Tea Time In Thorpeness by Hilary Chandler

 
The picture shows part of a tea set used in one of several places providing afternoon teas for visitors in Thorpeness.  It is thought that this one, quaintly stamped with the logo “YE TEE HOWSE, THORPENESS”, may perhaps have come from Sandy Bar bungalow in the village.  The whimsical spelling sounds typically like the 1920s when there were a number of tea-rooms throughout Thorpeness including some of the beach houses. loggia

During the summer season the teas served on the Boathouse loggia were very popular and continued until the mid- 1950s.   Customers were seated at wooden fold-up tables and chairs which were stacked up in the corners at the end of the afternoon ready for the next day.  The tables were laid with bright orange and yellow madras cotton cloths. Staffed by three or four women from the village, who would have been the wives of employees of Thorpeness Estate, it was always busy with plenty of steam and clatter coming from the kitchen at the north end of the building which was cramped and hot.  The washing-up, all by hand, no dish-washers then, must have been endless. 

​My recollection of this scene as a young girl is vivid and I can almost still smell the hot tea in the pots.

​

---

Thorpeness Revealed by Janey Blanchflower
​

Visitors to Thorpeness often remark on the quirky Jacobean Revival style which G S Ogilvie has chosen for his holiday village but few realise that hidden beneath the surface were innovative methods of construction.....

​Concealed beneath the render and applied timber framing are concrete slabs manufactured at the Thorpeness Company's factory at Ted's Barn which was situated up a track to the north of the Almshouses. The factory started before the First World War when concrete production was in its infancy, but Ogilvie recognised its potential as an economically efficient material and the availability of shingle from the beach was a further incentive.  Ted's Barn had a well and also a borehole with a single cylinder, petrol, Lister engine pump to the water. The engine was difficult to start.

Ted's Barn, painted by Hilary Chandler

A fractured hernia block removed from a house in Thorpeness

The shingle ballast was carried up from the beach using a stayed 'shingle pole' which was sited next to the existing blockhouse/pillbox near the cliff edge on the common. A timber tub with trapdoor in the base was hauled up from the beach on a wire by horse power. Using a mixture of Portland cement, sharp sand and ballast from the beach, concrete blocks were manufactured in an Australian concrete slab machine which was purchased by the Company c.1920. The machine was basically a cast steel box on legs with a hinged lid, into which metal moulds of different sizes were placed, according to the required size of the blocks.

The concrete was mixed by hand until it was just damp, then it was transferred to the mould and the lid was slammed shut and the top was trowelled. Once the mixture had set, the blocks were removed using a handle and pedal to lift the floor inside the machine. The wooden base had two cleats which acted as handles to lift the blocks onto a pallet on the floor. The moulds were removed and the blocks were made fair with a trowel. Ted's Barn had a covered yard next to the barn, inside which the blocks were left to dry.

The concrete blocks were manufactured in several sizes, mainly 2ft X 1ft X 4in thick. These were known as 'hernia blocks'. A metal 'H' shaped frame was put into the box to make two blocks and a frame with two bars made three 4in X 4in blocks which were used to construct concrete walls in the village. Coping stones, pier blocks and concrete posts were also made at Ted's Barn prior to World War Two. The posts were manufactured in several sizes and the ones (painted white) which lined the road opposite the Whinlands and the village pond near the Meare were 4in square and 3ft high with a bolt in the top carrying massive tarred chains which hung in loops. The chains were removed as part of the war effort and the only ones left in situ were in North End Avenue.

Who were the hard working men who made the hernia blocks? At Ted's Barn there was a gang headed by John Taylor who was the foreman-in-charge. John, who was a friend of the Staff family, moved from The Follies to No.12 The Almshouses. He used to look after the young Danny Staff who was given a bag of cheese biscuits (before the advent of potato crisps) to eat as he sat on the concrete steps opposite the Dolphin while John went inside for a drink. G S Ogilvie used to walk from Sizewell Hall to Thorpe every afternoon and used to call in at Ted's Barn and speak to 'Sergeant Taylor', remarking 'Your men are very industrious!' The gang used to peep through holes in the barn door to ascertain when G S was approaching and make sure that they were busy when he was passing by.

Concrete block production continued at Ted's Barn until the outbreak of World War Two. In 1945-6 it moved to a covered former cattle yard near Beacon Hill Farm on a site where the garden of the barn conversion is situated, adjacent to Beacon Hill Cottages. The buildings had ceased to be in agricultural use in 1927; in the yard next to Beacon Hill Cottages was situated the 'neat house' and the stables behind the thatched barn were formerly a milking parlour. The stables were used as a riding school which was run successively by Mrs. Mason, Captain Bucknall and Captain Ogilvie. After the Second World War Miss Buller was in charge.

The final home of the concrete block factory was the Barnyard where Penny & Hugh Butterfield live. After the Second World War a tractor and trailer was used to remove shingle from the beach between Gunyah and Valetta. However, this practice was banned after the 1953 floods and the Company had to buy in pea shingle. The last foreman was Charlie Wilson Senior who worked an eight-hour day, making 40 blocks a day. After block production ceased, Mr. Bell, who purchased the Country Club and took over the swimming pool when parts of the Company Estate were sold, bought the concrete machines. One of these stalwart machines, which contributed so much to the form and fabric of Thorpeness over many years, met a somewhat ignominious end as a barbeque.

​I am most grateful to Danny Staff for supplying the information which made this article possible and also to Hilary Chandler who painted the delightful picture of Ted's Barn.

​

Legends of the Monkey Pole by Mark Ling
​

The “Monkey Pole” at Sizewell beach has long been a focal point for my family. In the 1930s the dunes a courting ground for my grandparents. Born in Leiston, a true Suffolk boy and raconteur, my Grandad would regale us with tales of our illustrious seafaring ancestors. His great Grandfather, William Alexander, and Great Uncle, Alfred Alexander, were Coxswains of the Thorpe lifeboats in the nineteenth century. I inherited my Grandad’s boyhood scrapbook; with press clippings of their daring rescues, treasure finds and press photos of our family’s monster-bearded, salty old sea dogs.

A simple and ancient structure, the Monkey Pole has over these years become somewhat neglected, hidden in plain sight. In 2017, I wrote to a local councillor and to Historic England to ask about listing it as a national monument. However, there was little in the public domain or on record about it, nothing to justify its worth or protection.

​In 2019, I reached out to TAHG and was contacted by local historian Peter Drew who had assembled a concise history of the Thorpeness and Sizewell lifeboats. He revealed that the “Monkey Pole” or “Rocket Twixt” was used by the Sizewell and Thorpeness lifeboat crews to both practice and to carry out ship-to-shore rescues.

As there is close association with Ipswich as three of the Thorpe lifeboats bore the name “Ipswich”, two were paid for by town of Ipswich collections and one was launched in the Orwell. I would like to collaborate with TAHG and the Ipswich Maritime Trust (IMT) of which I am a member, to erect an interpretation board to provide both text and historical photographic images to tell the story of the Monkey Pole /Rocket Twixt, Thorpeness and Sizewell lifeboat station and crews.
 

​Memories of Aldringham Church by Linda Woods (Nee Drew)
​

 
All my family were christened at Aldringham Church and went on to have Communion lessons at the Vicarage and some of us were also in the church choir. We sat at the back of the church and took it in turns to ring the church bell. We were even allowed an afternoon off school to sing in the choir at Captain Ogilvie’s funeral. A Mr. Garrod often used to pick us up along the Thorpeness road to give us a lift to church. He had a huge black car and used to run a garage/taxi service in Leiston.
 
When the Thorpeness church ( St.. Mary’s) was closed (during the winter) the Revd. Cowley used to organise a coach from Shreeves which would pick us up at the top of Mill Hill/West Hill and then go on to Thorpeness and pick more people up there to go to the Sunday service. That was great fun. Most of our family were married at St. Andrews including myself in 1970, I had my wedding reception in the Parish Room which was the last time it was used for the village. I remember everyone having to go to it the night before to give it a good clean up as it hadn’t been used for a long time. When I was on my way to church the Revd. Cowley was spotted in the Parrot and Punchbowl so I was taken on a detour to Thorpeness whilst someone went and reminded him that he was supposed to be officiating at a wedding.
 
Sunday School was held in the Parish Rooms when I was young, after the room was closed we were taught in the Vicarage study instead. We all attended church every Sunday and I can remember many special services. The brownies and guides used to have their Thinking Day service, there was a Mother’s Day service where we used to walk to the altar and receive a small posy of flowers to give to our mums. On Palm Sunday we used to receive a palm cross and at Harvest Festival, when the church was filled with gifts of special loaves and freshly cut fruit, veg and flowers. On Remembrance Sunday I remember walking up to the Memorial Garden and waiting for the Lifeboat Rocket to mark the two minute silence and the laying of the wreaths.

​Christmas was always special with the crib scene displayed and the singing of Christmas carols, Mrs. Amy Spall was the organist in those days and also for many years to come, she lived at Swiss Cottage on the Aldeburgh road with her husband Jack and son Michael next to the Hazelwood Laundry owned and run by the Ash family who continued to run it until recently when it closed.

​A few more memories here regarding the Church by Peter Drew
​

​My sisters all took communion classes and my nanna being a regular church goer would take us to the Sunday morning service each week. After dinner we would go to Sunday school in the vicarage, taught by the Rev’d Charles Cowley. I remember that after the end of each class we were awarded stickers with pictures from the bible on them, I collected mine in a special album. We were always taken to the special services like Palm Sunday, Harvest Festival and Remembrance Sunday which always included the village school. Along with the Sunday school the WI and Mothers Union were held in the Parish Room before being moved to the Vicarage. I remember us all being dressed up in our Sunday best and going out on a Mothers Union trip, we went by coach to Kings Lynn along with many other families from the village. We didn’t get out of the village often so that was quite a treat.