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Numbers 127 - 141 High Street, New Brentford

In 1968 archaeological excavations took place on the site of no. 136, back to the spur of the railway to Brentford Docks. The site was described as 'the former Spanton's timber yard' and remains of a sixteenth century building fronting the High Street were found (G22/23).

Properties

Notes prepared for numbers 127, Magpie & Crown (128), 129-130, 131-132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, St Lawrence's Vicarage (139), St Lawrence's Church, Black Boys PH (140) and 141; also a list of photos, ephemera and maps

Number 127

John Thornton, a carpenter, probably lived here in 1841; he was recorded next to George Boxall (Magpie & Crown, no. 128) in the census. John and his wife Mary shared the property with William Wheatley, a chinaman, his wife Eliza, a female servant and an apprentice carpenter Thomas Brunsden.

‘Thornton’ is recorded in the 1844 Poor Rate for New Brentford in this area, occupying a house, shop, workshop and yard owned by Clarke.

In 1851 John Thornton, house agent and Thomas Brunsden, carpenter employing 2 men lived here.

Dual occupancy continued in 1861 when next to the Magpie and Crown lived John C George, tobacconist and Thomas Bevis, whitesmith.

The 1871 census records Charles Tobit, postmaster here and in 1881 there is no occupant of no. 127 but a note in the census ‘the Old Post Office’.

In 1890 no. 127 was used by Arthur Overton as ‘dining rooms’, in 1891 the occupant was Edward Notley, coachbuilder.

In the 1901 census no. 127 was ‘uninhabited, not in occupation’.

In November 1911 the property was described in the 1909/10 Valuation: An old but fairly sound brick and plain tiled cellar, 3 storey and attic shop & house. Red brick dressings. Flush sash windows. Goes over Boars Head Yard on east all but about a foot. Contains:

• attic in very bad repair
• 2nd: front bedroom and dressing room; back room; back addition although in bad repair
• 1st : 2 front rooms (one over archway), kitchen in addition stairs centre
• Ground floor: shop with door to archway, back room, stairs. Old scullery in addition
• Very small yard with WC and gates to yard. Steps down to 3 dilapidated cellars under whole of building and arched vault under archway. 12’ 7” frontage and 8’ 5” over archway.

The property had been sold along with numbers 1, 3, 5 & 7 Boars Head Yard in 1903, for £735 and £277 had been spent since on repairs etc. It was sold again on 8 Dec 1920 for £2000, including numbers 340, 347, 359-363 High Street. Eastman and Reading had a 14 years lease only, from 26 July 1905.

A trade directory for 1907 does not include no. 127 (presumably it was being worked on). In 1911, 1913 and 1920Eastmans Ltd., butchers are recorded here. No reference in 1928, 1933 and 1940: the Magpie & Crown (no. 128) was rebuilt between 1920 and 1928 and took over the site of no. 127.

Magpie & Crown (128)

John Brunsden was the landlord in 1826, the Magpie and Crown was a Booking House for Stage Coaches. George Boxall was the landlord in 1839 and in 1841 his household of 9 included 3 coachmen and 2 male servants. In the 1844 Poor Rate records the occupier is G Boxall and owners J & H Sich. Confusingly the property is named the Magpie & Stump, a clerical error presumably.

Griffith Humphreys had taken over by the time of the 1861 census, and in 1871 George Atkins employed 14 men, 2 boys and 2 women here. George is listed in 1874 and 1881; by 1890 Alfred Lawrence was the publican, in 1901 local man Charles S Nelms, who described his occupation as ‘waterman’ rather than ‘publican’. he was succeeded by Edward Stagg (1907), William Sherwin (1911), Joseph Howard 1913, Sidney Furmston 1920-1, Richard Henry Holt 1928 (whose great grandson, Roy England, has provided the 1920s/30s photo), William Frederick Griffiths 1933 and William Hale 1940 complete the picture to 1940.

Top

Yvonne Carter wrote to say her wedding reception was held here in the 1960s, at which time the Williams family ran the Magpie & Crown.

In 1914 (from 1909/10 Valuation Return records): ‘A 3 storey building with cemented front (plain), lower part with wood front pilasters & windows wood & glazed. Small red tile dado. Wood cellar flaps in pavement. Fair condition.

• Ground floor: 2 bars, parlor & small scullery
• First floor: 3 rooms & box room
• Top floor: 3 small rooms

Numbers 129 & 130

The 1844 Poor Rate lists the owners as Henry & ‘Jh’ Sexton, occupier as Joseph Sexton, the premises being a house and shop. In 1851 Joseph employed 3 men. By 1861 Joseph B Lewis, draper (master) aged 34 employed 5 assistants, and headed a household of 10 including 4 assistants, 1 apprentice 1 servant & 1 lodger.

By 1881 the household consisted of 21, including 12 servants and both 129 and 130 were used (in earlier years it appears just one property was used by the business; there were 5 houses and shops owned by Sexton in 1844 giving them scope for expansion).

Miss Emma Lewis was running the business 'draper, milliner & dressmaker’ in 1890 and in the 1891 census was living in the premises with four female assistants. In 1901 the premises were occupied by a housekeeper, 12 drapers and 2 housemaids. By 1913 the business had been taken over by W McIlroys Ltd who ran clothiers at 129 and drapers at 130 and continue to be listed here until 1940.

In 1915 the property was ‘extensive 3 storey brick built and slated shop premises upper floors cement faced with stone surrounds to windows. Ground floor: modern shop fronts wood & glazed, terrazzo flooring to entrances…Premises occupied on long lease by drapers’ The lease term was 80 years from 1878 and the frontage to the High Street : 50’. The owner was A J Farrington.

In 2003 the ‘McIlroy’ was still visible in mosaic on the front steps and the building was to be incorporated into the south side of the High Street redevelopment. The local Brown Owl remembers buying her school uniform here. (L, 2003).

Numbers 131 & 132

No. 131/132 was a drapers / clothiers occupied by Thomas Henry Taverner and his family in the 1871 (census). 1878 trade directory entry: Thomas Henry Taverner, pawnbroker and clothier 131, 132 and 134 High Street.

The Taverner family was living at 131/2 in 1881. Thomas died in 1890 and his wife Susannah moved to Enfield Road by the time of the 1901 census.

When the 1909/10 Valuation took place in 1915 numbers 131 and 132 were described as 'Shops with common wood fronts, each contains on the

• Ground Floor: shop, kitchen, washhouse, WC
• First Floor: 2 rooms
• Top: Attic'

The two properties were sold on 11 Oct 1905 for £437 10s 0d. At the time of the Valuation both 131 and 132 were owned by Geo. Gentry, 11 Princes Road Kennington. He was also the occupier.

Later in the 1900s numbers 131/132 continued to be used as a pawnbrokers run by Hannah Gentry, a widow from Braintree Essex. George Gentry, pawnbroker, possibly Hannah’s son, is listed in trade directories at 131/132 in 1913, 1921 and 1928. By 1940 McIlroys at numbers 129 & 130 had expanded their business into 131/132.

David Taverner wrote in 2006: 'The shop at 131 is in a sorry state now and I suspect it may not survive much longer (but then it was poor in 1915 so maybe it will just carry on!). The shop itself is boarded up and as the plot next door is empty I suspect somebody may buy it all up and build something bigger in its place as the development from the dock area is very close by.'

Number 133

In 1881 George Gye, lighterman lived here. In 1890 and 1891 Richard Butcher, a greengrocer lived and ran his shop from no. 133.

By 1901 the property was shared by two households, using 2 rooms each: Henry Griffin (occupation ‘Travel with organ’) with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law; Arthur Furness, general labourer, born Windsor and his wife Elizabeth, locally born, a dressmaker.

The 1909/10 Valuation shows both 133 and 134 owned by Sophia Turpin, Isle of Wight. 133 was occupied by the Pier House Laundry Co. Ltd, a 1913 directory shows no. 133 used by Amalgamated Laundries Ltd. By 1920 no. 133 was a china & glass warehouse run by Mrs Alice Combly, who remained here in 1928. In 1933 and 1940 Victor Combly is recorded on trade directories at his address, no occupation given.

Number 134

This property was used by Thomas Henry Taverner (see 131/2) in 1878 (perhaps for storage?) and in 1881 was occupied by Harry Cocking, pawnbrokers assistant.

In 1890 John Nalder, leather seller & grindery dealer is recorded here, the property was occupied by William Nalder, leather seller in 1891, then Albert Butler, leather merchant in 1901.

The Brentford Division Liberal & Radical Association used number 134 in 1913. In 1920-1933 directories this property was not listed.

The magnificently named Athelstane Da Costa Stoute MD MRCP MRCS DOMS, physician & surgeon used no. 134 for his surgery in 1940. According to his obituary (1968) in the British Medical Journal he was born in Barbados in 1895 and played cricket for Turnham Green Cricket Club in the 1920s and 30s.

Number 135

*In 1881 William J Pocock, greengrocer lived here with his wife and three children under 5, plus a brother who was a hawker. He was followed by Mrs Eliza Spruce, confectioner (1890), Mrs Arabella Hopkins, confectioner & tobacconist (1891) and Joseph Heusch, confectioner & tobacconist (1898, 1901, 1907). In 1901 he is described as age 57 born Germany and a German Subject. His wife was from Somerset and their 7 year old son Walter was born in Brentford.

The 1909/10 Valuation describes 135 and 136 as being owned by Miss Edith and G Goddard, joint executors under the will of Mr C E Goddard. ‘Number 135 and 136 form 2 shops and premises under one roof…on south side next but one to church, Old and dilapidated, red brick and tiled … 2 storeys and attics… main cornice in wood, 2 dormers, 5 windows each upper floor…am informed premises are condemned … also out buildings, only shops usable. All empty. Contains 3 ruinous attics...value as land only...’ There is more – please contact for a fuller description

Numbers 135 and 136 were demolished and in 1928, 1933 and 1937 were G E Turk & Co, timber merchants, then in 1940 Charles Spanton, timber merchants.

Number 136

By the 1909/10 Valuation Returns in April 1911 the property was described as ’in bad repair outside and …dilapidated inside. Am informed the premises are condemned’.

Numbers 135 and 136 were demolished and in 1928, 1933 and 1937 were G E Turk & Co, timber merchants, then in 1940 Charles Spanton, timber merchants.

Number 137

When no. 138 was demolished in 1889, no. 137 became adjacent to the vicarage for St Lawrence’s church. Wakefields, who produced many postcards showing local scenes, were based here from 1905 – 1920.

In 1915 the buildings was described as a ‘3 storey stock brick built & flat-roofed shop & premises with a 2 storey rear addition’, occupied by Frank Wakefield, owned by the Stracey Clitherow family. The photographers’ studio was in the converted stables to the rear. There was an entrance to the property from The Ham and the plan shows the property with the Great Western Railway running at the rear.

In 1996 - 2003 the site was empty, part of the redevelopment area (L).

Number 138

A Jno Ronalds owned and occupied the two houses next to the Vicarage at the time of the 1844 Poor Rates, numbers 137 & 138. Censuses list John (seedsman) 1841 – 1851; Robert (seedsman) 1861 – 1871; in 1861 there is a note in the census for no. 138 'Miss Ronalds at sea side'. There are three PCC Wills for the family: Hugh Ronalds 1834; John Ronalds 1850; Elizabeth Ronalds 1854; the house was uninhabited in 1881.

St Lawrence’s Vicarage (139)

The gothic style vicarage for St Lawrence's Church is now flats (2003)(L)

St Lawrence’s Church

St Lawrence’s Church has C15 tower, body of church is C18 and there are Victorian additions (see Q49-50 for fuller details); burial ground extended 1884 (Q50); rebuilt between 1762-4 by Thomas Hardwick, designed by Boulton Mainwaring on same site (Q49); south aisle built 1874 (Q49); closed 1961 (Q49).

See the Brentford Dock website for a variety of articles about St Lawrence's church.

Black Boys PH (140)

In the 1839 Pigot directory James Swithin Trimmer was the landlord of the Black Boys. He was paid £20 from the fund collected for those whose businesses were affected by the flooding in January 1841 and was living in the premises in the 1841 census. His parents may have been John Swithin Trimmer (or Swithin John Trimmer) who baptised a number of children at the nearby church of St Lawrence in the 1814 - 1829 period. So far no link has been found to the Trimmer family who were estab;ished in Brentford by the early 1700s. The 1844 poor rate and and 1845 directory name George Rogers as the landlord.

The Black Boys continued to change hands: 1851: John Carter; 1861: Thomas T Sanders; 1871: Michael Harty; 1874: James Nash; 1878: David Cawdrey; 1881: Charles Hunt, at which point apparently 24 people lived here; 1882: Charles Pavett (The Black Boys was recorded at no. 141in this directory). No. 140 is not recorded in the 1891 census and presumably had been taken over by no. 141 or was lost when the burial ground for the church was extended in 1884.

Number 141

Previously it was a curriers run by Alexander Wood in 1839 & 1841: in the census he headed a household of 12 including 4 female servants. In 1851 brothers Samuel Thomas Wood and Alexander Wood lived here and ran the curriers business, employing 3 men, 2 apprentices and 1 boy.

Alexander’s will dated 14 May 1864 bequeathed the premises to Taylor & Curtis and refers to a son Alexander Wood. He requested that his estate be converted into money and an auction at the Castle Inn took place, where his two premises were sold to David Rice for £605 (I)

The 1909/10 Valuation Records describe the property in April 1915 as ‘3 storey stock brick built & slated corner property … from the main building extending to the end of Church Alley are three 2 storey buildings used as lodging house… in all containing 92 beds’. It had a 26’ frontage to the High Street. At the time George Dawson was the owner and occupier.

Photos/Ephemera/Maps

References such as '1899 (A11)' indicate the date of a photo (1899) and where it is published (A11). Details of 'A' are available: see Mainly paper sources page; '11' refers to the page no, or photo no. in the publication.

Roads Off

Originally published, 2005, last updated December 2010