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For decades, the quaint cottage known as Redmays was something of a local landmark in Stourbridge - distinctive as one of the few remaining thatched-roof homes in the region.
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cottage → see → region
But after an inferno laid waste to this leafy corner of the West Midlands earlier this month, all that remains of this historic family home is a single teapot.
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that → lay → home
It is a tragic irony that the very thatched roof that gave Redmays such an affectionate reputation locally helped ensure its rapid destruction in the face of a devastating wildfire.
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that → give → wildfire
The homeowner, an 89-year-old grandmother who asked not to be named, was the oldest resident to be rescued from Quarry Park Road on August 13.
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who → ask → August
In total, 19 houses were destroyed in the blaze on the hottest day of the year.
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houses → destroy → year
Police suspect the fire may have been started deliberately in a nearby farmer's field, before rapidly devouring around 500 acres of land.
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fire → suspect → land
The elderly homeowner escaped with just seconds to spare, as the thatch caught alight above her head.
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thatch → escape → head
Dramatic footage captured by witnesses shows the moment that flames consume the thatch roof entirely.
Now, the homeowner's daughter has told the Mail that the family have been devastated by the destruction of the place they called home for nearly half a century.
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they → capture → century
Redmays was a well-known cottage on the fringes of Stourbridge, with one of the few remaining thatched roofs in the borough of Dudley
But the historic home was totally gutted by a catastrophic fire that swept across the market town on the hottest day of the year
Dramatic footage captured by witnesses shows the moment that flames consume the thatch roof entirely
In the garage, the twisted remnants of an Austin 7 - a gift bought for the 89-year-old homeowner by her late husband in the 1960s - is still just about visible
The daughter broke down when she saw the state of the house - and what little was left
The only possession not to be totally destroyed by the fire was a small teapot
Sentimentally, the loss they have suffered is incalculable, with the daughter revealing her father's ashes were among the cherished items lost in the flames.
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ashes → know → flames
'Daddy died five years ago,' she said.
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she → die → ?
'I'm glad he's gone because he would have been absolutely devastated by this.'
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he → go → this
The gutting of the family home took an immediate toll on her mother's health and she is now living in a nursing home after suffering a heart attack.
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she → take → attack
Heartbreaking pictures shared with the Mail show how Redmays has been reduced to ruin.
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Redmays → share → ruin
In the blackened husk of the garage, the twisted wreckage of an Austin 7 can still just about be made out - a gift bought for the homeowner by her late husband in the 1960s.
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wreckage → blacken → 1960s
The daughter said she and her husband had been living with her mother due to her ailing health.
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she → say → health
'Thank goodness my husband and I were there,' she said.
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she → thank → goodness
'Unfortunately, an ember must have jumped over the trees and caught the roof.
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ember → jump → roof
'My husband had gone out to look at where the smoke was coming from, seen the neighbouring field was on fire and ran back.
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field → go → fire
The neighbours, two men who I don't know, ran down and got mummy out.
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I → know → mummy
My mother owns the house and she's lost everything.
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she → own → everything
My mother is nearly 90 and she saved everything, I mean she even saved the top of her wedding cake.
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she → save → cake
She has nothing left.'
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She → have → nothing
It took three days for the family to be allowed to return to Redmays to survey the damage, which even destroyed their swimming pool
The family have lived in Redmays for almost half a century, but now face having to rebuild the entire house
Around 500 acres of land was devoured by the inferno, destroying 19 properties
Redmays was built in 1934 and has been well known locally for many years as the 'thatched house on the corner', the daughter said.
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daughter → take → corner
The house even made headlines in 2016 when work was undertaken to rethatch the roof.
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work → make → roof
After the fire, it was three days before any of the families whose homes had been destroyed were allowed within the police cordon to see what remained of their former lives.
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what → destroy → lives
'When I went back, I could not believe it,' the daughter said.
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daughter → go → it
'In my heart I honestly thought there would be a couple of rooms I could paint up and mum and I would be able to go home, I don't know why.
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I → think → rooms
'So when I went there with the police, I had a complete breakdown and started shouting and screaming at the police and my husband to go away and leave me alone.
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I → go → me
A police officer showed the daughter a 'baby' teapot that officers had recovered from the house - the only item not to be totally destroyed.
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officers → show → house
She said her mother had been living in Redmays since 1983, when the family had moved from Birkenhead in Merseyside.
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family → say → Merseyside
The daughter joked: 'It's a very pretty house and my father, when he bought it, said it was everything he didn't want - he didn't want leaded windows, he didn't want thatch and he didn't want a rendered house.
'
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he → joke → house
But I just think of the joy of when we came here from the back streets of Birkenhead.
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we → think → Birkenhead
We came from nothing, so the joy in 1983 was of moving somewhere so beautiful after where I grew up.
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I → come → 1983
'I would do anything to sit in my snug with my ma and pa again.
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I → do → ma
The family are now in the knotty process of sorting out an insurance claim on behalf of the elderly homeowner, before embarking on the slow and arduous operation to rebuild the house.
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family → sort → house
The daughter said: 'This is never, ever, how I dreamt my mother's life would end.
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life → say → ?
I know that this will be the end for my mother and that, to me, is the worst thing.
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that → know → me
'There is joy in that house and we had a wonderful, very happy, time there.
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we → be → time
'But, for me, this is not how I envisaged it ending.'
Police are understood to be investigating whether the fire this month was started deliberately.
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fire → envisage → me
The Mail previously revealed that a relative of the landowner where the fire originated believes it was started on purpose in three different places.
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it → reveal → places
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
