Gillingstool Cottage

Gillingstool

In the photograph above, Gillingstool Cottage is the house on the right of the two houses in the distance.  The roof of the Council School can just be seen to the left of Jubilee House.  'Walls' sweet shop is the house on the left of the photo.

Gillingstool Cottage was one of the oldest in this part of Gillingstool.  It appears on the 1840 Tithe Map when it was described as a 'house and garden' owned by Thomas Wise.  The typed transcript we have seen refers to the occupant as John Marshman, but we believe that this is likely to have been a misreading of the name John Maishment who was living in the house in the 1841 census.   The 1841 Tithe Map shows the house had a large garden, but in the 1880's a large part of this garden was used to build another house which became known as 'Jubilee House' and to provide it with a garden. 

We know from the 1876 Rate Book that ownership of the house passed to Hannah Dyer, presumably through her mother Elizabeth Dyer who had died in 1870.  When Hannah died in 1885, she left her estate to Laura Symes, the wife of Bernard Symes.   We haven't been able to establish the relationship between Hannah and Laura.  Bernard and Laura had been living with Hannah for several years.  The 1910 Rate Book shows that Laura's son, George Bernard Symes had become the owner.

On the 1968 Re-development  Map, it is the house directly opposite the Baptist Church, next to Jubilee House.

Click here to read about the occupants of the house

This page was last updated: 15/12/2009