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Numbers 171 - 180 High Street, New Brentford

Properties

Notes prepared for numbers 171-2, 173 , 174 , 175 , 176 and The Watermans Arms (179); also a list of photos, ephemera and maps

Number 171-2

Possibly an ancestor of John James Clark, John Clark coal merchant lived here in 1861; by 1871 George Clark lighterman & waterman lived here, employing 6 men; his wife Mrs. Emma Clark lighterman is listed in 1881, where the census describes the property as having a large yard and wharf. See the article in the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal, 2007, ‘Bargemen of Brentford’ by David Blomfield, for more about the Clark family.

William Buck from Boxmoor, Herts had taken over the premises by 1901. See details of one of his wide boats registered in 1894 and the Buck family tree.

Alfred Buck & Son tug & barge owners are listed in 1913, A & J Buck in 1920, 1928, 1933; by 1940 Alfred Buck is listed at just number 172, Frank Bennett (son in law, he married Alfred's daughter Emily Buck) living in number 171.

Ann Podmore, descendant of Levi Buck, one of Alfred Buck’s sons, remembers her great grandmother (Emma Edwards, married Levi Buck in 1880) collecting a weekly pension from the Buck’s office next to the bridge in the mid to late 1940s. Pam Marsh's mother also remembers Alfred Buck.

Number 173

In 1914 the property was described 'The house is angular & inconveniently planned, but in very fair condition. The garden runs to canal at rear but there is no additional value on this account'. It also mentions the cellar: 'often waterlogged' and two and one storey additions at the back. It had a High Street frontage of 25' and was owned by Miss Maria Blatch, 'now deceased, successor: James Arthur Bradbury, 108-109 High Street'.

See Photos/Ephemera/Maps for a link to a 1945/6 photo of this property.

Number 174

William Rich, pewterer, followed by 1861. In 1881 Joseph Goddard,china and earthenware dealer lived here: he moved on to no. 277 by 1890. At the time of the 1909/10 Valuation, 'Butler' lived here and the property was owned by Frederick Francis Poole of 187 High Street. The Valuation Records include notes that the property had been sold in 1907 for £580, then in 1920 for £600. Trade directories from 1913 to 1940 list Charles Butler, ironmonger, at this address.

See Photos/Ephemera/Maps for a link to a 1945/6 photo of this property.

Number 175

Number 176

George Cooper, surgeon, lived further to the east at no. 209 High Street in 1841 – 1861. No Sign of Farrell on the High Street in this period.

In 1841 – 1861 Sarah Harris is listed here: in 1841 she is a housekeeper at ‘Savings Bank’, in 1851 and 1861 a housekeeper at ‘The Dispensary’. By 1890 the property was occupied by a dairyman, John Sheate; in the 1891 and 1901 censuses a Mrs Ellen Sheate (from Charlton, Somerset) lived & ran a dairy / confectionary shop here.

The 1909/10 Valuation returns include a note dated 26 February 1915 stating that this was ‘The sites of two shops which were demolished about 1911 and new buildings erected thereon. The adjoining plot (no 177) was purchased by the owners & a terrace of three shops have been erected, and the old boundaries do not now exist.’

The Watermans Arms, formerly the Alton Arms, no. 179

He was succeeded by Henry Littleboy in 1881, Charles Nelms in 1891 and the inappropriately named William Drinkwater in 1901.

At the time of the 1909/10 Valuation the property was described as a 3 storey stock brick built & tiled shop with a one-storey lockup shop at the side, no. 180. In the ‘subordinate interests’ section of the return, lessees Crowley & Co Ltd, the Brewery, Alton, Hants are named for 21 years from 24 June 1897 @ £65 per annum for numbers 178 & 179.

The lock-up shop, no. 180, has a frontage to the High Street of just 7’, it seems unlikely anyone would live there.

Photos/Ephemera/Maps

Roads Off