Benjamin Wingrove

In another tenuous coincidence I have discovered that Benjamin Wingrove (1773 – 1840), who has his own page on this site, and was an attorney, land speculator, agriculturalist and road builder is the 1st cousin 1x removed of the wife of the husband of the 7th great-aunt of our son-in-law. I said it was tenuous! The Read More …

Curo cable car plan – clanger or cock up?

I’ve added a section about the Curo cable care plan that flew across the sky between 205 and 2017 whilst Curo were starting the development of Mulberry Park and having some ‘issues’ with their Foxhill master plan – which was mentioned in last month’s blog ‘Black hats or blunderers‘.  The Curo cable care plan was Read More …

Galleries and maps

I have spent some time adding to the galleries for Prior to Now and there are over 1,000 images of people, buildings and activities on Combe Down on the site. The earliest photographic images are of Prior Park in about 1855 by the Rev Francis Lockey (1796 – 1869). Rev Lockey and his family lived in Swainswick Read More …

More pages and infills about Combe Down

I have added more pages and infills about Combe Down by filling in some obvious gaps. There’s some old adverts mentioning Combe Down or Monkton Combe – none very exciting it has to be said, but hopefully further research will find some that are. Having said that, even if the adverts themselves don’t excite they can Read More …

Historical maps treasure trove

I’ve found an historical maps treasure trove. There’s a lovely page at: A Vision of Britain through Time History of Combe Down in Bath and North East Somerset. which tells us that in 1870 – 72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Combe Down like this: “COMBE-DOWN, a chapelry in Combe-Monckton Read More …

A quick look at Combe Down around 1846 – 1848

I was just looking at the Hunt & Co. and Silverthorne directories for Bath and Bristol for 1848 and 1846 respectively and thought it would be interesting to see what went on in the village around then – what was it like on Combe Down around 1846 – 1848? Who is mentioned? What trades and professions? Read More …

1817 Ordnance Survey map including Combe Down

Old maps are fascinating.  Just seeing what an area looked like 100 or more years ago on and Ordnance Survey map can give real insights into the place. Of course very old maps tend to be either somewhat inaccurate or have little detailed data because of their scale. Even so they can be interesting and Read More …