Inkpen Audio Tape of 1975

The history group have digitised and present here audio tracks produced from the 1975 tape recording. These are shown here as mp3 tracks.

For clarity, the name Inkpen is derived from two saxon words 'inge' and 'penne', meaning hilltop enclosure. The name Ingepenne appears in a charter of 935AD. It has nothing to do with a lady called 'Inga'.

Click on the following tracks to play them individually.

Track
Title
1 ,,,,,
Combe Gibbet and Inkpen Beaker
2 ,,,,,
Pottery
3 ,,,,,
The Sawmills and the Edwards Family
4 ,,,,,
Weaving and Puddlewharf Cottage
5 ,,,,,
Bert Annett
6 ,,,,,
Gen. Channing-Williams
7 ,,,,,
Lillian Watts and Inkpen Common
8 ,,,,,
The Black Legend
9 ,,,,,
Inkpen School
10 ,,,,,
St Michael's Church
11 ,,,,,
Honor Goodhart and Inkpen WI
12 ,,,,,
John Marriott
13 ,,,,,
Acknowledgements




The following are more recently recorded interviews with some senior residents of Inkpen:

An interview with Joyce Uprichard
- recorded by Mrs Anne Wilson in 2010 - Beaker pots discovered.
Extract
Audio Track (1hr 14min)

An interview with Sally Colquhoun - recorded 27th March 2025. Sally and her parents have lived at Rolfe's Farm since 1936. Her Father was an internationally renowned surgeon and her mother an actress in early movies.
Audio Track

An interview with Jean May - recorded 13th March 2025. Jean was born in Box Cottage in December 1940 and recounts her memories of growing up in Inkpen. This was before the NHS, before Inkpen had electricity and it started off for her with 4 years of war - WW2.
Audio Track

A conversation with John Bance, born 1943. John describes the location of various facilities that no longer exist in Inkpen, including Christchurch church, St Lawrence's church, shops, along with swimming in the canal.
Audio Track



Some British Library on-line content is unavailable following a recent hacking incident

Reuben Annetts (1876) audio file, image (1, 2)
Annett, Reuben (b.1876, male, retired blacksmith and agricultural engineer). Here, Reuben talks about his role as the local pig-killer. Inglewood (just to the north of Inkpen), Kintbury (just to the northeast), West Woodhay (just to the southeast), Ham (just to the west) and Coombe (just to the southwest) are all nearby villages. Newbury is a town to the east of Inkpen and Hungerford a town to the northwest.

Working Conditions in the late 19th Century audio file

Cattle Farming in the early 20th Century audio file