15 & 17 ST MARY STREET

 Town Trust properties

The photograph below shows the familiar site of the cottages owned by the Town Trust in St Mary Street in Thornbury.  Over the years, they have changed from four cottages to two and when house numbering was introduced in the 1950's they were given the numbers 15 and 17 St Mary Street.

We are grateful to Meg Wise of Thornbury Museum who showed us copies of two indentures referring to the property's early history and we've also collected one of our own.  We are also grateful to the historian Caffell who extracted various early references to the property from court records.  All these sources confirm that the property was given in trust by Thomas Slimbridge, a blacksmith who lived in Thornbury, for the benefit of the poor of the Borough.  The Thomas Slimbridge Charity was set up by a deed poll dated 25th July 1584 in which Thomas gave several properties in Thornbury for the use of the poor. 

Caffells notes refer to a grant dated 15th January 1552 shows that Thomas Slimbridge acquired from John Thomas, a tailor 'all that messuage or tenement with curtilage and garden adjoining in Thorneburie containing one full burgage in Sainte Mary Strete between the tenements of Edward Holbrook on the north and of the heirs of Lord Berkeley on the south and extending from the said street to Sainte Jonestrete'.  John Thomas had bought the property on 28th June 1550 from Joane Gayner, widow and late wife of Mychell Gayner, weaver.  In 1570 Thomas Slimbridge let the property to Richard Harbarde, a schoolmaster.  It was described as having 'one hall, three sellars, one kitchen, one garden plot containing by estimation 77ft in length.  The counterpart lease was agreed for six years at a rent of 18/- per annum.

An indenture made 13th April 1637 refers to the lease of the property by 'John Russell the Younger currier, Mary his now wife and William their son'.  In this document the property is described as 'All that messuage or tenement wherein Richard Tayer the elder lately dwelled and which heretofore was given by Thomas Slimbridge deceased for the use of the poor of the said Burrough and the orchard garden and backsides thereunto adjoining and belonging'.  Interestingly it seems that that this property was not listed in the original trust and that in Thomas's will dated 1605 he left the property, then occupied by Richard Tayer, to Thomas Lewse, the son of Thomas Lewse of Horton.  We can't be sure how it came to came to be included in the charitable trust but we note that two of Thomas's trustees appeared in court in Whitehall in 1606 so may be they challenged the will.

An indenture dated 2nd February 1656 shows that the 'Trustees of the land some time of Thomas Slimbridge' (then William Taylor the Mayor, John Baker, gentleman and John Bird, mercer) let out the property to Thomas Russell and his wife, Joan.  It was described as being 'all that little decayed house or tenement as it is now divided wherein John Powell now dwells situate lying and being in a street called Saint Mary Street otherwise the Back Street lying between the house or tenement in the occupation of ....... the Younger on the north part and the entry ... tenement there wherein Thomas Lydeatt dwelleth on the south part together with the yard court or outlet thereunto now or lately used by the said John Powell with so much of the said yard and backside and of the garden or plot of ground now or late in the occupation of the said Thomas Lydeatt'.

The next document dated 29th June 1724 refers to a lease of the garden and orchard behind the building to Charles Cossham, a sawyer of Thornbury.  Interestingly it describes the building as being  'a late decayed messuage or tenement and now newly erected and built up lying in the Burrough of Thornbury in a street there called St Mary Street als the Back Street formerly in the tenure of one William Russell and since that of Andrew Burt adjoining to an orchard now of Jonathan Barton on the south side to a street called St Johns Street on the east side and to a garden and orchard late of William Hobbes deceased on the north side thereof and the said orchard and garden were formerly the lands of Thomas Slymbridge deceased'.

Thus the three documents show that the original house on the site, owned by Thomas Slimbridge and let to Richard Tayer, had been let out by his Trustees.  We are unsure about the reference to the house being 'divided' in the 1656 document.   This building had fallen into disrepair and been replaced in 1724, or just before that, by a newly erected building.  We assume this new building to be the one from which the properties shown in the photograph above were created.  We know that the construction and use of the building has been changed several times over the years.  It appears that in 1724 the property  was let as a single unit.  Although given in trust to help the poor it didn't necessarily mean that the occupants were from the poorer classes.  In some cases, the properties donated were let out to well off families or individuals and it was the income from the rent was used to benefit the poor.

In 1688 and 1697 the house was in the tenure of William Russell.  There were two William Russells living in Thornbury at this time who were father and son.  William Russell Senior was buried on 22nd April 1707 and his son was buried on 10th October 1715.

In 1758 John Facey was the occupant and in 1784 Susannah Facey was living there.  Susannah may have been the daughter of John and Ruth Facey baptised on 13th September 1747.  We know that Ruth Facey died aged 66 and she was described as the relict of John Facey.  Ruth was buried on 4th February 1778.  There were two John Faceys buried, one on 6th November 1763 and the other was a breeches maker who died aged 76 and was buried on 9th October 1772. Susanna Facey died aged 71 and was buried on 15th September 1816.

By the 1800's the property in St Mary Street had been divided into four separate units and they appear to be let out by the Corporation to provide poorer people in the town with cheap accommodation.  In 1841 Alice Trayhurn, the widow of Luke Trayhurn, was allowed by the Corporation to live in the accommodation rent free on account of her being blind, aged, infirm, poor and a widow of an old servant of the Corporation.  As far as we know all other tenants had to pay a 'social rent'.  From 1820 to 1857 the rent of each until appears to have been £2 per annum, although from the Accounts Book it is difficult to say as in most years the tenants paid various sums and were often in arrears.

In 1858/59 each pair of houses was converted by the Corporation into a larger single house and these were let at a rent of £5 per year.  In about 1873, the rent was increased to £6 per year (or 2 shillings and 3 pence per week) and this rent continued until at least 1909 when it increased to £6 10 shillings per annum (or 2 shillings and 6 pence per week).  Throughout the rest of the 1900's the rent increased gradually until by 1950 it was £13 per annum (or 5 shillings per week) and by the time the houses were demolished in the 1970's the rent was about £30 per annum.

From 1890 the responsibility for managing the houses was taken over by the Town Trust. 

When house numbering was introduced in the 1950's the two houses became known as 15 and 17 St Mary Street.

In the early 70's the properties were acquired by Thornbury Rural District Council under a compulsory purchase order and they were re-developed as part of the new town centre.  Although the two houses (15 & 17) have now combined and made into a shop, the developers managed in this case to retain much of the character of the original buildings.  Since re-development is has been used by Mark 2 selling women's clothes and Scope, a charity shop collecting for people with cerebral palsy.

Click on the thumbnail on the right to see a photograph taken of the rear of the property at the time of the re-development.