Church Steps Cottage at the Centre of Timberscombe, c. 1904 and the Listed Drinking Trough
Title
Church Steps Cottage at the Centre of Timberscombe, c. 1904 and the Listed Drinking Trough
Subject
Description
Two versions of a postcard, labeled "Timberscombe Village" and featuring the centre of Timberscombe. The photograph was taken and published as a postcard by Henry Montague Cooper. While printed sources have identified the photograph as being taken c. 1906 (1), the second version of the postcard would seem to date it to at least 1904.
To the left, a young man with his horse is at the right front of Lion Inn. From before 1690, the Spurrier family held licenses for alehouses in Timberscombe. They owned the Red Lion, in operation by 1724, at a location described as being opposite Lion Inn's location. Lion Inn originated as The Boot, operating by 1820 and becoming Lion Inn by 1841. Likely it was affiliated with the former Red Lion which apparently had become a private house by the early 19th century (2). It has been suggested that the house seen in the centre of this photograph may have been reconstructed on the site of Red Lion. It has also been said Red Lion was to the left of Lion Inn, situated along the current Jubilee Terrace. Other theories cite that Red Lion was located on Brook Street, perhaps in the area of The Old Malt House (3).
Former Red Lion or not, the house seen here is the early 19th century Church Steps Cottage (4), well-named as the cobblestoned church steps, that lead up to the 12th century St. Petrock's Church (5), are seen to the cottage's right. More certainly, Church Steps Cottage was the former village Poor House, as depicted on the 1843 Tithe Map, when it was owned by James Hole, Esquire and occupied by John "Locke" and "others". This is likely John Lock, born in Timberscombe c. 1801 and who died 5 July 1846 and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard (6). On the 1841 Census, Mr. Lock, with his wife, Ann (nee Edwards) Lock (7) and five of their children are at another address in the village--it is not the Poor House, listed on the previous page with three other inhabitants. Perhaps worryingly, stamped next to the Lock family is a PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE stamp with an unreadable section, not seen by any other Timberscombe names.
The tower to the church is visible on the right edge of the photograph. A lamp is at the top of the steps, which still remains-or at least has been replaced by a good copy. By the 1844-1888 Ordnance Survey Map, Church Steps Cottage was divided into two cottages, No. 1 Church Steps and No. 2. The enclosed first storey window, visible in this photograph, remained enclosed in 1950 (8) but was eventually reopened. The left door (to No. 1) was later enhanced with a three-sided stone and windowed porch, approached by steps on it's left-- as it appears is the case with this earlier door as well. The right door, where a person is seated in this photograph, in modern times has a half-gabled porch over the entry.
Church Street Cottage remained two residences in 1973 when No. 1 was purchased by Stephen and Maureen Waters. It had been a house that lodged farm workers at the time, as recalled by Mrs. Waters in 2020. A few years later Mr. and Mrs. Waters assumed the entire house. Also in 2020, Maureen Waters kindly showed an enlarged version of this photograph that was framed over her mantel.
The road continuing up the hill, to the left of Church Steps, is Church Street. The house most apparent up the street, is a section of the 18th century Great House Farm (9). The door seen at its' front centre will later become a window (the outline of the door is still visible) and this section of Great House Farm later contained Yew Cottage. Most of Great House Farm was rebuilt in the 19th century, with Yew Cottage area retaining most of its'18th century origins (10). A lower part of a front lateral stack and the roof (possibly thatched here) of Great House Farm are overshadowed by the imposing yew tree in the northeastern part of the churchyard, likely here since 1400 (11).
Also of note, on the bottom right of the photograph, in front of the stone wall to the churchyard, a stone-gabled rectangular drinking trough is visible. Originally this has been identified as post-medieval (12) but it is late 19th century. While difficult to read in modern times, the trough is inscribed on the rear to James Hole, Esquire, the former owner of Church Steps Cottage, who died in 1876 and his first wife, Mary, who died in 1855 (13). Mr. Hole was the surviving member of the Hole family, that by the middle 1800's had purchased over a third of the land in the parish of Timberscombe, creating what was known as the Knowle Estate (14). Within three months after James Hole's death, his daughter and heir, also Mary Hole, married Alexander Wynch, a Lt. Colonel of the Royal Artillery at St. James in Westminster, London (15). While she and her husband continued to come to Somerset over the next decade, around 1885 Mary sold the entire Knowle Estate to a wealthy London-based merchant and shipowner, Worsley Battersby and his wife, Jessie (nee May) Battersby (16).
Apparently though Mary Wynch was determined to preserve the right of burial for herself and her heirs in a family vault at the chancel of St. Petrock's and to erect this trough in the memory of her parents. An Indenture of Conveyance, dated the 29th of September 1884, addresses both of these issues. Created in the names of Joseph Ruscombe Poole in the first part, Alexander and Mary Wynch in the second part and Worsley Battersby in the third part, it was arranged that the trough would be placed (although they called it a "Fountain") "in some convenient spot in the public Street opposite the new Churchyard wall". It was agreed that the trough would be erected, kept in good repair and that the Battersby family would be not be held responsible for future repairs after his purchase and that the "fountain" should be always remain available for the citizens of Timberscombe--and their horses.
The trough was obviously built, constructed of Portland stone. However in time --and perhaps by the time of this photograph-- it was likely moved closer to the wall (and later closer to the steps). It had been probably more in the centre of the road, as it appears on older maps (17). Possibly but now missing, were drinking cups at the trough that may have been attached with chains and placed within the niches (18). Although the Conveyance specified the trough should be well maintained, perhaps the advent of the automobile doomed it (as well as less thirsty horses in the road and more people getting running water at their homes). For that matter, it does not seem that Mary Wynch or any of her family actually chose to be buried in the family vault in St. Petrock's chancel. Mrs. Wynch passed away in 1942, at the age of 92, in Sussex (19).
Although moved and now only sometimes filled with rainwater, the trough perseveres. It was British Heritage listed on the 5th of May, 1985 (20). In 2020 the trough was damaged by a vehicle, but the foundation stones were restored, only to be damaged by another vehicle later in the same year. The trough still remains to be restored in a fully erect position.
The photograph was taken by Henry Montague Cooper, a Somerset photographer and postcard publisher who lived from 1864-1945 (21). Also identified as being by Mr. Cooper is SP-011, a photograph of Timberscombe Old Forge with Church Steps Cottage in the background and SP-041, taken at the western end of Jubilee Terrace, both just a few steps away from the photograph seen here. Both have also been dated elsewhere as c. 1906, are alike in their tone and values and place solitary figures in the landscape, as does this photograph. The lettering of the labels are very similar.
The top version of the postcard was donated to the St. Petrock's History Group in 2020 by Bernadette Bunker of School House, Timberscombe. The second version is an original postcard that had been sent and postmarked, donated in January 2022 by Chanelle Singleton of The Brackens, Hole Square, Timberscombe. The reverse of this version is reproduced here. Printed on its' left edge is "From Copyright Photograph by Montague Cooper, Taunton, Burnham and Lynton". The sender has addressed their message as "Knowle, Dunster, Dec. 30-1904" and the postmark is stamped "DUNSTER, DE 31 04", certainly dating the photograph as taken in 1904 or earlier.
Montague Cooper, the name Mr. Cooper went by professionally, did have photography studios in Taunton, Burnham-on-Sea, Bridgwater, Wellington, Lynton and Chard. Originally from a family of furniture dealers and valuers, a field he at first entered, in 1888 Cooper married Jane Morley, herself a professional photographer and the daughter of William Morley, a photographer with a thriving studio in Taunton. Montague Cooper and his wife first went into business with her father, later establishing their own studio at 29 East Street, Taunton (22).
Working at their studio was Harriet Fanny Ellis, who had two daughters by Montague Cooper. Named Mary Agnes and Gladys, Montague and Jane Cooper raised them as their nieces, claiming the girls' father was Cooper's brother. On the 1921 Census, when they were aged respectively as 23 and 22, Mary Agnes and Gladys were also listed as "Photographers" and were identified as"adopted". The young women only learned their true parentage much later in life (23).
Montague and Jane Cooper continued to expand their studio work and became avid publishers of early postcards. Cooper became renown for traveling to his many studios and photograph locations in his beloved early motor cars, which sometimes appeared in the background of his photographs. It seems likely one day, perhaps in 1904, he stopped his current motor car in Timberscombe and took the above photograph and the two others mentioned above. In 1914, Cooper was elected as the President of the Professional Photographers' Association (24). By the 1939 England and Wales Register, he and Jane had retired and lived at Paignton in Devon, where Montague Cooper passed away on 23 May 1945 (25).
To the left, a young man with his horse is at the right front of Lion Inn. From before 1690, the Spurrier family held licenses for alehouses in Timberscombe. They owned the Red Lion, in operation by 1724, at a location described as being opposite Lion Inn's location. Lion Inn originated as The Boot, operating by 1820 and becoming Lion Inn by 1841. Likely it was affiliated with the former Red Lion which apparently had become a private house by the early 19th century (2). It has been suggested that the house seen in the centre of this photograph may have been reconstructed on the site of Red Lion. It has also been said Red Lion was to the left of Lion Inn, situated along the current Jubilee Terrace. Other theories cite that Red Lion was located on Brook Street, perhaps in the area of The Old Malt House (3).
Former Red Lion or not, the house seen here is the early 19th century Church Steps Cottage (4), well-named as the cobblestoned church steps, that lead up to the 12th century St. Petrock's Church (5), are seen to the cottage's right. More certainly, Church Steps Cottage was the former village Poor House, as depicted on the 1843 Tithe Map, when it was owned by James Hole, Esquire and occupied by John "Locke" and "others". This is likely John Lock, born in Timberscombe c. 1801 and who died 5 July 1846 and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard (6). On the 1841 Census, Mr. Lock, with his wife, Ann (nee Edwards) Lock (7) and five of their children are at another address in the village--it is not the Poor House, listed on the previous page with three other inhabitants. Perhaps worryingly, stamped next to the Lock family is a PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE stamp with an unreadable section, not seen by any other Timberscombe names.
The tower to the church is visible on the right edge of the photograph. A lamp is at the top of the steps, which still remains-or at least has been replaced by a good copy. By the 1844-1888 Ordnance Survey Map, Church Steps Cottage was divided into two cottages, No. 1 Church Steps and No. 2. The enclosed first storey window, visible in this photograph, remained enclosed in 1950 (8) but was eventually reopened. The left door (to No. 1) was later enhanced with a three-sided stone and windowed porch, approached by steps on it's left-- as it appears is the case with this earlier door as well. The right door, where a person is seated in this photograph, in modern times has a half-gabled porch over the entry.
Church Street Cottage remained two residences in 1973 when No. 1 was purchased by Stephen and Maureen Waters. It had been a house that lodged farm workers at the time, as recalled by Mrs. Waters in 2020. A few years later Mr. and Mrs. Waters assumed the entire house. Also in 2020, Maureen Waters kindly showed an enlarged version of this photograph that was framed over her mantel.
The road continuing up the hill, to the left of Church Steps, is Church Street. The house most apparent up the street, is a section of the 18th century Great House Farm (9). The door seen at its' front centre will later become a window (the outline of the door is still visible) and this section of Great House Farm later contained Yew Cottage. Most of Great House Farm was rebuilt in the 19th century, with Yew Cottage area retaining most of its'18th century origins (10). A lower part of a front lateral stack and the roof (possibly thatched here) of Great House Farm are overshadowed by the imposing yew tree in the northeastern part of the churchyard, likely here since 1400 (11).
Also of note, on the bottom right of the photograph, in front of the stone wall to the churchyard, a stone-gabled rectangular drinking trough is visible. Originally this has been identified as post-medieval (12) but it is late 19th century. While difficult to read in modern times, the trough is inscribed on the rear to James Hole, Esquire, the former owner of Church Steps Cottage, who died in 1876 and his first wife, Mary, who died in 1855 (13). Mr. Hole was the surviving member of the Hole family, that by the middle 1800's had purchased over a third of the land in the parish of Timberscombe, creating what was known as the Knowle Estate (14). Within three months after James Hole's death, his daughter and heir, also Mary Hole, married Alexander Wynch, a Lt. Colonel of the Royal Artillery at St. James in Westminster, London (15). While she and her husband continued to come to Somerset over the next decade, around 1885 Mary sold the entire Knowle Estate to a wealthy London-based merchant and shipowner, Worsley Battersby and his wife, Jessie (nee May) Battersby (16).
Apparently though Mary Wynch was determined to preserve the right of burial for herself and her heirs in a family vault at the chancel of St. Petrock's and to erect this trough in the memory of her parents. An Indenture of Conveyance, dated the 29th of September 1884, addresses both of these issues. Created in the names of Joseph Ruscombe Poole in the first part, Alexander and Mary Wynch in the second part and Worsley Battersby in the third part, it was arranged that the trough would be placed (although they called it a "Fountain") "in some convenient spot in the public Street opposite the new Churchyard wall". It was agreed that the trough would be erected, kept in good repair and that the Battersby family would be not be held responsible for future repairs after his purchase and that the "fountain" should be always remain available for the citizens of Timberscombe--and their horses.
The trough was obviously built, constructed of Portland stone. However in time --and perhaps by the time of this photograph-- it was likely moved closer to the wall (and later closer to the steps). It had been probably more in the centre of the road, as it appears on older maps (17). Possibly but now missing, were drinking cups at the trough that may have been attached with chains and placed within the niches (18). Although the Conveyance specified the trough should be well maintained, perhaps the advent of the automobile doomed it (as well as less thirsty horses in the road and more people getting running water at their homes). For that matter, it does not seem that Mary Wynch or any of her family actually chose to be buried in the family vault in St. Petrock's chancel. Mrs. Wynch passed away in 1942, at the age of 92, in Sussex (19).
Although moved and now only sometimes filled with rainwater, the trough perseveres. It was British Heritage listed on the 5th of May, 1985 (20). In 2020 the trough was damaged by a vehicle, but the foundation stones were restored, only to be damaged by another vehicle later in the same year. The trough still remains to be restored in a fully erect position.
The photograph was taken by Henry Montague Cooper, a Somerset photographer and postcard publisher who lived from 1864-1945 (21). Also identified as being by Mr. Cooper is SP-011, a photograph of Timberscombe Old Forge with Church Steps Cottage in the background and SP-041, taken at the western end of Jubilee Terrace, both just a few steps away from the photograph seen here. Both have also been dated elsewhere as c. 1906, are alike in their tone and values and place solitary figures in the landscape, as does this photograph. The lettering of the labels are very similar.
The top version of the postcard was donated to the St. Petrock's History Group in 2020 by Bernadette Bunker of School House, Timberscombe. The second version is an original postcard that had been sent and postmarked, donated in January 2022 by Chanelle Singleton of The Brackens, Hole Square, Timberscombe. The reverse of this version is reproduced here. Printed on its' left edge is "From Copyright Photograph by Montague Cooper, Taunton, Burnham and Lynton". The sender has addressed their message as "Knowle, Dunster, Dec. 30-1904" and the postmark is stamped "DUNSTER, DE 31 04", certainly dating the photograph as taken in 1904 or earlier.
Montague Cooper, the name Mr. Cooper went by professionally, did have photography studios in Taunton, Burnham-on-Sea, Bridgwater, Wellington, Lynton and Chard. Originally from a family of furniture dealers and valuers, a field he at first entered, in 1888 Cooper married Jane Morley, herself a professional photographer and the daughter of William Morley, a photographer with a thriving studio in Taunton. Montague Cooper and his wife first went into business with her father, later establishing their own studio at 29 East Street, Taunton (22).
Working at their studio was Harriet Fanny Ellis, who had two daughters by Montague Cooper. Named Mary Agnes and Gladys, Montague and Jane Cooper raised them as their nieces, claiming the girls' father was Cooper's brother. On the 1921 Census, when they were aged respectively as 23 and 22, Mary Agnes and Gladys were also listed as "Photographers" and were identified as"adopted". The young women only learned their true parentage much later in life (23).
Montague and Jane Cooper continued to expand their studio work and became avid publishers of early postcards. Cooper became renown for traveling to his many studios and photograph locations in his beloved early motor cars, which sometimes appeared in the background of his photographs. It seems likely one day, perhaps in 1904, he stopped his current motor car in Timberscombe and took the above photograph and the two others mentioned above. In 1914, Cooper was elected as the President of the Professional Photographers' Association (24). By the 1939 England and Wales Register, he and Jane had retired and lived at Paignton in Devon, where Montague Cooper passed away on 23 May 1945 (25).
Creator
Montague Cooper
Publisher
Montague Cooper
Date
c.1904
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
Church Steps Cottage / Timberscombe / village centre
Acquisition Date
2020
2022
2022
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Cottages / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
2022
2022
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
12 X 19
9 X 14
9X 14
9 X 14
9X 14
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) "Around Somerset From The Montague Cooper Collection", by Nick Chipchase, The History Press, The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2008 (2) Victoria County History.ac.uk (3) as recalled in 2019 by current residents of Timberscombe (4) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park (5) " THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH", by B.L.K. Henderson and G.O.E. Henderson, printed by E. Goodman & Son, Ltd., The Phoenix Press, Taunton, 1955 (6) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300's-Current and Somerset England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914 (7) Somerset England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (John Lock married Ann Edwards, 11 March 1822, at Cutcombe) (8) as seen on a 1950 Judges' Ltd. postcard at SP-015 (9) VCH (10) VCH (11) " St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet by Marion Jeffrey, 2017 (12) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO10612
(13) UK and Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300's-Current (14) VCH (15) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and 1881 England Census (16) "TIMBERSCOMBE's FALLEN OF WORLD WAR I", compiled by Harvey Grenville, produced for St.Petrock's Church and the parish of Timberscombe, to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, 1914 (17) TimberscombeVillage.com/ History of Timberscombe/ Listed Buildings/ Timberscombe's Drinking Trough (18) HER, MSO10612 (19) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (20) britishheritage.com (21) English and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills And Administrations), 1858-1995 (22) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-2005 and "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939" by Robin Ansell, Allan Collier and Phil Nichols, The Somerset & Dorset Family History Society, 2018 , Kelly's Directories of Somerset, editions 1914, 1919 and 1923 and "Around Somerset From the Montague Cooper Collection" (23) "Around Somerset From the Montague Cooper Collection" (24) "Secure the shadow : Somerset Photographers 1839-1939" and "Around Somerset From The Montague Cooper Collection" (25) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
(13) UK and Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300's-Current (14) VCH (15) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and 1881 England Census (16) "TIMBERSCOMBE's FALLEN OF WORLD WAR I", compiled by Harvey Grenville, produced for St.Petrock's Church and the parish of Timberscombe, to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, 1914 (17) TimberscombeVillage.com/ History of Timberscombe/ Listed Buildings/ Timberscombe's Drinking Trough (18) HER, MSO10612 (19) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (20) britishheritage.com (21) English and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills And Administrations), 1858-1995 (22) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-2005 and "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939" by Robin Ansell, Allan Collier and Phil Nichols, The Somerset & Dorset Family History Society, 2018 , Kelly's Directories of Somerset, editions 1914, 1919 and 1923 and "Around Somerset From the Montague Cooper Collection" (23) "Around Somerset From the Montague Cooper Collection" (24) "Secure the shadow : Somerset Photographers 1839-1939" and "Around Somerset From The Montague Cooper Collection" (25) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
2022
2022
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-014
Technique
Copies
Citation
Montague Cooper, “Church Steps Cottage at the Centre of Timberscombe, c. 1904 and the Listed Drinking Trough,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 16, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3166.
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