GLOUCESTER ROAD

Thornbury, South Gloucestershire

This website presents the results of research undertaken by Chris & Sandra Doig on behalf of the Thornbury Museum Research Group, to investigate the history of the part of Gloucester Road in which we live.  We are very grateful to all the members of the group, especially Meg Wise, for all the photographs and documents that they shared with us. 

It provides a brief summary of the history of Laburnum Terrace, the row of houses now known as numbers 6 - 22 Gloucester Road, with details of the owners and occupiers of each property.  Most of the houses in this terrace were built over a long period between 1830 and 1870.  The exception to this is the house now known as No. 22 which was built earlier and purchased by John Hodges from James Ford, a maltster. 

We have included  sections on the characters who played an important role in the history of Laburnum Terrace:

• John Hodges who was the builder who started the terrace

• George Hodges, John's son, who finished off the building and lived in terrace all his life

• Emma Hodges, John's daughter, and her husband, John Williams whose family became major property owners in Thornbury as well as owning several houses in the terrace.

Prior to the building of the terrace, the land was an orchard and garden on the edge of Thornbury.  The houses were built very much on the outer fringe of the town.  The next building down Gloucester Road was the Workhouse which was deliberately built right outside the town in 1837.

There is one thing which has puzzled many of the more recent residents of the terrace - click here to learn more about this mystery.

We are gradually extending the coverage to include all the older houses in Gloucester Road between the Royal George and the Workhouse.  So far, we have added the cottages opposite the Terrace which were numbered 1-11, the two large detached houses (numbers 2 and 24), the old 'Mill' and Shipps Garage.

Click on the links to the properties on the left to read more.

This page was last updated: 10/04/2007

Chris and Sandra Doig