Timberscombe Petrol Station # 2 : Eva Huxtable's Motor Spirit Service Station at Brook Street
Title
Timberscombe Petrol Station # 2 : Eva Huxtable's Motor Spirit Service Station at Brook Street
Subject
Description
Two petrol stations opened in the Timberscombe area during the 1920's. The first appears to have been the Cowbridge Petrol Garage, featured at SP-163. It was built by Henry Arthur Phillips at the Cowbridge Mill, located at the hamlet of Cowbridge, on the northeastern edge of Timberscombe. Better known as Harry, Mr. Phillips had been born at Exton, Somerset in 1880 (1). His uncle, James Phillips, a miller, carpenter and wheelwright, originally had come to Cowbridge Mill, along with his three sons, while also working (and living) at the Bridgetown Mill (2). Harry's father, Charles Phillips, a "millwright, machinist, wheelwright, carpenter and agent to all kinds of agricultural implements" (3), had his own business at Dulverton, but by 1909 joined his brother, James, at Cowbridge. Harry, by now a trained engineer and waterwheel specialist, went into business, both on his own and with his father, as "Phillips C and Son" (4). In 1916, Cowbridge Mill was purchased by Harry Phillips for £470 (5). Among his many endeavours, Harry demolished a cider house and stables that had been situated on the old Dunster Road as it passed by the Cowbridge Mill and replaced them with the Cowbridge Petrol Garage, opening in the early 1920's (6).
A petrol station was a timely investment, with the boom of motor vehicles and lorries, and in 1922 the old Dunster Road was reclassified as the A396 (7). The second petrol station opened in Timberscombe along the same road, just at the point where it curved to the south and entered the village centre. This part of the road became known as Brook Street. The A396 did not have a bypass around Timberscombe until 1989 (8) and any driver would have to turn at the curve and pass through the village. By all accounts it made Timberscombe cumbersome to get through --but was not a bad spot for a service and petrol shop. Scenes of this second station are pictured in the two photographs above.
Not unlike the station at Cowbridge, the station at Timberscombe was a family business. The Huxtables had lived at this location since at least 1843 when James Huxtable was noted here on the Timberscombe Tithe Map. By the 1920's, his great grandson, Frank Huxtable, born in 1889 (9), was in residence. A carpenter and wheelwright (10), Mr. Huxtable was also working as the village undertaker at this address (11). As seen in the upper photograph, the petrol station was the white brick building constructed in front of the Huxtable's house, alongside the curve in the road. It was the business of Eva Huxtable, Frank's wife.
Eva Huxtable was born Eva Buttle in 1886 at Hemyock, Devon (12). By the time she was 15, she lived in Minehead and in 1911 she married Frank (13). In the same year, their son, Dudley Huxtable was born, followed by a daughter Muriel Annie Huxtable, born in 1913 (14). It is not clear exactly when Eva Huxtable's petrol station opened. It has been suggested it was as early as 1922 (15), but was likely later. On the upper photograph, the young boy in the background, smiling over the three men, is Maurice Huxtable, Eva's grandson, born in October 1932. In 2019, Mr. Huxtable thought the station might have started around 1924 but certainly was in operation by 1928. It was listed on the 1931 Kelly's Directory of Somerset as a motor spirit service station, owned by "Huxtable Eva (Mrs.)".
The centre man in the upper photograph is Dudley Huxtable, the father of Maurice. He married Grace Irene Cook, originally from Wiltshire, in 1932 (16). On the 1939 England and Wales Register, they were living at the No. 3 Council Cottages, a cluster of newer homes, across the road (and slightly east) from the Huxtable's house, later renamed Meadow View. They were partly built by Frank Huxtable (17). Dudley's occupation was listed as a carpenter, but at times he was helping his mother by operating the pumps (18), such as the one visible in this photograph. He is also pictured as SP-163, working the pumps down the road at the Cowbridge Petrol Garage.
On the 21st of December, 1936, while at Cowbridge Mill, Harry Phillips unexpectedly died (19). In 1937, his widow, Annie Ethel May (nee Norman) Phillips, passed the ownership of Cowbridge on to Eva Huxtable, who secured it by taking out a mortgage of £850. She also appointed Dudley as the proprietor of the Cowbridge Petrol Garage (20).
The upper photograph is dated c. 1939 and may be a little later, but certainly at the time it was taken, Dudley Huxtable would be back and forth between both petrol stations. Unsurprisingly during this time, the Huxtable's home became known as Pump Cottage (21). Inside the shop, Eva Huxtable sold general goods including nails, pyrex dishes, oil and paraffin, offered knife sharpening (22) and based on the sign in the photograph, car hire as well. Another photograph depicting the shop (with Mrs. Huxtable's name boldly across it's front) and other outside pumps and fixtures is visible at SP-026.
The men on each side of Dudley Huxtable are, left to right, Cyril Copp and William John ( but known as Billy) Baker, lifelong friends and cricket team-mates. Mr. Copp was born in 1918, the son of Walter John, a tailor and Elizabeth Ann (nee Stenner) Copp. As a young man, he trained as house painter but followed his father, becoming a draper by profession and worked at Hobbs, a tailor's shop in Dunster (23). Cyril lived at No. 5 Bemberry Bank at the time of this photograph (24) and married Brenda M. Quartley of Totterdown Farm in 1954 (25). Mr. Copp died 27 January 2009 and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard in Timberscombe, as was his wife in 2012 (26). Billy Baker was born in 1912, the son of Henry John, a haulier and Edith Mary (nee Farmer) Baker (27) . Billy lived on Church Street, was working as a private gardener (28) and will soon be Dudley Huxtable's brother-in-law.
The young woman on the lower photograph, standing beside a pump, is Murial Annie, Dudley's sister. She was still living with their parents at Pump Cottage in 1939 and listed her occupation as a "garage assistant" (29) likely also helping her mother. In April 1943, Murial married Billy Baker (30). Their daughter, June, born in April 1948, is the little girl in the photograph. June grew up and married Stephen M. Creech of Allerford, where June went to live (31). This photograph was shared by Mr. Creech. Her parents later moved into Brooklyn, a cottage on the southeastern end of Brook Street, where they both lived until their deaths, Billy in 1980 and Murial in 1986 (32). They are buried together at St. Petrock's (33).
As June Baker was born in 1948, it is probable that the pump in the bottom photograph was no longer operative. Turning her attention to Cowbridge Mill, at some unclear point, Eva Huxtable closed her motor spirit service station, although the pumps remained in place until the mid to later 1980's (34). In 1959 Mrs. Huxtable gave the ownership of Cowbridge Mill to Dudley (35). Frank Huxtable passed away in 1962 (36). Eva died in 1975, seemingly living with Murial and Billy Baker in her later years, dying at Brooklyn Cottage (37). Dudley's wife, Grace, died in 1987 and he died in November 1994 (38). Like his parents and his friends in the upper photograph, Dudley Huxtable was buried at St. Petrock's, alongside his wife (39).
In 1998, Richard Kelsey, Vicky Long, Megan Evens, Joseph Dare, Jade Webber, Tom Lamacraft, Joanne Fuller, Emily Catford, Joshua Smith and Christine Rich were schoolchildren at Timberscombe School. They had probably walked by the small, usually empty building on the curve of Brook Street, without knowing much about it. According to the children, they "looked at an old photo of this building when it was a shop. It had a name on it that said E. Huxtable. We wondered who E. Huxtable was and what sort of shop did she run". They were further intrigued when they looked inside and could see an old grinder, once used to sharpen knives.
The children ended up talking to Mrs. Marion Fewlass, who worked as an Activities Director at their school and who lived at Tiki Cottage --the name given to Pump Cottage after the pumps were removed. They were surprised that E. Huxtable was Eva Huxtable, the great grandmother of Mrs. Fewlass, born Marion Huxtable. The story of Eva Huxtable's shop became part of their booklet, "A Village History". Since then, the little building was used as a place to build model airplanes, an antique shop, a sweets shop and later a carpet and floor covering shop (40), before it was demolished around 2009.
A petrol station was a timely investment, with the boom of motor vehicles and lorries, and in 1922 the old Dunster Road was reclassified as the A396 (7). The second petrol station opened in Timberscombe along the same road, just at the point where it curved to the south and entered the village centre. This part of the road became known as Brook Street. The A396 did not have a bypass around Timberscombe until 1989 (8) and any driver would have to turn at the curve and pass through the village. By all accounts it made Timberscombe cumbersome to get through --but was not a bad spot for a service and petrol shop. Scenes of this second station are pictured in the two photographs above.
Not unlike the station at Cowbridge, the station at Timberscombe was a family business. The Huxtables had lived at this location since at least 1843 when James Huxtable was noted here on the Timberscombe Tithe Map. By the 1920's, his great grandson, Frank Huxtable, born in 1889 (9), was in residence. A carpenter and wheelwright (10), Mr. Huxtable was also working as the village undertaker at this address (11). As seen in the upper photograph, the petrol station was the white brick building constructed in front of the Huxtable's house, alongside the curve in the road. It was the business of Eva Huxtable, Frank's wife.
Eva Huxtable was born Eva Buttle in 1886 at Hemyock, Devon (12). By the time she was 15, she lived in Minehead and in 1911 she married Frank (13). In the same year, their son, Dudley Huxtable was born, followed by a daughter Muriel Annie Huxtable, born in 1913 (14). It is not clear exactly when Eva Huxtable's petrol station opened. It has been suggested it was as early as 1922 (15), but was likely later. On the upper photograph, the young boy in the background, smiling over the three men, is Maurice Huxtable, Eva's grandson, born in October 1932. In 2019, Mr. Huxtable thought the station might have started around 1924 but certainly was in operation by 1928. It was listed on the 1931 Kelly's Directory of Somerset as a motor spirit service station, owned by "Huxtable Eva (Mrs.)".
The centre man in the upper photograph is Dudley Huxtable, the father of Maurice. He married Grace Irene Cook, originally from Wiltshire, in 1932 (16). On the 1939 England and Wales Register, they were living at the No. 3 Council Cottages, a cluster of newer homes, across the road (and slightly east) from the Huxtable's house, later renamed Meadow View. They were partly built by Frank Huxtable (17). Dudley's occupation was listed as a carpenter, but at times he was helping his mother by operating the pumps (18), such as the one visible in this photograph. He is also pictured as SP-163, working the pumps down the road at the Cowbridge Petrol Garage.
On the 21st of December, 1936, while at Cowbridge Mill, Harry Phillips unexpectedly died (19). In 1937, his widow, Annie Ethel May (nee Norman) Phillips, passed the ownership of Cowbridge on to Eva Huxtable, who secured it by taking out a mortgage of £850. She also appointed Dudley as the proprietor of the Cowbridge Petrol Garage (20).
The upper photograph is dated c. 1939 and may be a little later, but certainly at the time it was taken, Dudley Huxtable would be back and forth between both petrol stations. Unsurprisingly during this time, the Huxtable's home became known as Pump Cottage (21). Inside the shop, Eva Huxtable sold general goods including nails, pyrex dishes, oil and paraffin, offered knife sharpening (22) and based on the sign in the photograph, car hire as well. Another photograph depicting the shop (with Mrs. Huxtable's name boldly across it's front) and other outside pumps and fixtures is visible at SP-026.
The men on each side of Dudley Huxtable are, left to right, Cyril Copp and William John ( but known as Billy) Baker, lifelong friends and cricket team-mates. Mr. Copp was born in 1918, the son of Walter John, a tailor and Elizabeth Ann (nee Stenner) Copp. As a young man, he trained as house painter but followed his father, becoming a draper by profession and worked at Hobbs, a tailor's shop in Dunster (23). Cyril lived at No. 5 Bemberry Bank at the time of this photograph (24) and married Brenda M. Quartley of Totterdown Farm in 1954 (25). Mr. Copp died 27 January 2009 and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard in Timberscombe, as was his wife in 2012 (26). Billy Baker was born in 1912, the son of Henry John, a haulier and Edith Mary (nee Farmer) Baker (27) . Billy lived on Church Street, was working as a private gardener (28) and will soon be Dudley Huxtable's brother-in-law.
The young woman on the lower photograph, standing beside a pump, is Murial Annie, Dudley's sister. She was still living with their parents at Pump Cottage in 1939 and listed her occupation as a "garage assistant" (29) likely also helping her mother. In April 1943, Murial married Billy Baker (30). Their daughter, June, born in April 1948, is the little girl in the photograph. June grew up and married Stephen M. Creech of Allerford, where June went to live (31). This photograph was shared by Mr. Creech. Her parents later moved into Brooklyn, a cottage on the southeastern end of Brook Street, where they both lived until their deaths, Billy in 1980 and Murial in 1986 (32). They are buried together at St. Petrock's (33).
As June Baker was born in 1948, it is probable that the pump in the bottom photograph was no longer operative. Turning her attention to Cowbridge Mill, at some unclear point, Eva Huxtable closed her motor spirit service station, although the pumps remained in place until the mid to later 1980's (34). In 1959 Mrs. Huxtable gave the ownership of Cowbridge Mill to Dudley (35). Frank Huxtable passed away in 1962 (36). Eva died in 1975, seemingly living with Murial and Billy Baker in her later years, dying at Brooklyn Cottage (37). Dudley's wife, Grace, died in 1987 and he died in November 1994 (38). Like his parents and his friends in the upper photograph, Dudley Huxtable was buried at St. Petrock's, alongside his wife (39).
In 1998, Richard Kelsey, Vicky Long, Megan Evens, Joseph Dare, Jade Webber, Tom Lamacraft, Joanne Fuller, Emily Catford, Joshua Smith and Christine Rich were schoolchildren at Timberscombe School. They had probably walked by the small, usually empty building on the curve of Brook Street, without knowing much about it. According to the children, they "looked at an old photo of this building when it was a shop. It had a name on it that said E. Huxtable. We wondered who E. Huxtable was and what sort of shop did she run". They were further intrigued when they looked inside and could see an old grinder, once used to sharpen knives.
The children ended up talking to Mrs. Marion Fewlass, who worked as an Activities Director at their school and who lived at Tiki Cottage --the name given to Pump Cottage after the pumps were removed. They were surprised that E. Huxtable was Eva Huxtable, the great grandmother of Mrs. Fewlass, born Marion Huxtable. The story of Eva Huxtable's shop became part of their booklet, "A Village History". Since then, the little building was used as a place to build model airplanes, an antique shop, a sweets shop and later a carpet and floor covering shop (40), before it was demolished around 2009.
Creator
Anonymous /
Anonymous
Anonymous
Date
c. 1939
c. 1949
c. 1949
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
Dudley and Maurice Huxtable, Cyril Copp and Billy Baker at the Pump Cottage Service Station / Murial and June Baker at the Pump Cottage Service Station / Timberscombe /
northeast side of the village
northeast side of the village
Acquisition Date
2020
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Shops / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
19 X 18.5
18.8 X 13
18.8 X 13
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) 1881 England Census and England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 (2) 1861 England Census, 1871 England Census and 1881 England Census, which shows James Phillips and his sons, William George, Albert James and Sydney Charles, all at the Bridgetown Mill (3) as advertised by Charles Phillips when he founded the Exe Valley Wheel Works at Dulverton, by 1909, TimberscombeVillage.com/ History of Timberscombe/ Other Historic Structures, Cowbridge Mill, written by Lesley Webb (4) TimberscombeVillage.com/ Cowbridge Mill (5) "THE KNOWLE ESTATE, DUNSTER, SOMERSET', the archival title of the Sales Particulars booklet , entitled "PARTICULARS, PLANS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE OF THE KNOWLE ESTATE", prepared by Messrs. W. R. J. Greenslade & Co., for the Thursday, July 20th 1916 public auction of the estate, held at the Luttrell Arms Hotel at Dunster/ a copy was saved by Sam Grabham (1887-1971) with handwritten notations of who purchased the various lots and how much was paid, likely written by Mr. Grabham and handed down to his son, Kenneth Grabham (1920-2007), who gifted it to Derek Poole (1942-2011), who left it to his daughter Angie Gummer, who in 2019 shared it with the St. Petrock's History Group (6) TimberscombeVillage.com/ Cowbridge Mill (7) Sabre-roads.org.uk (8) VictoriaCountyHistory.ac.uk (9) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Record, 1837-1915 (10) Frank Huxtable identified himself as a wheelwright on the Kelly's Directories of Somerset in 1919 and 1923 and as a carpenter on the directories of 1931 and 1935 (11) as recalled in 2018 by Roger and Marion (nee Huxtable) Fewlass of Tiki Cottage, (as the Huxtable house was renamed in the later 1980's) and as printed in the West Somerset Free Press, March 15th 1947 (12) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 (13) 1901 England Census and England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 (14) England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Indexes, 1837-1915 (15) VCH (16) Wiltshire, England, Church of England Births & Baptisms, 1813-1916 and England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (17) as recalled in 2020 by Archie Dyer, a long term resident at Meadow View (18) 1939 England and Wales Register and as recalled in 2019 by Maurice Huxtable, the son of Dudley and Grace Huxtable (19) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1878-1995 (20) TimberscombeVillage.com/ Cowbridge Mill (21) all recalled by Roger and Marion Fewlass in 2019 (22) "A Village History" as researched, written and printed by children at Timberscombe School in 1998 (the children are named in the next to last paragraph of the Description at SP-164) (23) as recalled in 2020 by Joyce Smith of Ford Cottage, Timberscombe (24) 1939 England and Wales Register (25) as written in "AWAY & HOME-WORLD WAR II, Somerset and Essex, 1939-1945" by Pat Herniman, Paper Mill Books, Little Baddow, in association with the Little Baddow History Centre, 2016, where Mrs. Herniman writes of being evacuated from London in 1939, when she was eight years old, to Timberscombe and became a friend with Brenda Quartley at Totterdown Farm and the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (26) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (27) Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1914 (28) 1939 England and Wales Register (29) 1939 England and Wales Register (30) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (31) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 and UK, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 (32) National Probate Calendars (Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1995, for both Mr. and Mrs. Baker (33) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (34) as recalled in 2019 By Roger and Marion Fewlass (35) TimberscombeVillage.com / Cowbridge Mill (36) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (37) National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1856-1995 (38) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Indexes, 1916-2007 (39) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (40) as recalled in 2019 by Marion Fewlass
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-164
Technique
Copies
Citation
Anonymous /
Anonymous, “Timberscombe Petrol Station # 2 : Eva Huxtable's Motor Spirit Service Station at Brook Street,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 18, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3452.
Comments