GLOUCESTER ROAD, Thornbury

The Cottages opposite Laburnum Terrace

Until the late 1960's there was a terrace of six little cottages opposite Laburnum Terrace.  We know that they were built earlier than those in Laburnum Terrace, but unfortunately we don't know how much earlier.  They were all there in 1840 when the Tithe Survey was carried out.   At this time, the whole terrace was owned by Isaac Roberts.    

The 1876 Special Drainage Rate Book has the owner of the six cottages as Mary Ann Ann.  The Special Drainage District Rate Books of 1880 and 1885 show that the owner later became Mary Ann Wilmot. 

Mary Ann Ann had married Samuel Mullett Wilmot of Bristol on June 19th 1879 at what was to become the United Reformed Church in Thornbury.  Samuel was the son of Henry Wilmot a commercial clerk and his wife Lydia and they lived in Bedminster.  The 1871 census shows that Samuel  was a commercial clerk in an iron works.

By 1881 Samuel and Mary Ann were living in Redcliffe in Bedminster. He was 36 in this census and was the manager of a Galvanised Iron and Steel Works.  Mary Ann Wilmot was 29 years old.  By the 1891 census the Wilmots had a substantial family.  They were living in Grove house in Redcliff with Margaret  nine years old, Samuel  eight, Arthur seven, Henry six, Thomas five, and Lydia three.   By the 1901 census they also had Hester aged five and Gertrude aged three.  They had moved out of the city to Alveston.  The house is not named in this census but we know that the Wilmots had The Chalet, a very large house in Alveston.

Mary Ann died on 23rd February 1917 aged 65 and Samuel died on 5th October 1923 aged 78.  Their tombstone is still visible in the graveyard of the United Reformed Church.  Following Samuel's death, the six cottages were put up for the sale at auction in 1924, but they failed to find a purchaser.

As you will see from the photo, the cottages fronted on to the road, and the doors of the houses opened directly into the front room.  Each cottage was 'two-up two down' and there was a little garden to the rear of each property.

To establish some idea of who lived in each house, we have trawled through census records, electoral registers and parish records.  The lack of house numbering throughout most of the period might mean that we have made some mistakes.  The problem is compounded by the fact that the terrace was numbered before the rest of Gloucester Road and residents sometimes used this 1 to 6 numbering system.  There is a report of the death of one of Michael Canty's lodgers and her address was said at the time to be 6 Gloucester Lane.  This later became 11 Gloucester Road.  From about 1953, the whole road was given a modern numbering and the terrace was given odd numbers from 1 to 11 Gloucester Road.  In more recent times, we have tried to sort out these problems using the knowledge of people who lived in the area.

There was also a group of other buildings a little further down Gloucester Road just visible in the above photo.  Theses buildings became part of Dick Shipp's garage.  Click here to read more about the history of these buildings.

Modern Times We don't have a record of all the owners of the cottages.  However we know from Dick Shipp that they were owned by 'Wilmott sisters who lived in Hampshire' before he bought them.  The account books of W.W. Pitchers show that work was done to connect 6 cottages to the sewer in 1936/37.  The work was charged to the estate of J.H. Wilmott.  The occupants of two houses were mentioned as the Monks and Allens which confirms that it is this terrace and it was owned by a J.H. Wilmott.   

In the 1960's, it became difficult to ensure the houses met modern building regulations and they were became dilapidated when left vacant.  Eventually, we understand that the Council declared them unfit for habitation and ordered them to be demolished. 

The land was purchased by Dick Shipp who was using the adjoining 'stable' building as a garage and motor repair workshop.  He had a modern car showroom built for the Fiat cars he was selling.  In 1977 Dick sold the business and for a few years it operated selling classic cars.

Finally in 1987, the garage was closed and the whole site re-developed with the building of Gloucester Terrace flats.

Click on the thumbnails below to see images of Shipps Garage, the garage being demolished and the Gloucester Terrace flats which replaced it.

    Shipps Garage            Demolition of Garage       Construction of Flats        New flats

This page was last updated: 12/02/2010