Stradone / Barringtons' Shop

The house opposite No 24 High Street, known as 'Stradone', still has its well in the front garden. There used to be another village shop, in a temporary building just to the left of 'Stradone', known as 'Barringtons' Shop'. 100 years ago there were very few houses with electricity and there was no mains water. About half the houses in the village had their own wells, which were shared with their neighbours. It was not until the 1920s that mains water arrived, and mains electricity arrived in the 1930s - although not immediately for everybody. Some houses in the village were still without mains water and electricity until the 1940s. The Parish Newsletter for October 1931 records the following: ‘Our little village is now becoming quite up-to-date in its equipment, for not only is the electric light to illuminate the village streets and private houses and the Church, but it is also to be installed at the Rectory and in the Village Hall ... One hopes they will not be found too expensive a luxury. With an adequate water supply and a new system of heating the Sutton Benger Hall will be one of the most useful and best equipped in the country.'