A pretty white house, with verandah covered with creepers, and large garden. The house stood back in its own grounds, and was enclosed by a brick wall and a beautiful row of chesnut and lime trees that were very much admired, as were also the sweet voices of the birds who made their nests there.
This house has been pulled down and shops have been built on the spot. A good many years ago there was a very sad accident. A drove of bullocks was being driven past; one got loose, pinned Mr. Glover, the coach builder, who lived opposite, to the wall, and gored him to death.
Before we had the railway in The Hale many droves of cattle were continually driven along the High-road to the London markets.
Where Commerce-terrace now stands there were several houses, one called the “Ivy House,” as it was covered with ivy, occupied by Mr. Henry Hayes. It was enclosed in iron railings with very beautiful iron gates, and had a large garden, which extended all the way down to the end of Reform-row.
These almshouses bearing his name, and consisting of eight tenements, were built by him in the year 1596. Four were for aged women widows, and four for aged men widowers. Each pensioner had £4 annually by quarterly payments, and there was a biennial allowance of £6 for the purchase of a gown of black frieze of 20s. value from the owners of the Stoneleigh Estate. The latter was discontinued years ago and money given instead. There was also £1 per annum recreation money for the Committee. They are now closed, pending rebuilding.
It was a pleasure to talk to the inmates. One in particular, a Mrs. Martin, loved to recall the days of her youth, which had been passed in a village near Hatfield. She remembered when Napoleon Bonaparte was regarded as a kind of ogre, and when naughty children were told “Boney is coming” it reduced them to a state of abject terror. One day a man was seen coming towards the village on a dandy horse, when the cry was raised “Boney has come at last.” The children fled in wild alarm to hide themselves. She and her little brother crept under a four-post bedstead, and it was a long time before her mother could induce her to believe that there was no cause for fear, and that she might emerge with safety, which after much persuasion she did, but her brother refused to leave his hiding place for the whole of that day. When she was a little older she was put to school by a lady, and in return she had to do her needlework, most of the school time being taken up in this way. Before sewing machines were invented a woman’s time was fully occupied in doing the needlework for her family. Ready-made articles were unknown. Girls were taught to be very thorough in their work, and if they wished for embroidery they had to make it themselves.
