Gibbons Iron Works and Kennet Motor Works

You are in [Places] [Iron Foundries] [Gibbons Iron Works]
[-->10 Charnham Street] [-->Kennett Cottages]

Summary:

There were two important iron foundries in Hungerford - Gibbons (in Charnham Street) and Cottrell's (in Eddington). They became big employers, and both firms were known for the high quality of their work.

When Gibbons Iron Works closed, it became the Kennet Motor Works, then Kennet Garage, and more recently the Asda Petrol Station and shop.

20250408 Asda Express 800 Asda Express, April 2025, site of Gibbons Ironworks, later Kennet Motor Works.

Photo Gallery:

P3271087

charnham st 125 kennet motor works truck 1947

img_0201

gibbons-01

gibbons-02

gibbons-03

gibbons-04

gibbons-05

gibbons-06

gibbons-07

gibbons-08

gibbons-09

gibbons-10

gibbons-11

gibbons-12

gibbons-13

gibbons-14

gibbons-15

charnham st 124 kennet motor workds 1949

Kennet Motor Works workshop

19920308 Texaco Service Station (day before demolished)

19920400 Peter Stirlands - building the new

19920500 Peter Stirlands - building the new

- 16 Bridge Street - Richard Gibbons first foundry in Hungerford.

- Extract from the Gibbons Family Tree.

- Adverts for Gibbons Kennet Works, 1883.

- Advert for Gibbons Patent Moulding Machine.

- Site plan of Gibbons Kennet Works and adjacent buildings.

- Group photograph thought to be of Henry Gibbons senior.

- Group photograph thought to be of Henry Walton Gibbons and his family, c.1920?

- Bill drawn to Mr Barr of Thatcham, ?1925.

- Letter of 6th January 1936. Note change of business address to Bishopstoke Iron Foundry, Eastleigh.

- Cover of sale details when 9 & 10 Charnham Street were sold by auction, 20th July 1936.

- Group photo, unlabelled, but thought to be of workers at the Gibbons Kennet Works c1925. If so, they are, L to R,: Charles Britton, ..?.. Purdue, William Dunn, Henry (Eddie) Gigg, George Rider (blacksmith) and Ted Potter.

- Kennet Motor Works, c.1950s.

- Kennet Motor Works breakdown truck, 1947.

- Kennet Motor Works, c.1949.

- Kennet Motor Works, c.1930

- In the workshop at Kennet Motor Works. Tom Bell (apprentice) on left. (Thanks to Roger Day).

- HW Gibbons and his wife's Diamond Wedding, 8th May 1960.

- Texaco Service Station 8th Mar 1992, The night before demolition

- Texaco Service station, on the day before demolition, 8th March 1992.

- Building the new service station, April 1992.

- Building the new service station, May 1992.

- Petrol station (site of the Kennet Works) with 9 & 10 Charnham Street, home of Gibbons family and the works manager.

- The Texaco Service Station, December 2015.

- Feed trough by Gibbons, used as a garden ornament, Apr 2015 (with thanks to Peter Harries).

Timeline:

(With thanks to the late John Newton for much of this information)

Gibbons Iron Works in Bridge Street, 1824-1831:

The story starts with Richard Gibbons, who lived in Ramsbury.

Richard was born 28th January 1787, the son of Daniel and Eliza Gibbons. At the age of 27 years in 1814, Richard (now married to Mary, nee White) and his brother James set up an iron foundry and whitesmiths in Ramsbury, possibly on the site of the later Newtown Ironworks, run by the Osmonds.

In 1824 Richard and Mary, along with their three children including three week old Henry, moved to Hungerford and opened Hungerford's earliest iron foundry. In due course this Henry would eventually become the head of the firm. (Three more children were born in Hungerford).

P3271087 16 Bridge Street, March 2007, site of Richard Gibbons first ironworks

The premises Richard Gibbons occupied were at 16 Bridge Street, and he developed an iron foundry business at the rear. This included blowing bellows, an iron furnace, a wood crane and iron moulding flasks. No doubt they were making everyday household objects, maybe pig troughs, and repairing household items. It is important to note that at this time they were not involved in manufacturing agricultural impliments.

Hungerford and Kintbury were a focus for serious agricultural "Swing" Riots on 22nd November 1830, and Richard Gibbons ironworks suffered £260 of damage. On the same day, all the glass in the Tannery (now Great Grooms Antiques, Riverside) was broken - 170 panes in all. Despite not manufacturing agricultural implements, the records show that the crowds destroyed a threshing machine at Gibbons ironworks.

The move to Charnham Street - Kennet Works:

Soon after the riots, the Gibbons family set about designing and building a new foundry on three acres of land they purchased on Bell Mead in Charnham Street (now Asda Express Service Station and shop). The new foundry eventually opened 1839, the Reading Mercury of 17th August 1839 reporting "Mr. Gibbons extensive new iron foundry in Charnham Street is nearly completed and is expected to be a great accomodation to agriculturalists, machinist, builders etc. in the neighbourhood.". In fact, he had built more than just the iron foundry, because he built a whole complex of buildings, including two semi-detached houses adjacent (now 9 & 10 Charnham Street) for their use, and their foundry manager (See Reading Museum of Rural Life), the foundry and cupola, together with a smithy, carpenter's shop and paint shop. In its hey-day it employed over 100 people. The buildings became known as Kennet Works, described as such in the Pigot Directory of 1842.

Incidentally, Bell Mead is said to have been named as the endowed land for the maintenance of church bells and ropes in Hungerford.

9 and 10 Charnham Street, built by Richard Gibbons c.1839, in November 2015

Henry Gibbons grew up spending all the time he could in the foundry, but to expand his knowledge, he went in 1850 at the age of 26 years, to Australia where, amongst other things, he studied the manufacture of iron lace work, which featured heavily on the balconies of the popular colonial houses there at the time. He soon got caught up in the "gold rush" of 1849 at Ballerat in Victoria. He and a colleague staked their claim and actually made a major find. On their way to register their claim and sell a substantial amount of gold they had dug, they were set upon and left for dead. In fact, his friend did die, and Henry was only saved by some passing Aborigines who nursed him back to health. He did not return to Hungerford until 1857, aged 33 years, the year after his mother Mary had died. (She was buried in the small churchyard of the Wesleyan Chapel in Church Street).

On 16th March 1865, Henry Gibbons married (in St. Lawrence's Church) Ann Martin, 16 years his junior, whose family ran an upholsterers, undertakers and builders business in Church Street.

Incidentally, Henry, like has father Richard, were themselves devoted to the Methodist Church. Indeed, when the Bath Road Methodist Church was built in 1869, it was Henry Gibbons who was made Cleerk of the Works, entrusted to ensure the work was well and faithfully carried out. He later became a Trustee of the church and on more than one occasion was Circuit Steward for the Methodist cause.

Now married, it seems that Henry took over the running of the Kennet Works. The Post Office Directory of 1869 records "Henry Gibbons, iron & brass founder, manufacturer of steam & hot water fittings & all kinds of agricultural implements, Kennet works, Charnham Street." Kelly's Directory is similar.

Further building took place. By the time of the Ordnance Survey map of 1871, they had built the pair of cottages nearer the river, later occupied by foundry workers.

The 1877 Kelly's Dirctory records "Henry Gibbons, Iron and Brass founder, manufacturer of steam and hot water fittings and all kinds of agricultural implements - Kennet Works. Medals awarded."

During this time, Henry's family home was in one of the Charnham Court houses. All four children were born there - Annie (born 1866), Marion (born 1868, Janie (born 1872) and finally a son named Henry (born 8th September 1874).

The period from the 1870s until the First World War was the period of the firm's greatest activity.

By 1882 they were receiving write-ups in the Implement Manufacturers' Review, which spoke in glowing terms of "Gibbons' patent moulding machines, a device for moulding large quantities of castings at a cheap rate without skilled labour, mouldings for ploughs and implement work". The December 1884 edition carried an illustration and advertisement for "a castings cleaner, capable of holding a ton of rough castings and fettling them in an hour, is one of Mr. Gibbons' list of specialities, which however is still headed by his more important patent moulding machine. This is one of the cheapest and best devices of the kind upon the English market, selling at £15, and the small size at £12. We can not only see by the testimonials Mr. Gibbons has that several of our readers have bought these machines, but that they highly value them."

Gibbons' Patent Moulding Machine and various other agricultural items, advertised in the 1880s

This same year (1884) also found the firm making the first of two appearances at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show, at which they took a stand. Prominent on this stand was not only their moulding machine, but also two further new items, a Horse Cultivator priced at £6 and a grinding machine for grinding the spiral cutters of lawn mowers priced at £10. Other goods on offer included two ploughs, one having an iron beam and priced at £4.10s. 0d., and another with a wooden beam for £3. 10s. 0d., a chaff cutter at £3. 10s. 0d.

In 1892 they exhibited four various grinding machines and an oil engine manufactured by Weyman & Co. of Guldford, priced at £87. 10s. 0d., for which they were presumably agents.

Many of the iron fixtures around Hungerford to this day were made by the Kennet Works around this time - the railings of Eddington Bridge and the Down Gate, and the ornamental gateway at St. Lawrence's church, erected in 1886 during the time John Platt was Constable.

Mr Gibbons's dispute with the Town and Manor:

However, Henry Gibbons came into dispute with the Town & Manor in 1886-88 regarding a waterway in or near his garden. John Platt, Constable, had arranged a Beating of the Bounds to take place on Monday 26th July 1886 to check for any encroachments on Town and Manor land.

On arrival at Henry Gibbons' land near Eddington Bridge in the late morning, they found a small boathouse, consisting of four curved corrugated sheets attached to four metal legs had been erected over a section of small ditch in which a small boat lay.

Incensed by this, the boat was removed and placed on the bank on Henry Gibbons' land, together with the boathouse itself, which had been lifted bodily off its moorings. They proceeded on their way.

However, Henry Gibbons claimed that not only was the boathouse erected on land that was his and over water that was his, but that it an act of trespass by those persons who had removed it earlier that day.

Neither side would give way. Henry Gibbons claimed the stream was his in land purchased by him in 1869 adjacent to other land inherited from his father. In fact, there had been two small islands in that place but they had now been formed into one. There was a coarse ditch which he banked up and cleaned out. He and his father had kept a boat there and there was a plank in place to reach it over marshy ground.

The Constable claimed that no boathouse had been evident on previousoccasions when the bounds were beaten and that the water belonged to the Town and Manor. No doubt he was concerned that if the boathouse had been unchallenged there for more than 12 years then it could, by law, remain. The use of a boat would also have a detrimental effect on the fishery in the river Kennet.

The dispute festered on for 18 months, and finally led to a Crown Court case being heard at the Berkshire Winter Assizes before Lord Chief Justice Coleridge at Reading, commencing Tuesday 7th Februry 1888. The case lasted a day and a half. The Q.C.s for each party called many witnesses, but the Lord Chief Justice, mindful that the boathouse was worth only ten pounds, and the legal fees were rising rapidly, directed that a settlement be made: "The record be withdrawn by consent, the defendant (the Town and Manor) to pay the plaintiff (Henry Gibbons) one hundred pounds towards his costs, the feoffees to granbt the plaintiff and his heirs the right to use a boat on the river Kennet at all reasonale times, provided that he does not damage or cause any interference or injury to the fishery or fishing of the feoffees of the Borough and Manor of Hungeford or their lessees".

His Lorship was correct in worrying about the costs incurred in the action, because the costs to the Town and Manorwere such that they were almost bankcrupt. Their cash reserved were insufficient at that time to pay their own solicitor, let alone pay the £100 to Henry Gibbons. They had to seek additional funds somehow.

This led to tehm sacrificing their "Free" House, the John o' Gaunt Inn in Bridge Street. On 11th November 1898, the Inn was let to Mr. Herbert John Finn for a period of 49 years at a nominal sum of £5 per annum in consideration of a capital sum of £1,500, which sum was used to discharge their legal costs.Due to various amalgamations that followed, the inn eventually passed to Messrs Ushers, brewers of Trowbridge.

Incidentally, following this injection of capital, an 'up and over' bridge was constructedon that part of the bank of the stream involved in this case, in an effort to allow fishermen access to their other bank and at the same time to allow the Gibbons family access to the river as per the letter of the law. At a later date, a single wooden plank spanned both banks upstream of this new bridge, which effectively negated any passage to open water!

The Newbury Weekly News reported on 26 January 1888:

Hungerford disputed the boundary case:

"The Town versus Gibbons, is down for hearing at the Berkshire Assizes, which commence on February 6 at Reading.

The dispute arose out of the action taken by the authorities when beating the bounds nearly two years ago, in removing a boat and boathouse belonging to Mr Gibbons, who had placed the same on a ditch near the Eddington bridge, and which he claimed bound his property.

Mr HD Greene QC is retained for the town, and Mr Jelf QC will conduct the case for Mr Gibbons. The hearing is expected to last several days with some forty or fifty witnesses on behalf of the town.

All the ancient documents in possession of the authorities have been searched, and some translated by experts. The charter is not to be found, but confirmations of the document by two kings are valuable evidence of its existence.

The town authorities pride themselves upon having twice fought Queen Elizabeth on the fishing rights, and what is more, defeated Her Majesty."

The dispute seems to have continued. You can read a detailed and interesting account of "Perambulating the Borough Boundaries" published in the Marlborough Times and Wilts and Berks County Paper, 31 Jul 1886.

The whole thing came back to court in Feb 1888, and was reported in detail in:

- the Newbury Weekly News of 9 Feb 1888 "The Hungerford Boundary Case - Gibbons v. Platt" and

- the Newbury Express of 9 Feb 1888 "Nisi Prius Court - Gibbons v. Platt".

Kennet Works became a garage:

In the 1895 Kelly's Directory, Henry Gibbons is firmly recorded as an ironfounder - at the Kennet Works.

However, soon after the development of the earliest motor car, Henry Gibbons saw the potential business opportunities of the motor car. In 1895 he carried out some further building work on the Eddington Bridge side of the foundry. This bacame a garage, fronting on the main A4 road. It is said to have been the first such garage on the London to Bath Road.

These were the halcyon days for the Kennet Works and the Gibbons family - the ironworks were thriving, and the garage work was developing.

Henry Gibbons fourth child (born 8th September 1874) had been his longed for son, whom he had named Henry Walton Gibbons.

By 1900, H.W. Gibbons was aged 26 years, and on 8th May he married a 22-year-old spinster named Kate Combs (of Church Street). The wedding ceremony took place at the Bath Road Methodist Church. The bride's father, George, was a miller at Dun Mill.

Following their marriage, Henry and Kate set up their home in the town side property of Charnham Court (now no. 9), with Henry senior still in the other property (no.10), this property overlooking the ironworks and the garage.

When Henry Gibbons senior retired in 1902, control of the business passed to his son Henry Walton Gibbons, who ran it thereafter. The business was steadily moving away from foundry work towards motor engineering. A boost to the ironworks business came with the exporting of grain elevators and ploughs as far away as Patagonia!

When H.W. Gibbons third child was born, his son and heir named Richard Walton Gibbons, there were great celebrations within the firm and the men were given the day off to mark the occasion.

However, a period of agricultural depression was looming and by the time of the birth of his second son, Henry (Henry III), on 17th March 1907, the business had declined, and there was no day off. In fact the men were asked to work overtime! In all, seven children were born to Henry and Kate. None of the children went to school, but a governess was employed by their parents for home schooling.

The 1906 Cosburn's Directory still described the works as "Gibbons & Son, Kennet ironworks". Henry Gibbons III well remembered the brightly coloured ploughs and elevators standing in the yuard awaiting despatch. There were many wooden bodied ploughs - Models A1, A2, Z1 and Z2, which being well balancewd, were much in favour with local farmers.

Nevertheless, the agricultural decline continued. In March 1911 the nearby Cottrell & Co of the Eddington Ironworks closed, a dramatic event locally resulting in significant unemployment. There was a closing auction sale on 21st-23rd March 1911 when Henry Gibbons purchased a significant amount of stock. It is interesting to note that the Agricultural Arch erected in Charnham Street when King George V came to the town in the following year, October 1912, the arch included elevatgors of Cottrell manufacture.

Henry Gibbons II strove to keep his business going. In 1912 he entered into partnership and limited company with another. This, sadly, was a grave error of judgement, and the venture was short-lived, as he was badly let down by his partner. His resources were further depleted.

Big changes came with the First World War:

Major changes came about with the onset of the First World War. Henry Walton Gibbons was appointed Inspector of Munitions Factories in Birmingham. This required him to leave Hungerford, resulting in the closure of the Charnham Street premises. Henry II and Kate moved to live in Bournville, leaving his parents, Henry I and Ann were still living at 10 Charnham Street, along with their daughter Marion. But with his foundry and firm now closed, his family scattered, and the country at war, these were bad days for Henry I, and it was not long before his death was recorded on 10th January 1917, at the age of 92 years. His funeral service was held at the Wesleyan Church in Charnham Street, conducted by Rev. H.W. Wade, who spoke and paid tribute not only to his role as an engineer, but also of his unfailing service the their faith.

Now left alone in the house with her daughter, it is not surprising that, in answer to an appeal to aid war work, Henry's widow Ann gave up the family's car, and those others that were remaining on the closure of the garage business to make 'bullets'. These cars had been stored since the start of the war in a shed on the far side of the garage premises, and comprised around six vehicles, including a De Dion Bouton, a Benz and a Panhard.

After the war, the family loses, and regains control, 1918-1922:

At the end of the war, Henry Gibbons II left the MInistry of Munitions and took a post as manager of a factory in Stetchford, near Birmingham, which made Parkinsons Gas Stoves. He was in charge of the foundry business. However, this was short-lived, and he soon returned to the Hungerford area, living firstly in Chisbury, but then moving back to lodge with Ann in the house next door to the Kennet Works.

Shortly after the war ended, when Henry Gibbons II was still in Stechford, the Kennet Works were leased to Thomas William Baker of the well-known family of agricultural engineers from Compton. He took a lease of all the buildings with the exception of a very few, most notably the shed at the rear of the garage in which the cars had been stored before being sold for scrap. Mr. Baker commenced trading in May 1919.

Once Henry was back in Hungerford, and now living at nearby Denford, he was again able to resume establishing an iron foundry again, making use of those few buildings that did not form part of T.W. Baker's lease, namely the tin shed beside the garage, where he set up a furnace.

Foundry work re-commenced, Henry II being assisted by his sons Henry III and Richard, together with a few local employees. All this was a shadow of the firm before the war. Their main products being manufactured at this time, as in the previous century, were a range of plough shares suitable for most leading plough manufacturers products , such as Ransomes and Cockshutt besides making drug shoes for horse-drawn wagons, themselves in decline.

Times for all were undoubtedly very hard. Henry III recalled: "We were very poor then in fact so much so that when the governor spring on the Petter oil engine broke, my sister sat and held a piece of string to work it, we could not afford to repair it".

As the business expanded, the works consisted of a blacksmith' s shop, two forges, a gas engine - which supplied power for the cupola, for powering the founders fan, together with a large carpenters shop. The machine shop had its own power source with electric current.

George Ryder was engineer in charge of the machine shop. Another undoubted character was Jim Mead a fitter. He chewed tobacco and spat profusely, then placed the tobacco to any in a cubby-hole above the furnace before smoking it, making snuff of any left overs.

Thus the family continued for a few years, just making ends meet, but unable to recapture their former glory of the previous century. They now worked side by side with T.W. Baker.

Unfortunately on 13th February 1922, Mr. Baker was taken very ill and returned home from work never to return. The following month his brother-in-law Mr. W.G. Perrett arrived to wind up his affairs at the Kennet Works. The following year Mr. Baker moved away from his home at Denford and retired to a house in Pangbourne made available to him by his family, where he died in 1929.

The Gibbons retake control but the business fails, 1922-1936:

With the retirement of Mr. Baker from the works, the Gibbons were now able to take over all of the premises, as in former years. Now, they endeavoured to expand their concern and, as they did, a few more employees were taken on and by the mid 1920s, they were employing eight to ten persons. Among these were William Dunn, Joe Ford, George Collis, Bill Cope and Fred Smith, a local preacher from Aldbourne.

Henry III became a moulder and later he delivered some of the firm's castings over a wide area in their 30 cwt Ford Lorry. These castings were more often than not manhole covers, which were supplied over a large area of Southern England to many towns as they embarked upon installing central sewage systems and replaced the previously universal earth closets requiring horse-drawn night soil-carts. Many hundreds of these castings were made but mostly carried not the name of the founder but the contractor or council to whom they were despatched.

In an effort to further diversify their trade and in the hope of establishing a further foothold in the building industry, the firm tried making brick manufacturing machinery, but this met with little success and was swiftly discontinued.

The 1920s were hard times in industry and in agriculture. Around this time the firm got into financial difficulties. Richard Gibbons, grandson of the founder, resigned his full-time job in the Salvation Army, and together with his wife, took over management and rescued the business. William Dunn recalls that at times employees had to wait for their wages until customers, themselves hard pressed, had paid their accounts.

charnham st 113 The two foundrymen's cottages, shortly before demolition, c.1920.
Note the "garage" sign beyond.

It was in the early 1920s that the two foundrymens' cottages near Eddington Bridge were demolished. A photograph dated May 1922 clearly shows a high corrugated iron fence in their stead.

Despite the best endevours, the business continued to struggle through the 1920s and in 1931 came another blow for the Gibbons' family. The Rev. Hugh A. Roberts, writing in the local Methodist Church magazine on 15th January 1931 stated: "Again the little cause at Hungerford is plunged in sorrow. Mrs. Henry Gibbons, so soon after her sister Mrs .George Taylor, has passed away in her ninety first year."

By this date also, Henry II's eldest son Richard was playing a more major role in the running of the firm and, as such, it was probably he who realised more than his father that, despite all their efforts, they were unable to turn around their family's fortunes.

The firm employed about 8-10 people, and a photograph (thought to be missing but probably the one shown below right) showed (from left to right): Charles Britton, ..?.. Purdue, William Dunn, Henry (Eddie) Gigg, George Rider (blacksmith) and Ted Potter. William Dunn also remembered Joe Ford, George Collis, Fred Smith (a local preacher from Aldbourne) and Bill Cope (also from Stokke).

Another photograph (also missing) from 1933 showed William Dunn and his wife Mary in the firm's yard.

The foundry closes, 1935:

In the summer of 1935 the decision was taken to close down the Hungerford foundry busines and to move away, at the same time selling up and realising their assets. The foundry duly closed and Richard and his family moved away to Bishopstoke near Eastleigh in Hampshire.

The Gigg family also moved (in the firm's lorry!) to Bishopstoke to work at the new foundry. They found accommodation at Fair Oak, as did uncle William Dunn. Ian Gigg contacted the Virtual Museum (Sep 2018) to add that his father Henry Gigg (from Stokke) and mother (nee Dunn, born 1910 in Hungerford - her father ran a cycle shop at 14 Charnham Street but died of Spanish flu in the 1918 pandemic) married in 1931. Henry drove a lorry at the Iron Works. Ian kindly gave Henry's Driving Licences (one from 1933 and 1934, with The Foundry address, the other dated 1937 with the address at Fair Oak) to the HHA Archives). Henry died 1983. William Dunn, Ian's mother's brother, also worked in the firm. Ken Gigg was born 1932 at The Foundry - Ian in 1936 at Fair Oak.

Henry Gibbons bought a house nearby at Hornton Heath.

Richard Gibbons sadly committed suicide in the 1950s, and Mrs Gibbons went on to run the firm herself..

In c.1952 the foundry moved again, to Fareham in Hampshire. It was later taken over by a Midlands firm - Brickhouse Dudley & Co - and some years later, perhaps in the 1980s, it closed down, the factory was demolished, and the whole area re-developed.

Henry W Gibbons and his wife eventually retired in Barton-on-Sea.

Rosemarie Musson emailed (Nov 2016) to add: "My father Philip Gibbons was the youngest child of Henry and Kate Gibbons. My father continued to run an iron foundry in Grantham Lincolnshire after leaving Fareham Hampshire. He later had a small foundry in Bourne and carried out model engineering castings for a many of years before his death in 1993."

A series of letters then passed between 39, Edward Avenue, Bishopstoke and the offices of A.W. Neate and Sons of Newbury, during which, one dated 13th December
1935 states that they had been trying for some time to sell the premises privately to no avail, and now considered an auction sale the most likely way of disposing of the whole to the best advantage. Interestingly, we find another letter form Richard Gibbons to Neates, dated 6th January 1936, on which a new Business is listed, that of The Bishopstoke Iron Foundry.

The auction sale was agreed upon, an advertisement placed in the Newbury Weekly News and sale particulars made ready by A.W.Neate & Sons. This was to held in their Church Street Saleroom, which had been the previously mentioned first Wesleyan Chapel and had featured so strongly in the life of the Gibbons family. Instructions were issued to include some 50-60 lots of materials, various castings, plough shares and the like, together with one 8 hp Petter engine and the 30 cwt Ford lorry. The auction was duly held, as advertised, and comprised not only the 50-60 lots, but also the two freehold houses numbers 9 and 10 Charnham Street, together with gardens arid a large paddock, the whole amounting to over three acres.

Presumably, and in line with the times, the highest bid was considered to be insufficient, as a letter dated 10th August sent from Bishopstoke refers. However, just prior to the auction, a Mr. A.E. Ludford had become a tenant of 9 Charnham Street, and this was offered with him as a sitting tenant, paying rent of £45 per annum. A Mr. Fawcus had previously purchased a portion of the former Kennet Garage which explains why there is no mention of the garage premises in the sale particulars. Incidentally, Mr. Ludford was later to become the proprietor of the Kennet Motor Works.

Nevertheless, with the family having moved away and in business again, this state of limbo could not continue indefinitely. This was resolved by another letter to Messrs. Neate & Sons dated 29th January 1937, in which Mr. Richard Gibbons accepted an offer of £1,025 for the whole from Mr. S.R. Neate, the auctioneers, with "no deductions whatsoever to be taken". Understandably, there were deductions, and these are listed in another letter from Solicitors Charles Lucas and Marshall to Mr. Gibbons, dated 5th March 1937 and state their costs as being fourteen guineas, Building Society solicitors charges as two guineas and an amount due to the Ramsbury Building Society of £377. 18s. 7d leaving a total amount of £630. 5s. 5d. after Bank deductions. Articles of Association for the new firm at Bishopstoke known as Gibbons & Sons, Ltd. were incorporated on 28th June 1937. It is a measure of the loyalty shown to their former employers that at least two of their employees moved away to Bishopstoke, upon the commencement of the new business, these being William Dunn and Henry (Eddie) Gigg.

It is also noted that, during his time in Hungerford, Mr. Henry Gibbons II had been a keen sportsman and was associated with the youth movement, being in joint command of the Hungerford Boys' Brigade and later Scoutmaster of the newly-formed Hungerford Scout Troop.

He was to play an active role in this new firm that bore his name until April 1943, when it subsequently passed to his elder son, Richard. Some measure of success being justifiably theirs: their cast drain pipes and such like for the building industry.

They were also assisted at this time by second son, Henry III who worked intermittently for them, at the same time. continuing his voluntary work for the Methodist cause. Later he was to establish for himself a very successful radio and television shop at Wimborne. The youngest son, Philip born in 1921, followed the family tradition with a foundry business in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

The Gibbons' legacy:

The Gibbons family were in business in Hungerford for 111 years (1824 - 1935). They had seen the rise and the fall of manufacturing, the latter decades much affected by the First World War and the ensuing depression. They had given valuable employment to large numbers of local people, and left their mark on the agricultural and local scene. The three generations had been loyal to their friends and to their Methodist faith.

Personal recollections include Albert Wyatt who spent some four and a half years in their employ, joining them from school and remaining until he signed on for the military. He recounted his small role in the construction of the Agricultural Arch and how, through being wet through on the day of its building, he contracted influenza. During his employment also, he turned the handle of the grindstone many a time for Mr. Bill Cox, an engineer, to sharpen his chisels. Mr. Bill Cox was the grandfather of Mrs. Margaret Williams.

Local farmer Mr. Ray Hamblin recounts that his father, Dan, used to collect plough shares from Gibbons for his father, who farmed at Orpenharn Farm, Kintbury. Plough shares at one shilling each, but if they were collected, they could be purchased at eleven shillings a dozen.

Ken Gigg, of Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, contacted in 2001 to offer some further information about the firm. It also included notes made in 1987 by his uncle, William Dunn. Ken Gigg's father, Henry Edwin (Eddie) Gigg, started work at the foundry in the late 1920s, before he was married. He married Irene Kate Dunn in December 1931 - the marriage certificate states that he was resident at Stokke near Great Bedwyn, whilst she lived at Winding Wood. She was born in Hungerford in 1910, her father ran a cycle shop in Charnham Street (but he died of the Spanish flu in the 1918 epidemic). (This further info from Ian Gigg, of Fareham Hampshire, August 2018).

Immediately after their marriage they rented rooms in Henry Gibbons' house in Charnham Street. Ken was born there in Dec 1932. Irene Dunn's brother, uncle William Dunn, also worked at the foundry.

Notes made by Ken Gigg from discussions with William Dunn record that during the First World War, the Hungerford foundry had been closed by "the authorities", and HW Gibbons had been sent to manage a firm "up north". It re-opened after the war and made cast iron plough shares and drag hoes for braking horse-drawn wagons. The firm tried manufacturing brick-making machines for a period after the war, but this was not successful, and was discontinued. In the 1920s it changed to making man-hole covers.

The Kennet Works garage, 1895-1919:

In the 1895 Kelly's Directory, Henry Gibbons is firmly recorded as an ironfounder - at the Kennet Works.

However, soon after the development of the earliest motor car, Henry Gibbons saw the potential business opportunities of the motor car. In 1895 he carried out some further building work on the Eddington Bridge side of the foundry. This became a garage, fronting on the main A4 road. It is said to have been the first such garage on the London to Bath Road.

These were the halcyon days for the Kennet Works and the Gibbons family - the ironworks were thriving, and the garage work was developing.

By 1914 he had established a large up-to-date garage, was an agent for all principal makes of car and an official repairer to the RAC, AA and MU. A company advertisement from the period offered customes spacious garages, repair facilities, motoring accessories and stocks of Michelin tyres.

1916 Cosburn's Dir: Gibbons & Son Ltd, motor and general engineers, Kennet Works.

However, times were hard for the Gibbons and the Kennet Works foundry around the First World War, and shortly after the war ended, and whilst Henry Gibbons II was still in Stechford, the Kennet Works were leased to Thomas William Baker of the well-known family of agricultural engineers from Compton. He took a lease of all the buildings with the exception of a very few, most notably the shed at the rear of the garage in which the cars had been stored before being sold for scrap. Mr. Baker commenced trading in May 1919.

The 1920 Kelly's Directory includes: "H Gibbons & Son, (T W Baker), iron founders, Kennet Works".

By the mid 1920s manual petrol pumps had been installed, upgraded to electically operated pumps within the next decade.

Kennet Motor Works, c.1936-1963:

Around 1936 (Robert James said) the old Gibbons Iron Works was bought by Alfred Geoffrey Turner (of Hungerford Park). It was run partly by John Turner (who lived at Inkpen) and the previous manager of Gibbons Works, Mr J.C. Durnford. They employed Mr Smith ("Smithy", who was married to Doris). Smithy lived in 9 Charnham Street, and died by 1973. He had two daughters, Ann and Pat.

gibbons 14 Kennet Motor Works during the late 1930s, with four different brands of petrol on sale -
Shell, Esso, National Benzol and Cleveland. A gallon of Cleveland Discol is priced at 1/7½d (about 8p).

1939 Blacket's Dir: "Kennet Motor Works (J C Durnford).
1940 Blacket's Dir: "Kennet Motor Works" (J C Durnford).

Kennet Motor Works workshop The workshop interior at Kennet Motor Works in the late 1930s.
The man standing on the far left, partly hidden by nachinery, is Tommy Bell.

A few years after the Second World War the site was bought by the Regent Oil Company (a subsidiary of the Texas Oil Company, now Texaco) and operated by the Blue Star Group.

Cunningham Service Station, 1963-c.1966:

In January 1963 Bill and Joy Cunningham (later helped by their son John) took on the lease and named the site "Cunningham Service Station".

In the same year the old garage and foundry buildings were demolished and replaced by a combined shop, storeroom and small workshop, all well set back from the road, giving a huge forecourt. (See "A Motoring History of the Kennet Valley" by Roger Day and Tim Green for more).

Texaco Service Station, c.1966-1971:

The site was rebranded Texaco in 1965/66 and given a cosmetic face lift.

19920308 Texaco Service Station (day before demolished)b The Texaco Service Centre on the day before its demolition, 8th March 1992.

Riverside Service Station, 1971-2018:

In 1971, just before the M4 opened with the anticipated reduction in petrol sales, the Cunninghams moved away and the site was empty for a while until Peter Stirland Limited took over the lease, rebranding it "Riverside Service Station".

Since then it has been redeveloped on a couple of occasions (the main change being in March 1992 when the new "by-pass" road was built through Charnham Lane Industrial Estate ) until in 2018 it was sold to the Co-op group.

Co-op Service Station, 2018-present:

Since September 2018 the Co-op group has run it as a Service Station and convenience store.

Asda Hungerford Petrol Station, 2024-present:

The ownership of the petrol station and convenience store changed to Asda in January 2024.

Getting the most from Search...

Main Menu