Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

29 Mr Bellamy and roused their near neighbour, plumber William Stoneham, captain of the fire brigade. The engine quickly arrived, but despite there being no shortage of water, both cottages having their own wells, the fire had already taken hold and there was nothing to be done but concentrate on saving an adjacent barn and pigsty. (And the pigs.) Most of the contents of Mr Bellamy’s cottage were rescued, but a little downstairs furniture was all that the unfortunate Livetts could save. An even more disastrous fire broke out at the south end of Silver Street on the evening of 3 March 1909. Just after six o’clock flames were spotted in the thatched roof of a house, hard by the chimney; by the time the fire was contained some seven hours later, three properties had been totally destroyed. One was a large part-thatched property on the corner of Silver Street and Church Street, occupied by Mr T. J. Phillips as a general shop; he also ran an extensive coal and offal business, but fortunately did not store these items on the premises. The other two were rubble-and-thatch buildings: the house and bakery of William Andrews, where the fire started, and a cottage owned by Leonard Mann and occupied by William Gore. (There were two William Gores living in the Silver Street/Church Street area at this time – a retired grocer and a horsekeeper; the fact that the William Gore who lost his home was insured suggests that he was probably the grocer. If so, his death a few weeks later may have been partly due to the shock of the fire). William Stoneham and the Buckden engine were on the scene within five minutes, soon followed by the engines from both St Neots and Huntingdon (summoned by telephone). There was no shortage of water: the St Neots engine was fed from the lake in The Towers, and the Huntingdon firemen broke into the well that supplied the village pump by the Wesleyan Chapel. But fanned by a north-east wind the fire spread through the three properties so rapidly that the brigades could concentrate only on keeping it away from neighbouring buildings. The cost of attendance for three brigades was estimated to be nearly £60. In July 1923 – a month of exceptionally hot weather – the St. Neots Advertiser reported on a fire in the centre of Buckden that was witnessed by ‘hundreds of people, who had come from miles around.’ It broke out at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, 17 July, being first spotted by two gardeners working in the grounds of Coneygarths. H. Cook and W. Gore noticed smoke coming from a large thatched barn belonging to Arthur Brown at the end of George Lane (q.v), and called Buckden’s fire crew, later to be followed by the St Neots and Huntingdon fire engines. The fire quickly spread to Thomas Bowyer’s thatched barn, which held many agricultural implements. Mr Brown's barn held osiers (q.v), and adjacent buildings included stables and pigsties. Many local helpers arrived and removed the implements and some pigs, but the burning thatched roof collapsed on and killed many pigs, piglets and hens. A haystack and eighty yards’ length of buildings were destroyed by fire, fanned by the strong south-westerly wind. The malting barn opposite was now in great danger, its roof smoking in the intense heat, but the risk was got under control by the Buckden firemen. Flames continued to the east end of the buildings, and there were grave fears for the old buildings of the George and the Old Tap Inn. Once again the Buckden firemen soaked the structures, and fortunately the wind eased. When the Huntingdon and St Neots firemen arrived they pumped water 500 yards from the lake in the Towers. All the firemen stayed until the early hours of Wednesday, by which time the affected buildings had been razed to the ground. An inquiry concluded that the cause of the fire was unknown, but that all the property had been insured. Later History. The Buckden pump was eventually re- housed in a brick building adjacent to the Hunts End shops The 1829 fire engine from Buckden (Yorkshire). The Buckden (Hunts) machine was similar in operation. The long timber handles worked by perhaps four men each side can be seen. One is not in position. Photo : Thimbleby & Shorland Auctioneers Ernest A Gale in WWII NFS uniform Gale family collection