INTRODUCTION TO BOARD 3

CHADDISBROOKE

This prominent house near St Peter's Church appears twice in our story of adult education in Yateley. Publication of the 1901 census has revealed that Flora Thompson, author of the trilogy Lark Rise to Candleford, was then working in Yateley. In 1901 Chaddisbrooke House contained the telegraph office where Flora Thompson, then Flora Timms, worked as Yateley's telegraph operator before she married.

Thirty three years later Chaddisbrooke became the home of Mr Leonard Collison who formed the Yateley Branch of the Workers Education Association (WEA). Meetings of the WEA were often held in his house. Situated right next to St Peter's, a church with Saxon origins, the site on which Chaddisbrooke stands could well have been important historically from Saxon times. In the early 1990s local archaeologist Geoff Hoare set out to discover the origins of the present house and uncover what else the site might reveal about its ancient history. It was Geoff's request to the Society for a team of documentary researchers to look into the history of Chaddisbrooke which kick-started Phase II of the Yateley History Project, which quickly progressed to the project to digitise all Yateley's historical records.

If you purchase any old postcards of Yateley the chances are you will buy one of the church, showing Chaddisbrooke and its general store. Today Chaddisbrooke is still playing an important role in the community as the parish office, next door to Discoveries, the charity shop.

Back to 2003 Exhibition Main Page

Page written by Peter Tipton for the Yateley Society's 2003 Exhibition: Adult Education in Yateley mounted in Yateley Library during Local History Month, for which the theme was Adult Education. This exhibition was held in conjunction with Yateley Workers Education Association (WEA) -- now in 2008 defunct. Pages may have been updated as a result of recent research.

(C) The Yateley Society, 2003 and 2008