In search of the Hens
Kate Nicholls gathers recollections of the ‘China Hens’ – the two remarkable women who played a crucial role in the creation and development of Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust
Hens’ Orchard – “a most fitting legacy”
I have been managing the Hens’ Orchard for several years now and it’s become a very popular place for visitors to Barton Farm, to stop and look around, have a picnic or sit on Simon’s bench to stay a while, enjoying the surrounding trees.
On the noticeboard there’s a notice that reads:
“This orchard was planted in 2014 by Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust in celebration of its 50th Anniversary and in honour of its two founders Elizabeth Stephenson and Katherine MacKean.”
But who were these two people?
I knew the names well and had seen a photograph of ‘the Hens’. I understood their importance to the Trust, but very little about the women themselves.
A chance, brief conversation with Glenys Lunt and Liz Harris led me to wanting to know more about them and to share my findings with newer members and remind longer-standing members of their important role.
Looking at Bradford today, it’s hard to imagine the slums described here:
“After World War Two, the atrocious condition of the working-class housing in Bradford on Avon achieved national notoriety. One Government enquiry described Bradford’s slums as being ‘as bad as the worst inner-city slums in the north of England’. The worst areas included St Margaret’s, Tory and Middle Rank, and Wine Street.”
The Preservation Society was formed in 1959 to rescue these areas and reverse the Urban District Council’s policy of pulling them all down and rebuilding.
Fairly early on, two different views emerged of how the Society should develop: those that favoured a more hands-on approach were led by Elizabeth Stephenson and Katherine MacKean, often referred to as ‘The Hens’ after the name of their antique shop, The China Hen. Number 9 Woolley Street was their home and where they ran the shop.
Everyone who contributed to this collection of the Hens’ stories has confirmed that Elizabeth Stephenson was a formidable, forthright and determined lady – and it was she who acquired the Priory Barn, built at the end of the 15th century, and by the 1950s a ruin.
Together, she and Katherine MacKean set about raising funds for restoration of this building, and the Preservation Trust was set up in 1964 to manage the venture.
The 1970s, Andrew Jenkins relates, were great years for planning and restoration. When the Trust acquired Silver Street House, worries about restoration costs were brushed aside by Elizabeth – she organised an auction to raise funds, telephoning “the great and the good” to donate pieces. Andrew vetted the items and George Lunt and Elizabeth arranged the auction in a packed out St Margaret’s Hall – it was financially a great success.
Delving back into the archives of Guardian Angel, Dorna Daw and Glenys Lunt found the obituaries – firstly, that of Elizabeth, who died in 1993. In her obituary John Teed wrote:
“I first met Elizabeth when she and Katherine 8 MacKean came to buy Robin Eden’s antique business in Silver Street, forty years ago [1953]. I was asked to meet them as my antique shop was almost next door – and so hatched ‘The China Hen’. I was slightly intimidated by Elizabeth when we first met. She had a severe, straight hairstyle, drawn close back in a large bun at the nape of her neck. Very like a St Trinian’s school mistress, but it didn’t take long to realise that there were sterling qualities to be discovered. She was generous, appreciative and fastidious in her taste. Her manner sometimes forthright – a little too much for some perhaps – but you always knew where you were with her and it was thoroughly well worth knowing. I remember saying several years ago, that if ever I were in real trouble, Elizabeth Stephenson was the one person I would go to before anyone else, as she would move heaven and earth to help one, whatever it entailed.”
Memories of both Hens’ kindness are endorsed by Glenys Lunt. She recalls: “One day in the late ’70s Katherine knocked on our door on Sladesbrook and handed over a huge Black Forest cherry cake which had been sent to the Hens by their German friends and which she said they would be unable to eat. As a then hard-up young family it was a delicious and welcome gift. These small acts of kindness and generosity do stay in one’s mind!”
Katherine died in 1996 – and her obituary (in Guardian Angel) reads: “She was Scottish and educated in Edinburgh and then went to Edinburgh University where she gained a first class degree in German. While at university, she enjoyed sailing and supported Scotland at Rugby Union internationals at Murrayfield. After university she took up teaching in Manchester and later in Carlisle. During the war she was called on to teach German to officers and men training to take over military government when the war ended. In the early fifties she and Elizabeth retired from teaching, moved to Bradford on Avon and opened their antique shop.”
There aren’t many photos of the Hens, but Dorna Daw remembers Katherine as “to quote Alexander McCall- Smith, ‘traditionally built’, and like many Scots, had a sweet tooth. She had wavy, grey hair and a handsome face, good bone structure and just a hint of her Scottish origin in her voice. They both wore subdued colours – and always considerate and caring of each other.”
Dorna continue: “Elizabeth was slim, with a very straight back and wore glasses. Her hair was a rich brown, thick and amazingly its colour stayed for the rest of her life.”
Andrew Jenkins first met the Hens in 1963 when he and his wife Vibeke opened Avon Antiques. “Elizabeth spoke abruptly and sometimes put many people off or annoyed them, but we found that if you ‘gave back’ as good as you got, Elizabeth liked it and respected you.
“Katherine was quieter and firm, but she always got her way with Elizabeth!”
Andrew relates that after complaining about the conditions of town properties and alterations, Elizabeth told him she had arranged for him to be co-opted onto the Trust’s Council of Management. Meetings were on Wednesdays at 5.30pm and ended abruptly at 6.30pm so the Hens could return home and cook dinner. Any outstanding agenda items were put off until the next meeting.
In the 1970s Andrew and Katherine formed the Planning Committee and visited the Urban District Council offices in Westbury Gardens to check planning applications. “Katherine almost bullied the staff to allow us to see everything.”
George Lunt (who moved to Bradford with his wife Glenys in 1971) remembers the Hens well:
“We heard that the Preservation Trust had some allotments for rent to members so we joined the Trust. The allotments were in the garden of Lynchetts and we learned that the house and garden had very recently been given to the Trust. The house was not in good shape and had some sitting tenants. As new members of the Trust and new allotment holders we were invited to meet Katherine McKean and Elizabeth Stephenson. I remember well the first greeting from Elizabeth – ‘Oh, Dr Lunt, we were expecting an elderly gentleman!’
“Katherine was a very keen gardener and took a special interest in hydroponics. She had a small greenhouse, behind what was then the fruit store in Lynchetts’ garden, which was equipped with a water supply and growing lights. Elizabeth was not a hands-on gardener but that never prevented her from telling us exactly what we should and shouldn’t be doing on our allotment. I recall her telling me in no uncertain terms that I had been far too severe in cutting back some of the shrubbery alongside our allotment strip.
“Before long, the China Hens had recruited me to the Council of Management of the Trust. Katherine was excellent at networking with a wide variety of bodies in the area of building conservation. Lynchetts was on the one hand a valuable asset but also a great liability;
it needed some serious maintenance work and also had tenants that demanded management time. The concept of a ‘revolving fund’ emerged, whereby Lynchetts would be sold on a long lease and the capital then used to fund another restoration project.
“Katherine had already established a strong relationship with the then owner of Silver Street House, which was in a very sorry state of repair. The Council of Management was a little wary of embarking on such a plan but encouraged by Katherine in her own very quiet way and being very firmly told by Elizabeth to stop worrying and get on with it, the doubters were persuaded! The sale of Lynchetts proceeded and the restoration of Silver Street House proceeded. Katherine again excelled in bringing together various grant-giving bodies whereby we had access to interest-free loans, repayable on the sale of the newly refurbished flats in Silver Street House.
“The then President of the Trust, Alex Moulton, was a great friend of the China Hens. Interestingly, he shared many characteristics with Elizabeth, absolutely single minded, little time for those that did not agree with him but very respectful of anyone who put forward well- documented and sound arguments against him. He had no doubts that the Trust was doing exactly the right thing in its plans to put its capital funds to work.”
Bradford on Avon has, naturally, changed and grown a lot since those early days of the Trust and so too the Trust has moved on. We now have different challenges and opportunities. But I leave it to George Lunt to sum up the vital contribution made by Elizabeth Stephenson and Katherine MacKean: "It's no exaggeration to say that the China Hens made a truly remarkable contribution to Bradford on Avon. In the late 1960s they were leading lights in the campaign that put an end to the local authority's incredible plans to demolish Tory and Middle Rank and build 'modern dwellings' on the site As the Preservation Trust grew in standing in the town, they each in their very different ways encouraged and instructed it to take on ambitious projects and venture into quite new areas of property development. The Trust and the town owe a great deal to the Hens and the orchard that bears their name is a most fitting legacy." I must thank the many contributors who have provided me with their memories: Dorna Daw, Andrew and Vibeke Jenkins, George and Glenys Lunt, Mary Ashton and Richard Nadin.
I'm sure that many of you have lasting memories of the Hens. Perhaps there's scope for a History of the Hens, Part II? I'd be interested to hear from you.
