Information from individual title deeds
- 28 Sydney Buildings (formerly No. 15) - Digest of Conveyance dated 9th September 1901
This deed reflects the sale of the house and plot then called No.15 byMr.Edward Adams and his trustees to Mr. Edward Lewis Dark for £265, subject to an annual head rent of £3 6s. 6d. Mr. Adams had inherited the property in 1894 from his father George Adams, who had also owned the land on which today's Nos. 26 and 27, originally called 1 and 2 Kelston View, had been built some time after 1872. These two properties, with annual head rents of £2 10s. each, had been sold earlier in 1901 to George William Schneegans. The sale to Mr. Dark, probably the other one too, was preciptated by creditors of Mr. Edward Adams.
The deed refers back to the original release of the land for residential development in 1820. It mentions an Indenture of Building Grant dated 25th March in that year between the Earl of Darlington, Robert Offer and Luke Evill.
- 21 Sydney Buildings - Digest of title deeds by Jennie Lawton
An Indenture dated 23 & 24 June 1812 made between the Right Honourable William Harry Earl of Darlington, John Clapham (Victualler) and John Parsons allows for 3 houses and also warehouses to be built in two separate plots, situated as shown on an attached map, between 29 September and 24 June 1814.
Buildings including the current 21 & 22 Sydney Buildings were to be built on the second plot of land, which included what was then Sydney Wharf. The land formed part of the Manor and Parish of Bathwick and John Pinch had been given permission to build on adjoining land. The plot was “bounded on or towards the East by an intended foot & Carriage Road or way of 22’ wide intended to lead to & from the said Parish Road to & from other parts of the said Manor of Bathwick on or towards the West by the Bank of the Kennett & Avon Canal on or towards the North by Ground agreed to be granted for Building to the said John Pinch & on or towards the South by Garden Ground other part of the Manor … to form part of an intended Village to be called Bathwick Village”.
Ground rent was to be paid (see below) and there were certain conditions: “Not to carry on certain prohibited trades. Tanners etc Fishmonger Blacksmith Brightsmith Slaughterman Tallow Chandler Soapboiler Scavenger Plumber etc. Not to sink any Cess pool on the said premises. Not to keep pigs ducks geese rabbits or other offensive animals. Not to burn weeds coutch grass etc.”
The deeds don’t give any more information for the rest of the 19th Century but we can see who the occupants of Sydney Buildings were at the beginning of the 20th Century from looking at the 1901 Census. This shows that Frederick D Shellard (63) and his son Frederick P (34), both General Accountants lived at no. 11 (now no. 21) with Kate (31) daughter of Frederick senior. It isn’t clear if they were tenants or owners but a future schedule refers to a conveyance between A J King and J S Gibbs on 23 December 1903, and also (confusingly, given what happens later) to a copy of a conveyance on 22 June 1907 between J S Gibbs and A J Cook.
The Census shows that living at no. 3 Sydney Buildings at the time were James W Gibbs, an Insurance Surveyor aged 50, his wife Emily A Gibbs, aged 49, and daughter Mabel B Gibbs, aged 16.
On 28 August 1922
Emily Augusta Gibbs (widow) and Mabel Beatrice Gibbs (spinster) were both living at 21 Sydney Buildings. They sold no’s 21 & 22 “formerly known as 11 & 12” to Josephine Alexandra St George (of 13 Pulteney Street, wife of Leonard Durant St George), for £815. John Stillman Gibbs, who died on 16 August , left the proceeds of his estate to Emily and Mabel in equal shares, and as a result of this, money from the sale is divided equally between the two. Rent (5 shillings) for use of the land between that belonging to the property and the canal is payable to the Great Western Railway Company; the yearly ground rent (four pounds and eightpence) is mentioned as being part of a yearly ground rent of twenty one pounds five shillings and eightpence “charged on the said premises and other hereditaments adjoining thereto known as Numbers 24 and 25”. Emily Augusta Gibbs’s signature on the sale document was witnessed by
Effie Elizabeth Bale (spinster), also of 21 Sydney Buildings.
On 12 April 1928 Josephine Alexandra St George sold to Lt Col Charles Spencer Warwick and his wife Mary Elizabeth Warwick.
Charles Spencer Warwick died of a carcinoma of the tongue on 5 January 1933 and Mary Elizabeth Warwick died on 19 August 1971. Mrs Warwick’s executors (Marguerite Emma Shepherd and Annie Isobel Travis) sold no’s 21 & 22 to Bishop Hugh Rowlands Gough and Madeline Elizabeth Gough on 20 December 1971; they moved from The Rectory at Freshford.
On 4 September 1924 Francis William Forester had sold the Bathwick Estate to the Bathwick Estate Company, who continued to receive the “fee farm rent” for no’s 21 and 22 ; however the Goughs arranged to be released from the annual charge of £4.03 in return for a payment of £80.60.
On 4 December 1974 the Goughs sold no. 21 to Lady Mary Adelaide Nora Luce (who moved from Monastery Garden, Edington, Westbury) and John Martin Luce. No. 22 was sold separately.
On 12 August 1997 no. 21 was sold to Richard Rhodes Pooley and Sarah Pooley.
Notes about No. 6 – from digest of title deeds made by Jennie Lawton
23 and 24 June 1812: William Harry, Earl of Darlington leased and released two plots of land to Thomas Cottell (gent of Bathwick) and James Deare (gilder). One or both (they are not illustrated) lay between the canal and SB road and was bounded to the north by Bathwick Hill. From the measurements, it/they could have taken up all the space between BH and nos.7/8/9 or possibly no.10. On that land were to be built at least 13 houses, which together were to yiled the earl £68.16.6 p.a (9@£5, 2@£4.8.3, 1@£6, 1@£9) These were intended to form part of a notional Bathwick Village, with those to the north to be called Village Place.
(Full version as abstracted in 1828 below)
April 1814: A plot of the land referred to above was leased to William Girdler, carpenter of Bathwick (previously Walcot) in order that he could build the 13th of the intended houses. The plot measured (in feet) 62 (E side)x68(W)x86(S)x83(N). It was bounded to the North by land granted to Walter Harris and to South by land granted to John Pinch.
So it was probably the southernmost plot, and the resulting building today’s no.6. That would put nos.7-9 and 10 on John Pinch’s land, and there would only have been ten houses (including four on Bathwick Hill) were 13 were intended.
October 1815: Apparently the house was sold at auction to Joseph Tucker of Walcot, coal merchant, for £600.
Nathaniel Newport crops up in several of the deeds, so does John Lockyer Huntley. NN was brother of JLH’s wife Ann. c1826 NN went bankrupt, owing Christopher Garrett of West Lavingston (mealman) £900.
April 1828: One-year lease on the 13th house, now known as 5 SBand occupied by JLH or tenants of his. Contiguous building (s) called Ivy Cottage occupied by Miss Crabb and Mr. Edward Crabb (tenant of JLH). Confusing.
Putting together the 1851 National Census returns with a detailed map dated 1853 gives a good idea of the state of building and who lived where at that time:
The 1851 census returns are for 37 households – that’s 35 if you exclude Darlington Cottage and the old dairy, both of which appear on the map. In Sydney Buildings proper it is hard to match all the household numbers to houses on the map, which may be partly because semi-detached houses are not always recognizeable as pairs.
In the following notes old house numbers and names are given in italics, modern equivalents in bold.
1-6 1-6 Some shapes don’t tally and it’s hard to fit in six
7 7 John and Ann Huntly living here, may have owned 8 and 9
8 8 Cass family including 5 kids under 10
9 9
10 10 Smiths, beer retailer and blind father. Bathwick Tavern
Then a long building along the road with a leg towards west – John Pinch's wharf and sheds
11 21 Coal merchant and wife
12 22 Coal wharf foreman, wife, 3 kids and lodger (coal labourer)
Then buildings shown on Pooleys’ title deeds as stables (along the road) and a warehouse
13 24
14 25
Then the map shows a gap into which today’s nos. 26 and 27 were inserted later (late C19)
15 28 Shape looks odd
16 29 Ditto; the box-like extensions front and back were added late C19
Then the cut-through
17-25 30-38
26 39 Still has old number on it and now called Sydney Lodge
27 40 Whittingstons
28/Sydney Villa 41 Samuel Fuller, retired silversmith, and large household
29 42 Phillips, 2 servants, lodger
30 onwards Hard to assign
Mrs.Jubbie’s reminiscences of the Blitz
There was very limited ack-ack defence from Lansdown
Blast damage was widespread in Sydney Buildings, e.g no. 29 and Sydney Parade
A high explosive bomb hit Top Lock, others landed in Lime Grove Road
Afterwards, mosquitoes bred in the damaged lock and were a pest
