Wollaston Village
Community Contributions
This website is built on local knowledge. Every photograph, memory, document and family story shared by residents helps tell the full story of Wollaston village life — past and present.
What we're looking for
Every contribution matters
The Wollaston Village archive is a community project. We are not a museum or a professional archive — we are a group of residents trying to record and share the history and life of the village before memories fade and photographs are lost. Whatever you have, however small it seems, could be exactly what we're missing.
Photographs
Old photographs of the village, streets, buildings, events, people and everyday life. Any era welcome — the older the better.
- Street scenes
- Village events
- Family portraits in the village
- Old shops and businesses
- School photographs
Memories
Personal memories of growing up in Wollaston, working here, shopping here or visiting. Written accounts, recorded conversations or brief notes all welcome.
- Childhood memories
- Working life
- Old shops and services
- Village characters
- Events and occasions
Documents & Records
Old letters, receipts, bills, programmes, newspapers, maps, school reports, trade directories or any paper records connected with Wollaston.
- Trade directories
- School records
- Church programmes
- Local newspapers
- Business receipts or adverts
Family History
Family trees, genealogical research or family stories connected with Wollaston families — past or present.
- Family trees
- Census research
- Occupational records
- Family stories
- Connections to village trades
From the community
Recent contributions
A collection of 1930s–1970s photographs showing the High Street, the old Co-op and village life donated by a local family.
A resident's memory of buying sweets from the corner shop on Howard Road as a child — now a hair salon — shared by a family with roots in the village going back generations.
Memories of Pearson's Garage and the Shell petrol pumps opposite the old Wollaston Inn, contributed by a former resident.
Recollections of the Co-op butcher's on Newton Road and the bakery near Thrift Street, from a resident who grew up in the village in the 1960s.
Village life
Clubs & Societies
Wollaston has a rich tradition of community clubs and organisations. If your club isn't listed here, get in touch and we'll add it.
Cricket
Wollaston Cricket Club
Founded 1870
Situated in the heart of the East Midlands, Wollaston CC fields three Saturday senior teams competing in the Northamptonshire Cricket League, plus a thriving youth section with teams at Under 9, 11, 13, 15 and 19 levels.
Kelly's Directory, 1910
Wollaston's Social Clubs in 1910
Kelly's Directory of 1910 records three social institutions that were at the heart of Wollaston community life at the peak of the boot and shoe era. These clubs provided reading rooms, recreation, music and fellowship for working families — a reminder that the village's tradition of coming together is far older than living memory.
1893–1930 · Newton Road / Council Street
Wollaston Club & Coffee Tavern
Known as The Fountain, this was Wollaston's first Coffee House and Public Reading Room, opened November 1893 at the Newton Road and Council Street junction. With reading and news rooms, a billiard room and around 160 members, it offered a sober alternative to the public house — fellowship, news and recreation without alcohol. Manager in 1910: George Green.
The building closed as The Fountain in 1930. A Wollaston Parish Council plaque, placed in AD 2000, marks the site today. The building is now home to the Wollaston Thrift Shop, which raises funds for the community library — a fitting continuation of the spirit of public service that The Fountain embodied.
Source: Kelly's Directory, 1910 · Wollaston Parish Council plaque, 2000
Est. before 1910
Wollaston Working Men's Club Ltd
A formally constituted limited company — reflecting the scale and ambition of the working men's club movement in Edwardian Northamptonshire.
Secretary: John Green
Working men's clubs were a cornerstone of community life in industrial villages across England.
Est. before 1910
Wollaston Excelsior Band Club & Institute
Combined a brass band with a social club and institute — music, fellowship and self-improvement under one roof.
Listed in Kelly's Directory, 1910
Brass bands were central to the social life of Northamptonshire's boot and shoe communities.
Source: Kelly's Directory of Northamptonshire, 1910. Do you have photographs, programmes or memories connected with any of these clubs? Share what you know.