Pullins Green

The Pullens of Pullins Green

We have heard it suggested that Pullins Green was named after a family who lived.  This theory has been challenged on the basis that the family who lived there were called Pullen, spelt with an E not an I.   It is fascinating to find that although the family in the 20th century spelt their name with an 'E', it was spelt with an 'I' in the 1800's.   Apparently when this change was discovered during the 1900's the male members of the family changed the spelling of their names by deed poll to Pullin.

In spite of finding that the family did have same name as the Green, we are unable to confirm that the street was named after them.  Our earliest record of the area being called Pullins Green was back in 1861, long before the family is known to have had any association with the place.  There was however a Jabez Pullin living in nearby Horseshoe Lane in 1851 - Jabez was a scripture reader born in London, so it is possible it was named after him.  We are still looking for some more information!

James and Eliza Pullen
The 1890 Rate Book and the 1891 census shows James and Eliza Ann Pullen living in the house now known as number 23 Pullins Green.   James came from Cromhall, born in 1863, the son of William and Hannah Pullin.  William was an agricultural labourer from Townwell in Cromhall.  Initially James seems to have followed his father in his occupation as the 1881 census shows that James was a farm servant in Stidcott Lane Farm, Tytherington working for Ann Verender. 

By 1891 James had changed his career and had become a grocer.  He was aged 28.  Eliza Ann was aged 32 born in Itchington.  They had two children: Edith Mary D. aged 4, and Thomas Slade aged 1 month.

A newspaper article of November 24th 1894 in The Bristol Mercury suggests that this attempt to make a new life ended badly.  Messrs Luce Young and Luce advertised an auction of the household effects, stock in trade and horses and harness of James Pullin, grocer of John Street.  Sadly the sale was at the request of the Official Receiver so it would seem that the couple and their young children were facing difficult times.  On 29th November 1894 there was a report of the details of James's bankruptcy.  His liabilities were £898 15s 8d and the deficiency was shown as £268 7s 8d.  The Official Receiver said 'The debtor started as a family grocer and provision dealer at Thornbury, without capital, next years ago.  The causes of his insolvency are stated to be sickness of wife and family, bad trade and bad debts.  He alleges that he first became aware that he had not sufficient property to pay all his debts in full about three weeks ago; but he, of course, ought to have known of this earlier, looking at the amount of his deficiency, and could have known if he had kept proper books of account'.     James was under notice to quit his premises.  A creditor stated that James had told him two years previous that he could not pay all his debts if pressed.  The Receiver thought James was honest and hard-working and ought to have stopped two years previously.

By the 1901  census James and Eliza were living in the house which later became known as 'The Cottage' 1 Horseshoe Lane.  James had changed his job again and was a gardener (not domestic) aged 38 and his wife was Eliza Ann aged 42.  They had four children: Edith M. A. aged 14, Nellie E, a domestic nurse aged 13, Lillian S aged 7, and Herbert G aged 4.  It would seem that young Thomas, the baby in the previous census had not survived. The records show that the death of a Thomas Pullin was registered in the December quarter of 1891.

They seemed to have move again as when their son, Herbert started school, the family's address was Sawmill Lane. 

James died in 1904 aged 41 years.  Eliza Ann then lived with her children, first with Herbert and his wife at 8 Pullins Green and then with her daughter, Edith Ann Carver and her son Leslie Carver and his wife, Bertha who lived at 9 St John Street.  The Carvers later moved to 9 Pullins Green.

Herbert George and Jessie Pullen
Herbert George Pullen was born in March 1897, the son of James and Eliza Ann Pullen.  He started at Council Upper School in 1904 when the family were living at Sawmill Lane.  He left school in 1910.

Herbert started working for English's bakery in St John Street.  His job was delivering bread with a horse and cart.  Whilst making a delivery to Wickwar, Herbert met Jessie who was 'in service' there.    Jessie was born in Tytherington in 1900, the daughter of Edwin and Elizabeth Wheeler.  The 1901 census shows us that Edwin was a stone quarryman aged 25 and born in Winterbourne.  Elizabeth was a dressmaker aged 33 from Tytherington.  They had two children: Edith M Davis aged 8 and Jessie Wheeler aged 1. 

We understand that Jessie's father had liberal views and he lost his job and was thrown out of the tied cottage for advocating those views.  The family moved to Thornbury where they rented a house from the Grace family. 

When Herbert and Jessie married they lived at the cottage now known as 8 Pullins Green.  We are not sure when they married or when they moved to Pullins Green.  We are told that they were very young when they married (16/17).  It seems that they were living in Pullins Green in 1921 where Nellie was born and where the next three children, Edwin Herbert James, Christine Lillian and Jean, were born.  The house had only 2 rooms and was too small for their growing family, so about 1927 they moved to bigger house at 1 Eastland Avenue.  They moved back to Pullins Green about 1930, this time to 5 Pullins Green where their fifth child, David Wheeler was born in 1933.  The Pullens adopted the name of 'Ivanhoe' for the house.

Herbert left English's to work at Dearings shoe shop on The Plain.  His job was delivering shoes along with Hubert Spill who also lived in Pullins Green.  

During the war he moved to work for Thornbury Rural District Council and became a rent collector.   He worked for the local council and to get the job he had to submit his birth certificate on which he found to his surprise that his name was not Pullen but Pullin, with the same spelling as  the Green.  The two sons had to re register their names but the daughters had married and did not need to.

We understand that Herbert acquired number 1 Crispin Lane which was derelict.  He had it knocked down to create a rear access to his house.  We heard that he may have hoped to build a bungalow on the plot, but couldn't get planning permission.  When Herbert sold number 5 to Rowe’s the vets who were operating from number 3, Rowe's used this area to provide access to a car park for the vet and then presumably sold number 5.

Herbert and Jessie continued to live in number 5 until the 1970's, then moved to a bungalow in Woodleigh where Herbert George died in October 1977 aged 80.   Jessie Elizabeth Pullin died in February 1981 aged 81.

Their five children are shown in photo on the right which was taken in the 1960's - right to left David, Jean, Nellie, Christie and Edwin :

Nellie was training to be a nurse at Thornbury Hospital, but she had to give up when she married Raymond Sherman.  Ray worked for Parnalls at Yate and later at Wick.  They had one daughter, Elizabeth Mary born in 1942 and a son, Dennis born in 1948.  Nellie has now returned to Thornbury.

Jean married Len Taylor from Gillingstool.

Christine married an Alveston man called Tymms.

Edwin married Marjorie and moved to Tytherington where he worked as an electrical contractor.  When he retired he and Marjorie moved to Kewstoke.  They had three children, Roger, Keith and Ruth.

David worked in the quarry and married a Sylvia Vizard, the daughter of Frederick Ernest Vizard and his wife, May Sophia.  In 1961 and 1964 electoral registers they are listed as living in 10 Bath Road.  Click here to read more about the Vizards

This page was last updated: 12/04/2010