The Post Office at Little Farthings, with the Bond Family

Little Farthings:Bowley.png
BONDS.jpg
Barbara Bond:Maurive PO:.jpg
Leonora Bond.jpg

Title

The Post Office at Little Farthings, with the Bond Family

Description

The top photograph depicts a postcard of the cottage known as Little Farthings, on the northeastern edge of Timberscombe. It was built in 1929 (1) and first appeared on the 1921-1943 Ordnance Survey Map, with another newly built house to its right. A darker left edge of the second building, later called Shalimar (or soon replaced by Shalimar), is evident on the right side of the photograph. In 1922, the road seen running in front of Little Farthings had officially become the A396 (2), yet in 1929 more than likely most local residents still called it the Old Dunster Road.

When first built, both houses were on open land adjacent to the northeastern edge of a large orchard that extended almost to Great House Street (known as "Duck Street" at the time by most people). The orchard was mostly gone by the late 1970s when the road suitably named Orchard Way was created at a junction with the A396, just to the right of Little Farthings and Shalimar (3). In 2019, Mr. David Rawle, born in 1947 and who grew up in Timberscombe, remembered that before Orchard Way existed, this area was known to all as Farthing's Corner (4). On a few maps, dated mid to later 20th century, Little Farthings is identified as "Timbers".

While undated, a probable date for the postcard is c. 1936. On its left centre, a long white house, nestled in the hillside, is visible. It is Wootton Lodge, built in 1926 with a Lutyens influence (5), located above Cowbridge Cross, the junction connecting the road to the village of Wootton Courtenay and Knowle Lane, which leads to Dunster. Also headed toward Dunster, the automobile driving along the A396 is a convertible with a rumble seat much in the style of the mid-1930s. Most conclusive though is the postcard's label on its bottom left corner, reading "TIMBERSCOMBE T1447". The postcard is surely the work of Alfred Vowles, the renowned Somerset photographer who opened a studio in the early 1930s at No.3 The Avenue in Minehead (6) and over the next decade photographed almost every village throughout western Somerset. Seen at SP-211 is a Vowles photograph of St. Petrock's Church, similarly labelled and numbered as "T1449". At SP-115 is a photograph of Duddings, the 17th (possibly 16th) century farmhouse, also photographed by Vowles around 1936 (7), with "TIMBERSCOMBE" and "T1463", hand-labelled in the same manner as the other two. All three are likely part of a series shot by Alfred Vowles, possibly on the same productive day.

Under the long porch across the front of Little Farthings, near its right end, is a small square sign with a circle and wording at its centre--quite possibly indicating this was the village post office. Less easy to see is a slim rectangular sign, hanging from the porch's centre over an unseen doorway recessed between the bay windows on each side. If it is the same sign as one photographed at SP-276--which it likely is-- it simply says "TIMBERSCOMBE POST OFFICE".

Also if the Little Farthings photograph was taken in 1936, the post office was then relatively new, only being open a year or two. Timberscombe's first post office opened in 1844 (8), a short walk to the west staying on the same road and also on the southern side of the street, in the cottage called Berrowcote (situated where the village green was opened in 1990). Berrowcote served as Timberscombe's post office for at least 90 years. Not until the 1935 edition of the Kelly's Directory of Somerset is the change of location noted and with the Postmaster identified as "Fred Bond". He and his wife, Constance Bond, are also photographed at SP-276. Handwriting on the original copy of that photograph indicates it was taken in 1935. The young couple are in front of Little Farthings, standing near the rectangular post office sign. They are also seen in the second photograph at the top of this page, taken 21 years later inside the Little Farthings Post Office.

Fred Bond is to the left, weighing and preparing to stamp a package, while Constance Bond, in a wire "cage", tends to a young customer. The photograph was taken by Herbert Hole of Timberscombe and was reproduced in the December 21, 1956 issue of The Farmers Weekly, as part of its coverage of the BBC broadcasting of "People's Services", conducted by Canon S.E. Swann from St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe throughout December. The series was about to culminate with the 11:30 a.m. service on Sunday, December 23rd. Mr. Bond was singled out by The Farmers Weekly as a member of the St. Petrock's choir.

To be honest, the photograph is a little bit of a sham. For one thing, the "customer" was 15-year-old Jennifer Bond, the daughter of Fred and Constance--although The Farmer's Weekly did credit Jennifer as having been the church organist during the broadcasts. In 2022, Jennifer, then known as Jenny Hansford and living in Dorchester, affectionately recalled how in truth her father rarely worked in the post office and was unlikely to be actually stamping any mail. She also remembered that the photograph was taken on a Saturday. They were not even officially open.

Fred Andrews Bond was born the 17th of October 1894 in Roadwater (9). On the 1911 Census and at the age of 16, Fred listed himself as a "Cowman". He and Constance (known as Connie or Con)) probably knew each other as children. Constance Olive Lyddon was born 13 March 1898 in Nettlecombe but by 1911 also lived in Roadwater (10). On the 15th of December 1915 and still employed as a "Cowman", Fred enlisted with the Grenadier Guards, part of the Army Reserve, for the duration of World War I (11).

Connie was the one with post office connections. Her father, Thomas John Lyddon, was a Rural Postman, whose routes included Roadwater, as was his brother, Hedley Lyddon. They were the sons of Mary Lyddon, the Sub Postmistress at Berrowcote probably since the death of her father in 1878 (12) and certainly since the 1881 Census. Mary Lyddon was born as Mary Thomas, and baptised at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe on the 30th of November. Her parents were James Thomas, a carpenter and Elizabeth (nee Moody) Thomas (13). On the first England Census, taken in 1841, the Thomas family were living at Berrowcote, which three years later became Timberscombe's first Post Office, with James Thomas officially named as the village's first Post Master (14). As Mr. Thomas carried on with his carpentry (15), it seems that Elizabeth Thomas actually ran the Post Office (16), likely aided by her daughter, Mary Thomas, who became Mary Lyddon in 1858 when she married Thomas Lyddon, a tailor born in Dunster (17). Around twenty years later, Mary with her husband and two sons and two daughters, returned to her childhood home, likely to aid her widowed mother (who died in 1884) and where Mary stayed as Post Mistress until death in 1913 (18).

Mary Lyddon's second son, Hedley, died at the age of 26 and both of his daughters, Gertrude Mary and Elizabeth Mary Lyddon lived much of their childhood with their grandmother, Mary Lyddon, at the Timberscombe Post Office (19). After Mary Lyddon's death, her elder grand-daughter, Elizabeth Mary Lyddon, now Mrs. John Coles, assumed the position of Sub Postmistress (20). Conveniently she and her husband lived next door to Berrowcote at The Retreat, later renamed Ivy Cottage (21).

Fred Bond and Connie Lyddon married in 1922 (22) and in 1923 had a daughter, Leonora, who died in 1929, at which time the Bond family was living at Berrowcote (23). By the 1930's, Fred and Connie Bond had a smallholding near Timberscombe (24). Fred's listed occupation was "Gardener" and he was active as a fiddle player in local orchestras, bellringing at St. Petrock's Church and singing in the aforementioned choir (25). While they were still living at Berrowcote, Connie was trained by her aunt, Elizabeth Mary Coles, in the running of a post office, with plans for Connie to apply officially as Sub Postmistress when Mrs. Coles stepped down. As that time approached, Connie and her husband were advised that as an ex-serviceman, Fred might more easily be appointed Sub Postmaster. They took the advice, Fred got the job, basically turned post office duties over to his capable wife (as in the case of James and Elizabeth Thomas) and continued his full-time work as a gardener-- apparently only stamping mail when a photograph was required (26).

A second daughter, Barbara J. Bond was born in 1936. She is pictured in the third photograph. The young fellow next to her is Maurice Huxtable, born in 1932. They are photographed up the road at the house of his grandparents, Frank and Eva (nee Battle) Huxtable, Pump Cottage (later renamed Tiki Cottage). Maurice mostly grew up at No. 3 Council House (later renamed as Meadow View), which meant he could basically cross the road and take a few steps east to reach the post office. Jennifer Bond was born in 1941. As mentioned she played the church organ during the BBC broadcasts of December 1956, aged 15. At that point, Jennifer was a veteran, having begun playing publicly when she was 11-years-old (27). She was not alone. In 1952, the Christmas morning service at St. Petrock's was also broadcast by the BBC and heard around the world. The organist that morning was 16-year-old Barbara J. Bond (28).

Fred Bond died in 1963. By that point, he and Connie had moved to 18 Paganel Close in Minehead (29) and in 1969, the Timberscombe Post Office was relocated to the store at Combe House, Jubilee Terrace in the village centre (30). In 1970, Constance Bond briefly married Howard William Shephard (31), also born in 1898, who had worked as a butcher in Washford (32). His first wife, Marjorie, had died in 1969 (33). Mr. Shephard died in April 1971, also at 18 Paganel Close. Connie passed away at the Temple Ewell Nursing Home at Dover, Kent in 1988 (34), just short of her 100th birthday.

The fourth photograph is evocative and a bit mysterious. It was donated by Jenny Hansford, as were the second and third photographs. It depicts a young girl tending a grave situated alongside the path that leads up to the main church door at St. Petrock's. She is Leonora, the Bond child who died in 1929 and who Jenny never knew. The grave is that of Jack Wilkinson, a popular student and avid Boy Scout who lived at No. 2 Bemberry Bank in Timberscombe. He died in February 1927 when he was 15-years-old, unexpectedly and of unknown causes. Jack's funeral was an event, widely attended by other scouts and Girl Guides, arriving from all over western Somerset (35). Leonora could hardly have been five-years-old but would have likely been aware of Jack's death. Sadly, this little girl will be dead too within two years and ironically her gravestone will be erected almost immediately behind where she is seen kneeling. It is also the gravestone of Leonora's (and Barbara and Jenny's) mother and father, engraved "IN MEMORY OF FRED ANDREWS BOND (1894-1963) AND HIS WIFE, CONSTANCE OLIVE (1898-1988), ALSO THEIR DAUGHTER, LEONORA (1923-1929).

The grave site has remained tended over the years by their family.

Creator

Alfred Vowles /
Herbert Hole /
Anonymous /
Anonymous

Publisher

The Farmers Weekly (the second photograph)

Date

c. 1936
December 1956
c. early to mid 1940s
1927

Language

English

Identifier

Little Farthings, c. 1936 / Fred and Constance Bond with Jennifer Bond in the post office at Little Farthings, 1956 / Barbara J. Bond and Maurice Huxtable, likely early to mid 1940s, at Little Farthings / Leonora Bond at the gravesite of Jack Wilkinson, St. Petrock's Churchyard, 1927 / northeast edge of Timberscombe and centre of village

Acquisition Date

2023
2021
2022
2022

Acquisition Method

Gift

Category

PLACES: Cottages / Timberscombe
PLACES: Post Offices / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe

Condition

Good

Condition Notes

entered by Tom Sperling, 2023 and 2024

Condition Date

2023

Dimension Type

W X L

Dimension Units

cm

Dimension Value

11 X 18
11 X 17 (VILLAGE HISTORIES/ HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE,
TIMBERSCOMBE)
12.5 X 18
16 X 11.5
12.5 X 18.5

Institution Name

St. Petrock's History Group

Notes

(1) rightmove,co.uk (2) sabre-roads.org.uk (3) VictoriaCountyHistory.ac.uk and as recalled in 2019 by Wendy Hellewell of The Bracken, Holes Square and Allan Sutton of No. 1 Willow Bank (4) as recalled in 2019 by David Rawle, born at Timberscombe in 1947, when recorded by Allan Sutton for an Oral History for the St. Petrock's History Group (5) The Somerset County Gazette, 28 May 2004 (6) "AROUND MINEHEAD FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS", by Joan Astell, Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2010 (7) as recalled in 2018 by Richard Tilke, the owner of Duddings (8) a copy of the original document, dated 12 July 1844, of the appointment of James Thomas of Berrowcote, as Timberscombe's first Postmaster, was discovered among other papers at the Timberscombe School in 2019 and was donated to the St. Petrock's History Group (9) 1939 England and Wales Register (10) 1939 England and Wales Register and 1911 England Census (11) UK, British Army World War I Pension Records (12) FindMyPast.com, Results of England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2007 (13) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (14) Mr. Thomas was appointed Post Master on the 12th of July 1844 by Thomas Luttrell (15) the occupation of Mr. Thomas remained Carpenter on the England Censuses of 1851, 1861 and 1871 (16) Elizabeth Thomas was listed as Sub Post Mistress (or Assistant Post Mistress) on the England Censuses of 1851, 1861 and 1871 and was listed as Former Sub Post Mistress on the 1881 Census (17) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (18) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Indexes, 1835-1915 and UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (19) Staffordshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914, 1911 England Census and as recalled in 2022 by Jennifer Hansford (20) Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914 (21) 1911 England Census, Kelly's Directory of Somerset, 1923 and 1939 England and Wales Register (22) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (23) FindMyPast.com, Results of England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2007 and as recalled in 2022 by Jennifer Hansford (24) as captioned in a photocopy of a photograph of Fred Bond farming that had been printed in an unidentified book and was found at Timberscombe School in 2019 and donated to St. Petrock's History Group (25) as pictured at SP-068, 1939 England and Wales Register and THE FARMERS WEEKLY, CHRISTMAS FEATURES FOR FARM AND FAMILY, December 21, 1956 (26) as recalled in 2022 by Jennifer Hansford (27) THE FARMERS WEEKLY, CHRISTMAS FEATURES FOR FARM AND FAMILY, December 21, 1956 (28) RADIO TIMES, 19 December 1952 and the West Somerset Free Press, 3 January 1953 (29) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1865-1995 (30) in 2019 Mary Holcombe, of Church View Cottage, recalled the Post Office moved into Combe House in 1969, as she ran her shop, Jubilee Shop, next door on Jubilee Terrace and was hoping it would be chosen to house the incoming post office (31) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (32) 1939 England and Wales Register (33) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (34) England & Wales, National Probate Calendars (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1865-1995 (35) West Somerset District Scout Council Inventory, written by Tony Bullen in 2006. from information supplied by Kenneth Grabham and donated to the St. Petrock's History Group in 2019 by Angie Gummer

Storage Location

St. Petrock's History Group Archive

Storage Date

2023

Storage Notes

St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
St. Petrock's History Group VILLAGE HISTORIES ( HISTORY OF THE
POST OFFICE, TIMBERSCOMBE)

Item Reference

SP-192

Technique

Copies

Comments

Citation

Alfred Vowles / Herbert Hole / Anonymous / Anonymous, “The Post Office at Little Farthings, with the Bond Family,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 1, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3604.