Forncett's Town Houses
The houses and other buildings in our village tell much of Forncett's history going back, in many cases, for hundreds of years. Indeed, a walk around Forncett as recently as 1930 would have revealed a village that had changed relatively little since the early 1800s, and even today most of those historic buildings are still standing. Nevertheless, from time to time buildings are demolished and with them goes the story of the people who lived in them. Two such examples were Forncett's townhouses.
Following the Poor Relief Act of 1597, parishes were required to designate an Overseer of the Poor who was charged with distributing poor relief to the needy of the parish. The law required two overseers to be elected every Easter, and churchwardens or landowners were often selected. Many parishes built dwellings on so-called "Town Lands" to house their poorest residents who might live rent-free, or pay a low rent towards repairs. Such "town houses" were built in both Forncett St Mary and Forncett St Peter.
Forncett St Mary town houses
The town houses in Forncett St May stood on a plot to the north side of Low Road close to the junction with Chequers Hill. Terrier records (records of land and property holdings) trace the land ownership back to the early 17th century and several entries through the C18th century describe "three roods of lands, lying in a close called Small Bush". By 1753, terrier records show that the plot had been designated as Town Land and it is shown, with a dwelling, on the 1817 map of Forncett St Mary.
Excavation by the present owner revealed the medieval property to be fairly humble. It was very likely timber-framed and constructed on flint and brick foundations. It would have relied heavily on the availability of extensive areas of common grazing lands. As part of the enactment of the 1809 Inclosure Act, the property was provided with a strip of land, one rod wide, taken from the adjoining field, to serve as a driveway linking the dwelling to the newly-defined Low Road. A Clay Pit was established between the dwelling and the straightened road - as "a public Clay, Chalk or Marle Pit" for the use of the Parish.
In the 1841 census, the 'cottage and garden' was occupied by 64 year old agricultural labourer Isaac Moore, his wife Mariah, their daughter Catherine and her baby son, George. However, it seems that by around the mid-1840's the main structure of the medieval building was reused and extended using material taken from the clay-pit to form three clay lump cottages. The clay-pit was apparently exhausted by the 1880's and it is shown as a water feature on the 1882 Ordnance Survey map.
From 1841 onwards the occupants of the three cottages are not easy to identify from census returns and it is only in the 1939 register that the town houses are listed. The residents were Margaret Philpott and her two children Harold (age 2) and Joyce (age 3 months), farm labourer Charles Blake and his family, and widow Dora Semmens (age 28). Dora Harvey had married Herbert Semmens in 1935 and Herbert had passed away just a year later.
Parish Terrier records confirm the demolition of the Town Houses no later than May 1955, following the service of a Dangerous Structure Notice. "In previous terriers there are references to the Town Houses at Forncett St Mary of which the church warden and Overseers of the Poor were trustees. These became dangerous and were demolished under an order from the Local Authority."
Forncett St Peter town houses
In Forncett St. Peter the town houses were situated on a site close to the church. The map of 1817 shows two cottages on "Town land" south of the church.
By the time of the Tithe records in 1839 the plot (no. 389) is recorded as having a single cottage that was home to Brooks, Rudd and King, but the 1841 census suggests that this could have been three households.
This cottage was probably also of timber-framed construction and at some time between 1841 and the map of 1882 it was apparently demolished and replaced with a brick building which accommodated four families.
1882 OS map showing the Forncett St. Peter townhouses
Of the four, the house nearest the road was used for some time as a shop. In 1891 it was run by a local man, William Smith, but by the 1901 census it seems to have closed.
In the 1921 census, the occupants were agricultural labourer, George Mears and his wife; widow May Self and her three children, aged 7, 6 and 4; agricultural labourer William Blake, his wife and four children; and retired farmer Allen Dunthorne, age 79.
In 1939, George Mears and his wife, and William Blake, his wife and their daughter, Ida, were still there but there were also new residents. Widow Gertrude Bush and her family lived in one house and Florence Womack and her six children lived in the other. One of these children, Alan Womack, was born in the town houses in 1934 and we are fortunate to have Alan's personal reminiscences of life there.
"Home was the road end of Town Houses on Aslacton Road. The piece we had was, in years gone by, a shop and at that time there were two connecting doors to the part of the house where Mrs Bunn lived. Our part had bedrooms, scullery with a beautiful stone sink and two living rooms. The house was cold in winter and cool in summer. We used the bottom room in winter, because it had more internal walls and was therefore warmer. This room had a fireplace about two feet high with kettle stands on each side and a false grate - enabling us to put toast underneath with cheese on. Sometimes ash from the fire would drop on it - but it gave the toast a lovely flavour. One of our bedrooms, which was mainly unused, went over the pantry of one of the other tenants. My sister decided she would sleep in this room - until one night the leg of the bed went through the floor and into next door's pantry!"
The Forncett St Peter town houses were finally demolished in the mid-1960s and new bungalows were built there. The town houses undoubtedly provided invaluable accommodation for many poor Forncett families over at least two centuries but now they are gone and largely forgotten.
With sincere thanks to Alan Womack and Jonathan Law for their contributions to this article.