Bench Wells 4

I continued, " In 1861 there was a man called Mr. Bateman and he investigated what are called Barrow Burials, those which were done by the Angles in very ancient times. He investigated the barrows on Mellor Moor and amongst his finds there was a 6th Century square hooked broach, some spear heads, a circular copper alloy pendant, and a Celtic head.

“Also the area was combed by a vicar from Disley. In around 1810, the Reverend Marriott, Vicar of Disley and local Antiquarian, excavated two Bronze Age barrows at Brown Low and Ludworth Intakes on the hill across the valley to the north. Unfortunately, as he acknowledged at the time, his excavations were poorly managed and did considerable damage to the site.”

"Marriott wrote a book 'The Antiquities of Lyme' in which he also mentioned a ditch found previously in the Mellor Church yard. I have a copy of it here and you can borrow it if you wish."
 

“How much English money would a Roman or Celtic coin be worth?” asked Harry Oldfield, so far the one who seemed keenest.

“Well it depends of course on how old it is, what condition it is in, and how much the valuer is prepared to pay. If several are interested, then the price goes up. I would think there would be
nothing that you could find that would be less than 10 shillings.”

“When you say a cut to yourself, how much do you mean?” persisted Herbert.

“I mean that I would expect to get 25% of the realised value of the item. After all I would be doing all the work for you. If you preferred, I could just give you a certain sum of money to buy it off
you - and then I would take the risk as to whether I would make more or less money when I sell it on.”

“What would happen if we decided to buy the property and then couldn’t make the payments to the money lender?” again, this was from Helen Morrison.

I was so pleased that she seemed interested.

“I’m afraid that if you undertake a contract and then are unable to keep up the payments, that the property would be taken from you. But surely anyone with a bit of foresight will be able to manage his affairs and include budgeting for a mortgage repayment.”

“If we choose to not buy, will somebody else be offered our house and we will have to move out?” she persisted.

“That would be a matter for law. I think tenants do have some rights when the property is sold from under them, but perhaps they would be asked to move within a certain reasonable length of time.”

Another hand was raised. “My name is Willie and can I have some more cake?”

There was a titter from the group.

“No, my son, you cannot, because it has all been eaten. But I think I have given you all something to chew on, if you will excuse my pun.

“Well, I think I will let you go now, to think these things over. As I say, I will give each family one of my business cards, and I will hope to hear from you over the next month. If you have any more
questions, you can either drop me a line or make an appointment to come to see me on a weekend or evening,” I said, as an ending of this part of our party.

So slowly the group dispersed, back to their own homes to discuss to them what might seem more like a threat than an opportunity. But I hope not. I held Helen’s hand just a shade longer than necessary as we said goodbye. She had appeared quite interested. Perhaps we can get together in the future to discuss these things in detail.

 Helen

Mary, holding baby Jane, walked next to me on the way home after the party. Joseph walked back with his friend Thomas Higham, with the various children from the two families intermixing.

“Well, what did you think of that?” asked Mary.

“I must admit that I find it all rather confusing. The whole purpose of the party was to tell us that we should think about buying our own houses - but I can’t, for some reason, think that Mr. Warrington was saying that for our benefit only. I think he must stand to benefit in some way.”

“There is no way we could get enough money together to buy our house. And then all the extra expenses on top - fixing the leaking roof, paying the rates, where would the money come for those? No, I can tell you we won’t be doing what he wants.”

“And what about the idea of us scratching around in our gardens looking for Roman coins?”

“Well, our boys will be only too pleased to have a go at that, for an hour or two, and when they find nought, that will be the end of it. But again, I wonder what he is going to get out of it? Much more
than he was letting on, I’d reckon.”

“What did you make of his wife? Had you met her before?”

“Toffy nosed cow. She could hardly keep her distaste of us using her precious cups to herself. I nearly broke one on purpose, just to see how she would react.”

“She really was an upstart, wasn’t she? But he was so determined and so full of himself that it makes me nervous. When somebody gets like that, it seems that they might stop at nothing to get what they want. He can’t pressure us to do those things, can he?”

“No, but what had occurred to me, is that if we refuse to try to buy our houses, he might try to buy them. Then he would be our landlord rather than Lord Howard. And how would you like that?”

“Do you really think he has got money for buying up lots of property? His house wasn’t all that grand. Mind you it was bigger than what most of us have - but it is a terraced house all the same.”

“But you could see from the things that we were shown that came from the house that they have money. I rather expect that the wife’s family is rich - and her father who died might well have left her
quite a lot of money of her own. And she is caring for her mother now. Maybe that means that they have control of the mother’s money too.”

“She didn’t seem to be in evidence, did she?”

“I did ask, and Belinda said she wasn’t feeling well so was staying in her room. Probably just an excuse so she didn’t have to pretend to be friendly with the rest of us.”

“If you think the daughter is snooty - the mother is ten times worse. It is a wonder that she has agreed to live in this back neck of the woods at all. She is used to cavorting in foreign places like
Paris. La de da.”

“And I was hoping to set eyes on that French maid she has. But she was no doubt entertaining her mistress, and thought herself too good to be waiting on us. But I do like Belinda. She has a lot of common sense to her.”

“And what do you think of her brother, Fred? I saw you chatting to him.”

I felt a bit embarrassed. “Well, he is our neighbour you know. I was just passing the time of day.” I’m pleased that she didn’t seem to notice that it was Harold that I was mainly interested in watching, and was so eager for the few words that he threw in my direction.

“Ah but he is an eligible bachelor, and there aren’t a lot of those around here. Would you marry again if you had the chance?”

“Yes, if I met the right man, but I’m in no hurry to be a wife again. Rosie and I do well enough here on our own, and, of course, I have all of my relatives not far away, if ever I feel the need for more company.”

By now we had reached Bench Wells, and each went to their part of the house - collecting the various children in. I could hear Mary’s children clearly.

“I want to go and dig in the yard now, Mamma,” said 14 year old Walter.

“Me too,” chorused Frank, Elizabeth and Jane.

“Well, I suppose you won’t be happy until you have a go at it. Take the spade, but only dig on the very edges of the garden. I don’t want to find a big hole in the lawn.”

“Me, too, Mamma?” asked Rosie.

“Well, you are a bit young for those older boys. But if they don’t mind, you can have a go. But first of all, you come in and change out of your best frock. I don’t want that covered with mud.”

So the children had gone in to change, and then reassembled out in the garden. Mary later told me she had watched them from her kitchen window as she was preparing the evening meal. They really were having a go and putting some effort into it. The little ones just ran their fingers through the soil, looking for coins, and the older ones digging deep.

“I only wish I could get that much enthusiasm out of them when I have a real gardening job for them to do, like digging out the weeds,” she said.

After about half an hour, with no success, the children dropped the spade and hoe and went off playing chase games.. “It was just as I had thought it would be. A two minute wonder and then, when there was no success, it was all over,” Mary said. I opened the window and shouted at them to put the tools away, if they were finished digging. Somebody could trip over them and get badly hurt.

So, reluctantly, Walter left his game and did as he was told and shortly after Rosie came in to tea, after first doing a jolly good job of washing herself.