May Savidge
May Savidge | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 25, 1911 |
| Died | April 30, 1993 (aged 81) |
| Monuments | Ware Hall House |
| Occupation | Technical illustrator |
May Savidge (25 May 1911 – 30 April 1993)[1][2] was a British technical illustrator[3] who dismantled and rebuilt her medieval home to prevent it from being demolished.[4][5]
Early life and career
May Alice Savidge was born in Streatham, London in 1911. She lost both of her parents while still young, and her fiancé while still a teenager.[6][7] Savidge went to night school and became an engineer, training as a draughtsman with De Havilland.[8] There, she was the only woman who worked on the De Havilland Mosquito during World War II.[7][8] Later, Savidge converted a river barge into a home.[8]
Ware Hall House
In 1947, Savidge purchased a semi-derelict property in Ware, Hertfordshire.[8] During renovations, she discovered Tudor features, and learned the house was much older than initially thought, built in about 1450.[8][9][10]
When the council issued a demolition order on thouse in the 1960s, to make way for a road and roundabout, Savidge decided to relocate the house brick by brick to Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.[9] She purchased a plot of land near the village green, and sought to enlist the help of both the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force to transport the house's frame.[7] When her requests were denied, Savidge hired seven lorries to move the house in its constituent parts.[7]
Savidge spent one year dismantling the house, labelling every element and making sketches.[11][12] As she worked to reconstruct the house in Norfolk, she lived in a beach caravan on the site.[8][12]
In 1975, Savidge was interviewed as part of the BBC programme Nationwide, showing her at work on the house and describing her motivations.[13] She was also featured on ThamesTV.[12] Savidge never finished reconstructing the house, but lived there until her death in 1993.[7] Her niece, Christine Adams, completed the work.[9][7]
Legacy
In 2007, the BBC's Antiques Roadshow broadcast two features on May Savidge.[11]
Miss Savidge Moves Her House, written by Christine Adams and Michael McMahon, was published in 2010.[14]
In 2025, an information board was placed in Ware near the home's original site, commemorating the house and the efforts of May Savidge.[15][16]
The rights to Savidge's story have been bought in order to turn it into a film.[7]
References
- ↑ "England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007". Find My Past. 1993. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ "England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019". Find My Past. 1993. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ "London Gazette 1665-2018". Find My Past. 1993. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ Christmas, Linda (2017-06-01). "The Extraordinary Story of May Savidge: review - Telegraph". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ "Ware Hall House". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ "1921 Census Of England & Wales". Find My Past. 1921. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Hertfordshire house rebuilt brick by brick in Norfolk". BBC News. 2026-01-02. Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "A legacy built beam by beam". KL Magazine. Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- 1 2 3 "The house that moved 100 miles". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ "The house that May built". Eastern Daily Press. 2007-11-28. Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- 1 2 Adams, Christine; McMahon, Michael (2009). A Lifetime in the Building: The Extraordinary Story of May Savidge and the House She Moved. Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-396-2.
- 1 2 3 ThamesTv (2015-12-13). House Rebuilding | May Savidge | Afternoon Plus | 1970s. Retrieved 2026-08-17 – via YouTube.
- ↑ BBC Archive (2025-11-20). 1975: The Woman Moving Her Entire House | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive. Retrieved 2026-08-17 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "Miss Savidge Moves Her House". Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- ↑ "Ware Town Council | May Savidge board unveiled in Baldock Street". Ware Town Council. Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- ↑ "Ware Town Council | Ware Society honours May Savidge's legacy". Ware Town Council. Retrieved 2026-08-17.