Let us first deal with the strange road name… according to the wonderful book, The Bassingham Story (Wilson, B. & C. and Ash, 2003), the name comes not from Latin, Saxon or anything like that; no, it is a reference to the low shrub Calluna Vulgaris which grows in acid soils and has been used historically for medical purposes and basket-making, and is more commonly known as Ling. I used to live near Mansfield and there was a Ling Forest Road there too. So now we know!
“Forge Cottage”, “Conington Cottage” and “Moorland Cottage”, Linga Lane (1908)
I’ve always known that there simply had to be a postcard out there somewhere of this view, and my grateful thanks go to Tom Booker for coming up trumps! From left to right we see “Forge Cottage”, “Conington Cottage” and “Moorland Cottage”, now numbered 6, 4 and 2 Linga Lane respectively. In the distance at left we can also see the roofline and chimney pots of numbers 12 and 10, “Hythe Cottage” and “Pinfold Cottage”. This postcard has pretty much been my ‘Holy Grail’ because it shows my house – “Forge Cottage” – complete with the forge and what looks like a second outbuilding where the drive to number 8 and the entrance to Pinfold Close are these days. Here’s a detailed close-up of the activity at the left, where it seems there is a chap – the blacksmith? – leaning over an upturned bicycle, a lady reclining in a chair, and a small child in a white pinafore.
The forge was one of two in the village (the other being along the lower end of the High Street) and I am told that it was still active into the 1960s at which point it was pulled down.
I have always been convinced that “Forge Cottage” is a late 18th century construction. There are OS maps dating back to 1886 which show that the house was here, and I have also discovered a map of 1839 which suggests that the building was in situ by then. As you can see from the modern photograph the frontage of these houses has changed quite dramatically over the intervening years.
The postcard was franked 23rd January 1908 and was sent by [Edith] Lucy Johnson (of “Ivy Cottage”) to her mother, Lucy, Mrs Osborne Johnson, who was staying with Mrs Willis in Beeston, Nottinghamshire (Rose Ann Willis was Mrs Johnson’s mother, Edith Lucy’s granny). The message reads, “Dear Mother, I hope you arrived safely. Norah is very pleased with the presents & said I was to thank you very much. Tom is to [sic] lazy to write. He sends his love to all & so do I. I hope Grannie is better. Ever your loving, Lucy.”
The Johnson family was resident in the village between the late 1830s and 1982. Both Osborne Johnson Snr and his son Osborne Johnson Jnr. were surgeons and village GPs for many years around the turn of the twentieth century. You can read much more about the family by clicking HERE.
Bassingham Back Then... 