Gillingstool Hill & Horseshoe Lane

Thornbury

The houses covered by this section of the website were in Horseshoe Lane which was between St Mary Street and Pullins Green and that part of Gillingstool which was once known as Gillingstool Hill which ran from its junction with Horseshoe Lane to the Council School (now called Gillingstool School).

The photograph on the left below was taken in 1971 showing Horseshoe Lane from St Mary Street.  The house in the far distance is number 25 Pullins Green, which used to be Wall's shop.  The photograph on the right below was taken in 2008.  The supermarket in the distance was the old Safeway supermarket which became Morrisons and then Somerfield.  The photograph shows it in the process of being re-furbished for use by Aldi.

In researching the history of the area we have also faced the usual problem of house numbering.  The house numbering system was not introduced until about 1953 and we do not have a plan showing the numbers of all the houses. 

The 1840 Tithe Map is the most complete, although it does not have house numbers.  It includes all the houses except Jubilee House on Gillingstool Hill and The Cottage on the corner of Horseshoe Lane and Gillingstool.  House numbers are shown on the 1968 map prepared for the re-development of the area, but this map doesn't include the four houses in Horseshoe Lane (numbers 13 - 19).

All these houses were demolished for the town's re-development in the 1960's and replaced by the Safeway supermarket complex and the Rock Street car park.

The name 'Gillingstool' or Gillingstoole' appears in very early records of Thornbury.  Although there are several different theories, the origin of the name is uncertain.  Various old documents make reference to there being a pond at Gillingstool there and that Gillingstool was a 'watering place'.  The 1841 census route description refers to 'Duckingstool commonly called Gillingstool' which suggests a possible origin.

We believe that the little hill, we now know as 'Gillingstool Hill', was once called 'Burgage Hill'.  Several records refer to Burgage Hill as leading from St John Street to Gillingstool.

We feel that the most likely origin of the name of Horseshoe Lane is that it must derive from a blacksmith's workshop.  The earliest reference we have seen to a Horseshoe Inn in Thornbury was in the Quarter Sessions list of licenced premises in 1755.  Further references to this inn were made in the Overseers of Thornbury returns which show Robert Pountey at the Horseshoe in 1770 and Rich Williams in 1774.  These references do not mention the exact location of the Horseshoe Inn.  It seems likely that the inn would be in Horseshoe Lane, possibly at a different location from the Horseshoe Inn which traded on the corner of St Mary Street and Horseshoe Lane from about 1861.

We will be adding pages relating to each of the houses in this area as we do them.  Click on each link to access the history of individual houses in each street.  Please contact us if you have any knowledge about the houses or the people who lived in them.  

This page was last updated: 11/05/2008