BARKSTON -
ANOTHER FINE LAUREL AND HARDY CONNECTION
A Story of Bow
and Arrows
by Dave
Tomlinson
Barkston (aka
Barkston le Willows or Barkstone in the Willows) is a typical rural English
village set in the heart of Lincolnshire on the A607 just four miles north of
Grantham. It is a relatively small
village with a population of less than 500.
It has a church, a school, a public house, and a post office/shop. It is also an historic village with a mention
in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the name of Barchestune. The church, which is dedicated to St
Nicholas, was originally constructed in the 12th century and later rebuilt in
the Gothic style. Six almshouses for the
poor were built in 1640 and rebuilt in 1839 with eight more almshouses being built
in the 19th and 20th centuries. In
medieval times, legend has it that Robin Hood and his merry men used to
frequent this village.
This is all very interesting, I hear you say, but what
does this little historic village have to do with our comic heroes, Laurel
& Hardy?
(Apart, that is, from a tenuous
link to the Boys playing a couple of failed outlaws in Fra Diavolo!)
Well, it all begins with Stan Laurel`s sister,
Beatrice Olga Jefferson. Olga, as she
preferred to be called, began life in the theatre as an actress, continuing
what had become a family tradition treading the boards. Just after the First World War, she lived in
the Grantham area and whilst on an engagement at the local Grantham Theatre
Royal she met local musician William Henry Healey. Bill, played cello and banjo in the
theatre’s orchestra. Following a short
and undistinguished career in acting, Olga retired from the stage and the two
lived together for a while, before marrying and settling down in the little
In 1927 and 1932, summer breaks in the film schedule
on the Hal Roach Studio Lot allowed Stan Laurel time to return to
Click to Stan Visits Olga in
Grantham in 1927
Click to Olga Visits Stan in
London in 1932