In 2022 we discovered and transcribed several old documents relating to the east side of Castle Street in Thornbury. We were surprised to find that in the 1600s there were very few houses on this side of the road. One of those houses was on the site of what is now known as 28 Castle Street. This house is the lighter blue house on the right hand side in the photograph above.
The earliest document that we have seen is dated 2nd February 1670 and shows there was just this one house between Margery Ayler’s house (now known as 28A Castle Street ) and Wigmore House (now known as 10 Castle Street). Over the next 200 years newer houses were added and sub-divided to create the almost continuous terrace of buildings along this side of the road.
It is also evident that at various times what we now know as 28 and 28A Castle Street have been two separate properties occupied by as many as five households. At other times what is now two houses have been owned and occupied by one family. The history of the houses is a very long one and it has not always been possible to identify the nature of the property that was here at such an early time.
This page traces what we know about the owners of 28 Castle Street from when it was inherited by John Besar in 1670 up to 1802 when both properties were owned by Abraham Riddiford. Click here to read about the property and its later owners.
John Beazer (also Beasar, Bezer or Besar)
We don’t know how the property came to be owned by Edward Besar, a yeoman of Little Sodbury. A document dated 2nd February 1670 describes it as ONE ‘messuage or tenement with a garden and orchard thereto adjoining ….. containing three quarters and one twelfth part of a burgage situate lying and being within the Burrough of Thornbury aforesaid between the house of one Margery Ayler on the north side thereof and the close called Wigmores late the lands of William Barton deceased on the south part ….. late in the tenure of Richard Cooke deceased’
It is an interesting document as it ‘quitclaims’ Edward’s right to the property and passes it to his son and heir John Besar. The document specifically excludes Edward Besar or his heirs from ownership but passes to his son. The implication is that Edward is trying to prevent another potential heir from claiming this property.
A few days after acquiring it from his father on 13th February 1670 John Besar was involved in an indenture with Joane Cook who had been living there before that with her husband Richard Cooke. It appears to divide the property between them. ‘One moiety or half part’ was to become that of ‘Joane Cooke and her heirs forever’. This part became the house now known as 26 Castle Street. Click here to read about 26 Castle Street
The other moiety or half part continued to be owned by ‘John Besar and his heirs forever as it is now divided.’ This house became 28 Castle Street. On the 16th February 1670, only a few days after the division, John Besar sold his portion or half moiety to Anne Edwards. We know little about John Besar who had Little Sodbury connections but we have seen a record of the death of John ‘Bezer’ who was buried on 8th October 1693 in Little Sodbury. Sadly the parish records also makes clear that Mary the daughter of ‘John Bezer’ was buried a few days later on October 15th.
Anne Edwards
On 16th February 1670 when Anne Edwards bought the property from John Besar it was said to part of a messuage formerly occupied by Richard Cooke and more recently by his widow Joane Cook.
The Hearth Tax of 1671 and the Overseers Accounts from 1671 to 1677 all show that Anne Edwards lived in a property next to Joane Cooke which confirms that the property was still divided into two.
The will of Anne Edwards, made in April 1677, indicates that her maiden name was Hawksworth and that she had a brother, Richard Hawksworth and a cousin of the same name. She also refers to a sister and a cousin by the name of Dorothy Stiff. From the familial relationships mentioned in her will it seems likely that Anne Edwards was the daughter of Peter Hawksworth. Click here to read more about Peter Hawksworth.
We believe that Anne was baptised on 24th April 1625 in St Mary’s Church in Thornbury. We do not know where the widow Anne Edwards was buried and but we know that she died in 1677 from the inventory of her goods made in 1677 after her death.
The will of Anne Edwards left ‘unto my cousin Dorothy Stiff and her issue forever my messuage tenement and land which I now hold and enjoy in the town of Thornbury’. We believe that this is now 28 Castle Street.
Phillip and Dorothy Mansell (or Mansfield)
An indenture dated 17th March 1684 shows the property that Dorothy Mansell or Mansfield acquired from Anne Edwards was said to be that which was; ‘purchased by Anne Edwards widow deceased in fee simple of and from one John Beazer and was by her the said Anne in and by her last will and testament in writing given and devised unto the said Dorothy wife of the said Philip Mansell by the name of her cousin Dorothy Stiffe to her issue forever.’
From this we know that Dorothy Stiffe was Anne’s cousin and that she married a Phillip Mansell or Mansfield. The parish record says that Dorothy was born 16th April 1656. She was the daughter of Daniel Stiffe. On 3rd September 1679 she married the Quaker, Philip Mansell (or Mansfield as he sometimes appears in documents), who was a victualler. Click here to read more about Dorothy and Philip Mansell.
William Smith
An indenture of 17th March 1684 between Phillip Mansell of Thornbury in the county of Gloucester victualler and Dorothy his wife, daughter of Daniel Stiffe, sold the property to William Smith of Thornbury, a cordwainer.
By this time the property was described as a messuage occupied by John Faires with Richard Cooke living in a house on the south that he owned and William Reeve living on the north in a property owned by Arthur Ayler. It appears that William Smith now owned what became 28 Castle Street.
The name of William Smith’s wife was Margaret and the indentures for this property say that he died in 1685 and that his son William Smith, also a shoemaker, was one of his heirs. We have not yet found the records that show the birth deaths and marriages for this family.
We believe that it is likely that William Smith was yet another Quaker associated with this property. In 1677 there were warrants against a group of twenty men for attending Quaker Meetings. The list of names of these men included William Smith, Philip Mansell and Joseph Cannings. The property distrained by these warrants was valued at £180.
Joseph Cannings, the mercer (died circa 1704)
On the 18th December 1685 Joseph Cannings, a mercer, bought the property from Margaret Smith widow and her son William Smith, a shoemaker. It was described as the property in which John Faires had lived and where Sarah Pride was now living (28 Castle Street). His will proved in 1704 left the main part of his estate to his son Joseph.
Joseph Cannings the victualler and butcher (died circa 1714)
Joseph Cannings junior inherited the property in Castle Street from his father. We know this from his own will which was proved in 1714. In 1710 and 1711 the Overseers reports show that Joseph Canning had to pay tax of five and a half pence for a property probably in Castle Street.
The will of Joseph Cannings proved on 10th November 1714 shows that he owned several properties. Two of his properties were to be sold by his trustees, Richard Tipper and Abraham Lloyd who were yeomen of Winterbourne; one was what became 28 Castle Street. This property was described as“my messuage and tenement situate in Thornbury aforesaid where John Mabbett now dwells with all out houses buildings gardens orchards and appurtenances to the same belonging and lately purchased by my late father Joseph Cannings deceased of one William Smith. With the money raised from this sale the trustees were to ‘pay and dispose off unto Anna my now wife for her own use.’ We cannot explain why, if the property at 28 Castle Street was to be sold, tax was paid on it by Anna Cannings and then it later became owned by their son, Joseph Cannings.
Anna Cannings, Joseph’s widow, died in 1724 and was buried at Frenchay on 17th November 1724.
Joseph Cannings, the merchant tailor (died 1778)
He is listed in the Overseers Accounts from 1724 and 1725 as being liable for tax on ‘part of Cannings’ in Thornbury. It seems as though there was an agreement that we have not yet identified. From 1724 the property for which Joseph Canning’s mother was paying the Overseers five and a half pence per month was divided into three separate listings. Joseph was liable for 2d per month, James Eley was paying one and a half pence for his part and John Cox was paying two pence for his part. We do not fully understand the significance of this.
Joseph continued to own the property up until at least 7th April 1759 when he was mentioned in an indenture along with Richard Williams. We suspect that Richard was lending money to Joseph by way of a mortgage.
The property was described as ‘All that messuage or tenement … wherein one Phillip Mansfield formerly dwelt and wherein one John ffaires since dwelt and wherein one Thomas Neal now inhabiteth adjoining to the messuage or tenement of one Richard Wilkins wherein one Charles Kingston now inhabiteth on the southward part thereof and to the messuage or tenement formerly of one Arthur Aylworth but now of (left blank) wherein one Thomas Watkins now inhabiteth on the northward part thereof and adjoining or extending itself to a street or Highway within the said borough called the High Street leading towards the Church on the Westward part thereof .. … purchased by Joseph Cannings grandfather of the said Joseph Cannings party hereto to him and his heirs in fee simple and from one Margaret Smith and William Smith”.
Joseph Cannings a tailor died 28th February 1778.
Click here to read more about the Cannings
The Taylors
The history of the properties on this part of Castle Street is complex because they have been subdivided and added to in various ways. There is at least one anomaly that we have not yet explained. A document dated 1796 says that William Taylor is selling the property which had “been for more than a century last past the property of and enjoyed by the said William Taylor and his ancestors”. We had initially assumed that this referred to the property next door (28A) as this had been owned by the Ayleworth family since the mid 1600s and in his will dated 1755, he left the property (28A) to his daughter Sarah, the wife of William Taylor. However we have examined the census records, the 1840 Tithe Apportionment and Map (which clearly identifies the owners and occupants of each house), the references made in Abraham Riddiford’s will of 1827 and other documents. We have concluded that the Taylor family acquired 28 Castle Street and that the Ayleworth’s connection with 28A ended around 1759 following the death of Arthur Ayleworth.
The 1780 Land Tax shows that Elizabeth Tyson (who was the married sister of Sarah Taylor) was the proprietor of the property that is now 28 Castle Street and which was occupied by George Longden. Then from 1781 to 1784 Sarah Taylor was the proprietor and George Longden was the occupant.
Our next indenture for this property is dated 23rd January 1796 when William Taylor yeoman of Almondsbury conveys the property to Charles Smith yeoman also of Almondsbury. The property is then described as: ‘All those two messuages or tenements with one garden behind each and other the appurtentances thereto respectively enjoying situate and being within the town of Thornbury in the honor? of Thornbury in the county of Gloucester now in the several tenures or occupations of George Longlings labourer and Isaac Edmunds labourer which said respective premises have been for more than a century last past the property of and enjoyed by the said William Taylor and his ancestors’. Note that we believe the reference to George Longlings is a mistake and it should have been George Longden who was mentioned in all other sources from 1780 through to 1819. We believe that the reference to the property being ‘two messuages’ is because it was divided into separate houses as it was in the 1840 Tithe Map.
William Taylor was the son of William Taylor and his wife Sarah (the daughter of Arthur Ayleworth) referred to above. He passed the property to Charles Smith who had married his daughter, Sarah Taylor in Almondsbury on 14th February 1795.
The Land Tax records for 1797 and 1800 were still showing the owner as ‘Mr Taylor’ but possibly they were just a little late with catching up.
A schedule in the deeds of 28 Castle Street shows that Charles Smith conveyed the property to Abraham Riddiford on 25th March 1802. George Longden was the tenant in both those years and he continued to live there as tenant to Abraham Riddiford until his burial on 1st March 1821 aged 81.
Click here to read the later owners of 28 and 28A Castle Street