12 Sydney Buildings: a history

An Abstract of Title prepared in 1884 throws light on the history of the plot of land on which the house was built. The first document it refers to was dated May 1844 and seems to reflect a tidying-up exercise necessitated by the death, two years earlier, of William Harry 3rd Earl of Darlington and 1st Duke of Cleveland.

May 1844 Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux (lawyer, former Lord Chancellor, probably acting for William Harry’s estate), William John Frederick Powlett (later, very briefly in 1864, 3rd Duke of Cleveland), and two lawyers (?trustees for the 1st Duke’s estate) conveyed to John Pinch the Younger and his brother William the plot of land on which No. 10 already stood and Nos. 12 to 16 were to be built. The houses were to be built at John Pinch’s expense, were subject to various restrictions and to a dead rent of £1 12s 6d p.a.

(A smaller version of today’s No. 10 appears on the 1840 Tithe Map. John Pinch’s title to the land clearly goes back some years before that date. The plot concerned was probably first released for development in June 1812 or shortly after that. The title deeds of No.10 might clarify this – if they survive).

May 1845 John Pinch borrowed £800 at 4.5% p.a. from Harry Hayman, gent., and William Urban Buée of Slough, surgeon, against the security of any and all buildings on the plot.

May 1847 John Pinch borrowed a further £300 from the same two on the same security, the money apparently coming from trust funds of William Buée’s late wife Elizabeth.

March 1849 Harry Hayman died. His right to repayment by John Pinch seems to have died with him or been left to his co-creditor.

January 1851 John Pinch had died in December 1849 without repaying either loan and while still owing “a considerable amount of interest”. His house at 21 Henrietta Street and the premises known as Bathwick Tavern were put up for sale by public auction. The former was sold to Thomas Parry for £455 while the latter was “bought in”.

“After the sale the said William Buée entered into the receipt of the rent and profits of the said Bathwick Tavern, which have not been sufficient to pay the interest from time to time becoming due on the balance of the mortgage money”.

In 1853 William Buée made all income from the Tavern and the plot generally over to his three daughters Amelia, Margaret and Catherine. The first two died in 1879 and 1880 respectively, and their interests in the plot and its buildings seem to have passed to the remaining daughter Catherine. Meanwhile, in 1877, Bathwick Tavern lost its licence and seems to have become tenantless for a while.

June 1881 Catherine Buée sold the land on which today’s Nos. 12-16 were built to Richard Martin of Abbey View Villa, fishmonger, for £530. Martin also had to pay an annual dead rent of £1 12s 6d required by the 1844 indenture.

Martin sub-divided the land, built a terrace of five houses on it, and by the end of 1884 had sold them all off. Ownership of today’s No. 12, originally Guindy Lodge, has passed as follows:
Date: To: Price paid, £:
December 1884 Emily Louise Trotter 570
October 1923 Reginald Pearson 650
January 1930 Emilie Constance Clarke 850
May 1943 Major General Percy Commings Bequest
CB CMG DSO
April 1948 William Winsor 2,425
May 1951 Hugh Bridgeman 3,250
September 1953 Marjorie Hix 2,790
December 1959 Geoffrey Tucker 3,150
March 1967 Jeremy & Phyllida Hemming 4,500
April 1970 Mark Rutherford 7,500
January 1998 Christopher & Jacqueline Morrissey 292,000

Were there TWO taverns?

Was today's No. 9 ever called Bathwick Tavern ? The case for saying that it was looks fairly strong. To quote the present owner's daughter in a recent article in the Bath Chronicle: "It's easy to see why this was the perfect location for a canal-side pub many years ago. As the story goes, the barge workers would take advantage of the garden steps that lead right down to the canal and would often drop in for a refreshing drink". So the location is right, the layout of the house also, and in the 1841 census the head of the household at No.9 was John Mott, a beer seller.


Mr.Mott may have pioneered the sale of beer on this part of the canal but several lines of evidence indicate that from a few years into the 1840s the trade moved to the house next door. One is that from 1848 onwards census returns and directories describe the occupant of that house, today's No. 10, as a beerhouse keeper. In the 1871 census No. 10 is specifically referred to as Bathwick Tavern.

In the deeds of today's No. 12 there are references to Bathwick Tavern that put it on the same plot of land as today's Nos. 12 to 16. John Pinch the Younger owed £1,100 on the plot when he died in 1849, so his creditors put the only building on it at that stage, named as Bathwick Tavern, up for public auction. In the event the tavern was "bought in" by the main creditor, entitling him to the rent paid by the beerhouse keeper and a share in his profits.



A recurring name in the history of this part of the road is that of John Lockyer Huntly (sometimes spelt Huntley). Mr.Huntly was an engraver and copper plate printer, also a Freeman of Bath, who had a shop at 2 Pulteney Bridge. That is given as his address in 1822, but
the Bath Directory for 1828 records that his residence was 5 Sydney Buildings. (Today's No. 1 had not yet been built, so 5 Sydney Buildings in 1828 was probably today's No. 6).



It seems that Mr. Huntly's engraving business did so well that he was able to buy a plot of land in Sydney Buildings and put up three houses known originally as 1, 2 and 3 Ivy Cottages. Now Nos. 7, 8 and 9 Sydney Buildings, the three houses make their first appearance in the 1841 national census returns. In that year and till 1851 at least Mr. Huntly lived at what became No.7, but in 1856, aged 80 and long retired, he was at No. 9. This house of the three continued to be called Ivy Cottage till 1876 or later.

[ There are several uncertainties in those paragraphs - corrections would be welcome, and also more information about the tavern(s), Mr. Huntly/Huntley, etc. C.J.M. 29/10/08]

Where was Bathwick Tavern?

Prolific local historians Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott say in their book The Lost Pubs of Bath that Bathwick Tavern used to be at 10 Sydney Buildings “(now No. 13!)”. They say also that the lost pub surrendered its licence in 1877 – which is about five years before No. 13 was built!
The misunderstanding came about because number 10 in Sydney Buildings has moved around over the years. From the early 1850s until 1880 ( i.e. three years after the pub itself had closed) that was the house number of Bathwick Tavern. For the first few years of its long life the Tavern was referred to as No. 9 Sydney Buildings, a number with its own complicated little history.
It seems that for six year or so after the pub closed nobody lived there: indeed the orginal building may have been refurbished or replaced during those years, to reappear around 1884 with the name Sydney Lawn (still on the gate-posts) and no number. That remained the situation till 1902, when the number 10 returned from its travels and came to rest where it is now – on the building that may or may not have been Bathwick Tavern but is certainly in the same place.
During most of those years, from 1888 to 1902, the number 10 was attached to today’s No. 13. This house is one of a terrace of five that first appeared in the Bath Directory of 1884/5 and was built a year or two earlier. Its name until 1888 was Cattete Villa, its companions being Grindley, later Guindy, Lodge (today’s No. 12), St. Ronans (No. 14), Brighton Villa (No. 15) and Eton Villa ( No.16).

Pieces of the jigsaw

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

How the road evolved

The origins of the road are intimately linked to the development of the Kennet & Avon Canal, which reached the old road to Claverton (now called Bathwick Hill) in 1800 and opened through to the Avon in November 1810. Meanwhile, in 1808, William Henry Vane, 3rd Earl of Darlington (and later Duke of Cleveland), inherited the Pulteney estates and set about extending residential development of the Bathwick area.

Sydney Buildings is listed as a street name in Bath Directory for 1819. Inhabitants then included:
1 – W[alter] Harris, builder
2 - J. Harris [son of Walter], builder, sculptor and modeller; also N[athaniel] Newport, builder
3 - Mrs. Clapham (a Mr. Clapham was living at No.9 in 1826)
5 - Miss Roberts ( a Miss Roberts is also listed as living at Sydney Cottage)
7 – Webber (no initial), corn dealer
8 – Rev. H Arnold
also Rev. T. Clarke (no number)



Notes from national census returns, concentrating on northern half of the road

1841 – 36 houses, 2 uninhabited
At No. 7 J.L. Huntley, engineer, age given as 60(actually 65) and wife Ann (then 62)
At No. 9 John Mott (beerseller) and wife – first indication of a tavern
At no. 11 coal merchant, At no. 12 coal porter, “adjoining” no. 14 four coal porters

1851 – 37 houses
J.L.Huntley (listed as retired engraver) still at No. 7 with his wife Ann
At no.10 Retailer of beer , John Smith, 25, and his father, a retired publican
At. no. 11 coal merchant, at no. 12 coal wharf foreman and labourers

1861 – 37 houses, with No.37= Bathwick Dairy, Rogers family
John Huntley now at no. 9 with Ann Forshaw (friend)
No. 10 John Smith as above (Bathwick Tavern)
No. 11 Frederick Spenser, coal merchant employing 3 clerks, 6 labourers and 1 boy
No. 12 George Shewring, coal merchant’s foreman

1871 – 36 houses, no dairy listed
At No. 10 Bathwick Tavern now run by John Chapple
The next building listed is a Malthouse, with Thos. Connery, Maltster
Nos. 11 and 12 occupied by a coal merchant (George Dyke) and a coal merchant’s manager (Thos. Hawkins). Present-day candidates these numbers are 21/22 and 23/23a.

1881 – 36 houses plus Rosemount (?). No info for nos. 4,5,10, 27,29,32
George Dyke still at no. 11 (now listed as coal merchant and farmer of 113 acres).His foreman William Verrier at no. 13. No. 16 was called Sydney House (today’s no.29).

1891
No. 10 now occupied by retired newspaper proprietor Catherine Bellaby
Next listed are St. Ronan’s, Brighton Villa, and Eton Villa – today’s nos. 14, 15 and 16.
Following them are no. 11 (no info), no.12 (Charles Caseley and others) and no. 13 (Martha Trask and others).

1901
No. 1 (Raby House) was to let. There were long-term occupants at nos. 2(Hotham), 3 (Gibbs) , 5 (Grove), 6 (Titley); also, beyond the cut-through, at nos. 17 (Winnegar) and 18 (Stillman). Today's no. 12* was returned under the name GrundyLodge
Further along the road, today’s nos. 26 and 27 were returned as 1 and 2 Kelston View.
The cut-through remained between old nos. 16 and 17.

*The title deeds show that the plot was bought by Richard James Martin (a developer or builder, presumably) in June 1881 and that the first owner of Grundy Lodge, Emily Louise Trotter, took possession in December 1884 and retained it for 39 years until October 1923. Her address at the time of the purchase is given simply as St. Ronan’s, suggesting that she was renting today’s no.14 until no.12 was finished and available to her.