…especially people with an historical connection to our colourful village. So when David Bennett walked in with his wife Sally and twin grandchildren Samuel and Luke, we were ready to roll out the red carpet. The twins, aged five, are 3x great-grandsons of the fiddler Sam Bennett, who played with the Ilmington Morris side and whose fame spread around the world in the 19th century. In fact, young Samuel is named after his illustrious ancestor. The Bennett family lived at Fox House in the mid 1880s and Sam, a self-taught musician, was also a bramble merchant, farmer, bus owner and Ilmington’s “pig sticker” (the man who killed the pigs.) In his spare time, Sam could be found playing piano at The Red Lion. As part of the Victorian Midlands folk revival, his old-style singing, talking and fiddling were recorded by the musician Cecil Sharp. Sam even travelled to Canada and the States for performances and recordings on the invitation of the car manufacturer Henry Ford. “I am not musical,” said grandson David, who’s 70 and lives on the Somerset-Devon border. “But my father was exceedingly musical and I have two daughters who are. It seems to skip a generation.” David and the family had a lovely day in Ilmington, including tea cakes in the Café, a memorable visit to Fox House and a spin in the present owner’s classic car. “It has been very nice to come back,” he said. “The bare bones of the village haven’t changed, but so many new Cotswold stone houses have sprung up! It’s brought back lots of happy memories for me.” David also let on that Fox House sold for £636 in 1885. Old Sam Bennett would turn in his grave to see the prices of the houses now…
