Postcard of the Month: January 2023
/Flooded Fields at Houghton Bridge
The back of the card led to some careful detective work in genealogy records to try and identify the persons mentioned. The first clue was from the headline ‘Malt House, Amberley’. Census records show that the residents in the early 1900s were the Dunk family, including a daughter Chloe (born 1894) which is the name of the card's sender.
Eric, mentioned in the text, was one of Chloe’s brothers. Her mother was born Agnes Bendall, so Auntie May was probably Agnes’ sister, Rosa May Bendall. It is likely that Uncle Jack was Rosa’s brother, John Ranson Granville Bendall, a postman. They lived on Brook Farm, Rattlesden, Suffolk, which was the family’s poultry farm.
The date of sending the card is thought to be before 1921, when Chloe Dunk was married and had moved away from Malt House.
Published by Travers of Brighton, this card shows the winter flooding of the fields on both sides of the river, with the route still visible by the raised banks. The presence of the steam crane on the wharf to the right of the bridge suggests that the picture was taken before 1914. A train is standing at Amberley Station in the foreground. For more on local flooding, see Houghton and Amberley Floods.
Both postcards in this blog were previously in the collection of the late Rendell Williams, author of the Sussex Postcards website.
Malt House Cottage