NO MORE YATTON YESTERDAYS

MORE YATTON YESTERDAYS NO: 4

MORE YATTON

YESTERDAYS

NO: 4 1999

PUBLISHED BY

YATTON LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY


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© YATTON LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY 1999

Reprinted 2009

No part of this publication may be copied or reproducedwithout the prior permission of the publishers

Cover picture is a van used by H. H. Reynolds Transport,photograph supplied by K Durston.

Registered Charity No 1019832

ISSN 1365 - 9766

Photoset & Printed byWoodspring Resource CentreLocking, Weston-super-Mare

Tel: 01934 820800


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EditorialWe are delighted to publish More Yatton Yesterdays Book 4: this is our eighteenthpublication overall. Book 3 is virtually a sell-out, whilst A History of Yatton is stillselling steadily - thank you for your support. Members of the Committee, Societymembers and interested villagers have all contributed to this new edition.

For sales we are again indebted to Clive at Yatton Newsagents, Nicola and Christine atYatton Post Office, George and Lyn at the Corner Shop, Richard at Claverham PostOffice, together with Jean in Yatton Precinct. It all makes a first class communityteam with our members supporting our programme of talks and trips.

Our Millennium Exhibition will be held in the Methodist Hall on Friday January 14th

from 2pm to 6pm and Saturday 15th from 10am to 6pm. Here you will see a 40 footlong mural of Yatton High Street as it was in 1900, with coloured sketches of all thebuildings at that date. There will also be items of historical interest includingphotographs, domestic appliances and agricultural implements. We look forward toseeing you there (admission is free !).

A. F. Coe, PresidentOctober 1999

ContentsPage

1. REYNOLDS TRANSPORT 32. YATTON DOCTORS 53. YATTON CHURCH CLOCK 114. HOME FARM 175. YATTON CHURCH BELLS 196. MEMORIES of YATTON MARKET 247. YATTON VIEWS - THEN and NOW 258. YEW TREE COTTAGES 309. HMS LOTUS 31

10. ALLOTMENTS 3211. THE SWEET SHOP 3312. St. BARNABAS CHURCH 3513. YATTON PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMEN 3714. SWIMMING POOL FUND RAISING 4515. COURT de WYCK TANNERY FIRE 4616. FEEDBACK 46


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H. H. Reynolds Transport

After the end of the First World War,Mr Hubert Henry Reynolds purchaseda lorry, sort unknown and commenceda haulage business, so you might sayearly 1920’s was the start. There is norecord of what he actually hauled.

About this time Wake & Dean’s hadtwo vans of their own and did theirown haulage. This went on for aperiod of time until one vehicle wasdestroyed in a road accident and theother one caught fire, whereupon thefirm decided to hire transport and thisis where H.H. Reynolds stepped in andstarted his expansion.

Requiring a base from which to work,he took over the yard at the top of therailway incline when Mr Dickie Birdmoved out. There is no record ofwhen he actually bought the premises.

Although it was not part of thetransport fleet, who always had theyard at Yatton, one must mentionRhodyate Service Station at Cleeve,which was built in the 1930’s, the bighouse adjoining the Service Stationand the row of bungalows on theWeston side which housed a numberof the Company drivers. This garagewas the repair base of the transportfleet.

When the writer started school atCleeve, Rhodyate Service Station wasa green painted, galvanized ironworkshop with some petrol pumpsoutside, yet by 1940 when the writercommenced work at Rhodyate, the

place had been built and alreadyextended, proved by the partition in themiddle which had a large pair of slidingdoors, obviously formerly externaldoors.

In 1940 the transport fleet was of mixedmanufacture comprising a number ofGuy Vixen chassis, some Dodges, aCommer, two Dennis and some Fords,these being equipped with transversespringing, with the usual roll on turningcorners, which was common with suchvehicles.

At this time Rhodyate Service Stationwere Guy Distributors for the West ofEngland, but this notwithstanding, thefleet was never all Guy.

The pre-war vans could be recognizedby the two colour green paintwork,light on top and dark on the bottom,and a double line about two thirds ofthe way up with a circle on both sidesand on the front of the Lutoncontaining intertwined letters HHR.(See the cover illustration) This, I thinkwas the work of Longwell GreenCoachworks where I think all new vanswere built.

A number of second-hand vans werebought during the war, mostly from theLondon area, so when they arrived theyhad to be extensively overhauled and allwere repainted a single colour, darkgreen, in the workshop at Cleeve by theforeman, Gilbert Robbins with thewriter’s help - all the dirty work!


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All the vans were very lightly built to comewithin the then current regulations of 2.5tons and whilst this was adequate forfurniture carriage, the heavier work fromwar service with the BristolAeroplane Company resulted in nearlycontinuous body repairs and repainting.

All mechanical repairs were carried out atCleeve including all major units. The Guypetrol engines comprised two OHV units,with 90mm & 95mm bores (22-25 HPRAC rating) and therefore we never knewwhich engine we were dealing with untilthe cylinder head was removed.

As well as the van fleet, two open truckswere purchased second-hand – one wasa Vixen 3 tonner and one was a hybrid, aVixen with twin rear axles; these vehicleswere mostly used to transport heaviercastings from foundries in Birmingham toBAC Bristol.

Towards the end of the war, a few newvehicles became available, one was aBedford OL Model, with the flat wartimefront. This chassis was extended by Baicoof London and a third prop shaft wasfitted to lengthen the drive train. Thisvehicle was fitted with a Luton van bodyand was in service with the companywhen I left their employ in 1951.

Two other vans were built, these werecalled “Vixants”, because the chassisportion was the old Vixen length and thecab had the wartime “ant” front andseating arrangements – seat bolted to floorand very cold to drive. No heater in anycommercial vehicles at this time anddraughts through all pedal apertures!!

These were built and painted to pre-wardesign by Longwell Green Coachworks

or Oldland Body Works. These vehicleswere also lengthened by Baico ofLondon.

Most of the vans were employedhauling for BAC, Parnells of Yate and theMinistry of Food during the SecondWorld War and covered huge mileages,most of them being fitted with twin25 gallon tanks. A certain number werestill working for Wake & Dean, whowere also on war work. As well as thefull sized, full forward control vans,the fleet also contained a smaller Guy“Wolf” normal control van which wasused for short journeys.

During the entire time the writer wasemployed at Rhodyate Service Stationthe Garage and the Transport businesswere part of the “Bristol Industries”which also encompassed Henry Russett’s“Royal Blue Coaches”, Avon Ice & Coldstorage, Neptune Mineral Waters andThe Bristol Haulage Company and it wasonly after I left that the name of WesternTransport came into use.

About the time I left the employment ofRhodyate Service Station, the wholeReynolds family emigrated to Australiaand as far as I know this finallyterminated any interest in HHRTransport.

W.M.(Monty) Lane

(The writer, from 1940-1951 was employedat Rhodyate Service Station, Cleeve, whodid repairs and servicing on the transportfleet. Rhodyate Service Station has nowbeen demolished, there is no trace of theoriginal buildings and houses have beenbuilt on the site- now called Warner Close).


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Yatton Doctors – 300 Years Of ServiceIn 1772 the overseers paid Dr Whitchurch£3.5.2 but Dr. Samuel Norman, who hadcome to Yatton in 1770, was also paid£2.2.0. Payments to Dr. Normancontinued until 1810 when his bill was£39.9.0, but from 1805 onwardspayments were also being made to Dr.James, whose bill in 1808 was £39.7.3. In1805 Dr. Norman had been paid £4.4.0for attending Charles Stuckey.

The parish also paid annualsubscriptions to Bath Hospital (£1.1.0in 1778) and the Bristol Infirmary(£2.2.0 in 1772 and 1790; £4.4.0 in 1808and 1809) as well as entrance money forthose going into hospital. 12s.0d. waspaid to the Infirmary in 1782 for BettyFry and 18s.0d. in 1792 for ArthurHunt.6

The following entry relating to Yatton isincluded in the notes made by RichardPaget (1766-1794) for additions toCollinson’s History of Somerset 1791:-

“The affair of Lukins, the supposeddemoniac, which a few years ago foundits way into most of the newspapers,has rendered the name of Yattonfamiliar to the public, and is toonotorious to need a particular detail orinvestigation.” 7

Dr. Samuel Norman was closelyinvolved with this controversial casewhich related to George Lukins, a Yattontailor.

He was said to have been possessed ofseven devils for nearly eighteen yearsfrom which he was delivered on 13 June

The names of some of the early doctorsin Yatton are recorded in the accounts ofthe overseers of the poor. Thechurchwardens and overseers of thepoor had been made responsible forraising a compulsory poor law rate andfor the relief of the poor by the 1598 and1601 statutes of Elizabeth I.

The Church House on the north side ofYatton parish church became the parishpoor house in 1620 and continued in usefor housing the poor until the 1950s.1

The overseers made payments to localdoctors for treating the poor when theywere ill. Payments to Dr. Joseph Wornellwere made from 1686 onwards. TheWornells were one of the leading familiesin Yatton and Dr. Wornell may havebeen a grandson of John Wornell whooccupied the Old Rectory next to thechurch in 1635 and died in 1637.2 In1708 the overseers paid Dr. Wornell 6s0d for going to Wrington and for 2bottles of cordial.3 Cordial can mean amedicine but why did the overseers payDr. Wornell for treating a patient atWrington? Perhaps the patient camefrom Yatton and was therefore theresponsibility of the Yatton overseers.

Later the parish had an agreement withDr. Hinkes to treat the poor. In 1729-30he was paid for bleeding one patient andhad £2.18.0 as half a year’s salary.4 In1737 and 1742 payments of half a year’ssalary of £2.12.6 are recorded.In 1740 his bill of £4.4.0 was paid andin 1741 he was paid £1.2.0 for settingWilliam Earl’s arm and attendance.5


1788 by the spiritual efforts of sevenclergymen in the vestry-room of theTemple church in Bristol. A number ofaccounts of the affair were published in1788. On one side Samuel Norman,surgeon at Yatton, claimed that GeorgeLukins was an impostor, whilst JosephEasterbrook, vicar of Temple church,took the opposite view.

Samuel Norman’s papers were entitled“Authentic anecdotes of George Lukinsthe Yatton demoniac, with a view of thecontroversy, and a full refutation of theimposture” and “The great apostleunmasked or a reply to the Rev. Mr.Easterbrook’s appeal in defence of hisdemoniac George Lukins”. A 4th

edition of the narrative based on theaccounts of the clergymen, with the Rev.Mr. Easterbrook’s letter annexedauthenticating the particulars whichoccurred at Temple church, waspublished in 1845, 57 years after theevent.8

The following statements made bySamuel Norman in his first paper givehis version of the events in Yatton.

“In the latter end of 1769, or beginningof 1770, G. Lukins of Yatton, the personwhose case I have been speaking of,with some young people, went to thehouse of the late Mr. Love, to performChristmas plays. Mr. Love being of agenerous disposition, gave them so muchliquor as to intoxicate them. G. Lukinswas greatly overloaded, and inendeavouring to walk out, fell downat the door, where he remained tillassistance was given him. Soon afterthis incident his fits commenced. In

some few weeks he pretended he wasbewitched.” – “All these oddities wereattributed to the power of witchcraft.In June 1770, I settled at Yatton, andsome time lodged in the same house asthis man; so that I had frequentopportunities to see him in his fits.”

“Soon after I settled at Yatton, the parishofficers employed me for him. He wasat different times under my care; andon the 11th of last January [1788], I wasthe last time employed by the overseersfor him; but I quickly gave his case up,as unworthy my notice.” 9

In 1813 Earl Poulett sold Cadbury Lodge(later Henley Lodge) to John Norman,surgeon, then aged 37.10 Could he havebeen the son of Samuel Norman? As thepayments in the overseers’ accounts after1779 refer only to “Mr. Norman” it ispossible that the son followed the fatheras surgeon at some stage.

The system of poor relief introducedby the 1598 Act continued in thiscountry until the passing of the Poor LawAmendment Act 1834 which groupedparishes into unions, with guardians ofthe poor replacing the overseers. Theparish of Yatton was grouped with 22other parishes to form the BedminsterUnion. The union was divided into 8districts, each of which was assigned amedical officer. In country areas themedical practitioner’s only hope ofexistence was by acting as parish doctor.

Tight-fisted boards of guardians drovethe hardest possible bargain and oftencared little whether the doctor wasqualified, or not; the man who would

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accept the lowest wage, sometimes aslittle as £20 a year, received theappointment. In 1837 the Yattonmedical officer was Mr. Shipton.11

Under the Apothecaries Act 1815 allapothecaries (who were actuallygeneral practitioners) had to beexamined and licensed by the Society ofApothecaries after a five years’apprenticeship. Until the second half ofthe 19th century the three trades ofphysician, surgeon and apothecary wereseparate and their duties undefined. Thephysician attended landowners andaristocrats and entered by the front door.If an apothecary or surgeon was called,he used the tradesman’s entrance.

No register of qualified practitionersexisted until the passing of the 1858Medical Act, whose declared purposewas to enable the public to distinguishbetween qualified and unqualifiedpractitioners. The General Council ofMedical Education and Registration (nowknown as the General Medical Council)was required to compile a register ofqualified practitioners and to ensure thatthe practice of medicine was restrictedto those who had passed a recognisedexamination.

The longest serving practitioner in Yattonduring the 19th century was John Hurdwhose name is listed in directories from1848 to 1887. His surgery was at RoseVilla (Cottage), 10 High Street. In 1851he was aged 38.10 He obtained a licencefrom the Society of Apothecaries (LSA)in 1845 and became a licentiate of theRoyal College of Physicians, Edinburgh(by exam) (L.R.C.P. Edin.) and amember of the Royal College of

Surgeons, England (M.R.C.S. Eng.) in1860. It was no doubt a result of thenew registration requirements of the1858 Act that John Hurd obtained thesefurther qualifications in 1860.

As well as John Hurd, the 1848 and 1849directories listed T.S. Lang at Yatton butno further details about him are given.Rice Wasbrough, M.D., was included inthe directories from 1849 to 1854; hisqualifications were M.D. Edin. 1840;M.R.C.S. Eng. 1839; L.S.A.1840. He wasmedical officer for the Yatton FriendlySociety and probably lived at SomersetHouse, 157 High Street (now a ResidentialHome). The mid-19th century wing at therear of the property may have been builtby him.

Dr. George Payne is recorded between1872 and 1878, Dr. C.A. Daubeney in1876 and Dr. Charles Wathen Sayer ofLinden House, 155 High Street, between1873 and 1877.

From 1880 to 1887 John Hurd and Alfredde Courcy Lyons, who leased HenleyLodge at the south end of the HighStreet, were the two doctors practising inYatton. In 1888 John Hurd is no longerlisted and has been replaced by JohnUsherwood Bolton of Glenville House,118 High Street. The practice becameknown as Lyons & Bolton, surgeons. In1891 both doctors moved away, Alfredde Courcy Lyons to Wrington, where helived at Aldwick Court, and JohnUsherwood Bolton to Scarborough.

Peter Pearson Johnson came in 1891 andcontinued to practise in Yatton until hisdeath on 29 January 1911 aged 57. In1891 his address was Glenville House but


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later he was at Henley Lodge. Hismonument is on the south side of thefootpath running towards Court Avenue,near the south-west corner of the church.The inscription on the monument alsorecords the death of his wife ClaraJohnson 41 years later, on 4 August 1952,aged 87.

Dr. P. P. Johnson was elected to the firstYatton Parish Council on 15 December1894 and was the second chairman of theParish Council from 1895 to 1897.Although he qualified at EdinburghUniversity in 1877 it does notnecessarily follow that he was a Scot.

Dr Dyson’s retirement party at the Railway Hotel in March 1965

Medical training in Scotland had for along period been far in advance of whatcould be obtained in England and mostof the doctors in Yatton during the 19th

century had obtained qualifications fromone of the Scottish universities.

Dr. P. P. Johnson was followed byThomas Christopher Johnson, of HenleyLodge, during the period up to theoutbreak of the 1914-1918 war. Between1915 and 1920 Charles Carew Webb, ofBristowe, Wood & Webb, was at HenleyLodge. This joint practice coveredWrington, Langford and Yatton, withH.C. Bristowe at Wrington, W. V. Wood


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at Langford and C. C. Webb at Yatton.C.C.Webb may have been assisted atYatton by Richard Bertram Johnson inthe years 1915-1917 as Dr. R. B.Johnson’s address in 1915 and 1916 wasThe Ridge and in 1917 was HenleyLodge.

In 1921 William Vincent Wood moved toHenley Lodge and the practice wasre-named Bristowe, Pines and Wood,with E.G.D.Pines replacing Dr. Wood atLangford. In 1928 H. C. Bristowe retiredat Wrington and was replaced byA.T.F.Rowley. The practice then becameknown as Wood, Pines and Rowley.Dr. W. V. Wood continued to practise atHenley Lodge until 1939 when he wasjoined by his daughter Dr. Ursula Woodwho had qualified in 1938. Dr. UrsulaWood assisted her father until hisretirement on 30 April 1945.4

Dr. W. V. Wood was followed byAlexander Dyson of Orwell Cottage, 25High Street, who practised in Yattonfrom August 1945 until he retired inMarch 1965.4 He then went to live onJersey in the Channel Islands. BrianJames Dorran of Glenville House was Dr.Dyson’s partner from 1948 until 1950,when he moved to Australia.

After the retirement of her father in 1945Ursula Wood had married anotherdoctor, J. R. G. Damrel and for a timethey both practised in Truro, Cornwall.However after the death of Dr. W. V.Wood on 18 December 1952 hisdaughter Ursula Damrel (nee Wood)returned to Henley Lodge and from 1954

assisted Dr. Dyson until his retirement in1965. In 1956 Dr. Ursula Damrelmoved to Cadbury Lodge, Claverham(now 32 Claverham Road), a new housebuilt when the Henley Lodge estate wasdeveloped.

Dr. Dyson used his home at OrwellCottage as a Surgery until 1960 when thepremises at 14 Church Road were takenover and used for that purpose. Thesepremises continued in use as a Surgeryuntil 1972 when the practice moved tothe new health centre in Mendip Roadwhich was designed to serve theincreasing population in Yatton.4

When Dr. Dyson retired in 1965 DavidCloberry Robinson joined the practice,followed by Andrew Fraser Boyles in1970. Dysons Close, which wasdeveloped in 1986-87, was named afterDr. Dyson. Michael Fenner HermannNelki joined the practice in 1974when Dr. Ursula Damrel went intosemi-retirement. The practice thenbecame known as Robinson, Boyles andNelki.

Dr. Ursula Damrel moved into theformer Surgery premises at 14 ChurchRoad in 1977 and in the following yearDr. Nelki moved into her old home inClaverham Road. Dr. Ursula Damrelwas still living at 14 Church Road at thetime of her death on 18 January 1989.Doctors Robinson, Boyles and Nelki stillcontinue to work for the practice but ona 50% job share basis.


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References

1. More Yatton Yesterdays No.3,pp. 14-16.

2. A History of Yatton, pp. 15, 25.3. SRO D/P/YAT; 13/2/3 (Overseers).4. Yatton L. Hist. Soc. Records SA/

2/84.5. SRO D/P/YAT; 13/2/4.6. SRO D/P/YAT; 13/2/4 and 13/2/5.7. Univ. of Bristol Spec. Collections.

Paget Papers DM 106/255.

8. Bibliotheca Somersetensis, Vol.3(1902), pp.22,23; British LibraryCatalogue. Lukins (George);Easterbrook (J); Norman(Samuel).

9. Bristol Central Ref. Lib. No.9592,pp.10, 11, 19.

10. A History of Yatton, p.67.11. Yatton Yesterday No.5, p.42.12. Yatton Yesterday No.3, p.10.

Nicholas A. Deas


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Yatton Church Clock -Half A Millennium of Timekeeping

The most recent repairs to thechurch clock continue a Yattontradition spanning over 450 years.

In 1536 William Sensam or Sansomof the village was paid 1d “in ernesfor making a clock and chyme”.He was obviously a man of somerenown in the high-tech field ofclockmaking as he also constructedtimepieces for St.Nicholas andChrist Church in Bristol. Elementsof his clock still survive at Yatton asit was modified and updated overthe years until the nineteenthcentury in much the same way,I suppose, as computer drivesare updated in our era.

Initially the mechanism wouldhave been a verge and foliot one ason the noted example in SalisburyCathedral. When pendulumcontrol was introduced in theearly seventeenth century the Yattonclock was modified to take advantage ofthe great increase in accuracy offered bythe new method. The whole of theoriginal 1536 striking mechanism wasretained, together with the main wheelof the clock apparatus. The barrels areof oak and virtually unaffected by fourcenturies of woodworm.

Between 1538 and 1540 a further 62/3d(£3.11) was paid to the clockmaker andwith sundry expenses such as “hewyinga tre for ye clocke howse 11/-” (55p)and “payd to ye clocke howse makyng

in ye Church 13/3d ”(66p) the totalproject seems to have amounted to£4.0.3d (£4.01).

It appears that some early form ofmaintenance contract was agreedin 1546/7 under the heading of“reparations of the clocke all the yere –1/-” (5p). Yatton seems to have beengranted a preferential rate as the Cityof Bristol archives record a bond for £20in 1566 to cover St. Nicholas Churchclock, which Sansom apparently madeand subsequently serviced for six yearsat 20d (8p) per annum and thereafter at10/- (50p) per annum.

Yatton Church Clock


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Sensam was also concerned with repairsto Christ Church clock in Bristol. Thistimepiece seems to have given himtrouble and perhaps he would rather nothave dealt with it at all as the 1560Churchwardens Accounts imply:

“payde the sexten for expences to go tocomsbury for ye clockmaker to go hitherageyne 4d (2p)”

“more for 11 Diners and breckfasts geven tothe clockmakr to corrage hym to apply andfollow his works 1/2d (6p)”

‘Comsbury’ is of course Congresbury(some long standing locals still refer toit as ‘Coomsbury’) and was no doubtindistinguishable from Yatton to thesophisticated and remote burghers ofBristol.

Reverting from the man to his machine,the clock seems to have performed wellduring the next half century.Interestingly, the stipend for looking afterit apparently declined from 3/- (15p) perannum in 1545/6 to 4d (2.5p) by theearly 1580s.

Most annoyingly, the Churchwarden’srecords for the period 1597-1725 cannotbe located. This period covers the timeduring which the clock would have beenextensively modified and converted topendulum regulation around 1670. Thedetails would have made interestingreading. In all probability the workwould have been carried out by a localblacksmith, for there was no longer anygreat mystery surrounding the workingsof turret clocks. The rate for minding ithad by now risen to 5/- (25p) perannum.

In 1732 it was necessary to removethe mechanism from the tower forattention. Where it was taken is notrecorded but the considerable sum of£3.15.6d (£3.77) was spent. Twentyyears later in 1753 John Martin andRichard Reed charged 8/6d (42p) totransport the clock to and fromChewstokes for work by Mr. EdwardBilbie to the value of £3.10.0d (£3.50).

The years 1758-1761 were expensiveones but are of particular interest to us: itseems likely that the clock first had a faceat this time. A total of £11.2.6d (£11.12)was laid out on “a new Horologe,painting the same, carriage fromWrington and putting up”. Mr. Bilbiewas again involved to the extent of£4.14.6d (£4.72), for which he would haveneeded to carry out some fairlyintricate work to construct a drive relay tothe hands. It seems that this may not havebeen entirely satisfactory, for in 1762 hewas back again “mending and cleaning theclock and moving it to the East side of thetower”. Most likely the Mark 1 versionhad given trouble and had to be resitedwith shorter drive rods.

Various routine expenses and repairs arelisted for the next hundred years or sountil the clock was removed anddiscarded in a corner of the clock room tomake way for the present late Victoriantimepiece in 1877. It is fortunate thatthe churchwardens of the time did not“remove the old clock and devote proceeds ofsame to necessary church expenses”,as a minute of that year required them todo. It remained in the tower until 1981,when it was rescued from obscurity andrestored to working order.


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The current clock, recently convertedto automatic winding, was made byDell and Company of Bristol. It is a three-barrel flatbed turret clock withescapement control by a doublethree-legged gravity mechanism. Thisrepresented the pinnacle of accuracy in lateVictorian timekeeping when coupled witha compound pendulum to minimise errorsdue to temperature changes. The centrebarrel drives the clock mechanism, whichis linked by levers to the other two barrelswhich activate the quarter and hour strikesrespectively. Before electrification it wasnecessary to hand wind the mechanismtwice weekly. The weights travelled avertical distance of three floors (from justbelow the tower parapet to the nave roof)and were extremely heavy – around 250kg each for the strike drives and around60kg for the clock drive.

This clock performed withcommendable accuracy and onlyoccasional breakdowns until the fire inthe early 1990s. In spite of an expensiverebuild funded by the insurers it hasgiven considerable trouble over the lastfew years, sometimes necessitating threeor four visits a day to make adjustments.

The drive to the faces has always been aweak point and the apparently simpletask of getting the two faces to agree tothe minute has frequently developed intoan all day undertaking on account of theseven or eight minutes of torque in therelay rod which drives the north face.Adjustment requires a perilous climbamong the bells and then adescent of 67 steps to observe the resultsfrom the churchyard. Four or five suchtrips in a morning are quite enough toassure a trim waistline!

The fire-weakened metal in a gear wheelfinally gave way late in 1998, causing anuncontrolled run-down of the weights tostrip many teeth from cogs andcompletely jam the works.

Thanks to the generosity of commercialorganisations and many individuals over£8000 was raised to fund repairs and aconversion to electric winding by Messrs.Smiths of Derby.

Thus the writer has had the honour ofbeing the last manual winder of Yattonchurch clock, ending a 450 yeartradition.

Robert Young

Clock Dates And Records(Taken from St Mary’s Churchwardens Accounts)

£ s d1536/7 Payd to Wm Sensam in ernes for makyng a clock and chyme 1

1538/9 Payd to ye clocke howse makyng in ye Church 13 3Payd for hewyng a tre for ye clocke howse 2 0Payd to William Sensam for ye clocke 1 0 0


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1539/40 Payd for a locke to ye clocke howse 4Payd for takyng down of ye clocke howse 12 0Payd for stoppyng of the holes under ye clocke howse 2Payd in part for ye clocke 1 2 3Payd to ..... and ye seid Clockmaker 1 0 0Payd for bryngyng home ye clocke 2 8Payd for bryngyng home ye frame of ye clocke 6

1541/2 To ye Clarke for keepynge ye clocke 3 01545/6 To J. Lette for keepyng of ye clocke 3 01546/7 For reparations of the clocke all the yere 1 01582 Payd for keepyng the clocke 41583 Payd for kepyng the clocke 41592 Payd to .... for mending of the clocke 1 81594 Payd for mending the clocke 61595 Payd to George [Coomer] for mending the clock 31596 Payd to George [Creese] for mending the clock 7

1726 Brown for Spring for the Cloak and Lenthning the Hamer 4 1½1729 Jeremiah Wainwright for keeping the Cloak 3 91730 Wm Nobb for mending the Cloak 15 01731 William Nobb for mending the Cloak 7 6

Mr Townly for mending the Cloak 7 61732 Pd for mending the Cloak 3 10 0

Spent when .... Took Down the Cloak 1 0Pd for Carriing the Cloak and Cariing him back Again 4 0John Nobb for helping putt up the Cloak 6

1733 Pd for Gimmos for the Clock Case 10The Clockmaker for riting the Clock and Expence 3 6

1734 The Clockmaker for righting the Clock 2 01735 Clockmaker for cleaning Clock 5 01737 Mr Townley mending Clock 2 61739 Mr Townley for repairing the Clock 2 6

Samuel Alford for mending Clock 6


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1740 Repairing and cleaning Church Clock 10 61742 Mr Townley for mending and repairing the clock 7 6

1744 To John Wilmott for looking after the Clocka year due at Lady Day 1745 5 0To John Wilmott for mending the clock 2 6

1745 To John Willmott for looking after the clock a year 5 01746 To John Willmott for looking after the clock a year 5 01747 To John Willmott for looking after the clock

a year and work done as receipt 6 61748 To John Willmott for looking after the clock

a year due at Lady Day 1749 5 01749 Pd for a pint of Oyl for The Clock 1 1

1753 Pd John Martin & Richd Reed for carrying andfetching the Clock from Chewstokes 8 6Pd Edward Bilbie for repairing Church Clock 3 10 0

1755 Pd for a clock rope 6 01756 Pd Mr Bilbie for repairing clock and by bill 1 0 61757 Paid for a clock rope 8 01758/61 For a new Horologe 2 12 6

For painting the same 2 12 6For carriage from Wrington and putting up 10 6To Mr Bilbie for the clock 4 14 6For carriage of same 12 6

1762 Paid Tho Bilbie for cleaning clock 7 6Thos Bilbie for mending and cleaning clockand removing it to the East side of the Tower 2 10 0

1763 Edw. Bilbie about ye clock as per bill 1 1 01766/7 Ed. Bilbie for cleaning clock 10 0

Ed. Bilbie for cleaning and mending clock 11 61768/70 Ed. Bilbie for cleaning clock 10 01771 Edw. Bilbie for mending clock as by bill 1 19 01772 Oil for bells and clock 3 7½

Mr Bilbie for cleaning clock 7 01773 Edw. Bilbie for cleaning clock 7 6


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1774 Oil for bells and clock 2 71775/7 To Mr Bilbie for cleaning clock 10 6

2 new ropes for clock 1 4 4Oil for clock 3½

1779 To Mr Bilbie for repairing the Clock 1 1 01780/2 Paid for cleaning the clock 7 01791 Paid Rich. Baber for repairing the Clocke 5 5 01869 Cash to John Salmon for attending to clock,

oiling bells, repairing clock 1 15 01872 Terrell & Sons: new rope for clock 6 91877 Minute of Vestry Meeting, 2nd April :

“It was proposed by Mr W. Baber, seconded by Mr C. Light andcarried unanimously that the Churchwardens be empowered toaccept the new clock of which it was proposed to make a present tothe parish and that they be authorised to remove the old clock anddevote the proceeds of same to necessary church expenses.”[It is therefore presumed that subsequent entries relate to thepresent clock, which is by Dell & Co. of Bristol and bears thedate 1877.]

1881 Repairing clock 10 01882 Repairs to clock 1 14 01884 Dell for clock 1 6 01885 Dell & Co. for clock 6 15 01892 Mr Bevan for repairing clock 8 01893 Repairing clock 4 10 01894 Attending clock 1 0 61897 Clock repaired by Dell & Co. 12 10 0

Note: at this time the whole interior of the tower was alteredwith new floors being put in and all the bells being hung on onelevel instead of two as previously. This necessitatedmodifying the striking apparatus: the quarters had previouslybeen chimed on bells 1 and 4, they now struck on 3 and 5. Thetotal cost for all this work, including the commemorative plaquestill in the porch was £ 242.17.7

1930 Minute of Vestry Meeting -“The clock would greatly benefit from being cleaned”.


17

Home Farm – Horsecastle

method of transport and a license wasrequired costing £1 per annum unlessthe trap was used for businesspurposes. That is why the name ofthe roundsman was painted onto thecart or trap, as well as for publicitypurposes. Originally the wheels wereiron ‘shod’ but re-bonding becamemore difficult and expensive sopneumatic, rubber-tyred wheelsbecame the norm.

Miss Moon’s horse was a dapple greycalled Polly who knew the round verywell and it was not unusual for thehorse to move on without the driver.Miss Moon recalls one particularoccasion when she called at thepostman’s house to collect the postbut when she came out the horse andcart had gone! She found them at theMilk Factory where the horse hadgone in, turned the cart round andbacked it up to the loading platform.All without a driver!

The Milk Factory was on North EndRoad, opposite where the furniturefactory was, and now the site isoccupied by Smart Systems, althoughsome of the original buildings may stillbe there. They took the surplus milkfrom the local farms and made dairyproducts such as cheese: about one tonof cheese was made each day by twoworkers at the factory. Only four or fivefarms delivered their surplus milk tothe factory; it was collected from theother farms by lorry.

In 1927 Mr A J Moon began farming atHome Farm, when he and his wife tookover a smallholding of three acres andgradually increased this until theyfarmed about sixty acres. This mixedfarm remained in the Moon family until1961. The land was then sold forbuilding when Yatton expanded. Thefarm consisted of a dairy herd, sheep,pigs, poultry and a small amount ofarable land. Miss Moon assisted on thefarm from an early age as she was theonly child of Mr and Mrs Moon and sheremembers much of her childhood spenton the farm. Milking was carried outtwice a day, every day, early in themorning and late in the afternoon, in thefields as there were no milking machinesuntil the early 1950’s. The milking wasdone by hand, regardless of the weather,sitting under the cow even if it was wetand cold or dry and hot - it was notunknown for a cow to ‘up and away’without warning, leaving the milkersitting alone in the field!

Milk was taken back to the farm tobe cooled by passing it over a watercooled grid – electrical coolers came later– and into churns which were ready fordistribution on the milk round or takento the milk factory if it was surplus. Themilk round customers were suppliedtwice a day, every day (there were no’fridges to keep milk in) and the milkwas measured out into the customer’sown container using quart, pint andhalf-pint ‘cans’, plus a cream measure. Ahorse and trap was the usual


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There were about nine farms supplyingmilk rounds - Messrs Tranmer, Griffin,Parsons, Jones, Gabriel, Burdge andMoon plus Miss Gabriel and Mrs Jones,who had their own rounds, alldelivering twice a day, with cream beinga speciality on Sundays.

Yatton Market, which was held weeklyexcept during the Second World Warwhen it was held every two weeks, wasthe local sales point for produce and forfat cows, calves, pigs and fowls. Thecows and calves were driven on foot, thepigs and other small animals were takenon a cart. Ducks and ducklings weresold but not the duck eggs, and the mainproduce sold from Home Farm wasapples from the orchard.

Although the farm was near to therailway station the rail service was notused very much except for wool fromthe sheep which was sent in a ‘woolsac’and after the war sugar beet pulp wasbought in as winter feed for the cattle.This was delivered in an open railwaywagon which was parked in the goodsyard at the station and the pulp had to beshovelled out of the wagon and into atractor trailer. It then had to be taken tothe farm and shovelled out of the trailerinto large pits in the yard. This had to bedone several times as there were severaltons of pulp delivered in a wagon - and itwas hard work. This sugar beet pulpwas supplemented by a new feed, calledsilage.

During the war a prisoner of war campwas sited at Top Scaur, near whereHenley Park is now, and farmers

employed both German and Italianprisoners of war to replace the farmlabourers who had been drafted into theArmed Forces. Farmers had to supplythe PoW’s with bicycles to get to andfrom work. Miss Moon remembersthem being very quick at returning totheir barracks when rain started! Theydid not usually stay long in any onefarmer’s employment - whether theywere moved from camp to camp or weremoved from farm to farm locally is notknown. Perhaps someone can tell us.

Miss Moon went to Barberry HouseSchool, at Barberry Farm, until the age offourteen and although boys at the schoolhad to move to other schools at the ageof seven or eleven to complete theireducation, the girls could stay atBarberry. Some of the girls did moveto other schools, this was before Barberryclosed in 1944. Teachers stillremembered are Miss Burdge with hercolleague Miss Sawyer, Misses Revill,Southey and Gillet.

Many changes have occurred in thevillage: you could buy new clocks andwatches or have your old ones repairedat Taylor’s shop near Pullin’s bakery; youcould buy mens, ladies or children’sclothing at several shops and petrol wasavailable at several places; similarlygroceries were sold at several stores.

Brian Bradbury

From an interview with Miss MargaretMoon.


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Yatton Church Bellsor tenor expressed in hundredweight(20 cwt in a ton) and the musical key towhich the bells are tuned.

Yatton’s statistics are eight bells with atenor of 24 hundredweight tuned in thekey of D. In addition to this, a factquite important to bellringers, is thatthey can be rung in the English style.This can best be described as fixing thebell to a substantial piece of metal orwood, called a headstock, at the ends ofwhich are bearings. The bearings aremounted on a framework allowing thebell to swing in between. By means of alarge wheel fixed to one end of theheadstock and a rope, the bell can beswung from mouth up to mouth up, afull circle rotation.

Yatton Church, viewed from the moorsand from the A370 on the Weston side ofCongresbury, stands veryprominently above the landscape, a focalpoint for all to see. The significance ofthis is not an accident but a deliberate actto focus the attention of all on the churchand its role in the life of the community.A second feature, shared by many otherchurches in the country is the presencewithin the tower of bells, which over thecenturies have been rung to give uniquelyaudible messages to the local populationof the presence of the church. Inaddition to this bells have traditionallyprovided a way of communicating withthe communities in which they belong,from indicating the time of day bysounding out the hours to grandlyexpressing local and national joys andsorrows in a way unlike any other.

As the centuries have passed someof this usefulness is no longer assignificant as it was and the sounding ofthe hours of the day is no longer asimportant as it used to be. The greatmajority of people, however, still have avery great love of church bells and theyremain one of the most effective ways ofmarking the ups and downs of life as wellas reminding about the presence of thechurch.

Yatton Church bells have changed a lotover the centuries to become the very finepeal of eight bells that they are today.Church bells are described by threepieces of information: the number ofbells, the weight of the deepest toned Lowering One of Yatton’s Church Bells


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It is fortunate that Yatton’s churchwardensaccounts survive back to the fifteenthcentury and from these many details maybe found about the history of the bells.

From the mid-fifteenth century up until1770 there were five bells in the tower,the heaviest weighing more than 30hundredweight. In 1451 a bell was recastin Bristol by “ Hew the Bellman”. This bellis still in the tower, being the currentseventh and would have been the third ofthe five at that time. As may be imaginedthe activities involved in melting metal andcasting bells five hundred years ago musthave been considerable and it is noexaggeration to suggest that there musthave been a high degree of hit and missabout the process. This would seem to besupported by the fact that during the nextcentury and a half there are severalreferences to recasting bells.

In 1468 the “lyttyll” bell was recast inBristol and in 1502/03 it was again recast.Another bell was recast in 1529/30 whenpayment was made to “Jo. White yeBelmaker” and in 1532/33 ThomasGefferies for which he appears to havebeen paid £4.19s (£4.95) in twoinstalments recast the great bell, the tenor.In 1552 the little bell was recast again,probably by Henry Jefferies, son ofThomas, and in 1622 Roger Purdue recastanother bell in Bristol. This bell is thecurrent fifth of the eight.

A gap now occurs in the accounts until themiddle of the seventeenth century whenthe next mention of bells is in 1693. Thistime the fourth bell of the five had to berecast, the work being done by Lewis

Cockey of Frome. Unfortunately he hadto do the work again in Bristol forreasons that are not clear. This bell wasa predecessor of the current tenor.

In 1760 “Mr Evans” was paid £43.2s(£43.10) for rehanging the bells. Mr Evanswas George Evans of Wells, a bell hanger ofsome repute and the cost suggests that anew frame was also included in the priceat this time. There now enters into thehistory mention of the Bilbie family ofChew Stoke, possibly the most commonlyknown bell founding family in Somerset.Mr Bilbie, most likely Abraham Bilbie, waspaid to cast a new treble bell in 1770 usingthe metal of a second hand bell fromBrockley. This bell seems to be the onethat augmented the peal from five to six,no previous mention having been made ofsix bells.

Relationships with the Bilbie family nowbecame somewhat strained. The fifth bellrequired recasting in 1801 and was takento Chew Stoke in 1803. However severalyears passed and no progress had beenmade. The churchwardens were awardedand received from Bilbie the sum of £100compensation for not recasting in line withthe agreement he had made. By 1809,however the bell had been recast by JamesBilbie and in 1811 he was paid for hiswork and the £100 was refunded. Thisbell was the tenor until 1980.

The accounts of this period itemisemany payments and receipts about thework done, the clock also receivingattention. (See separate article) Thiswas another enterprise of the Bilbie familyalthough a different branch and


21

presumably meticulous accounting wasprudent in view of the dilatory efforts indoing the work.

Whether the experience with the Bilbiefamily was too much can only beguessed but the next work, in 1824, wasawarded to John Rudhall of Gloucester.This was a major piece of work andresulted in augmenting the bells to a pealof eight, the number in the tower today.

Rudhall agreed to use the metal from thetenor bell to cast three small bells thatwere to be one, two and three of the neweight. In addition it was necessary torecast the former third of the old six bellsto become the sixth bell of the new eight.This recasting was necessary to enabletuning to be carried out in a major key.The rehanging and bellframe work wascarried out by Richard and Moses Coleof Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire.There is still a plaque in the towerrecording this. One item listed in theaccounts records that an expenditure of2s (10p) was necessary in order toremove a stile to take bells into thechurchyard. This begs the question asto how the bells were got out.

It was found necessary in 1852 to recastthe 1770 Bilbie treble of the old six andthis work was entrusted to William Caryof Bristol. There exists some doubt as towhether Cary actually cast the bell. Amore likely situation was that the bellwas cast by Jefferies & Price of 69Redcliffe Street, Bristol and Cary was themain contractor who carried out all theother work, including the rehanging ofthree other bells, the second, the seventhand the tenor.

The twentieth century opened with therequirement in 1903 to recast the sixthbell, which Rudhall had cast in 1824.This was carried out in London at theWhitechapel works of Mears &Stainbank and this company, now calledthe Whitechapel Foundry, has beenresponsible for all the work done on thebells since then.

1950 saw a major restoration. By thistime the old wooden frame and fittingswere showing significant signs of age, thebells being hard work to ring andrequiring very regular maintenance andthe bearings frequent oiling. Anamusing story from this time was thatthere was going to be a ringers meetingon a particular Saturday and the localband were advised not to oil the bellsbefore tea. This ploy resulted in so manycritical comments that the rehangingscheme became a priority, the fundsbeing raised very quickly.

The efforts made by the local ringers insuccessfully raising the money for thiswere immense, especially in view of thefact that the Second World War was notlong over and everything was in shortsupply. All manner of fund-raisingactivities were employed with the resultthat the job was done much faster thanmight have been expected. The workdone consisted of removing all the bellsfrom the tower and sending them by railto London. There is a photograph in theringing chamber showing all eight bellson the goods loading platform of Yattonrailway station prior to being loaded forshipment, the oil stains on the bellsclearly visible.


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The old wooden bellframe was removedwith the exception of some of the largerbeams that were kept high up in thetower to be used for lifting purposes. Inaddition others were used as supports forthe floor which is inside the tower at thebase of the pepperpot. The new cast ironframe was built about twelve feet lowerinside the tower and steel cross beamswere fixed below and above to providesupport and strength. The position of theold bellframe is still clearly obviousinside the tower walls because of theareas of wall that had been hollowed outyears ago to allow clearance for the bellsto swing.

The bells themselves were overhauled ina major way, the front four beingcompletely recast while the two oldest,the fifth of 1622 and the seventh of 1451were not altered in any way. Tuning, aprocess of removing metal from theinside of a bell to obtain the right strikenote, was performed on the other six andall eight were put back in the tower, thistime on ball bearings. The tenor at thistime weighed in at 21 hundredweight inthe key of D. It is a tribute to the skill ofthe bellfounders that they were able totune the bells without touching the twooldest and produce a very highlyregarded peal of bells.

The ringers, having shown a remarkableability in organising the restoration,now turned their efforts to creating andmaintaining a band of ringers to ring thebells. Among the Yatton tower records areseveral books which containinformation about special ringing whichwas arranged for local and

national occasions and in addition, fromtime to time, are lists of themembers of the band and theiroccupations. An examination of theseshows that the ringers came from manybackgrounds and possessed many skills.It is not surprising therefore that theseskills were fully used in maintainingringing and maintaining the bells.

One member, a master baker, was able toensure that the ringers’ teas were nevershort of food, especially during rationingafter the war. He also owned a car whichwas used for ringers’ outings and thesmallest ringer would travel in the boot.Another, a farmer, was meticulous in thedetail of his ringing outings. On oneparticular day out in Liverpool herequested a 6d fare to Everton to be toldby the bus conductor that it was ashilling. There then followed anargument, which he eventually won byproducing a letter from Liverpool CityTransport showing his evidence. Theconductor was even more upset to beinformed that there were another twentyringers behind, all at 6d. The localblacksmith was also a ringer and in thesixties, when the bells were being rungat six o’clock one Christmas morning forthe seven o’clock service, the tenorclapper broke. There was no hesitation,the two pieces were taken to the forgeand rewelded and all eight bells wereringing again at ten o’clock.

This spirit of willingness and all-roundability was the main reason thatovercame the next major event which waswhen the Bilbie tenor of 1809 cracked in1980. There was no obvious reason


23

for this and more importantly no easysolution. As in 1950 the ringers once againset about to raise the fundsthemselves using the well-triedmethods of local fundraising. Thecost of £9000, reduced to about £6500by the input of local labour, was raisedhowever and ringing resumed twelvemonths to the day from when the bellcracked. The new bell that came backwas heavier, now weighing 24hundredweight and has certainlymaintained Yatton bells as one of thehighly regarded peals in the country.

It is a pity that the final piece to bring thehistory up to date was the result of acrime but as many might remember anarsonist started a fire in the tower in1991. This started in the clock chamberand rapidly spread up through the towerand also down into the ringing chamberby means of the clock weight shaft.Fortunately it was spotted in time for thefire brigade to make an attempt to fightit but not soon enough to prevent seriousdamage. Much of the wooden items inthe tower including the floors had to bereplaced and many of the bell wheelsand ropes were burnt. In addition to thisthe heat generated by the fire, whichwas concentrated under the fourthbell, caused it to crack.

This time, however, the cause of thedamage fell within the insurancecover and the insurance companypaid the bill. The work necessary, inaddition to recasting the fourth,covered all the new fittings and ropes aswell as all the structural repairs. Onceagain the end result of all the hard workis a peal of bells that Yatton can beproud of.

Today, Yatton bells are a peal of eight in thekey of D with the following statistics:-

The Tenor 24 cwt cast in 1981 atWhitechapel

The Seventh 17 cwt cast in 1451 atBristol Foundry

The Sixth 12 cwt cast in 1903 atMears and Stainbank

The Fifth 11 cwt cast in 1622 byRichard Purdue

The Fourth 8 cwt cast in 1992 atWhitechapel

The Third 6 cwt cast in 1950 atMears and Stainbank

The Second 6 cwt cast in 1950 atMears and Stainbank

The Treble 5 cwt cast in 1950 atMears and Stainbank

(Note-cwt represents one hundredweight,one twentieth of a ton)

From the Seventh of 1451 to the Fourthof 1992, five and a half centuries ofhistory!

In writing this article my thanks inparticular are to George W Massey ofFrome for all the details of the earlyhistory of Yatton bells. The time he hasspent gathering the information isconsiderable and I am very grateful tohim for allowing me to use it in thisaccount. In addition I would like tothank the ringers of Yatton, past andpresent, for the many hours of pleasureand fellowship I have enjoyed in the artof bell ringing.

Peter England


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Memories Of Yatton Market

his smock and carrying a large stick,walking to Yatton Market. He wouldspend the day attending the cattle inthe yard. On my homeward trip Iwould see him again, driving cattleback to the slaughter-house in Bristol– for him a walk of 24 miles besidesseeing to the cattle in the market, avery hard day’s work.

Sharing the Inn frontage with theauctioneers were a couple ofunscrupulous stall holders, sellingcheap jewelry, ornaments, fountainpens etc. The stall holder would puta watch in a parcel and with sleightof hand drop in a guinea coin (£1.05)and offer to sell it at 2s 6d (12.5p).When the purchaser opened this, allit contained was the watch and apenny piece - much to his or herdismay. The stall holder would dothis when things were quiet and itwould attract the crowd to the stall.

Stanley Cleverdon

I remember the days before AlonzoDawes and Sons opened their sale yardat Yatton. ‘Teddy’ Dawes sold calvesand poultry outside the Railway Inn(now the Market Inn). Hurdles wereerected outside the Inn to hold thecalves and there were cages for thebirds. One day a hen laid an egg in thecage and ‘Teddy’ took the egg, crackedit open, held his head back andswallowed it – he said it was good!

Later he opened the yard on the marketsite next to Messrs Nichols Hunt & Coand both continued for many years.The new sale yard sold farm stock,calves, poultry and all kinds of farmand garden produce. I remember therewere a large number of eggs, sold bythe dozen and bought by Bristoldealers.

Jill Dyer mentioned the drovers comingby train to the market. During my lastthree months at school in Bristol Icycled each day from Claverham.Each Monday I would see a drover in


25

Floods on Yatton Moors in the 1920’s

Yatton Moors in the 1990’s

Yatton Then And Now


26

Yatton Vicarage Garden Lake in the 1930’s

Well Lane, Yatton on the former Vicarage Gardens Site in 1998


27

Church Road and Yatton High Street in 1905 (Courtesy of M J Tozer)

Church Road, Chescombe Road and Yatton High Street in 1997


28

Henley Lodge in the 1900’s

Henley Lodge in 1995


29

Church Road, Vicarage and Yatton High Street in 1870’s(Courtesy of North Somerset Museum)

Church Road, Well Lane and Yatton High Street in 1997


30

Yew Tree Cottages,

6 & 8 High Street, Claverham

Yew Tree Cottages or Wilmott’sTenements as they were previouslyknown were renovated in 1998 whennew houses were built behind them.

They have deeds dating from thesixteenth century with references tocommon rights which indicate an evenearlier origin. They appeared on a mapdated prior to 1798 when Court deWyck was ruined.

There is evidence that parts, albeit small,of the building date from the previouscenturies. The left-hand two thirds was

a three room cross passage house with agarden and orchard and which latercontained a shop. At one time it was thecentre of a small farm.

Between 1821 and 1840 a cottage wasadded on the right and the originalbuilding was divided into two sectionsto make three in all.

Later in the nineteenth century itbecame two cottages again, as it is now.

Marianne Pitman


31

be encouraged to pay for a tank andperhaps some towns might pay for asquadron of fighters etc.

To this end 14th-21st March 1942 wasdesignated Warship week for the RoyalNavy in the parishes in the then LongAshton Rural District. The target wouldbe £125,000 for a “Flower” classcorvette to be named H.M.S. Lotus.Yatton managed to raise £12,598.2s.4d,ie £5.5s.7d per head of the population.In Abbots Leigh and Flax Bourton thesum per head of the population wasabout £27 but these were much richerparishes.

In 1942 H.M.S. Lotus escorted theRussian and Atlantic convoys andduring that time it helped to sink twoU-boats.

It also served in the Mediterraneanduring 1943 and the Atlantic in 1944returning to Russia again in 1945. In1947 The Lotus was sold to a privatecompany having done wonderful workin guarding vital shipping from theenemy.

Mary Campbell

Visitors to Hangstones Pavilion, StoweyRoad, Yatton will have noticed thefollowing plaque:-

Warship Week 14th-21st March 1942

Admiralty Plaque

Hangstones, Yatton.

Presented by theLords Commissioners of the Admiralty

to the Civil Parish of Yattonto commemorate the adoption of

H.M.S. Lotus.

Mr Lovejoy’s researches of this eventmake interesting reading, and his fullwork can be seen in Yatton LocalHistory Society’s records; however itis thought that some readers mightenjoy the short summary here.

By about 1942 the cost of the war hadrisen to £14 million a day so NationalSavings became an extremely importantpart of the war effort. It was thoughtthat some village savings groups might

H.M.S. LOTUS


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Some unsuitable land on Cleeve Hill wasthen offered. Most tenant farmers wereunwilling to sublet some of their bestand most conveniently situated arableland, even if the landowners agreed. Inearly 1890 the committee renewed itsplea for land for the working classes tobe identified voluntarily by locallandowners. If this was unsuccessful itwould apply to the Sanitary Authority.Part of a field called Oar Field, betweenClaverham Road and the northern slopesof Cadbury Hill and consisting of 10acres was set aside. As ‘oar’ means bank,there was probably a degree ofcompromise with regard to thesuitability of the land involved.

Arrangements were made to charge aquarterly rent of 5 shillings (25p) plus aninitial ploughing fee of 3 shillings (15p)and 6d (2.5p) for stamping theagreement. The allotments wereallocated by ballot. There were 24 menand 2 women paying rent for the threeyears for which records are available.

Bringing the story up to date, Yatton stillhas allotments in Mendip Road. InClaverham there are still allotmentsbelonging to and near the Free Churchbut others disappeared under DunstersRoad as did those in Cleeve when theMulti-sports practice wall in the playingfield opened.

Information obtained from records in thepossession of Len Burdge

Marianne Pitman

Following the enclosure of common landin Yatton in 1815 ( Yatton Yesterday 10 )and loss of access to it, allotments wereused mostly by agricultural labourers tosupply a subsistence diet for theirfamilies when wages were low and therewere fewer jobs as agriculture becamemore mechanised.

According to the Allotments Act of 1887six electors could ask the SanitaryAuthority to purchase or rent suitableland for allotments at a fair agriculturalrent and on a long lease. If this failed thecounty council could require acompulsory purchase order againstwhich landowners had a right of appeal.By 1892 the newly formed parishcouncils could acquire allotments.

Locally allotments were sought in 1859according to the minutes of meetings ofrepresentatives of electors for Yatton,Claverham and Cleeve.

William Burdge of Claverham Court wasthe chairman. There were a largenumber of applications for allotmentsfrom Cleeve and Claverham.

In Yatton, in response to a request tosublet some land from a Mr Shiner inClaverham Road, they received anunfavourable reply. The committeeresolved to ask the EcclesiasticalCommissioners for a piece of land torent. However in Cleeve, Mr Castle ofCleeve Court was prepared to let apasture field opposite the Lord Nelson,but Mr Shiner was the tenant!

Allotments


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The Sweet ShopMemories of Mrs Tripp’s Sweet Shop in the early 1950s

happiness, days that would last but for afew precious years and then be gone forever as I stepped into manhood.

Should one walk to Frost Hill, adjacent toMendip Road and Tripp’s Corner, thenone comes across a cluster of three elderlycottages, each with charm. The middle ofthese cottages has a plaque on the door

with the legend ‘The OldSweet Shop’.

As a boy attending St David’sSchool in the late 1940s toearly 1950s, I can rememberseeking permission from theHeadmaster, Major Carr, toleave the school grounds tovisit the sweet shop for thepurchase of sweets andlemonade and to replenish ourtuck boxes.

I remember well duringfootball matches against otherschools and also the localYatton teams (these beingplayed on Wednesdayafternoons and Saturdaymornings) that we would visitMrs Tripp to purchase bottlesof lemonade, limeade,raspberryade, cherryade, etc,together with sherbet andlemonade crystals, sold in apaper bag into which wewould dip and then lick ourfingers afterwards.

It is generally accepted that one’schildhood memories are usually the best,the most endearing and so it is withmine: memories of seemingly endlesssummer days, carefree fun and themyriad pleasures that only childhood canbring.

Mrs Tripp’s Sweet Shop was part of mychildhood, part of my early days of


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mud-covered school boys of St David’swould descend once again upon the eversmiling Mrs Tripp.

Now, alas, Mrs Tripp has passed intomemory and her sweet shop is no more.Only happy memories of what used tobe remain with me – of heavy glasssweet jars full of many sweets and bottlesof ‘pop’ of many colours, with Mrs Trippalways there to greet us.

When I visit Yatton I often walk to theshop, which is little changed inappearance from the outside. I say aquiet ‘hello’ and I would like to thinkthat Mrs Tripp would understand.

The photograph was very kindlyloaned to me by the present occupant ofthe Old Sweet Shop. Could thegentleman standing proudly behind thetwo small girls be Mrs Tripp’sfather? Could one of the small girlsbe Mrs Tripp? The window displaysa poster advertising a Dance. The chainon the outside wall (to the left of thefigures) could be a tether for a horse.

Michael Claridge

Mrs Tripp was a very pleasant lady withfair hair and a kindly welcome. I thinkshe had a certain empathy with theschool boys from St David’s, whotrooped into her shop with muddyfootball boots and muddy kit.

The sweet shop was full of real glass jars,each containing a multitude of sweets,toffees, liquorice allsorts, barley sugar (Iwas very partial to the barley sugar stickswith twisting stems), gobstoppers andaniseed balls, and round sweets thatchanged colour as we sucked them.These spent as much time out of ourmouths, being studied for colour change,as they did inside!

The bottles of lemonade that wepurchased during football half-timeswould only be partially drunk, a fewquick swigs from the bottle, then Iwould along with the others return thepartially empty bottle to Mrs Tripp. Shewould carefully write the individual’sname upon the label and place it in safekeeping until next week, when the


35

St Barnabas Church, Claverham:One Hundred and Twenty Years

houses were near Claverham GreenFarm and opposite South BankNurseries. All were in out of the wayparts of Claverham, not well controlledby the authorities, where locals drankand danced to the fiddle all night!

(Yatton Yesterday No4)

The church started in a barn and, aftertransfer to a disused billiard room, wasfinally built on land donated by JohnCox and his heirs. Prebendary Barnardwho was responsible for the restorationof St Mary’s in 1874 was the drivingforce.

(History of Yatton)

Dennis Marshall, the thenchurchwarden, wrote in 1979that a chance inspection of anold book of accounts for theClaverham Mission Room andBusy Bee (or Sunday) School,revealed the approach of animportant date in the history ofSt Barnabas. It showed that thechurch began on September 17th

1879. However as the licence forworship was dated August 14th acompromise was arranged, andso the centenary was celebratedon August 30th 1979. In 1999 theone hundred and twentiethanniversary was celebrated witha festival depicting 120 years offlower arranging.

The church was set up as a chapel ofrest linked to St Mary’s at Yatton. It isdedicated to St Barnabas from Cypruswho travelled with both Saints Paul andMark on missions to the early ChristianChurch in the eastern Mediterranean.It was to provide an alternative forvillagers not wishing to travel to Yattonparticularly in the winter and to makethe church more accessible to those whodid not attend. In the middle of thenineteenth century there had been threebeer or cider houses serving a populationof almost 500 people in Claverham. Onewas a cider house in Hunts Lane nearMeads Mill and the other two beer


36

However, the income from collectionswas less than the outgoings, whichincluded £3 a year for cleaning andlighting the oil lamps and tortoiseshellstove for Mrs Smith the sextoness. In1892 the church owed the treasurer 13s(65p)- almost enough to heat the churchfor a year. On the other hand specialcollections (such as at harvest)amounting to £1.13s.4d (£1.67p) weresent to the Bristol Children’s Hospitalnearly sixty years before any treatmentwas free. The original rush chairs werereplaced with thirteen pews for thecongregation to seat up to sixty people.From 1920 until demolition for fire safetyreasons in 1987 there was a churchroom, a converted First World War armyhut next door in Jasmine Lane (YattonYesterday No 9).

The church has been linked not only toCleeve but also to Brockley and Chelveyand the rest of Yatton Moor in variouscombinations over the years. For anumber of years in the sixties the rector

lived in the house next door to thechurch in Brockley Way.

The churchyard has no burials sincethese are carried out at Cleeve orYatton.

The 1914-18 war memorial inside thechurch identifies the following, (detailsare included in Yatton Yesterday No 9):

Harold Kingcott, William Baber, GrantlySkuse, Wilfred Payne, Bert Wynn,George Beacham, Frank Cooper, AlbertMills, Henry May and Montague Mills.

The latter was a Quarter MasterSergeant in the RAMC. One died ofa fever in Salonica, one who hademigrated to Australia died atGallipoli, another in East Africa and therest died as a result of action in France.All were in their late teens or twenties.

This article was compiled with the help ofthe chapel warden Doug Styles.The drawing is by Andrew Marshall.

Marianne Pitman


37

Tom BurdgeRev W Arnold

Yatton Parish Council Chairmen(Continued)

Some Chairmen were featured in More Yatton Yesterdays No 3 and the followingarticles provide information about others including Ralph James, Tom Burdge, GretaLewis, Bob Cox and the Reverend William Arnold. Further information is still beingsought about the Reverend Arnold, Charles Knowles, (a coal and meal merchantwho died in 1907), and R Salmon. Information about Robert Edwards will appearin the year 2000 issue. The following articles are by Marianne Pitman

Reverend W Arnold,Chairman 1895A photograph of the Rev Arnold is kept inSt Mary’s Church and the reproductionabove was produced by Malcolm Watson.

Mr. Arnold was the vicar at the time thecivil parish council was formed alongsidethe parochial church council and theparish business was split between the two.He gave up the chairmanship to a villagedoctor, P Johnson, a few months after hehad overseen the successful establishmentof the parish council which then coveredCleeve as well as Yatton and Claverham.

Tom Burdge,Yatton Parish CouncilChairman 1934 - 1947

Tom Burdge was not only chairman ofthe parish council but also a member ofSomerset County Council. From an earlyage he was on the North SomersetDrainage Board and the dyke reeve orinspector of the rhynes. He wasresponsible for the viewers of the rhyneswho ensured that specific sections wereclear.

Thomas Burdge was born in 1874, theeleventh child in a Yatton farming family


38

of fifteen. He became chairman of thecouncil when he was sixty and remainedso until he died in 1947 aged 73 years.

One of the major controversies of his timeon the council was the ownership of theland surrounding the church. Part of thisGlebelands now belongs to the council.There was considerable debate as towhether the land already belonged to theparish through common usage or whetherit was to be bought from theEcclesiastical Commissioners. Aschairman Tom was concerned not to buyland which already was the parish’s in hiseyes and he opposed the decision to buywhat was then a 99 year lease at fiveshillings a year. He offered to resign aschairman if the majority vote was acted onin 1936. In effect he did not resign as hecontinued as chairman until 1947.

Another issue was the lateness of the postto some businesses at a time when a lot ofwork was executed through postalinstruction, by return of post or theequivalent. The chief postmaster in Bristolwas not co-operative in improving theservice!

As it does now, the traffic in the HighStreet posed a hazard to schoolchildrenand a pavement was constructed usingpart of the Grey House and the Rectorygardens to provide easier access to theNational School.

Tom farmed from The Grange in Yatton.His land surrounded the house, extendedeast to Hillsea, and west to Wemberham.Only one field was ploughed as the farmwas a Shorthorn dairy one with somesummer grazing for sheep. The farm was

run by Tom, his elder sister Mary and hisyounger sister Eliza, who lived there untilshe was 75, ten years before her death.Also there were two farmworkers.

In 1907 Tom Burdge’s sister Annie, thewife of Ben Crossman of Chestnut Farmdied of TB at the age of 43. To safeguardthe health of the rest of the family she hadspent some of her last years in isolation in awooden chalet on the moors on Hillsea.Her daughters Kate and Marie used to takefood to their mother. The chalet was latermoved to the grounds of the Grange buthas long since disappeared.

In some fields on the moors includingthose which previously belonged to theGrange it is possible to dig through layersof reed beds and bog oaks with blood redtrunks to even deeper layers of silver birch.The ground never dries out completelyand occasionally in sunny weather thewater can be seen running backwardsfrom the river under the drainage tiles.

As a farmer in the 1930’s Tom supportedother farmers’ needs against Bristol Waterwhen they pumped so much water fromChelvey that the water in the river ranbackwards from Kenn Moor Gate. OneSunday morning he went to the home ofthe chairman of the board and secured asupply of water brought by horse and cartto fill affected farm water tanks. Mostwells and bore holes which constituted themain water supply for many farms hadrun dry except where they were filledfrom springs on Cadbury Hill.

At this time holes were dug in the riverbottom so that water could seep in fromthe surrounding soil to allow the animalsto drink. Sadly at times dogs also got


39

Greta Lewis

into the fields which were now dry enoughfor sheep and killed them.

Yatton’s Monday market was a majorcommercial feature of the village. TomBurdge was a grader with an independentbutcher for the cattle which would havecome from a ten mile radius. The gradingaccording to size and quality of the animalmeant a lot in monetary terms whenfarming was in extreme circumstances andtimes of change, as it is today. During theSecond World War cattle were transportedto Birmingham and Nottingham afterhaving been driven on foot to Yattonstation. Butchers from Bristol used toattend as their shops were traditionallyclosed on Mondays.

In 1934 at the Christmas Fatstock MarketTom had the champion, a Shorthorn.

One of his many relatives was Alan Youngfrom Claverham who trying to diversify inwartime grew barley using practices fromEast Anglia as a model. However it rainedso much that particular summer that onewaggish farmer at market said ‘YoungYoung has rice growing on the moor!’(only the barley ears were showing abovethe water).

During the Second World War Tomshowed his nephew that it is possible totrace a pattern of fields like a green trackfrom Cadbury near Henley Farm to themoors beyond Mud Lane where there is ahidden stone pathway or possibly quaywhere it may have been possible to land aboat from the Kenn river. It is four to fivefeet wide and twenty yards long, aboutthree to four inches below the surface.

This information was collected from Tom’snephews, Len Burdge and Alan Young.

Greta Lewis,

Yatton Parish Council Chairman1976 - 86

In 1957 Greta Lewis came to Somersetfrom Leicestershire where she hadworked as a secretary for a solicitor whowas involved with the local council.This work awakened a continuinginterest in local government and relatedissues.

Greta came to join her parents who hadrecently moved to Yatton. Shortlyafterwards she met and then in 1959married her husband Grahame, amember of a well-known Yatton family.His father had recently beenchurchwarden at St. Mary’s.

Her eldest son Robert was born in 1961;another son, Richard and a daughterRachel followed in due course.


40

Greta redeveloped her interest inlocal government partly because offrustration in not being allowed to speakat council meetings which she attendedas an interest outside the home whenthere was little money for leisurepursuits.

Much to her surprise she was electedto Yatton Council at her first attempt in1973. Besides her emphasis onremaining independent of any politicalparty, which she maintains staunchly tothis day, she put much of her initialelection success down to the support offellow mothers who used to gather everyday to collect their children from school.Her view is that no party has themonopoly on beneficial policies locallyand that a mixture related to localcircumstances is what villagesand towns need.

By 1976 she was elected chairman andcontinued for 10 years, being the firstand indeed only female chairman todate. In 1978 she was elected toWoodspring District Council. She has aninterest in a number of councilsincluding Yatton, Kenn, KingstonSeymour and Cleeve as part of her workfor the District Council. In 1992 despitebeing independent she was electedchairman of the District Council.

The inhabitants of Yatton were proud ofhow her hard work had been recognised.Greta continues to serve on NorthSomerset District Council. She is also aGovernor of Yatton Junior School.

Greta has innumerable interests allof which benefit greatly from herenthusiasm and thoughtfully usedalthough limited time.

Greta was instrumental in setting up theafter-church club for teenagers in the1960’s (Church Life) and also had the ideaof forming the Young Wives group.

The Durban Trust which gives smalleducational grants to ex pupils of theinfants school has her as trustee. ChurchHouse benefited particularly from herinterest and that of Ann Batson. Itssuccessful refurbishment by theKnightstone Housing Association waslargely due to the efforts of the trusteesafter a long struggle to secure asatisfactory solution. The last stepwhich will shortly be accomplished isthe winding up of the Florence StallingTrust. Florence Stalling left Church Housefor the benefit of the poor in 1620 and it ispossible the small amount of money leftwill be used to commemorate this gift in alasting way.

Much of Greta’s work has benefited thewider population of North Somerset.

For some years she was a non executivedirector of Weston Area Health Trust andalso a member and chair of the WestonCommunity Health Council (CHC) andthe South West Home Safety Council.

Greta is immensely proud of theachievements of the Junior Lifeskillscourses which were run at RAF Lockingby the emergency agencies and theCouncil. Each year they allowed 300 localschoolchildren to have hands onexperience of common hazards in thehome and elsewhere, from escaping froma smoke filled house to what to do ifapproached by a stranger in the park.

Greta is decreasing the span of her interestsbut has hopes of many of her roles being


41

Bob Cox

taken by those she hasencouraged to help and who havethe energy she has exhibited.

At present she is preparing her final reportas chair for the North Somerset CitizensAdvice Bureau. She has been associatedwith CAB since 1976. For several years shewas a member of the National Council anda founder Trustee of the ‘Friends ofNACAB’. This latter organisation wasformed following a suggestion by PrincessAnne. It included such notables as GeorgeThomas, the Speaker of the House.Receptions hosted by Princess Anne atBuckingham Palace, the Mansion House,No.10 Downing Street, the Guildhalland other important locations ensured thatfunding was supported by industry andlarge commercial organisations as well ascouncil grants. Greta used to go toLondon up to three times a week,leaving Yatton at six in the morningand returning just before midnight.She chaired the Wessex group whichcovered an area which stretched toPoole.

The CAB has expanded to includepaid management and professional staff aswell as highly trained volunteers providingadvice. North Somerset Bureau hassecured a Legal Aid franchise for debt andwelfare benefits. The local CAB hasbranches in Weston, Clevedon, Portisheadand Nailsea. Some mental health work isdone by a mental health liaison worker atWeston Hospital. The majority ofenquiries relate to welfare benefits, debts,employment and housing. Last year theCAB dealt with over 22,000 enquiries fromall across North Somerset.

Bob Cox,

Yatton Parish CouncilChairman 1987 - 1991

Percy Robert Cox (known as Bob) was awell known figure in Yatton for nearlyfifty years.

Bob Cox who was born in 1922 camefrom a farming family in Hewish.During the Second World War he was inthe RAF. After the war he married JoyceSmith, who was a daughter ofHorsecastle blacksmith Walter SidneySmith and his wife, Elsie. Joyce hadseven brothers and three sisters. Two ofJoyce’s sisters, Grace Threasher and MaryLangson still live in Yatton.


42

After their marriage Bob and Joycemoved into a new house in Henley Park.The house remained in thefamily until Joyce died in March 1999.

Bob’s first job was working on the oldKingston sea wall, and later keeching therhynes and lifting the hatches for theNorth Somerset Drainage Board.

At Frost Hill and along the old railwayline Bob was a small holder with pigs,sheep and cattle mostly for homeconsumption. He was involved withHewish Harvest Home, for which hecarved the meat during the meal. Healso walked puppies for the Clifton FootHarriers based at Wemberham and gavea home to retired greyhounds.

Bob was parish council chairman from1987 to 1991. Previously he had been acouncillor since 1967 and vice chairmanin 1973 and from 1976 until 1987. As acouncil chairman he was known to bejust and fair. He stuck to his principlesallowing others theirs. At meetings hewas valued for his ability to allow acomprehensive debate and appropriatedecision within the allotted time forcouncil meetings, ending voting with aresounding ‘The ayes have it!’

With planning applications he took painsto visit the sites and obtainrelevant additional information.Of particular interest to him wereplaying fields, Hangstones Pavilion andthe youth club at Rock Road.The third pavilion at Rock Road wasopened while he was chair in 1991.

He was on Long Ashton Rural DistrictCouncil before it was disbanded tomake way for Woodspring in 1974 andhe served on the housing committee.

For 20 years he was a trustee and forthe last twelve years chairman of YattonCharities and the John Lane Trusts,which gain income from tenantedagricultural land in Claverham,Dolemoor and Kingston. In his time thetwo groups of trustees wereencouraged to ’walk’ the groundswith him. As chairman of theparish council he encouragedcouncillors to walk the footpaths andboth types of visit ended with a drink ina pub. He was also a trustee ofthe Durban Trust which gives smalleducational grants.

Bob was well known for his hospitality,often including his own home cookedham. When he was council chairman hehosted a ‘Christmas thank you’ at theDecember council meeting forcouncillors as well as any membersof the public present.

Bob died in 1994 aged 72 years andfollowing his wishes his ashes werescattered in the Home Field at Ham Farmin the rhyne.

This information was obtained fromMary Langson and Grace Threasher.


43

a tannery, until it closed in the late 60’s.For a few years he worked in Bristol.

Court de Wyck closed and reopened aspart of Imperial Tobacco, experimentinginto synthetic material for cigarettes for ashort time. Imperial Tobacco reopened itagain recycling waste tobacco, which failedcommercially because of revised duty.Eventually Court de Wyck was again

refurbished and in 1982 became anengineering research anddevelopment centre, which was partof Fairey Hydraulics from Heston,Middlesex. Ralph worked in theprinting department. He still worksfor Claverham Ltd (formerly FHL) inClaverham. The company designscontrol systems for aviation, rail andmilitary purposes. By the year 2000 itexpects to employ 450 people, a highproportion of whom live locally.

Ralph joined the council in 1984. Hewas co-opted at a by-election forHorsecastle. This was shortly afterYatton and Claverham were wardedinto Claverham, Horsecastle, YattonNorth and Yatton South. Prior to thatit was common that there was no-oneto represent Claverham on thecouncil.

Interestingly the ward boundary is atHollowmead but the ecclesiasticalvillage boundary is near Top Scaur.

This is why Claverham Cricket Clubincludes Yatton. Do the gate hangers inthe wall near Westaway Park have anysignificance?

When Ralph was chairman, the custom ofallowing the public to speak at

Ralph James,

Yatton Parish Council Chairman1991 - 1996

Ralph James was born in Claverham in1944 and lived in Broadcroft Avenue.In 1970 he moved to Anvil Close whichis shaped like an anvil and is near thebuilding (now a shop) which had beenArchie Mapstone’s forge.

After going to school in Yatton andWeston-super-Mare he went intoprinting and worked at AvalonFurniture in Yatton until it closed itsprinting department. Then he startedwork at Court de Wyck while it was still

Ralph James


44

sub-committee meetings began, as thisallowed the full council to make betterinformed decisions about street lighting,for example.

While he was a finance committeemember Claverham play area was set up.Later on this was refurbished and whenthe warden-controlled bungalowswere built he was chairman of theplaying fields committee.

Claverham now has a village hall whichit has been without since St BarnabasChurch Hall, which was an old WorldWar One hut, failed its fire safety licencein the mid-eighties. This new hall isbeing partly funded by the NationalLottery Fund. The ClaverhamResidents Association set up a workingparty which undertook a village surveyto find out what was required andClaverham Ltd agreed to provide a sitefor the hall which is due to open thisyear.

Because of the efforts which Ralphand others put in early on to raise themoney locally, it is clear that the Fundadministrators were impressed.

Notable amongst these was MauricePalmer selling firewood, running asweepstake, whist drives and a villageskittles league.

It is interesting to note that FranklinsWay and Anvil Road were built onallotments, the sale of which raisedmoney for the council. Dunsters Roadwas a self-build area. Ralph waschairman when Yatton celebrated the100th anniversary of the council. ArnoldWay was named, breaking withestablished custom, after a person – thevery first Council chairman Rev WArnold, vicar of Yatton (see page 37).

Ralph saw the setting up of theshadow North Somerset Council whicheventually replaced this area of theformer Avon county and has an emblemfor each council on its chain of chairs.

Considering the boundary changeswhich occurred in Cadbury Farm Road itis interesting that Yatton andCongresbury Parish Councils playskittles each year for a trophy in theshape of a boundary stone. Congresburyoften win.


45

Swimming Pool Fund Raising

The response from parents, to thepaper collection was very good.Every Friday morning when we tookour children to school we picked upbundles of newspapers from the bicycleshed and carried them over the road tothe School House. The waste paperfirm had stipulated that the papersmust be tied in bundles and eachbundle to be a specified weight. So weused to meet some afternoons at 2pmand bundle and weigh the paper with abalance scale, lent by Jean, then tieeach bundle with string. This wasquite hard work and the bundles werethen stacked as high as we could reachand my husband, Ken, would go downin the evening and stack them to theceiling to make more room.

It didn’t take too long before we had aroom full. The paper was taken awayby the firm’s lorry, and a cheque sent tothe school.

I cannot remember how many loads wesent but it came to a halt when a newCaretaker was appointed who neededaccommodation and moved into thehouse.

At least we felt we had contributed alittle more cash towards desperatelyneeded money for the swimming poolfund.

Ruth Summerell

Further to the article on Yatton Schools’Swimming Pool in More YattonYesterdays No 3, one of the ways weraised money was to collect waste paper.At that time, I was Clerk to thegovernors of Yatton Infant School andfrequently in school. Everyone wastrying to think of ways to increase thepool fund and one day Miss Gumbleton,the Head Teacher, showed me an advertin a “School Publication”. It was from afirm on the East Coast asking to buywaste paper. This was, of course, longbefore the organised collections we nowhave and, apart from paper collectionsduring the war, was something new.

Miss Gumbleton and I discussed thepossibilities, I offered to organise thecollection and she sent a letter toparents asking them to leave theirnewspapers and magazines at theHigh Street School on Friday mornings.

The first problem was where to store allthe expected newspapers. The oldHeadmaster’s house next to the ChurchRoad School was empty. It had beenvacated by the Junior School HeadTeacher Mr. Burgess and his wife whenthey moved into their own house. Thiswas an ideal location. I asked severalpeople if they could help and they weremost willing – they were BerylBradbury, Jean Garland, VivienneManley and two others.


This article was written by Mr. BertWarren a few weeks before his 100thBirthday; sadly he passed away soon after reaching his century. We would be pleasedto receive any further information on the tannery and people who worked there.

Ruth Summerell

46

The Tannery at Court de WyckIn 1918 Mr. Millward and his twosons Frank and Leslie came downfrom Northampton to Claverhamand opened up what was then called“The Court de Wyck Tannery”. Istarted work there in 1921 andstayed on for 22 years.

During 1927 there was a terrible fireat the tannery. I was living inHewish at the time. I remembercycling to work that morning and onarriving at the turning to Claverhamfrom the main road I could seeclouds of black smoke. Within halfan hour the whole building wasgutted. Later it was rebuilt.

Bert Warren

Additions, Revisions and Feedback

We always welcome any feedback from articles which have appeared in previouspublications.

More Yatton Yesterdays, No. 3 1998 Page 40, paragraph 4.It was the father of the Misses Tutt who kept the grocery shop next to their dressshop, not their brother.

(Information from Kathleen Cawston).

Part of the Tannery after the fire


47

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