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Summary:
Earliest records:
Date of building:
Listed: Grade II
Known as "The Cottage", 2 Charnham Street.
Thumbnail History:
Originally the stables for The Tannery, 1 Charnham Street. Now residential.
Description of property:
From Listed Building records: Stables, now cottage. Early C19. Tiled roof, central chimney painted render on brick, brick dentil course to eaves, 2 flat headed dormer. One storey and attic. 6 panel door with fanlight to left, 2 glazing bar sashes with cambered heads to right.
Photo Gallery:
Charnham Street, showing 2 Charnham Street on right, c1912
Plan of property, 1911
Plan of property, 1912
Plan of property, 4th April 1946
Showing the entrance to Stradling's yard (1912-1919).
F Brooks, 2 Charnham Street, from the Carnival RagMag, Sep 1935
- Charnham Street, showing 2 Charnham Street on right, c.1912.
- Plan of property, 1911.
- Plan of property, 1912.
- F Brooks, 2 Charnham Street, from the Carnival RagMag, September 1935.
- Plan of property, 4th April 1946.
Timeline:
The cottage was probably built as a wood framed, single story building. A surveyor suggests that originally it may have had a thatched roof.
There is a large beam upstairs in the Fire Place next door carved with the initials J.W.1749. It corresponds with the beams that we uncovered in the cottage when it was renovated, could it be that John Westall had the cottage built for him or by him?
We feel that part of the cottage was demolished to make way for the construction of the Fire Station in 1890. It would be interesting to find out more.
The following names taken from the deeds and documents that I have read, may have been tenants in the cottage:
- 1783 Phoebe Hughes
- 1817 Henry Robes
- 1825 William Toms
- 1825 William Harming
- 1886 Henry Bryant
1844 Snare's Dir: Tanner: William Toms, Charnham Street.
1844 Pigot's Dir: William Toms, Tanner, Charnham Street
1851 Census: #48: James Jupp (45), farmer, wife Mary (43), 1 son, 6 daughters.
1861 Census [Position unclear here - needs further confirmation]
From #104 Lamb Inn (5 Charnham Street):
#105 John Dredge (62), auctioneer, 2 sons, 1 servant. (Note: uner 1 Charnham Street: In 1893 a parcel of ground in Charnham Street between the property of Margaretta Dredge and the cottage (2 Charnham Street) was bought for £70 for a Fire Engine Station. This became 3 Charnham Street)
#106: Wiliam Briant (62), shoe maker, wife Sarah (61).
#107: Ann Wilson (69), fundholder, 1 servant.
#108: Mary Jupp (53), 3 daughters.
#109: George May - Tanner employing 19 men, 15 women. (1 Charnham Street)
1871 Census: [Position unclear here - needs further confirmation]
#107 Joseph King (50), labourer, wife Evelyn (58), 1 grand-daughter, 1 nephew.
1881 Census: Henry Briant) (54), "working foreman in Tan Yard", wife Elizabeth (57), 1 daughter, 2 grand-sons.
1894 Charnham Street Floods: Marlborough Times of 17th November 1894 reported "...the inhabitants of the houses between the Bear and Mr. Gibbon's Iron Foundry were, if anything, in a worse plight. Mr Pinchen's house near the Fire Station was flooded, as was also the Engine House. Mr. Skinner's shop and dining room had nearly 2ft. of water in them, and boxes and confectionery bottles were floating about. The whole of Faulkner Square was under water, and had the appearance of a large lake. All the houses in the square were flooded, and the inhabitants had to remove upstairs, provisions, where needed, being drawn up in baskets. Mr. Hidden was a considerable sufferer, as to carpets and furniture. Mr. Edmonds and Mr. Pearce had their underground kitchens invaded, and as their supply of provisions and fuel were in them, they were cut off from food and firing. In the houses of Mr. Wren and Mr. Gibbons, the water rose to a great height, and the fire in the grate at Mr. Gibbons's was put out. Mrs. Withers, too, at the Red Lion Inn, had a terrible time of it, and the houses of Mr. Andrews, Mr. Lamsden, Mr. Buxey, and Mr. Joyce were also flooded."
1901 (Census) Tom New (49), Flour miller, with wife Elizabeth and family.
1907 Thomas New
1911 Census: #126: Amy Simms (30), widow, housekeeping, 1 son, 3 daughters, 1 niece, 4 rooms.
1912 Hugh Manning Vyall
Stradling & Plenty lease part of the property, outbuildings and yard:
1912 Lease for seven years 27th March. Indenture between Captain Thomas Morse, and Stradling and Plenty Ltd. Motorcar agents of Newbury. The cottage and premises in Charnham Street was in the occupation of Hugh Manning Vyall as a weekly tenant. He also had part of the yard situated at the rear of the cottage with various buildings erected on it.
Lease for seven years at £30 per equal quarterly payments, and to spend at least one pound ten shillings in painting and repairs to the said cottage, also to connect a water supply to the closet and a tap in the kitchen.
See Photo Gallery for the plan showing property leased to Stradling & Plenty, 27 Mar 1912.
It appears that Stradling & Plenty did not renew the lease in 1919.
1922 F Brooks, Boot & Shoe Repairer (1935 Carnival RagMag; 1939 Blackett Directory)
1939 Blacket's Dir: F Brooks, Boot repairer.
1940 Blacket's Dir: F Brooks, Boot repairer.
1946 4th April Dr Robert James sold (for £400) the cottage to Mr Reginald John Wells, a caterer from Newbury. The various occupiers of Riverside House had owned the cottage for nearly 200 years.
1948 28th April: William Stephan Barnes, who was a boot and shoe repairer, buys the cottage for £1,250. He lived there with his wife Gertrude and their only daughter Mary (Cis). Their daughter Mary married Robert "Bob" Norris, and they move into the cottage. They also had a lodger, who was a chef called Mr.Hudnott. He lived there from 1974 until 1982.
In 1968, the Fire Station next door closed and moved to its new premises in Church Street.
The Wesleyan Chapel opposite the cottage was demolished in 1971 and Chapel Court was built.
William Barnes died on the 19 Nov 1983; he left everything to his wife Gertrude.
In 1984, the Cottage was listed Grade II.
Gertrude Barnes died on the 4th February 1993, and her daughter Mary Norris inherited the property.
In 1995, we bought the cottage and after many months and a lot of hard work, we moved in. We opened up fireplaces, discovered beams, even a doorway. After working on the inside we turned our attention to the garden, it was a labour of love.
In 1998 The stables next door were converted and refurbished to a four bedroom cottage which was sold in 1999, to Mrs Y Belton.
The coach house was then refurbished and sold for residential use.
With thanks to Joan and Geoffrey Archer.
With thanks to Joan & Geoffrey Archer, who researched Riverside & The Cottage, 2 Charnham Street in 2001.
See also:
- Notes on 2 Charnham Street, by Joan Archer, Apr 2001
The Canal Wharf, 2011