Shimpling is a quiet, pretty village of some 420 souls (in 2005) and is set in the Suffolk countryside surrounded by arable farmland and lies between Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds. Historically its residents main living was from farming although other occupations included those of blacksmith, miller, carpenter, shopkeeper, beer seller, teacher and so on.
Now there is no shop nor smithy, the school was closed along with the post office and police station. But we are left with the three staples of life in our thriving community, the pub, the church and the village hall.
Shimpling Features
Scroll down the list or to go directly to a particular topic, click on one of the following:
The Bush Public House School Church Hallifax Family Windmill
Old Post Office Street scene Ray Moss - memories
The Bush Public House
This is a 16th century timbered building which has been a public house since at least 1840 when the landlord was Frederick Vickers. It used to have a thatched roof until the first world war when it was replaced with tiles. Amongst the subsequent landlords were Samuel Claydon (who was also a baker), Thomas Fish, Arthur Rands, Albert Rawlinson, Annie Norfolk and Edward Musk which takes us up to 1937. It is still going strong.
The School
Thomas Hallifax built this as a girls school in 1841 and thirty years later in 1871 his daughter added the boys section. The boys had been taught in a room near the church prior to that. The two porches at the front have inscriptions above, which confirm these events. The attractive turret and clock were added when the extension was built.
The school was in use for almost 150 years until it was finally closed in 1989 when 5 other small schools were closed in West Suffolk. At that time the remaining 29 pupils were moved to Lawshall to complete their primary education, whereas at it's peak there were 130 children.
A school log was started in 1894 recording daily events and the opening record by the head teacher Louisa E Salt recorded an attendance of 77 pupils. The log is now with the Suffolk records Office in Bury St Edmunds.
St George's Church
From the time of the Domesday book in 1086 a church has stood on this tranquil site. It is approached by an avenue of lime trees, 12 on either side which reputedly represent the 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament or the apostles in the New Testament. Restoration in the 1860s has left its mark on a mainly 14th Century church with a 13c doorway.
The church boasts a fine collection of stained glass. This includes the shield of St Edmundsbury, pieces of medieval glass and Henry Holliday's (1839-1927) colourful work of art depicting the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
The east window is in memory of Thomas Hallifax of Chadacre Hall d. 1850. Miss Helen Hallifax had a memorial window erected in 1863 to her sister Maria and in 1871 presented an organ to the church. There is also a memorial window to Miss Helen Halifax d. 1878. An impressive mausoleum of the Hallifax family stands close to the church.
The Hallifax family
Thomas Hallifax, a London banker, and his family were great benefactors of Shimpling and the surrounding area. They arrived in the early 19th century and purchased many Shimpling properties and farms and lived in Chadacre Hall (built in 1835). Over time they built houses, the school, the schoolhouse, the coal house and made extensive renovations to the church.
Here is an extract from the Bury Free Press dated September 17th 1864:
Harvest home was celebrated at Chadacre Hall at the Misses Hallifax's, they provided provisions for her humble servants and friends on Tuesday.
The dinner was substantial, roast and boiled beef ad libitum and immense plum puddings of 5 and 6 lbs cut into 4, every labourer with his wife and two children were invited with 120 people sitting down, all the guests were provided with tea and supper, beer and tobacco were enjoyed in abundance.
Games were played in the park till 10 when three hearty cheers were given for Miss Hallifax and members of her family.
The Chadacre Hall estate of 2,300 acres, including 22 farms and 54 houses, was finally sold in 1918. The hall later became an agricultural institute which closed in 1989.
Shimpling Windmill
The remains of a smock mill are to be found in The Street, having slowly decayed since it stopped grinding corn at the end of the 19th century. It was probably built towards the end of the 18th century witnessed by engraved bricks dated 1792.
The Mills Archive website has several pictures of the mill cataloguing its sad decline. If you want to see these you will need to register on the site (free) and you will then have access to all the other mills they hold on their database.
The Old Post Office
The Shimpling sub post office was opened in 1852 in this timber framed 18th century building shown above, now known as the Old Post Office. The service was at one time moved to a different house in The Street on the retirement of the postmistress, but it was later re-established back where it started. Between 1892 and 1916 the sub postmaster was a Mr George Bruce who was also a beer retailer. The PO was eventually closed in the early 1970s.
Street scene
Here is a view of The Street in the early 1900s with three young children wearing smocks in the centre. The village pond had white fencing around it and sat in front of Ruffles house. The house with the smoking chimney is Chestnut Cottage and on the right is the Coal House built in 1861 by the Hallifax family.
Ray Moss - memories
My name is Raymond Moss and I now live in Stoke on Trent but I was born in Great Welnetham. My Dad (Reg) was a Stanningfield boy who lived in Donkey Lane and his father (Alfred) was a Lawshall man. There was a time in Lawshall when if you weren't a Moss, Armstrong, or Smith you were either related to them in some way or you were a stranger. Dad joined the Royal Artillery in the 1920s during his service he was posted to the North West frontier of India, virtually on the Afghanistan border He was demobbed and placed on the reserve in 1931or 2. Soon after I was born in 1935 he went to work for Col. Hambro of Coldham Hall, who owned several farms in the area. The old Colonel tended to move his men around, and my brother Patrick was born in Hartest Lane in Lawshall, and my youngest brother Reginald was born in Brands Lane. This was where we lived when WW2 broke out and as dad was on the reserve he was called up to rejoin the colours at Catterick. As we lived in a tied cottage the Colonel found us a 2 up 2 down terrace house at Audley end near Chadacre and Mum (nee Mary Smith) arranged for us to go to Shimpling School.
We went to Shimpling VP School because it was closer by road than Lawshall School, also Mum had found out they were starting hot dinners, so she approached Miss Fisher who was quite happy for us to attend, so my brother Patrick and I started at Shimpling. I attended the school from 1940 until 1949, in other words from the beginning of WW2 until the land army packed up.
School life
There were three classrooms in the school, the infants class was at the back with Miss Hunter in charge, this class was divided into three sections - the Babies, Class 1, and Standard 1. The front of the school was divided into two classrooms by a large wooden folding separator The Juniors who were taught by Mrs Harvey, and the Seniors where Miss Fisher ruled.
Mrs Harvey's class was divided into two sections - Standard 2 and Standard 3 and when Mrs Harvey boxed anyone’s ears she always did it left handed so we got the benefit of her wedding ring. Miss Fisher's class was also divided into 2 sections - Standard 4 and Standard 5.
We weren't the only pupils to come in from neighbouring villages, a school bus also brought children from Alpheton and Bridge Street, plus evacuees who were billeted in the villages, but even so I don't think the total attendance ever exceeded the mid seventies. In fact I don't think it even reached 70. The play area also included a large meadow. Half way down this meadow was a line of trees the half closer to the school was a general play area the other half was used as a sports field. Mrs Harvey's class had two types of desk, standard 2 had the traditional style with the seats connected to the desk and standard three had level topped tables and chairs. There were three Mott girls with long black plaited hair and when they sat in the traditional desks with a lad sitting behind them the plaits were often dipped into the inkwells. The dinners were cooked by Mrs Olley who lived in Gent's lane almost opposite Miss Fisher's Schoolhouse.
In Alpheton there was an American Airfield and some of the airmen adopted local schools which meant we didn't entirely have to rely on the sweet ration as occasionally sweets would be handed round. The aircraft flying out of Alpheton were Liberators, though I seem to remember fortresses as well; I think the Liberators replaced the Fortresses. In the later stages of the war, guide lights were set up to guide the aircraft back to base and two or three posts were set up with lights on top in our school meadow.
There was a trust fund set up by the benefactors who started the school and the trustees warned Miss Fisher that the interest had built up during the war and asked that she use some of it, so she arranged a trip to London for the school. We visited Kew Gardens, then took a boat trip down the Thames to Westminster and also visited The Tower of London. There were at least two trips to London. We also visited Norwich and Cambridge. In Norwich we visited the Castle and the Cathedral I found the torture instruments in the Castle Dungeons very interesting.
In Cambridge we visited St John's College I remember this because we crossed the Bridge of Sighs, Gonville and Caius, remembered because of the strange name, Trinity Great Court and King's College Chapel. After a picnic lunch on the backs we visited the boathouses.
Miss Fisher was also very interested in music and we had great success at the annual Clare Festival. We usually came home with at least one trophy, I remember a Cup for singing "Pretty Polly Oliver" another for reciting poetry, "O To Be In England" by Robert Browning and a banner for Sight Reading. What the adjudicator didn't know Miss Fisher had accidentally been using one of the pieces of sight-reading for practise purposes and when it was uncovered we recognised it and gaily sang it through with no problem They had used the tune to "Now the Day is Over".
We also entered a football competition and I particularly remember the beautiful football pitch at Cavendish, with the return match on our rough old meadow. Cricket matches also had the same advantages for us and I seem to remember our top scorer was Tess Bugg. Another memory of Tess Bugg was sitting in a quiet classroom everybody concentrating when all of a sudden he broke into song to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine" he sang "A cup of whiskey will make you frisky"
I went up into the School clock tower once to see the mechanism but nobody mentioned the fact that it was made by the makers of Big Ben. We went up 4 or 5 at a time this must have been when we were in Miss Fisher's class. The dining hall was built in 1949, I know this because I watched it go up but we left Shimpling before it opened, because the Land Army closed down about then and we moved.
Click here to see two photographs of pupils attending Shimpling School in the late 1940s. If these pictures stir your memory and you can help to add more information about these pictures or Shimpling life then please email me here.
The war ends
The end of the war came suddenly. One afternoon a week the boys did gardening while the girls did needlework. I was weeding the flowerbeds when Mrs Olley came running over from her house to find Miss Fisher to tell her that the end of the war had been announced she told us as she passed. Miss Fisher announced it to the rest of the school, adding that if the Prime Minister, Mr Churchill was due to make a speech on the radio the next day then the school would be closed for the day. This duly happened.
During the war, dad had been kept back in England and Northern Ireland for training purposes as he was an "old sweat". He went over to France about 2 weeks after DDay. He was held in a transit camp and by the time he caught up with the fighting the big push had reached Belgium. He drove a half-track through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He didn't tell us much about his service but I do know he was sent forward with his half-track with an officer on board to spot the fall of shells from the guns to correct their aim for the barrages. This was his main job during the rest of the war. Whether this was what he was doing when they discovered Belsen. I know he was affected by what they found there. He was demobbed in 1946 and went back to work for the Colonel. We moved back to Brands Lane but Dad didn't stay there long and we moved to Park farm Shimpling where he trained Land Girls to milk - more of this later.
The Land Army
As my Dad worked for Colonel Hambro when the war started, at the time he worked in the cowsheds, so when he was demobbed his job was given back to him, as the government had decreed that if ex servicemen were fit for the job they would be reemployed, but the head cowman resented him so he was given the feeling he wasn't wanted, so he started looking round for a new job almost straight away, so within a few weeks (certainly within two months) he was offered a job by the "War-ag" at Shimpling Park farm teaching land girls to milk cows. He was an experienced hand milker but he afterwards admitted that he learned more about machine milking from the girls themselves. (About ten years later on a farm in Brent Eleigh he came second in a clean milk competition run by the War Agricultural Society throughout West Suffolk. also one of the girls he trained was his relief milker.)
There were two types of cattle at Shimpling Park, Red Polls and Friesians. The Red Polls were milked by machine and the Friesians were milked by hand. New girls started in the machine milking sheds and then after a few weeks they transferred to the hand milking shed, most if not all of the girls were from towns so they were a bit scared of the cows at first especially the horned Friesians by the time they left they were quite happy to grab hold of the horns. The calf pens were at the opposite end of the Friesian shed and reached by a passage at the head end of the cows. It was a great game to send the new girls to feed the calves down this passage so the first thing they saw as the door to the passage was opened was about 40 sharp horns waving around, of course none of them could have reached them but the old hands would congregate at the door and watch as the poor girl would sidle down the passage against the far wall. Within a week they would be strolling down the middle of the passageway, especially when one of the old hands showed them how safe they really were by strolling down the passage and grabbing one of the horns.
The girls on the land also had to be teased, the assistant stack thatcher was showing a group of girls how he prepared the straw for the thatcher one of the processes is damping down the straw so it will handle and lay better. Some of the girls wisely stood back and let the newer girls have the front view, all of a sudden the assistant gave an extra flick with his bucket and splashed some of the girls at the front to the great amusement of the girls at the back.
April 1st was another day to watch out for, one poor girl was asked to nip up to the hostel and ask Miss Johnson for some axle grease for a wagon they were working on. “Final Command” the Red Poll Bull was a very quiet old fellow and two girls would be asked to take him for a walk, one girl would lead him with the bull pole the other would walk behind with a stick to keep him on the move. Sometimes Mum would be out the front as they walked by and they would stop and have a chat, while they stood and chatted old Final would crop the grass on the verge so even the verge outside our garden was kept as short as our lawn.
When dad worked on Shimpling Park farm we lived in Greentree farm, the house is or was opposite the horse pond. Greentree farm was part of Park farm just down the road from the hostel. When we moved in we lived in the 3 storey part,
About 2 years after dad started at Park farm Mr Wright the head cowman left to start work for the local Cattle Breeders Society as an artificial inseminator. Sometimes either my brother or myself would go round with him to watch and help him with his paperwork. He would start by checking the sperm under the microscope and he would let us see it. I think Pearl Mortlock was in charge of the girls on the land, the one in charge of the cowsheds was Sheila Purkiss and when dad took over as head cowman Sheila was his second so they didn't bring in another man to replace him as second cowman. There was another permanent staff woman Kathleen Hood I forget where she worked. My mother had a daughter in 1947 while we were in the three-storey part of the house. Her name is Kathleen Sheila Mary which helped me to remember the names of those two girls.
Dad stayed until the Land Army closed down in 1949 and we left just before harvest holidays in 1949. The new dining hall at the school was due to open after the harvest holidays, so I watched it being built but never went in for my dinner.