St John Street

Number 2 - The Court House

The house once known as number 2 St John Street has long since gone, having been demolished in 1982 to make way for Quaker Court sheltered housing. 

It was accessed from St John street down a lane running between the rear access to the Plough Inn and Trayhurn's slaughterhouse in St John Street.  The building backed directly onto the garage built by Edmund Cullimore in St Mary Street, but as far as we know there was no direct access to St Mary Street.

 We don't have a full history of the building, but we know that the building was very old.  It was part of the buildings used by the old Corporation of Thornbury for community use.  Other buildings in the neighbourhood once accommodated a school, the workhouse (before it was moved to the new building in Gloucester Road about 1840), the police station and almshouses. 

Local historian, Tom Crowe did a brief survey of the building before it was demolished.  Click here to read the details of his notes.

The 1840 Tithe survey shows the building as part of the property owned by the Board of Guardians of the Thornbury Union.  It is not possible to identify when the property began to be used as a house.   We know from the particulars of a sale of the property of Abraham Cole which took place in 1910 that he seemed to acquire the property in 1882.  Abraham may have been living there at the time as he is listed in a, as yet unidentified, property in St John Street in the 1881 census. 

The earliest reference we have found so far which shows that someone is living in the building is the 1894 Rate Book which lists George Hughes occupying a house and garden in St John Street owned by the Trustees of the late Abraham Cole.  The 1899 Kelly's Trade Directory gives George's address as 'Court House, St John Street'.  The sale notice which took place in 1910 shows that Elizabeth Trayhurn was occupying the house as a tenant.  The house was described as comprising 'four bedrooms, box room, landing, two lofty front rooms, kitchen, pump and cistern.  There were two large store rooms on the base with five good-sized lofts over.  The outbuildings comprised two stall stable, two loose boxes, harness room, cart shed, hay and straw shed and stone-built shed formerly used as malt-kiln together with a productive garden'.  We don't know who bought the property at this time, perhaps it was the Trayhurns.  From that time onwards we have a pretty good idea of who lived there from electoral registers, school and church records.

Click here to read more about the families who occupied the property. 

 This page was last updated: 18/03/2010