More tales from Watnall Hall, today's is about the gamekeeper, Mr. Freeman.
Mr. Freeman was the gamekeeper in the 1920's, and most of the village children were scared stiff of him as he used to chase them if they went birds nesting and scrumping. Mr. Ken Livermore used to go down to his home, Woodpit Cottage, as they both were interested in shooting, and Mr. Livermore used to act as a beater on such occasions. "I remember one day - it were about this time of year - and he says, 'Are you going to stop and have a bit of dinner with us ?', And he says, You can find Ken a bit of dinner can't you?" to his wife and she says, 'Oh yes, there's plenty’ and she says, ‘We've got roast rabbit today'. Roast rabbit? I'd never heard of it, but you know it were delicious. I did enjoy it. Oh, I used to go down there a lot. "
Mr. Livermore added that he went shooting on the Temple estate at Nuthall and at Watnall too. "At Temple, I used to get 1/6d a rabbit there. At Watnall they gave us a bit more. I'm not sure that it was 6/-. "
He and Walter Bramley between them recalled an unlucky accident that happened to Mr. Freeman. It was the custom in those days to carry shotguns in the "unbroken" position, as otherwise the cartridges might fall out. The hammers were gently lowered on to the cartridges in the half-cocked position and the gun carried like this.
One day Mr. Freeman was getting over a wire fence on the estate, and he leaned his gun against the fence whilst he climbed over. Unfortunately, the gun started to slip on the wire, and as it fell the wire caught one of the hammers and pulled it back. Mr. Freeman saw what was happening and made a grab for the barrel, catching it in his right hand just as the hammer fell and the gun discharged, blowing off his index finger. Mr. Freeman soon recovered from the injury, but it took him a lot longer to learn to shoot accurately again, using his middle finger to pull the trigger.
Mr. Dennis Johnson recalls Mr. Freeman's gibbet, placed there to warn off animals of whose behaviour the gamekeeper did not approve., "The footpath used to go along the front of this cottage, and in the trees to the east of it, in the front of the cottage was the Gamekeeper's Gibbet - dead magpies, dead jackdaws, dead stoats. I can remember that distinctly - I can remember the sight of it, with all the dead vermin- I can remember the smell of it."
From RA Horton "Watnall Hall and the Rollestons"
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