Tenants at No 44

THE TENANTS OF NO. 44 – MAYTREES

Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell lived here with a large family – seven or more children – definitely a larger house than No. 43!

Mr. Grinnell was responsible for delivering milk in pony and trap. One of their children was Mary, whose best friend was Betty Hudspith. Their son George married Margaret Lunnon of Springfield Cottage.

Put George Grinnell and Claude Hogg together and one could be sure there would be mischief afoot. Claude could remember one time the teasing of both boys on the blacksmith who came to shoe the horses at the Manor, brought a ducking for George, with Claude narrowly missing it.

The blacksmith had evidently never quite managed to get out of the way of the horses' hoofs when he was shoeing them, and he was constantly walking around with a limp as a result. So ,on this day the blacksmith became really fed up with the boys' teasing on this subject. He picked up George and just threw him into the river! Claude sprinted off quickly, and so escaped the 'baptism!' Though he did come back to rescue his friend.

When the children left home, and the two now elderly parents were left on their own, Mrs. Grinnell slowly began to suffer with poor health, eventually finishing up an invalid. She spent the last years of her life, lying on a bed by the window so she could watch people go by.