Daughter of 1930s Stonehenge custodian tells stories of unique childhood for exhibition
91 year old recounts growing up in shadow of famous monument
A 91 year old woman living in Australia has been sharing stories of her childhood a little closer to home, when her dad was the custodian of Stonehenge in the 1930s.
Jean Grey, who now lives in Melbourne, has been telling English Heritage about the time her father John Moffat looked after the stones and the family lived in the cottage at Stonehenge Bottom.
They moved there in 1934 when Jean was five and stayed there until 1938.
Jean said:
“Dad was the custodian of the Stones. He cut the grass and maintained the area round the huge monoliths and made sure no one damaged them. Occasionally school groups would arrive by charabanc for a conducted tour and sometimes visitors who were wealthy enough to have their own transport. Most of the time it was a quiet safe place for me to play around the Stones.
"No neighbours. No other children. No electricity, and only an outside earth toilet. There was no rubbish collection – a pit was dug in the far corner of the back garden and everything was buried, including my father’s old, chain-driven motor-bike!
"The Ministry of Works wages were not very generous and the rabbits my father trapped helped to supplement our diet, and my parents both worked in the vegetable garden. In the autumn we’d go mushrooming. We were told the circles they grew in were fairy rings. Even now, seventy years later, Stonehenge has a lasting place in my memory - the summer days and the skylarks.”
Jean's Stonehenge story has now been included in the 'Your Stonehenge' exhibition, thanks to her granddaughter who contacted English heritage.
Susan Greaney English Heritage Historian said:
“We were so excited when Jean and her granddaughter Emma got in touch. A personal story like this really brings Stonehenge’s more recent past to life. Although demolished in 1938, we can see the house Jean lived in from old photos which show the cottages, their large back gardens and also rings of mushrooms scattered around the landscape, just as she describes. The house is now gone, but if you wander down there today you can see some remaining earthworks and remnants of the hedge pop up every year. People have been visiting Stonehenge for centuries, but there’s not very many people who can say they lived there – it must have been an amazing place to grow up! We’re really pleased to now be able to tell the story of someone who did.”