I grew up in Stewartby, and generations of my family worked in the brick industry in both Stewartby and Elstow. This book is my way of remembering the village as it was, and preserving its story for those who lived it, and for those who come after.
Stewartby Remembered records life in the Bedfordshire village of Stewartby, shaped for decades by the London Brick Company. I have started with the village’s early days, when it was known as Wootton Pillinge, and followed its transformation into a thriving industrial community. The book tells the story of the brickworks and the people who built their lives around it; men who worked long hours in tough, dirty conditions who were rewarded not just by steady jobs, but by good housing, generous sporting facilities, a swimming pool and a remarkable village hall.
I have drawn on personal memories, historical records and conversations with older residents still living in the village today. My aim has been to capture the everyday life, places and people that made Stewartby what it was, from its rural beginnings through the postwar years and into the 1980s.