CHADDLEWORTH REVISITED...

In September, 2006, I posted my first ever entry on this blog - almost two years and almost 300 entries ago. That first, stumbling entry in Bloggerworld recounted the journey I had made with my eldest son, David, to Chaddleworth - a remote, close-knit, almost secret village deep in the border country between Berkshire and Oxfordshire. The picture above is typical of the place - please click on the picture for a larger image.`

We had gone there on the trail of our ancestors. At the time, David was researching our family history and came across the fact that some of our forebears lived in Chaddleworth at the turn of the 19th century. And, sure enough, we came across the headstones in the churchyard which confirmed that Chaddleworth was indeed somewhere that featured in our family history. David and I grew very fond of the village; the peace, quiet, away from it all atmosphere, the excellent pub - `The Ibex` - and we made a return journey some while afterwards just simply to enjoy being there once more. No wonder the late Chris Brasher, Olympic athlete and founder of the London Marathon, made it his home and small wonder that a part of the village is named Nodmore.

I haven`t been back since, much as I might like to, but I have kept a distant interest in things concerning that fascinating village. And I have just come across an interesting piece of information which sums up Chaddleworth and its way of life and, in the process, confirms my fascination with its olde worlde charm. It seems that Chaddleworth has historically adhered to an unusual legal practice in that the rights of a widow to inherit copyhold land from a husband were forfeited if his widow remarried. However, the steward of the manor was obliged to reinstate the rights if she rode into the manor court, backwards on a black ram, whilst at the same time reciting a particular set of bizarre lines ending in a request for their restoration. I imagine that this is a practice which is only very quietly observed in that unchanging corner of our sceptred isle.