Martinholme in the centre of Chrishall was once home to Lettice Martin. Mistress Martin lived here in the 1500’s but amazingly her influence is STILL felt in and around the Chrishall area today. Why? Well in her will she left money to be set up as a charity to help the poor of Chrishall and many surrounding villages. You can see details of her charity on the village website.

The above view of Martinholme is no longer available as large trees have grown up at the back of the pond.  These trees can just be seen as saplings on the left hand side in front of the fence.  If you look carefully you can see a horse and cart right in the middle of the pond where they were presumably washing down the cart itself.  To the right another horse and cart comes down from Crawley End and a cyclist pushes his bike alongside.

Judging from the age and size of the trees we are guessing this photograph was taken around 1900 – but if you know better please let us know!