Contents
Notes
This site is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Joan Barksfield (1917 - 2005). My mother took a keen interest in local history and became a source of information for many people in the surrounding area.
I don't live in Frieth myself any longer, although I return there frequently to visit my brother and his family, but nevertheless I retain a great affection for the village as the place where I was born and brought up. Before she died, my mother asked me to be sure to look after all her historical documentation. That I am doing but I feel there is more to looking after the information than just keeping it in a box in the attic. Information is not useful unless others know it is available and can gain access to it.
My mother never owned a computer so all her work was done on paper. Conversely, I am a child of the computer age (indeed I have been involved in the IT business for all my working life) and, in the internet age, I feel the logical conclusion must be that access to this information is made available through this medium.
But more than that, people in Frieth have often remarked to me how much they enjoyed attending my mother's illustrated presentations, reading two loose leaf folders which circulated in the village and the book: "Frieth a Chiltern Village" published by the Frieth Village Society to which she contributed.
The Society has now taken the photographic material for the book with a view to publishing a new edition.
To contact the Frieth Village Society see the Contact page.
The first part of this process of opening up the collection to a wider audience was to put together the images and the text (left almost entirely as my mother wrote it) on this website from the loose leaf folder "Your House and Mine". This was also presented more than once as a slide show and gives a wealth of fascinating information about a number of properties in the village illustrated by my mother's own photographs.
At the end of one of my mother's slide shows there would always have been time for points and questions from the audience and of course she was always open to receiving new or corrected information about anything associated with local history.
This is something I would very much like to continue. Therefore if you find anything that is wrong or have anything you would like to contribute at all please get in touch with me via the Contact page on this website. I will try to correct any errors as soon as possible and if I think others would be interested in your contributions (as I'm sure they will) I will be pleased to include them on the site where they can be seen by all. Particularly I would be keen to hear additional information about properties already shown here or if you can give a history of a property not included here I'm sure many would find that valuable.
I am also keen to collect any reminiscences you may have about times past in Frieth that you would be willing to publish on the site.
John Harris, a long time resident of the village, has very kindly allowed me to copy his collection of school photographs which I have now put together with my mother's work on the history of the first 120 years of Frieth School.
The next addition will be a section about the sale of Parmoor House by the Cripps family in 1946.
There is much more still to come. Over time I hope to add more sections to this website exploring other aspects of my mother's researches but at present the time I have available for this work is strictly limited. If you want to be kept informed of changes to the site drop me an email and I will add you to the emailing list.
Bill Barksfield
April 2010
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Your House and Mine A History of Frieth School A History of Frieth Contact me
02 April 2010 : A History of Frieth School now complete
08 December 2009 : A History of Frieth School reaches 1965 including images of the centenary celebrations
10th January 2009 : A History of Frieth School
4th October 2008 : D'Oyley Map 1786
1st September 2008 : You House and Mine now has all the properties in place
29th June 2008 : The first small parts of "A History of Frieth"
10th May 2008 : Further additions to "Your House and Mine" : The Yew Tree to Ashcroft
14th April 2008 : 1845 Tithe Map for Frieth
9th March 2008 : New additions to "Your House and Mine" : Lynden Cottage to The Old Stores
10th February 2008 : Ted Collier's Letter from 1970
Copyright © Bill Barksfield 2009
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