There is another small cemetery near St Mary’s which backs on to the local bowling club, of which there are about 20 members (including Trevor).

This headstone below marks the grave of Me Jen’s Great Grandmother, Anne Larkin (nee Ranger). Jen’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother.

Anne lived in Northiam all her life and worked as a dress maker.

For a time, Anne, her husband James and their family (along with her mother in law – Ann) lived in the old School House where James worked in some capacity – I think a caretaker. This is also now privately owned so we had to wait until the people went out before we could sneak up the driveway for a peak.

They then moved into 1 Beachfield on the main road through the village.

James was 32 when he died leaving Anne a widow with 5 young children. Anne stayed in the same house and continued to live with 2-3 of her daughters who remained unmarried and had no children (things are starting to sound very familiar!!!) until her death at age 81.

This is the house!!! And…. it’s currently for sale.

Check out the renovation inside: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150166709#/?channel=RES_BUY

We’ve put in an offer.

So from there we headed to the neighbouring village of Beckley about 1.5 minute drive.

In the centre of the village where, besides a couple of BnBs, the only businesses are:

1. The Rose and Crown pub where smoking is still accepted inside (if you’re the landlord/lady)

2. A garage door shop.

But also… it’s where William Ranger – Jenny’s Great Great Grandfather lived… in this house.

Not far up the main road, we visited the Beckley church and church graveyard – circa 1100.

Here we found Sampson Ranger – William’s father – Me Jenny’s Great Great Great Grandfather.

The thought that people who were related to us have been hatched, matched and dispatched right here in this church for 100s of years is quite unbelievable and even a bit humbling.

Now, Sampson died in 1846 and Trevor was still able to find where he lived. We headed to the far end of the village and a bit beyond to a place called Two Hovens.

This property is broken up into three properties…

The part of the left is called Two Hoven’s Cottage; the part of the right is called Two Hoven’s House and then behind and down the road a bit is Two Hoven’s Farm. That’s not confusing for the postie.

We spoke to the lady who lives in the Cottage and she kindly gave us permission to take some photos and showed us an old photo of what it looked like back in 1969 when it was all one house. I can’t imagine it would have looked much different in the 1800s.

Apparently this building was the bakery which had two bread ovens (Two Ovens – Two Hovens). It was located outside the village because of the noise it would have emitted with bakers getting up early and I assume chopping wood, 🤷🏼‍♀️ not sure, I’ve never been up that early!

Villagers also used to come and use the ovens when they needed to.

The cottage still has one of the ovens, but the lady uses hers to house her hoover! 😂

How’s the thatched… cat?

As our tour came to an end, Trevor suggested we head to the pub for a quiet one, which is how I know a)about the smoking landlady and b) that we are related.

How outrageous is this sign in the bar from 1915!

They do a mean sandwich though, I have to give them that. However, what you’re look at here is a Brie and grape sandwich. Brie… and grape. I’m not sure that’s ok. Me Jenny ordered it. I did not want to share it.

What a day!