Broseley Local
History Society |
BROSELEY
LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY incorporating The
Wilkinson Society. MEMORY
MEETING No. 6 6.
02. 2002. KING
STREET. JR
Let's start from Cape Street then, where the old Cape of Good Hope was NM
The fish and chip shop was in Elizabeth Crescent JR
Let's start from the Barratt's Hill end JO
Just in Cape Fold there was Teague's fish and chip shop - the shed's still there EP
My friend lived at what had been The Cape, we used to go down in the cellar.
There were neighbouring houses, on Cape Fold. Mrs Burns had a fish and chip
shop, another one. Opposite was Hill's paint shop, they were plumbers too. Then
there was Padman's Alley on the other side of the road. Where the green is now
was a little cottage where Mr Evans the chimney sweep lived, then the Braziers,
the Molyneux and the Miss Burnetts. The Burnt House was said to have been a pub.
They used to give us sweets, but we were not allowed to eat them. Annie Lloyd
lived on the left, with her cats. JO
Cecil Harrison was a plumber, followed by the Hills. Cis Hill did major painting
work, for churches for example, and also used to make stained glass windows,
extruding the lead glazing bars himself. VF
Annie Lloyd had a lovely soprano voice. She got annoyed with her cat when it
wouldn't come when she called it. She said "Oh bollocks" and the cat
came! Ever after that she called "Come here bollocks" and it used to
come. BDS
Padman House is next to Padman's Alley, where Alan Jones lives now. Broadhursts
lived there. Annie Lloyd's was claimed to be the oldest house in Broseley. JO
John Broadhurst was Lord Forester's agent. Towper Aston's family lived in
cottages at the bottom of Padmads Alley, where it joins Barratts Hill. He was
just an odd job man, but a very loyal supporter of our school football team,
which I was in and which Charlie Ashby trained. When we played Bridgnorth Boys
Jim Oakley took us to their Love Lane ground in his Chevrolet lorry, but Towper
and his wife, with the kids in a Dunkley, an old type of pram, walked there from
Broseley to cheer us on. We beat Bridgnorth, and when we arrived home Broseley
turned out to greet us ! EP
Next door to Annie Lloyd's house were the old stables, attached to the house.
Annie, her sister Maud and their parents lived there with relatives. Annie told
me that when she and Maud were children they would lie in bed at night and
listen to the horses stamping in the stables. She was quite a character, very
talented, played the piano, was a marvellous dressmaker and keen on amateur
dramatics. She was my godmother. They used to own properties by you, Vera. VF
Yes, they owned our house and two more in Hockley Road. BDS
Annie's was a truck house NM
A glazier used to be there DC
The Burnt House was derelict for years, then it was bought and done up by
Frankie or Lennie Lowe. JO
Frank Lowe or his son Len. They were property dealers and restorers - they had
the corner shop on the right at the bottom of Hockley Road. In the part of the
Burnt House just in Queen Street the Goodhalls lived for quite a while - Les
Goodhall, known as Barney, and his sister Mary, known as Polly. The part in Cape
Street was a shop run by Darren Bullock. Len Morris of New Road is the expert
here. JR
When was it burnt ? EP
That was before our time JR
Can anyone explain the numbering in King Street ? DDS
No - not even Einstein ?! VF
The houses were numbered in the sequence in which they were built JO
King Street started from Ferny Bank and was numbered from that end to Cape
Street. Then they extended it from Ferny Bank round into Elizabeth Crescent and
added more numbers there. EP
On Jack Owen's car park there was a row of 4 houses called Benthall View - known
by the locals as 'back of The Prince", and also a house facing King Street
occupied by Mr and Mrs W. Wood. JR
Where was The Prince of Wales ? DC
It was 45 King Street - there was Capacity Engineering, then the car park, then
the Prince of Wales. Mr and Mrs Scott and their daughter Dorothy were there
before the war, and until they died. Mr Scott was a bookkeeper at Maw's. EP
Mrs Farlow lived in the Kenyon's house, next to the bakery Pauline?
There was always a cat in the window with the cakes JR
Where was the bakery ? DC
At Jack's end of our house, right on the road JR
When did Capacity start ? JO
I took it over in 1964. It was started by John Smithemans, my friend's father.
My friend used to wait for me after school and we'd go to his house. It might
have been partly clay pipe making at one time. There were the three Smitheman
sons, and Teddy Instone, who married Effie Garbett. He invented a spring frame
for motorbikes, using a leaf spring. Teddy cut out the leaf spring and fastened
it to a motorbike frame, extending it to carry the axle. I used to see him on
this Norton, testing it out. He left a notebook in the works with a sketch of
it, and with many references to Effie. I know that Capacity Engineering were
doing war work in World War I. NM
How many Broseley men went to war? My husband was a tail gunner until the doctor
certified that he got airsick JO
Eddie Garbett was Effie's brother, and was a Poor Law official. I asked him if
he wanted the notebook for Teddy, who had gone to work for Bristol Engines EP
Mr Snow's grocery was opposite Annie Lloyd's, and Mr Eric Lloyd had the Capacity
Engineering Works in 1932. Mr and Mrs Lloyd were friends of my parents. ?
Where were you born, Elsie? EP
At number 48, nearest to the new house, I lived there for many years. There were
two cottages where the new house is now, then a yard, then two cottages sideways
on to Orchard House, facing Capacity. When they were demolished a well was found
inside. Perhaps they had been stables originally. FS
Was there a forge there, a little low building ? EP
Bill Thomas's shed? VF
The place opposite Kiln Cottage was another shed belonging to the Thomas
brothers. JR
Who was at Orchard House? EP
Mrs James Davies, then Mr and Mrs Horne. She had been Miss Burton from Burton's
in Bridgnorth, and she ran the tennis club. Then there was Miss Wiggin, another
character. She stopped me in the street one day and said 'Tm selling some of my
Coalport and would like you to have some." MS
Her brother was a bit odd EP
Her mother was headmistress at Legges Hill
School. My granny's brother used to garden for her, where Jean Jones now lives,
between Orchard House and the pipe works. Then there was the barber Mr Langford,
then the old Cumberland. JR
Now, the Cox's house EP
When it was two cottages the left-hand one was empty for a time. DC
After that Stan Pountney lived there. He put in a new fireplace in 1960, from
Maw's, where he worked. In the right-hand cottage were Mr and Mrs Bob Thomas,
decorators, then there was their wallpaper store, then Mr Bill Thomas's house VF
Mrs Bobby Thomas, Irish Thomas as she was always known, came from Lurgan. NM
Why was the Town Hall demolished ? They had wonderful dances there. VF
It never should have gone. It's these parsons ! DC
Another family who had lived in our cottage before it was empty was the Jones
family, with nine children EC
Norman Jones went to fetch Mrs Thomas from Birmingham Airport, but couldn't find
her at first. Eventually he found her walking along the north runway ! VF
Elsie Bradburn's sister used to live in the building at the back of your house,
Dot. ?
One sister was Enid BDS
And there was Rhona. JR
So the old Duke of Cumberland was on the corner by the pipeworks, where a
new house is now. VF
I had some quartered oak flooring from the Duke of Cumberland and used it for my
woodwork. They were throwing the street nameplates in the skip - we rescued
"King Street" and its now on the wall outside my house. JR
Between Mr Bill Thomas and Holly House there are three houses VF
They were all shops. There was a grocers next door to us. Next to that Tommy
Broadhurst had a shop where they had dolls' cups and saucers, Coalport, under
the counter. There was the shop in The Square in Broseley kept by two unmarried
sisters, the Misses Taylor. They sold baby clothes and so they kept a check on
the calendar from when people were married ! My uncle Tom Green kept the
grocer's shop when we came to Holly House. Then it was some folk called Clews
and then Ted Hancox until he died, when it became a private house, as it still
is. EP
In my childhood days the shop nearest Mr Thomas sold Coalport, the middle shop
sold paraffin, and the third shop was a grocers. JR
Three shops then. How long have you lived in Holly House, Vera ? VF
Getting on for fifty years - we were married in '55, wasn't it - I can remember
my first time was 1942 JR
Who had Holly House before you, Vera ? VF
A Mr Irvine, an engineer with Guest Keen and Nettlefold's in Wolverhampton, and
his wife. He said "In the spring this patch in the garden will be covered
with beautiful yellow flowers" And do you know what they were ? All
Dandelions VF
No - celandines! His wife was quite a beauty, out in the sticks here, and
she wanted to be where there was more going on, theatre and things like that. So
they went to live in Wolverhampton, where his firm was anyway. And it was funny
because John Guest once lived in our house. One of the Maws once rented it, and
another owner was Joseph Nicklin, manager of Lloyds in Broseley. JM
John Guest rented it. NM
You had two cinemas, one in Ironbridge and one on the way down to Ironbridge JR
So next to Holly House there's the old butcher's shop, the one that's absolutely
covered in tiles VF
They used to put the throw-out tiles in big piles at Jackfield and anyone could
go and help themselves to them. They weren't brought in any order, just fetched
and put on the walls, like at Matthew Davies's butchers shop next door. JR
Mrs Lil Oakley has told me she used to see cattle being brought along to the
field opposite EP
Where the bungalow is now used to be the slaughterhouse VF
There was a field opposite our house when we went there. They wanted £200 for
it, but we'd just raised the money for the house DC
Was the button factory actually making buttons when you were first there ? VF
No, no - first it was a garage and paint shop. Cars used to come from Austins in
Birmingham to be painted by hand with nine coats of paint. Then they'd be driven
back by way of Coalport Bank to test the brakes out. After that it was a factory
for all sorts of things. It was a button factory years and years ago, and then a
factory that made badges and little nameplates. Some were thrown out in the yard
and we used to go and pick them up. Now its divided into factory units. JM
Joe Harvatt used to store wood there, treetrunks EP
The Button Factory was next to the garage owned by Mr Davies. The Button Factory
itself had been the garage showroom and had a tiled floor and glass doors.
During World War II it was the storage depot for St Johns Ambulance Brigade who
were evacuated from London because of the Blitz. Their headquarters were at
Willey Hall. VF
That would be before I came to live down there NM
How much did Lord Forester have to do with Broseley in those days ? EP
In days gone by he owned a lot of the town but then he sold quite a lot MS
He owned nearly every house, and a lot of the Wrekin; he still has land at the
Wrekin VF
Death duties took a lot when the present Lord Forester's grandfather died EP
The Maypole and the cricket field belonged to them NM
Were you allowed into Willey Park once a year ? JR
Let's get back to King Street. When were the council houses built on the right
in King Street ? NM
1954 ? Not the Wimpeys. They did some bungalows before they did the Wimpeys DC
There was a field where they had a fair occasionally, and there were the Dead
Walls VF
- opposite Owen Terrace in Duke Street, which goes off to the right, past the
Button Factory. JR
There are more properties after Holly House and the butchers EP
There was the butchers house, then the malt house, then a bungalow, then Walter
Williams the insurance collector's house, with the old Globe public house next
door at the top of Legge's Hill. BDS
Does anyone know about the malthouse, still with the arm for lifting the bags ? VF
It used to be used as a depot by the pigeon fanciers - there were a lot of them
in Broseley. JR
So then it's Legges Hill school. NM
My two went there until seven. A teacher came from Much Wenlock - Mrs Grainger JR
Did you start there at five ? EP
At four actually JR
What sort of education did you have there ? Was it formal ? EP
A proper education - there were two classes in the big room where you went until
you graduated to the top class. I had a lovely photograph of class 1 and class
2, and also a separate one of the Infant's class. JR
Did you have Miss Pardoe ? EP
I was before Miss Pardoe's time. It was Miss Maggie Scott the headmistress and
Mrs Roberts, (nee Miss Lamont), a nice Infants teacher VF
She married Jim Roberts and they lived in what was known then as "back of
the Delph", now Delphside. The Delph was the boggy, stinking old coalpit
long ago, where the Town Garden is now. EC
What was the lower part of the school used for? As it goes downhill there's a
sort of lower basement part. EP
Well, I don't remember anything about that. There used to be a cloakroom at the
back, and the toilets were earth toilets and they were outside in the school
yard. There was the top yard over King Street. We used to go there in a
crocodile, two by two DES
I remember where we used to play. There were mature trees. VF
I never went there to school, but there were trees round where Ian Beddow now
has his bungalow, and it was used for the afternoon playtime. EP
And there used to be little gullies across Legges Hill in those days - it wasn't
straight down as it is today, little brick gullies across. It was small red
shale; if you fell down you had awful knees Pauline
? My mum when she was in labour had
to walk up Legges Hill; she lived at the bottom. She was in labour having me, it
was January '47, and they came to fetch her. The taxi said "I can't go down
there, I'll never get back up", so she had to walk up Legges Hill to get to
Broseley Hospital for me to be born on a Sunday afternoon, 26 January. VF
Were there pieces of timber running across the hill ? EP
No, they were bricks Vera, brick gullies DES
I always remember Miss Pardoe, probably because she so terrified me ! EP
She was headmistress afterwards MS
A maiden lady with earphones I seem to remember Pauline?
Was there a lady just down Legges Hill who had no hair ? EP
Yes, Mrs Denstone perhaps - she used to pull her hat right down, you could tell
she hadn't any hair, it was quite sad really. She lived on the bank, on the
right hand side BDS
Can I just say a word about The Globe? I was delighted someone mentioned
The Globe, because in the Ironbridge Gorge Museum study of Buildings in Broseley
Wood it is claimed that The Globe has been demolished. EP
It hasn't, it's still there - I came past it last night JR
Which one was The Globe ? EP
The cottage right on top of the bank, on the left-hand side as you turn down for
the school - that was The Globe in days gone by. I remember Mrs Archer lived
there. She fell out with Edith Smith because there was a play on at the Town
Hall, Annie Lloyd was in it, and there had to be a schoolgirl. Edith Smith
wanted to be the schoolgirl and she could get into gymslips, but Mrs Archer
wanted the part and she was furious. I was only a little girl, I remember
tittering about all this. VF
Mrs Archer became very fat as a lady - she had dropsy and couldn't move DC
Could people have dinner at Legges Hill School ? EP
No, not in those days, not in wartime. I went home DES
There was a canteen, I never went through the door but some people stayed
for dinner, this was in the fifties. EP
Not in my day DC
So did people all go home at lunchtime ? EP
I think they'd take sandwiches in those days BDS
And did you have milkbottles with cardboard tops ? EP
Yes, oh dear! It froze in winter and was put by the stove to thaw . JR
I had hoped we'd get as far as The King's Head DC
Anything on the way to The King's Head ? VF
On the right-hand side of Legges Hill there was a cottage, and then there was a
row of cottages. One was a shop; Mr Bowen kept it DC
That's entirely gone now with the new houses ? EP
Bowen's shop's still there - Barbara Johnson's DC
So that was Bowen's shop ? EP
Yes, but then the other houses - the one at the top of Legges Hill is
still there, isn't it ? In between there were four houses DC
So The King's Head, in the deeds, was owned by Lord Forester until 1890 EP
The cottages after The King's Head, they haven't altered - well, they may have
done inside JR
Can we throw any light on The Kings Head ? EP
It was always Southorns' in my time EC
It was sold in about 1900 to a woman named Cerutti, an Italian name. She managed
to sell it a year later to what became the Wrekin Brewery. She made a profit of
about £1000, which in those days was colossal DC
The landlord who lived there, his name was George Keay, pronounced Key EC
His only claim to fame was that as a councillor he tried to get some handrails
put up Legges Hill, which wouldn't have been a bad idea DC
He kept The Napoleon pub, and The King's Head. Tina was born there, Jean Jones's
mother EC
About 1930; they were there 15 years DC
We've taken Tina round there EP
Ive heard my parents talk about them, but I think it was before I was born. It
was Southorns in my time VF
I remember the Keays EP
Yes I remember them - they went to Workhouse Cottage, over by The Mines VF
Just down The Quarry there was a house across a yard; did that used to be a pub
? After the terraced houses at the top DC
The white one that was The Bells, or The Five Bells; where Coppins live now EP
I don't remember that. EC
Where the fish-and-chip shop was used to be The Seven Stars BDS
Do you know anything about the bowling green ? EP
Vaguely I can remember - where the bungalows are - opposite the old chip shop DC
Did it belong to the pub ? EP
The King's Head DC
How far along did that go - to the shed that's Ivor Southorn’s ? All Southorn
territory, wasn't it, and the dairy EP
Ivor used to deliver milk out to Astley Abbotts EC
Mention the chip shop EP
Harold Williams lived there, and kept the chip shop at one time BDS
Did Harold start the chip shop ? EP
No, it went back before that ?
I have a list of the owners DC
Was yours the chip shop ? No,
next door DC
Some of the family kept a sweet shop along there, before the top of Quarry Road DDS There was a pub called The Star in Lower King Street. Looking down there is an L-shaped house. Pubs would try to get one up on each other, so The Star came first. King Street turns to the right before the Quarry, past Southorn's bungalows and down past the council houses to the road where the prefabs are. It joins Edinburgh Road by Pat Hurdley's shop. JR
Janet Robinson NM
Neda Meyrick
EP
Elsie Philpott VF
Vera Francis EC
Eric Cox BDS
Dave Shinton DES
Diane Shinton MS
Mary Smith DC
Dot Cox JO
Jack Owen FS
Frank Selkirk JM
John Mepham
NW
Noel Ward Our
thanks to all contributors to this very productive meeting. Please let me have
additions and corrections - David Lake. |