Mary Potts was born in 1846 and spent her childhood in Nag’s Head Yard.
mary was born blind and the sounds surrounding her home must have been especially vivid. Until quite recently, the livestock market and cattle pens were next door to the Nag’s Head, and the sounds emanating from there as the livestock was driven into town the night before the market must have been hard to ignore. Not to mention the farmers and navvies drinking in the Nag’s Head itself. The railway, which was built just behind Nag’s Head Yard in the 1850s, would have brought a whole different soundscape to little Mary. Mary’s father died when she was only a few years old, and her mother made a living for the family by working as a charwoman, remarrying a sawyer some years later.
Despite her blindness Mary had to live without many of the modern day tools developed to help with her disability. She would most likely have used a stick to aid her mobility around Ludlow, though it wasn’t until the 1920’s that the now familiar white cane was introduced. |
Mary certainly did without the system of Braille, the six points based alphabet devised in 1821, as this did not reach Britain until some 20 years later.
Mary’s brothers and sisters all grew up and married, but most of them experienced tragedy in their lives. Still living at home, Mary would feel the consequences of family loss, through mysterious death, murder, manslaughter and poverty. As her mother grew older and frailer perhaps she found it harder to care for her daughter alone. Mary began to increasingly rely on Ludlow Workhouse and she soon became a frequent visitor. It seems that Mary never married, nor had any children. As she grew older her visits to the Workhouse grew lengthier, and eventually it became her permanent home. She was to live out the last thirty years of her life within its walls. |
