Introduction
On 26th January 1990, local historian Danny Howell, tape-recorded a conversation with 79-years-old Mrs. Perlina Willmore at her home in Wylye. Danny recalls “I had arranged the date for the recording, with Mrs. Willmore, about a week beforehand. Come the day, the weather got nasty about lunchtime, with a terrific thunderstorm. When I got to Mrs. Willmore’s home (2 Glebe Bungalows, Wylye) there was no electric, because a tree must have fallen somewhere and brought down a power line. Luckily my tape-recorder was battery-operated. I remember, during the tape-recording, Mrs. Willmore made a pot of tea for us. The fact there was no electric didn’t bother her. She boiled the kettle on a fire. I shall never forget that, and it was one of the best cups of tea I’ve ever had. There were several loud claps of thunder during the afternoon but Mrs. Willmore was completely unperturbed by the storm. Interview over, I left Mrs. Willmore’s at about five o’clock. I intended to take the back road home, from Wylye to Warminster, through the villages like Stockton and Boyton, but I had to make several detours because the storm had brought trees down across the road in several places. The following edited transcript of the recording Danny Howell made with Mrs. Willmore was first published in Warminster Wylye Valley And District Recorder, No.5, December 2006.
Perlina Willmore said:
“I was born at Hope Cottage, Wylye, on 21st May 1910. Do I look like I shall be 80 next May? Sometimes I feel 80, because sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“My name before I married was Hibberd. My Christian names are Perlina Dorothy. I think Perlina is a nice name. It’s a Mexican name. My mother’s neighbour’s sister’s name was Perlina and I was named after her.”
“My mother was born at Fisherton Delamere. Her name, before she got married, was Elizabeth Ann Nash. She was one of six children. Her sisters were Mary Jane Nash, Alice Louisa Nash, and Fanny Ellen Nash. Her brothers were William Jasper Nash and Frederick Nash. Their mother, my granny, had a been a Miss Caroline Foyle and she married Isaac Nash, my grandfather. Granny and Grandfather were living at Porton when he got killed going up Beacon Hill. He was taking some hurdles somewhere and he fell off the wagon and caught his clothes in the hurdles.”
“My father was a Wylye man. He was born where Mrs. Paton lives now, at Church Lane Cottage. His name was Ted Hibberd. The Hibberd name first appears in the Wylye register in 1792. Father was christened Edwin but registered as Edward. There was a mix-up. He was always known as Ted. He was a bricklayer and stonemason but he didn’t work for anyone in particular. He worked for lots of people. Anybody. Father was fat and he was pleasant. I would say he was good-tempered. He was happy-go-lucky.”
“Dad’s mother was Mary Ann Hibberd. Dad’s father was John Hibberd. Granny and Grandfather Hibberd had several children. The daughters were Mary Jane and Selina, and the boys were Edgar, James, Charles, George, William, Edwin (my father), Henry and Stephen.”
“I’ve got the family Bible with all the dates written in the front. Let’s see what is written. My mother married my father on 28th July 1890. They had nine children altogether. One died at birth. My oldest brother, Albert Edwin, was born on 18th June 1894, and he married Lily Fry on 2nd April 1918. Another brother, Reginald William, was born on 26th June 1897. Another brother, Leslie John, was born on 25th March 1904, and he married Ivy Emily Ruddle on 16th December 1928. One of my sisters, Ivy Pretoria May, was born on 15th May 1900. Yet another brother, Cecil Norman, was born on 16th December 1901. And I also had a brother, Edward.”
“My brother, Reginald William, died suddenly on Wednesday 20th April 1922. My mother was going to have him buried on the Monday. It was a good job she didn’t because that was the day of the big fire in Wylye. As it happened he was buried on the Saturday because they couldn’t keep them about in them days. They were funny days. Quite a few cottages were burnt down in the big fire. It used to be lovely down Church Lane but it isn’t now. They’ve built some new houses off there, St. Mary’s Close I think they call them. There used to be some old, thatched cottages at Church Lane. They were destroyed in the fire. I don’t know how it started. I was 12 when that happened. I was sitting in school when the fire occurred, and I know who was sitting behind me. That was Sid Carter but he’s dead and gone now. I can remember that day. I don’t know where the fire brigade came from. They must have come from all over the place because it was such a big fire.”
“I went to Wylye School. It was a lovely old school. I don’t think it should ever have been closed. There were a lot of children going there, 60 odd, when I was little. My school pals included my next door neighbour that I’ve got now, Ralph Lovett; and there was Fred Vallis and Hubert Colbourne. We were all pals together. There was one big classroom which was divided by curtains. Later on they had screens.”
“When I first went to the school the teachers were Mr. and Mrs. Wootton and their daughter Connie. Mr. Wootton took the top class and his wife the other one. Connie taught in the infants’ room. Later on we had Mrs. Sobey. She was a battleaxe but I liked her. She was strict. She used to use the cane but I never had it, well, only once. That was because of one of my brothers. He threw the inkwell at Mr. Wootton and the ink went down his nice white front. Mr. Wootton’s name was Job but he was known as Jiggy. They called him Jiggy Wootton. He was getting on a bit. He was alright.”
“Each day at school started with religion. I didn’t like school. I didn’t mind reading and I didn’t mind spelling. I could spell very well but not now, I’ve let it slip. We wore our everyday clothes to school. There were no uniforms back then. If our shoes wanted mending, dad did that. I went home to dinner. It wasn’t far to walk because I lived nearby. I was fussy about what I had for my dinner. I liked chips and I liked potatoes all mashed up with butter but I didn’t care for much else. Father had a garden and he grew a lot of vegetables. I didn’t help with the gardening. I didn’t like gardening.”
“Father used to fatten a couple of pigs. He had a sty on a bit of ground up the Bapton road. The pigs were fed on scraps which father did boil up. Harry Polden from Langford, did come up and kill the pigs. One was kept for home and the other was sold to Mr. Moody who had a bacon factory in Warminster. The meat was really fat. It was good. My sister-in-law used to come down and see to all the chitterling. I used to get out of the way. I couldn’t stand that. My stomach wouldn’t have that. Pig killing day was quite an event. And you’d get a lot of lard for home, and all that, it was lovely. Father always had a side of bacon hung up in home.”
“When I was a child, if I wanted some sweets, mother would send me to Bush’s shop on the Warminster side of Wylye. It’s a place called the Potteries now. That’s where we used to go to get our sweets. You could get stuff for a farthing then. Not now. Mr. and Mrs. Bush were an old couple. It was like a little shop and down one end Mr. Bush had a bicycle repair place. He was a handy old chap. The shop also sold candles and things but you couldn’t buy sugar there. Do you know why? Because there was no profit in it for him.”
“If mother wanted sugar we had to go to the other shop in Wylye, the National Stores. That was where the present shop is. They sold all sorts of things and you could go in there and have tea. Years ago they had tearooms there. White’s, from Wilton, ran that, I think. I didn’t go in for cups of tea, it was more for people passing through the village.”
“Mother didn’t go shopping. Someone would come up from the shop and take your order; then an errand boy would deliver. Wylye used to have quite a few shops. There were three butcher’s shops. Three! There was one where Knocker Carpenter lives now. There was a second one down by the Bell and another round the corner. You could get bread from Barter’s. Or you could get bread off Mr. Conduit who came from Langford. Well, I think it was Smith’s really and Mr. Conduit was the delivery man for them in those days. Young’s from Wishford used to come round as well. They had a pony and van. Mind you, nobody could make lardy cakes like Vic Barter. They were good. The fat ran out of them. Oh, they were lovely. You can’t get nothing like them now.”
“We used to go on the charabanc outings to Weymouth but I don’t like that place. It was fun in the charabanc though. We’d have a singsong as we went along. Once when we went to Weymouth, mother was with me and it came on to rain. I suggested we go into the pictures. We watched Gracie Fields in Sing As We Go Along. My mother said afterwards, ‘You wouldn’t have got me in there to see that damn rubbish if I’d known it was going to be like that.’ My mother didn’t like the pictures.”
“We used to have pictures in Wylye years ago. They were shown in the Hall. Hodge from Wilton used to show the pictures and Dulcie Gale did play the piano. She was a local girl, she used to live opposite us at Townsend. A lot of things went on at the Hall. Wylye used to have a flower show and all the village took part in that. It’s so different now. Well, the people were different years ago. They didn’t go far, nobody had a car years ago, but today they’ve all got cars. I don’t know how some of them can afford it.”
“I left school when I was 14 and I went to work for an old lady who lived over the road opposite our cottage. She couldn’t get out of her chair. Her name was Mrs. Noble. She was married. Her husband’s name was Bill Noble and he was a gardener over at Newall’s, at Fisherton Delamere. Mr. Noble used to have to carry his wife up to bed at night. Mrs. Noble, poor dear, I liked her. I was paid three shillings and sixpence a week. Later on, I changed jobs. My cousins were working over at Clouds House, East Knoyle, and I went over there to work at the time when the Mosselmans’ had it.”
“I married Samuel Willmore on 2nd August 1930, at the Registry Office in Salisbury. Sam came from Hanley, Stoke On Trent. He was in the Royal Engineers and he came this way to put the water in at Imber. That was about 1928, two years before we were married. Sam always said that Imber people were nice people. When he came out of the army he kept changing jobs because he couldn’t settle. Then he worked at the REME Workshops in Warminster. He’s been dead 11 years. He died here at 2 Glebe Cottages, he was 69. His funeral was held at St. Mary the Virgin’s Church, Wylye.”
“When I first got married I lived at home with mother for a while but I heard that Rosie Dowdell had a cottage to let at Station Road in the village. I knew Rosie. The Dowdells were connected with the Chapel on the corner of Teapot Street and High Street. I used to go to Sunday School at the Chapel. I liked the Chapel. I don’t know if I was Chapel or Church of England. I went to both. Rosie Dowdell taught me to play the piano. She was a nice little thing. She didn’t mind if I went to Chapel or Church. She always used to call me Perly.”
“I went and saw Rosie about the cottage and I got it. Rosie Dowdell rented the cottage to me. She was good to me. The rent was three shillings and sixpence a week. That were cheap. It wasn’t easy to set up home in those days. I had my piano and a table from home. Sam made two armchairs because he could do a bit of carpentry. People don’t get married and have children today, they do it the other way round, have children and then get married. If anybody did that in my day it was looked upon like a crime. You dared not do that. Filmstars have started going on like that now and everybody thinks they can do the same.”
“I had three children, that’s Lewis and the twins, Margaret Ann and Jocylene Elizabeth. I think that were enough. Lewis was born on Christmas Eve 1931. The twins were born on 31st July 1938. They were all born at the cottage. It wasn’t easy to bring up a family but we did alright.”
“I had to cook on the open fire. You put your saucepan on some iron bars above the flames. Sometimes the pan would tip up and the soup would fall into the fire. Then you had to get some more and start again. It wash hard work for housewives years ago. They don’t know nothing at all about it now. There were no mod-cons. We never had no such thing as vacuum cleaners. You had to manage with a dustpan and brush.”
“I had to do my washing in the copper. That were alright. I’d stoke the old copper up. I’d burn all the rubbish under it. I got the water from a well and I hated it. I hated having to get the water up. It was horrible. You had to get quite a bit of water up for washing day. I hung my washing on mother’s line and her neighbour would take it in and iron it for me. I had some good friends like that when I was bringing the children up.”
“When Sam was alive we used to go into Warminster to see the carnival. We used to go to the fair in Warminster, regularly, because that were good. I don’t care much about Salisbury Fair. My husband didn’t go to the pub. He would have been better, perhaps, if he had. He liked to be quiet. If he had a book to read he was happy. He liked to read cowboy books.”
“I’m independent. I like my own home the best. I watch television. Most of it is rubbish. Coronation Street is my favourite. I hate to see ‘Mother Thatcher’ on the television. I’d like to throw rotten tomatoes or fruit at her. Still, she wouldn’t take any notice if I did. No, I don’t like Margaret Thatcher. The Conservatives are all for themselves. I wouldn’t vote for Mrs. Thatcher and the Conservative Party and I never have. To tell you the truth I don’t know who to vote for now. All these politicians are out for themselves now. The old age pension isn’t enough and it never will be enough.”
“”Years ago if somebody wanted some money and you only had a shilling, you would gladly give them half of it. Not today. I think people have got greedy today. People were happier years ago. They seemed to be. The world today is terrible. I can’t remember any crime in the village years ago but I suppose there was. There used to be a policeman in the village; there’s been several over the years. I remember one, Mr. Corp, who lived over Deptford. He used to stroll about the village, keeping his eye on things. Very often if I looked out of the bedroom window I would see him walking down the road.”
“The farmers used to walk animals down through the village. When Wilton Fair was on, sheep were put in the paddock by Wylye Railway Station. They should never have done away with the Station. If I wanted to go to Warminster I could go along and get on the train at Wylye Station. Not now. A bus comes through occasionally today but I don’t never go on it. I can’t ride on the bus. I don’t like it.”
“I’ve got a newspaper cutting here about the Wylye Bypass. It says the Bypass opened on 31st July 1975. I don’t like the village now it’s got a bypass. I used to like to see things coming up through. I didn’t mind the noise and the traffic. I liked it when it was busy and I was used to it. I liked Wylye the way it was, when there was so much going on.”
“There used to be a doctor in Wylye years ago. Doctor Penruddocke was his name but I didn’t care much for him. I liked Doctor Lewis who lived at Codford. He was nice. He always called me Perl.”
“And there was a blacksmith with a forge over at Deptford. I can’t explain exactly where it was because Deptford has changed so much. The blacksmith’s name was Sid Potter but he’s dead and gone now.”
“I liked the old village people who used to be here. The young ones today will never come up to those. No. It’s mostly strangers in Wylye now. There are just a few of the old characters left. Jim Carpenter, the miller, is a nice man. He always was. He’s worked hard.”
“I can remember Wylye when it was a proper village. I’m talking about the time when there was no street lighting in the village. We had oil lamps in home, downstairs, and a candle to go to bed with. We had a privy at the top of the garden but we didn’t mind, we never knew any different. I shouldn’t say this really but I don’t care much for Wylye today.”
Footnote: Perlina Willmore passed away on 27th January 2004. She is buried in her husband’s grave in Wylye Churchyard. Samuel Willmore died on 13th October 1978. Sam’s address in Hanley, near Stoke On Trent, had been 27 Sydney Street. It was while stationed with the army at Bulford, that he helped with the installation of water at Imber. After marrying Perlina he was posted to Gillingham in Kent, during 1933 to 1935, and the family later lived at Seaview, on the Isle of Wight, before returning to Wylye in May 1944.