Stagsden Village
The oldest inhabitants tell of a very different lifestyle in the days of their youth - of a village including a clockmaker who turned his hand to anything from lead windows to bee-keeping, a butcher and a baker, a wheelwright, who was also the undertaker, four roadmen, a shoemaker and a thatcher; while a cupboard was kept where villagers brought their bottles for remedies, from camphorated oil to ipecacuanha wine. Children fetched milk in cans from one of the farms and water from village pumps. The sub-post office was in the schoolhouse, and with so many large families 90 children attended the school which was closed for lack of pupils in 1983.
So life in the village was hard but largely self-supporting. There were fights, naturally, but never in the churchyard, always 'under the ash tree'.
The church of St Leonard now shares its vicar with Bromham and Oakley, and part of its worship and Sunday school with the Bunyan Meeting. The Royal George is the flourishing survivor of three pubs, the White Horse and the Dog and Duck are now converted into private houses, as is the vicarage and church rooms. A village newsletter records events of organisations.
The bird gardens, founded in 1965 used to display a variety of birds including ornamental pheasants, hawks , falcons , cranes that danced and parrots that could be persuaded to talk. Now the gardens are closed and visitors are greeted with a sign saying that the grounds are now a private house.
