Rock Street

Numbers 10 - 20

In the photo on the left, the double doors on the left provide access to the yard and rear of a shop fronting St Mary Street which is well remembered as Harry Salisbury's, the butchers.  Going down the street from these doors are three cottages which became known as numbers 20, 18 and 16 Rock Street.  Next comes the old brewery building comprising a garage/store used by Dearings, (who ran the shoe shop on The Plain) and a house (number 14 Rock Street), then two more cottages (numbers 12 & 10 Rock Street).  Below these cottages is a long wall of a garden which is where the Telephone Exchange was built about 1936.

We don't know when these houses were built.  Most were there at the time of the 1840 Tithe Survey, although there seems to be a yard or similar where number 12 stood and this was part of number 10.  

The Rate Books (1876 - 1910) show that the 3 houses numbered 10 - 14 were owned by John Stevens until 1885 when Austin Honeyborne was shown as the owner.  Following his death in 1899, Austin's wife, Maria Honeyborne became the owner.   The three houses numbered 16 - 20 were owned by Frances Hall.  Click here to read more about the background of the Stevens and Honeyborne connection

The Longden family who lived in number 14 in the 1900's thought that their house was built on the site of an old burial ground, presumably the one that was there before the present United Reformed Church was built.

The houses were demolished in the mid 1960's as part of the town's re-development.  St Mary's cark park has now replaced the houses.   

This page was last updated: 16/11/2008