10 Castle Street
The Owners of Wigmore House
1840 Tithe Map
(PDF file format)
Castle Street
Numbers
1
2
3
4
5
6 Oriel Cottage
7
8
Oriel House
9
Lion House
10 Wigmore House
11 Porch
House
12 Epworth House
13
14 Bank Cottage
15 Clematis Cottage
17 The Priory
20
22
24
26
28 & 28A
30
32 to 42
44
46
48
50
Munday Cottage
Fairfield House
Stokefield House
The Hatch
Thornbury Cottage
Thornbury House
The owners of Wigmore House, which is now number 10
Castle Street in Thornbury, included;
Richard Wilkins the elder and his son, who was also called Richard Wilkins were the owners of Wigmore House from 1713 to about 1760. Richard Wilkins was a Quaker and the owner of a considerable amount of property in Kingswood as well as in Thornbury. His son Richard was a tallow chandler who may never have occupied the house. Click here to read more about the Wilkins family
John Johnson owned the property from at least 1770 to March 1782. From as early as 1770 the Assessment for the Relief of the Poor shows that John Johnson owned this property and leased it to John Fewster. This arrangement is also confirmed by the 1781 Land Tax record. A schedule which is part of an indenture dated 1894 has a lease and release dated the 22nd and 23rd March 1782 which appears to transfer the property from John Johnson to John Fewster. At this point we do not know any more about John Johnson or even if he ever lived in Thornbury.
The Fewster family owned Wigmore House amongst other properties from about 1782 and lived there to about 1858. The family was famous in the area as surgeons and apothecaries as well as being property owners. Click here to read about the Fewster family
Dr Edward Long a surgeon owned and lived in Wigmore House from 1859 to 1863. He became bankrupt and was forced to move to a smaller property. Click here to read more about him
The Cornock family acquired Wigmore House in 1863 and owned it until 1894. The Cornock was a large and well known land owning family in the Thornbury area. Click here to read more about them.
From about 1867 to 1876 we believe that the house was tenanted by Joseph Young Sturge
John Crowther Gwynn owned the house from 1894 to 1909. John Crowther Gwynn was a solicitor and a member of a very well known family in the Thornbury area. Click here to read about the Crowther and Gwynn families. Although John Crowther Gwynn owned Wigmore House, it was occupied in the Rate book of 1899 and the 1901 Census by Mary Till, a woman of independent means. Click here to read about Mary Till. The 1905 Rate Book shows that John Crowther Gwynn continued to own the property which was at that time occupied by S L Davies. On the 29th September 1909 the property was conveyed from John Crowther Gwynn to Dr Lionel Williams.
Dr Lionel Williams owned Wigmore House from 1909 to 1930. Lionel Williams, who was a doctor and medical officer in Thornbury, lived at Oriel House in Castle Street for many years but also owned other property, including Oriel House, where he lived for many years. Click here to read more about him
In the 1911 Census Charles Henry Francis Wright and his family appeared to be the tenants of Lionel Williams. Charles was 37 and a clerk in Holy Orders. He was aged 27 and his wife Alfreda was 29. the couple had only been married two years and they had one small child Elizabeth Joyce aged four months. The couple had three servants living in the house which had 11 rooms.
Dr Prowse owned the house from 1930 to 1959. On 14th August 1930 there was a Conveyance from Dr L H Williams which transferred the ownership of Wigmore House to Dr Prowse, another well known local doctor. Click here to read about the Prowse family
Dr John and Dr Alison Causton owned Wigmore House from 1959 to the present day. Alison Causton, nee Prowse, was born there. On 21st Sep 1959 a conveyance transferred the ownership of Wigmore House from Dr D C Prowse to his son in law, Doctor John C Causton. Click here to read about Alison and John Causton
This page was last updated: 29/01/2012