History of our town, Westbury

[memento mori]

Thanks, I have heard people say they remember when the mills were operating.

[Clevercat]

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/westbury/townpics.html

More Westbury Info

[pucouajio]

http://vision.edina.ac.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=378&st=Westbury

and some more here from Portsmouth University's "Vision of Britain Through Time" project.

[myangel]

my nan is 92 and has lived here in westbury since she married over 67 yrs ago..... i enjoy listening to her  when she retells  of years gone by... especially w hen she talks about the shops westbury  used to have...many by all accounts..i bought t he book that was brought out a few years ago about westbury... even i could pick fault with some of the things in it... the school at the corner of bratton road opposite in the castle pubb (which is now a private home) was said to have closed in a certain year...but it didnt becasue i went there when i was five in 1968 so couldnt have closed when the book said it did...lol.... i seem to have lost the book in a custardy suit  lol  he had the contents of the bookcase   lol  dont know why  cos he never reads..actually  only reads a newspaper   lol

will have to go n look for the book in the shops 

[snappersnipes]

The book you mention is probably "Westbury and Westbury Leigh, A celebration of the town and its people" which was produced for the Millenium.In the book it says that the school opposite the Castle inn closed in 1959,which is wrong,but I`m not sure when it did close.I first went there at the age of five in 1952.For the benefit of Lawsielass the cannon was in the garden of the houses on the left as you enter the market place from the churchyard,on what is now known as Cannon green.

[myangel]

thanks snappersnipes for that info... i can now go and look for it in the shop or proberly be better off looking on the net for it... want to show my partner  westbury history.. he knows nothing about the town he has just come to live in... he is from  t' north   lol
thanks again x

[John]

My elderly Westbury woman friend, who is about a year older than me, was my running partner for many years.  This tells its own story, as men are supposed to be physically stronger.  But my elderly woman friend was usually on my shoulder in the long-distance races, her marathon time is better than mine and she would beat me in the triathlons because she can swim about three times as fast.  I recall the Lanzarote cross-island race, where I pulled clear of her on the uphill, but then found her back behind me on the downhill miles to the finish, where I finally collapsed in exhaustion, a whisker ahead, to come around to find the famous Bruce Tulloh, who had finished much earlier, despite being about ten years older, standing over me in concern.  That was my finest moment, as after that my running was downhill all the way.  But, I am proud to say that my elderly Westbury woman friend, who is still a good long-distance runner, who I admire greatly, is still my friend.   

My Mum lives in the Midlands and does not own any land around here.  My elderly Westbury woman friend's Mum is very elderly and unwell, in between Watersmead and the RUH.  The family lived on Station Road for many years.  My elderly woman friend's Dad was a train driver and fairly well known, amongst the elderly, as a local sportsman.  Charlie was a good swimmer, until, at the age of thirty, he had his foot cut off by a wagon on the tracks in Westbury.  There was no compensation for accidents in those days.  Charlie was given a supplementary disability pension to make up his wages after consequent down-grading from a main-line driver to a sidings driver.  Charlie was always cheerful and, with his wooden leg, could still play a good game of table-tennis and excelled at snooker.  Charlie was not a whinger.

[Clevercat]

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16099

Thanks to Myangel for the link.