Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

41 own business into the main yard in Hunts End, where the joiners’ shop had been. They remained there until the early years of the 21stC, when the yard was sold and the business moved to Caxton. The offices left behind were converted into residential use. The site is now known as Hunts End Court. Although Kirton’s work was mainly residential (new homes, extensions and alterations), it also built the original village hall in Burberry Road, and until recently was responsible for all the maintenance work for the Thornhill properties in Diddington. For the record, there is now no connection between Kirton Builders of Caxton and Kirton Construction Ltd of Huntingdon. Knowles, Kenneth Davenport (1874-1944) was the Archdeacon of Huntingdon (1921-1943) and for at least nine years (1923-1932) the occupier of the White House in Mill Road. Between 1914 and 1917 he was chaplain to the 1st Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion, to whom he preached ‘a very practical sermon on manliness’. At various times he was also Rural Dean, vicar of Woodwalton, rector of Brampton and, from 1938 to 1944, vicar of Diddington. He was also the president of the Buckden, Diddington, Grafham and Offord Branch of the British Legion, and the author of The Huntingdon children's service and prayer book and assorted light verse including the amiably nostalgic ‘Buckden: a Christmas Ballad’. His sister, Miss Knowles, was the co-proprietor of a Buckden school. L Lafarge (and predecessors): see mineral extraction Landowners in Buckden. In 1873 the Government published the results of a survey of all land owners in England and Wales (outside central London). All those who owned one acre or more were listed, together with the address/location, the amount of land and its value. Those listed for Buckden were: Ann Cope Arthur W. Marshall (Buckden Towers) Barley Hubbard Bowyer & Priestley Captain Green Charles Hubbard Churchwardens of Buckden Colonel James Linton Executors of Robert Moon Frank Green, Coneygarths Frederick Charles Mann, Beech Lawn Henry Hyde John Goodgames John Milner Joseph Baxter Joseph Bowyer Miss Margaret Green Mrs Bowyer Mrs Burton Mrs Usher Mrs Wormsley Rev. D. Haigh (Vicarage) Rev. R. H. Gatty (The Manor) Samuel Taylor Thomas Cope Thomas L. Priestley Trustees of Charity William Bartholomew Bowling (Church Street) William Baxter William Bowyer William Clark William Nicholls William Usher Landsman’s (Co-ownership) Ltd started in 1949 and moved to a Buckden field about 1955. It traded in residential caravans and eventually it designed and built specialist mobile units for the construction industry. In 1964 the proprietor and his wife turned the business into a limited company entitled Landsman’s (Co-ownership) Limited, and the twenty-five employees became the owners of the company. The annual trading surplus was distributed to all employees as cash and shares with each share representing one vote. Eventually the workers were able to buy out the original proprietors. The Board of Directors had co-opted directors from outside and had worker directors as well as a works committee. The concept of worker/owners was developing rapidly in the 1960s and many small co-ops and medium to larger companies accepted the principle of worker ownership and participation in the running of companies. Indeed legislation was introduced to allow more enlightened firms to adapt to the method of management organisations. Although Landsman’s was one of the first smaller companies to start there were already some large well- known companies in existence namely Scott-Bader Chemicals of Wellingborough and the famous John Lewis Partnership, which includes Robert Sayle and Waitrose. Landsman’s continues to trade in its original premises on the outskirts of Buckden. Anne Spreckley Langley family. John Gace Langley (1807-1892) and his family were High Street shopkeepers for some eighty years; for over fifty of these they also ran the village sub- Post Office. Mr Langley was born in Bedfordshire, the son of a surgeon, but by 1844 had settled in Buckden as a grocer and draper. In 1851 his household contained himself, his wife Elizabeth (née Mann), a grocery apprentice, a domestic servant, a dressmaker and six children under nine years old – all but the first born in Buckden. Over the years, he expanded his business to include ironmongery, insurance, provisions (i.e. a wider range of food than the usual grocery staples) and, some time before 1869, the Post Office. He was still postmaster in 1891, by then aged 84! He died the following year – died young by Langley family