Our most recent blog – one in a series about the families commemorated in recent road names – concerned the Pither Family and one branch in particular, a family of women farmers during the nineteenth century. Although this branch of the family died out I concluded the post by stating that other branches of the family continued to live locally and included an image of an old advert for Pithers the Butchers in Wokingham. The advert included the information that they had other shops in Spencers Wood and Swallowfield. This set one of our members on a trail linked to members of her own family…
The photo to the right is of Pither’s butchers shop on Basingstoke Road in Spencers Wood. Older residents of the village may remember this as Sheerman’s Butchers – now Healthy Buildings International. Dating from 1908, the photo shows our member’s great grandfather standing outside the shop. Not a member of the Pither family himself, he was however employed by them. Our member obtained it from her uncle who inherited it from her great aunt.
If your family has connections with Spencers Wood, Three Mile Cross or Ryeish Green or you have old photos of any of the three villages we’d love to hear from you. Contact details are on the Home Page.