Beautiful Combe Grove, an historical place

Combe Grove area

The beautiful, historical Combe Grove area around Shaft Road and Brassknocker Hill.

The details from Thorpe’s map of 1742 give a clear idea of what was built at that time. Combe Hill House and the Brassknocker Inn can be seen on Brassknocker. Shaft Road is not quite so clear, though Ivy Cottages, Combe Grange and the Old Farmhouse and Tithe Barn might fit the bill.

Detail from Thorpe's map of 1742
Detail from Thorpes map of 1742
Combe Grove area from Wiltshire XXXI.SE & XXXVIIIA.NE, Revised 1899, Published 1904
Combe Grove area from Wiltshire XXXISE XXXVIIIANE Revised 1899 Published 1904

Combe Hill House

Combe Hill House
Combe Hill House
Combe Hill House to be let - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 14 May 1801
Combe Hill House to be let – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 14 May 1801

According to BANES planning documents about Combe Hill House:

"The original building of Combe Hill House was built in 1700. This was a small 2 storey detached dwelling, and believed to have been inhabited by Monks. An extension was added at some point between 1700 and 1794. The deeds to the property show that James Perry had sold the property to William Brodie circa 1780. In 1794, James Clement, the current owner, sold the property to Edward Candler (later Candler Brown), at which time the main Georgian frontage and wing were added (carved date in stone above entrance confirms). At this point an extra small parcel of land was purchased for the tidy sum of £15 to enable stables to be built - this is now the current garages and annexe. There are records to show also, up until around 1907 the House was known as Combe Villa."
Combe Hill Villa - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 12 January 1815
Combe Hill Villa – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 12 January 1815

An advert from 1801 advertises that it is to let and let’s us know that it has 35 acres and a coach house with stabling for eight horses.

An 1815 advert confirms that it was previously occupied by Edward Candler Brown (1732 – 1807) who is known to have been residing at Prior Park in the period 1805 to 1807. So, it may be that he took Combe Hill House in 1794 and stayed until 1801.

It seems probable from Ella Knott’s comment in the cutting that it was also owned by John Vivian (1756-1828), barrister, solicitor to the Excise, and bencher of the Middle Temple who also owned Claverton Manor,

Combe Hill Villa Academy - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 26 February 1852
Combe Hill Villa Academy – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 26 February 1852

In the 1841 and 1851 censuses the house is occupied by Walter John Lord (1791 – 1860) and his wife Elizabeth Winston (1811 – 1896).

It seems he was a teacher to those who wanted to join the military.

Combe Hill House was bought by Rev John Clark Knott (1818 – 1907) and his wife Frances Harriett Goldingham Kitson (1822 – 1900) in 1860.

His unmarried daughters Edith Georgina (1851 – 1914), Susan Mary (1852 – 1917), Laura Geraldine (1858 – 1930) and Ella Margaretta (1854 – 1935) continued to live there until at least 1923.

Ella Knott - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 26 January 1935
Ella Knott – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 26 January 1935

The house was then bought by Dr George Sherbrooke Turpin (1866 – 1948) and his second wife Gertrude Caroline Waite Johnson (1868 – 1948).

Dr George Sherbrooke Turpin was principal of Huddersfield Technical College, headmaster of Swansea Grammar School and Nottingham High School.

When he was appointed principal of the Swansea Grammar School (formerly the Bishop Gore Grammar School) in 1895, he stated his intention to separate the higher technical work and ‘to make Swansea the national Metallurgical School, occupying the same relative position to the education and industries of the United Kingdom that Freiburg and Clausthal occupy in Germany’.

There were at the time and within fifteen miles of Swansea 240 collieries, 31 ironworks, 31 tinworks, 4 steel works, 6 smelter works, 19 copper works, 7 fuel works and 40 other miscellaneous works.

After they died Combe Hill house was put up for auction but did not reach its reserve.

Death of Dr Turpin - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 1 January 1949
Death of Dr Turpin – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 1 January 1949

It was bought by Douglas Mowbray Woodward (1908–1992) and his wife Ida Dorothy Oliver (b. 1898).

Douglas Mowbray Woodward, the founder of Mowbray Woodwards solicitors in Bath, lived there until he died.

Reserve not reached - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 2 April 1949
Reserve not reached – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 2 April 1949

Combe Grove Lodge

Combe Grove Lodge, Brassknocker Hill
Combe Grove Lodge, Brassknocker Hill

In all the following censuses Combe Grove Lodge was occupied by the gardner for Combe Grove Manor. As the residents were working class and the ‘social medium’ of the day, the newspaper, did not really follow their world unless criminality or scandal was involved – which gives a distorted image of working people’s lives – I have been unable to add much flesh to the bones below.

  • 1851 Thomas Coles (b. 1816) and his wife Elizabeth Norris (b. 1815)
  • 1861 & 1871 George Paine (b. 1830) and his wife Jane Augusta (1828 – 1872)
  • 1881 & 1891 William Dicker (b. 1819) and his wife Mary Ann Clark (b. 1821)
  • 1901 William Curwood (1864 – 1956) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Taylor (1863 – 1929)
  • 1911 Arthur George Sawyer (1875 – 1955) and his wife Ellen Mary Bailey (1878 – 1919)

Combe Grove Farm

Combe Grove Farm
Combe Grove Farm
Benjamin Golding, Combe Grove Farm - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 7 December 1826
Benjamin Golding, Combe Grove Farm – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 7 December 1826

Benjamin Golding (1770 – 1849) was clearly resident in 1826 as the reward advert shows.

He was married to Elizabeth Hargest (1773 – 1847) and they were the parents of Caroline Elizabeth Golding (1797 – 1857) the wife of William Vaughn-Jenkins (1752 – 1818), who owned Combe Grove Manor, and after of Captain Humphrey May Freestun (1790 – 1863).

From at least 1841 to 1851 William Harding (1811 – 1873), described at first as a Yeoman and in the latter census as a farmer, and his wife Mary Rose (1810 – 1869), lived at Combe Grove Farm.

Mr Sibley, Combe Grove farm - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 19 June 1856
Mr Sibley, Combe Grove farm – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 19 June 1856

In 1856 a report of the malicious killing of two sheep tells us that William Sibley (1806 – 1876), a baker and grocer, and his wife Catharine Cottall (1807 – 1870) who traded at Isabella House on The Avenue until he died was also linked with Combe Grove farm, though they do not appear to have lived there.

In the 1861, 1871 and 1881 census Joseph Law (1825 – 1906) and his wife Ann Sawyer (1824 – 1885) were resident and in the 1891 census just Joseph.

Combe Grove farm to let - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 29 August 1878
Combe Grove farm to let – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 29 August 1878

He obviously decided to quit the farm in 1878 as it was up for lease and there is a notice of him selling his stock. However, clearly he did not leave until 1900.

In the 1901 and 1911 censuses Henry J Smith (b. 1869), described as a farm bailiff, and his wife Louisa (b. 1869) lived here.

He was the bailiff for James Ledger Hill (1839 – 1912) and his wife Mary Tucker (1849 – 1931).

Joseph Law quitting - Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser - Saturday 21 September 1878
Joseph Law quitting – Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser – Saturday 21 September 1878

Details of his achievements are given in the clip about his will. He left over £119,000 in 1912 the equivalent of about £42,420,000.00 today.[1]

The Southampton Steam Shipping Company was founded in England in 1853, became the Union Steamship Company and then the Union Line, and in 1900 merged with Castle Shipping Line to become Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company.

Wallbridge Mill in Frome began as a dyehouse, possibly accompanied by a fulling mill. It was developed into a factory in the early 1840s. The mill closed in 1965, the last one to do so in Frome, and some of the mid-19th century factory buildings survive. In 1868 it passed into the hands of William Henry Tucker (1814 – 1877) who lived at West Brow on Belmont in the 1870s.

James Ledger Hill and his wife had some notable offspring.

Joseph Law quitting - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 18 October 1900
Joseph Law quitting – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 18 October 1900

Arthur James Ledger Hill (1871 – 1950) was an all round cricketer In first-class cricket Hill hit 20 hundreds, scoring altogether 9,995 runs, averaging 27.91, and he took 278 wickets, average 29.60.

He went with Lord Hawke’s team to India in 1892-93, America 1894, and South Africa 1895-96, and with MCC to Argentine 1911-12. He played in three Tests in South Africa, scoring 124 at Cape Town.

Major General Walter Pitts Hendy Hill (1877 – 1942) CB CMG DSO served in WWI and later became colonel of the Royal Fusiliers.

His grandson, the son of Walter Pitts Hendy Hill, was Brigadier Stanley James Ledger Hill (1911 – 2006) DSO & two Bars MC served as commander of the 3rd Parachute Brigade, part of the 6th Airborne Division in WWII.

After James Ledger Hill, Combe Grove farm was taken on by Ernest Henry Newport (1877 – 1937) and his wife Ella Watts (1885 – 1978).

James Ledger Hill's will - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 15 February 1913
James Ledger Hill’s will – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 15 February 1913

They had a baptism of fire as foot and mouth disease broke out in 1915.

William Waldegrave Palmer (1859 – 1942), 2nd Earl of Selborne KG GCMG PC, President of the Board of Agriculture described it thus in the House of Lords on 2 Nov 1915:[2]

"The main circumstances are that the disease appeared on the premises of a dairy farmer living at Monkton Combe, on the outskirts of the Borough of Bath, being confirmed as foot-and-mouth disease on October 21. An investigation showed that the disease had been there for nearly three weeks before it was recognised, so that it will be apparent that, with the start it had, and taking into account that there are so many ways in which it could be introduced into a partly residential district, the business of tracing its origin will be found a very difficult if not an impossible one. I must say that it is a most deplorable thing that not only the farmers who are not experts in the disease but those experts they called in should have been staring this terrible disease in the face for three weeks before they had the slightest idea what it was or gave the Board of Agriculture any notice.

Up to the present twenty-four outbreaks in all have occurred in the Monkton Combe district. There is direct connection traceable between them all, except two of them which are away from the main group—one in the parish of Winkfield, three miles away from the nearest place of infection in the Monkton Combe district, and the other in the parish of Compton Dando, about seven miles away from it. It is practically certain that these two are connected with the others, but, so far, the connection cannot be definitely indicated.

The other outbreak of disease in the country is in the extreme south-western corner of Pembrokeshire. That is directly traceable to a calf which was taken from premises in the Monkton Combe district which have since been declared infected. This animal, with nine others from the Bath auction mart, was taken direct by rail to Pembroke. The calves were from the first closely watched, and distinct signs of the disease were found to exist on October 28. Since that date there has been no development of the disease at this centre, it having been found possible, in the favourable circumstances of the case, to keep it under complete control."
Combe Grove farm stock sale - Western Gazette - Friday 15 August 1913
Combe Grove farm stock sale – Western Gazette – Friday 15 August 1913
Foot and mouth outbreak in 1915 - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 30 October 1915
Foot and mouth outbreak in 1915 – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 30 October 1915
Ernest H Newport, Combe Grove farm - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 23 October 1915
Ernest H Newport, Combe Grove farm – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 23 October 1915
William Arney, Combe Grove farm - Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser - Saturday 29 October 1932
William Arney, Combe Grove farm – Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser – Saturday 29 October 1932
Ernest H Newport, Combe Grove farm - Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser - Saturday 13 March 1926
Ernest H Newport, Combe Grove farm – Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser – Saturday 13 March 1926

After Ernest Newport left Combe Grove farm was occupied by William Arney, possible William George Arney (1904 – 1970).

He was followed by Stanley Joseph Warren (1907 – 1994) and he by a Mr L R Wagstaff.

Stanley Warren, Combe Grove farm - Western Daily Press - Wednesday 27 April 1938
Stanley Warren, Combe Grove farm – Western Daily Press – Wednesday 27 April 1938
L R Wagstaff, Combe Grove farm - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 1 December 1945
L R Wagstaff, Combe Grove farm – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 1 December 1945

Ivy Cottages

Ivy Cottages
Ivy Cottages

Ivy Cottages was two dwellings for most of this period. As the residents were working class and the ‘social medium’ of the day, the newspaper, did not really follow their world unless criminality or scandal was involved – which gives a distorted image of working people’s lives – I have been unable to add much flesh to the bones below.

  • 1851 Charles Sumsion (b. 1784), a farmer
  • 1861 & 1871 Elizabeth Smith (b. 1834), a laundress also William Watts (1800 – 1851), a farm labourer
  • 1881 & 1891 Elizabeth Smith (b. 1834), a laundress then a dressmaker also Eli James (1827 – 1903) an agricultural labourer and his wife Louisa (b. 1825)
  • 1901 Eli James (1827 – 1903) now a gardener and his wife Louisa Collings (1826 – 1904) also Walter Harry Keel (1868 – 1946) a coachman and his wife Beatrice Witchel (1867 – 1940)
  • 1911 George Plummer (b. 1874) the GWR Station Master and his wife Alice Louisa Leakey (1873 – 1920) also Thomas Ainsworth (1867 – 1927), a gardener and his wife Amelia Ann Warren (1867 – 1940)

Combe Grange

Combe Grange, Shaft Road
Combe Grange, Shaft Road
Lt Col Clerk, Combe Grange - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 25 December 1873
Lt Col Clerk, Combe Grange – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 25 December 1873

In the 1841 and 1851 censuses Combe Grange, then called Combe Grove Villa, was occupied by a brother and sister. Rev Edmund Jones Crawley (1792 – 1871), who had been a Prebendary of Wells and his sister Mary Crawley (1791 – 1858). She died at Combe Grange so we can reasonably assume they were both there until 1858.

In 1861 and 1871 the house is occupied by Lt Col Frederick Joseph Clerk (1805 – 1873) and his wife Joanna Hamilton (1821 – 1899).

His obituary in the Bath Chronicle seems almost like a stereotype of a Victorian, British colonel.

After Col Clerk died his wife is noted in numerous charity events in the Bath Chronicle such as the one for the convalescent home. She had decided to move in 1899, but died whilst in the process on 17 May.

Convalescent Home - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 21 January 1897
Convalescent Home – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 21 January 1897

Combe Grange was unoccupied in the 1901 census, but in 1902 Captain William Vaughan-Jenkins (1879 – 1968) and his wife Irene Miskin Miller (1873 – 1951) lived there. He was the owner of the Combe Grove estate, but Combe Grove was let to James Ledger Hill.

Mrs Clerk's furniture for sale - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 30 March 1899
Mrs Clerk’s furniture for sale – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 30 March 1899
Vaughan-Jenkins births - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 22 May 1902
Vaughan-Jenkins births – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 22 May 1902
Sir Stanley Lockhart Batchelor - The Tablet - 29 Jan 1938
Sir Stanley Lockhart Batchelor – The Tablet – 29 Jan 1938

Mrs Vaughan-Jenkins had twins at Combe Grange in 1902.

A daughter who was still born and William Vaughan-Jenkins (1902 – 1990).

By 1911 Maud Alice Batchelor (née Batty) (1875 – 1952) was ensconced with her children Denzil Stanley (1906 – 1969) and Rosamond (b. 1909).

She was married to Sir Stanley Lockhart Batchelor (1868 – 1938) a a Puisne Judge of the High Court of Judicature, Bombay.

By 1914 the house was occupied by Francis Jeffries Kingsley (1852 – 1929) and his wife Mary Colomb (1866 – 1944).

She was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Philip Howard Colomb (1831 – 1899).

Mrs Gertrude Mary Griffith - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 16 April 1938
Mrs Gertrude Mary Griffith – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 16 April 1938

In 1919 a Mrs Porch was in residence, in 1920 a Col & Mrs Tothill.

In 1922 Monkton Combe school leased Combe Grange as a boarding house and in 1923 a Miss Barclay was noted there in the directories.

By 1928 Mrs Gurney née Mary Penelope Valpy Gregg (1871 – 1952) the wife of Martin Septimus Gurney (1876 – 1943), the farm manager for the school, was noted to be resident.

The school stopped leasing the house in 1932 due to having fewer pupils because of the depression.[3]

A Mrs Gertrude Mary Griffith (1865 – 1938) was living at Combe Grange when she died on 8 March 1938.

In 1948 Monkton Combe school leased Combe Grange again and the 1950 PO Directory lists Robin Pryor Archibald Lankester (1914 – 1993), a school master, as resident.

The house was used by the school as a boarding house until it was sold privately in 2010.

Lodge Style

Lodge Style front and rear
Lodge Style front and rear
Drawings of Lodge Style by Voysey
Drawings of Lodge Style by Voysey

Lodge Style was designed by Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857 – 1941) in 1909.

He had started as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a simple Arts & Crafts style but became the architect of a number of notable country houses such as Perrycroft, Herefordshire, 1893; Annesley Lodge, Hampstead, 1896; Norney Grange, Shackleford, 1897; The Orchard, Chorley Wood, 1900.

Lodge Style is Voysey’s last house in England, and is completely different from anything he designed before. It is a detailed and strange bungalow, enriched with carving and symbolic sculpture with a hipped roof and a squat tower.

Thomas Sturge Cotterell
Thomas Sturge Cotterell

Voysey built the house for Thomas Sturge Cotterell (1865 – 1950) and his wife Edith Maria Holmes (1869 – 1962).

Cotterell wanted a house that reminded him of Merton College, Oxford. Voysey designed him a miniature college quad. The walls are stone from St Winifred’s quarry, part of Bath Stone Firms Ltd, the roofs are slate, the windows have stone mullions and iron casements.

Cotterell Brothers - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 7 August 1845
Cotterell Brothers – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 7 August 1845

Thomas Sturge Cotterell started off at the family firm Cotterell Brothers but later became General Manager of the Bath Stone Firms and a Bath Councillor.

He was one of the main movers behind the Bath Pageant, being Chairman of the Executive Committee.

The Crowning of King Edgar, Bath Pageant 1909
The Crowning of King Edgar, Bath Pageant 1909
Bath Pageant letter by Thomas Sturge Cotterell 1909
Bath Pageant letter by Thomas Sturge Cotterell 1909

He also became Chairman of the Libraries Committee from 1906 – 11 and Deputy Chairman from 1919 – 27, becoming an Alderman and finally Mayor of Bath in 1930.

Cotterell Brothers - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 12 March 1949
Cotterell Brothers – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 12 March 1949

However, he is remembered mostly today for setting up the Bath Corps of Honorary Guides. Cotterell himself, being an avid history ‘buff’ (and a Chairman of Bath Preservation Trust), showed visitors around Bath on Boxing day and Easter morning in 1934. By 1975 the frequency of the walks increased to twice daily and on every day except Christmas day. Today there are about 85 volunteer guides who turn out in all weathers.

He had moved from Lodge Style by 1919 and was living at to Pulteney Street in the 1920s and when he died.

His uncle was Jacob Henry Cotterell (1817 – 1868) a land surveyor responsible for the 1852 map of Bath and the surrounding area the last significant independent map of the city, for the use of the City Council, which had just acquired responsibility for public health.

They show the city in amazing detail – you can even see the house numbers!

He was a Quaker and in 1838 became the 1st Chairman of Bath Juvenile Temperance Society, then in 1861 was elected President of the Bath Temperance Association, the year they donated the Rebecca Fountain to the Corporation of Bath.

A part of Cotterell's map
A part of Cotterells map
Funeral of Mrs Marguerite Jeanne (née Pentland) Gregson - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 15 March 1919
Funeral of Mrs Marguerite Jeanne (née Pentland) Gregson – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 15 March 1919

By 1919 Mrs Marguerite Jeanne (née Pentland) Gregson 1848 – 1919 was living there.

By the early 1930s the house was occupied by Mr & Mrs F H Green.

Centuries old veil - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 18 August 1934
Centuries old veil – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 18 August 1934
Late Mis E Scott - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 31 May 1941
Late Mis E Scott – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 31 May 1941

From about 1935 to 1941 Miss Eva Scott (1871 – 1941), an author, was living at Lodge Style.

She, along with her brother and sisters, had been brought up by their aunts, the Misses Harrison, who lived at Waterhouse, after their parents died, their father in 1874 and mother in 1877.

Bathonians new book - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Saturday 29 June 1935
Bathonians new book – Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 29 June 1935

References

[1] Measuringworth.com

[2] HANSARD 1803–2005 → 1910s → 1915 → November 1915 → 2 November 1915 → Lords Sitting

[3] A Goodly Heritage by A F Lace, 1968