CASTLE STREET

A group of researchers from Thornbury Museum was already working on the history of the buildings in Castle Street and the families associated with them before Thornbury Roots began.  This group; Meg Wise, Roger Howell and Liz Wilkins have generously shared the information, photographs and copies of deeds that they have collected.  This part of the Thornbury Roots site relies heavily upon their efforts and the helpfulness of the householders of Castle Street, especially local resident and historian, Ann Riddiford, who passed on a lot of information via Roger Howell.

Thornbury Roots would like to apologise for any errors here or elsewhere on the site and we welcome corrections and additions. 

Castle Street, or Church Street as it was sometimes known, is part of the original main street of Thornbury.  At one time it was just known as High Street and not considered a separate street.  These days it includes the houses from The Plain at the bottom of the High Street down to the Castle.  It contains many of Thornbury's oldest and most interesting buildings. 

Some of the buildings have clear signs of mediaeval origins  but the older records are  rare and difficult to interpret.  Reliable records are only available from Victorian times and in many cases we have been unable to trace much further back than that.  We would welcome any additional material and would like to stress that this is an ongoing project. We will gradually be putting the houses on the website over the next twelve months, but must stress that this does not mean that research on the property is complete as the attempts to trace the origins of the houses will continue.

Castle Street was certainly an important thoroughfare in the town.  A map of 1818 shows that by this date, a turnpike road had been built through Thornbury.  We have seen another map which shows that Castle Street was once part of this original turnpike road which lead from Bristol to Gloucester.  It came right through the town and past the Castle and Church, until an alternative route was made along the present Gloucester Road which diverted 'traffic' away from the Castle.

Click here to read a poem written by an anonymous evacuee in praise of Castle Street

This page was last updated: 13/01/2010