This is definitely the day!

Half an hour ago I was sitting at my Mac writing up today’s blip, which was about a new sign I’d seen on our walk, when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was a visit from our granddaughters, I hurried to open the door, only to find an elderly lady standing in front of me, whom I’ve never seen before, and who apologised for disturbing me. She then proceeded to tell me that she used to live in our house. We had never met her when we bought it twenty five years ago because she was abroad at the time, and it was her son who showed us round.

She started telling me how the house had always had a special place in her heart, and she started asking questions about some alterations we had made to it after we bought it. I felt a bit concerned that she was intent on causing trouble; she seemed a bit confused and dishevelled and I was uncertain as to why she’d come now, so long after she sold it to us.

Until … she suddenly mentioned that she had the original deeds of the house, and it became clear that she was going to let me have them. She said it was now or never, they were very precious to her but she was going to give them to me. I walked with her to her car parked in the road, in which were two dogs, so she wouldn’t leave them to come into the house, she just handed me a plastic bag containing all these beautiful old documents. One of them is a plan of the entire estate of the original big house called Monkhams, which had been owned by Arnold Hills, chairman of The Thames Ironworks in Canning Town, who was a keen sportsman and founded West Ham United Football Club in 1895 for his ironworks employees. (NB This is why West Ham are nicknamed "The Hammers" and "Irons"). However, by the turn of the century the ironworks was struggling and Arnold Hills sold Monkhams and its land to one James Twentyman, who quickly began to sell the land as building plots. Our house was built in 1904 and the original deeds are in this photo. 

For someone who is a fanatical archivist and family historian, this was a magical moment for me. The lady wouldn’t give me her contact details, or accept any payment, and just drove off down the road, leaving me almost speechless with shock and delight.

So, instead of a boring photo of a council sign on a grass verge, I am happy to show you these amazing documents. I can feel a lot of scanning and archiving coming on!