The photograph above shows 16 High Street when it was a watch and clock shop owned by William Yarnold.
Our earliest record is the 1840 Tithe Survey in which the property was listed as Plot 62, a house and garden owned by Thomas Osborne Wetmore and then void.
We are grateful to Nicholas Cooper who allowed us to see a set of the deeds for the property. The earliest deed is dated 1885 but the details refer back to many of the earlier owners and occupants of the property. This enables to go back to the time to the late 1700s.
The building appears to be much older as the Historic England website says that it is a ‘late C18 remodelling of C17 building. Rendered.’
The description says that the property has some interesting features including ‘Hipped pantile roof behind parapet and cornice. Three storeys. One window, 16-pane glazing bar sash with architrave. Large later bay on ground floor. Four-panel door to right with decorative overlight. Modern door to left replaced by fixed screen. Interior: Cellar has a re-used ovolo moulded mullion window. Room at rear has a segmental headed fireplace with keystone and ovolo moulded jambs.’
Nicholas Cooper tells us that the walls, including the frontage, are lathe and plaster and members of the Thornbury Christmas Lights team were regularly told not to try and affix Christmas lights to the frontage as they might not be as securely fixed as they appear to be.
An indenture dated 29th September 1885 describes the property as being ‘wherein Ursula Cotton formerly dwelt afterwards in the occupation of Obadiah Anbury (sic) since of Hugh Donne and now, or late, of the Reverend Thomas Kirkby as tenant’ and ‘situate in a street called High Street adjoining on the southward side to a messuage formerly of Thomas Hendy but now of Thomas Morgan on the northward side to the passageway or entrance to the dwelling house called Park House formerly belonging to the said William Henry Councell but the property of Doctor Edward Mills Grace’.
Ursula Cotten
Ursula was baptised in Oldbury on 30th January 1721. She was the daughter of John Thurston and his wife, Ursula (nee Parnell) who were ‘of Kington’. In his will dated 1739, Ursula’s father left her ‘all the furniture in the best chamber and all the linen and silks in the chest of drawers in that chamber, one silver tankard marked ‘U T Junior’, one silver porringer, eight silver spoons and two silver salts’.
Ursula Thurston’s first marriage was to William Giles whom she married in Thornbury on 2nd July 1741. We know from a court roll dated 14th February 1742 that William and Ursula surrendered three closes of land in Kington called Moor Leaze, Lower Foxes and Woodcock Hill to John Thurston.
William died shortly after the marriage and he was buried in Westbury on Trym Methodist Church on 2nd August 1741. On 27th December 1747 Ursula was described as a widow when she married Henry Cotten, a paper merchant from Bristol. That marriage took place in Thornbury. The marriage licence bond was for ‘Henry Cotton’ of City of Bristol, gentleman, and Ursula Giles of Thornbury, widow and was dated 27th December 1747.
There are various spellings and versions of the name of Ursula’s husband. Some sources, including the IGI quote the parish record and say that Ursula’s husband was called ‘William’ Cotten. Other sources clearly say that their children were descended from ‘Henry’ and Ursula Cotten. Some sources also clearly call spell the surname as ‘Cotton.’ The Bristol Industrial Society explains that Henry was probably apprenticed in 1729 as a papermaker to Ben Davies a papermaker of Overbury in Worcestershire. The same source says that he had a ‘paper business at the Golden Lion on Bristol Bridge from 1740 to 1761.’ We know a little more about this business from another connection to Thornbury, his wife’s nephew Kingsmill Grove, whose will of 1811 referred to his business premises as a ‘loft or warehouse situate in the parish of Saint Thomas and City of Bristol in a certain street there now called Bath Street but heretofore called Tucker Street and which I bought and purchased of and from the Trustees of Henry Cotton (sic) deceased and which is now in the possession of Thomas Vining and sons.’ The Bristol Directory of 1775 shows that the premises in this street (which lies in the area of what later became Courage’s Brewery and is next to Bristol Bridge) included Kingsmill Grove, a papermaker”
The Rent Roll of 1754 show that Henry Cotten was listed as one of the Customary Tenants of Kington and he paid 5s 2d at Lady Day and Michaelmas for ‘Giles’s’, presumably a property associated with the family of Ursula’s first husband, possibly that which we know as 16 High St.
Ursula and Henry (or William) Cotten had two sons, Henry born about 1748 and George born about 1761, and at least two daughters, Amelia and Lydia (who was baptised on 2nd April 1750).
We believe that Henry (and presumably his wife and family) primarily lived in Bristol rather than Thornbury, although they obviously had strong links to Thornbury. In November 1758 for example when William Grove and Maria Thurston were married, Henry Cotton of the City of Bristol was a witness. His involvement in the accompanying marriage bond was such that the groom and Henry Cotton were bound to pay the sum of £500.
Henry died about 1769. His last will was dated 29th July 1766. He arranged for £1000 to be put into trust and the income used to support his wife. He mentions two sons, William and Benjamin, whom we suspect were from a previous marriage. There was a Benjamin Cotten baptised on 22nd May 1741 at St Nicholas Church, Bristol. He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth Cotten. The will mentions that William had already been advanced £100 to enable him to set up in business and Benjamin and been advanced £400. Henry junior was to be given the opportunity of taking over the paper making business and his father’s house if he desired although he had to pay a fair price set by the trustees.
Henry jnr (late of Bristol) died aged 27 on 10th September 1775. His brother, George, died at Whitebrooke aged 17 on 24th May 1778. Amelia, died and was buried on 11th September 1782. In her last will and testament dated 15th August 1780 she was described as a spinster living in the Parish of Thornbury. Amelia left her personal estate to her mother during her lifetime and then to her sister, Lydia. Lydia married Neville Bath in 1771 in St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol. It is possible that there may have been a third daughter as a Mary Cotten married Benjamin Davies in Thornbury on 19th July 1781 and Lydia Bath was one of the witnesses. Mary is not mentioned in Ursula’s will.
Ursula died in December 1788 was buried on 2nd January 1789. Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal of 3rd January 1789 says that she died at Thornbury and described her as ‘relict of the late Mr Henry Cotton, an eminent paper- maker of this city’ (that is, Bristol).
Her last will and testament was dated 3rd February 1787 and proved on 17th July 1789. She left the house where she was living (which was still being described as ‘in or near the Town of Thornbury’) to her daughter, Lydia, during her life time and after her death it was left to Lydia’s daughter, Ursula Maria Bath. Ursula also left £700 of money in the hands of her nephew, Kingsmill Grove and secured by his bond to Neville Bath in trust for him to pay out various financial bequests. Four shillings each week should be paid to Ursula’s brother, Samuel Thurston subject to him signing for the receipt of such sums each week. The rest would be used for the education and maintenance of Ursula’s grand-daughter, Ursula Maria Bath until she reaches the age of 21 and then she would be left the whole of the principal sum and interest. It is interesting to note that she left her grand-daughter her silver tankard inscribed ‘UT’ which she had been left by her father and six table spoons marked ‘UC to UMB’. Ursula also left five guineas each to her brothers, John and Edward and to her sister in law, Alice Vaughan.
The will of Thomas Barton, a butcher, dated 1st November 1770 suggests that he was expecting to inherit Ursula’s property following her death. It said ‘Whereas I, with Sarah my wife, lately surrendered into the hands of the then Lord of this said Manor To the uses of my Will the Reversion or Remainder Expectant after the death of Ursula Cotten of the City of Bristol, widow and relict of Henry Cotten, late of the same City, Papermaker deceased, of and in a customary messuage or tenement wherein I now dwell with several closes of ground, orchard lands, and premises situate in the Tything of Kington within the said Parish and Manor of Thornbury. Now I do hereby give and devise the said Reversion or Remainder Expectant as aforesaid of and in the said messuage or tenement and all and singular the several closes of ground, orchards, lands and premises which I and my said wife have surrendered as aforesaid and also all other the Copyhold or Customary Closes, lands, tenements and hereditaments situate within the said Manor over which I have by my last Will and Testament or Disposing power, unto my good and trusty friend Thomas Cox of Kington aforesaid Yeoman’.
Thomas had married Sarah Giles on 8th February 1740, so was Ursula’s brother in law through her marriage to William Giles. However Thomas died before Ursula and the property was left to her daughter.
Lydia Bath
After Ursula Cotten’s death in 1788 the property descended to her daughter, Lydia. She had married Neville Bath in St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol in 1771. They had a daughter, Ursula Maria Bath, born on 20th August 1772 and baptised in Thornbury on 16th September 1772. The baptism record shows her father, Neville, was a cutler and that the family were then living in Bristol. Another daughter, Margaret, died aged 3 months on 1st September 1775.
Ursula Maria Bath
On 20th April 1802 Ursula Maria married Winchcombe Hartley Willis in Foxley, Wiltshire. Winchcombe was the son of Reverend Henry Willis and his wife, Jane (nee Lubbock) and brother to Temperance Jane Willis and Louisa Laver both of whom had connections with Thornbury.
Winchcombe’s family led a colourful life. Winchcombe himself was no exception. We found a record showing Winchcombe started life as an apprentice to an apothecary in Gloucester in 1787. We are grateful to Eric Lubbock (now Lord Avebury) for allowing us to share some of the family story. He found that Winchcombe was supposed to take ship as mate in May 1794 but missed the boat, running up bills for coffee houses, a hairdresser, breeches maker and hire of coach in the process. Mr S Howard of Southampton Street, London, in whose care the wayward youth had evidently been placed, excused himself to Winchcombe’s father, saying that he had ‘discourag’d all extravagance and had him with me as much as my engagements would admit of’. Mr Howard wrote plaintively: ‘how the mistake of letting the ship go without him happen’d I can’t imagine’.
Winchcombe had been expensively kitted out for his career at sea. A letter from John Bulman dated June 16 1794, says: ‘I am informed by Mr Howard of Southampton Street to whom I have made application that you have given him Orders not to discharge at present my small Bill delivered some time ago amounting to £(illegible) for Cloths made up for your Son before his departure from England – and the reason he assigns for this unexpected delay of Payment is you think too high a Charge has been made – in this particular I am confident no Man in London would have been more reasonable considering the very expensive manner and the number of Buttons &c – they were made up with and at the request of your Son every thing is stated at the very lowest price for present money, which he informed me would be the Case, and that Mr Howard had full directions to discharge those small matters. I should esteem it a particular favour if you would now give that Gentleman leave to settle – with me as I have several very pressing decisions which require all the money I can possibly raise and a Line for that purpose will much oblige‘. The ‘small Bill’ for uniforms apparently came to £11-8-6. Eric noted that Mr Bulman would have been lucky to get paid, for less than three weeks after the date of this appeal, Winchcombe’s father, Henry Willis, died on July 4 1794.
Evidently Winchcombe did finally put to sea. As an Ensign of His Majesty’s sloop ‘Osprey’, he captured a French privateer Le Diable in the West Indies. Unfortunately Winchcombe died there shortly afterwards in 1803, suffering from a fever. It was only a a few months after his marriage with Ursula Maria. Letters held by Gloucester Records Office show a representative of the English inhabitants of St Lucia described their admiration of Ensign Willis who had apparently attacked the French privateer with a handful of soldiers and forced them to surrender. The prize was a valuable one as the sloop was auctioned and fetched (together with the provisions on board £146 2s, of which £142 10s was paid to Ursula. (By 2010, £142 0s 0d from 1804 was worth £122,000.00 using average earnings). The documents show that Ursula shared her reward with members of her husband’s crew, although it is not clear how much she gave away. Ursula was also given a plate bought by a collection from the grateful inhabitants of the island who had been subject to “annoyance” from the privateer.
We note that Winchcombe was honoured by the family of Joseph and Louisa Laver when they named a son ‘Winchcombe Willis Laver’ born in 1804.
We know that Ursula Maria re-married as she is noted as being Ursula Maria “Brooks” (more properly Brookes) in a schedule of documents relating to Le Diablo. We have been contacted by Neil and Alison Fagan who tell us that Ursula’s husband was William Matthews Brookes. We have found on the internet that there is a record of the marriage at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square on 2nd August 1813 by licence between “William Matthews Brookes of this parish and Ursula Maria Willis a widow of Slough co. Bucks.” We understand that William was the son of William Philpot Brookes.
It seems that William was much younger than Ursula and that the marriage occurred after his return to England from the Peninsular War late in 1809 (aged only 20). William was appointed Surgeon of the 1st Royal Surrey Militia and served with that unit until his death. We do not believe that there were children to this marriage. William was buried in the family vault at Mitcheldean in the Forest of Dean. The National Archives show that probate of William’s will was granted 11th October 1819.
The schedule referred to earlier is an indenture of lease and release dated 18th and 19th July 1818, the release between Ursula Maria Brookes of the Town of Ross in the County of Hereford widow of the first part, Joseph Laver of the parish of Thornbury mercer of the 2nd part and George Laver shopkeeper of the third part. Ursula Maria Brookes ‘widow of Ross in Herefordshire’ died in 1824. She appears to have been buried in St Martins in the Fields in London, although it is noted that her age at death was given as 41 and not 51.
Ursula left the bulk of her estate to two of William’s brothers, Samuel Philpot Brookes (surgeon of Ross) and Thomas Brookes (solicitor of Tewkesbury) both of whom had Thornbury connections. She also left small bequests to Temperance Jane Willis, Sophia Willis and Louisa Laver. Temperance and Louisa are definitely Ursula’s sisters-in-law and we assume Sophia is also a sister-in-law although according to information from a family researcher, Eric Avebury, she died young. Later that same year Samuel Philpot Brookes married Sophia Willis in Thornbury and it is assumed that she was the one mentioned in Ursula’s will especially as the witnesses at the wedding were Joseph and Harriet Laver. Sophia and Samuel had a daughter, Jane Temperance in 1827 who seems to have lived most of her life in Thornbury until her death in 1882 (she is mentioned in St Marys monumental inscriptions). As Samuel was accidently drowned in 1829 it seems likely that Sophia and Jane moved to Thornbury to live with relatives. There is another marriage record for Samuel and Sophia a few weeks after the Thornbury ceremony. This took place in a Roman Catholic church in Newport on the Isle of Wight. Perhaps one of them was a Roman Catholic and hence the second ceremony.
Joseph Laver
Joseph acquired the property from his sister-in-law, Ursula Maria Brookes in 1818. Joseph had married Louisa Willis on 8th March 1801 in Westbury on Trym, Bristol. Louisa was the daughter of Henry Willis and his wife, Jane (nee Lubbock) and sister of Winchcombe Willis, who had briefly been married to Ursula Maria Bath (see above). On 7th and 8th April 1820 an indenture of lease and release shows that Joseph conveyed the property to Thomas Osborne Wetmore. Click here to read more about Joseph
We do know from the indenture dated 29th September 1885 the names of two people who occupied the property after Ursula Cotton but not when they lived there.
- Obadiah Anbury (or Anburey) – he and his wife Eleanor had moved to Thornbury from Peckham in London around 1802. He had been a clerk in the accounts office of the East India Company. He was listed as the occupant of the property in the 1809 Rent Roll when he was a tenant of Mrs Bath. He moved to live at 13 The Plain. Click here to read more
- Hugh Donne – we don’t know much about Hugh. We are assuming he was the Hugh Prew Donne who married Ann Willet Allen in Holy Trinity Church, Westbury on Trym on 26th September 1818. He was an accountant and was living in Thornbury at the time of his marriage. We do not know what happened to Hugh after his marriage. However the Bristol Times of October 26th 1830 has an article about Hugh Donne ‘late cashier in the Bank of Messrs Guest Lewis and Co at Cardiff .’ Apparently after he had been missing from home for a few months, the bank he was employed by did an investigation which revealed that over £3000 had been ‘plundered’ by him. Other people also claimed to have entrusted him with money to invest but now their money was missing. Interestingly the newspaper felt there was an explanation for his complete disappearance, saying ‘it is probable that he has escaped to that land of privilege – America.’ We cannot be sure that this gentleman is the same Hugh Donne but it is one explanation for the lack of information about him.
Thomas Osborne Wetmore
Thomas was a major property owner in Thornbury. The 1840 Tithe Survey shows as well as owning Plot 62 he also owned and occupied the adjoining Plots 59, 60 and 61, and owned Plots 54 and 55, (including The White Lion), Plots 121 and 122 (the property at the junction of Bath Road and Rock Street and the adjoining garden land) and Plot 213 (4 St John Street). He later acquired The Chantry, and the Porch House (10/11 The Plain). Read more about the Wetmore family
Thomas’s main home was at Park House. We suspect he acquired 16 High Street so that he could divide the garden at the rear of that property and incorporate part of it into his own garden at Park House. He let 16 High Street out to tenants. Following Thomas’s death in 1868, his property was put up for sale. This property was simply described as ‘Lot 6 – all that freehold residence situate and being in the High Street, Thornbury and lately let at a rental of £18 per annum, but at present vacant‘.
We are not sure who occupied the property prior to 1859 when it was occupied by Samuel Smith.
Samuel Court Smith
Samuel was a tailor. The 1859 Rate Book shows that he was living in the house as a tenant of Thomas Osborne Wetmore. By 1862 Samuel appears to have moved to one of the two buildings which now make up Wildings which was also owned by Thomas Osborne Wetmore. Read more about Samuel Court Smith
Mary Ann Lewis
The 1861 Census shows the property was occupied by Mary Ann Lewis, a clergyman’s widow aged 75 and born in Breconshire. She was living there with three of her grandchildren. The 1862 Rate Book shows the ‘Revd. Lewis’ was living there, but we think that this was a mistake unless it referred to one of her sons, two of whom became clergymen. Mary Ann had been married to the Reverend Thomas Lewis, an Anglican cleric born in Carmarthen in 1780. He graduated from Wadham College, Oxford in 1804, married Mary Ann Thomas in Breconshire in 1805 and they had eight children. Thomas’s first posting was at Woolaston, Gloucs (1804-1813), then briefly at Rushbury, Shropshire, before returning to his homeland in 1815 as rector of Merthyr and perpetual curate of Llangynog and Llanstephan until his death in 1842. In addition to having two sons who were clergymen, two of their daughters married clergymen, including one, Clara Eleanor, who married John Field who was a schoolmaster at the Thornbury Grammar School in late 1850s and 1860’s. This may have led Mary Ann to come to live in Thornbury. Mary Ann died in Almondsbury in 1867.
William Henry Councell
William was the owner of the property in the 1876 Rate Book onwards until he sold the property for £375 in 1885. During this period, William appears to have continued to let the property to a series of Wesleyan Ministers. Click here to read more about the Councells
The Wesleyan Ministers
For several years the property became the home of the various Wesleyan ministers. The Chapel was then located in Chapel Street in the building now used as The Cossham Hall.
The 1871 Census notes that Elisha Middle Shearn, a Wesleyan Minister, was living there. He was aged 33 from Bath living with his wife, Elsie Ellen aged 27 from Poole and their children: Herbert Frank aged 3 , Eleanor aged 2, both born in Castle Cary, and Gertrude Lillie born on 11th October 1869 in Thornbury and baptised in the Wesleyan Chapel on 18th March 1870. We know from the Bristol Mercury that Elisha was on a rota involving him once every six weeks being the minster of the church at Kingswood. By 1872 Elisha had moved to become a minister in Banwell.
The 1876 Rate Book notes that Revd George Robinson was the tenant of W. H. Councell. The 1877 and 1878 Gas Rate Books list Revd Thomas Howson as the occupant, although his name is crossed through indicating that he had moved elsewhere. In 1880 the Revd Peter Prescott was there. In the 1881 census Peter was aged 59 and born in Gateshead. He was living there with his wife, Hannah M aged 25 from Kempley in Gloucestershire. In 1885 at the time that William Yarnold bought the house on 14th August the property was occupied by Revd. Thomas Kirkby at £19.00 a year for £375. The 1885 Rate Book notes that Mrs R. W. Kirkby was there.
The Yarnolds
On August 14th 1885 the Bristol Mercury had an article which said that William Yarnold had bought a premises in the High Street which was occupied by the Rev. T. ‘Kirby’ at £19.00 a year for £375. This was at at auction at the Swan but the legalities must have taken a little longer as the conveyance is dated 29th September 1885 and confirms that the property was sold by William Henry Councell to William Yarnold. The purchase was funded by a mortgage arranged with George Danvers Crossman dated 30th September 1885. The mortgage describes the property as ‘now in or late of [the occupation] of the Reverend Thomas Kirby’. An indenture of the same date sold a piece of land and a wall belonging to what is now 16 High Street to his next door neighbour, Edward Mills Grace, for £3.00. William didn’t move in immediately. The 1887 Rate Book shows that William Vowles was a tenant of the house and yard. It seems likely that William Vowles moved out of the property in the following couple of years as the 1891 Census shows him at The Plain. Click here to read more about William Vowles. By the 1890 Rate Book William Yarnold was listed as the owner and occupier.
William was a watch and clockmaker. The house was given the name ‘Caerwent’ after the birthplace of William’s wife, Ella. He operated his business in the property. It was eventually taken over by his son, Victor. The deeds include a conveyance dated 11th September 1930 which transferred ownership of the property from William Yarnold to Victor Gerald Yarnold for £850. The conveyance says that the purchaser Victore Yarnold occupied the property.
He is listed as being at 16 High Street in the 1958 Electoral Register but by 1959 it had become The Mayor’s Parlour. Read about the Yarnold family
In 1958 the property was put up for sale. It was described as having four floors and a large cellar. On the ground floor was the shop, cloakroom with W.C., a dining room/bedroom, kitchen and scullery. On the first floor there was a lounge, kitchen/dining room, bathroom, bedroom and long passage. There were two more bedrooms on the second floor and two attics on the third floor.
The Mayors Parlour
John Ottway Richard Tupper and his wife, Suzanne Denise Boswell of Ringtail Cottage, Lower Morton purchased the property from Victor Gerald Yarnold on 16th January 1959. They paid £4,400.
The Mayors Parlour was a cafe and cake shop run by the Tuppers from 1959 to 1964. The programme of the Thornbury Flower Show in 1962 shows that the cafe had a section selling pottery, leather goods and glass. We have a profile of the Tupper family written about 1965 by Mary Neathey and printed in the Outlook Magazine produced by the Thornbury and District Community Association. It mentions that the name of the cafe was suggested by Sir Algar Howard who pointed out that the cafe was close to where the Mayor had served coffee in his parlour to his fellow councillors and the incumbent of the parish on Christmas morning. We assume he was referring to the Booth Hall which we believe to have been located on the upper floor of the nearby Market House. Click here to read a full transcription of that profile
On 16th October 1964 the Tuppers sold the property to a group of auctioneers and estate agents, Messrs W. J. King, J. A. King, G. l. Brice and D Cooper, operating under the name of King Miles. They paid £9, 050. The Tuppers moved to live in Blandford Forum.
The property has been used by various estate agents following on from King Miles, then Alder King, Black Horse Agencies and later Chappell and Matthews. Nicholas Cooper has explained that although the names on the signs outside changed from time to time, there was actually more continuity than might be expected. ‘David Cooper bought the premises with his business partners in 1964. They sold the business King Miles to Black Horse Agencies (Lloyds Bank) in 1986 but kept ownership of their various estate agency premises so Black
Horse became tenants of David Cooper. As landlord he watched Black Horse Agencies sell to Bradford and Bingley and so on with the business tenants changing from time to time eventually being Chappell and Mathews in name but they were owned by Countrywide Estate agents and it was Countrywide who eventually terminated their lease after it having been surveying and estate agency premises for 57 years 35 of those under my uncle’s business King Miles.‘ We understand that the Chappell and Mathews tenancy ended 22nd February 2021 but they vacated the building a few months earlier. In 2025 the building is still unoccupied while planning permission is being sought.