You can read all the history books, but often the real insight of what life used to be like can best be obtained from people who lived in the village many years ago.
It is hoped to reproduce a number of interviews on this page.
The first was conducted on 10 April 1993, when village recorder Bob Jones went to see Connie Smith and Jean Willingham, who then lived at Lawners Close (now renamed Lawners House). Sadly Connie passed away in 1996, but Jean now lives in Bury St Edmunds.
Connie used to live at Woodland End Farm, now long disappeared, well off the road between Little Saxham and Hargrave. In those days times were hard...
Editorial comments are in italics.
CS - Connie Smith
JW - Jean Willingham
BJ - Bob Jones
CS - It was during the war; my husband had been teaching in Woodford Green and some of the children there were Barnados children, quite a lot of them. He was sent here with them and some lived at Great Saxham Hall and some at the Glebe House there. There was an old building there which served as the school and we luckily found a little tiny cottage - Woodland End - Mr Jillings 'off' farm. There had been two or three cottages there, lovely apple trees, jolly good gardens. It's right down off the road; I can't see you going way down there now.
BJ - Did they have electricity and water and all that sort of thing?
CS - Nothing at all. And when we got here, there was no electricity in the village. We've been here 37 years and there wasn't any then.
JW - It didn't come until the late 50s. When my mother died we hadn't got it.
CS - We had some calor gas, you know. We managed, it was a good life.
BJ - When did you move to Woodland End?
CS - Well, 1941. We lodge in a house in Great Saxham at first. Then we found the house, it was a bit tiny, but it was a haven, it was a dear little house. Warm and dry, plenty of wood, chickens.
BJ - How long did you live there?
CS - 15 years.
BJ - Why did you move?
CS - Well, because we were darn sick of carrying the water buckets. My shoulder pays for that now, I'll never get rid of that. You know, we had to carry everything, you see. We had a well there, a very deep well, which Mr Jillings put a little engine on the top and then a tap outside the back door. It wasn't bad, we had plenty of rain water, we had a bath in front of the kitchen fire.
More to follow soon