St Mary Street

Number 27

Number 27 is the house shown in the centre of the photograph on the left.  This photo was taken in the early 1960's.  Click on the thumbnail on the right to see the view of the top end of the street.

We are grateful to South Gloucestershire Council for allowing us to view the deeds of this property.  Early records from the 1780's show that the property was then owned by Richard Williams.  He was a tiler and plasterer who appeared to own a large part of this area according to his will dated 1785.  On Richard's death his property was put in trust for the use of his wife, Mary.  An abstract of title shows that the property passed from Richard William to Henry Wilkes on 24th and 25th April 1826.  On Henry's death the property was passed to his wife, Mary - click here to read the full story

The 1840 Tithe Survey shows that it was Plot 135 owned by Mary Wilkes and occupied by Martha Winstone.  Click here to read more about the Wilkes family

When Mary died in 1849, the property was subsequently passed to her daughter, Ann Ann, the wife of Thomas Ann and on to their daughter, Mary Ann Ann.  She married Samuel Mullett Wilmott in 1879.  Click here to read about the Ann and Wilmott families

In 1890, Mary Ann Wilmott attempted to sell several of the properties which she had inherited.  On 7th July 1890 George Mansell Williams bought 27 St Mary Street for £125.  His name appears as the owner in the 1894, 1899, 1905 and 1910 Rate Books.  Click here to read more about George Mansell Williams

Annie Lawrence - an agreement was made on 22nd June 1920 between George Mansell Williams and Annie Lawrence.  Annie was a widow living at Oaklands, Newnham on Severn.  At the time of the purchase, Annie was given the option to buy a strip of land including a coach-house at the rear of her property which belonged to George Mansell and his wife, Sarah following their deaths for £10.  George died in 1922 and Sarah in 1936.  By 1936, Annie was living at St John's Vicarage, 12 Fitzroy Square, London and she took up the option of buying this land for £10 on 28th April 1936.  The next day, on the 29th April 1936, she sold all the property including the coachhouse on Rock Street for £150 to Cyril Mark Williams.

The next owner we know of is Cyril Mark Williams. 

Cyril Mark Williams was born in Thornbury on 11th January 1911.  He was the son of Alfred Williams, a grocer's porter and his wife, Ruth.  The family were living in Castle Street when Cyril started at the Council Upper School in 1919. 

Cyril married Hilda Clarice Allen in Thornbury in 1933.  Hilda was born in 1913, the daughter of Luke Allen and his wife, Kate Ellen Day.

George was a  builder who had worked as an apprentice with Jack Hodges in Castle Street.  He later set up his own business in conjunction with a friend, before branching out on his own.

At the time of their purchase of 27 St Mary Street on 29th April 1936 Cyril and Hilda were living at The Pound, Oldbury.  Cyril and Hilda lived in 27 St Mary Street until they moved to Selwood, 22 Gloucester Road about 1965/6.  Cyril and Hilda acquired several other properties in Thornbury, including number 16 Gloucester Road.  Around 1972, Cyril and Hilda moved down the Gloucester Road to live in one of his two properties at Millpond Cottages, Morton.  Cyril died on 26 December 1995 aged 84 years, and Hilda on 7th April 2004 aged 90 years.  Both are buried in Thornbury Cemetery.

The house at 27 St Mary Street was acquired by the Council for the town centre re-development on 8th May 1969.  They paid £850.  It was demolished to make a pedestrian access to the library and behind the shops now forming 25 and 25A St Mary Street.

We have been told a few little stories about Cyril which show he was head of his time, at least with regard to re-cycling.  He had a reputation for not letting anything go to waste and for using features being replaced on one building on a different building on which he was involved.  It was interesting to see that the agreement he had with the Council over the sale of 27 St Mary Street reserved his right to have 'the oak front door and the heart shaped stone erected over it'.  We would be interested in hearing where these features ended up!

Click here to read about the OCCUPANTS of the house

This page was last updated: 31/03/2012