Mary Russell Mitford

For a good many years the Group has taken responsibility for decorating one of the windows in St. Michael’s Church in Spencers Wood at Christmas. This year the theme is Christmas Carols which brought to mind the book, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens…

Many of you will be familiar with this Christmas ghost story which tells how after being haunted by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet-to-Come, Scrooge is persuaded to live a better life and to be more generous to the poor, starting with his own employee Bob Cratchit. When Dickens was 12 years old his own father was thrown into debtor’s

prison and Dickens himself was forced to leave school to work in a boot-blacking factory. After this, Dickens took a lifelong interest in the plight of the Poor, campaigning for Children’s Rights, Education and social reform.

In this he was joined by another literary figure, local author Mary Russell Mitford from Three Mile Cross. Both of them were involved with the founding of the imposing Reading Literary, Scientific and Mechanical Institution in London Road, later known as Great Expectations – and now recently renamed, Hotel 1843 Reading. When the Institution was opened, by a formal dinner attended by Mary Russell Mitford, in October 1843, Dickens was too busy to attend: “A Christmas Carol” was published just two months later in December 1843.

Our Christmas window depicts the deep inequality in Victorian society with a generously decorated Christmas tree on one side and on the other a simple “twig-tree” decorated with dried fruit slices. In the middle is a copy of “A Christmas Carol” and more information about Charles Dickens and Mary Russell Mitford.

Right: Patricia, Jackie, Edward and Lesley who created this year’s window

A colleague noticed that road names have recently been installed on the roads serving the new Stanbury View estate. On the lefthand side of Basingstoke Road as you climb up the hill from Three Mile Cross, the estate is of course named after Stanbury, the house built on the opposite side of the road for Frederick Alfrey in the 1860s. (You would have to have outstanding eyesight to “view” Stanbury as it was demolished after a fire in the 1960s.)

Left. Lietenant’s Cottage, formerly the Star

The full history of Stanbury and the surrounding estate can be found in our book More from our Village of Spencers Wood, which is still available at the reduced price of £5.00.

Star Rise, one of the two roads into Stanbury View, commemorates a further episode from local history. Although now better known as the Lieutenant’s Cottage, this was once the Star, described as a beer house – less classy than an inn – run, at the time of the 1851 census, by William and Mary Marlow. At that time, due to its position on the main road to Basingstoke, and beyond that Portsmouth, Three Mile Cross was a regular staging post for coaches and supported a number of pubs. In the same 1851 census, a total of five, including the Star, are recorded: The Fox and Horses, run by Joel and Lucy Brent, The George and Dragon, run by George Banks and his sister Sarah, The Rose and Crown run by George and Mary Strong and the Swan run by William and Mary Barry.

The best known resident of Three Mile Cross at that time was Mary Mitford, the author of Our Village. Mayflower Meadow, the other new road into the estate, is not named after the ship of that name but after one of Mary Mitford’s dogs, Mayflower, or May as she calls her. With Lizzie, her other dog, they were her companions on her many trips around the village.

Right. The George and Dragon one of five pubs in Three Mile Cross in the 1850s.

Christmas 2024

Star Rise and Mayflower Meadow