Contributor: Through Our Ancestors' Eyes

Images: Pat Dunning, copyright reserved. For any rights requests, please contact the New Forest Heritage Centre in the first instance.

Pat Dunning CH2   Duration: 6:37

JI:  What’s that photograph then Pat? (PD004)

Pat:  Well, this is the agisters waiting for the Queen to come on the nine hundredth anniversary of the Forest, April twelfth, nineteen seventy-nine.  So the agisters on three (four) grey ponies provided by – I can’t remember his name (laughs)

JI:  He was Official Verderer at the time… before Manners.

Pat:  Yes, he had connection with the Queen Mother, he was one of the King’s Equerries.  What was his name? (pause) Forward?

JI:  Yes, Gerald Forward, would that be him?

Pat:  It might have been. I don’t know.

JI:  So they weren’t their horses?

Pat:  No they weren’t their horses, they were provided with those to ride to escort the Queen from Bolderwood down to Whitefield Moor.

JI:  Right.  So who can we see in the photo?

Pat:  That’s Raymond Bennett –

JI:  On the left?

Pat:  Yes, John Booth; Brian Ingram and Raymond Stickland.

JI:  Did anything else happen… any other memories you have?

Pat:  Well we – mum and I – parked in Highland Water and walked up to Richard and John Strides’ Bolderwood Cottage and we waited at their back entrance; just mum and I, Richard and John, I think; and we saw the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh come up in their maroon car and they gave us a nice wave; and then they went on up to Bolderwood Green and changed transport into the horse drawn carriages, then came back down the other road.  Is it Mark – oh, I can’t remember what it’s called.  Came back down the other road to get headed to Whitefield Moor.

JI:  And is that what you can see in that photo? (PD005)

Pat:  Some of the out riders. I think actually it’s the two mounted policemen and then the four agisters.

JI:  The mounted policemen’s horses look rather large.  They always do, don’t they.

And is that the carriage in the background?

Pat:  Well, I’m not quite sure, I think the Queen may’ve just whizzed by then, I’m not sure, to tell you the truth.  My photographic skills weren’t very good. (Laughs)

JI:  Oh, that’s lovely.  Thank you.

Pat:  Camped up there the night before, you see, all the big lorries and everything.  They camped up Canadian Cross.

JI:  Oh, right. (PD006)  So which horses are these, then?

Pat:  That must be the Queen’s horses.

JI:  So you actually saw them the night before?

Pat:  No, we went up a bit early I suppose. `I’m not quite sure how we did all this, to tell you the truth.

JI:  It was along time ago (laughs)

Pat:  It is a little bit.

JI:  So that was the carriage that the Queen was in?

Pat:  Yes I presume it was. Yes.

JI:  So what are these photographs? (PD007)

Pat:  This is Raymond Bennett and Terry Jones and somebody else, manhandling the original heavy oak pound sections from one side of the underpass near Slufters, Bolderwood Slufters; they did one half of the drift, Withybeds Drift, on one side of the underpass and the road underpass, and one on the other side; and they moved the heavy pound across, man handled it.

JI:  Did they do that every year?

Pat:  No, we – they can never find a good place to drift the Puckpitts ponies; they were for ever trying new places, but I think they only did that once as far as I can remember.

JI:  And was that a pound that was made especially for that purpose?

Pat:  Well, the pounds we have now are specially made of aluminium or whatever they are made of, metal; but before that we had oak-made pounds and they lasted for donkeys’ years, but they were very heavy.

JI:  So what are we seeing here then? (PD008)

Pat:  They are actually, John Booth and Raymond Bennett and Terry Jones and somebody else, actually carrying it across the road and somebody has got one section up already in place, on the other side.

Pat:  (PD009) This one is Terry Jones and John Booth loading something up into somebody’s trailer that’s being drawn by a tractor, but I’m not sure whose it is.

JI:  So, they are loading ponies?

Pat:  Yes loading ponies, from the pound, from the drift.

Pat:  (PD010)

And this one is a group of ponies in the oak pound with Charlie Kingett on the outside.That’s doing the first – Oh my goodness, I’ve just realised there’s one of our ponies in there.

JI:  What’s that, which pony?

Pat:  I think that is, we called her Snowdrop, but she had a fir tree marking in her face, and she was born just before my dad died in nineteen seventy-four, so we called her Snowdrop because he died in April.

JI:  Oh. Yes.  And what is it you can see in the background in that picture?

Pat:  Well, it’s the other side of the road.

JI:  So what are we looking at? 

It’s the Bolderwood Road that goes through to Slufters.

JI:  And that’s the overpass we’re looking at.

Pat:  Yes – the A31 is above us.

JI:  Okay.

Images: Peggy Tillyer, copyright reserved. For any rights requests, please contact the New Forest Heritage Centre in the first instance.

Peggy Tillyer Trans 1 CH2   Duration 5:00

Photo 2 PT002

Yes that’s lovely and the photo below?

Is a few years later, you can see that by Beauty has now gone a lot whiter, she was grey pony and this was another thing mother in law Emily, Emmer, (laughs) she was very proud that she was a grey pony because grey ponies on the, registered grey ponies were very rare to begin with, believe it or not, and it was sort of, ‘I’ve got a grey pony’ (laughs) and this second picture shows the age where she is losing some of her dapples and becoming a white grey pony.

And Brian looks a bit older.

Brian is a bit older

And where about is that Peggy?

This is in Fawley village, you can still see the place today you know, the position of it, umm, again there wouldn’t of been, umm, any much reliable public transport, um so they were still using the, umm this pony also was taken many times in the, umm New Forest Pony and Cattle Breed Show in the driving section and they used to drive her to Burley to get the cup for the best driven to the show ground.

Photo 3 (photo 4 is the reverse) PT003 & PT004

Wow on to number 3. It’s a lovely photograph. Tell me about that one?

This is a case tractor it’s an orange colour although it doesn’t show it here. It’s my husband Brian this was before we were married, umm err, Brian’s first job when he left school was a milk boy rounds man I’ve got a picture of him actually with the cycle if you want that, he progressed into working for  [information redacted] who was an agricultural, I don’t know what you called them, not engineer, he ran all the tractors and went round the different farms. 

Contractor.

Contractor that’s the word I’m after, and um Brian learnt to drive the tractor and err went with the team, he cycled unless it was local Brian cycled from his home in Ashlett to East Boldre before he started his days’ work, and then cycled back again afterwards (laughs) but this particular picture is a local one, it would of been taken at I imagine by the local photographer Ed Mudge, and err, it’s at well I thinks it’s taken early 50’s 51 or 52 and err I think it would of been at Whitefield Farm which is err, on the way between Blackfield and Lepe.

Photo 5 (photo 6 is the reverse) PT005 & PT006

So let’s have a look at this next one number 4.

This show the complete threshing gear, because err in the summer, late summer they would go threshing and you had a team obviously to work all the different sections of the gear and this particular picture, I have written on the back, err Brian Tillyer and Tony Rostigina which is still the Rostigina family that we know of, on the drum what they call the drum the threshing drum section this is the elevator umm and I’ve written down   [information redacted],   [information redacted] and   [information redacted] the farmer on the left of the picture, on the right John Kitcher and err we’ve put Hobo he was a, not homeless I don’t know quite where he did actually .. oh yes I do, he lodged in Pentagon [Fawley] in a house in Pentagon nobody knew much about him, he worked on the land, yes that’s right.

So that’s that one,

Images: Peggy Tillyer, copyright reserved. For any rights requests, please contact the New Forest Heritage Centre in the first instance.

Peggy Tillyer  Trans 1 CH3   Duration:  4:37

Photo 7 (photo 8 is the reverse) PT007 & PT008

This again is still the same team working on [information redacted] threshing gear.  This is the overall view of the working threshing and bailing gear.  Err, You had the tractor driving the drive belt, which drove the threshing thing to take the, umm, the grain out of the straw, then you collected the straw on the end and then this went into a umm, No this went into a umm, it wasn’t baled then you had separate baler afterwards if I remember correctly, this went into your hay stacks, what would have been your hay stacks, and there’s a lot of people you can see 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 people working on that. (laughs)

Photo 9 (photo 10 is the reverse) PT009 & PT010

Lovely, and then this one?

This again is the same umm, time, err, 1951 or 1952 and this again it’s still   [information redacted] threshing gear.  Again Tony Rostigina and Brian Tillyer on what they call the threshing drum. And just in this picture stood at the side of it, Farmer Billy Morris his wife Mrs Morris,   [information redacted] himself and John Kitcher, I can’t place the John Kitcher just at the moment.

Lovely

That’s that one. That was all of them

Photo 11 PT011

Ok so this next photograph, tell me about this one, a post card?

This is just a standard postcard which I don’t know, probably because I collect postcards I picked it up somewhere (laughs) showing the, err, I don’t know if it is the very very first Balmerlawn hotel but it is certainly the fore runner of the present Balmerlawn Hotel, which burnt out and had to be re built but I can’t tell you the date of that happening, there’s no date, because this card hasn’t been used there’s no indication of any date on it. It’s just a picture of the Hotel as it was.

Photo 12 (photo 13 is the reverse)PT012 & PT013

So this photograph of the Forest ponies, where is this taken?

This is taken on the original Hardley Road at Holbury.  Looking north with the original Hardley school in the background.  Hardley school is now the New Forest Academy School.  All your local children would’ve gone to Hardley school including husband Brian.  As can be seen we had skewbald ponies even piebald ponies on the Forest even all those years ago, and as a matter of fact Brian for some reason I can’t remember why, bought the skewbald colt in the picture off the owner Ike Plasscott who lives did live at Dibden Purlieu.  What this road is showing here is now in fact the service road to the main road at Holbury.  It doesn’t look as though it could possibly be because there were so many trees that had to be removed to make the present road.

Yes that’s lovely.  And the next photo? (continued with photo 12)

And this is this peculiar one but I don’t know, they wouldn’t of been registered anyway.

They were ponies that had run on the forest?

Well I can’t umm I don’t really know but they umm, they were certainly, I should imagine came from the Forest, either brought in or bred in.

Images: Peggy Tillyer, copyright reserved. For any rights requests, please contact the New Forest Heritage Centre in the first instance.

Peggy Tillyer Trans 1  CH4   Duration: 2:39

Photo 14 (15 is the reverse) PT014 & PT015

Who’s this gentleman?

Umm the lad almost that’s in the photograph is husbands Brian’s cousin.  Hilary Baker sadly gone.  Umm, but err, they kept in touch, this err, they lived umm, oh dear, off the, opposite what is now Netley View lived at the, and in a house at the back of the field opposite Netley View, there is a little track that runs through there, I believe the house is still standing, I haven’t been down there to have a look. I ought to go for just for a check out.

OK we will copy the story on the back.  Then on to this lovely thatch.

Photo16 (photo 17 is the reverse) PT016 & PT017

Remind me who lived there?

(inadible) This I think it’s a reproduction, it’s not the original postcard but it would have been an original taken from of Shield Cottage on the fringe of Exbury and this is where my Father in law Cecil Tillyer grew up or lived at some time, anyway, it’s all demolished now sadly, umm, but I was never aware of being there, but I have written on the back that friend   [information redacted] visited this house while at Exbury school he lived in Langley, sort of the far end of Langley towards Lepe and there is a footpath that you can go through that goes towards Exbury and he attended Exbury school.  He has written on there 1949 – 1955 and he actually said the house was still standing then, but for some reason I never saw it.

Images: Peggy Tillyer, copyright reserved. For any rights requests, please contact the New Forest Heritage Centre in the first instance.

Peggy Tillyer   Trans 2  CH1  Duration: 6:15

Photo 18 PT018

Ok so let’s have a look at this lovely coloured photograph. What can you tell me about this one?

It’s taken at Ashurst drift in 1986 and is actually, err, my husband and father-in-law and brother in law.  On the left is Brian Tillyer, he ran New Forest ponies and got the Sprattsdown prefix on that.  The centre one is father in law to me Cecil Tillyer and he used the Blackwell prefix.  On the right is Brian’s elder brother, Maurice Tillyer and he had the Williford prefix.

Photo 19 PT019

Ok on to the photo with the Queen.

Now, (in audible).  This is a picture of the Queen being driven down through the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, on her, what was it, 700^th anniversary, 900^th year celebration [of the New Forest], umm, and the Queen visited and was driven through the Forest some of it being down the Ornamental Drive.  It’s not in that picture and I can’t remember where I’ve got it, I’m sure I’ve got it somewhere or other, but we were asked to take a mare and foal, and the thing was in April and there were very few foals being born by April, but this mare had actually had her foal and we took her, the mare and foal and stood by the side of the road in Rhinefield Drive and we always laughed because when the Queen actually noted the mare she, she sort of elbowed Prince Phillip and said “Look” (laughs).

That was 1979.

That was 1979 April 1979.

Photo 20 PT020

So on to the seedling fir photo?

This was the Commoners Defence team.  We were allowed by the Forestry Commission, the Commoners Defence were given permission to do some clearing of fir tree seedlings and any scrub area where the seedlings were coming through at a vast rate.  This particular one is between Longdown and the back of Decoy Pond Farm and it all happened in the winter of 1979-1980.  We were given permission as I say because it was a little bit doing the work of the Forestry Commission and could have been a little bit techy about it, but they gave us permission and in various parts of the Forest these clearances were carried out, I’ve got a few of the names, err, family, myself and sister in law Dorita Tillyer, father in law Cecil Tillyer, Mike Eccles and umm, and also Stuart Harding, Mrs Pat Dunning and her son [Stephen], Mr Len Mansbridge, and Mr Readhead, but I’m not sure which one cause I haven’t made a note because I didn’t know which one it was, but it was one of the Mr Readhead’s.  I also see in the picture who I now know to be Mr Bill Jones who was the umm, father of Terry Jones the Agister.

And this is the chap in the coat with the…

Light coat.

In the front with the light coloured coat and cap on. 

Photo 21 PT021

So on to the picture at the New Forest Show.  Can you just tell me about that one.

This is in the Commoners Defence stand and again shows the Tillyers’ (laughs) we’ve got on the left of picture is Maurice Tillyer, and in the centre Cecil, father Cecil, on the right Brian Tillyer.  The point of the picture being, Cecil Tillyer who worked on the barges was very clever at splicing so was able to make the halters for the commoners, he made many in his time.  He taught his sons Maurice and Brian to do this and then Brian passed on the secret of it so to speak, (laughs) the splicing and the measurements of it to daughter Jenny.

What year do you think that was taken?

1981 early 1980’s. Yes.

Photo 22 PT022

Lovely, so onto the next photograph.

This is taken at Ashurst drift in 1986 and demonstrating the branding, it looks quite a big foal and I’ve noted it is a foal that is being held. Its being held, the person on the left is Clive Maton, on the right holding the foal is Agister Terry Jones and actually doing the branding is Agister Brian Ingram which of course you’re allowed to brand your own, but used to be always allowed to brand your own.