This photo and the one below show two old images of the Fairseat Post Office found for sale on Ebay, although the more I look at the picture on the left the more I can't marry it up with the building which is there today! (Edit - see comment below, this picture has now been identified as Fairseat Cottage. Can anyone confirm that this was once the Post Office?)The other photo below is very obviously the Old Post Office taken from the road in front of the pond. The hedge today is much higher, and you can barely glimpse the house from the road.
There is a plaque on the wall (photo at bottom) to commemorate the old post mistress, Stella Henden, who served the community for 50 years. She must have been a very popular person to have had a plaque put up. She died in 1966.
This property, which is next to Fairseat Village Hall grounds, has now been much extended and renovated.
It has had three different owners since I've lived here. I found this information below on a property site.
'The Old Post House is a delightful flint stone house believed to date in part from the 16th Century and understood at one time to have been cottages with a barn, and the village telephone exchange.'
There I also found the modern photo (bottom) which shows you how it looks today, although it is taken from the back of the house. I am mystified as to how this photo was taken as it's from quite high up, and as far as I'm aware there is nothing you could climb on to get this shot - perhaps they went up in a hot air balloon!
The ex Conservative MP John Carlisle and his wife Anthea lived here for a few years in the noughties. I see that since moving they have arranged for a nice new wooden village notice board to be erected in place of the rather old and worn one.
There is a third 'Old Post Office' in Fairseat, the pink house on the road next to the pond (see below) - it's called Fairseat Farmhouse. There is a post box embedded in the front wall, now painted black. This was in use up until fairly recently, I think it may have closed in the '80s. I met the previous occupant, a lovely lady called Melita Gandolfo, and I'm pretty sure her mother called Kay was the last person to run the Post Office. They moved out approx. 2012 or early 2013. (EDIT 2017: Fairseat Farmhouse is now hugely modernised, extended and no longer pink.)
The house in the post card is the Sturgeon's old house. I think it is called Fairseat Cottage. It is next to Fairseat House but looks quite different now.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking the time to comment, I shall update my post with this new information.
ReplyDeleteKay and Len Pointon ran the post office from 1968 I believe. My parents bought the farm and the shop was part of the auction. They sold it straight on to the Pointons as Mum thought it was a good idea to have a shop in the village. I think Len was the farm manager or herdsman before the auction but I may be wrong. It is a shame it has gone as it was a real social hub in the village and Kay would always introduce everyone to each other. There was an armed robbery there a few years ago and that was very frightening. I think that is when they retired. I have such fond memories of the Pointons and the shop; the chair you had to climb on to see the sweet jars and our icecreams being wrapped in newspaper.
DeleteThanks Becca, you are a mine of information! It is a shame we don't have anything like a shop/post office in the village any more. Sadly most of them have gone.
DeleteStella Henden was my great aunt and originally came from Sidestrand in N. Norfolk where her sister also ran a post office for many years. The only time I met her was in 1947 when she told me that during The Battle of Britain and most of the time throughout the war at night she slept, in her bed, right next to the PBX telephone exchange board in order to be able to answer emergency calls as quickly as possible. My mother her niece, always spoke very warmly of her and it is very touching to see that others felt moved to remember her with a plaque.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the memory of Stella Henden!
DeleteWe knew Miss Hendon as Henny Penny and one night, she rang my mother to say that she was unwell. Mother went to her aid, sent her to hospital and then took over the running of the shop and post office until she was well enough to return. The exchange was by then an automatic exchange. In the days before, we relied on Stella to connect our calls and our number was Fairseat 7.
ReplyDeleteA very nice memory of times gone by, thank you for sharing! Do comment on other photos and leave some more memories!
ReplyDeleteLen and Kay were EPIC I was very friendly with their grand daughter Flora. We were privileged to go into the shop after hours and ransack the sweet jars. I have very happy memories of the shop, but most importantly of Kay, Len, Melita, Flora, Marco and the old grey hound
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry I missed your comment, a very belated ‘thank you’ for sharing your nice memories!
DeleteHi There, thought I'd jump on this thread, as came across your blog by chance whilst researching my husband Adam Horne's Family History. The Horne's lived at Fairseat Farmhouse at around 1939 onwards, Adam & Barbara, their children, Stella, Barbara, Donald (my hubby's Dad) & Hazel. There was also James Snr and James Jnr Cummimg (Father & Brother to Barbara) Donald married Hazel Osborne, who has lived in Stansted all of her 84 years. Hazel's Aunty Gwendoline and Uncle Ted (Edward) Anstiss lived in Fairseat Cottage. I remember the pink post office very well. Adam & myself use to walk from Stansted to there many times in our younger days and always talk about his Dad's family living there. The Little round window was his Dad's favourite feature. Hope this helps add to your research 😊
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely memories, and so nice to hear about the names and lives of past villagers. Have you also seen the photo of Fairseat Farmhouse since it has been modernised?
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