Covid-19 made people do some very strange things. The late summer of 2020 was one of enforced “lockdown”, a period when one was only allowed out of doors – and later, your own gardens – in order to shop, make essential short journeys, and to enjoy a daily constitutional in order to get some necessary exercise.
We had not long moved into the village – March 2019, in fact – and, being a keen family and social historian, I decided that this would be a grand time to begin researching the history of our rather old property on Linga Lane. Delving into the various censuses I was able to derive a few contentious facts – why doesn’t Linga Lane feature in them all? – but pictorial evidence was sadly lacking. My next hope was to scour the internet for images and postcards, a task which was to prove completely fruitless (until August 2022). But what my search did throw up were lots of 1900-1920s postcards or photographs of the village itself.
The next job was to get out and about, to find just exactly where these old postcards were photographed and then take a modern view from the same spot; not as easy as you might expect because identification wasn’t always straightforward – a couple had me guessing for weeks! But the fact that there was very little traffic on the roads because of “lockdown” meant that I was usually able to get some relatively clean, unobscured shots with only the odd vehicle in the way. Since then, of course, it’s become much harder to get decent photographs because of the traffic all around.
In later days the website has evolved to include much more general information about the history of the village and its inhabitants. I am well aware that a great body of work on this subject already exists, thanks to the efforts of Bill and Connie Wilson and also the late Helen Ash but, as I have never had access to her archive and because I don’t know where it is held now (I am told that it used to be in the old Wesleyan School behind the Chapel), I have had to start completely from scratch. The other thing is that Helen’s archive is not and never has been available to everyone and anyone on the internet which, I believe, makes this site of interest to residents and others with roots here.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve found and what I’ve done. There is the opportunity for you to comment at the end of each page and post should you wish to do so; I will always respond to any comment that you might choose to make. And please hit the SUBSCRIBE and/or FOLLOW button so that you receive automated email updates every time I add something new to the site; that way you’ll never miss anything! (And don’t worry – your details and data will be safe; you won’t be bombarded with spam once you sign up. 😉)
Roger Pashby, June 2022
Oh, and if you have any old photographs or postcards that you would like to share or sell, please get in touch. 😉
I have decided to offer up some of the surplus postcards that have come into my possession over the years. They are all in really good condition and whilst they are not of Bassingham itself, they depict villages close by and might represent homes and views that some of you might know.
Bassingham Back Then... 