THE DAY THAT WE OPENED A TIME CAPSULE AND MADE A BED

Myself and Claire have an interest in history and love to watch things like "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Time Team" so you can imagine how interesting we find it living in a house where distant cousins of ours lived next door 156 years ago. We have found out quite a lot about the man that owned our property (The Old Bakery) at the time that they lived next door. The Bakery was owned by John Pegg who was the Miller and the 'footprint' of the property was about three times larger than it is now encompassing a Windmill, Granary, Stables, Pightle (which we understand is a NFN word for a croft) and several cottages. It appears that being a Miller paid very well. He actually started milling from a windmill that he owned right across the road from here and when he had problems with that one he bought this property and built a Windmill here which at the time was a revolutionary windmill in that only the very top of the mill moved around allowing the brick structure to be a lot taller like the Dutch ones.
      We also have two documents which appear to be very, very early deeds of the property going back to 1746. They are old and frail documents but can just still be read. However we had no other documents other than a few as a result of our recent purchase and info on the last two occupiers. Well you cannot imagine the glee that we felt when the Solicitors forwarded all the 'redundant' records that they had concerning this property. A big fat envelope arrived crammed full of old Deeds etc. So today Myself, Claire, Alison and not forgetting Scribble, the cat, gathered in the Dining room for a ceremonial examination and reading of this treasure trove.
 We went through many documents with Alison scanning through them mumbling key words, pausing, then summarising them as a notary might. You see myself and Claire are not blessed with the ability to read fast and whilst sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation at what Alison may reveal at any moment we prefer the more visual aids to learning history, the Discovery Channel or, as today, the maps and the internet interaction. In short, a hands on approach, we are not embarrassed by this as Churchill himself  was of the same mind,  "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught". I'll drink to that Winston!
               

         So there we are picking up little snippets of info about the Bakery and bit by bit delving deeper and deeper into the history of the place as we get further into the pile. Eventually we find the first document with a William Pegg's signature on it and quickly establish that he is the son of John, then a few more documents later reveal John Pegg's signature on a document that is 160 years old. Brilliant.   There is only one more document in this package which is the PARTICULARS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE  auction catalogue for the sale of  The Bakery premises (which John Pegg bought) in 1849 from the estate of  THE  LATE  MRS.  MARY  JARY. 

On the face of it an interesting document, it showed a pencilled Lot IV underlined at the top of the brochure, probably by John Pegg himself so he knew what he was bidding for. The back of the document has the post sale agreed bid and signatures binding the deal. It shows that he bought it for £480 and made a deposit on that day, Monday 21st of May 1849,  of £98. This is the stuff Claire and I love, the touchy, feely stuff where you can even smell how old it is.
The problem with things like this is that now we wanted to know who is Mary Jary and where did she come from? So, you've guessed it, boot up the computer, wake up Mr Google and start a new search. You see we just can't help ourselves, we just got to know! Well.......  what an interesting story that one has batted back to us.
  It turns out that little Mrs Mary Jary died at 57 years of age and had been a source of scandal many years before. The more myself and Claire delved, the better the scandal and it soon started to have the makings of a  Jane Austen novel, bigger and better than Pride and Prejudice any day, well perhaps. It got so interesting and involved that it is just too late in the evening to complete this blog now, so my friends tune in tomorrow for the full story of the Late Mrs Jary and the legacy of her dynasty.

The rest of the day was spent putting gripper rods onto the main guest bedroom floor in preparation for the carpet man, trying to remove a built in sink (which put up a gallant fight which would impress Excalibur itself) and last of all (but ABSOLUTELY NOT LEAST of all) the taking upstairs and making of the Super-king Brass Bedstead. The cast iron was heavy and a pain to drag up the narrow stairs and corridor to the bedroom, but the mattress well she was our nemesis. This dead weight was anything but dead. Stephen and I had to take a mattress that is 6' x 6' up a stairwell where at points the thing acted like a stubborn old mule refusing to budge. If it were a mule and I had a carrot I wouldn't like to tell where I may have stuffed it! We shoved, we pulled, we heaved, we hoed, we even tied a little banging of heads and inch by slow painful inch we cajoled this oversized beast to the door of the bedroom. At which point we then had to 'persuade' the 6' tall wedge of springs and cloth to breath in and duck down as the bedroom door is just 5' something. Mattress don't bend. Sure they are springy and all that, but they are not keen in bowing or bending and once again myself and Stephen found ourselves puffing and panting, squeezing and wheezing, until the thing Popped into the room with the enthusiasm of one of those snakes in a can that fire out at you when you unwittingly take the lid off.  I have to say this is some bed and whilst you may need a step ladder to get up on to it you really do need to come and stay with us just for the comfort of the bed, talking of which I'm off to my bed now, so sleep tight and don't forget to check out the tales tomorrow of Mary Jary who, from all accounts was quite contrary!






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