Worlington People

Worlington People

People are at the heart of all communitiues and their stories and anecdotes are worth recording. Here we have started our oral history of Worlington with older residents’ memories from their childhood. Our capturing and recording community stories is a continual process and we want Worlington residents (past and present) to help expand this recorded history.

If you have a story, anecdote or memory that you want to share with the rest of the community please use the contact form in the menu or drop us an email to history@ewph.uk. You can write the story yourself or we can arrange a time to interview you so we can capture your story for posterity. 

My Childhood in West Worlington

Vera Sanders (Lee) recalls her early life in 1930s/40s West Worlington watching her father dig graves, asking Miss Boundy to make a phone call for threepence, cadging a lift to Witheridge on the butchers van and the searchlight camp soldiers challenging her with “Who goes here?”.

Memories of School in 1970s

Paul Tanner recalls going to East Worlington school in the 1970s, playtime classes, being a lunch server, sports days and missing the bus home. He also discusses his first job and his daily one hour bike ride to and from Rackenford in all weathers.

WWII Searchlight Camp

Maurice Butt, born in 1936, lived at Little Witheridge during WWII war and he remembers the searchlight camp soldiers washing their trucks with river water and finding shrapnel from a jettisoned bomb that landed between the river and Affeton castle.

WWII Memories

Worlington residents recall WWII: read about rats swimming in a flooded cellar, hiding under the dinner table when a doodlebug flew over, Italian PoWs working on farms and some of the first tractors and bailing machines.

People Photo Archive

Browse our picture archive for old and new photographs of people, people at work and pupils in education.

Historical Stories

In our research through browsing of old newspapers we often discover an interesting article about the East and West Worlington area. When we come across a story we think will be of interest to the community we will write it up and add it to this web site. 

Here are our first few stories that go back further in time.

The Revolting Bell Ringers of West Worlington

Since before the Reformation bell ringers operated more or less independently of the church. It is recorded that many bell ringers spent much of their time in the ale house, and even drank and gambled in bell towers. 

In West Worlington that such a problem of unruly bell-ringers existed and the Rector of the Parish the Rev. C. W. Molony (1880 and 1885) decided to do something to address the problem, only to find himself and his family in conflict with the bell-ringers.
Rev Hodgson grave 2

Reverend Henry John Hodgson

The Rector of East Worlington in 1920 was the Reverend Henry John Hodgson, who became incumbent of the parish in 1919. While the barn was sold as a Parish Hall in 1920 there is evidence that the Hall was used for community purposes before 1920.

Various newspaper articles indicate he was a well-travelled man, being ordained by the Bishop of Chester in 1880, having studied at Exeter College, Oxford and taking up his first parish duties at St John the Baptist Church in Bollington, near Mansfield. It is reported he left that appointment in 1884.

Sarah Down – a murder in East Worlington

On July 13th of 1823  Sarah Down, a poor single woman, was found drowned. Sarah was only 33 when she died. She was last seen with John Radford (who also went by the name John Bright) on the evening of Friday, the 11th of July.

John was therefore the primary suspect for murdering Sarah and at certain times he seems to have admitted this, but when it came to trial at the Devon Assizes in Exeter later in the month, he pled not guilty.