‘QUAINT CLENT HOME UNDER THE HAMMER’

Episode 61 of the popular BBC TV series Homes under the Hammer, shown earlier this month, has created a steady wave of interest within and around the Clent area. The programme follows the progress of selected properties which are offered for sale around the country. Viewers live through the dramas of the auction room, sharing prospective buyers thoughts on the property and what they are buying into and any plans they may have for making changes to it by bringing it up to date, extending the life of a building and also their hopes of adding to its future value on the property market.

The featured home in Clent was a small terraced cottage in the Holy Cross area of the village. This until recent years had been  the home of Mrs Lily Griffiths. Lily regularly attended our meetings and events over many years. She died at the age of 106 having lived in the same house for most of those years. Those who visited her at home were always happy to take a seat near her wonderful kitchen range which was lit everyday and to enjoy a chat. The range featured in the TV programme – to keep or not to keep.

In Lily’s 100th year this is what she said about her range.

‘I love my home and being in it. I’ve got my old kitchen range still. It’s wonderful to look at and it keeps me so warm becuase it’s built in the middle and the heat warms the whole house through. I don’t polish it now. I have someone comes in and helps me out once a week. I do dust though every day. I like to have a routine. That’s another reason I’ve lived so long, I think, having a set routine of doing things on a certain day.

The range has a chimney that gets swept once a year, that costs me £30 and I use coal which is very expensive now- £15 a bag. ‘

Extract from a transcription of  the Black Country Talking Magazine’s interview with Lily.

Download a transcript of the whole interview entitled – “Lily Griffiths. 100 Not Out!” (Originally recorded in 2010 through the Thomas Pocklington Trust which offers housing and support for people with sight loss).

Lilly’s home also featured in Steady Air and Striding, an historical fiction novel set in Clent during 1901. We still have copies available to purchase. Contact us for details.

Illustration by Phil Buckley for Steady Air and Striding: Clent 1901

Illustration by Phil Buckley for Steady Air and Striding: Clent 1901

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