The Survey of Bath and District
The Newsletter of the Survey of Old Bath and Its Associates
No.5, June 1996
Editors: Mike Chapman Elizabeth Holland
In these two pictures (reproduced by permission of Bath Library) St.Mary’s Chapel, built by John Wood and opened Christmas 1734, can be seen on the left, at the south-west corner of Queen Square. It was demolished in 1875 (see article by Philip Jackson, within). A plaque on the wall marks the spot. (The nearby ornamental feature was found in a derelict condition in the garden of 14 Queen Square.)
Above: Queen Square, Bath, steel- engraving, engraved and published by F.Curtis, Bath. c.1860.
Left: copper engraving, marked S.W.Fores and dated 1794.
1 NEWS FROM THE SURVEY
At the time of typing we have not yet received the Archaeological Journal with our Bishops’ premises article. Evidently the publication date was not as imminent as we thought. Mike has been bringing out his pamphlet on Ralph Allen’s Estate, funded by Avon grant. This includes his tracing of the composite map of the Ralph Allen lands in the Record Office. It is hoped a larger copy of the traced map can be donated to the Record Office. Transcripts of the keys of the Ralph Allen map are also to be deposited. The Survey plans to approach Somerset Record Society about publishing these transcripts, possibly with the Life of Richard Jones. At a future date we hope it will be possible to negotiate publication of M.4184 from the Kingston papers. Nottingham University Library has already approved this idea.
Mrs.Connie Smith’s suggestions about the likeness of the old Monument and the Gothic Lodge (see Newsletter 3) led first to the idea that the Monument was the actual tower of the Gothic Lodge, still on its old site, and secondly to the suggestion that this might be the site of the Prior’s Hunting Lodge. Mike has outlined the probable extent of the old Priors’ Park (see Allan Keevil’s article, mentioned under “News from the Friends”, for a valuable discussion of grazing rights in this area). He has also ascertained the probable boundaries of the old Bishops’ Hunting Park. It is hoped that he will give a talk on this at the AGM of the Friends in June, and also that it will be possible to arrange some outings for the Friends in connection with Mike’s study of these areas.
Like the Bishops’ premises, the exact outlines of the Bishops’ Park needed an analysis of 18th century maps. The Survey will continue to study the later city in detail as a guide to reconstructing the early city.
We have been given a B&NES grant towards our proposed study of the Southgate and Ham areas. Elizabeth has started to collect material, and will be grateful for any contributions. An article by one of the Friends, Dora Wedge, appears in this newsletter, reviving her memories of Manvers Street.
Elizabeth had the pleasure of holding a coffee morning for the Friends in November. As well as the Ham and Southgate, she is working on material for the November 1996 newsletter on Captain John James Chapman, original owner of the early photographs recently donated to the Record Office. One of Captain Chapman’s descendants, Ludwig Becker, recently visited the city and made this exciting gift. Captain Chapman was mentioned in Newsletter 1 and it is hoped to have more information on him and his immediate family ready in November.
Elizabeth and Mrs.Susan Sloman went to view a private collection of paintings by Samuel Poole which were brought to our attention because of the Survey’s study of Widcombe Manor, and spent a very enjoyable afternoon. In the same way, Elizabeth, and Don Lovell, Secretary of the Widcombe Association and a member of the Widcombe and Lyncombe History Study Group, were invited to visit someone formerly employed at the manor, and were able to record her reminiscences.
Chairman of the Survey: Mike Chapman, 51 Newton Road, Bath BA2 lRW. 01225 426948
Secretary-Treasurer: Elizabeth Holland, 16 Prior Park Buildings, Bath BA2 4NP, BNE Somerset. 01225 313581
2 NEWS FROM THE FRIENDS
At the lunch-time lecture held by the Friends at Abbey Church House on 10 November 1995, Andrew Ellis of the Widcombe and Lyncombe History Study Group gave a talk on Widcombe Manor, carrying on from the one he had already given in the grounds, and illustrated by slides. Material for the talk came from a number of different people, compiled by Elizabeth. The slides also came from different sources, including Mike Chapman. Some were by Elizabeth’s nephew, David Holland (son of one of the Friends, Christopher Holland) and his friend Liz, who spent an afternoon in the neighbourhood with Elizabeth. David took the spectacular roof shot from the tower of Thomas à Becket Church.
As a result of everyone’s combined efforts, the talk was accounted a great success. Sixty people attended, including guests from the Widcombe and Lyncombe History Study Group, and Mary Stacey and Jessica Lawrence from Avon.
Soon afterwards, on 25 November, a coffee morning was held at Elizabeth’s house at Prior Park Buildings, to enable us to hear Liz Gwinnell and Marek Lewcun speak about their research on the Empire Hotel. Those present enjoyed the account of their discoveries and interviews, and some items found on site were displayed, such as a teapot in the Wedgwood style. Liz and Marek have been planning a history of the Empire Hotel, its times and its people.
If anyone has another subject they would like to see discussed at a coffee morning, please let the Secretary of the Friends know. Elizabeth’s rooms are available and can seat twenty.
The Chairman of the Friends, Mrs.Ruth Haskins, had a meeting recently with the Rastafarian poet Benjamin Zephaniah, which she described in the Chronicle (12 April 1996, p.l2). Zephaniah was in Bath as part of a BBC Radio Four programme “Going Places”, broadcast the evening of 12 April.
Ruth wrote: “The Rastafarian poet was fulfilling his great ambition to visit Fairfield House, former home of the exiled Emperor of Abyssinia who lived there between l936 and 1941. He also met Ruth Haskins, of Lansdown, who was children’s nurse there in the summer of 1937 when she was 16 years old. They went over the house together, Benjamin asking questions about the household, and hearing stories about the family. Mrs.Haskins still has vivid memories of that time. Later Haile Selassi gave Fairfield House to the City of Bath to be used for the elderly. For many years it was a residential home and is now used as a day centre for the elderly.”
Members of the Rastafarian group have often visited Bath Record Office to see items connected with the Emperor’s stay. At one time a pair of elephants’ tusks donated to the city by Haile Selassie stood in the Guildhall and was an object of pilgrimage, but one day it unaccountably went off on safari.
Benjamin Zephaniah Ruth Haskins
(Reproduced by permission of The Bath Chronicle)
Mrs.Dora Wedge has moved to Daniel Street, with Blackie, and they have made new friends in the park, in accordance with the friendly spirit in Bath. Elizabeth has been to see them several times, and found them very comfortable. It is a great convenience having the same telephone number as before, so that even if people don’t know Dora has moved, they can still ring her up.
3 Ludwig Becker of Herrnhut, Germany, has been made an honorary member of the Friends in view of the exciting gift of calotypes which he presented to the city this spring, featured in the Chronicle on 2 May, p.13. Ludwig is a great-grandson of Captain John James Chapman, discussed in the first issue of our newsletter, of the Chapman collection. This collection was given to the city and at first held in trust at the old Literary Institute in Terrace Walk. It is now in the Library.
Ludwig visited “the land of our forefathers” just before Easter, with his wife Traudel, his son Erdmann, a Moravian pastor, and Erdmann’s son Lionel. They visited Elizabeth, their cousin, and viewed the Abbey and its Heritage Vaults and other sights in Bath and the surrounding country, including Stonehenge. This was the second visit from the family, as Erdmann’s sister also came to Bath around 1986, while attending a Moravian conference in London.
Other new Friends since our last newsletter include Colonel John S.Agar; Bath Preservation Trust; Mr.Kenneth Cookes; Mr.Donald Lovell of the Widcombe and Lyncombe History Study Group; Mrs.Eda Pomeroy, Chairman of the Widcombe Association; and Mr.and Mrs.Sparrow. Membership is now around the fifty mark. A full list follows,
Professor Robert Alexander is expected to visit England this year and we hope to hear from him.
Philip Jackson has now concluded his article on the chapel in Queen Square and has provided a copy of this valuable study for this issue. Queen Square is outside our usual area of the old city and it is an advantage to us to hear about the chapel before proceeding with our Georgian map. In November Philip will be giving a talk about the chapel to the Bath Group of the Bristol and Avon Family History Society, to which its members will be looking forward.
Allan Keevil is well-known to the Friends for the fascinating talk on the Fosseway and his article in Issue 2. He will have an article in Volume VI of Bath History called “The Barton of Bath”. At the time of typing the volume has not yet been published, but everyone will be looking forward to reading his essay, and the other contributions to this journal. (Marek Lewcun had an article in the last volume. Mrs.Susan Sloman, who is always very helpful to us, also has an article in the new issue on artists and their Bath studios.)
Peter Addison, the PR representative of the Friends, has secured a full-time job as Development Officer with Age Concern. His brief is to develop what used to be known as the Mayor of Bath’s Age Concern (MOBAC) to cover the whole of the B&NES area. This will involve the setting up of new day care centres and expanding existing services offered in Bath to this enlarged area. He hopes to continue with some bus-top tour guiding. Peter writes that although they are loathed by many Bath residents, tourists love the open-top buses and they do help to bring money and employment to the city. Peter’s office is in Hetling Court, literally just around the corner from Abbey Church House, and handy for meetings of the Friends.
Meanwhile as he has so little time to devote to it now, his Combe Down history is taking shape very slowly. However he does aim to produce something one day, “whether it be a few sheets of stapled A4 or a door stop tome”.
Secretary of the Friends of the Survey: Mrs.June Hodkinson, 55 Connaught Mansions, Great Pulteney Street, Bath BA2 4BP. 01225 465526
4 FRIENDS OF THE SURVEY OF OLD BATH
President: Dr.John Wroughton Miss E.Gwinnell
Chairman: Mrs.Ruth Haskins Mrs.A.Hannay
Secretary: Mrs.June Hodkinson Mr.E.C.Harrison
Treasurer: Mrs.Ann Cridland Mrs.F.M.Harrison
Committee: Mr.Peter Addison (PR rep.) Mr.J.Hawkes Mrs.Gillian Cope Mr.Marek Lewcun Mr.D.J.Higgins Mr.Tony Symons Mrs.Denise Walker Mrs.V.G.Higgins
Members: Mr.H.C.Holland
Col.J.S.Agar Mr.and Mrs.P.Jackson
Professor R.Alexander, U.S.A. Mr.A.J.Keevil
Bath and N.E.Somerset, Built Heritage Mr.and Mrs.D.B.Kilpatrick (Mrs.M.Stacey) Mr.W.H.Leigh Bath Preservation Trust Mr.D.R.Lovell Herr L.Becker, Germany Mr.J.G.Macdonald Mr.K.J.Birch Mr.D.McLaughlin, Principal Conservation Mr.R.V.Chapman, Australia Officer
Mr.S.Clews, Roman Baths Museum Mrs.P.Olver
Mrs.D.Collyer Mrs.E.Pomeroy
Mr.K.Cookes District Judge and Mrs.M.Rutherford
Mr.& Mrs.I.Crew Mrs.C.Smith
Mr.N.J.Cridland Mr.& Mrs.J.Sparrow
Mr.P.Davenport, Bath Archaeological Trust Mrs.A.C.Symons
Mrs.P.G.R.Graham Dr.N.Tiffany
Mr.A.J.Green Mrs.D.Wedge
5 CITY NEWS
VICTORIA ART GALLERY
As regards change to Bath & North East Somerset - as far as our collecting policy is concerned, this will be extended to include the new area. We will now consider acquiring topographical works depicting places in the new geographical region if or when they become available. In practice we would probably have considered these anyway under the old authority. As far as exhibitions and activities are concerned, we already mail schools, institutions and individuals in the new area with information about events, with posters for exhibitions and other announcements.
The collections of the Victoria Art Gallery and the Bath Central Library are closely linked historically. The change will give us the opportunity to liaise more closely with the Library and to ensure that our Acquisitions Policy does not conflict with theirs. Members of the public using both services should benefit from the closer contact between the two organisations and Library staff have already had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the Gallery services through group visits to the Gallery. Susan Sloman, Keeper of Collections (Art)
BATH ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST
The effects of local government change will be far-reaching. Conservation and related matters come under Strategic Policy whose head is Mr.John Bird, formerly with Avon County Council. There will be a Built Heritage Manager, Mary Stacey, also coming to the new authority from Avon. Under her there will be a new post of Planning Archaeologist (exact title still to be confirmed). English Heritage are temporarily part-funding this post. Until the post is filled, perhaps in June, the Trust will continue to advise B&NES on planning and archaeology. It is understood that we will continue to work closely with the Museums services and act as consultants for the authority’s historic properties and direct archaeological responsibilities. This may leave us with more time to carry out research!
The Urban Archaeological Database is all but complete, needing expert topping and tailing in the computer aspects, and final fine tuning of the mapping systems. An assessment of the City’s archaeological significance and potential is being written, and a strategy for dealing with it will be the next step. This will probably appear as supplementary guidance and advice to the important but more general policies in the Local Plan.
In the last newsletter we mentioned work about to begin in the East Baths. Test pits prior to work in the Roman Baths south of the Abbey revealed a further Saxon burial, and another part of the enigmatic series of Roman and possibly post Roman structures under the Abbey west end. A length of wall was found, of typically Roman construction, running north of and parallel to the main Roman drain from the King’s Spring. Only the face of the wall was revealed, its thickness remains unknown. However, it was well built and stood over one metre above the limit of excavation. The base of the wall was not reached. It lined up with and was similar to the wall found further east in 1993. Rob Bell’s article on the archaeological work and results so far on the Abbey is due out in Bath History Vol.VI about now.
A small block of stratigraphy left over from the excavation of the Baths in the 18th century, and revealed when the York Street collapse was repaired in early 1995, was excavated last Autumn. It was not possible to preserve it in situ. This was of great importance, as it was one of the last fragments of immediately post Roman stratigraphy in the Baths to survive. This was excavated with great care, with particular attention being paid to environmental sampling. We currently await the results of this.
The excavation showed that the late period Roman hypocaust floor was removed and what may be a poor quality mortar floor, represented in excavation by a 15cm thick layer of limey sand and tile fragments, was laid over the infilled and lowered hypocaust basement. While there is evidence elsewhere in the Baths of this process, the floors there are much better made, with proper Roman concrete. This floor may be later, and “sub-Roman”. Three or four silty occupation layers accumulated, alternating with spreads of small rubble and tile, as if the Baths were standing but their walls gently eroding on to the surfaces. One layer in particular consisted of the plaster from the walls. Finds from these layers were predominantly late Roman, but may be residual. A final silty layer
6 contained a Saxon charcoal burial, probably of 10th/11th century date. This sealed the construction horizons of the massive Saxon wall discovered in late 1994 under York Street, and possibly the southern boundary wall of the Saxon Abbey precinct. This small excavation will be of tremendous importance in helping our understanding of the transitional post Roman/Saxon period.
Prior Park Restoration work continues at Prior Park gardens. Trial clearance work at the 1740s Grotto last November revealed the almost perfectly preserved original bone and fossil mosaic floor. Only part was uncovered, as a precaution against frost. It was possible to see that the design was of a radial star or sunburst pattern. The building is now under a temporary protective cover prior to restoration work.
Empire Hotel A watching brief was continued for Pegasus Retirement Homes after the mitigation excavation reported last year. A full record was made of the short length of city wall preserved up to a height of six metres in the south side of the development (and retained), and both early medieval and Roman city ditches were sampled and recorded. The latter was very substantial, confirming the Roman origin of the known alignment of the east wall of the city. Work was also possible on the remains of the later l9th century Soda Water Manufactory, the cellars of which had been incorporated into the Empire Hotel in 1900. Marek Lewcun has published a detailed report of the latter aspect in the latest edition of the Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society (BIAS) Journal, No. 28 1995.
City wall, Lower Borough Walls During restoration work at 6, Lower Borough Walls the opportunity was taken to investigate the line of the city wall which 18th century maps indicate should pass under the street frontage of this building. A trench was dug external to this line. No pre-18th century wall was found, but 17th century layers were sampled. Substantial archaeological deposits probably survive beneath the limit of excavation which was less than one metre below cellar floor. A further trench was dug to investigate layers against the north wall of the understreet vault. This wall was clearly earlier than the rest of the vault (c.l790), and resembled other stretches of city wall, despite being on the “wrong” alignment and c.four metres north. This wall was shown to predate a probably 17th century cobbled surface, and also to be earlier than the late medieval period. The lower part of the wall was sealed by material with Roman debris in it, raising the possibility that the wall may even be Roman. Unfortunately, ground water precluded further investigation. This wall may be a medieval or Roman structure connected to the site of the nearby South Gate, or the city wall itself.
It is hoped further work will be undertaken here in the very near future. Marek Lewcun, leader of this particular excavation, reports that documentary research appears to support the identification of this stretch of wall with the ancient city wall. Peter Davenport, Director of Excavations.
Note by the Survey
The Survey has submitted a memo to Marek Lewcun seeking to confirm the work of Bath Archaeological Trust. The Survey does not expect any wall to be found under the present housing frontage and it does expect the wall, if still existing, to be found where Marek Lewcun found a stretch of wall.
18th century maps give a misleading impression because the road has evidently been widened southwards. Sale plans of the Rivers Estate show how St.James’s Burial Ground, as the tiny park used to be called, ceded land to the north. The former boundary is in line with the newly discovered stretch of wall.
Following the old and the new boundary lines of the road, No.6 Lower Borough Walls must be within the Kingston Estate (No.22 on the rental) and Kingston land must have conceded something too. The city wall could not have stood on Kingston land.
Enlarged copies of Kingston Estate maps enable one to see a yard exactly where Marek’s site report states a yard was discovered. Apparently there were out-buildings (stables?) to the east of it. The main body of building, known as Ambry or Ambery House, lay to the south of the rental plot. The present housing frontage will indicate rebuilding after road widening.
7
On the west side of Southgate Street, the Corporation land had Amery Lane between it and the city wall, once again placing the wall in line with the new discovery. On the other side of Stalls Street, St.James’s church was originally much smaller. These views are subject to confirmation by further research. The study is ongoing and Marek is looking further into all the questions involved.
WIDCOMBE AND LYNCOMBE HISTORY STUDY GROUP
Since last reporting we finished the year with two meetings and then took our usual winter break before starting up again in March with a new programme for 1996.
At the November meeting Connie Smith talked about the old villages of Twerton and Oldfield, our neighbours on the western side, and areas which during the 19th century expansion and industrialisation drew many of their workers from the more residential Widcombe and Lyncombe parishes.
The final meeting of the year is always “mince pie” night and a bit of a party atmosphere reigns. Last December our chairman Andrew Ellis was laid low with ‘flu and couldn’t be with us. Nevertheless, whilst commiserating with him we all enjoyed hearing more of Brian Howard’s researches into the history of Lyncombe Vale and the various notable local families like the Mogers who featured in the 19th century.
The second half of the evening was given over to memories and information from long-time and recent residents of the vale in our own century.
Fuller details of our meetings can be found in the proceedings which are compiled by Don Lovell.
1996 began with a visit to the Library out of hours to see a very fine array of material prepared for us by Liz Bevan, the Local History librarian, and her staff. There was a lot of information which was relevant to our studies of the area and a bonus of other interesting or historic items which the Library possesses. It was all fascinating stuff and we had far too little time to do it justice, but it led us in the right directions for our researches and we shall be following it all up.
That was our March meeting and from now on we have a full programme of visits, walks and talks until next December. Doreen Collyer, April 1996
EAST TWERTON AND OLDFIELD PARK HISTORY GROUP
A Steering Committee has been formed for this group, including at least two of the Friends of the Survey, Mrs.Ruth Haskins and Marek Lewcun. Mrs.Connie Smith was approached, but she is occupied with a group for the University of the Third Age. A meeting has already been held, at which Stuart Burroughs of the Bath Industrial Heritage Centre gave an interesting address on the woollen industry in Twerton. This led on to another meeting, though not organised by the group, at St.Michael’s Parish Church, Twerton, with an exhibition and slides. This was arranged by Colin Alexander Jones, who works in a voluntary capacity at the Industrial Heritage Centre. Over 200 people attended, including many former workers in the mills, who according to the Star, embraced each other joyfully as they had often not met for over half a century. “Many a tear was shed.”
We hope to have further developments to report in our next issue.
The Survey will be glad to receive information about other local history groups.
8 DISTRICT NEWS
THE NEW AUTHORITY
Tony du Sautoy has taken up his position as Chief Executive. The Survey of Old Bath wrote to him to extend good wishes for the success of the new authority. They mentioned that it is part of the Survey’s policy to support the Record Office, and enclosed Newsletter No.4, where mention was made of the excellent service provided by this department.
Mr.du Sautoy replied personally to the letter, thanking the Survey for their good wishes and saying that he would read the newsletter with interest.
BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET RECORD OFFICE
The first day of the new Council coincided with the arrival in the Record Office of its most significant photographic accession, Captain John James Chapman’s album of calotypes, deposited by Elizabeth Holland’s cousin, Herr Ludwig Becker.
Other notable accessions received by the Record Office in recent months include: -ledgers of Mundy, Brewer and Johnson, stock and share-brokers of Milsom Street, covering the period 1863-1938. -minute books and press-cuttings of the Bath District Teachers’ Association (later N.U.T.), 1874- 1966. -administrative files of Bath District Health Authority, 1973-1996.
The Bath branch of the Bristol and Avon Family History Society has presented the first instalment (covering 1800-1812) of its index to Walcot parish baptism registers.
Conservation and repair of 259 building control plans of properties in Bath, dating from the 1860s and 1870s, has been completed, with each plan now mounted in a polyester jacket to protect it for future handling. These plans were formerly pasted into hefty albums measuring some 24 x 30 inches, and posed a serious risk of backache when called for!
Colin Johnston, Archivist
BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET BUILT HERITAGE GROUP l April saw the launch of the new Bath and North East Somerset Council, replacing the former Avon, Bath and Wansdyke Councils. The officers dealing with the historic environment in the three former authorities have been brought together into a new team called The Built Heritage Group. This is one of four teams within the Strategic Policy Division of the Directorate of Development and Environmental Services. Strategic Policy covers planning and conservation matters. (John Bird is Head of Strategic Policy). The other three teams are Planning Policy (Manager, Gill Clarke), Transportation Planning (Manager, Mike Finch), Environmental Practice (Manager, Cherry Copperwheat).
Development Control is dealt with within another section of the same Directorate, the Planning and Development Services, with David Davies as its head. Eammon Flanagan is Planning Control Services Manager (Wansdyke) and Roger Guy is Planning Control Services Manager (Bath).
9 The Built Heritage Group contains many names familiar to readers of the newsletter - Tony Albon- Crouch, Gus Astley, John Green, Margaret Imeson, David McLaughlin and Bob Sutcliffe. It is hoped to add an archaeologist to the group in the near future. We are all based at Trimbridge House in Trim Street, Bath and can be contacted on 01225 477537. We look forward to continuing a fruitful relationship with the Survey of Old Bath in our joint aim of conserving the heritage of the area for future generations.
Mary Sabina Stacey, Built Heritage Manager
KEYNSHAM AND SALTFORD LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
The Society has its usual interesting annual programme. On 19 April Mrs.Barbara Lowe spoke on the Roman settlement at Fry’s. In May they visited Beckford’s Tower, Bath, in June Wells, and in July will take a coach trip to Sherborne. On 17 August Joan Day will lead a visit to the Saltford and Kelston Brass Mills, commencing at 2.30 p.m. at the Mill, Saltford. For the autumn there is a programme of lectures. Secretary Jonathan Gibbons can be contacted on 0117 986 2198.
Mrs.Barbara Lowe circulated our essay Bath and the Warwick Book of Hours among members of the group, and they forwarded valuable comments. The essay made mention of Mrs.Lowe’s work on Medieval Floor Tiles of Keynsham Abbey, and with her permission reproduced one of her illustrations of the Beauchamp arms on such tiles. The de Spenser family, in-laws of the de Beauchamps, held property in Cheap Street in Bath, but the connection of the owners of the prayerbook with Keynsham seems to have been much greater than it was with Bath.
In the same way, Mrs.Lowe’s work on floriated crosses at Keynsham was very valuable to the Survey when studying the remains found by Irvine in and around the site of the White Hart Inn.
Mrs.Lowe writes that “a geophysical survey of land south of Keynsham Abbey Church has located a wall which the geophysicists say is part of the curtain wall. If it is part of the precinct wall, then it seems to match the position of the wall from the river bridge, left up the hill to Church at top.” She adds that perhaps they will never know!
On 20 November 1995 the Chronicle reported that Vince Russett, then county archaeological officer to Avon, reported that the roots of trees planted over the site were breaking up the remains of Keynsham’s medieval Abbey. He remarked that at least 50 per cent of the medieval core of Keynsham was destroyed in Sixties and Seventies redevelopment, and it is important to protect what is left.
The Society has lately published Issue No.8 of North Wansdyke Past and Present, their journal, edited by Charles Browne. This contains four articles, firstly “Memories of a Farming Life” by Reg Gay of Church Farm, Corston. He mentions that the Gay family farmed Widcome Farm at Bishop Sutton since the 17th century. There follows an article by Mrs.Lowe on “The Common Meadows of Keynsham”, with valuable archaeological references and details of medieval and later holdings. Her next article is on “Keynsham Great Park”, a study of the old hunting grounds. This work by Mrs.Lowe compares with that done recently for Bath by Allan Keevil on the Barton and Mike Chapman on the Bishops’ Hunting Park.
In “A Tale of Two Farms” Margaret Whitehead deals with Dapps Hill Farm and Lays Farm. Like Mrs.Lowe (p.18), Ms.Whitehead mentions that Robert Dyer Commans of Bath purchased Keynsham Manor in 1889. He then began selling it off in lots, some for development (p.33). Mrs.Connie Smith, then Archivist of the Society, wrote a report on Dapps Hill Farm in 1967, at which time the building was much dilapidated. The Bridges family also has connections with Bath history (p.37).
The Survey of Old Bath will be glad to receive information from other local history groups within the area as a means of extending our knowledge of Bath’s setting.
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10 CORRESPONDENCE
Dear Elizabeth,
I was very pleased to hear your news about the Lockey calotypes. I mentioned to you that a room at the old Bath RLSI on Terrace Walk had been called the Lockey Room. The Bath Field Club held its inaugural meeting in this room in 1855 before the name Lockey applied to it. Mr.Peach, whose every word I know you trust implicitly!, recorded that a Miss Lockey made a bequest to the Institute (Bath Old and New p.l82). I checked with Queen Square this morning and they very kindly confirmed that Miss Lockey left her collection to them in l874 and the room was named after her the following year. I have been unable to ascertain the relationship, if any between the two Lockeys.
Turning to another subject, The Survey No.4 has a map showing the Orange Grove before the Empire Hotel. The building in front of the Dye Works was called Nassau House. According to Bush, it was said to have been built by Richard Boyle 4th Earl of Cork and at one time occupied by the Prince of Orange. There is a photograph by Surgeon-Major Adcock in Bath Field Club Vol.X. It had an elaborate front elevation. John Macdonald, Freshford, 22 April 1996
Note: According to David McLaughlin, Miss Lockey would have been a daughter.
The Chief Executive, Bath & North East Somerset Council.
Dear Mr.du Sautoy,
Thank you for the copy of the interesting Council News delivered here. We wish to extend our good wishes for the future of the new authority.
The Survey of Old Bath is a research venture which has been operating since 1979. It is dedicated to urban studies (especially pre-Georgian Bath). Our constitution commits us to supporting the Record Office, and we try to act as Friends of the Record Office. We look forward to continuing this support under the new authority.
For your interest our latest newsletter is enclosed. Reference to the Record Office is made on page 3, with a reference to the excellent service provided by the Office and the Archivist, Mr.Colin Johnston. Elizabeth Holland, Secretary, Survey of Old Bath, 29 January 1996
The Editor, The Bath Chronicle
I was very interested in the article on the “150-year-old photos” and have sent a copy to my cousin Ludwig Becker in Germany (Chronicle May 2).
I’m glad you printed a picture of Lockey’s coachman, outside St.Catherine’s, as he had evidently decided to be one of the first stars of film, and got into all the photos he could.
When Ludwig gave me the album I immediately said I could not conserve such an historical collection of pictures, and Ludwig agreed to place them in the archives. A number of other private people have made such donations, and so have solicitors, surveyors and so on, so that things which might be hidden away are available to the public.
The Record Office at the Guildhall, Bath is open on Mondays until 8 p.m. so that researchers can go there after office hours. A number of architectural students now call there and of course plans, drawings and old photographs are very valuable to them.
We had a very interesting response to my letter to you on Widcombe Manor, with reminiscences, old pictures and postcards, and copies of articles. Elizabeth Holland, Secretary, Survey of Old Bath, 13 May 1996
11 PUBLICATION NEWS
The Journal of the Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society, Vol.28, 1996 has an article by Marek Lewcun, commencing p.31, on “Excavations on the site of an Aerated Water Manufactory at the Empire Hotel, Bath, 1995”. Fig.l shows that the factory was situated at the south-west corner of the site of the Empire Hotel. The city wall once passed by this spot, not absolutely at the south-west point of the hotel. The carbon dioxide tank of the factory intruded over it. Houses like the Athenaeum and Nassau House, with their front areas, being aligned to Lot Lane, were naturally aligned to the wall as well.
The Soda Water Manufactory appears on p.6 of our Issue 4 (we apologise for the misprint calling it a manufactury). The diagram from Marek’s article below shows the location of the factory and of the hotel in relation to O.S.1886 (see also our Issue 3, p.12). Both diagrams and text in this article are up to the author’s usual high standard.
On pages 39-42 of the same volume of the journal there is also an article by Mike Chapman on “The Chimney in Milk Street, Bath”. When in 1994 this 50ft. high local landmark was due for demolition to make way for new housing, efforts were made by Avon Planning Department to preserve it as an unusual example of Bath’s industrial past. As it was not listed, provision was instead obtained for an assessment and record to be made of the site both above and below ground. This project was undertaken by Bath Archaeological Trust under Mark Beaton, whose report is included in the article with scale drawings and photographs by Marek Lewcun.
The chimney appears to have been built in the early 1880s as part of a steam saw mill, although its exact function is still not clear. It consisted of six square stages of Bath stone ashlar with an ornate moulded cap, the top stage being later lost during the Bath Blitz. At the base were three arched openings, presumably part of a furnace. It had long fallen out of use and for at least the last sixty years had been the site of Tommy Davis’s rag-and-bone “marine store”.
Diagram by Marek Lewcun. From the OS 1:500 plan showing the buildings on the site of the Empire Hotel. Included is Withy’s mineral water manufactory. The outline of the hotel has been added.
12 NOTES & QUERIES
HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF BATH RETURN FROM GERMANY
A volume of 61 calotypes has recently been presented to the Archives of Bath & North East Somerset Council. The negative-positive photographic process was discovered in England by William Henry Fox Talbot from his early photogenic drawing experiments in 1834 and 1835 at Lacock in Wiltshire. At first exposure times of up to an hour were needed, but in 1840 Fox Talbot found that a much briefer exposure time was possible using other chemicals to make the image visible. Fox Talbot patented his process, naming it the calotype.
These exciting “new” images show many stunning views of Bath from 1849 through the 1850s. Of the 61 calotypes, 56 are of Bath (the others being of Farleigh Hungerford Castle). Of these 56 images of Bath, 53 appear to be previously unknown views of Bath. All the calotypes appear to be by the Reverend Francis Lockey (1796-1869), a reverend gentleman photographer, who lived at Swainswick from 1836 until his death. Amazingly Lockey’s photographic studio survives virtually intact at his former home, Swainswick Cottage, now known as the White House. The studio has been confirmed as being the earliest known surviving photographic studio by the Science Museum of London.
This wonderful volume has been generously presented to the Archives by Ludwig Becker of Germany, a descendant of Captain John James Chapman, the original owner of the volume.
A conservation strategy for the volume and its calotypes is currently being prepared.
The Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Queen Square, Bath holds 5 volumes of the Reverend Francis Lockey’s meteorological observations from 1835 to 1869. I have prepared a card index of many of Lockey’s entries in these volumes which relate to his calotypes and other photographic work. I hope to be able to relate these entries to the beautiful new images of Bath and to share the results of this further research with the Friends of the Survey of Old Bath later this year. David McLaughlin
BEAUFORT/BEAUFORD SQUARE
An artist’s impression of the Kelly’s house in Beauford Square, No.4, and the house north of it, was published in Newsletter No.4, November 1965 (p.16). This drawing was taken from an old Victory Day photograph in which the corner house, No.3, was obscured by trees and revellers, so we created the corner window from other shop windows in the area.
Vicky Harmer of Bath Preservation Trust has sent us a picture from Wayland Kennet’s Preservation, published 1972, where the square is taken as a case study. This photograph, captioned 1945, already shows the door facing the square and the plate glass window mentioned in Mrs.Kondrat’s article. A new and revised artist’s impression showing the frontage in Mrs. Kondrat’s day appears below. In the photograph a small child appears in the doorway of No.4, presumably John Kelly.
In the 1960s the Preservation Trust’s
13 reports deal with the redevelopment of this eastern side of the square. Mrs.Kondrat described the Kelly’s house as already condemned when her family moved in, in 1940 or 1941. A photograph of 1962 shows a space where 3 and 4 had stood. Demolition of No.5 and the creation of a commercial block of offices and flats was at first suggested, but the Trust commissioned Ernest Tew to create designs for restoration instead, and the Bampton Property Group carried them out. The Trust’s report of 1965-1966 records that work was then almost completed (p.13). The report of 1963-1964 mentions that the facade of the “Christmas Card” house, No.5, was to be kept. By comparison with the photograph in Preservation, one can see that there has been a change in the style of the roof.
We are creating a file for the Record Office on this square. Pictures are included in the albums at the Record Office, “Bath in the 1960s” and “Bath in the 1980s”. We have been using the residents’ own name for the square, “Beauford”, which is inscribed on it. The Trust prefer the name “Beaufort Square”. This appears on old maps and is apparently the original name.
Bernadette Kondrat remarks that No.3 in her day used the basement area as well as the upstairs flat. Mr.Vince’s shop shown in the picture seems to have been shut off from the rest of the building. Presumably it had a toilet and washroom at the back?
THE CRYSTAL PALACE, ABBEY GREEN
The walk round the Bishops’ Palace area ended at the Crystal Palace, which together with the twenty feet of land the site had to surrender, marks the eastern side of the Bishops’ premises. On the back of p.14, our Newsletter No.4, November 1966, is raised the question of when the present building was erected. Mrs.Jane Root, writer on architectural history, has pointed to an 18th century drawing owned by the Victoria Art Gallery, published in the Rev.John Penrose’s Letters from Bath 1766-1767 (ed.Mitchell and Penrose, pubd. Alan Sutton 1983).
Here the building on the site seems to have the same frontage, but with an extra storey. Mrs.Root, author of an article on Thomas Baldwin in Bath History V, 1994, believes the front may have been designed by Baldwin. It is not known when the upper storey was demolished, and we shall be glad to hear from anyone who has any information on this.
When John Harford bought the site from the Duke of Kingston in 1753, the layout of the sale plan matched the front of “Mr Webbs Lodgings in the Abby Green” of Gilmore’s map (bottom right-hand border). It seems likely that the redevelopment, which Mrs.Root suggests was done by Thomas Baldwin, was created between that date and Benjamin Morris’s picture of c.1785. A file on the Crystal Palace has already been donated to the Record Office (Accession 350) which includes a number of photographs, especially of
14 the cellar area, taken by Elizabeth and Jane Root on a visit there. The first lease for building on the site after the Dissolution is one from John Hall to Thomas Cotterell, joiner, in 1616 (Egerton Charters 5827). It seems likely that he put up a timber-frame house, possibly refaced in stone by John Chapman of Weston in 1660, becoming “Webb’s”.
At present our theory is that it had the garden in front, between it and the land of the Green, like the Garden House on the other side (the site of North Parade Buildings). This would make it easy for Thomas Bushell to give up twenty feet in front, as he had to do by 1720. He seems to have compensated the house by giving it its garden at the back from land once belonging to the Tuns stables.
OLD VIEW OF THE ABBEY TOWER
From what point exactly was this picture drawn? The Bath chair suggests the vicinity of the Baths, but the railing on the left looks as if it flanks the old lane (Boatstall Lane) leading down to the East Gate. In that case, presumably the building on the right is the Victorian Beefsteak Tavern.
On the left beyond the wall is a shop labelled L.Stevens. Presumably this is on the north side of Orange Court. On p.6 of our Newsletter No.4, there is a view of the Soda Water Manufactory on the north side of the Orange Grove, by a building which came to be called the Athenaeum. Behind it one can see E.Savage, Tailor, on what would be the south side of Orange Court. On p.4 of the same issue, the Central Police Station has taken up the Tailor’s site, as shown on the O.S. map of 1886 (see also this issue).
The picture comes from Mann, Historical Sketches of Bath Churches, Plymouth 1912 (see Bath Library).
WIDCOMBE MANOR
15
It is hoped that work on the manor house will be completed this summer. Discussions on the house have continued. A further survey has suggested an original building date between 1680 and 1695. This is slightly earlier than Elizabeth’s chosen date of the late 1690s, selected to fit Scarborough’s inheritances, but it ties in well with the resemblance between Robins’ drawing of the early house and High Littleton House, always called a William and Mary house. (William and Mary, 1689-1694.)
The suggestion sometimes made that there are “Jacobean” features visible in the basement has not received the same support. During our study of the house, we began to accept Richard Jones’ claim that he made a design for “Squire Bennet”. The front elevation appears to have been faced with the present ornate design, which we compared to Chatsworth, and it surely would have been within Jones’ abilities to draw it. He had recently been working on Killigrew’s ornamental south front to the High Street Guildhall, a comparable piece of work. It is interesting that the two buildings in Bath most often attributed to “Inigo Jones” may both have a connection with Richard Jones. (There seems no real reason to suppose Inigo Jones had anything to do with either.)
Elizabeth is preparing a report drawing together the material collected in our study.
EMPIRE HOTEL
Liz Gwinnell and myself have continued our research on the Empire, with a few staff still to be met and interviewed. Since the last newsletter, Liz has discovered, after correspondence with one of the former hotels in the chain in London, that the last manager of the Empire is still alive, though not in the best of health as far as the possibilities of an interview are concerned. As for the hotel itself, conversion into retirement flats is in full swing, with some virtually complete and others hardly started upon. The original iron portico has now returned after restoration, and been joined by a new conservatory in the same style on the south-facing tea terrace. Behind them on the ground floor, rapid progress on the transformation of the former restaurant and public lounges into a Garfunkels restaurant and Cafe Uno bar is easily visible from Orange Grove and Grand Parade respectively. The project as a whole will be complete in the autumn. I am sure that everyone will agree that the building looks quite magnificent now that cleaning has been completed. Marek Lewcun
THE CORRIDOR
16 The Corridor, about which Ruth Haskins wrote in our last issue, has been in the news lately, with a number of letters to the Chronicle about who is the oldest resident there, which is the oldest shop, and so on. These illustrations refer to the passage in former times.
PIERREPONT HOUSE
Pierrepont House is a fine building at the corner of Pierrepont Street and Henry Street, on Mrs.Dora Wedge’s former route to town (see her article). It is now being restored by King Sturge of Wood Street, under the direction of Martin Walker. King Sturge are carrying out research on the history of the building, which stands in what used to be the Ham, property of the Priory, and eventually of John Hall and his heirs.
It is hoped that King Sturge will be able to create a new accession at the Record Office, with a record of their work on this house and hopefully on others.
THE SURVEY: TWO CURRENT PROJECTS
17 COORDINATION OF RESEARCH
In an interesting article in the Chronicle, Adrian Whittlesea of the Building of Bath Museum raised the question of coordinating research, so that people know what has been done, and do not keep repeating each other’s work.
Various attempts have been made at this, but the task is an enormous one. Different official departments all have stores of material. All over the city there are individuals and firms who have restored houses and/or done research on their history. Their restoration plans may be lodged with the Planning Department and eventually make their way to the Record Office, but their historical summaries often don’t, or their beautiful photographs, or their copies of the deeds.
The Survey does its best by constantly pointing to the Record Office as a place where information is made available to the public, which is the Archivist’s job. However helpful other people wish to be, if they are crawling through an attic at the time of an enquiry, or digging in someone’s cellars, that is their legitimate job, while being on tap to answer queries from the public is not.
There are perhaps three points here, i.e. the need to encourage people: l. To deposit deeds, plans, photographs, and papers of all kinds at the Record Office - either in accessions of their own, or as part of the Property Files of the Survey of Old Bath (Accession 350). 2. If they do not wish to deposit material, to supply lists of what they have. It is possible that a Housing History Database is needed, to match the archaeological database created by Bath Archaeological Trust. (Anyone care to give us £40,000?) 3. Even if they are not members of the Friends, to write summaries of their work and their discoveries, for our Newsletter to publish. One day we hope to index the Newsletter.
Speaking of indexing, that is a fourth point. Elizabeth began indexing the Survey’s Property Files in detail, but other tasks intervened. Valuable work can be done by volunteers creating indexes of accessions.
If anyone feels particularly interested in these problems and/or has any suggestions, perhaps they will contact Elizabeth. A small group could be convened to meet Colin Johnston and hear his views on how we can best help the Record Office. Perhaps there could be a second meeting at which Mary Stacey of Built Heritage could explain her thinking on these points.
STUDY OF THE HAM AND SOUTHGATE AREAS
We assembled the medieval deeds for the area outside the South Gate long ago, and also the early Stuart deeds. We shall be looking particularly now at the 18th and l9th century deeds as a basis for a Georgian plan, corresponding to our 1740s Kingston Estate plan, but probably nearer the 1780s. Such plans form a guide for earlier ages.
Would anyone care to prepare a report on Roman finds in the area, perhaps drawing (with permission) on Bath Archaeological Trust’s database?
For most of the l9th and 20th century, we wish to concentrate on the “use of space” as it is called. Is anyone interested in reporting on transport in the area? The coming of the railway, the trams, the creation of the bus station? Or on industrial sites like the former Fortt’s factory - or the widespread Timber Yards?
Modern issues include homelessness and work for the homeless. A report on the Manvers Street Chapel and the creation of Julian House would be very valuable, and also the old Salvation Army hostel.
We are grateful for the B&NES grant which will cover (we hope) the creation and publication of a Georgian map and commentary. It will not cover the organisation of a full-scale social and economic study of the area and all voluntary contributions will be very valuable. Dora Wedge’s two studies are a welcome beginning and we look forward to others. Photographs will also be welcome. Elizabeth took some photos of the Broad Quay houses before they were demolished (see album, “Bath in the 1960s”, Bath Record Office) and also of the creation of the
18 Churchill Bridge. Flooding in the Southgate area (“Hamm” means “water meadow”) has often been photographed, and provides another field for study, as does the Blitz.
If anyone would like to tour the area this summer taking photographs we will supply the film. We must remember that a large part of it is due to be knocked down. Now is the chance to record the existing Southgate area and we shall be very grateful to any of the Friends who care to join in (taking part in the Survey’s projects is of course optional for the Friends, but perhaps some will feel enthusiastic).
Also someone might perhaps undertake to collect the different enterprises’ own histories of their sites - such a firm as Bayntun’s for instance is sure to have a record of its own development.
Please contact Mike or Elizabeth if you feel an interest in any of these ventures.
MY MEMORIES OF THE HAM AND SOUTHGATE AREAS
19 Dora Wedge
I. Walking up Manvers Street
Before the war I used to take two different ways into town from Widcombe. My first walk started in 1930, when I was sixteen and apprenticed to a hairdresser in the Orange Grove. I had to be ready in my overall every morning by 9 a.m., prepared to start cleaning basins and such tasks. At 9 the Abbey bells would start chiming, and they played a different tune every day.
After I had crossed the Ha’penny Bridge over the Avon, I would go through the tunnel under the railway where the taxis now wait in a row. The traffic drove through the other tunnel. The first sight was the Royal Hotel. An overhead bridge stretched from it to the railway station, and when guests left the hotel, the staff used to carry their luggage across this bridge.
Beyond the hotel stood the Postal Sorting Office, now extended and moved nearer to the Avon, and then Fortt’s biscuit factory and bakery. This site is now Bayntun’s bookshop and the Praxis office block, formerly Portland’s. Fortt’s made bread and buns and Bath Olivers. There was a shop where you could buy their goods over the counter, and later they had a shop in Green Street which became a restaurant. Also they had a shop and restaurant in Milsom Street.
On the left hand side, across the road, there were old houses. Trams would run along the road and sometimes the private conveyance from the Empire Hotel might go by to the station, fetching or taking hotel guests. It could seat about six people.
On the right, the Manvers Street Baptist Chapel was next, with its hall and offices. It was a very respectable place.
The houses continued on the left hand side, across the road. No.9 Manvers Street used once to belong to my grandfather George Morris who was a builder and carpenter who also made coffins. His business premises were at the end of the garden of No.9, in Kingston Road. There is a nightclub there now called “The Bath Rock”, so people are dancing where coffins were made.
By 1930 my aunt Bessie had inherited the house. Her real name was Emily Sarah Cleall (née Morris). Her husband was Wilfred Cleall who ran the Full Moon in the Upper Borough Walls, now the Sam Weller. When he died, she took it over and ran it herself. Later she married Alderman Harry A.Biggs, brother of Sir Ashley Biggs, and went to live in Ashley Villa, Newbridge Road. Mrs.Biggs was at one time President of the Bath Ladies’ Licensed Victuallers’ Association.
In 1930, she was still at No.9 and her sister Kitty lived with her, and their brother Jack. Kitty’s real name was Harriet Elizabeth Morris. She worked in the massage department at the Spa Treatment Centre, until just before the war, when she died.
The house had a large cellar and in it they had a great wooden trough. Every Saturday they put the dogs in the trough and gave them a bath. They would have about three dogs at a time. While Uncle Wilfred was alive these were usually gun dogs as he liked shooting.
Inside the house Aunt Bessie had a large collection of different plants, including ferns, and also in the conservatory at the rear. There was not much in the garden. It simply had a path and a bit of grass.
As I continued, there were allotments on the right hand side. The Catholic Church of St.John’s cultivated part of them. I believe they had a gardener. On the left there were more houses. The Pierrepont Garage stood where the Comet shop now is.
After the allotments there were private tennis courts on the right, belonging to Pratt’s Hotel. On the left there were large houses on both corners of Henry Street. One of them is now Barclay’s Bank and across the road from it is Pierrepont House, where old Dr.Bennet used to have a surgery. Then there were more houses, called Pierrepont Street instead of Manvers Street, and Pierrepont Place leading off it. Then there was the newsagent Mrs.Flynn, who sold rosaries and hymn books and prayer books for the Catholic Church. This shop was followed by Viner’s who sold bread and cakes and buns. I sometimes bought a Bath bun to see me through the morning. Chelseas were 2d. We used to have elevenses at work with a cuppa in a little room at the top of the house in the Orange Grove.
20
Next to Viner’s was Jenkins’ the chemists and round the corner was Long’s the solicitors, and next to it the Fernley Hotel. On the right of course I would by now have passed the South Parade, with Pratt’s and the Southbourne Hotel. At No.14 South Parade lived Arnold Ridley of Ghost Train fame. His people kept a shoeshop at the south-west end of Manvers Street, at No.14, next to the Argyll Temperance Hotel.
After the South Parade I would finally reach the North Parade, with an estate agent’s at the corner, I think. The trams now turned left and then right into Terrace Walk, and I had to go the same way, as the present road was not made until a few years later. The old Literary Institute would be on my right, at the corner of the gardens. The stonework of the building was very dark and dirty. I never went inside. When the road was widened in the 1930s, all its contents were removed.
The Parade Gardens, which used once to be called the Institution Gardens, looked much as they do now, with a bandstand and lovely flowerbeds and trees. There was a little patch specially reserved as a dogs’ cemetery in the centre of the garden.
At the corner of Terrace Walk and Orange Grove was Madame Loraine’s exclusive dress shop, which wrapped around Collins the tobacconist’s, called No.l. Then No.3 Orange Grove, Montgomery’s, a fruit store, and at No.4 and I think No.5 Henshaw and Twining’s the coal merchants. Hart and Godwin, the hairdressers’ to which I was apprenticed, was over the coal merchants. Then there were two shops which have become Whiteman’s bookshop, No.6, Holoway’s the cycle agents, and No.7, Stratton, ladies’ outfitters. There was always a good display of flowers in the Orange Grove, as now, with in those days the Police Station on the other side, with the Fire Station at its rear, and the Empire Hotel taking up the corner.
I stepped through the door of the shop into the reception area. Up the first flight of stairs was a gents’ hairdressers and up the second flight was the ladies’ saloon where I worked. I would put on my overall and as the Abbey struck 9 and the tune began, we were ready for business. I stayed there three years and then went to Trowbridge as a first year improver, where I stayed for eighteen months.
****************
In the next issue it is hoped to include No.II, Mrs.Wedge’s walk through the Southgate district.
21
22 THE GUILDHALL MARKET IN THE VICTORIAN PERIOD
Ruth Haskins
This study started with looking at maps of the Market, of which there are several. The earliest was undated: this had a Lock-up on the south corner near Boatstall Lane, with a matching Watch House on the north corner. Later maps did not show these, and they are not shown on early drawings of the Guildhall and High Street. The layout of stalls is similar to that on some later maps, so perhaps these small towers were never built.
The general layout was somewhat chaotic, not helped by poor access, with no proper road at the back near the abattoirs and Skin Market by the Avon, only footpaths suitable for small hand carts, so the Minutes of the Provision Market Committee 1837-1863 tell us. The Butcher’s Stalls were in a circle of stalls near the centre, but in between were the Butter Market, Country Market and Shoes. These minutes proved interesting reading as they gave a clear picture of a market at the time.
Included are letters from traders complaining about standards - one from Ambrose Pocock 3 September 1845 (inserted loose in the volume) deploring the swearing and fighting, and sheepskins being dragged through from the back to the High Street, causing great dust, to the annoyance of traders and customers. He requested that the rules regarding nuisance in the Market be strictly enforced. Shortly after a uniformed Constable was added to the staff, also a Clerk appointed to report to the Committee direct. Some traders still complained, implying that the Clerk was seldom in attendance. In 1847 Mr.Sherwood, the Clerk, wrote strongly denying this, asking for an increase in salary on account of his onerous duties, and also wanting another Constable.
It was decided to install Gas Lighting in 1849. This proved very expensive, so the cost was passed on in increased rents, to the disgust of the traders.
In June 1856 it was suggested that a Glass Dome should be put over the centre of the Market, with some side stalls roofed over to add protection in severe weather for the traders. Estimates were called for. G.P.Manners put the cost at £160.0.0 for the Glass Dome and £277.0.0 for side roofs. The City Council were undecided about the outlay, so it was shelved until 1861, when Hickes and Isaac the architects drew up their successful plans. The 1861 map by Manners and Gill in the Record Office is interesting, showing the layout before reconstruction (1). It shows a Police Station facing the High Street, next to the White Lion Hotel, which has grown from a small inn to premises all down Bridge Street, with a quantity of stables behind. Still no proper back or side entrance to the Market, just a row of houses. To buy the centre houses and demolish them to make easier access was suggested, also to make a road around the back.
In 1862 the City Council budgeted £10,000 for improvements in the Market. In the meantime a canvas awning was put over the Butter Market, as much dust would be caused. Standings in 1861- 1862 were:
Vegetables had 8 standings Butchers ,, 35 ,, Fishmongers ,, 9 ,, The Butter Market had 276 feet of counter Shoes ,, 187 ,, ,, ,,
The rest was innumerable stalls, fruit, flowers etc. Pork butchers were also separate.
Over the next few years there were continuous complaints about the smell in the High Street coming from the abattoirs at the back of the Market, with all kinds of unpleasant filth on the Market floor, the customers had to pick their way through it. In 1862 it was decided to move the slaughter-houses from the back of the Market and to try to find a new site away from the centre of the city, but to keep them all together so that individual slaughterers could not open elsewhere, causing more health problems. So at last they started to tackle the root of the problem, and get order into the Market. This is as far as my research has gone using Book I of the Minutes. In the future I hope to go further into this interesting subject.
(1) Plan showing the site of the Reconstruction of the Provision Markets in the City of Bath Surveyed by Manners & Gill. Bath, May.1861: Maps J2, Record Office, Bath.
23 ST.MARY’S CHAPEL, QUEEN SQUARE
1734-1875
Philip Jackson
During the preparation of an alphabetical index of children’s baptisms that had taken place in the parish of St.Swithin’s, Walcot between 1800 and 1838, a proverbial creepy-crawly emerged from the woodwork. A chapel in Queen Square was found. Initially it was thought to be a normal chapel of ease. If this were so, following legislation of 1694 the sacraments and rites performed at that chapel should have been copied into the official parish register. Checks revealed that this was not the case, and there were surprising gaps in the records of the chapel.
Twenty years elapsed after it had been officially opened at Christmas, 1734, before the register for St.Mary’s records the marriages that had been conducted. Baptisms and burials do not appear until 1814. These dates of 1754 and 1814 each follow the legislation enacted by Parliament the previous year but that explanation does not apply to the other gaps found in a number of years in the records of that chapel. The 64 dollar question being, had the records just been lost and if not, what had caused the gaps? In reply to a cry for help the suggested starting point was the scrap books, now on microfilm and available in Bath Central Library, that had been kept by William Hunt (1800-1885) (1), with particular reference to Volume Three.
When considering and reviewing past events it is easy to imagine that conditions found at the current time are the same as those prevailing many years past. Barry Cunliffe, in his book about The City of Bath, provides two excellent illustrations of developments that took place in Queen Square during the 18th century (2), the city in the early days of that century being mostly contained within the city walls, which in the main were removed by the Victorians. Entertainment was more limited, walking and talking being a common form of recreation. The dust and/or mud on the city streets often led to promenading by the wealthier classes on those squares that had been paved in some way, probably with set-stones.
The estate papers of Robert Benson, who took the title of Lord Bingley on his ennoblement, refer to payments between 1722-1727 to John Wood who designed and saw to the building of the stable block for that gentleman at Bramham Hall, nr.Tadcaster during that time. Bramham Hall is said to have been completed in 1710 and in 1724-1725 Wood was designing the layout of the park and gardens. His early connection with Bramham led to speculation that he had been a native of the county of Yorkshire, but later a John Wood, the son of a Swainswick general builder was found to have been baptised at St.James’s in 1704 (3). This led to the conclusion that he was returning to his native city when Ralph Allen brought him back to Bath in 1725. The benefits in terms of employment of his
24 workforce and the sale of his Combe Down stone to be obtained from the development of Bath would not have been lost on Ralph Allen. John Wood would have been at Bramham in his formative years and the influence of that experience is reflected in his later work. Similarities are noticeable in the development of the Queen Square area and of St.Mary's Chapel in particular (4).
In 1742-1744 (published 1749, re-edited and reprinted in 1765) John Wood wrote his An Essay Towards a Description of Bath, in which he sets out his design and plan for Queen Square. Most of the streets named in that plan exist under the same name and in the same location today.
John Wood also realised that “a place of divine worship was needed for his tenants”. He planned that a chapel be built in the south-west corner of the square which would be the termination of Wood Street. (This, in 1996, would appear to be the road in front of the Francis Hotel.) Dr.Hunt, who at that time was the Rector of Walcot, “thought it much in the interest of the rectory of Bath” to divert the design by making St.Michael’s Church the place of divine worship for those tenants. St.Michael’s was not in the best state of repair, and there was the distinct possibility that he wished to kill the two birds with the single stone. In 1721 John Wood had submitted a design for the rebuilding of St.Michael’s Church. The vestry minutes of St.Michael’s give no reason for rejecting that design but contemporary accounts say the design of John Harvey (see over) was preferred (5). St.Michaels was rebuilt eight years later at the expense of General Wade .
Wood wrote that “Dr.Hunt gave up his point and advised me (John Wood) to pursue my first defign”. Several of Wood’s friends strengthened this advice and on 3 February 1730/1 Wood proposed to Mr.Gay, the patron of the Rectory of Walcot, to build a chapel in the parish. This led to an immediate application for seventeen houses and though Wood did not have possession of the land he entered into a conditional contract on 26 February 1730/1. By 8 March he had procured a lease to supply this great demand as well as to build a chapel thereon.
John Wood in his essay then describes how on 19 May 1732 he approached the Rector (James Sparrow) in the presence of Mr.Gay for the service of the chapel and how on 19 July 1732 Mr.Gay conveyed the land and everything was settled. The subscription list, opened on 4 September 1732, was soon filled and the conveyance proceeded with the approbation of the Bishop of London. The first stone of the chapel was laid shortly after 7 March 1732. The inside of the chapel being of the Ionic order was 67 feet in length, 48 feet in breadth and 36 feet in height. The outside was of the Doric order and the whole structure with its furniture cost about £2,000. The chapel was opened for
25 divine service on 25 December 1734 as part of Walcot parish under the control and direction of the Rector of Walcot, James Sparrow, the Rector being granted a stipend of £40 p.a (6).
St.Mary’s Chapel by John Wood. John Harvey’s Church of St.Michael-extra-Muros.
John Wood brought at least three new ideas to the Queen Square development. He recognised that stone roughly hewn and shaped at the quarry site could be damaged in transit to the building site, and there was much to be gained by shaping the materials locally. Wood was dissatisfied with the workmanship of some of the local artisans so he brought stone masons down from Yorkshire and plasterers from London. Some accounts mention the Franchini Brothers who were working in Ireland at the time. Richard Jones, Ralph Allen's Clerk of Works, tells how a shelter was built for the stonemasons shaping stones for various places, including those for the new chapel (7).
The new chapel in Queen Square was the first Episcopalian proprietary chapel in Bath, and indeed outside London. Wood opened a subscription list to pay for the building and twelve persons each gave £200 for the project (6). This seems to have been a good investment which was soon paying handsome dividends (8). The annual fee to rent a pew was a guinea, and even a casual visit would cost half a crown (8). The collection plate at the various services was well supported and monies collected (according to Penrose) would exceed that at the main Walcot church. The churchwardens’ accounts 1734-1801 revealed a healthy balance (9).
Many problems arise when attempting to equate past expenditure with present day figures. Changes in production methods, transport, economic development, etc. especially in the pre-Victorian times raise doubts whether any reliable criteria will ever be found. Two approaches suggest that from 1730-1996 all monies could be multiplied by a factor of about 850 (10), which suggests that current correct costs to build the chapel would be of the order of at least half a million pounds, and the rent of a pew might have been as high as £1,000 for the year.
It would be nice to think that this is the end of the story and everyone lived happily ever after. Unfortunately that wasn’t so.
In 1817 Henry Brougham William Hillcoat was appointed to be the officiating minister at Queen Square Chapel and Charles Abel Moysey was appointed Rector of Walcot (11). As from that date the Rector signed the St.Mary’s registers at the foot of each page. On 19 August 1818 Louisa Gertrude Moysey, daughter of C.A.Moysey (clerk) and Charlotte was baptised in the chapel, yet in September 1819 the Rector had “transferred the parochial services which had been held for many years past to the parish church as their proper seat. In future neither baptisms, nor marriages will be celebrated in that chapel. The custom arose there” as a matter of convenience “when the church stood in the fields and the chapel in the town” (12).
It might be argued that Dr.Moysey was pre-empting Dr.Hillcoat who became the proprietor of the chapel in 1821 and probably had ambitions for that chapel to attain the status and privileges of a parish church. On 30 January 1827 a further press notice appeared when “it was understood that an attempt is made, or about to be made to perform the services of marriage, baptism, burial and
26 churching of women in the chapel or oratory in Queen Square”. A warning then followed “that all persons applying for such services would be answerable together with the incumbent in a court of law” (13).
On 27 November 1828 the Court of Arches, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury and is in effect the southern court of appeal, heard the suit in which criminal articles were exhibited by Archdeacon Moysey against the Rev.Hillcoat. The report in the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette on 2 December ran to some 1400 words. The case ultimately hinged on whether the chapel had ever been consecrated (though this is not questioned in the depositions made by Dr.Moysey) and the dismissal of Dr.Hillcoat’s claim that he held a licence to perform these rites from the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Neither did the court support Dr.Hillcoat’s contention that children born following a marriage in the chapel might be deemed to be illegitimate and be liable to suffer the consequences. Dr.Hillcoat was forbidden to continue such practices and costs were not pressed by Dr.Moysey.
Once again, that could have been the end of the matter if only Dr.Hillcoat had abided by the court’s decisions. He didn’t and was found out. Two persons (Frederick Minifie and Edward Floor) swore affidavits relating to two burial services conducted by Dr.Hillcoat before burial in the chapel vaults and Dr.Hillcoat was called back to the court: he was found guilty of contempt (14). He agreed to pay the costs of the hearing. These are set out in a paper about a yard long and amounted to £43.9.2 but he was “let off” £7.15.8. (15). In October 1847 Dr.Hillcoat had a letter published in the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette in which he states that “he hesitates not to refrain - at least for the present, and without prejudice, to (sic) the solemnization of marriages in Queen Square chapel” (16). In May 1849 he published a further pamphlet culminating with instructions on how to apply for pews etc. (17).
Meantime the Venerable S.H.Widdrington, now the Rector of Walcot, sold the proprietary lease of the chapel to his curate, the Rev.T.Loughnan, which the new minister was delighted to publicise in March 1852 (18). He expressed the hope that it would ultimately achieve the full status of a parish church. By the following November, the arrangement turned sour as the Rev.T.Loughnan was unable to raise the money and argued that he had been let down by a lady who had promised to lend him £1,000 at 4% (19). In the same month many members of the congregation of St.Mary's “deeply sympathising in the painful position” of their minister being dispossessed of the lease, opened a subscription list when at the initial meeting £1163 was promised (20). It is not clear whether Tim Loughnan would retain his annual stipend of £100 p.a. together with half the pew rents, but he must have been satisfied as he stayed at St.Mary’s till the end and then moved to the independent Episcopalian chapel at the Octagon in Milsom Street (21).
As might be expected, Dr.Hillcoat did not take kindly to these developments and in November 1853 wrote from Lancaster prison where he had been languishing as a debtor since 13 June 1853, appealing for the support of the general public and complaining in The Knell of the Departed Liberty about the way he had been treated (22).
In 1869 the Midland Railway extended their line from Mangotsfield to Bath and in 1871 they bought the chapel with a view to making a grand approach to Queen Square Station (renamed Green Park by the Beeching railway reforms) (23). The Midland Railway disposed of the chapel in 1875 when it was demolished to make way for some road widening. No detail could be traced relating to either of these transactions (24). Messrs.Moysey and Hillcoat both died in the last quarter of 1859 (25) and today the only evidence of the chapel's existence occurs in the street name of Chapel Row and the plaque on the southern wall of the western side of Queen Square which reads:
This account could not have been made if help had not been forthcoming from a number of sources.
27 The not inconsiderable help received from the staff at Lambeth Palace Library; the local studies section of Bradford Public Library re. Wood at Bramham; Colin and Mary of the Bath Guildhall archives; Elizabeth Holland, Secretary of the Survey of Old Bath, and Ruth Haskins, Chairman of the Friends of the Survey, who have sent copies and references of pertinent items; the facilities offered by Bath and Bristol Central Libraries, and finally Pete Redman, for his willing and unstinted support. Colin Chapman’s book in his Record Cameo Series dealing with Ecclesiastical Courts, their Officials and their Records provided useful and succinct information, with regard to proceedings of the Court of Arches, etc.
Notes and Sources
1. Mayor of Bath 1873. There is a portrait of him by Long in the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath (Catalogue p.72). 2. Pp.126, 131. 3. Many references including Mowle and Earnshaw, but the pertinent entry in St.James’s register suggests that George Wood, thought to have been John Wood’s father, could have been an exciseman.
4. There are many reports of Wood working at Bramham including payments by Lord Bingley through Hoare’s bank accounts; Country Life, 28 September 1989; James Lees Milne, English Country Houses, 1970; Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, p.908; Pevsner, Buildings of England, Yorkshire, West Riding, p.142. 5. The parishioners of St.Michael’s are also said to have resented the interference of John Wood. 6. Court of Arches, Paper H407, Note 7, second entry names the donors. 7. Ms.paper, Bath Central Library, “The Life of Richard Jones”. 8. Rev.John Penrose, Letters from Bath 1766-1767, p.81, letter dated 3 May 1766. 9. Court of Arches, Ff65. 10. A labourer’s weekly wage varies with trade, skill and training, and location. Assuming current rates of £125 per week compared with 1734 rates of 2/6d (£.125p) to 4/- (£.20p), a multiplication factor of 625-1000 can be assumed. The retail price index in 1730 has been assessed at 5.87 which had risen to 530.9 by l992. Over the past five years details published by the Inland Revenue figures enhance 1992 figures by about 150%. 11. The Registry papers of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, reproduced in Court of Arches Paper H407, Nos.3 and 4. 12. Hunt Vol.3, Bath Chronicle, 1 September 1819. 13. Ibid, 29 January 1827. 14. Court of Arches Paper 467A, Nos.3 and 4. 15. Ibid, Paper J20. 16. Hunt Vol.3, p.199E, para.l2 of H.B.W.Hillcoat’s printed pamphlet. 17. Printed by Wood Bros.,Typs., Bath. 18. Letter to “My dear friends” written and signed by T.Loughnan. 19. Letter explaining the circumstances, ditto. 20. Report printed by Wood Brothers, 11 Old Bond Street, Bath. 21. Vide Directories of Bath in the Central Library. 22. Printed London May l854. 23. Barbara Stone, Bath Millenium. 24. British Rail Property Board, letter dated 15 January 1996. 25. Registrar General, St.Catherine’s, Index of Deaths.
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