Our Local History Group collaborated with Kingswood Arts, the community group that runs Kingswood House, to research the lives of some of the many people who worked in Kingswood House back when it was a private home and later when it was a Canadian wartime hospital. Community artist Kremena Dimitrova then made a beautiful exhibition to share the stories (see below), which now hangs in the café at the house. The original research by our group is available below, where you can find out about the appropriately-named Roots family who were gardeners going back generations, or the Burfoots who started out as coachmen but became chauffeurs when cars replaced horses. To introduce the house itself we have an article, Kingswood, and an online talk: Bovril Castle: the Story of Kingswood House.
If you find these pages because you are related to one of the families who worked at the house, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch at
- The Burfoot Family
- The Chapman Family
- The Gannon Family
- The Inglefield Family
- The Langford Family
- The Nye Family
- The Parker Family
- The Pratt Family
- The Redward Family
- The Roots Family
- The Sheppard Family
- The Sherry Family
- The Smith Family
- Irene Layman
As yet we have no information on the people listed here except that we know they worked at Kingswood House. If you recognise any of the names please get in touch at the email address above.
Seasons of Kingswood Life by Kremena Dimitrova (download sizes: small · medium):
