R. Poole's, At Brook and Great House Streets, Timberscombe, 1909
Title
R. Poole's, At Brook and Great House Streets, Timberscombe, 1909
Subject
Description
A photograph, dated 1909, that features R. Poole's Shop, a Grocer, Tailor and Draper in Timberscombe. It was run by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Poole.
An 1882 Indenture records the selling of Lion Inn, the public house in Timberscombe, to Mr. Joseph Ruscombe Poole by Mr. John Pourrsey. The sale of Lion Inn included three cottages, either abutting or neighbouring (1). Lion Inn is just across the road from R. Poole's Shop (the inn is not visible in this photograph). Joseph Ruscombe Poole is not known to have been related to Robert Poole but R. Poole's Shop was one of those cottages.
Over the doorway is a shop sign reading "R. POOLE TAILOR, DRAPER, GROCER ". Robert Poole was born in Timberscombe in 1867 to Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Huxtable) Poole (2). He died in 1932 (3). It is probably Mrs. Poole standing the doorway, with a "French" styled door, the left panel closed. She was Emily Ann Boyer and they married in 1892 (4). Over the shop sign are two V-shaped emblems, advertising FRY'S COCOA on the left and FRY'S CHOCOLATE on the right. Another FRY'S CHOCOLATE sign is below the centre shop window, with apparently yet another FRY'S poster to it's left. The shop is at the corner of the southern end of Brook Street and Great House Street. Mr. and Mrs. Poole are listed as being on Great House Street in 1910 (5) and the 1901 Census indicates they lived at the shop.
It is not completely clear if the door to the left of the shop's door is part of Mr. and Mrs. Poole's property or a separate place. A box of some sort is at it's front. Both areas will be altered after this photograph. The door seen to the left will be removed and either another door will be added nearer to the door of Poole's (or they will share a door), covered by the same gabled porch. These alterations can be seen at SP-029. The ground floor window between the doors (as seen in this photograph) will become a bay window, more similar to the Poole's window. These alterations occur as it appears that these two establishments become known as The Stores (as seen at SP-032), operated by Mrs. E.H. Hyde (6). It was apparently still called Poole's by villagers. In "AWAY & HOME - WORLD WAR II, Somerset and Essex, 1939-1945", a memoir written by Pat Herniman and published by Papermill Press, Little Baddow in 2016, she recalls being evacuated to Timberscombe during World War II to live with her grandparents, Harry and Annie Prole, at Kiln Farmhouse. She writes vividly of her aunt, Phyllis Prole (later Bryant), working "at Poole's shop next door to Burnell's, the butcher just across from the Lion". "Auntie Phyl" was at work at 7AM to joint half a pig for the slicer, strip muslin off of cheese, to make ready for the cheese board with a wire cutter and weigh and bag bulk supplies of sugar, coffee and tea (7).
In later years, the shops do become separate residences, Brooklyn to the left and Butterflies on the end, remaining part of the property of The Lion Inn.
The cottage on the left edge of the photograph will become called Ye Olde Malthouse. It is identified as "Old Malt House" on the 1939 Register of England and Wales, when it is a butcher shop run by Ernest and Rhitta Burnell and is the shop referred to as "Burnell's" by Pat Herniman in her memoir. Here, in 1909, it may be a slaughterhouse, servicing S. J. Stenner's Butcher Shop (8), on the northern end of this row (not visible in this photograph). Two men and a wheelbarrow are at its door. The thatched roof over all three cottages (looking rather worn over the future Ye Olde Malthouse) will be replaced by slate in the coming years. In 2023, during further renovations, the name of Ye Olde Malthouse was altered to The Old Malt House.
The building seen on the right edge of the photograph is Slade Cottage, which faces the right side of Great House Street, if approaching from this direction. Slade Cottage will later be rendered. Two windows are enclosed on the first storey of the right side of Slade Cottage, possibly to avoid extra Window Tax. These are later opened up and other windows will be added to the building's front (there may already be enclosed windows, and perhaps a door here). Slade Cottage is possibly post-medieval and a former mill (9). The stream that flows through Timberscombe passes along Slade Cottage's right side.
The rubble stone wall, seen on the bottom right of the photograph, extends from Lion Inn, one of two Timberscombe pubs in 1909, the other being the Rose and Crown on the northeastern end of Brook Street, operating from at least 1825 to 1915 (10)
Labeled across the bottom of the photograph is "THE VILLAGE, TIMBERSCOMBE 1596". In 2019 a copy of this well known photograph was donated by Maurice Huxtable, a descendent of Robert Poole's mother and the owner of Ye Olde Malthouse. Edgar Webber of Cutcombe donated a second version in 2020. In 2021, John D. Jones, of Monmouthshire, also donated a copy from the estate of his aunt, Mrs. Mary Wright, who was Head Teacher at the Timberscombe School from 1976 to 1985. The version of the photograph, seen here, is from an anonymous donor.
An 1882 Indenture records the selling of Lion Inn, the public house in Timberscombe, to Mr. Joseph Ruscombe Poole by Mr. John Pourrsey. The sale of Lion Inn included three cottages, either abutting or neighbouring (1). Lion Inn is just across the road from R. Poole's Shop (the inn is not visible in this photograph). Joseph Ruscombe Poole is not known to have been related to Robert Poole but R. Poole's Shop was one of those cottages.
Over the doorway is a shop sign reading "R. POOLE TAILOR, DRAPER, GROCER ". Robert Poole was born in Timberscombe in 1867 to Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Huxtable) Poole (2). He died in 1932 (3). It is probably Mrs. Poole standing the doorway, with a "French" styled door, the left panel closed. She was Emily Ann Boyer and they married in 1892 (4). Over the shop sign are two V-shaped emblems, advertising FRY'S COCOA on the left and FRY'S CHOCOLATE on the right. Another FRY'S CHOCOLATE sign is below the centre shop window, with apparently yet another FRY'S poster to it's left. The shop is at the corner of the southern end of Brook Street and Great House Street. Mr. and Mrs. Poole are listed as being on Great House Street in 1910 (5) and the 1901 Census indicates they lived at the shop.
It is not completely clear if the door to the left of the shop's door is part of Mr. and Mrs. Poole's property or a separate place. A box of some sort is at it's front. Both areas will be altered after this photograph. The door seen to the left will be removed and either another door will be added nearer to the door of Poole's (or they will share a door), covered by the same gabled porch. These alterations can be seen at SP-029. The ground floor window between the doors (as seen in this photograph) will become a bay window, more similar to the Poole's window. These alterations occur as it appears that these two establishments become known as The Stores (as seen at SP-032), operated by Mrs. E.H. Hyde (6). It was apparently still called Poole's by villagers. In "AWAY & HOME - WORLD WAR II, Somerset and Essex, 1939-1945", a memoir written by Pat Herniman and published by Papermill Press, Little Baddow in 2016, she recalls being evacuated to Timberscombe during World War II to live with her grandparents, Harry and Annie Prole, at Kiln Farmhouse. She writes vividly of her aunt, Phyllis Prole (later Bryant), working "at Poole's shop next door to Burnell's, the butcher just across from the Lion". "Auntie Phyl" was at work at 7AM to joint half a pig for the slicer, strip muslin off of cheese, to make ready for the cheese board with a wire cutter and weigh and bag bulk supplies of sugar, coffee and tea (7).
In later years, the shops do become separate residences, Brooklyn to the left and Butterflies on the end, remaining part of the property of The Lion Inn.
The cottage on the left edge of the photograph will become called Ye Olde Malthouse. It is identified as "Old Malt House" on the 1939 Register of England and Wales, when it is a butcher shop run by Ernest and Rhitta Burnell and is the shop referred to as "Burnell's" by Pat Herniman in her memoir. Here, in 1909, it may be a slaughterhouse, servicing S. J. Stenner's Butcher Shop (8), on the northern end of this row (not visible in this photograph). Two men and a wheelbarrow are at its door. The thatched roof over all three cottages (looking rather worn over the future Ye Olde Malthouse) will be replaced by slate in the coming years. In 2023, during further renovations, the name of Ye Olde Malthouse was altered to The Old Malt House.
The building seen on the right edge of the photograph is Slade Cottage, which faces the right side of Great House Street, if approaching from this direction. Slade Cottage will later be rendered. Two windows are enclosed on the first storey of the right side of Slade Cottage, possibly to avoid extra Window Tax. These are later opened up and other windows will be added to the building's front (there may already be enclosed windows, and perhaps a door here). Slade Cottage is possibly post-medieval and a former mill (9). The stream that flows through Timberscombe passes along Slade Cottage's right side.
The rubble stone wall, seen on the bottom right of the photograph, extends from Lion Inn, one of two Timberscombe pubs in 1909, the other being the Rose and Crown on the northeastern end of Brook Street, operating from at least 1825 to 1915 (10)
Labeled across the bottom of the photograph is "THE VILLAGE, TIMBERSCOMBE 1596". In 2019 a copy of this well known photograph was donated by Maurice Huxtable, a descendent of Robert Poole's mother and the owner of Ye Olde Malthouse. Edgar Webber of Cutcombe donated a second version in 2020. In 2021, John D. Jones, of Monmouthshire, also donated a copy from the estate of his aunt, Mrs. Mary Wright, who was Head Teacher at the Timberscombe School from 1976 to 1985. The version of the photograph, seen here, is from an anonymous donor.
Creator
Anonymous
Source
Date
1909
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
R. Poole's / Timberscombe / Brook Street
Acquisition Date
2019
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Shops / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
12 X 20.5
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) in 2018, a copy of the Indenture was described and sold on ebay.co.uk (2) 1871 England Census and Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (3) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (4) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (5) TIMBERSCOMBE 1910 LIST OF RESIDENTS, minehead-online.co.uk (6) 1939 England and Wales Register which lists Mrs. Hyde as the shopkeeper of The Stores on Brook Street and the reverses of two RA Series Postcards, seen at SP-037and SP-049, which were co-published by Mrs. E. H. Hyde of The Stores, Timberscombe (and which are in the same style as SP-032, a postcard which represents The Stores on Brook Street) (7) a typed copy of Chapter 1, "TOWN MICE TO COUNTRY MICE" (a title changed to "Escape to the Country" before publication) of "AWAY & HOME-WORLD WAR II, Somerset and Essex, 1939-1945", published in 2016 by Papermill Books, Little Baddow and written by Pat Herniman was donated in 2016 to the St. Petrock's History Group and is archived in the St. Petrock's History Group Archive PERSONAL HISTORIES (8) as recalled in 2018 by Peter Bright of Orchard Close, which was a slaughterhouse servicing the businesses on Brook Street, as well as other residents of Timberscombe (9) as recalled in 2019 by Paul Sheldon of Marigold Holme, next door to Slade Cottage (10) VictoriaCounty History.ac.uk
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archives
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-034
Technique
Copy
Citation
Anonymous, “R. Poole's, At Brook and Great House Streets, Timberscombe, 1909,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 6, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3152.
Comments