The following information is a transcript of two audio tapes recorded in 1987 and 1989 with Mr. Leedham (my Grandad), a gentleman then in his eighties who had come to live in Bilbrook in 1918. His father was one of the ex-soldiers from the Great War who were given small-holdings in various parts of the country after the war finished.

When I first came here to Bilbrook in November 1918, at the age of eleven, there were only sixteen families living in the village. At that time there were still parties being held to celebrate the end of the war.

I can still put a name to most of these families. We will start at Codsall House, which was the main house in Bilbrook, in the area which is now behind the school, remembering that the school wasn't there at that time. The house belonged to the Loveridge's and it stood where Orchard Lane Estate is now. It was real hunting country around here and once a Season the Meet used to meet at Codsall House. On another occasion it gathered outside the 'Woodman' and there were drinks all round. The house was situated behind the Grange, which was a private residence in those days, belonging to Major Wilkins. When the brewery bought the Grange to turn into a pub, his daughter had a house built at the top of Keepers Lane.

Next door to that was Hubbard's Farm, which belonged to the Pope family. At one time they ran the mill at Pendeford. It had just finished working when we came here. I think the stone came off or something like that and it wasn't worth repairing In between there and the Scout Hut there used to be a spring flowing. It must still be there. They will never stop it. Across the way from the spring was a cottage where a man called Bill lived. When Pendeford Mill was working Bill had to dam up the pool at Pendeford for mill grinding. The stream ran across the back of the gardens. There's also the brook which comes from Gunstone and they diverted the water into this brook when they didn't want it for the corn grinding. When the brook got to the canal on its way to Pendeford it was diverted under the canal. There was a manhole built and a pipe carried the water underneath the canal and into the pool on the other side. The pool is exactly opposite the entrance to Boulton Paul's and its higher than the road. It was about forty-five feet across.

Attached to Hubbard's farm buildings was a cottage. We lived in it for a time, because my father was herdsman for the farm. It has now been converted into The Old Stile House. Then there were three cottages on the bend of the road. In the first two lived Mr. Harvey and John Lewis and his wife. Mr. Harvey worked on the railway as a plate layer. John Lewis worked at Loveridge's as head gardener.

Then coming up into Bilbrook there was another house set back off the road where a Mr. Winstanley lived. He was connected with the Gas Works, as were the Loveridges. There was a drive up the side of their house and on the other side of the drive was the coachman's house. He was a Mr. Harris and he lived there with his sister. Next door to them was a Mr. Stevenson. He was Mrs. Harvey's father. Adjoining his cottage was another one where a Mr. Poole lived. He had an accident. He was up his damson tree and he cut the branch off that he was sitting on. That pair of cottages has been converted.

At the side of their house was the back way into Bilbrook, or into the school as it is now. It cut the corner off from lower Bilbrook up to Lane Green. There had been a farm there at one time, known as Manor Farm. When we came here it had been pulled down and all the refuse was lying about the place. It was cleared up and a Mr. Hall, a retired Major from the Boer War, and his wife, came to live there.

Across the way there were three old cottages. They are still there now, the original Bilbrook cottages. In the first one lived the Green family, a Mrs. Lloyd in the next one, and another family who name I cannot remember. Those were the last buildings until you got to the

Church. In between there were just turf fields belonging to Twentymans.

Going along on the other side of the road that we have just come up, starting from the cottage where I said we lived but on the other side of the road, on the comer was where Pope's family lived. Opposite where I said the walk was across the dilapidated farm there were three cottages. Two belonged to the Parker family. In the end one was a Mr. Snape. They had no family. Next door, but adjoining, was Wesley House. When that went on the market a Captain Shaw, another retired army officer, bought the house. He started a poultry business there, trying out the new battery system. His wife had pack horses for hire.

Next door to Wesley House was the Manor House owned by the Twentymans. It's now Manor Park Road. It was a lovely big house with proper landscaped gardens. There were two sons. Mr. Tony, the sculptor, lived at Albrighton. I think he died just recently, and Mr. Dick was an architect. Their gardener was Mr. Haycocks. The father and son were gardeners at Twentymans. Twentyman's eldest son was very fond of motor cycles and he loved racing and he always had an up-to-date car. His father had a little Rover 8, an original Rover.

On the same corner there was a cottage which lay back. That belonged to the house- keeper from Twentymans. Humphries was her name. The daughter, for some time after leaving school worked in Harvey's shop in Codsall Square. Mr. Harvey was the undertaker and blacksmith at the bottom of Church Hill, Codsall. Nearer to the road from Humphries, on the corner with Joey's Lane, was a Mr. Watkiss, a chauffeur to a firm in Wolverhampton called Farland and Robinson, enameling people. They sold black and white goods, kettles, saucepans and general household goods.

On the other side of Joey's Lane, directly on the wall of the house was a pillar box. The only one in Bilbrook. There was no Post Office in those days. The cottage was called Rock Cottage. I think the man living there was a Mr. Dean, something to do with horses- coachman or groom. Then there was nothing else along that side of the road until you came to the crossroads. On the other side of the road, was the Church.

As you go up the drive to the school there is a pebble dash house. Mr. Ernie Bowen had this house built when the old farm house was burnt down. The school was built on one of his fields. When Ernie Bowen bought it originally, he paid a penny and one- eight a square yard.

We went to his farm for our milk. We used to take our own jug along and if we wanted cream he would put it through the separator while we waited. He also made butter .

After the Church there was nothing else until you got to the Woodman'. The landlord was a blacksmith called George Benfield. It was owned by Frank Myatts. At the side of the Woodman and attached to it was a cottage which was let to a Mr. Weward. He was a guard on the railway. The part that is the lounge now was a blacksmith's shop where they shod the horses. At right angles to the building were the stables at the front of the pub. The buildings at the back have been added since Ansells took it over. They used to have the beer on the counter in the big casks.

Across the way was another pub called 'The Greyhound', where the doctor's Surgery is now (this has moved since the tape was recorded). It was a bigger pub than the 'Woodman'. It was kept by a wheelwright, so between the two publicans they could do anything. It was a work of art to see them put a wheel rim onto a cart wheel. Handley was the name of the man who kept the 'Greyhound'. The 'Greyhound' was the bigger of the two pubs. It stood back off the road with a double fronted entrance and a bay window on each side.

If we now go up Duck Lane on the side of the Woodman was a private house but it was attached to the Woodman. A Mr. Galimore, a painter and decorator, lived there. He was the old fashioned type of person. He had a handcart with his name painted on the side and he used to push this about from one job to another. His son-in-law lived with them, Hawke was his name. He was a general handyman and could turn his hand to anything. He was one of nine children. That was the last of the houses on that side of the road. There was nothing else until you got to the top of Elliott's Lane. Nothing along the Wolverhampton Road, only holes where they took the rock out of the ground.

Where Mr. Brindley started his garage was a quarry . It had been straightened out, but not very much when we first came here. There were still heaps of quarry stones lying around with grass growing all over them until Mr. Brindley built his house there. My brother George and I put his first petrol tank in up there. And there was a little shop next door to it. Saunders built his first garage. He was a carpenter and joiner and he made a beautiful job of it. That must have been about 1925.

If you went up Duck Lane on the left hand side there were two cottages sideways on to the road opposite the bottom of Orchard Lane as it is now. When we first came the one belonged to a Mrs. Tennants. Next door, you see it was two cottages one way and one the other, was a son of Mr. Gallimore and a Mr. & Mrs. Ted Evans in the other. That was the last of the cottages until you get to the bend in the road near where the Fire-Station is now. There was a market gardener's farm at that point. He was the one who grew strawberries, peas and other crops, but he made most of his money with strawberries. Then nothing else till you got to the Bridge.

On the Green on the comer of Duck Lane and Lane Green Road was Chandler's farm which was owned by my wife's father. That was right opposite the 'Greyhound'. Where the flats are now they used to have their cow sheds and in front there was another duck pond. It lay back and came round the comer so their land joined the Larkinsons market garden land. The farmhouse was a real tumbledown three storey, flat fronted building. It had little windows. It was a real rambling old place. Tom Greenhill lived in part of it. From the front door there was a big room on the left, a big room on the right. As you went through the hall it eventually led into an little squatty house, not so tall as the three storey. It would have been for on of the tenants originally, or the herdsman or cowman. When the farm buildings were pulled down they built the run of shops.

Opposite the Woodman', where the Motor Services shop is there was a farm. It had a wall around it about four feet high. Their rhubarb used to be higher than the wall. They had about thirty cows. they had land down Joey's Lane, Lane Green Road and Orchard Lane. Their name was Larkinsons. They were market gardeners. There were two acres of strawberries and a field of peas behind where we are now ( 5, Duck Lane near the shops opposite the car park)

Before any buildings were built after the war the Army Surveyors were in the district to survey the area. They took the levels starting from this brook, which was over by our house. I went to see them and followed them around and of course I was given the job of carrying the chains. They asked me if I knew of any more water holes and I thought of the shell hole on Watery Lane. There's a spring there which comes from nowhere. It comes out of the side of the road out from under the fields. The engineers reckoned there was an underground reservoir here and under the school. They came up the lane taking the levels an the way. There was a duck pond by where the Fire Station is now. It was always full of water. There were always ducks in the lane then. It was very narrow, only about ten feet across. Two vehicles couldn't pass without one pulling into the side. There were tall hedges and a ditch down one side.

When Mrs. Leedham came here in 1923 the buses hadn't started.

They probably began about 1925. In those days it was 3d into town from Dam Mill. The man who drove the first bus was called Powell. At first the fare was 4d from Codsall and then it went up to 5d. The other driver who met him halfway was called Sewell and Edgar Chesney was the conductor.

The bus terminus in Wolverhampton was in Queen's Square. From there the bus went by the Town Hall down Molineux Street. It turned into Stapley Road, into Lowe Street in Whitmore Reans, went right into Hordern Road and then came up to where the lights are now at Groves the Butchers, turned right and then left into Sandy Lane. The buses ran about every hour, with buses every twenty minutes on Saturdays. The last bus from town was at 11 pm. They must have widened the road because Palmers Cross was only eleven feet wide with enormous banks on either side.

In winter the snow drifts were often eight or nine feet high on either side of the road. I have known the snow ten feet deep and it came above the level of the hedges. Of course you had to wait for this to melt before you could get about. There were no snow ploughs in those days. We did find other routes, for instance we used to walk across the fields to Tettenhall, wearing boots and leggings of course. There were no Wellingtons in those days.

Shops in Bilbrook: there was one in an the ex-Army huts at the front of where Cooper's Building Place is now. Eventually the shops on the corner were built where the Post Office is now ( no longer in this position in 2000). They sold everything from paraffin to sweets. You could get literally everything there.

The bread came by delivery van. It was nothing to see three bakers in a road all delivering bread at the same time. There was Patent Digestive, Burtons and Perkins from Brewood, Simcox from Tettenhall and the Co-op. They all came to your door. It was very nice bread too. One year at Christmas we had an order in for a 31b pie and bread and it was delivered at midnight on Christmas Eve! Mr. Wilkes ran Roseville Dairy .

I went to St Nicholas's School. Miss Farmer taught me. Miss Lane and Miss Cockerill were both there then. Before I left there were occasions when they wanted a rest and sometimes I would take the class for a while. I often rang the bell for the start of school, break times, lunchtimes and for the end of school. I passed the scholarship for the Grammar School but I couldn't go because we were too poor. My parents couldn't afford to buy the uniform you needed.

Dr. Burd was the only doctor here at one time. He used to do his rounds in a Governess cart. His first assistant was Dr. McGeoch who would go round on a push- bike. Later on another doctor came when Dr. Burd retired.

An incident which sticks out in my mind concerns a shell which they put by the wall of Codsall Church. There was a proper Commemorative Service in the Church on the Saturday night and on the Monday the shell had gone. It had been taken out of its concrete before it had set. It must have weighed about half a ton. It was a huge thing but even so it disappeared. There was an article in the paper about it. Evidently the people who had been fighting in the war didn't like it because it was a German shell, so in the night they rolled it down Sandy Lane and about a fortnight later a milk man found it in a ditch in Sandy Lane.

There was always plenty of work for everyone, especially as there were not many people to do all the work. I had to work before I left school. For instance every Saturday I had to work loading turnips. They had to be taken to the station in Codsall. I would be about eleven or twelve then. Mind you, I was milking cows at the age of nine.

We had to, as during the war there was no one else to do it. There were very few milking machines about then and those that there were, were not much good. They used to spoil the cows.

Well on Friday night after we had finished school we would get our old clothes on get the wagons ready for Saturday morning. We would take them into the field and start filling them. Then on Saturday we would finish filling them and take the horses to pull them. Fred Harvey was about two years older than me and they trusted him with the horses. I would have two in my wagon. Great big grain wagons with big wheels that bowed out. They took some filling and we had to be down at the station for twelve o'clock.

The Station Master used to lock the doors and leave us inside to start filling the trucks. We had to brush the rail trucks out first as they had probably had coal in them. Then we started to load it with our turnips. We would empty my wagon first and then start on Fred's. It seemed to take forever.

The field that the school was built on was one of the best turnip fields you could wish for. The next year they would probably grow wheat, or swedes or mangels and rotate the crop.

They had eleven or twelve horses, heavy working horses, mostly shires, possibly three were a lighter type of horse - Clydesdales. I used to get the longer legged horse by the side of me. His legs would go down in the furrow and the Shire with shorter legs would be on the top to keep the team level. You needed a fair bit of stabling for all these horses. I think they could accommodate eighteen there. They all had to be looked after. You needed every bit of help you could get on a farm in those days.

The wages for farm workers was very low. For instance when I was thirteen or fourteen at harvest time we had or five weeks Summer Holiday from school. We should have had six but they took one away so they could give it back in September so we could go and pick potatoes. I went back for about three weeks then we had this other week.

To do the harvesting they had an old fashioned machine for cutting the corn which they called a reaper. It was very low and heavy and it mauled two horses. It was too heavy and too hard going. So you would take a lead horse and put that in front of the other two. Of course you had to sit on that horse and from the front you had to control everything, the setting of the machine, everything. You had to know when to run out and where to start your turn. I had a full five weeks of that.

We finished in a field at Dam Mill. To get it done because the weather was changing the fanner hired two or three more binders. We had our photos taken down there in the field with the five machines each with a leader horse like I was saying. I was that sore I could hardly sit down or stand up. At the end of five weeks I had the princely sum of five shillings. Thirty working days for five shillings and we would be at work in the morning as soon as the dew was off the corn and we never stopped because when the horses had a rest you had to go back and stood it up for it to dry. It would be full of thistles It was awful work.

On the Sunday when I went up to the farm to get my money they were having a problem with a wheel that had come off a cart and they asked if I would give them a hand. It got to about a quarter to two and they said that I must have missed my dinner so they gave me some potatoes and peas and a couple of little bits from the tips of the chicken wings. That was all.

When I left school I went into the building trade.

Scanned and converted to email by John Leedham (Grandson)