The Thirsk Family & The Kilns

When I first visited C. S. Lewis' former home, The Kilns, in 1982, it was owned by the Thirsks. I never knew anything about this family until reading Joan Thirsk's obituary today in a back issue of Oxford Today....

Joan Thirsk

19 June 1922–3 October 2013

(Irene) Joan Thirsk (née Watkins) CBE, FBA, Reader in Economic History and Professorial Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, from 1965 to 1983, died on 3 October 2013 aged 91. Born in London, she was educated at Camden School for Girls and Westfield College, London, but her undergraduate education was interrupted by war service at Bletchley Park. Returning to Westfield College, she graduated in History then completed a PhD on English agrarian history. For 14 years she was a research fellow at the University of Leicester before moving to Oxford. She wrote on all aspects of English agricultural and rural history and was general editor of the Agrarian History of England and Wales. She was elected an FBA in 1974 and made a CBE in 1994. She is survived by her husband, Jimmy, and two children.

I also found this piece online from a book of essays written in Joan Thirsk's honor....

When Jimmy retired from his post as librarian at Acton Borough Library, the family was able to move to Oxford. Joan already possessed a small terraced house in one of the back streets near St Hilda’s, purchased as a term-time foothold. Behind a somewhat unprepossessing exterior, she had once again quickly made a cosy home, but it was too small for the family as a whole. Finding a suitable new abode in Oxford seemed as frustrating as finding the house in Meadway; though met with the customary Thirsk composure, one sensed that it was a vexation of spirit. Eventually, however, C. S. Lewis’s old house, The Kilns, on Headington Hill came into view and they bought it. It was a large early-twentieth-century bungalow, to which a wing had been added at the back; there was plenty of space, but much needed doing to it. Though it stands on a hill, looking up to the woods that crown Headington, they were almost immediately faced with a flooded garden. When that had been dealt with by an outside firm, Jimmy turned his skill as a handyman, and Martin his genius at electronics, to bringing the interior up to date. The Kilns remained their home for the rest of Joan’s time in Oxford. But when she took early retirement, they decided to pluck up their roots for the last time and transfer themselves permanently to the house at Hadlow in Kent which they had purchased in the early 1950s as a holiday home.

Apparently, Jimmy Thirsk is still living, for I also found this piece online....

Hadlow Tower enthusiast and long-time supporter for its restoration, Jimmy Thirsk, celebrated his 100th birthday on 30th May. Jimmy was stationed at Bletchley Park during the 2nd World War and met his wife Joan there. They moved into part of the remaining Castle buildings in the 1950s. Sadly Joan, an acclaimed agricultural historian, died at the latter part of last year. Here is Jimmy receiving his telegram from the Queen, which was delivered by post-person Susie Simms.

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