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| Numbers on map refer to the 1877 Ordnance Survey map |
Below is a list of the occupiers detailed in the Census headed with the relevant Census numbering.
The trackway leading to the Cottages from the village altered in and around the time of the 1871 census. It was at this time that the cottage dwellers would have witnessed the Princes Risborough to Watlington Railway Line being laid which, in effect, was to separate the Orchard Cottages from the main Chinnor settlement - and meant that access from the village main street to the Orchard Cottages necessitated having to cross the railway line and vice versa.
Whilst it is not clear whether the cottage which would now lay adjacent to the railway line disappeared at this time it seems as though it may have become vacant and it was in due course the first of the cottages to be removed according to the maps produced towards the later part of the nineteenth century. Perhaps the effects off there mighty, monstrous machines that were the steam engines which passed so near to this cottage resulted in the inhabitants trembling at the noise that was produced and that the cottage, which may have had little or no suitable foundations, itself may have trembled under the vibrations produced by the passing trains. From early timetables it seemed that the trains passed by on four occasions during the day from Watlington to Risborough and four times in the opposite direction.
The trains will have carried passengers from Watlington, Aston Rowant and Chinnor to meet up with the main Risborough line. Certainly, some of the advertisements for properties being sold at this time do mention, for instance, that the house is “a few minutes away from the station …” or more specifically “it is five minutes’ walk from the Chinnor Railway Station”. But the line was also used for more commercial and goods transportation according to a meeting in 1877 where it announced that there had been a “considerable improvement in receipt for goods, cattle and mineral carriage as compared to 1876”.
Plots of land had and were becoming available on which to build new houses, and no doubt more modern with better facilities, for instance land alongside the road leading between Chinnor and Oakley as detailed on the advert to the right.
In 1861 certainly two of the three cottages were occupied. One of these had been occupied by widow Maria Howlett but following her death in 1865 the Howlett family’s residence in the cottages came to a close. The 1871 Census reveals that like Maria before, many longstanding but ageing, residents are passing away. The cottages now consist, except for one instance, of longstanding family names that have occupied the cottages for at least two decades and more being the Bishops, the Marriotts and the Folleys. But in the years that shortly follow the Census these families also cease to occupy by virtue of the deaths of these occupiers.
Only two of the four cottages have younger occupiers - and only these two have children - the Marriotts and the Stratford - who are in the main denoted as scholars who will have been receiving some form of education in either the National or the British Schools in the village. It is interesting to note that in the year before the Census the Elementary Education Act was passed by Parliament with the object of providing a framework for the schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12. It sought to provide local education authorities and authorised public money to improve existing schools. Not all, however, were happy to see these objectives and there were objections to universal education. The idea that it would make the labouring class aware of their lower class position might lead to revolt. The act did not however, necessarily bring free or compulsory education. Rural Boards, run by local parishes, and Chinnor would have been one of these, mostly favoured the release of children for agricultural labour, and many labouring families elected to send their children into the fields if it would bring in extra income in preference to sending their children to school. Whether this attitude was or was not taken by the parents living in the cottages we shall never know. How much this resulted in schooling each and every day is not clear particularly, as stated previously, the child was needed to carry out working chores in preference to education.
There had, of course, been schools within Chinnor for many decades, to include the lace schools, Sunday Schools and “schools” set up by religious organisations such as the Chinnor Independent Church. In fact, as far back as the 1841 Census we find a William Webster whose occupation is noted as a schoolmaster residing in “Lower Chinnor” or “Lower Road Chinnor”: the property described as “Cottages, Garden and (significantly) a School-room” occupied by the said William Webster and several others occupying the cottages to include a smith, a grocer, a harness maker and a shoemaker.
The Chinnor National School, which usually had affiliation to the Church, had been opened in January 1860 with due pomp and ceremony - which included a divine service in the Church preached by the Bishop of Oxford, and a collection was made on behalf of the school which produced nearly £10. A procession of various clergy was made from the Rectory to the Church and after the service a procession was made from the Church to the schools where the children of the Sunday and day schools were assembled. The cost of building the school was said to be about £800 to £900.
Two years before the 1871 Census, two schools are denoted in the trade directories being the National School and the British School. In respect of the latter an Emily Michel was the mistress and at the National School a George Lemoine was master and a Jane Lemoine was the mistress.
Now a more detailed look at the four families who reside in the cottages
Jacob died in the year of the 1871 Census and was buried in the churchyard at St Andrews on the 26th October aged 75 leaving Hannah a widow. Hannah appears to have survived for another 17 years but she vacated the cottage. She died and was buried in St Andrews churchyard on the 25th May 1888 at the age of 81. She was buried not by the resident vicar or curate of St. Andrews but by an H. Munton under a Certificate granted by the Burial Act. It seems that Hannah was, or had become, a member of the congregation of the Chinnor Independent Church because H. Munton was minister of that Church to who the certificate had been granted.
Son in law James had found his employment in local farming, initially as an agricultural labourer but in 1871 his employment is noted more specifically now as a “Shepherd”. Ten years earlier and living nearer to Hill Farm was a Thomas King, widower, denominated as a shepherd. He had died in that year so it may well have been that James had taken over Thomas’s work as a shepherd, perhaps at the nearby Hill Farm. James’s wife, Rebecca gains some income from lace making - the children of James and Rebecca are “scholars”.
Although aged 76 William Marriott, the head of the household, still describes his occupation as a Farm Labourer, with wife Ann, like so many wives, gaining a small income from Lacemaking. Ann was to pass away the following year and later, in the same year, William was to also be buried in the churchyard of St Andrews. In the circumstances James Rogers and his family became the occupiers of the cottage.
Since the last census in 1861 daughter Elizabeth had died and was buried in Chinnor churchyard on the 19th July, 1864 a spinster, aged merely 23. John is now aged 63 but like the other long-time occupiers of the cottages, passed away soon after the Census was taken. Aged only 64 when he was interred in the churchyard at St Andrews on the 31st August 1872 leaving Elizabeth, ten years his senior, a widow. She moved back to Church End in Bledlow the parish of her birth. She was to survive until 1884 passing away in her Bledlow home.
Since Joseph and Caroline’s marriage, which after a delay of two years took place in 1855, resulted in both Joseph and Caroline moving away from their parents in the cottages to live in Hempton. The marriage produced 5 children William, Mary Ann, John, Elizabeth and Louisa. Prior to the marriage Caroline had mothered a daughter, Sarah, born in 1852 albeit that Joseph took Sarah into the family home at Henton. Sarah did not remain there and in 1871 she is found living in the nearby village of Oakley, in the home of farmer Elizabeth Eustace, employed as a domestic servant. Elizabeth is a widow but nonetheless farms 106 acres and employs 4 men and 2 boys. The other occupants of the farm house are Elizabeth’s son, John, designated a “contractor”, possibly a road contractor, but also living there are two grand-daughters, Susan and Ann White, aged 11 and 9.
Bernard Braun May 2023
Only two of the four cottages have younger occupiers - and only these two have children - the Marriotts and the Stratford - who are in the main denoted as scholars who will have been receiving some form of education in either the National or the British Schools in the village. It is interesting to note that in the year before the Census the Elementary Education Act was passed by Parliament with the object of providing a framework for the schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12. It sought to provide local education authorities and authorised public money to improve existing schools. Not all, however, were happy to see these objectives and there were objections to universal education. The idea that it would make the labouring class aware of their lower class position might lead to revolt. The act did not however, necessarily bring free or compulsory education. Rural Boards, run by local parishes, and Chinnor would have been one of these, mostly favoured the release of children for agricultural labour, and many labouring families elected to send their children into the fields if it would bring in extra income in preference to sending their children to school. Whether this attitude was or was not taken by the parents living in the cottages we shall never know. How much this resulted in schooling each and every day is not clear particularly, as stated previously, the child was needed to carry out working chores in preference to education.
There had, of course, been schools within Chinnor for many decades, to include the lace schools, Sunday Schools and “schools” set up by religious organisations such as the Chinnor Independent Church. In fact, as far back as the 1841 Census we find a William Webster whose occupation is noted as a schoolmaster residing in “Lower Chinnor” or “Lower Road Chinnor”: the property described as “Cottages, Garden and (significantly) a School-room” occupied by the said William Webster and several others occupying the cottages to include a smith, a grocer, a harness maker and a shoemaker.
The Chinnor National School, which usually had affiliation to the Church, had been opened in January 1860 with due pomp and ceremony - which included a divine service in the Church preached by the Bishop of Oxford, and a collection was made on behalf of the school which produced nearly £10. A procession of various clergy was made from the Rectory to the Church and after the service a procession was made from the Church to the schools where the children of the Sunday and day schools were assembled. The cost of building the school was said to be about £800 to £900.
Two years before the 1871 Census, two schools are denoted in the trade directories being the National School and the British School. In respect of the latter an Emily Michel was the mistress and at the National School a George Lemoine was master and a Jane Lemoine was the mistress.
Now a more detailed look at the four families who reside in the cottages
The Bishops
The Bishops have been residing in the Orchard Cottages since at least 1841. They are both now in their latter years and they are the sole occupiers of the cottage - all other prior family residents have flown the coup. Hannah is Jacob’s second wife - his first, Ann had died in 1851. On Hannah’s marriage to Jacob, she had brought with her a daughter Mary Ann. However it would appear that Mary Ann vacated the household and possibly moved to a residence in the nearby village of Emmington where she met and married a Joseph Gibson of Emmington in 1869. In 1881 they were residing in Chinnor Stert near to the “Plough and Harrow”.Jacob died in the year of the 1871 Census and was buried in the churchyard at St Andrews on the 26th October aged 75 leaving Hannah a widow. Hannah appears to have survived for another 17 years but she vacated the cottage. She died and was buried in St Andrews churchyard on the 25th May 1888 at the age of 81. She was buried not by the resident vicar or curate of St. Andrews but by an H. Munton under a Certificate granted by the Burial Act. It seems that Hannah was, or had become, a member of the congregation of the Chinnor Independent Church because H. Munton was minister of that Church to who the certificate had been granted.
The Marriotts
Like the Bishop family, the Marriotts had been residing in an Orchard Cottage since at least 1841. In this time William and Ann Marriott had seen their daughter Rebecca marry James Rogers in 1857 and which then saw James move into the Marriott’s cottage as result of the liaison. Following the marriage, the cottage had seen the birth of five grandchildren, the last of which had taken place in 1870/71 when grandson Henry was born. Sadly, one of the children, Mary Ann, born in 1859, did not see her third birthday; she died an infant 1862. However, in the decade following 1871 James and Rebecca were to see the arrival of two further children, George born 1874 and daughter Louisa in 1880.Son in law James had found his employment in local farming, initially as an agricultural labourer but in 1871 his employment is noted more specifically now as a “Shepherd”. Ten years earlier and living nearer to Hill Farm was a Thomas King, widower, denominated as a shepherd. He had died in that year so it may well have been that James had taken over Thomas’s work as a shepherd, perhaps at the nearby Hill Farm. James’s wife, Rebecca gains some income from lace making - the children of James and Rebecca are “scholars”.
Although aged 76 William Marriott, the head of the household, still describes his occupation as a Farm Labourer, with wife Ann, like so many wives, gaining a small income from Lacemaking. Ann was to pass away the following year and later, in the same year, William was to also be buried in the churchyard of St Andrews. In the circumstances James Rogers and his family became the occupiers of the cottage.
The Folleys
Like the Bishops and the Marriotts, the Folleys had been residing in the lane for several decades. They were not living there in 1841 but like the other residents the occupiers detailed in the previous census in 1861 no other members of the family reside leaving John and Elizabeth as the only remaining residents.Since the last census in 1861 daughter Elizabeth had died and was buried in Chinnor churchyard on the 19th July, 1864 a spinster, aged merely 23. John is now aged 63 but like the other long-time occupiers of the cottages, passed away soon after the Census was taken. Aged only 64 when he was interred in the churchyard at St Andrews on the 31st August 1872 leaving Elizabeth, ten years his senior, a widow. She moved back to Church End in Bledlow the parish of her birth. She was to survive until 1884 passing away in her Bledlow home.
The Stratfords
They have moved into one the cottages having previously resided in the nearby settlement of Henton. This is, in fact, is a return to the cottages for Joseph and his wife Caroline. In 1851 Joseph lived in one of the cottages as a 19 years old farm labourer, living with his widowed mother, Phebe, who, although making some income from lace making, was also noted as a pauper. At the same time Caroline, then a Marriott, was living in one of the cottages also with her father and mother, William and Ann. She, like Joseph, has likewise now returned to the cottages but now a married women with a family. But it does mean that once again, is re-united with her parents who, as we have seen above, are still residing in one of the Orchard Cottages.Since Joseph and Caroline’s marriage, which after a delay of two years took place in 1855, resulted in both Joseph and Caroline moving away from their parents in the cottages to live in Hempton. The marriage produced 5 children William, Mary Ann, John, Elizabeth and Louisa. Prior to the marriage Caroline had mothered a daughter, Sarah, born in 1852 albeit that Joseph took Sarah into the family home at Henton. Sarah did not remain there and in 1871 she is found living in the nearby village of Oakley, in the home of farmer Elizabeth Eustace, employed as a domestic servant. Elizabeth is a widow but nonetheless farms 106 acres and employs 4 men and 2 boys. The other occupants of the farm house are Elizabeth’s son, John, designated a “contractor”, possibly a road contractor, but also living there are two grand-daughters, Susan and Ann White, aged 11 and 9.
Bernard Braun May 2023
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