© Copyright Oliver Dixon and licensed for
reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Hutton Magna’s two
most curious items are located within a few feet of each other in the centre of
the village. Both are contained in the image above and they are very different
in their nature.
The first is,
obviously, the red telephone box – or the ‘News Box’ as it is affectionately
known. It is always a delight to fall upon one of these distinctive and
well-loved landmarks, especially as they have been disappearing from our
landscape at an alarming rate of late. When the same fate threatened to swallow
up Hutton Magna’s specimen in 2009, the villagers asked if they could buy it
from British Telecom – and they did… for £1. Unfortunately, it then cost them
£250 to have the phone disconnected!
Suitably
phone-free, the locals decided to turn the little box into their very own
multifunctional village ‘News Box’, complete with community notice board,
lending library (books and DVDs) and newspaper distribution point – together
with any other bits and bobs which folk are happy to pass on. Nice.
Just behind the
‘News Box’ can be seen an old water tap and commemorative tablet. The latter
pays tribute to one Cuthbert Watson of nearby Ovington, who, in 1858, laid a
water pipe from Warden Hill to the spot in order that the villagers might at
last have a fresh water supply. It ran for 1,200 yards and was initially a
great success … until, twelve years later, the iron that the pipe was made from
rusted up and, well, that was the end of that. They should have seen that one
coming.
An 1890 account
tells us that the supply had still not been reinstated. One assumes that the
problem has now been rectified.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment