Keith Sinfield in his 2014 Village Newsletter history of Church Lawford notes that as the country struggled to recover from the effects of WWI, the Great Depression struck. This lasted virtually the whole of the inter-war years, affecting mainly the heavier industries in the north of the country. The effect on rural communities, such as that of Church Lawford, was probably not so great. In fact agriculture boomed in this period, benefiting from interventionist support by government motivated by the desire to ensure greater self-sufficiency in food production following the difficulties experienced during WWI. Considering the recollections of the late Dorothy Broadwell of Coronation Road, we find that in the 1930s she and her husband ran a business renting out a traction engine and threshing machine to local farmers.
Keith also notes that for Church Lawford in the early to mid 1930s: agriculture the principal occupation of its inhabitants and life continuing much as it had done for many decades before. Farming, though mechanised, relied heavily on draught horses, hauling: carts, seed drills, hay bailing & turning machines and ploughs. Alf Day, the village blacksmith, shoed farm horses throughout the 1930s and beyond. The building which Alf used as his smithy remain until the 2020’s at the top of School Street, and the bench on The Green commemorates his life. Complementary to Alf’s business was Cooke’s Carpenters and Wheelwrights, which formed the basis of the Triangle Garage following the growth of motorised transport after the war. Further evidence of the use of horses comes from the memory of one of our local residents; apparently, her in-laws ploughed fields with horses as late as the early 1960s.
In the 1930s the Council built the terraced houses on the east side of King’s Newnham Road. Conditions, though, were spartan: a), no internal running water (water was drawn from shared stand-pipes in the back gardens), b), outside loos (the contents of which were periodically dug into the garden) and c). no electricity. Violet Mallinson (1926-2019) shared her memories of village life, having had the distinction of living in one of these houses, continuously, almost from the time they were built. She spent her childhood there, and continued to live in the same house to bring up her own family. Over the years the necessary mod-cons have, of course, been incorporated — all of which were witnessed by Vi during her 80 plus years of occupancy.
In the Kings Newnham parish area there were 6 new council houses built on the western edge of the parish between Willow Farm and the main village of Bretford.
Towards the end of this period there was a further sale of village properties – as discussed here.
Recollections of Ron Hence and Syd Cresswell of this period can be found via their respective links.
Electoral Rolls Information for 1931 for the two village can be found here. Note that although a National Census was taken in 1931, it was lost due to a fire in 1942 while in storage during the Second World War – although not due to enemy action, and despite apparent protection measures in place. As there was no census in 1941 due to the war, a 30 year gap in census records now exists.