The Clevedonian Autumn 2013 Issue No. 08 In this edition

Page 2 A View from the Chair Executive Members

Page 3 Group Report Environment Group Page 4 Group Report Conservation Group Page 5 Group Reports Local History Group Footpaths Group Page 6 Coming Shortly Art Club Winner Page 7 Severn Princess MV Balmoral Page 8 & 9 Sea Bathing in What’s in a Name Page 10 & 11 Clevedon - Present & Future Page 12 & 13 My Family in Clevedon Page 14 The Tailor of Hill Road Page 15 Clevedon’s Other Population Society Books Page 16 Branch Line Page 17 Postcard from Clevedon Page 18 Collector’s Lot Page 19 Military Chest Page 20 Artist’s Attic

The views expressed are those of the authors, and may or may not represent those of the Society. www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ A VIEW FROM THE CHAIR Environment Group GROUP REPORTS Report by Bob Hardcastle (Tel. 871633)

ow much do we take for granted? ost of the Group’s activities recently H Mhave been involved with helping I’ve been pondering on this Report by Hugh Stebbing Self Portrait by Hugh North Council prepare their question recently. My initial thought was Marine Lake bid to the Heritage Lottery that the 80 : 20 rule applies. We take 80% Fund. And most of that work has been for granted and take a closer interest consideration, discretion and challenge as they struggle to balance scarce done by Group member John Tranter. in the remaining 20%. On further and the greater will be our failure to financial and professional resources with John has prepared the master plan and qualitative mental analysis I now think act where we need to. It will always be the need to creatively manage our town illustrative sketches without which the this is wrong and that we actually take someone else’s problem to solve or and environment. bid could not be made. The application a greater percentage of everything for solution to deliver. And maybe our roles is being submitted on 15 November with granted leaving, perhaps, 5% for close will be limited to whinging over our Your Society has the means to have its a decision date of 4 March 2014. If the scrutiny and appreciation. Just think cappuccino or latte in the coffee shop. voice heard. You can help by expressing bid is successful, and matching funding for a moment. In our daily routines we your thoughts to any member of the raised as well, the target date for the assume we’ll have water in our taps, food But that brings me to the Civic Society. Executive or to me, and also direct to the completion of the work is the proposed in the shops and our cupboards and that Fortunately we have not fallen into Town and Councils. As Tides Festival in September 2014. Sketches by John Tranter copse, Ladye Bay, the Marine Lake “someone” will look after us if something the trap of taking Clevedon - the place we look forward to 2014 let’s see if we and the Community Centre. The work goes wrong (with our health, the car, our and its people – for granted. The list can reduce that percentage of “stuff” we at the Community Centre was done roads and so forth). of achievements over time that have all take for granted and get our opinions in conjunction with the local FRIEND improved the fabric and environment more widely heard. Then my 80 : 20 rule organisation and proved to be a very Does all this matter, and what relevance of our town is a rich testament to that. might become the accurate one with successful collaboration. has it to our Civic Society, you may be And the way we are organised enables particular benefits to our town and our The Environment Group will continue asking. such a broad range of interests to be feeling of wellbeing about it! its policy of looking after previous Civic I’m sure it does matter since the more we pursued. Local development activities are investigated and influenced and Society projects. We are however in need take for granted the less we will exercise Hugh Stebbing active support provided to our Councils of helpers for our 2014 programme. So if you would like to help please contact me, and I will explain what is involved. OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY We should be grateful to two other Group members as well for their work on past projects. Angela Slotte continues to look after the planting in the Pier Copse seating area and Paul Trowbridge Thursday 12 December At the time of writing work on the fascia On the subject of redecoration the has taken on the maintenance of the panels to the Bandstand is nearing Society has paid for the repainting of the decorative arch into Salthouse Fields Society’s Jubilee seat at the Pill. he Society’s Christmas Party will be a ticket only affair open to completion. Progress has been painfully and the cast iron features on both the Finally a joint walk has been arranged £6 members and their families. slow but we hope that this Phase 1 work T Victoria Road drinking fountain and by the Environment Group with the Priced at £6, tickets will be available at Society meetings and from will be complete in the near future. The the Marine Hill drinking trough. All of Footpath’s Group for Wednesday 20 Wendy Moore. Phase 2 work involving the replacement these have been previous Civic Society November. It starts at 10.00 from the The entertainment this year will be The Travelling Light Magic Lantern of the timber panels is planned for next projects. Sailing Club on the seafront and will Show. year. We will continue to liaise with North Somerset Council to get the restoration The Working Party team has also been tour the Society’s many past projects before ending up at The Beach for coffee Please note that the cut off date for tickets will be Thursday 5th of this iconic feature on Clevedon’s busy on the sea front area, around seafront properly restored. the Marine Hill trough and adjacent in one of the several cafes there. All are December. welcome to join us plus well behaved dogs too. Let’s hope for good weather! Bob Hardcastle Civic Society Executive Members Chairman - Hugh Stebbing Conservation & Planning Group - John Tranter Secretary - Wendy Moore Footpaths Group - Liz Byrd/Julie Slocombe Treasurer - Carl Peries Programme Secretary - Jean Hannaford Membership - John & Helen Bussell Editor - The Clevedonian - Geoff Hale Local Government Representative - Carole Wring Newsletter Distribution - Dave Long History Group - Rob Campbell Web Master - Mike Wheatley Environment Group - Bob Hardcastle Co-opted Member - Bryan Osborne Bandstand - October 2013 Next Executive meetings: Tuesday 19 November and 18 February 2014 Should any member have a point to put forward it is always possible to contact an Executive Group member to Next meetings: 13 November and have it brought up at a meeting. 12 January & 12 March 2014

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 2 3 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ GROUP REPORT Conservation & Planning Group Local History Group GROUP REPORT Report by John Tranter Report by Rob Campbell (Tel. 877038) onitoring of planning applications on a weekly basis continues th M 100 Anniversary Trip to Ypres/ the Novotel Hotel in Ypres and the Royal and applications are predominantly Somme: Leaving Clevedon 13 June Picardie in Albert, both good hotels. domestic extensions, or work to trees. 2014: Response to the trip has been very Although the Civic Society does not ork on next year’s programme is positive, we have 33 people signed up to Table Sale: With the view of supporting comment on this type of application Wcomplete, with a varied selection go, with only 4 single rooms available. the Market@Seeleys we did a table sale unless it is particularly contentious of topics. Once again it is good to see Please let me know if any friends or in July and will be doing the same in to the neighbours, there is an overall group members coming forward and family are interested in joining us for the December, so please come along and th trend towards conversion of garages volunteering their skills and expertise for 5 day trip. Cost is about £400.00 B&B support the group on Sunday 8 and into habitable rooms, with a resulting talks. We will also be holding two special and includes all travel on a luxury Bakers remember our books will be on sale….. increase in on-street parking, which is of evenings devoted to the First World War, Dolphin coach. There is a Single Room great Christmas presents! concern. one relating to Clevedon, the other to supplement, sadly beyond my control. Book Sales: The Woodspring Resource The following applications have yet to family stories, enabling everyone to take We have the services of an excellent Centre which prints the majority of be determined: part. Earlier in the year a guest speaker guide for 2 days, Jon, a Yorkshire man our books has moved from Locking to Clevedon Hall Estate will be talking about the part that Bristol now living on the Somme. We are using Clevedon, making the logistics so much The Regent, Hill Road played during that terrible conflict. easier. We have placed new Land between 29A and 31 Dial Hill Report on past and forthcoming orders to ensure adequate stocks Road events: for Christmas. Nursing Home, Dial Imperial War Museum Trip: As always folks, thanks for your Hill Road Organised by Ian Mottram of support again this year, we have The application to develop Staddons Clevedon Royal British Legion the gained the reputation of being a Timber Yard site was approved on 9th trip proved to be a fantastic day very friendly and vibrant group! October with 23 conditions, many out, even though major building associated with flood prevention, work was taking place. I have drainage and site remediation. thanked Ian on your behalf and Rob Campbell The Royal Pier Hotel, and the Regent, he thanked all those who went for Hill Road continue to be eyesores in their support. Ian will contact us in Thiepval Memorial sensitive locations in the town. We are future regarding any possible trips. informed by the selling agent that a number of flats in both developments have been pre sold, and that the Royal Footpaths Group Pier will be completed in late 2014, and the Regent in early 2015. Report by Liz Byrd (Tel: 872633) Marine Lake Heritage Lottery Fund bid. undaunted we walked the Winscombe it goes without saying that these were A tremendous amount of work has section of the Strawberry Line and took enthusiastically seized upon by our been done by all the parties involved a Sunday afternoon stroll that took in sociable members. in assembling a bid that has a realistic Photographs he last six months saw a variety of Clevedon’s 3 rivers and Quinney’s Wood. The aims and purposes of the group chance of success, and which will taken on Tstrategies as the group decided to All this is made possible thanks to the were revised from the previous edition be submitted in early November. If 27/10/2013 walk whatever the weather. Luckily, hard work that members do in coming of 1992 – perhaps long overdue. This successful the works to the Marine Lake our scheduled days were kind to us and up with suggestions, researching walks, document is available to anyone who and its environs will make the most more adventurous walks were tackled. making a careful prior check of each would like to see it. significant improvement to the seafront We enjoyed Crook Peak (thanks to Ross walk so that we know exactly how far, Along with the general population for many years, to which the Civic Society Janes for an excellent description of this how long, whether suitable for dogs and of Clevedon, members very much will have fully contributed in terms of walk), and a whole day in the Quantocks of course, how good the food is at the welcomed the new town map of volunteer time. with a walk guide provided by Roy and chosen pub. Joan Girling. The weather even allowed footpaths and cycle paths produced by The dates and location for the meetings old favourites such as Dolebury Warren The North Somerset Life magazine is North Somerset Council in collaboration of the Conservation and Planning Group and the coast path to Portishead. A ever a rich source of well-described with Sustrans and Transition Clevedon. are shown regularly in The Clevedonian, planned walk at the top of Cheddar walks, and we are also grateful to Maggie Members are helping to proofread this with an invitation for anyone with an Gorge was postponed (but replaced on Stear for her donation of several books first edition – all comments on errors interest to attend. Regular attendances the day by a cool stroll around Marshall’s of walks based on pubs and teashops – and omissions are welcomed by the now number five, sometimes less, and Field) due to temperatures of 30 to 32 group chair until 2 December when they for the ongoing vitality of the group, degrees! Surely a first. will be forwarded to Eric Holdsworth. there should be more members. The summer continued to be catch The next quarterly meeting is 2 up time as we finally explored the December, 10.30am at the Friends John Tranter much cancelled Sand Point and Middle Meeting House in Albert Road. Mince Hope, a walk enriched by the wide pies and sloe gin await those attending. knowledge that several members have Liz Byrd Next meetings: 12 November, of the archaeology, plant life and local 17 December history. A survey walk of Clevedon Next meetings: 2 December Sketch by John Tranter 21 January & 25 February 2014 Moors followed, with Bleadon Hill later and 3 March 2014 in September. The drizzle returned but www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 4 5 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ All meetings are held at St Andrew’s Church Centre After the History Group’s September speaker had SEVERN PRINCESS COMING SHORTLY... All are welcome, visitors £3 departed having told us a colourful tale about the fate of the Severn Princess, your intrepid reporter, with Bus Pass The Chepstow Town Tim Ryan says the rest of the grant 2013 to the fore, went in search of the now beached ferry. Council then offered a money will now be spent, and a further sum of £10,000 to help £20,000 will be needed to fully restore with restoration work. To date the group the Princess, a sum that will mainly be 21 November 2013 12 December 2013 has spent just over half the money on met through fundraising. insurance and repair work to the hull. Members’ Own Christmas Party Geoff Hale & Winter Supper Travelling Light Magic Lantern Show

2014 Civic Society Meetings Local History Group Meetings he Severn Princess was part of a car ferry service that operated across the 9 January 2014 16 January 2014 T between Aust and Beachley Severn Princess beached at Chepstow The New Hospital Fings ain’t wot they used at Southmead saving motorists a 60-mile round trip to ter be Gloucester, the location of the nearest Joanne Anyon Jane & Derek Lilly fixed crossing. In 1966 the ferry ceased Our lecturer, Tim Ryan, said, ‘In to operate when the first Severn Bridge the first four years a lot of work was built. was done inside.’ 13 February 2014 20 February 2014 In 1999 the Severn Princess Restoration Last year, the Severn Princess BBC Travels With the Bristol and the Great War Group found the vessel rotting away in was towed to Buffers Wharf, Queen a harbour in Ireland. They bought her under Chepstow’s Brunel Railway Geoff Hale Clive Burlton for £1.05 and arranged to tow her the Bridge, and was finally winched 500 miles from Ireland back to her home on shore in April this year at high waters. tide. 20 March 2014 13 March 2014 When the Paddle Steamer Waverley departed from Thatchers Cider and the Operation Bellicose Clevedon Pier at the end of her 2013 MV BALMORAL Environment cruising period, many people asked when the MV MV Balmoral Fund Ltd. is a company John Thatcher Arthur Spencer DFC Balmoral was sailing. She never appeared - here’s why. with charitable aims set up to provide funds for Balmoral’s restoration, he MV Balmoral was built in 1949 as the flagship of preservation, and finally her re-entry 10 April 2014 17 April 2014 Tthe Southampton Red Funnel Fleet, and was used into passenger service in 2014. The on their Southampton to Cowes service and on coastal cost of this will be £350,000. Berkeley Castle Great Houses of the excursions, mostly around the Isle of Wight. Gordano Valley If this work is not carried out, Balmoral’s In 1969, she was transferred to the Bristol Channel, passenger certificates will be lost and it Anton Bantock Sandy Tebbutt where she became flagship of the famous P&A may never be possible for the ship to Campbell White Funnel Fleet of excursion ships. Her go cruising again. days under Campbell management came to an end in Geoff Hale 8 May 2014 15 May 2014 1980 and she then spent a short spell as a floating restaurant in Dundee. Arnos Vale Cemetary We inherited a Bishop In 1985, Balmoral was bought by Dave Napier Roy Girling supporters of PS Waverley, the world’s last sea-going paddle steamer, and after major renovation she re-entered service in 1986 as support ship to the Waverley. ART CLUB WINNER Since 1986, the MV Balmoral has been based on the Bristol Channel but has Working on the engines also cruised all areas of the UK Coast, carrying over two million passengers ongratulations to John Tranter on winning and, together with the PS Waverley, has the Selectors’ Choice with his Tudor Warship, C kept alive the great tradition in the UK of painted on drift wood. coastal day excursions. You first saw the painting on the back page of A combination of circumstances has the Spring 2013 edition of The Clevedonian! resulted in Balmoral not operating her traditional cruises in 2013 and she is currently moored outside the M Shed in Bristol’s Floating Harbour awaiting a major survey and refit. Balmoral’s only voyage in 2013 - moving berths in Bristol

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 6 7 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ SEA BATHING IN CLEVEDON AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE MARINE LAKE

As part of the Heritage Lottery bid to renovate the Marine Lake, by Jane Lilly North Somerset Council asked Civic Society member and local The population of Bristol was historian Jane Lilly to write a dossier detailing the history of the 300,000, and Clevedon was the lake and the emergence of swimming as a pastime in Clevedon. closest seaside town with a decent beach and road and rail links. The enhanced income from bathing he first reference to sea bathing at Elton in 1864 and boating would certainly pay TClevedon comes from the Bristol and thoroughly off the loan for building. Mirror, when in 1823, ‘George Cook renovated. The A local enquiry was held by the respectfully informs the ladies & bathing machines Ministry of Health in 1927 and Mr E Gentlemen of Bristol and the public were still there H Shopland supported the scheme, generally that during the ensuing too, run by the Lilly little having been done in the season he will have four bathing family who rented town to increase visitor numbers Machines on Clevedon Beach which the foreshore from for some 30 years. An offer had will be drawn in & out of the water by Clevedon Court now been received of £400 for Capstans. Experienced persons will from the late 1830s. ‘View of the Baths, Clevedon Nov 17th 1845’ the boating rights alone on the attend the machines and every possible By 1881, the proposed lake. The scheme went care will be taken.’ proprietor of the Baths had to combine House Bay, fell by the wayside. By 1900, forward and Mr Nutting purchased Bathing machines were changing huts the business with a steam laundry to the Baths were disused, and within a few Salt House, and sold the Council on wheels, which could be drawn into make the Baths financially viable. By years, collapsed into the sea. employed must that they would run the swimming the sea while the bather stripped and 1883 the public rooms there were in In 1907, the Council had bought the field be local. This themselves for the first year. donned a long smock. When the door use as auction premises. Enlargement would ease called West Leaze from Clevedon Hall. th of the machine was level with the of the existing site was impossible as it the appalling At last, on March 17 1929, the opening They renamed it Salt House Fields and in of both the lake and recreation grounds surface of the water, an awning could be was surrounded by other properties, the 1923, decided to develop it for recreation, unemployment lowered to give the bather privacy while road and the cliffs. situation in the on Salt House Fields was performed by providing unemployed men with work the Lord Mayor of Bristol, Councillor W descending the steps at the door. The Clevedon Local Board of Health during the economic depression. Tennis town. The tender from Messrs J H Eyles. In his speech thanking the Lord courts were laid out, a wooden shelter Mayor for attending, Sir Ambrose Elton built and plans were made for the laying Moore and Co of Nailsea, at in fact said that Clevedon was offering out of a footpath round Old Church Hill ‘a happy paradise for the toil-worn and Wain’s Hill, to form Poets’ Walk. £5195 and 6d was accepted. men and women, and especially the In October 1926, Councillor Frederick Work began after children, of the Lord Mayor’s great and Nutting urged the Council to enclose Opening of the Marine Lake - 1929 March 1928, on a wonderful city, so that here they may Salt House Bay. It was suggested that slightly reduced enjoy themselves and recuperate their boating and bathing there could earn health. We hope that more and more of the woods behind the house at cost, plan which was to enclose an area of the Council as much as £200 a year, them will make use of the opportunities improving access to Poets’ Walk. The three and a half acres. when the sea was only deep enough for we are trying to provide for them.’ Crown sold the rights to the foreshore to bathing for approximately two and a half After decades of delays, the lake was in the town for £150, and Mr Gower Pimm, hours a day. Clevedon’s bathing income use in August 1928, the income from the engineer, applied to the Mercantile was entirely dependent on the tide table this being a total of £62/11/3d for the Board of Trade for approval to build the and brought in £155 a year. first week of the month alone. Clevedon Jane Lilly lake. Publicity Association had been granted 75% of the money for the Clevedon lake The main beach - pre 1896 In September 1927 tenders were put the management of the boating and scheme would be spent on unskilled out specifying that 90% of the men deckchair hire. The Council decided labour. 50% of the material was on In 1828, Samuel Taylor of Hutton bought had discussed methods of making sea site, and the Council had a bona fide a plot of land now on the site occupied bathing and the Baths more attractive offer for £240 for boating rights alone. Where do the street names in Clevedon come from? by a bungalow called Sea Walls, north of and viable from the 1860s, when the WHAT’S IN A NAME? the Royal Pier Hotel. The level part of the enclosure of Harp Bay had plot provided enough space for Taylor been suggested, along with to build a house, while the sloping cliff later ideas such as the laying was low enough to allow the making of of a concrete base on the an enclosure which could be filled by shore along with that of the tide and would then retain seawater clearing the mud to a point for the bathers. The importance of this below the Salt House wall. on the Bristol Channel, where the range In 1887 further schemes between high and low tide is some 47 were put forward, and none feet at its extreme, was paramount if you carried out. By the 1890s, were aiming to make your money from the Board was involved in Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) Carice Elgar-Blake (1890 -1970) those who were bathing in sea water. purchasing the Pier, and These Baths were still in full use the Baths plans, as well as amous British composer of works including the aughter of the famous composer, she lived in when they were bought by Sir Arthur a scheme to enclose Salt FPomp and Circumstance marches and the Enigma DClevedon for a number of years and died in Bristol. The Baths next to the Pier Hotel - 1871 Variations

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 8 9 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ by Ross Janes Civic Society member Ross Janes is also a member of the Clevedon CLEVEDON PIER – PRESENT AND FUTURE Pier Board of trustees. Here he sets out the Board’s case for the Parkin Heritage & Tourism to assist us in to £80,000 a year. Subsequently, it is controversial plans to develop the landward end of the structure. writing applications. anticipated that this surplus will grow In financial terms, once the whole further. This will enable a reserve fund ou may have noticed that over the a tea room seating some 40 people. project has been implemented and the to be established to maintain the pier Ylast year the promenade of the UK’s This will enable visitors to enjoy the new visitor facilities are up and running, without having continually to return cap only Grade I listed structurally intact stunning views at the same time as forecasts indicate that over the first in hand to the Council to ask for more pier has been repainted. This has been having refreshments. At the lower level five years of operation the number of funds. a major achievement of the Clevedon there will be fully accessible toilets and visitors will increase to Pier and Heritage Trust and, in particular, a multipurpose room for educational 125,000 a year from the of the Trust’s chairman, Simon Talbot– activities, meetings and functions. 2011 level of 90,000 Ponsonby, who fought tirelessly to raise The ground floor of the Toll House will a year. There will be the funds for the repainting. The pier be renovated to upgrade the retail a resultant growth in is owned by North Somerset Council, area. On the first floor a gallery will be admissions takings and with the Trust having a 99-year lease created with interpretive displays telling an improved income on it. Supplemented by the Trust’s the story of the pier in the context of from the shop and own reserves, it was the Council as the Victorian Clevedon and the Bristol pagoda, together with freeholder who eventually provided Channel. The displays will replace the new income from the the major part of the funds to repaint somewhat dated format of the Heritage tea room. From analysis, the eight 100-foot spans forming the Centre exhibition. The interior of the it is projected that over promenade. Whilst the pier head was pier head pagoda will be fitted out to five years the Trust’s repainted seven years ago, it was 24 create an attractive ice-cream parlour. Heritage Centre (No 4 The Beach) total annual surplus will years since the promenade was last The ground floor of No.4 The Beach on rise to around £70,000 done and the work was well overdue. the sea front will be used to create a The plans have the unequivocal The job, which took 34 weeks, has been flexible space for both pier staff and a support of English Heritage, who done to a commendably high standard greatly expanded number of volunteers. commented that the scheme and will last many years. The building will also provide a base for to excavate into the ramp was ingenious and that the overall proposal sought to provide the new facilities with the minimum of visible structure. The Trust is doing its utmost to preserve the beauty and simplicity of the pier, whilst also securing the financial future of this nationally important Clevedon icon so that it remains operational, in public ownership and in sound condition for future generations.

Ross Janes

With its 800-foot promenade and 40- a community archive and an art gallery. Architect’s (O’Leary Goss) aerial view of the tea room foot pier head, this most elegant of None of these developments come , opened in 1869, has to withstand cheaply and the Trust has put a huge the rigours of twice daily tides that are effort into fund raising over the last the second highest in the world. The cost two years. To date some £1.4 million of repairing and repainting the structure has been raised, primarily from the over a ten-year cycle is around £100,000 Heritage Lottery Fund and the Coastal a year. Somehow this has to be raised Communities Fund. A total of £2.1 million to maintain the pier on a regular basis. is needed for the whole project and As it is, the pier lacks adequate visitor grant applications continue to be made. facilities, even basic ones like toilets. The So far some 20 applications have been Trust needs to generate more income submitted and of those, six of £5,000 from its activities so that it becomes or more have been successful including self-sufficient and able to carry out a generous grant from Clevedon Town essential maintenance work from its Council. Outcomes of other applications own resources. A major constraint on are still pending or they have been this is the lack of space. unsuccessful. Each submission has to The current visitor facilities project be individually tailored to the grant View from multipurpose room below ramp involves a number of aspects. The pier provider and involves a lot of work. To Architect’s section through new visitor facilities ramp will be partially dug out to create this end we have employed Ian Parkin of

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 10 11 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ Eileen lived in Clevedon for the first fourteen years MY FAMILY IN CLEVEDON by Eileen Cole of her life, but her family’s connection with the town goes back a long time. when his daughter became concerned the gallery and led there were so few single men left after s far as I know, my family’s window, while their teacher sat at the about the rough lads who looked after the singing heartily the carnage of the first World War! But Aconnection with Clevedon began in table imploring, “Young ladies, young the donkeys which gave children rides and well, whilst Mrs. this changed when Harold Cole moved the mid 1860s. My grandmother, Alice ladies, come back and sit down.” But the from the pier to Salthouse Fields (if I Anderson-Berry to Clevedon and fell in love with her! Cordeux, was born in 1863 in Bristol, ‘young ladies’ took no notice until the remember correctly for one old penny presided at the organ. They married in 1929 and they lived but the family must have come here last animal and clown had passed! – 240 to the pound!), he encouraged After the benediction with her mother in The Beacon, while soon after, as she was very small when her and even turned one of his unused and the signing of the his parents moved from Mowbray, Elton When Alice was 18, her mother died and outbuildings into a classroom. She Road, to Fernlea, Victoria Road. she wandered from home. After a frantic she left school and became mistress of register in the vestry, search, she was discovered in a small gathered these wild lads one evening the bridal party left the the house, until her father married her a week, and taught them the four Rs – greengrocer, near where the Curzon is ex-headmistress! It could not have been chapel, whilst children now, sitting on a wooden box, eating reading, writing ‘rithmetic and religion! strewed with flowers Harold had been a dispatch rider in the an easy situation, but the two women Some of the Clevedon ladies were very First World War, and having survived pears while the juice dripped onto her got on well. In a letter dated 29 June 1921 Copse Road Chapel the bride’s path and dainty white pinafore! shocked, and prophesied disaster, but showered them down that, was badly injured in a train my mother wrote: “Grandma Cordeux is that did not stop the Alice who had led accident in 1922, when a train hit the When the family drove to Bristol, Alice coming tomorrow for a fortnight’s visit. the rebellion over hats and gloves at Miss Cordeux’s class.” Alice was thrilled upon her from the gallery. … barrier at Clevedon station. As a result and her three older brothers always had She was 85 this month and I will enjoy Penarth House! She understood boys – to meet one of her donkey boys again. of undiagnosed concussion, he had to get out of the carriage and walk up good walks every day while she is here; difficulty in sleeping and concentration after all she had three older brothers – Alice and John lived in Weston for two Tickenham Hill to spare the horses! she is travelling alone.” and they responded and never gave her for the rest of his life. In spite of this, he When Alice was married, there was a years, where their only daughter, Alice was lay pastor at the Baptist Chapel in Later her father, John Cordeux, sent John Cordeux was founder of Cordeux, serious trouble. One of the housemaids wonderful write up in The Clevedon (known as Alcie) was born. Alice to school at Penarth House, at the a large drapery business in Bristol. A was artistic and drew texts, which the West End Nailsea, where a cottage had Mercury and Courier, August 22, 1896. As a minister and travelling evangelist, been converted into a chapel, with the bottom of Albert Road. I do not know her publication of 1893 stated ‘a tour of boys traced, coloured and learnt by Seldom has Copse Road Chapel presented age at this time but in 1881 the boarders inspection is like a visit to one of the heart. John had to move the family several preacher sitting in the chimney! In the such a gay and festive appearance as it did times, until he became diabetic. As at 1960s the chapel was closed and has at Penarth House ranged from 10 to 16 most gorgeous bazaars in the Orient’. When Alice was in her 80s, she could not last Tuesday, when Miss Alice Cordeux was years old. that time it was a death sentence, in now been rebuilt as a house at the end married to Mr John Mitchell. The bride, 1915 or 16 he moved back to Clevedon of Chapel Lane. Discipline was strict at school, at least the only daughter of Mr John Cordeux, of so that his wife would be supported by when the headmistress was present, and Clifton, Bristol, and Baycliff, Clevedon, is Their son, John, who was born in 1934, her family and friends. He bought The began his schooling at Lawnside, next well known amongst us as an earnest and Beacon, Albert Road, successful Christian worker among the door to the Beacon, and remembers young. By the time her father died in 1927, Alcie lessons being disrupted by having to go had given up all hope of marriage, as into the garden to the shelter when the The bridegroom is a native of Edinburgh …. Educated at this seat of learning, like many other “canny Scots”, he migrated to England. Combining native shrewdness with a burning zeal for souls, he has by pen and tongue done good service for Christ ... and hopes, God willing, next month to take charge of the work at the Whitecross (now Clarence Park) Baptist Church, Weston- super-Mare. The service began at once by Dr Anderson- Berry giving out the first four verses of When he retired, leaving the shop in the walk far, so a wheelchair was hired (from the wedding hymn, written specially for hands of two of his sons, he moved to the furniture shop opposite the post John Cordeux the occasion by the well-known hymn Clevedon and lived in “The Hawthorns” office in Albert Road). One day she was writer, Miss Lucy Bennett. The members for a couple of years, before moving to being pushed by the Marine Lake, which young Alice Cordeux was a bit of a rebel! of the Christian Band and Sunday School “Baycliff”, 31 Victoria Road in March 1894. was being cleared by labourers with Each day, after lessons, the girls went for in connection with the church occupied shovels, when one of the old workers a sedate walk. One day, she decided it John’s faith was very important to him came up and said “We didn’t have The Cordeux Family was too hot to put on hats and gloves, and he supported many types of Christian wellingtons like this when we went to and suggested they all refuse to do so! work, including Copse Road Chapel. So They agreed, and were lined up in the air raid siren sounded. Later, he moved hall when the headmistress came out to Walton Lodge, a school for “the sons of her room and asked sternly, “Young of gentlemen”! One well-respected ladies, where are your hats and gloves?” Clevedon resident recently told me While the other girls trembled, Alice that he was not allowed to attend as his announced cheerfully, “We’re not going father was a shopkeeper – obviously no to wear them any more, Miss Knight! one realised that John was the great- We think it’s silly!” In her sternest tone, grandson of one! the headmistress said, “Young ladies, go straight upstairs and put on your hats and gloves!” Such was the force of her Eileen Cole personality that all the girls, even Alice, trooped up the stairs without a word. But the headmistress was not at dinner the day the circus paraded round the Eileen was born in 1939 – her story The Hawthorns continues in the next edition of The town. The girls heard the music and with The Beacon, Albert Road one accord jumped up and ran to the Clevedonian. www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 12 13 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ THE TAILOR OF HILL ROAD by Paul Kite by Liz Byrd CLEVEDON’S OTHER POPULATION

On April the 5th 1891 - so the 1891 Census records show - George Longdon Kite aged Clevedon occupies a prime position on the Somerset coastline with lush approximately 37 had a tailoring business at Victoria House on Hill Road, Clevedon. green fields on the levels and gently rolling heights backing middle and George, a Master Tailor, trained by his father John Kite of Wooton Under Edge, had upper Clevedon. Wherever you are, you find carefully tended gardens come to Clevedon from Guildford in Surrey where he’d lived for about six years. surrounding new houses and apartments, twenties and thirties bay- windowed facades and the elegant frontages of Victorian and Regency e know that George was a trader houses of all size. But did you know that behind all the palm trees, in all sorts of clothing as well as W shrubbery, roses and garden gnomes lives an increasing population of a teacher of dressmaking to middle hidden neighbours? class ladies of the YWCA. A copy from a Trade Directory shows him at Twyford House. The same directory also lists hese inhabitants are rarely seen, You’ll find all sorts of hens another well known Hill Road Trader Tand only occasionally heard in spite from bantams to pedigree - Mr Hagley whose shop I remember of being among the most constantly Orpingtons to ginger rescue well as a teenager (opposite Seeley’s). hardworking and productive members battery hens. The latter are a I had a girlfriend who worked there! of our community. Hens. Garden hens. sorry sight when they first arrive with a snails and slugs and their eggs. Toes are These cuttings must date from Clevedon Well-loved family members, frequently few feathers and creaky legs. But they’re fair game so garden clogs are a must. A newspapers and Trade Directories 1891 living in some style as their besotted determined to live life to the full after 18 welcome rest is appreciated after all that to 1893, but which, I don’t know. Suffice owners build them the equivalent of months in cages and within two weeks work, especially sitting in the crook of an to say that this was the start of a long chicken palaces complete with leisure have learnt to scratch for food and make arm to have a doze. “love affair” the Kite family has had and centre (with chicken treats available dust baths (or in our climate – mud continues to have with Clevedon. of course), and their named portraits baths). These feisty girls can see off the Friends and neighbours enjoy the gentle displayed on the outside. They are neighbourhood cats and gang up on clucking as the hens potter about, and George was born in Cirencester on curious, affectionate, entertainingsmall dogs like our Jack Russsell. All hens, they love the spare eggs as well. August the 6th 1853 and spent his and egg-laying. When a particularly whether aristocratic pedigree breeds or childhood in Cirencester, Stroud and weighty egg is laid, that’s when you are scruffy ex-bats, seem to like their human Omelette for supper tonight? Painswick before moving at around The picture of an elderly George sitting most likely to hear a proud, triumphant staff and will happily follow you round 27 years of age to Guildford, probably cross legged, tailor fashion shows squawking (not from a cockerel - they’re the garden helping with the weeding his first foray away from his father’s Liz Byrd a lost art. Scissors and needle have not required for the girls to lay eggs). while working hard to rid the ground of influence. Why Guildford we will never been replaced by laser cutters and know. His first marriage, to Eliza Jones programmed sewing machines. The in Painswick in 1876, produced five picture of him with Mercy shows just children. Further information on ex- how beautifully he made his own suits battery hens can be obtained On 16th September 1882 Eliza had and coats. The same can be said for my from the British Hen Welfare written a poignant letter to her cousin are remembered as migrants on the Ellis Grandfather Douglas, who carried on Trust, South Molton. www.bhwt. Maggie, comforting her at the loss of Island memorial. the tradition of at least 4 generations org.uk. Our nearest collection a “babe” and in it she describes her George’s son Douglas Edward Kite (my of tailors going back to Gloucestershire, point is Clapton-in-Gordano. own loss of a child, probably through a grandfather from the 1st marriage), also a and clothed his own 9 children during miscarriage. We have no record of this wanderer, had an eventual and eventful, the 1920s depression. Douglas in turn Tickenham Rabbit Centre, Luggards child. The next record we have of her is enforced evacuation to Clevedon from trained his daughter Grace in the art, Cross Farm, Stone Edge Batch (yes, her premature death in 1885 aged 33 in the WW2 Bristol bombing when close to enabling her to clothe her children they do chickens) have a good range Guildford. his retirement. during WW2 rationing. Grace was to be of established breeds as well as being the last of the tailoring line. a great source of advice and supplies. During the years his father resided in www.tickenhamrabbitcentre.co.uk Clevedon, Douglas attended the British Paul Kite Chickens in St Andrew’s Church Glebe School on Chapel Hill - now a private residence. He left at age 13 and was apprenticed as a baker on Hill Road - I suspect at No1 Hill Road, Prospect SOCIETY BOOKS House, run by William H Marks. This came to light just a year ago from a talk by Jane Lilly. Douglas did not complete his apprenticeship but ran away to sea as a steward, coming ashore again to marry in Bristol. Whilst there he joined his father to be trained as a tailor. Eliza Kite (Jones) George had a reputation for George re-married in 1886 at Guildford challenging others within his to Mercy Colar Rye, his housekeeper. We profession to a bet. For the price think from her name she was of Romany of a pint he would cut off the silk stock. They had 6 children. Two sons facing on the collar of a gentleman £14.95 (£12.00) were born to Mercy in Clevedon and customer’s coat and then re-stitch £2.00 (£1.50) of George’s total of 11 children two it by hand without any noticeable £9.95 (£8.00) emigrated to America around 1905 and damage. George and Mercy Kite Prices in brackets are for Clevedon Civic Society members £8.00 (£5.00) www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 14 15 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ Two winters ago the now popular Church Hill zigzag path, which BRANCH LINE Restoring Old Footpaths leads up from Salthouse Woods near the Sugar Lookout, was but a memory, having become lost under scrub in the last few decades. on Church Hill Since uncovering the stepped and metalled path, the volunteers by Angela Slotte have opened up a broad, grassy plateau above, re-establishing possibly the best view of all from Church Hill. Under brambles and elder they rediscovered the iron cross bollard that marks the Working with North Somerset Council since top of the zigzag. The path was probably created shortly after the September 2011, the volunteer group, Friends of opening of Poets’ Walk in 1929. A mid 1930s photograph shows Poets’ Walk, have been reinstating lost paths and it bordered on both sides by a rustic fence similar to that erected opening up view points on Church Hill. along the coast path, the fence and bollard presumably serving to prevent cattle wandering onto the path.

he volunteers’ latest project is the uncovering Tof a footpath on Church Hill that predates the formal paths of Poets’ Walk by six years. The circular, now largely forgotten path was laid out in 1923, serving to provide local employment in the economic depression and to offer visitors easy access to the top of Church Hill with its stunning views over Clevedon to the Mendip Hills and the Bristol Channel to Wales. At that time the entire hill was open grassland. Branching upward from the well established path from the Old Church across the southern flank of Church Hill, the route of this new path took the visitor to the hilltop and then curved anticlockwise Angela Slotte around the hill before descending gently and then following the churchyard wall. The broad path was With thanks to Jane Lilly and David Long cut into the hillside to make it level, and gravelled, probably with waste from the Old Church Hill quarry. It slowly became grassed over, but would still have Posted by Barbara Connell POSTCARD FROM CLEVEDON

stretch that the Friends of Poets’ Walk have uncovered, removing scrub and have many multi-view cards of Clevedon in cutting a corridor through secondary I my collection but was pleased to find this woodland. It is hoped to reinstate the version at a recent fair. It was postally used on th complete route in the near future. From 19 August 1928 when the sender comments, ‘the weather is beautiful – hope it is the same the section running above and behind with you?’ I am somewhat curious about the Salthouse Court flats the walker will addressee – one Miss Ruth Shirehampton! be able to glimpse the Marine Lake The card was published by A. T. Bonham of through the trees. The west-facing 30 Alexandra Road where Bonham’s Library section will run close to the top of the and shop were located. When I moved to wide, stone steps that overlook the Clevedon in 1969 the building housed a churchyard and will provide a welcome toyshop but more recently the premises have alternative to clambering up or down a become a domestic dwelling. steep and often muddy slope.

1928 been in regular use until brambles and scrub – and ultimately trees – finally took The card of ‘The Beach’, top left of the th over as a combined result of the cessation multi-view, was posted on 6 April 1926 – the writer was sitting on the pier in of grazing in the 1940s and the decimation ‘this pretty place, the Glendower [PS Glen by disease of the rabbit population in the Gower] has just landed passengers – from 1960s. Cardiff I suppose.’ A section of the same 1923 gravel path is clearly shown on an aerial photograph A few cars are parked but how different from 1928 and can also be seen on several life was then – a group of six people are old postcards. The entire route is marked walking abreast in the roadway! on a map from the 1970s. Only the south- facing section is indicated on North 1932 Barbara Connell Somerset Council maps today and it is this

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 16 17 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ COLLECTOR’S LOT From the Dave Long Collection Civic Society member Joy Wilyman’s late husband, MILITARY CHEST Captain Robert Wilyman, saw action in the Battle Numbers 41 & 43 Hill Road is the Regency house of El Alamein during the 2nd World War. Seventy Captain Robert (Bob) Wilyman at the bottom of the Zigzag path. Like most of The Golden Canister years on, Joy was proud to represent him at an the houses at this end of Hill Road, it had a shop anniversary service in Westminster Abbey last year. 52nd Royal Tank Regiment extension built in the front garden. by Geoff Hale from material from Joy Wilyman

at the grave of the Unknown Warrior. The first was on behalf of the Duchess of Cornwall whose father Major Bruce Shand had served with the n Kelly’s Guide for 1883 Earnest Shaw was the proprietor 12th Lancers at El Alamein and Iof the Golden Canister, and was described as a tea trader, the second was laid on behalf grocer, French and Italian Warehouseman. of the Armed Forces. He also had premises in Old Street. Recalling the importance of the The calendar pictured is one of two I have. I assume they Allied victory at the Battle of El were given to account customers. ob Wilyman joined the 23rd Alamein, Sir Winston Churchill BLondon Battalion of the East Surrey wrote: ‘Before Alamein we Regiment, a Territorial Army infantry never had a victory. After battalion, in 1939. This became part of Alamein we never had a the 42nd Royal Tank Regiment soon defeat’. He famously described after. In 1942 he saw action at the Wilyman, was invited to attend an the battle as the end of the beginning of battle of El Alamein, a fourteen day tank Evensong Service of Thanksgiving at the Second World War. battle in the Western Desert of North Westminster Abbey to remember the Africa, under the leadership of General 4,000 Allied servicemen who lost their Captain Robert (Bob) Wilyman later Montgomery. lives and the almost 9,000 who were transferred to the 52nd Royal Tank wounded during the battle. Training Regiment at Bovington, Dorset Exactly seventy years later, on Saturday and was released from service on the 27 October 2012, Bob’s widow, Joy During the service two wreaths were laid 15th May 1946.

By 1897 the shop had changed hands, and Kelly’s Guide for that year shows it was called Parker & Edwards and was still using the name Golden Canister. In 1902 Edwards had left and the business was under the name of John Bartholemew Parker, grocer.

Kelly’s Guide for 1914 has William H. Jones & Son in business there as Hardware Dealers; they were here until about the 1930s.

Dave Long Somewhere in the Mediterranean

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 18 19 www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ ARTIST’S ATTIC

Victorian Thirst Quenchure

by Bev Harris

Sunset at Burnham

by Hugh Stebbing

www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/ 20