Author: piers

90029 CD52

This talk, about the Iles family and the Fairford Asylum is read by Geoff Bishop from a script of a lecture by Shelagh Diplock, at an FHS meeting, November 2008 Shelagh is a 3 x great granddaughter of the Alexander Iles.

Alexander, son of Daniel Iles, a yeoman farmer of Kempsford, had worked in asylums in London and saw a gap in the market in the Fairford area. He obtained a licence for 10 patients in 1823 and took patients into his own house. In 1827 he had 13 patients, 40 patients in 1829 the number of patients was over 119 according to the 1841 census and by 1844 there were 140 patients of whom 119 were paupers.

In 1856 Alexander died and left everything to Daniel, his eldest son. During the mid-1860s Daniel and his wife Susan were joined by their eldest son, another Daniel, who qualified as a surgeon in 1864. Susan Iles died in 1883 and Daniel in 1887. Dr Daniel and Henry, their sons took over the asylum until 1899 when Daniel died and his son Francis, another doctor, decided not to take over the business. The Retreat, as the asylum was also known, was sold to Dr A C King Turner in 1901 and it continued as an upmarket private asylum until 1944.

90417 CD55 – Fairford Floods 2007 (1). Compiled by Geoff Bishop

100006 CD60 – Fairford Floods 2007 (2). Compiled by Geoff Bishop

On July 20th 2007 torrential rains caused substantial flooding in Fairford. This CD contains three accounts by flood victims, Diana Ewart of East End, Ellis Hoult of Milton Street and Tegid Pugh of East End. Clearing up the initial mess was just the start, none of the people involved realised how long it would take to restore their homes. What a traumatic experience it was, and awesome to think that the same experience was happening at the same time to numerous families in Fairford and throughout the county. CD60 contains accounts by Geoff Bishop, Jennifer Collyer and Stewart Benzie of East End and Geoff Hawkes of Back Lane.

90694 CD59

Syd Flatman and his family came to Fairford in 1950 from London, they lived in a caravan up Southrop Road. He tells what life was like for a small boy in Fairford and takes the listener on a walk through Fairford from Cinder Lane to Waiten Hill, with a short diversion up back down the Market Place. He gives a remarkably detailed account of all the shops and shop owners at that time, his remembered impressions of the interiors. There are also a few diverting tales of the personalities of Fairford at the time.

100101 CD71

On May 30th 2009 a plaque was erected at the gate on Leafield Road, to mark the entrance to the site of the Polish Hostel which housed well over 1000 displaced Poles and other refugees from Europe between 1947 and 1959. Alicja Swiatek was born at the camp and when she returned in later years and found there was nothing to mark the site began her quest to get the plaque erected. She has also recorded the memories and collected photographs from the people who lived or worked there and collected them in a book available from FHS. This CD was a talk given to Fairford History Society on September 17th, 2009 also tells about the background of how and why the Polish families came to this country.