Rose Allen A-Godmanchester Girl
Susan's book can be purchased from Cliffords the chemist Godmanchester price £10. OR email Susanmortlock890@gmail
Having grown up and lived in Godmanchester for almost all of my life, I feel a connection to the town, a fascination with its long history and some familiarity with many of its old families. I have incorporated into the book many true stories and events, noted down from discussion with some of the members of these old Godmanchester families, as well as details told me by my parents who grew up here too.
To mark the centenary of her birth in Godmanchester, I have tried to paint a portrait in words of my Mother (the Rose Allen of the title), set against the landscape of her childhood as a typical girl of Godmanchester in the 1920s and 1930s.
I have used facts known to me, anecdotes told to me, Hunts Post archives and my imagination to present a composite picture which enables the reader to 'relive' the experience of growing up in the Godmanchester of a century ago.
The book references many places in Godmanchester, most of which can still be seen by us today, and so visitors to the town can stand on the spots mentioned in order to imagine themselves there back in the 1930s. Armchair readers can gain an idea of how we Gumcestrians celebrated the Silver Jubilee of George V and the Coronation of George VI - both topical events in our current times with the recent Platinum Jubilee and forthcoming, long-awaited next Coronation!
In addition, I have given readers a taste of the speech patterns and dialect of the older families, using direct speech exchanges and 'eye-dialect' whereby readers can 'hear' the old Godmanchester voices as they really spoke. As a teacher of English Language A Level, I am helping new generations to value the individuality of regional accents and dialects; this one is mine which I consider it important to preserve.
There are seventeen chapters, dealing with all aspects of a Godmanchester childhood. They are mostly short although those entitled Jubilee! and God Save the New King! Are longer because of all the archive material I researched, as is Around the Year with Rose, a month- by-month glimpse at local activities in my Mother's time.
Many interesting photographs accompany the text, including my grandmother's Munitions War Brooch, inscribed SHE DID HER BIT on the obverse, and Rose's own Silver Jubilee and Coronation medals. Her doll and money-box show us interesting, indeed curious, toys of the time.
Rare Roman Millstone with Phallic image
Kate Hadley, Curator of The Godmanchester Museum was presented with the stone by Quinton Carroll, Cambridge County Council’s archaeology boss and head of the Historic Environment Team. The millstone with its phallic image is part of a Roman magic system that regulated everyday life in ancient times.
Within that social map of magical regulation, this phallogenic stone promises protection from the evil eye or ill-wishing gods and also promotes bravery, wellbeing, fertility and protection to the grain and bread trade, both of which underpin the legal and trading functions of Roman society. Soldiers were paid in bread. Grain formed part of the Empire-wide Annona tax, but particularly powerful in Roman Britain.
Like many millstones, this has been imported from Derbyshire and a skilled artist stonemason has been employed to carve the phallus, so it is an expensive stone, a grand tool. It was found during the A14 excavations, in a high-end Godmanchester Roman villa, and one would assume belongs to a powerful owner.
Welcome To The Godmanchester Museum
We are an independent museum and a registered charity. The museum is run by a small team of enthusiastic volunteers who work together to record the town’s history and its people. We receive no government funding and rely on funds from various organisations, donations and the generosity of our visitors to fund our projects.
Transformation and Godmanchester Museum News 2020
Godmanchester Museum's new name brings it in line to reflect the town the museum serves in readiness for the planned Transformation of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. The old Porch Museum name has been changed to Godmanchester in order to more straightforwardly represent the town and now the museum is organising future collections, display boards and events.
All of this is in preparation for the eventual incorporation of the museum into the church of St Mary during its Transformation and modernisation. The future planned move into the church - a museum within a church is a great rarity in the UK - will enable the museum to open more frequently, making it available to schools and people in the town.
There is a startling collection of Roman and Iron Age artefacts and extensive display boards consistent with the explanation of Godmanchester as a Roman Town and old pictures from private archives, family history boards, fascinating school photographs and displays devoted to WW1 and WW11.
One of the Museums aims is to produce and show short films devoted to the history of the town. We want to capture, through the memories of some of the oldest members of our community, as clear a perception as we can get of the way life was in this lovely town during the first half of the 20th century.