Barbara Pym in Finstock, Oxfordshire

Barn Cottage, Finstock, Oxfordshire.

 

'BARBARA PYM
1913–1980

 

Writer

 

lived here

1972–1980' 

Following Barbara's sister Hilary's retirement from the BBC they bought Barn Cottage in Finstock, actually a converted wheelwright's shop. As Barbara was still working at the International African Institute in London she found cheap accommodation there and rejoined Hilary at weekends until her retirement in 1974. (My information above was gleaned from Hazel Holt's excellent book A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym (1990).)

Holy Trinity, the church the sisters attended. (This is also where T. S. Eliot joined the Anglican Church in a secret ceremony in 1927.)

'BARBARA PYM
WRITER
1913–1980
WORSHIPPED
HERE'

'THIS LECTERN, DEDICATED ON THE 3RD JUNE 1984,
HAS BEEN GIVEN IN MEMORY OF THE WRITER
BARBARA PYM, WHO ORGANISED THE READING OF
THE EPISTLE DURING THE TIME SHE LIVED IN
FINSTOCK, 1972–1980.'

'BARBARA PYM
Writer
2nd June 1913–11th Jan. 1980
HILARY WALTON
née PYM
13th Jan. 1916–7th Feb. 2004'

I didn't know where Pym's grave was, so I asked a couple of elderly locals tending a grave if they knew. They had no idea, although in fairness one of them did know she was a writer.

Links to my other Pym posts:

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Barbara Pym: Some Tame Gazelle (1950)
Barbara Pym: Excellent Women (1952)