The Close in Living Memory
Digging for Cathedral Close memories
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What do you remember about Hereford’s Cathedral Close? Do you remember a particular Royal visit? The removal of the railings? Do you recall wartime life, the May Fair or Three Choirs on the Close?
Readers are being asked to mark the renovation of the Cathedral Close by sharing their recollections, photographs, films and memorabilia.
“We are interested in ‘living memory’ tales - from last week to 90 years ago, from toddlers and teens to older people. Get in touch!” says Julia Goldsmith from Hereford’s Catcher Media, which is running the Project on behalf of the cathedral.
Find out more from Julia on 01432 277424 (julia@catchermedia.co.uk).
Whatever your memories we need to hear from you!
For further information on this project, please click on Latest Updates, on the left.
Memories from the archives of Herefordshire Lore, which is working with Catcher Media and Hereford Cathedral on this project, include:
St Johns Elementary School
St Johns elementary School, in what is now a Pizza place, had Mrs Harris as headmistress. “Ooh, she wasn't very nice,” recalled Kathleen Deem from College Hill.
Edith Gammage’s brother and his friend Bill Godwin attended the school. “On the first day at school they were playing football in the playground while waiting to go into assembly. They went in quicker than expected when the ball went through one of the windows!"
A Captured Cannon
Percy Pritchard, who could remember watching Edward Elgar coming to the cathedral, also recalled the old buildings in front of King Street.
“Looking from the library to the cathedral there was a row of shops: Mr James the saddler and his apprentice, Mister Ellis, who took over when James died. And there was Blenheim House, originally an old coaching inn, where my family lived until about 1930 when they pulled the premises down. And there was Miss Storman, she had a wool shop there which later became Miss Hammonds, the hairdresser.
"Then, the other side of the saddlers, was Foster and Grace, the estate agents. Originally a Dr Bull was there.* His daughter Maud Bull lived at that place there. She was a live wire!
"There was a cannon, captured at Sevastopol - tremendous looking thing - there. The metal railings were taken away during the war, but they found this iron work wasn't suitable for smelting down."
* Henry Connor of Vineyard Road has corrected us on this point. He says, "Dr. Bull lived at Harley House on the other side of the Close in St. John Street. He had the house on a family lease and so that is also the house where his surviving daughters, including Maud, continued to live until the 1950s. Maud died in 1951 and received an obituary in The Times, on Friday, December 14, 1951. The last daughter, Leila Marion, survived her by 6 years, still living in Harley House, so the family lease lasted more than 100 years. The property was then sold. Bull originally lived in Capuchin Lane before Harley House, but never in Broad Street/King Street."
A Cathedral Roofer
Nell Weaver’s Dad worked on the cathedral roof. “He never wore an overcoat, always a waistcoat, a suit, a cap and his watch on a shoe lace! He carried his canvas frail with his tools in, with his hammer: it used to go through the handles to hold it with.
Narnia Author Comes to Stay
Joy Robinson lived in the cathedral precinct in the 1940s. "It had a very Trollope feeling about it. C.S.Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia, stayed there when he was speaking during the Christian Life Campaign in the city. At first I found him very intimidating; but then I discovered that one of his favourite authors was E.Nesbitt, who was also mine. He said he planned one day to write a novel about the Bastable children in the Treasure Seekers when they grew up. He asked for some children's books as bedside reading, as respite from the London Blitz, and I introduced him to Babar The Elephant and he sent me a most delightful B&B note about it. I gave it to Ruth Pitter, the poet, when she was writing a paper on him, and she in turn gave it to the Bodleian Library to include in their Lewis archive."
The Hereford Cathedral Close Project is supported by The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with The Jordan Foundation, Albert & Monique Heijn, English Heritage, Herefordshire Council, Garfield Weston Foundation, Hereford City Council, Mark & Elaine Ellis, Lawrence & Elizabeth Banks, Bob & Bea Tabor, The Rowlands Trust and The Headley Trust, in partnership with the Chapter of Hereford Cathedral, The Friends of Hereford Cathedral, Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust and the Mappa Mundi Trust.