1 CASTLE STREET

Number 1 Castle Street is at the top of the west side of the street, next to the bank.  It is shown here with a blue front door.

The earliest indication that we have at this time of who owned the house is in a Rent Roll of Borough Rents paid by freeholders to the Mayor of Thornbury. This was drawn up between 1807 and 1810 and shows that the owner was called John Box.

An indenture of 1807 concerning the malt house which was at the bottom of Castle Street and on the other side of the road from number 1 Castle Street also mentions John Box.  It refers to the fact that the house next door to the malt house was one that James Ely formerly inhabited and was now in the possession of John Box.  This implies that for some time at least John Box actually occupied a house much further down Castle Street from the one he owned. 

In 1812, according to an account paid by Thomas Rolph, John Box was a builder who employed a man and an apprentice.  He had completed a considerable amount of roofing, painting and plastering for which he was paid £26 7s 6d.  The Land Tax Records of 1814 confirm that John Box is the owner and occupier of a house that appears to be this one.

John Box, then a widower, married Rebecca Frankland a spinster of Alveston on 23rd May 1818 in St Mary's Church in Thornbury.  His first wife Hester Box had died at Rockhampton aged 67 on January 5th 1815.  Hester had been a widow when she married John  on 14th November 1793.

John Box is in the Land Tax Records as a house owner.  From 1819 to 1826 the house he owned was said to be occupied by Richard Gwynn.  This is interesting because Richard Gwynn appears elsewhere as the owner of other properties and the occupier of a larger house than this one.  There are possible explanations; Richard Gwynn might have a subtenant or there were two Richard Gwynns at this time.  In 1827 and 1828 The house was occupied by Edward Pearce but still owned by John Box.

In 1829 and 1830 the house was occupied by William Pearce and in 1831 and 1832 by John Cook.  It would appear that John Box died some time between 1832 and 1839 as the 1840 Tithe Apportionment Map shows 1 Castle Street as Plot Number 42 owned by Rebecca Box.

In the Rate Books from 1876 to 1890 the house was occupied by Thomas Latter but owned by John Ridd.  It would appear that John Ridd owned property in Castle Street (presumably this house) for some time before this date.   As early as 1867 the voters’ lists show John Ridd was entitled to vote in Thornbury because he owned property in Castle Street but his home address was given as Broham and Berry’s Farm, Martinhoe, Devon.

The 1871 census shows that John Ridd was a farmer in Martinhoe, which lies in North Devon near Lynmouth.  In 1871 he was 43 years old and farming 100 acres.  His wife Hannah was 49 and they had three sons living with them, John P. Ridd aged 11 and William and Thomas aged nine and five respectively.  There is no obvious connection to Thornbury shown in the censuses and so far we have been unsuccessful in tracing a link.

By 1899 the property had changed hands and was owned by George Henry Exell.  We know this from a notice  for 3 Castle Street dated 1899 for the sale of the estate of J C Gwynn.  This notice mentions that 3 Castle Street is adjoining property held by G H Exell, Admiral St John and Mrs Rickets.  Click here to read more about George Henry Exell

George Henry Exell's will dated March 1905 left his property in Castle Street (later to become number 1)  at that time occupied by Thomas Latter to his son Frederick.   This is interesting in that the Rate Books of 1894 and 1899 show Frederick as the owner of the house.  Perhaps this is an indication of the fact that Frederick was managing the property even before he technically owned it.  The 1910 Rate Book confirms that the owner of the property was then Frederick Exell.

Frederick Exell was born in 1860.  In 1871 he was a school boy living with his parents on Vilner Farm in Thornbury.  By the 1881 Census he was a second gardener living in the Bothy at Plympton St Mary in Devon.  In 1885 he married Sarah Ann Jordan in the Cheltenham district.  In the 1891 Census he was a gardener living at The Lodge in Miserden near Stroud with his wife Sarah and children Elizabeth aged five and George aged one.  The Poor Rate Book of 1926 shows that Frederick Exell still owned the house and that it was occupied by William Rugman.   Frederick died in the Cheltenham district in 1935.

Sadly we have not had access to the deeds of this property and cannot confirm any of the subsequent owners.  The only information we do have at this point is from the Electoral Rolls which show only the names of the occupiers. 

1958  Alice Hawks
1965  Rosamund Hayes
1965  Roderick Walker

Anne Curtis and Anthony Curtis.  The house was bought at auction by Anne and Tony Curtis in 1970.  Anne was an Executive Officer with the DHSS and Tony was a builder from the Curtis family of Alveston.  Tony was able to renovate the house completely.  They lived in the house with their children Lee Anthony and Scott Andrew.  A third child Robert Curtis was born there and the family moved to Old Forge, Rudgeway when James Robert was nine months old.  The last Electoral Roll which shows this family was that of 1980.  However we understand from the family that they sold the house in August 1979 to Mrs Doris Munday from Downend. 

Doris Munday.  Mrs Munday had two sisters in Castle Street;  Gladys Gibbins who acted as companion to Annie Pitcher at 3 Castle Street, and Beatrice who lived at 50 Castle Street.   The Electoral Roll of 1980 shows that  by that time Gladys and Beatrice both lived at 50 Castle Street, which we believe  Doris Munday also owned .   Click here to read more about the Gibbins family.
 

Click here to read about the occupiers of 1 Castle Street

This page was last updated: 29/01/2012