Memory Monday
Cicely was born in Westwood Heath in 1879, the daughter of the Headmaster Edwin Neale and his wife, Sarah. Cecily recalls growing up here in the 1880s and ‘90s.
Cecily with her husband, Ernest Lucas and their daughter, Cecily. Image: courtesy of Shirley Reading
Our house was of sandstone, quarried on the edge of the estate, originally intended to be used in the project of a church and vicarage for Westwood Heath. But the shepherd to be appointed refused to dwell in close proximity to his flock, preferring a dwelling place one and a half miles distant from the position suggested as the future village centre [note: the Westwood Heath vicarage was closer to Tile Hill village].
The Headmaster's house, birthplace of Cecily, as it is today. Image: Ian Harrop
Cecily’s upbringing was a strict one: “As a small child a few things stand out clearly. I never remember being played with by an adult, or fussed or coddled or my opinion asked or heeded. All of us obeyed to the letter and at once.” Her father and mother both taught at the school, along with an assistant, who was in charge of the infants’ class. The entry requirement for the role of assistant was simply “that she was over the age of 18 and had been successfully vaccinated.” The assistant was a local girl, “the daughter of the village midwife who was also laundress on request and kept the only shop in the village, the only commodities on sale being bread, twist tobacco, and inscribed white and pink peppermints.”
Westwood School (now the Greek Orthodox Church) in the 1960s, probably little changed from the Neales' time there. Image: courtesy of Peter Hancock
The Neales’ income at that time was £110 per annum, with house and garden. There were between 90 and 100 children on the school register. According to Cecily, they were admitted by government rule at five years of age, but often attended from the age of three. In those days, children could leave at 12 years of age and enter the world of work; in this area usually agricultural work, much needed to make valuable contributions to the family income. Only a very few children remained in education.
Cecily continues, “Westwood Heath was still an almost empty part of Lord Leigh’s estate; a few thatched cottages – squatters for the most part – a tract known to the pedlars, gypsies and the seasonal workers. From time to time, at long intervals, the charcoal burners established themselves in the woods; beauty became havoc. Solitary cottages shewed here and there inhabited by successive generations; a strip of rich soil, a deep spring of pure water, the deep peace of a secure spot that ‘passes all understanding’, had tempted a wayfarer to linger and at last to settle there with space enough to feel free, free for life, albeit somewhat of an haphazard existence.
Westwood Heath Road looking towards the school in the 1960s, a view that would have been recognisable to Cicely.
Lord Leigh was a model landlord and the land increased in value. Lady Leigh, his wife, was of the Duke of Westminster’s family - a wealthy one. Both were scrupulously fair to their tenants via the bailiffs and ‘Clerks of the Works’. Occasionally her ladyship was driven to the schoolhouse at Westwood Heath with tins of Stoneleigh Abbey soup for distribution amongst the undernourished agricultural labourers’ families. [She travelled] in her carriage or rather coach with pair of matched horses and liveried coach and footman, the latter descending from his perch to carry the packed soup to the schoolhouse".
Cecily was something of a free spirit as a young girl, enjoying spending time in the fields, woods and country lanes surrounding Westwood Heath. She particularly enjoyed the annual arrival of the gipsies to the area, a source of great fascination to her. “Soon I knew the difference between the real gypsy and the "fair's" product. I learnt their jargon to a small degree and that the horse dealing “gyp” was the moneyed one. I fed their hedgehogs their morning milk tethered close to the camp and knew the camp’s smells. My parents objected strongly to this “straying” (their term). I was well slapped and got used to the slaps and the physical suffering too as a necessary adjunct. I learnt how to cook both rabbits and hedgehogs gypsy fashion and to appreciate the cooked flesh.”
Cecily developed a longing to teach, cultivated by helping her father at the school. She wished to train formally and, after passing preparatory examinations in Coventry, she was accepted to Derby teacher training college. She recalls her departure from her home: “I remember well the morning I trudged to the station, up the hill. I was carrying my luggage and old yellow painted hatbox, the lock of which rusted with age giving way. I had tied it up with a discarded picture-cord. It contained an imperfectly folded Macintosh and old study books. The perfect ones, covers and pages, were awaiting me at the “halt”. Mother and my brother were at school. I looked [back] at the school in the hollow and a few cottages nearby, …packed up my brown paper parcels and plodded on.”
You can read more about Cicely’s commitment to education and to the cause of women’s suffrage by scrolling back through the Memory Mondays or by visiting the archive on the website: https://westwoodheathra.wixsite.com/website
Sources: Shirley Reading, Claverdon: A Century of Change (1994)
As always, we would love to hear from anyone with memories or old photos of the area. If you would like to join us and maybe do a little research, you would be very welcome. We are a small group currently meeting on Zoom, so do get in touch if you would like to see what we do. Please comment here or email westwoodheathhistory@gmail.com
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