About the Project Stories
In 1891 the area at the top of the High Street leading to the Ridgeway path was variously described as Rices (more correctly ‘Risers”) and Hollands Lane. The upper part then housed two cottages being the remainder of three that had existed since at least the beginning of the century and before. To reach the cottages one has to traverse the railway line which has probably hindered access to the cottages and has made them more remote from the village.The occupants of the cottages would have to pass Hill Farm in which the Eggleton family resided, having taken over from the Keen family whose family name was later adopted for the trackway which became known as Keen’s Lane.
The Rogers families monopolised the cottages. The three families residing there are all surnamed Rogers, James and Rebecca, Joseph and Sarah and James and Charlotte together with their respective families.
James and Rebecca and their 5 children, occupy one of the cottages having taken over the rental from Rebecca’s father, William Marriott, in about 1872, following William's death. James, and two sons Harry and George, still find their employment on one of the local farms whilst the eldest child Sarah, 29, is a lacemaker. Their eldest son, Edward, had left the family previously and was residing at Cadmore End working as a Farm Servant.
Another cottage is occupied by Joseph and Sarah. They are 74 and 73 years of age. Ten years earlier Joseph was earning his living as an Agricultural Labourer as he had done all his life but presumably had no savings and not enough current income to live on. He and Sarah are therefore claiming benefits from the parish as “Paupers”. Living with them is son Ernest and also son-in-law Alfred Howlett and his wife Mary, nee Rogers, who had married in 1886. Subsequently Alfred had moved in. The census reveals a daughter, ‘Alice’ born in 1888. This appears to be an error in the census as the ‘granddaughter’. It was in fact an Elsie May born in 1888. The baptismal records of the church do show that a daughter ‘Alice’ [Ellis] Kate was born but in 1891, not 1888. Joseph died in 1892 and Sarah died 3 years later. Alfred and Mary carried on the tenancy following the deaths and Alfred was to witness the birth of 3 further children during the next decade.
Another James Rogers occupied the remaining residence with his wife Charlotte. Also residing are 7 children, William the eldest at 20, Jesse 17, both employed as Agricultural Labourers, as is their father, James. Also living with them is Charlotte’s mother, Phebe Smith, who has been living with them since the 1860s. Phebe was to pass away and be buried in Chinnor on the 9th July 1894 at the grand age of 89. Children born into the household since 1881 are Arthur, Charles and Ada joining the existing 4 children making a total of 10 inhabitants. Daughter Emily is not mentioned and it is not clear where she was living – but she subsequently married a George Lidgley in 1892 and moved to Beaconsfield.
Bernard Braun April 2025
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