9 Castle Street

This contribution to the history of the Lion House in Castle Street, Thornbury is based on the deeds belonging to Phyllida Parsloe, the present owner, to whom the Thornbury Museum Research Group owes much gratitude.  We are grateful to Roger Howell an archaeologist and local historian who has examined the deeds and produced the information shown here with only small additions from ourselves.  Thanks are also due to Meg Wise and Heather Palmer for their valuable suggestions and contributions based on their wide knowledge of the topography and genealogy of Thornbury, and also to Rosemary King of Alveston who generously communicated the results of her extensive research on the Rolph family.

The deeds and documents studied here range in date from 1818 to 1936 but some of them refer to earlier deeds reaching back to 1767.  The name Lion House is of fairly recent origin but for the sake of clarity we have put inverted commas round the name for the periods before it came into use.  The text is divided into chronological sections which relate to the families or individuals who were the owners of the property at the time.

The house is said to have been extensively rebuilt by John James, the veterinary surgeon who bought it in 1883, although it is noticeable that the descriptions of the house in the various sale documents are remarkably like today's building.  Prior to that it had an interesting and varied history which included being a pub called "The Black Lion" which gave the house its present name "The Lion House".

The previous owners of the house who are referred to in the deeds are;

The Rolph Family   1767 – 1818      James Bevan 1818 – 1820       George Buckle 1820 - 1822   

The Fewster Family 1822 – 1852     Charles Prewett 1852 – 1862   The Collings Family 1862 – 1883 

John Clark James 1883 – 1936        Annie Pearce 1936 - 1954      The Later Owners 1955  to the present

This page was last updated: 16/07/2010