Pickwick: A Place in Time Review by Alan Payne July 2024
Cover image courtesy the book's authors and publishers
This is the book for you if you want a marvellous read for yourself or a great present for another. With a remarkable total of 343 photographs on 112 pages, every page is a delight to investigate why Pickwick is so special. It is full of fascinating facts about the place we all drive through going eastwards to Hartham and Chippenham, I didn't know that Quakers were so prevalent in the area with a burial ground in 1659 and a later Meeting House, or that the largest-selling tea in the Netherlands is "Pickwick Thee".
If you simply work your way through the photos, please don't miss the fabulous aerial images of Copenacre before and after development for residential occupation. Of couse, the Hartham Park buildings and Middlewick House feature but this is really a book about Pickwick Street and the wonderful properties that grace its roadside - the gazebo in number 23, Fig Tree Cottage and the Pottery Yard. Do also see the historic photos of the properties sold by the Pickwick Estate in 1948.
If you simply work your way through the photos, please don't miss the fabulous aerial images of Copenacre before and after development for residential occupation. Of couse, the Hartham Park buildings and Middlewick House feature but this is really a book about Pickwick Street and the wonderful properties that grace its roadside - the gazebo in number 23, Fig Tree Cottage and the Pottery Yard. Do also see the historic photos of the properties sold by the Pickwick Estate in 1948.
Relevance to Box
For Box readers there are interesting sections about Pickwickian Sir Harold Brakspear and the Box Roman Villa, the Poynder family of Hartham, and an article about the Bullock family of clockmakers with a great photo of the Masonic clock stuck in time and history. But I really enjoyed understanding the area better with details of Robin and Catherine Eden (whose antiques sign hung for many years on the outside of number 23) and a wonderful display of front doors and door knockers of the residents of Pickwick.
The book is a fascinating testament to the history of a tiny area next door to Box and a tribute to the hard work of authors Tony Clark and John Maloney. The hardback copy is available from Corsham Bookshop price £25.
For Box readers there are interesting sections about Pickwickian Sir Harold Brakspear and the Box Roman Villa, the Poynder family of Hartham, and an article about the Bullock family of clockmakers with a great photo of the Masonic clock stuck in time and history. But I really enjoyed understanding the area better with details of Robin and Catherine Eden (whose antiques sign hung for many years on the outside of number 23) and a wonderful display of front doors and door knockers of the residents of Pickwick.
The book is a fascinating testament to the history of a tiny area next door to Box and a tribute to the hard work of authors Tony Clark and John Maloney. The hardback copy is available from Corsham Bookshop price £25.