The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 7

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our 5th Stop

 The Lathbury School of Thomas Hollyman

May 18, 2019

The day was getting long toward 5:00 pm when we arrived at Lathbury, a 16th and 17th Century school and church not far from Sherington.  We know from a history of Sherington that Thomas Holliman, the father of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, matriculated here in 1596, probably about 15 years of age.

The school closed a century later and the stones were used to restore the church and acquired by others in the village.  Today, a raised mound of dirt and a few markers occupy the space where my 8th great grand father would have studied the classics.

Below on the site, left to right, Kathleen Holliman, Dr. Jim Holliman, Rob Fenske, Mary Holliman Fenske, Becky Holliman Payne, Glenn Joiner with his wife, Kathy, behind him, and finally Susan G. White.

Murals from the Middle Ages still hold to the surface of the 13th Century church adjacent to the now vacant school site.  No doubt Thomas Hollyman worshiped here often and gazed at the then visible paintings.

The lane to Lathbury was narrow and our careful driver took some time to back up.  This photograph is from Sherington and one can see the size of the coach.  Many  English village streets such as in Lathbury are narrow, often only one lane.  This photograph shows a considerably wider street.

 It had been a long day and after a ride back to Moreton in Marsh, we dispersed, had supper and called it a day, because the Sunday would be filled with more stops and another step back in history!