From Ansteys New Bath Guide, first published in 1766.
This is written in rhymed epistles, and deals with the adventures of the B—r—d Family at Bath, with the Consultation of Physicians, the Gaming Rooms, the Balls, the Bathing, and the Public Breakfasts.
Young
“B—r—d,” who commences Man of Taste and Spirit,” describes his costume in the
following lines :
“ I ride in a Chair with my Hands in a Muff,
And have bought a silk Coat, and embroidered the Cuff.
But the Weather was cold, and the Coat it was thin,
So the Taylor advised me to line it with Skin.
But what with my Nivernois Hat can compare,
Bag-wig and laced Ruffles, and black Solitaire
And what can a Man of
true Fashion denote.
Like an Ell of good Ribbon tyed under the Throat.
My Buckles and Box are in excellent Taste,
The one is of paper, the other of Paste,
And sure no Camayer (cameo) was ever yet seen,
Like that which I
purchased at Wickstead’s machine.
My Stockings of Silk arc just come from the Hozier,
For to-night I'm to dine with the charming Miss Tozer."
to be continued ...............
If an opinion is expressed here it is my own!
The monument to the architect/builder/ Plumber, glazier and property developer, Thomas Warr Atwood, (Sometimes spelt Attwood) died 1775, in Weston churchyard, Bath, almost certainly designed by Thomas Baldwin and carved by The Parsons workshop of Widcombe.
Not dissimilar to the Weston monument is the Chest tomb at St Nicholas Church Winsley surmounted with a classical urn, c1810, ashlar, elongated hexagon plan with reeded strips at angles and oval south plaque with rosettes in spandrels. Husk drop in canted sections. High raised concave curved and fluted top with urn.
South side is the inscription to Richard Atwood of Turleigh Manor, died 1808. T.W. Atwood was younger brother.
The Urn and therefore the monument were almost certainly carved in the Yard of the parsons at Claverton Street, Widcombe.
The Urn is no. 96 from the Parsons Book of Drawings - Bath Central Library, ref. B731.7 PAR 38:18
In the preface it is described as Baldwin along with 93, 94, 95, and 97.
See my previous posts for the complete illustrated contents of Thomas Parsons illustrated manuscript-
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone.html
Thomas Warr Atwood was first elected a Common Councillor at a meeting of the Corporation on 20th September 1760.
Councilman 1760 -75 - Constable 1762-63, 1772-73 - Bailiff 1764-65, 1773-74
The office of Mayor was held by a member of the Atwood family for twelve of the years between 1724 and 1769, twice by Thomas Warr Atwood.
For many years four Atwoods were on the Council: Thomas Atwood, his son Thomas Warr, Henry and James.
One or more Atwoods were usually Mayor, Chamberlain and a Justice at this period and if they worked together (which is the Bath way) they would have been a force to be reckoned with.
It is apparent that certain local families maintained a strong presence on the Council across several generations, a tradition sometimes stemming from well back in the troubled 17th century.
From 1700 onwards 10 Chapmans, 8 Gibbses and 7 Atwoods thus served their turn in the Council chamber, together with 4 members each from the Bush, Hicks and Horton families, 3 each from the Biggs, Crook, Morgan, Phillott, Spry and Woolmer clans, and these on top of many cases of fathers followed by sons.
His career was terminated when he fell through the floor of a building in the Market Place which was in the process of being demolished for the development of the Guild Hall and Markets.
After his death, his assistant, the precocious Thomas Baldwin (c. 1750 - 1820), was chosen
to be the new City Architect and City Surveyor.
............................
Some known Atwood Buildings in Bath
The Paragon (1768).
It is one of the finest set pieces of Bath but tends to be ignored as it on a main road taking much through traffic through the city.
They have large foundations built on three storey stone vaults at the back (south east side) which were used as stables and storage and into the hillside at the front and a steep drop to Walcot Street at the rear.
.....................
Oxford Row.
The two terraces on the West side of Lansdown Road broken by Alfred Street. (1773). The return from Oxford Row, Lansdown Road into the terrace of 7 houses in Alfred St (Alfred Buildings) first mentioned in the rate books for 1774 is possibly an Atwood Project - the terrace (6 -19) on the North side of Alfred St returning from Oxford Row was perhaps also designed by Atwoods office - he owned the land called the Hand and Flower Ground from 1773 previously owned by a Mr Rogers.
.....................
The New Gaol, Bathwick (1772-3).
Built on the flood plane of the River Avon. The land was part of the Pulteney Estates.
A new prison was needed in order to accommodate prisoners previously incarcerated in the old church tower which was to be demolished in order to provide access and to build Pulteney Bridge so that the estate could be developed for housing prior to its building access was either by ferry or the long way around from the bridge at the end of Southgate Street.
The Ground floor entrance was originally entered by steps from Grove St. What an improvement if they were replaced.
It is now flats.
For an excellent history and overview see - Essay by Chris Noble.
..............................
Walcot Parade.
This terrace has been attributed to Atwood but it does not have a cohesive design - certainly Thomas Jelly was involved with some of the houses but it appears to be a piecemeal development albeit very picturesque and must have been a fine place to live, the pavement is built on vaults into the hillside and the terrace is elevated above the London Road. when it was built the views across the Avon valley must have been spectacular before the terraces of London street were built
The Guildhall, Bath.
There is a minute book containing a record of the activities of the Committee for finishing the Markets and rebuilding the Guildhall from 13 December 1774 to 13 March 1779, making it clear that Thomas Baldwin was supervising much of the work on the Markets and had designed the present Guildhall well before Atwood was killed on 15 November 1775.
Other works.
It appears that he was also in partnership with Thomas Jelly or with Wood the Younger, Milsom Street (west side), and was involved with Bladud Buildings, Rivers Street, and Axford Buildings (east end of the Paragon.
This needs to be checked.
The Atwood Family
HarryAtwood (1741 - 1814).
Councilman Aug 1776.-.99 (resigned Sep 1779, made Freeman, re-elected)
Constable 1777-78, 1787.-.88.
Bailiff 1779-80,
1789.-.90.
Alderman Nov
1799 -1814.
Mayor 1800-01,
1807 -.08.
J.P. Dec 1795-1800,
1801-07, 1808-14.
Baptised 11 May 1741, son of the master baker Henry Atwood (q.v.), he trained as a surgeon. He married the daughter of John Hickes I in 1770. By 1787 he had moved from Gay Street to the west side of Queen Square, but also leased properties outside the East Gate, in Walcot Street, Wade’s Passage, Cock Lane, Bell Tree Lane (next to the Bell Inn), Sawclose, and Barton Lane – partly inherited from his father.
By 1794 he had acquired Cranhill near Weston Lane. He was a governor of Bath General Hospital from 1778 and a surgeon to that institution from 1781 to 1806. He was a member of the 1st Bath Philosophical Society. He died on 4 Dec 1814 – apparently at Cranhill House, Weston. [Peach].
.......................
Henry Atwood (1700 - 63)
Councilman Mar
1725 - 1740.
Constable 1725-26,
1739 - 40.
Bailiff 1727 - 28.
Alderman Oct 1740 - 63.
Three times Mayor 1741-42,
1750-51, 1758-59.
J.P. 1742-43,
1748-49, 1751-52, 1754-55, 1757-58, 1759-60.
Born c.1700, he was the son of the master baker Thomas
Atwood I (q.v.) to whom he was apprenticed in 1715.
His wife was Elizabeth who bore his son Harry Atwood (q.v.) and daughter Elizabeth. He leased properties outside the East Gate and in Northgate Street, Wade’s Passage, Southgate Street, and Sawclose. Until 1752 he was a Surveyor of the City Lands. He died on 8 May 1763 aged 63. His oil portrait by J.B.Van Diest is in the Victoria Art Gallery collection.
...........................
Atwood, James, 1721-60.
Councilman Oct
1721-36
Constable 1722-23
Bailiff 1724-25,
Feb-Oct 1732
Chamberlain 1733-36
Alderman 1736-60
Mayor 1737-38,
1748-49
J.P. 1738-39,
1742-44, 1746-47, 1749-50, 1752-53
He was a plumber and glazier, occupying a property in Southgate Street, and may have been the brother of Thomas Atwood II (q.v.). He also leased a house in Stall Street and a brewery in Bimbery Lane.
Esteemed, sociable and humane, he was a trustee of Bath Bluecoats School. One of the plumber-and-glazier Atwoods (James, Thomas II or Thomas III) seems to have had Turleigh House near Bradford-on-Avon, and on at least one occasion (in 1752) entertained the politician Edmund Burke there. James Atwood died on 19 Aug 1760 after a long illness. His oil portrait by J.B.Van Diest is in the VAG collection. [Peach].
.......................
Atwood, Thomas, I, 1706-32
Councilman 1706-23
Constable 1706-07,
1720-21
Bailiff 1708-09,
1717-18
Chamberlain 1722-23
Alderman Jan 1723-32
Mayor 1724-25
J.P. 1725-26, 1729-30
A master baker, he held properties in Northgate Street,
Wade’s Passage and upper Orange Grove, and outside
the East Gate. He died in Jun 1732. His oil portrait by
J.B.Van Diest is in the VAG collection.
................................
Atwood, Thomas, II, 1717-53
Councilman Dec
1717-33
Constable 1718-19,
1725-26
Bailiff 1720-21,
1730-31
Chamberlain 1732-33
Alderman Apr 1733-53
Mayor 1735-36,
1746-47, 1752-53
J.P. 1736-37,
1740-41, 1743-45, 1747-48, 1753-54
A master plumber and glazier, he was perhaps the brother of
James Atwood (q.v.). In 1718 he and Walter
Chapman built a common sewer through Orange Grove. He leased
properties in Stall Street and Southgate Street
(including the Full Moon – also called the Ship Inn). In his
will of 1752 he left the Royal Oak at the corner of
Stall Street and Lower Borough Walls to Rachel, widow of his
son James. He died by Dec 1753. His oil portrait
by J.B.Van Diest is in the VAG collection.
Atwood, Thomas, III (d1770).
Councilman Aug
1732-51.
Constable 1734-35.
Bailiff 1736-37.
Chamberlain 1750-52.
Alderman Oct 1751-70.
Mayor 1753-54, 1760-61, 1769-70 .
J.P. 1754-55, 1756-57, 1759-60, 1761-62, 1765-66, 1768-69,
1770.
He was probably the son of Thomas Atwood II (q.v.) and so, like him, a plumber and glazier and the lessee of the Full Moon inn.
By 1756 he had a house in Bladud Buildings and by 1762 three newly-built tenements inSouthgate Street. He died on 2 Dec 1770.
I have already metaphorically put pen to paper regarding the Careers of the Ford Family of stone and Marble Masons of Bath.
This post is a series of notes to act as an aide memoire.
John Ford I (1711 - 67) brother Stephen Ford (d.1785).
John Ford I was the son of William Ford mason of Colerne, who had married Mary
Mullins 13 April 1710 at Colerne.
His will PROB 11/932/343 dated 31 May 1763 - his executors his son John Ford (II) and nephew William Ford, witnessed by Sarah Elkington, George Penny and William Hooper.
To son John his interests in the water pipes cisterns etc for the Kings Circus and Gay St.
The property in Charles St with the courtyard and gardens and workshops adjoining.
The plot or piece of ground in the Parish of St James, Bath which he used as workyards which he had purchased from Thomas Garrard and his wife.
Daughters Betty, Martha and Susannah and Mary (Plura) £250 and her children Joseph, John and Mary
He leaves his sisters property leased at Colerne where they lived with their mother.
Work yard and shops in John St. (Walcot, Bath) to the testators son John.
...............................
Ref. land at the Vinyards -
Garden in Walcott, Winniard close, Great Kingsmead. (Hayne,
Ford, Sainsbury, Omer, Jelly, Morris, Davey). 1755 - 62)
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8e5cc821-c677-4b58-99c1-49819a6896af
.......................
The Death of William Ford - Bath Journal - Monday 25 September 1786.
Builder and Mason - Dwelling house at the Vinyards.
The Will of William Ford - 23 July 1786.
Father of John and Stephen.
Mentions properties in the Vinyards, Hoopers Court (Hedgemead), Gibbs Court ( behind Chatham Row) Walcot St), Miles Court (now Miles Buildings), and Gay Street (home of his mother - ultimately devised to his son Stephen) Bath.
He was a partner in the water works which supplied the Circus and Gay Street.
He also His leasehold premises shop and yard near the road from Monmouth Street towards Bristol to his son Stephen.
His messuage or tenement in Edgar Buildings, (George St.) coach house, stable, garden and vaults leaves to his wife until her demise or remarriage) and the devised to his son John Ford I.
....................................
It appears that he had already made separate arrangements for his daughter Mary and her husband the sculptor Joseph Plura and their children - Joseph (Giuseppi) Plura married Mary the 17 year old daughter of John Ford I in 1750 - he arrived in England and was settled in Bath by 1749 - he probably arrived from Italy with the bath sculptor Prince Hoare. He had set up his own workshop in Bath in 1763.
In his will (PROB 11/932/343) our John Ford II mentions his wife Martha (Elkington), his mother Mary Ford (nee Mullins), sisters Sarah and Alice (of Colerne), daughters Mary (m. Joseph Plura sculptor and assistant to Prince Hoare), Betty, Martha and Susanna. The Elkingtons were Bath merchants.
When he died he had several properties including three in Pierrepoint St, St James Parish which he left to each of his daughters and a property in Duke St (off the Grand Parade - between North and South Parades) designed by John Wood), and property in Charles St (off Queen Square) including courtyard, garden and workshops, and property in John St. which he left to his son John Ford II.
John Ford I was the master-mason responsible for building amongst many Bath properties, King Edward's Grammar School in Broad Street in 1752.
Rupert Gunnis noted that "almost certainly he executed" some of the earlier funeral monuments which had previously been listed under his son, John Ford II (1736 - 1803) but only one can be identified with any certainty.
John Ford I was an executor of the will of Dr Bennett Stevenson (d. 1757) who was the minister from 1720 of the Presbyterian church in Frog Lane (later rebuilt as New Bond St). Stevenson was a founding governor and sat on the Mineral Water Hospital Committee.
...............................
The Death of John Ford I at Weymouth.
Salisbury and Winchester Journal - 14 September 1767.
...............................
Winchcombe Howard Packer Monument.
after 1747.
Bucklebury - west Berkshire
inscribed Ford and Parsons.
.................................
The Fords and the Buildings of Bath.
The following attributions of buildings by the Fords need to be checked - info from -https://julianorbach.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/5/23756946/wiltshire_architects.odt
1768 - Ford the Younger was involved in the building as
Mason of 25 Royal Crescent Bath along with Charles Coles plasterer.
...........................
There are several other John Fords of Bath which he shouldn't be confused with - John Ford, Mayor of Bath 1660, and John Ford, the apothecary - this John Ford was the son of an apothecary, Richard Ford Mayor of Bath in 1713 and again 1741 to whom he had been apprenticed. In 1741 a certain John Garden accused him of making ‘a sodomitical assault’ on his person.
A
further complaint of 1742 claimed he was neglecting his civic duties. He leased
property in Stall Street (including the ‘Back House’), part of the White Swan
in Cheap Street, the Boat Tavern in Walcot Street, and a lodging house at the
Cross Bath.
...........................
The Fords and the Building of Gay Street and the Circus
Very low resolution and almost unreadable image of a plan at Bath Record Office.
Showing the plots of the houses in Gay Street and the first houses to be built in the Circus.
I will hopefully be able to obtain better images in due course.
West side of Gay Street
1, Gay Street in trust Thomas Jelly
2 and 3, Gay Street - John Ford.
8. Gay St - Prince Hoare.
9. John Ford and Thomas Jelly.
17. Dr Oliver.
..................
The Circus.
1, The Circus John Ford and Thomas Jelly.
2. The Circus John Ford and Thomas Jelly.
.................
East side of Gay Street.
4. Gay St. John Ford and Thomas Jelly.
8 & 9. Gay St. John Ford
10 and 11 Gay St - John Mullins
(It is probably no co incidence that John Ford had married Mary Mullins 13 April 1710 at Colerne. The Mullins were land and quarry owners at Box and Colerne - a few miles east of Bath - http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/mullins-family-schoolmasters.html
Popes Bath Chronicle 9 December 1762.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 18 April 1765.
The reference here is also to his brother Stephen Ford (mason) d. 1785.
..........................
William Ford, Stephen Ford. - Property at The Vinyards, Bath - sometimes called Harlequin Row.
Adapted and improved from -
https://historyofbath.org/images/ProceedingsPDFs/PROCEEDINGS%2007%202018-19.pdf
On 26 February 1755 Charles Hayne, a descendant and heir of Thomas Hayne, sold to Thomas Omer, Gentleman, and Thomas Jelly, carpenter, "All that close of meadow or pasture ground called the Winniards (Vinyards) containing by estimate 5 acres being in the parish of Walcot and adjoining to the city of Bath".
Omer and Jelly were among the leading developers of Georgian Bath, Omer as a financier and Thomas Jelly as the architect and builder.
Other parts of Winniards (Vinyards) were being laid out for building at this time in a rather piecemeal fashion. To the south on the same day, 21 December 1756, Omer and Jelly conveyed to John Hutchins of Bath, plasterer, the plot on which now stand 10 Vineyards and the houses behind. Hutchins in turn conveyed the plot to John Hensley of Bath, carpenter, on 25 September 1760.
By that time the adjoining plot had been acquired by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. The Huntingdon Chapel was completed in 1765 as the home for her strict Methodist sect, the Connexion.
By a deed of 26 February 1761, Omer and Jelly conveyed the 20 Vineyards plot to William Sainsbury and John Mann.
Omer and Jelly conveyed the plot containing 18 and 19 Vineyards to Biggs and Prynn by deeds of 16 and 17 April 1765. By a deed of 19 April 1765, Biggs and Prynn conveyed a plot extending "123 feet backwards towards the west" to two other Bath builders, John Hensley (who had built No.10) and William Davis, who then built the houses which are now 18 and 19 Vineyards and sold them to the Reverend Edward Sheppard (is this Dr Shepherd of Chatham Row?).
The plots on which 1 to 6 Vineyards stand were conveyed on 22 February 1764 by Omer and Jelly to a number of builders:
• Henry Gibbs of Bath carpenter and James Allen of Bath
baker
• John Latty of Bath carpenter and Richard Lingers of Bath
mason.
• William Davis of Bath tyler and plasterer and Samuel
Rundell of Bath barber.
• Jasper Davis of Bath painter and Samuel Rundell of Bath
barber.
• William Ford of Bath mason and Stephen Ford of Bath master
builder (5 & 6).
7 Vineyards must already have been built by then, as the builders were required to erect a 'good and substantial messuage in such a form as the tenement erected by Benjamin Chilton in the same row'. Chilton, a plumber, had the plot immediately to the north.
The line dividing these plots from Belmont was marked by a trench cut in the ground.
These names and occupations speak of a great local entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone seems to have been getting in on the development act. We also see the same combination of artisan and financier as with Jelly and Omer.
13 and 15 Vineyards are similar in design. They were complete by about 1770, but curiously there was a 20' gap between them. In 1771 the Chronicle carried an advertisement by Mr Walter Bennett, who occupied No.13, offering his "well-built brick dwelling house" for sale together with a 20 foot plot "on which another house might be erected, having the walls on both sides, from the Roofing quite down to the Kitchen Floor, already built". The house and vacant plot were still being offered for sale in September 1774 but the space had been filled with a new house by 1779, cleverly linking the two earlier houses.
Garden in Walcott, Winniard close (Vinyards), Great Kingsmead. (Hayne,
Ford, Sainsbury, Omer, Jelly, Morris, Davey).
...........................
Jelly and Ralph Allen's Town House.
The building is north - and behind North Parade Passage and Church St
The land to the North was formerly the Bowling Green
In 1620 Thomas Cotterell obtained a lease to build against
the orchard wall, and this may have been the foundation of 7 and 30, though the
two properties shown on this present map are slightly larger than the
dimensions given on his lease.
In 1727 Ralph Allen held the site, having become a sub-tenant there as early as 1718. He also acquired part of the Bowling Green as a garden. The ornamental front designed for him in 1727 can still be seen on the north side of the property, facing east. There is no trace however of a further "northern wing", a misunderstanding.
The 1762
development lease for the grounds of Abbey House leaves no room for such a
wing, and there is no sign of it on later maps.
In I733 the Kingston rental lists 7 as "Mr Ralph Allen his Heirs''. By 1750 Philip Allen is listed for the property. In the 1760's it is given as being in the occupation of Prince Hoare.
Holland (2007) claims that the N wing on the opposite side
was never built: she notes that the land on which it supposedly stood had been
granted to Jelly and Fisher for development in 1762. Current stonework at the South corner of the Ralph Allen Town House and to the rear elevation of 2 North
Parade Passage does suggest both these buildings were linked at some stage.
As suggested by Cotterell's map of Bath of 1852, Ralph
Allen's town house had by then been subdivided into three properties: 1 and 2
North Parade Passage and what is now called the Ralph Allen Town House. The
three properties are also shown on the 1:500 Ordnance Survey Town Map for Bath
published in 1886.
The building was later occupied by the sculptor Prince Hoare - it is likely that his workshops were on the site of the Bowling Green which had earlier been the garden of Ralph Allen.
Bath Chronicle 19 April 1770, - Property: to let - house near North Parade, Bath lately in possession of Mr Prince Hoare. Details from Mr Edw. Parker, wine merchant in Westgate St, Bath. This refers to the house referred to as Ralph Allen's Town House the Old Post Office.
The map below shows the area before the building of Church Street which cut through from the Abbey Green to the Abbey via Kingston Parade.
Abbey house was demolished in 1755.
Anne Bushells House west of the Ralph Allen,s Post office
The house on the corner of Abbey Green and Church St was built by Thomas Jelly for the Duke of Kingston's Estate in 1762.
Jelly and Fisher also obtained permission to make vaults
fifteen feet long stretching under Abbey Green.
The Kingston Estate Map. 1725 Copied 1882.
A Map of the Scite of the dissolved Priory of Bath
called ye Bath Abby with the several Lands & Tenements within the Liberty
& Precincts thereof adjoyning to the City of Bath . . . Copied Jan 7 1882
Original dated 1725.
KE 1725 Bath Library.
Anne Bushells House is to the West of Ralph Allen's and later his brothers Old Post House.
This property became the premises of the sculptor Prince Hoare.
Next door in what became Sally Lunns 1743 the Duke of Kingston, who had acquired all the land of John Hall, sold the property to William Robinson and the legal documents from this transaction can be seen today displayed on the walls.
From 1781 to 1786 James Wicksteed operated here as a seal engraver. His father John had pioneered a water powered seal engraving machine, based for decades in Widcombe, where the Wicksteed Machine became one of the local sights. (this needs checking)
Lilliput Alley was previously called -
..............................
. A Map of the dissolved Priory or Abbey of Bath belonging to his Grace the Duke of Kingston 1750.
ref KE 1750
Peach Collection, Irvine Collection, Bath Library.
......................................
................................
Locating Fords workshops and the Jelly's Timber Yard.
Ranging along the north side of the Bristol Road (the continuation west of Monmouth St, from East to West are Sir Peter Rivers Gay’s Kitchen Gardens, a Coal Yard (intended site of a Farm House and Offices), and a large block of storage buildings and auction rooms (formerly Jelly & Sainsbury’s and Jelly and Fishers Timber Yard) west of Queen Square in Stable Lane (now Palace Yard Mews).
Currently Davies Painters and Decorators supplies.
The yard of William Ford (and likely John Ford I and his son) as mentioned in his will was also located in the same area along the road to Bristol - a continuation of Monmouth St. - I suspect between the Coal Yard and
Brett's Timber Yard was some meters further West.
Detail from Map of Bath dated 1795 by C. Harcourt Masters.
Stable Lane - now Palace Mews
.........................
Jelly and Atwood in Broad St, Bath.
Walborough (St Werberghs) Meadow later called Cockey’s Gardens, the house of Edward Cockey is mentioned as standing there in 1709 and 1756.
In 1734 the Corporation issued a lease of the triangular corner site (corner of Broad St and Bladud's Blgs) to Edward Newman. By July 1757 it leased ‘two messuages’, i.e. Nos. 17 and 18, Broad St to Thomas Jelly. It seems likely that he built 17 and 18, though it is apparently uncertain whether
Thomas Jelly or Thomas Atwood designed Bladud’s Buildings to the north-east of 17 and 18 Broad St
......................................................
Jelly, Palmer and St James Parade.
St James's Parade, originally Thomas Street, was the centrepiece of a development from 1765 onwards by Richard Jones, Thomas Jelly and Henry Fisher who were granted liberty in September 1765 to 'pull down the Boro' walls next to the Ambry gardens in order to build new houses there'.
The street was closed off with bollards at each end, and the houses fronted a broad paved walk in place of the road. The elevations, attributed to Thomas Jelly and John Palmer (c. 1738 – 19 July 1817) show the influence of John Wood the Younger's work elsewhere, as in Rivers Street. The houses were mainly built in c1768.
The aim of making the Avon navigable as far as Bath was achieved in 1727 and a quay constructed just below the bridge on the Ambury meadows complete with warehouses. These early warehouses appear to have remained standing, although their use had changed over time, until at least the 1930s.
It was from the new town Quay, completed in 1729 with warehousing, timber yards and houses designed by John Strachan, that most of the imported materials for the Georgian building developments were supplied.
The Ambry: The most easterly of these grounds adjoined Southgate Street and St.Lawrence’s Bridge rebuilt as the Old Bridge in 1750 and was known (with a variety of spelling) as the Amery, Ambry or Ambury, a name perhaps derived from an isolated property in the north-east corner of the meadow by the South Gate (still marked by Amery Lane) which is thought to have been the site of the Almonry where alms were dispensed at the city’s entrance.
After the Dissolution of the monastery in 1539, the King’s Barton and the Manor of Walcot, together with the Ambry, passed through various hands, and from 1699 were all acquired by Robert Gay, a London surgeon.
It was he who made the first agreements for the Georgian development of the upper part of the town with John Wood, but it was his daughter, Margaret Garrard who completed the agreement in 1765 for the development of the Ambry with Henry Fisher, Thomas Jelly and Walter Taylor. This led to the complete infill of the remaining open area with streets, including St.James’s Parade (initially called Thomas Street), Wine Street and Peter Street (initially Queen Street or Lower Queen Street) on the north side, and to the south, Somerset Street (initially Garrard Street), Corn Street (linked to the Quay by a narrow passage called The Ambury), Back Street, and Little Corn Street (initially Clarke’s Lane).
For the Ambury estate: the Corporation gave ‘Messrs. Richard Jones, Thomas Jelly and Henry Fisher…liberty to pull down the Boro Wall next to the Ambury Gardens [for which Fisher and Jelly paid the rate - St. James’s Rate Book, 1765-66, Bath Record Office], in order to build new houses there…’(Council minutes, 30 September 1765); see also building leases for St. James’s Parade, etc., granted by Jelly, Fisher and Taylor (a grocer, and beneficiary under will of Richard Jones, deceased), BC 153/121a, 1to 4, Bath Record Office;
For Kingsmead: the Lidiard papers, Box I, DD/CRM, Somerset Record Office, show, inter alia that in1785, Henry Fisher gave Giles Fisher (of the tiler & plasterer branch of the family) ‘our third of the Kingsmeads’ (the other two thirds having belonged to Thomas Jelly and John Ford, respectively), in trust for Robert and Thomas Lidiard, both masons, who had recently purchased it, and continued building there.
From A New and Correct Plan of the City of Bath and places adjacent,
published by Taylor and Meyler, 1750-1751.
A New Plan of the City of Bath,
published by Leake and
Taylor, c.1770.
https://historyofbath.org/images/documents/8dd19670-1336-4a5e-8e5a-c777d3aea0ec.pdf
..........................
St Swithin's Church Walcot, Bath.
Walcot Church (St Swithin’s) was located at the junction of today’s Paragon, Walcot Street and London Street and was rebuilt in 1777 - 80 by John Palmer and Thomas Jelly.
............................
Of Tangential interest.
Deeds of 7, The Circus etc.
Deeds sold by Bonhams referring to Garrard and the development of the Kings Circus in particular 7 The Circus built for William Pitt Earl of Chatham - together with attested copies made in 1767 of the bargain and sale from Thomas Garrard to Jenny, widow of John Wood, and John Wood Jr of The Hayes, Walcot (just to the east of Bath above the London Road).
“for the purpose of building the King’s Circus and Gay Street, Bath”, 1754,
of the sale of No.7 by William Pitt to Robert and Charles Dingley, 1763, of the sale by the Dingleys and Thomas Nuthall to Charles Dingley, 1766, and of the sale by Charles Dingley to W.A. Ashhurst, 1767, and of the sale by Ashhurst to Lady Bradshaigh, 1771; plus later and related deeds and copies, the originals (from 1775) on vellum, the transcripts on paper, the first duty-stamped, some dust-staining etc., folio
Their grandfather was John Greenway, born 1720, who married Mary Tripp, a member of a family also well-known round the outskirts of Bristol. This also explains how John Tripp Greenway, one of Francis Greenway’s brothers, came to be so named.
The Magazine of the Survey of Old Bath and Its Associates No.21, October 2006 - Allan Keevil
On 28 March 1792, ‘Francis Grinway [sic] son of Francis Grinway [sic] and Mary Webb (of Colerne, Wiltshire) of Downend, County of Gloucester, [was] put to William Paty, Architect, and Sarah his wife for seven years. Friends to find apparel and washing’
William Paty (1758-1800) was the son of Thomas Paty (1718-1789), a Bristol mason, statuary and architect, described by Walter Ison, as ‘perhaps the most talented member of this family’.
Thomas Paty had been called in by Bath Corporation to arbitrate in the dispute about the plan to be used for the building of the new Bath Guildhall, in 1775. His son, William, was the first Bristol architect to be trained in London at the Royal Academy architectural schools. He then worked in partnership with his brother and father in Bristol, from 1777. Like his father, he was an extremely accomplished statuary, and the effect of his London training began to show in his architectural work in the 1780s, in a highly accomplished Adamesque manner. Work by him included Blaise Castle House, Henbury, in 1795 (described as remarkably forward-looking, and possibly influenced by Humphry Repton), for John Scandrett Harford the Elder (1754-1815), a member of the wealthy Quaker family of Bristol merchants and bankers.
For Francis Greenway, Paty’s influence and training would have been invaluable; it is clear that Greenway was an apt pupil.
He must have completed his seven-year apprenticeship in 1799, the year before his master William Paty died, when the business was taken over by James Foster the Elder (1748-1823), who had also been a pupil and apprentice of William Paty.
From Nash’s office in 1800, Greenway exhibited drawings or paintings of ‘The Saxon Gateway, College Green, [Bristol Cathedral] Bristol’ and ‘West door, Magdalen College chapel, Oxford’.
In 1802, he submitted a work, or works, entitled ‘Chapel,
Library, etc., [designed for the side of a quadrangle] at Bristol’. This second
appearance at the academy may have been with Greenway’s own designs executed
under a new-found autonomy, but it is his exhibit for 1803 that is most
intriguing of all. The catalogue lists a work named ‘Thornbury castle restored,
with a canal brought from the river Severn up to Thornbury
Shortly after his marriage in 1804, Greenway went into business with his two brothers, Olive Greenway and John Tripp Greenway, offering the services advertised in the Bristol Gazette in 1805:
“All orders for marble monuments, Chimney Pieces, and every kind of ornamental stone work shall be carefully attended to, and executed in the most artist-like manner.”
On 26 January 1805 –
by coincidence the seventeenth anniversary of the entry of the First Fleet into
distant Port Jackson, New South Wales – the three Greenway brothers announced
in the Bristol press that they were open for business:
"Beg leave to inform their friends and the public that they have opened a room and a yard at No. 7 Limekiln Street opposite the Riding School … All orders for marble monuments, chimney pieces, and every kind of ornamental stone work shall be carefully attended to, and executed in the most artistlike manner. Designs for houses, lodge gates, and every part of domestic architecture may be seen at the office drawn by F. Greenway – who takes this opportunity of offering his services to the Public in the capacity of Architect, Statuary, and Landscape-Gardiner .1
In his own eccentric style, Francis then took the readers of Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal through an explanation of the decoration above the doorway to the Greenway office. Perhaps he thought prospective clients would come and inspect this tribute to the Ancients and find the Greenways agreeably steeped in classicism:
N.B. The Bass-Relief
[sic] over the Doric Door, is intended to represent Minerva giving the Plan of
the Pantheon … to Architecture; Mechanics is next to him as a necessary
attendant; the boy on the left hand of Minerva is drawing a building, while
Sculpture is modelling the famous torso, so highly admired by MICHAEL ANGELO.
The move to Limekiln Street (or Lime Kiln Road as it is today), on the south-west edge of Bristol - close to the Cathedral and with easy access to the nearby River Avon and docks, now placed the Greenway brothers close to the scene of much of their ongoing work.
In 1806 Francis designed the Hotel and Assembly Rooms in the Mall at Clifton, which his brothers contracted to build. During the same period the brothers were buying unfinished houses in Clifton in a speculative capacity, which they completed and then sold.
Francis Greenway, architect, married Mary Moore on 27
April 1809 in Bristol by licence, witnesses John Tripp Greenway and Mary
Greenway.
In 1809 the brothers became bankrupt and the Clifton Assembly Rooms were completed by Joseph Kay.
It appears that for the next four years, the business continued until April, 1809, when legal questions were raised regarding both the family business and some of its present and past contracts.
One month later, the word “bankruptcy”
appeared in the paper, and the Greenway’s career became jeopardized. As a result,
the Greenways’ possessions were put up for auction in order to satisfy their
creditors. The precise reasons for the legal actions and subsequent bankruptcy
have been lost in local legend and unclear newspaper reports regarding a
long-standing issue of water rights in and around Bath (where construction of
buildings for the use of visitors who wanted to take advantage of the healing
waters was common). Greenway tried to show how he had been fooled by
speculators and false promises, but his attempt proved fruitless.
Despite this setback, Francis Greenway was still working as an architect in 1810.
Problems then arose regarding a contract that Greenway had made with Colonel Richard Doolan, for whom he was doing some work. Greenway swore that the colonel had authorized an additional £250 for some extra work Greenway had provided. However, the contract was lost and the colonel denied the charge. Greenway eventually produced the lost contract. In the court proceedings that followed, it was proved that Greenway had forged the contract, and Greenway was held at Newgate prison for sentencing.
Three months later, in March of 1812, Greenway found himself in the dock at the Bristol Assizes. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to death by hanging He still had some influential friends, and they managed to get his sentence reduced first to lifelong exile in Australia (which was then a penal colony) and later commuted to transportation to the colony for a term of fourteen years.
The ships Windham and General Hewett left England the 24th of
August, in convoy with the Wansted, Capt. Moore, who sailed from hence last
Thursday for Batavia; the General Hewett arrived at Rio the 17th of November,
and sailed again the 2nd of December. Together with the military detachments,
she received on board for this Settlement 300 male prisoners, of whom we are
sorry to report the death of 35, whose names we shall endeavour to procure an
account of, and publish in the next Gazette, for the information of their
friends and families in Great Britain.
Sydney Gazette, Sat 12 Feb 1814.
Francis Greenway arrived in Sydney New South Wales on the General Hewitt in February 1814 to serve his sentence. He was described as an "architect & painter" in the ship's convict records which also gave his description: age 34, 5ft 6¾in, fair ruddy complexion, light hair, hazel eyes.
From the convict indent (shipping list).
image below courtesy -
https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/francis-greenway/
Greenway was granted a conditional pardon on 16 December
1817, and on 24 March 1819 Governor Macquarie wrote to Lord Bathurst concerning
the Civil Architect’s salary, stating it was "…very inadequate to his
useful and important services as Architect" and further noting that
"in consequence of Mr Greenway’s Scientific Skills, Judgment and superior
taste, the Government Buildings Erected by him are not only Strong, durable and
substantial, but also Elegant and good models of Architecture."
Greenway was granted an Absolute pardon on 4 June 1819. It is noted that the Absolute (Free) Pardon was delivered (personally) by His
Excellency, Governor Macquarie.
Macquarie appointed him to act as Civil Architect to the government in 1816
and he designed, among other buildings, the lighthouse at South Head, the
Female Factory at Parramatta, the Convict Barracks in Sydney, St James' Church Sydney, and churches at Windsor and Liverpool, and the Courthouse at Windsor all in New South Wales.
Some of the Bath Greenways also bore the christian name of Francis. For example, there is an indenture of 20 September 1791, when Thomas King, the statuary of Walcot, with Mr.Charles Harford, gent., as his trustee, conveyed to John Greenway intrust for Francis Greenway, mason, of Walcot (not the Australian architect), who would have been only thirteen at the time], ‘part of a pasture of 2a 22p called Upper Tyning [Walcot], being all those plots on the west side of an intended building called Mount Pleasant and all those two messuages thereon erecting at the cost of Francis Greenway’.
Other Petersons buried in the Churchyard at Weston.
https://www.batharchives.co.uk/sites/www.bathvenues.co.uk/files/2022-07/WES%2520Inscriptiions.pdf
447 Joseph PETERSON, gent of this parish died 18th February
1766 aged 45 years
Also the following children of the above Joseph PETERSON by
Ann, his wife
Hester PETERSON died 15 November 1777 aged 22 years
Joseph PETERSON died 18 May 1780 aged 16 years
Peggy PETERSON died 25 December 1780 aged 21 years
Sarah and John both died in infancy
Also Ann PETERSON wife of Joseph died 17th September 1794
aged 67 years
Also Thomas son of Joseph and Ann died 19 April 1803 aged 42
years
Also Joseph Peckston, son of Peckston and Susanna died 4th
April 1830 aged 22
Also Peckston son of Joseph and Ann PETERSON died 31 March
1842 aged 85
Also Susanna wife of Peckston PETERSON 1st August 1842 aged
70 years
Also Clement BUSH of this parish gent born 10 January 1808
died 26 January 1882
Also Ann BUSH born 3 February 1082 died 29 November 1883
Also Hester PETERSON sister of above Ann BUSH born 25 July
1805 died 2 December 1887
