The Malting House, Marshfield with Camilla

Now I am back home in Stroud my main focus is on preparing for the big public event for the Neighbourhood Development Plan at the end of next week. We are hiring the main subscription Rooms in the town centre and are hoping a lot of local residents come to find out about what we are doing on their behalf.

I had arranged that Camilla, with whom I have been working closely on this and many other projects for the last few years, would come with me to Bath University to pick up some exhibition material of the Final Year Students' Coursework. They had been given Stroud as the town on which to base their imaginative designs and had presented the results in a local gallery in the summer. We have decided to use some of the exhibits as part of our public event to show how different sites might be re-developed with some new thinking.

Having driven through the unexpected heavy rain we found the head of department and picked up some of the most appropriate exhibits for our purposes. Thence headed off back up the A46 somewhat slowly as the traffic was heavy. After stopping for a coffee we hit a traffic jam and I suggested going back a few miles and heading off on the back roads, which I always prefer.

As it happened, the back road lead to the village of Marshfield which Camilla had been telling me a lot about on our journey to Bath. She was born in this very building, the Malting House, (its name is carved in the stone lintel over the front door, which you might just be able to read) and she recounted her fascinating and intricate family history, much of which was centred on Marshfield. Strangely, Helena and I had driven through the same village a couple of months ago on one of our jaunts to see old historic houses and I had always admired its long main street.

Camilla gave me a wonderful run down of all the houses and who had lived in them when she had grown up around there. We stopped close to the house where she was born and I offered to take a few ;pictures, which she could send to some of her family members.

This is the Malting House, which in bygone days was one of many in the village. Her father had been the landlord of several pubs in the village so had known all about brewing beer. We wandered around the back of the house and found the old garden which her mum had loved and tended, as well as the old workshops and the actual malting building where many interesting artists had come to 'play' in the country. It was so interesting, so thank you, Camilla. I look forward to going back again with a new insight on a lovely village. She has suggested going to see the Mummers Play, the traditional event held on Boxing Day every year, followed by a visit to one of the pubs for a good lunch! I think Helena will like that.


The Mummers of Marshfield
Every Boxing Day at 11:00am increasing numbers of visitors come to the village to see the performance of the celebrated Marshfield Mummers or 'The old time paper boys.' Seven figures, led by the Town Crier with his handbell, dressed in costumes made from strips of newsprint and coloured paper, perform their play several times along the high street. Beginning in the Market place after the Christmas Hymns which are led by the vicar the mummers arrive to the sound of the lone bell. The five-minute performances follow the same set and continue up to the almshouses. The final performance is outside of one of the local public houses where the landlord delivers a tot of whisky for the 'Boys'.

In the past centuries the mummers were probably a band of villagers who toured the large houses to collect money for their own Christmas festivities.