Al, your local knowledge is really helpful. With regards to the photos, thanks for the offer - but the lady who took them has confirmed that they are of the Murco site. This is confirmed by the fact that site is next to Ark Veterinary Centre who recently submitted plans for apartments and car parkings for their surgery on this land (the site was described as "The force Murco site" in the planning app).
My Mum is 100% certain that my g-grandfather sold some land to Tweeds for a garage (she remembers the garage being on the land, but is a little hazy as to exactly which plot of their land it was on - it was, of course, a long time ago). Thanks to your help I now know it wasn't the plot on Church Lane/Heath Road corner (presumably that is more recent - i.e. long after the Clarke branch of the family sold the last of their land).
I've already got a copy of the crappy old map too, but some of the detailing is a bit difficult to make out. I'm now trying to figure out where the plot that you mention as being Tweeds is on the current A-Z map that I have. I am assuming that it is between London Road and The Chase, perhaps near to where there is a church/chapel indicated ? Am I getting this right ??
I've not seen Whites 1848, but I have viewed the Kellys and PO Directories for 1874, 1882, 1894, 1902 and 1914 (they are available free online at historicaldirectories DOT org. I have managed to extract some information from these, but most is unspecific. Coupled with Census information I know where some of my ancestors resided, but obviously this doesn't give the full picture of land that they owned but didn't live on. I have identified No. 13 Church Lane as being one Clarke family member's residence, which I assume is on the site occupied by the old Murco garage (I can find no reference to a No. 13 on either the electoral roll or directory enquiries, so I presume this house was knocked down). There were also several others on Church Lane, but neither the census or directories give house numbers. For the Beaumont side (the business of "Beaumonts" was a partnership between various Clarkes - joiners & carpenters - and Beaumonts - builders & bricklayers), I have established the street, but again not the number. I also have No 22 London Road and 72 Lexden Street as Beaumont residences at various times. After 1914 though I have no confirmed house numbers - just the street names and reference to Tweeds garage.
If the hairdresser was born in Lexden then I would say it is fair to assume that he was a relative - my grandfather said once that all the Clarkes and all the Beaumonts in the village were related (as with many old villages, there appears to have been much intermarriage over the centuries). My grandfather did mention once a cousin of his called Roy Beaumont, but he was a director of Lloyds Bank (ending up as Chairman or Managing Director if I recall correctly - but I'm not sure when this was). I have noticed from the information that I have built up that my family had a "habit" of giving children the same first name as others within the family (e.g. there are a number of Roberts and several Alfreds) - so the chances of there being two called Roy seem quite high (perhaps the hairdresser was the son, or cousin of the banker).
I wish I had got interested in this family tree stuff when my grandfather was still alive - he had something of a photographic memory. Still, it's more fun trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together the hard way lol Your help in this is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Tony
