St John Street
Number 2 - The Court House
No. 1 St John Street
No. 1A St John Street
No. 3 St John Street
No. 5 St John Street
No. 7 St John Street
No. 9 St John Street
No. 11 St John Street
No. 13 St John Street
No. 15 St John Street
No. 17 St John Street
No. 19 St John Street
No. 21 St John Street
No. 23 St John Street
No. 2 St John Street
No. 4 St John Street
No. 6 St John Street
No. 8 St John Street
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. The 1840 Tithe Survey shows the building as part of the property owned by the Board of Guardians of the Thornbury Union. It was part of a block of buildings used by the old Corporation of Thornbury for community use. We know that parts of these buildings once accommodated a school, the workhouse, the police station and almshouses.
It is interesting to note that we have found no reference yet to the building actually being used as a 'court house' although it is very likely that it was associated with its use by the Corporation. The name, 'The Court House', does not appear in any of the records until the house was taken over by the Trayhurn family in the 1900's.
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 Workhouse - we don't know much about the earlier workhouse before it was moved to the new building in Gloucester Road about 1840. A questionnaire completed by the Thornbury Union to a Royal Commission in 1832 asked about the numbers, age and sex of the inmates in the Workhouse. The Union reported that there were nine women and seven men (mostly aged), and fourteen boys and fifteen girls (mostly young). Another 156 individuals were provided with 'outdoor relief'.
We have a copy of an indenture dated 1739 which refers to two purchases of adjoining messuages and adjoining garden and orchards in St Mary Street 'for the erection of a workhouse for the reception and setting on work the poor of the parish'. One messuage was bought for £41 from Esther and Thomas Browne of Wheatenhurst. The second cost £90. A group of overseers, churchwardens and the Corporation of the Poor were involved. These were: Thomas Linke of Oldbury gentleman, Robert Marsh of Thornbury tallow chandler Edward Parnell of Kington gentleman and William Bartlett of Moorton yeoman. The total cost of the properties came to £131, but only £11 of this was funded by the inhabitants of Thornbury through the poor rate. The rest had to be borrowed from the trustees of the personal estate of Jane Russell. Obviously we can't be sure that this 1739 reference applies to the same building that was used up to 1840.
Abraham Cole - on 4th December 1840 the Guardians sold the property to Abraham Cole. He paid £425. The property was described as being 'All that large house lately used as a Workhouse with outhouse yard and garden adjoining'. We feel it likely therefore that the Court House was indeed part of the old Workhouse building, possibly used in some way in conjunction with the old building which later became known as the Malthouse and in the 1960's used as a garage by Thornbury Motors (see plan above).
Even before 1840 Abraham was already living in Thornbury was in business as a maltster. The 1840 Tithe Survey shows he used a Malthouse on the western side of St Mary Street and part of the property which later became known as The Royal George.
The 1841 census shows Abraham was a maltster living in St John Street with his wife, Elizabeth and their children. The 1851 census shows he was a maltster employing two men and that Elizabeth was aged 38 and born in Tytherington. He continued to live and trade from the property in St John Street and he appears to have made full use of the buildings he acquired. The 1859 Rate Book shows that Abraham owned a 'Brewery' in St John Street (which we assume to be somewhere on the site he had acquired in 1840. The Brewery was being occupied in 1859 by John Shepherd.
In 1859 Abraham took over two other adjoining plots, one used as a beerhouse (which later became known as The Plough) and the other as butchers shop and house on the corner of St Mary Street and St John Street.
Click here to read more about Abraham and his family
Abraham died in 1883. It took a long time before Abraham Cole's trustees disposed of his property. On 14th and 15th June 1910 the Trustees put up his property for sale at auction. There were 16 separate lots to be disposed of. Lot 13 related to The Court House and the adjoining Malthouse. It was described to 'All that Freehold Block of Buildings with frontages to St Mary Street and St John Street. Part of the buildings were formerly used for Malting purposes and are now warehouses. (we believe this refers to the buildings which were later used by Thornbury Motor Company). The accommodation includes '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 warm productive garden'. (This part we believe refers to the Court House and its outbuildings).
Henry W J Carter - the 1885 Rate Book shows that Henry occupied The Court House renting it from the Trustees of the late Abraham Cole. We are not sure where he is in the 1890 Rate Book as he is listed in both The Court House and The Georgian House. In the 1891 Census describes him as living in one of these properties (we are still not sure which) as a timber merchant. Click here to read more
George Hughes - the 1894 Rate Book shows that George was now renting the property from the Trustees. The 1899 Kelly's Trade Directory confirms this by giving George's address as 'Court House, St John Street'. The 1901 census shows George was a carriage proprietor. He was still living there according to the 1905 Rate Book. He died in 1906. Click here to read more about George
The 1907 Rate Book shows the property was unoccupied.
The Trayhurns - on 28th September 1910 Elizabeth Trayhurn and two of her sons, Henry Trayhurn and Albert Edward Trayhurn, bought The Court House and the Malthouse now used as warehouses. At the time of the purchase, Elizabeth was shown as being the occupant of the premises or her under-tenants, and the warehouses were occupied by Edwin William Savery and Francis Williams. The Trayhurns also bought the adjoining butchers shop, house, and premises which Elizabeth had been occupying since about 1891. They paid £1050 for all the property.
The Court House continued in the ownership of the Trayhurn family until 1976. On 16th December 1976 the Trayhurn Brothers sold all its property adjoining St John Street and St Mary Street to Northavon District Council for £43,500. This included the butcher's shop, the slaughterhouse, the Court House and garage. At the time of the sale the Court House was occupied by Phillip Dagger at a weekly rent of £8. Click here to read more about the Trayhurns
The buildings were finally demolished in 1982 and replaced by the Quaker Court elderly persons dwelling.
Click here to read more about the families who occupied the property.
This page was last updated: 15/11/2011