Feature Articles

Roger Freeman Part 1: Life in Dedham during wartime (pdf 409Kb)
The recollections of farmer and historian Roger Freeman recorded on tape, August 2005. The Freeman family farmed near Lamb Corner to the south-west of the Parish.

Roger Freeman Part 2: Life in Dedham in Wartime (pdf 806Kb)
This is the second part of that account with more to follow. These poignant boyhood memories, recounted with such clarity and at a time when he was clearly suffering, give a fascinating and invaluable account of what many of the more senior members of the DVS will themselves still remember.

Roger Freeman Part 3: Dedham - Seventy Years Ago (pdf 459Kb)
The third part of the recollections of the late Roger Freeman who died in the Autumn of 2005 a few weeks after dictating this vivid account of his early life in Dedham.

Roger Freeman Part 4: Dedham - Seventy Years Ago (pdf 27Kb)
The final part of the late Roger Freeman’s account of life in Dedham.

Mistley, Manningtree and David Cleveland (pdf 575Kb)
DVS member Maureen Cleave has interviewed David Cleveland, film maker, author and founder of the East Anglian Film Archive, who lives in Manningtree.

The Cottage (pdf 398Kb)
There has been concern in a number of quarters that the small country cottage,so much part of the rural scene for many hundreds of years, is in danger of losing its identity as owners either substantially enlarge them or add features which are not of the vernacular.

The Cottager (pdf 663Kb)
Until the mid twentieth century, most country dwellers were either self-sufficient or very nearly so. The rapid increase in mobility due largely to the motor-car,and the fact that incomes have risen substantially enabling the populace to purchase an ever-widening choice of food relatively cheaply, has reduced the need for home food-production to almost nothing. Few true "Cottagers" remain.

Living in a Listing Building (pdf 652Kb)
Recalling their experiences of the stringent rules and regulations laid down by the Planning Authorities.

Sherman's, Dedham (pdf 22Kb)

Musings from Shrubs Farm (pdf 233Kb)

The Primative Methodist Chapel at Dedham Heath (pdf 386Kb)

Wilfred Sadler - Shoe Repairer - Manningtree (pdf 441Kb)

Can The Traditional Village Pub Survive? (pdf 637Kb)
With the last minute halt to the demolition of the newly-closed Anchor Inn, Dedham, Membership Secretary John Osborn explores this question.

The Society's New President, Robert Erith (pdf 179Kb)
A profile by Maureen Cleave