St John Street

Number 5

The present owners of this house tell us they have seen the deeds of the house which mention that it was once a farmhouse surrounded by orchard and garden land.  We haven't seen this document but there is plenty of other evidence to suggest  that number 5 is one of the oldest buildings in the street. 

We have a copy of an indenture dated 1767 relating to the must mill and tofts situated on the land now occupied by The Georgian House and numbers 1A, 1 and 3 St John Street.  We believe that the document refers to the building now called number 5 St John Street as the 'messuage or tenement wherein Joseph Wilkins wheelwright doth now inhabit with the workshops, Backside Garden and orchard thereunto belonging situate and being in a street called St John Street'. 

The deeds of number 5 contain a reference to the property that was 'a part and parcel of an ancient enclosed garden situate in part behind and adjoining to a must mill stable and premises formerly in the occupation of William Fisher and afterwards of Isaac Roberts'. 

There is some physical evidence suggesting that the original house was on this site before the Must Mill which adjoined it on the westward side.  There is a window on the westward side which is now bricked up but it would have looked out on to the land where the must mill was.  However this could also be explained by the fact that the Must Mill may have been a single storey building and the window may have looked out over the Must Mill roof.  The other interesting feature about the house is that it has a cellar.  We understand that none of the other houses in St John's Street has a cellar (with the exception of The Georgian House).  

The deeds show that the property was sold by George Rolph to James Ford in January 1824. 

An indenture dated 1839, which also relates to the property now know as The Georgian House, states that it is 'abutting Eastward on a building of the said James Ford formerly used as a flax shop but now converted into  a stable'.  The 1840 Tithe Map  confirms that the property at that time was owned and occupied by James Ford.

In 1849 it was bought by John Hodges, we believe, from James Ford.  On November 15 1873, John Hodges "agreed to convey settle and assume the messuage garden and hereditaments" for the use of his son, George Hodges, providing George paid an annual rent of £8.00 to his father and his ex sister in law, Martha Greenham (the widow of his brother, James, and now married to James Hobb Greenham). We have learned about John and George Hodges as this family were responsible for building several houses in the area and owned quite a few others.   click here to read more about the Hodges family.

In the 19th century many records refer to the house as number 3 St John Street until official street numbering was introduced about 1953 when it became number 5.

Click here to read about the various occupiers of 5 St John Street.

This page was last updated: 29/03/2008