More about The Moor

Last month’s piece about the American GIs during WWII provoked quite a bit of interest. The Moor out on the road to Dorstone and Hereford had been commandeered by army authorities, and at one time was used by encamped American soldiers [1943/44?].

Pat Gwynne from Lower Mead contacted us and kindly shared her memories…

“As a young girl I remember standing at the railings of my school in Hay (which is now the Parish Hall, opposite the Con Club in Lion Street) and shouting at the American soldiers as they went by, “Got any gum chum?” and they used to give us chewing gum. They also gave us a Christmas party with jelly and iced cakes, something we had never experienced because of rationing during the War years. As I was the youngest, they gave me a red balloon. I had never seen one before.

One day when we were playing, my friend Margaret Murphy fell over and hurt her leg. Dr Paul couldn’t get her leg to heal and he had to go up to the American camp to get some M&B tablets… and they worked. Dr Paul and Dr Wilson were the local doctors but they had no supplies of the M&B tablets. Lots of the Americans went to the cinema and they were always let in first. We went up to the huts after the war. Locals lived in them and they were very nice inside.”

[Note: The new antibiotic M&B stood for the Essex laboratories of May and Baker. M&B 693 or Sulfapyridine went on the market in October 1938. It became the preferred treatment for pneumonia, and was credited with saving the lives of 33,000 victims of pneumonia a year in the United States alone. Winston Churchill was given it for pneumonia in 1943. Subsequently Churchill issued a communiqué saying "This admirable M & B, from which I did not suffer any inconvenience, was used at the earliest moment and after a week's fever the intruders were repulsed."]

Thanks to Mary Penoyre Morgan who writes, “The Moor' is singular (Moor not Moors) and probably came from 'Ty Mawr' - Big House. It's not at Hardwicke Hall which is the village hall in Hardwicke nor at Hardwicke Court where my son lives although both are owned by the Penoyre Trust. I have now done a website called www.penoyre.uk and will go on adding to this from time to time.”

David Jones also contacted us with this memory "The picture is of Cherry Trees and its former name was Lower Coopers Hall. Its name was changed in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s. It is my home. Reading through the link I see that memories of the soldiers at The Moor are being sought. I wasn’t born until 1948 so I don’t remember them at all but my grandfather kept a fish and chip shop during and after the war in Broad Street in Hay and I remember him telling us about a black American soldier ordering 2 shilling’s worth of chips which was a huge amount. A cone bag of chips cost 3 old pence so 2 shilling’s worth was 8 times that, at least. I have spoken to Eric Pugh who was in the chip shop at the time and he remembers the incident. There are other bits and pieces which I have been told about but they are not first hand memories. I can remember the huge water tank at the top of the field which provided water for the garrison and the bases of the huts can still be seen in the field if you know where to look. "