ThreewaysMarlesford Road.

(Formerly Mayola)

Threeways was originally known as Mayola and was built in the late 1940’s. It is not recorded on the 1945 OS map so was clearly built after this date (see appendix 1). According to the Deben Valley Place Names survey, the house was built in Little Church Field, also known as Watsons Field. The location of the house is on the junc-tion of Marlesford Road and the B1078 Tunstall Road.

The original house was quite small (see appendix 2), but was extended by future owners and eventually totally renovated so that there is little of the original house now left. It is believed that the garden was unfenced and in the early days stretched all the way to the railway line, roughly twice the size of the current garden.

Harold and Edith DiveThe first occupants, whether as tenants or owners isn’t known, were Harold and Edith Dive. Harold was born on 17th February 1892. in Brede, Sussex. In about 1916 he joined the Metropolitan Police as a Constable and in 1917 during World War I Harold served in the Grenadier Guards (see appendix 3). He married Edith Brann in

Benenden, Kent on 28th April 1917.

According to the 1939 Register, Harold was still a Police Constable working for the Metropolitan Police. His wife, Edith, was living at Church Cottage at this time along with Mr & Mrs Frank and Ada Wordley. Edith was elder sister of Ada. It is interest-ing to speculate why Harold and Edith were living separately. Possibly the outbreak of WWII was the reason as Edith may have moved to our village to live with her sis-ter as it was considered safer than living in London at the time.

1939 Register

Harold’s address in 1939 was Mayola Road in Hackney, hence the first name of the house was Mayola.

Harold died in 1966 and his death is recorded in Sussex, so he and Edith had left the village by this time. Emily survived him and lived until 1970. No record of any chil-dren has been found.

The next occupants of Mayola were Arthur Gordon Mann and his mother Gertrude Elizabeth Mann (née Shedlock). Arthur was born in Framlingham on the 29th June 1895. In the 1901 census he is recorded as living with his grandmother, Re-bekah Shedlock, at The Limes, Hacheston. He was educated at Framlingham College and is recorded there on the 1911 census. He and his mother are also recorded as liv-

ing at

Mayola on the 1958 Electoral Roll.

Arthur died whilst still living at Mayola, as his probate record testifies:

It is believed that Arthur’s mother died on 14th January 1964 and her death is recorded at Scole, Norfolk.

The next occupants were the Cadman family and it is thought that they changed the name from Mayola to Threeways. Alfred Cadman and his wife Marjorie had previ-ously been living at the Old Rectory having moved there after Alfred left his job working for Lord Lowther of the High House. Whilst at the Old Rectory they looked after the owner. Marjorie was a member of the Wordley family as she was born in 1911 to Frank and Ada Emma (née Brann) Wordley.

Alfred and Marjorie’s son, Andrew, and his wife, Linda, joined them at Threeways. Later, Andrew a policeman) and Linda’s two children, Carolyn and Louise, also lived at the house.

As well as changing the name of the house they also extended it. Carolyn1 explains that the original house was tiny and needed extending (see appendix 2).  Carolyn writes:

Originally the two bedrooms had wardrobes and a sink in each room, as well as back-to-back brick fireplaces/chimneys. There was also back to back fireplaces in the 1 We are grateful to Carolyn for providing us with much information about the house.

sitting room and kitchen. The extension was built by a builder from Snape called Neville. The annexe added a utility corridor, a bedroom with toilet and sink, plus a kitchen/lounge at the back (number 3 in blue on the attached diagram). G&G (Granny and Grandad) moved in early 80s and we all lived there until 1993 when Granny died. Grandad died December1996 having moved into a home a few months in late 95/early 96.

Carolyn gives us a flavour of what life was like at Threeways:

·             The original house had a flagstone patio out of the front which Dad extended in metre squares in the 80s with a load of liquid concrete, spare concrete slabs into which he buried broken plates and glass bottles.

·             Grandad made himself an allotment (back right of the garden, other side of the big beech tree if that still exists).

·             We never had any fences which meant that the garden kind of morphed into the surrounding fields, apart from as you come into the front garden where there was a pronounced bank (in part to help mark the edge of the footpath).

·             In the early eighties Dad and I built a Den on the right border of the garden un-der another beech tree. It was a corrugated iron affair which I furnished with a chair, table, old shelves and old toys. There must still be some old toys buried in the soil as I recall digging up a pencil case full of felt tips in the late 80s.

·             The back of the garden was marked on the left next to the footpath with Dad’s bonfire pitch and then a line of hazel bushes (which produced a good crop of nuts most years)

·             There was a Crabapple tree mid way up the bank on the left of the front garden on the left

·             On the left of the drive was a bank which separated the garden from the foot-path and field. Before you got to the Crabapple tree there were two tree stumps, which were home to Mr Mouse and his family. Dad told Louise and I stories about Mr Mouse every evening for most of my primary years.

·             Louise and I tried to dig a swimming pool under the three pine trees that were on the left as you looked out of the original kitchen window. All we dug up were the roots of the pine trees.

·             The famous Campsea Ashe bonfire was held one year on the field to the left of the house between Threeways and the Church. That’s a whole other story. Louise and I took part in it and I loved it.

·             One of my most favourite memories of Threeways is of hot summer evenings, be-ing inside doing homework, and hearing the roar of a gas fire overhead as Bryan

[xxx] from Allonsfield was launching a hot air balloon from a field next door. It was brilliant having a hot air balloonist as a neighbour and something which I treasure having lived in Bristol for 15 years (massive hot air balloon community).

·             My least favourite memory is of waking up in the night to firecrackers being lit around the house as someone convicted of a crime attempted to seek revenge on Dad.

·             My funniest memory is of Mum being on her own in the house and being scared

because the dog wouldn’t stop barking. She eventually called the Police who arrived to find a hedgehog on the front doorstep.

Andrew and Linda left Threeways in 1999 and moved to Wickham Market. However, they maintained contact with the village and were well known residents. Most no-tably Andrew was a Church Warden and Linda ran the Mothers Union. Both have now passed away and their ashes are buried in the churchyard.

Alfred and Marjorie Cadman Andrew and Linda Cadman

Mr and Mrs Youngman bought the house in 1999 and stayed for four years. They had a rotweiller dog and so it was necessary to fence in the grounds, probably the first time a fence had been erected around the whole garden. The Youngman’s had a prob-lem with the public footpath which ran from the road through the house driveway to the railway line and beyond. The footpath was, and is, little used and most ramblers would happily divert around the garden along the field next to it. However, some ramblers complained and it was necessary for Mr Youngman to apply to have the footpath formally diverted for 100 yards or so at some considerable expense.

In 2003 Richard and Margaret Kitson, along with their two sons, bought Three-ways and lived there until 2010. The main change they made to the house was to add a large conservatory at the rear of the house. Richard became Vice Chairman of the Parish Council.

The Kitson’s left in 2010 .

Appendix 11945 OS map

Threeways is not present and was, therefore, built after this date. The footpath is clearly shown. Threeways is now located where the word ‘House’ is indicated on the map.

Appendix 2Sketch plans of how the house was extended, with thanks to Carolyn Cadman.

Appendix 3