Highfield House and its Occupants Alan Payne May 2023
Highfield House on the corner of Bargates (courtesy Carol Payne)
To the casual passer-by Highfield House on the London Road is just a typical late Victorian property, one of the many that adorn England’s streets. But the story of the property is much more interesting, even the name of the house hiding an earlier story enjoyed by all the residents of the village. This is an attempt to bring its story to light.
Highfield House is sometimes called Fairfield in an area called Fete Field or Fair Field, the names reflecting the communal use of the area before The Rec became the village meeting point. It is a distinguished property built in natural limestone ashlar blocks, with a slate roof and impressive gate piers leading to an imposing front entrance under a stone hood. The house was built in 1906-08 by Walter John Bradfield (1862-11 December 1933), stonemason by trade and, for many years, local councillor who served as Assistant Overseer of the Poor of the Parish, Collector of Rates, Box Parish councillor, parish clerk and councillor at Chippenham Rural District Council. To understand the property better, we need to consider the plot which Walter John developed.
Highfield House is sometimes called Fairfield in an area called Fete Field or Fair Field, the names reflecting the communal use of the area before The Rec became the village meeting point. It is a distinguished property built in natural limestone ashlar blocks, with a slate roof and impressive gate piers leading to an imposing front entrance under a stone hood. The house was built in 1906-08 by Walter John Bradfield (1862-11 December 1933), stonemason by trade and, for many years, local councillor who served as Assistant Overseer of the Poor of the Parish, Collector of Rates, Box Parish councillor, parish clerk and councillor at Chippenham Rural District Council. To understand the property better, we need to consider the plot which Walter John developed.
Tea party at Fete Field in 1911 for the coronation of George V (courtesy Ainsley and Shirley Goulstone)
The Fair at Highfield
Long before the Bargates estate was built, the area had been an open field used as a central meeting area for residents. The Oddfellows and Foresters’ Amalgamated Fete was an annual Box event, a village fair held on Fete Field every August Bank Holiday Monday with funds going to the Bath Royal United Hospital. For many of the years when it was held (1888 until 1913),
it was organized by Walter John on behalf of the Loyal Northey Lodge of Oddfellows and by A Merrett for the Bold Robin Hood Court of the Ancient Order of Foresters. The idea for a fair may have come from a day trip to see Bartlett’s Steam Roundabouts and other amusements in 1894, organized by the secretary, Walter John Bradfield.[1] By 1897 the event was held in Box at Fete Field with Jennings Steam Roundabouts presenting the entertainment of swings, shooting galleries etc.[2] Walter John was a staunch supporter of the Loyal Northey Lodge of Oddfellows. He was the friendly society’s honorary secretary in 1892 at the 50-year commemoration of its foundation on 24 October 1842.[3]
By 1905 the event was so successful that other friendly societies joined in including the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, Wilts Friendly Society, the Pioneers, and the Wiltshire Conservative Working Men’s Association.[4] Each society met in their own headquarters and then processed behind their banner, meeting up for a church service and (in some years) enjoying lunch in the Box Schools. The groups then paraded to James Vezey’s field (Fete Field) to listen to the St George (Bristol) Military Band and participate in sports events.
Walter John Bradfield, 1862-1933
Walter John Bradfield was a stonemason who built the house in the years 1906-08, probably working in his spare time. This was not uncommon in Box as there are other similar examples including Thomas and Alfred Lambert and Bill Chaffey. These were all exceptional people, highly literate and imaginative leaders in building a society in Box, which encompassed the needs of those less fortunate. Walter John Bradfield senior (1862-1933) married Rhoda Mizen (1859-16 January 1949) from Bradford-on-Avon in 1889. He was a stone mason and she was the daughter of the manager of the Pictor’s Wharf. They lived at Alma, Box Hill in 1891 and at 1 Bath Road (owned by the Bath & Portland Stone Firms) in 1901. After Walter John had completed Highfield,
he appears to have retired from quarrying in his mid-forties, and took up a new career as Assistant Overseer of the Poor.
This was a voluntary position to which Walter was appointed because of his social position in the village.
Just before the First World War, Walter became choirmaster replacing William Burrows. This was a period of stability for over half a century at the church with Walter managing the choir and Augustus Frederick Perren playing the organ. Augustus died suddenly in 1923 and his role was taken up by Walter’s eldest son, Walter John junior (1890-5 September 1951). As might be expected from a choirmaster, Walter John senior had a fine voice and was constantly in demand to sing at evening concerts. Sometimes these were religious pieces or hymns but they also included popular songs, often with amusing or mischievous lyrics.
In 1929 Walter celebrated 50 years serving in Box Church and recorded his memories of being there as a child with his mother in 1870s when the vicar was Rev HDCS Horlock.[5] He recalled the high, boxed pews in green and red baize with brass studs, with a candle at each end of the line. The children’s gallery was above the north aisle near the rood screen, where the church organist near the west door of the church could supervise any misbehaviour. The main gallery was at the west end of the church, where the choir could be conducted by the organist. The woodwork of the gallery was so good that it was sent to the British Museum. The stalls for the choir were those later moved into the chancel. Walter’s details confirmed the Georgian appearance of the church before extensive restoration in 1896-97 when the church was described as: crowded with hideous appropriated pews and with more hideous galleries carried up nearly to the roof with access to one through a window.[6] Walter talked about the Sunday School started by Rev George Gardiner after 1874 and how the stonemasons in the choir used their skill to build a new stone pulpit for the church replacing an old, three-decker Jacobean pulpit, probably installed in 1716.
On his death in 1933 Walter John senior was remembered as an excellent, zealous and faithful officer for many years.[7] It goes without saying that he was very organized, an able administrator and highly literate – in fact a strong supporter of the Adult School on Box Hill providing an education for quarrymen. Both Walter and Rhoda died at Fairfield House, Walter in 1933 (still working as parish clerk in October that year) and Rhoda in 1949. Walter’s funeral included a lying-in-state in Box Church.[8]
Before Walter John’s death in 1933, he appears to have started to arrange his finances for the benefit of the family. There is a conveyance dated 24 June 1930 (unfortunately no longer in existence) by which Fairfield was sold by several people including Walter John’s sister-in-law, Helen Bradfield. The holder of the land seems to have been some sort of family arrangement but the new owner was clear, Mary Ellen Bradfield, Walter and Rhoda’s daughter. We can speculate about why this happened. The eldest child, Walter John junior (1891-) and his wife Elizabeth Agnes (1885-) were both school teachers at Box School, where they had a good salary and were able to live at Bourton House on the High Street. The second child, Arthur (1892-) was a carpenter who had served in the First World War. He claimed a disability pension which was refused perfunctorily and he and his wife moved to Dagenham, Essex by 1939. That left their unmarried daughter Mary Ellen (2 May 1894-1985) to look after her parents. After Walter’s death, Rhoda lived until she was 90 in 1949.
The curtilage of the property was reconfigured around that time. The original plot included a narrow strip of land which extended up to the boundary with Elmsleigh Villas. In order to provide access to the new Bargates Estate, an exchange of land was made in April 1948, by which the part of the plot which now forms the entrance to Bargates was exchanged for a 20-foot-wide strip of land behind Highfield House.
Later Occupants
Mary Ellen sold the house on 22 June 1951 to Francis George Abrahams (1891-1967).[9] The Abrahams family were renowned as the local Box butchers, who also had a shop in Corsham. The family had a slaughterhouse at the top of Box Hill, originally operated by Francis’ father George. Francis and his wife Elizabeth (1888-18 May 1986) lived at Clare Cottage, Box Hill and later at Brookwell, the house which slipped down the hill 10 years after they left. Elizabeth recorded her memories of life running the business when cattle were herded along the road to the slaughterhouse and some had to be butchered where they died having fallen into a quarry near The Tynings. When the Abrahams sold their Corsham shop, they took over the business premises at the west side of the Queen’s Head. It made sense to move into the centre of the village when Fairfield came up for sale.
Long before the Bargates estate was built, the area had been an open field used as a central meeting area for residents. The Oddfellows and Foresters’ Amalgamated Fete was an annual Box event, a village fair held on Fete Field every August Bank Holiday Monday with funds going to the Bath Royal United Hospital. For many of the years when it was held (1888 until 1913),
it was organized by Walter John on behalf of the Loyal Northey Lodge of Oddfellows and by A Merrett for the Bold Robin Hood Court of the Ancient Order of Foresters. The idea for a fair may have come from a day trip to see Bartlett’s Steam Roundabouts and other amusements in 1894, organized by the secretary, Walter John Bradfield.[1] By 1897 the event was held in Box at Fete Field with Jennings Steam Roundabouts presenting the entertainment of swings, shooting galleries etc.[2] Walter John was a staunch supporter of the Loyal Northey Lodge of Oddfellows. He was the friendly society’s honorary secretary in 1892 at the 50-year commemoration of its foundation on 24 October 1842.[3]
By 1905 the event was so successful that other friendly societies joined in including the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, Wilts Friendly Society, the Pioneers, and the Wiltshire Conservative Working Men’s Association.[4] Each society met in their own headquarters and then processed behind their banner, meeting up for a church service and (in some years) enjoying lunch in the Box Schools. The groups then paraded to James Vezey’s field (Fete Field) to listen to the St George (Bristol) Military Band and participate in sports events.
Walter John Bradfield, 1862-1933
Walter John Bradfield was a stonemason who built the house in the years 1906-08, probably working in his spare time. This was not uncommon in Box as there are other similar examples including Thomas and Alfred Lambert and Bill Chaffey. These were all exceptional people, highly literate and imaginative leaders in building a society in Box, which encompassed the needs of those less fortunate. Walter John Bradfield senior (1862-1933) married Rhoda Mizen (1859-16 January 1949) from Bradford-on-Avon in 1889. He was a stone mason and she was the daughter of the manager of the Pictor’s Wharf. They lived at Alma, Box Hill in 1891 and at 1 Bath Road (owned by the Bath & Portland Stone Firms) in 1901. After Walter John had completed Highfield,
he appears to have retired from quarrying in his mid-forties, and took up a new career as Assistant Overseer of the Poor.
This was a voluntary position to which Walter was appointed because of his social position in the village.
Just before the First World War, Walter became choirmaster replacing William Burrows. This was a period of stability for over half a century at the church with Walter managing the choir and Augustus Frederick Perren playing the organ. Augustus died suddenly in 1923 and his role was taken up by Walter’s eldest son, Walter John junior (1890-5 September 1951). As might be expected from a choirmaster, Walter John senior had a fine voice and was constantly in demand to sing at evening concerts. Sometimes these were religious pieces or hymns but they also included popular songs, often with amusing or mischievous lyrics.
In 1929 Walter celebrated 50 years serving in Box Church and recorded his memories of being there as a child with his mother in 1870s when the vicar was Rev HDCS Horlock.[5] He recalled the high, boxed pews in green and red baize with brass studs, with a candle at each end of the line. The children’s gallery was above the north aisle near the rood screen, where the church organist near the west door of the church could supervise any misbehaviour. The main gallery was at the west end of the church, where the choir could be conducted by the organist. The woodwork of the gallery was so good that it was sent to the British Museum. The stalls for the choir were those later moved into the chancel. Walter’s details confirmed the Georgian appearance of the church before extensive restoration in 1896-97 when the church was described as: crowded with hideous appropriated pews and with more hideous galleries carried up nearly to the roof with access to one through a window.[6] Walter talked about the Sunday School started by Rev George Gardiner after 1874 and how the stonemasons in the choir used their skill to build a new stone pulpit for the church replacing an old, three-decker Jacobean pulpit, probably installed in 1716.
On his death in 1933 Walter John senior was remembered as an excellent, zealous and faithful officer for many years.[7] It goes without saying that he was very organized, an able administrator and highly literate – in fact a strong supporter of the Adult School on Box Hill providing an education for quarrymen. Both Walter and Rhoda died at Fairfield House, Walter in 1933 (still working as parish clerk in October that year) and Rhoda in 1949. Walter’s funeral included a lying-in-state in Box Church.[8]
Before Walter John’s death in 1933, he appears to have started to arrange his finances for the benefit of the family. There is a conveyance dated 24 June 1930 (unfortunately no longer in existence) by which Fairfield was sold by several people including Walter John’s sister-in-law, Helen Bradfield. The holder of the land seems to have been some sort of family arrangement but the new owner was clear, Mary Ellen Bradfield, Walter and Rhoda’s daughter. We can speculate about why this happened. The eldest child, Walter John junior (1891-) and his wife Elizabeth Agnes (1885-) were both school teachers at Box School, where they had a good salary and were able to live at Bourton House on the High Street. The second child, Arthur (1892-) was a carpenter who had served in the First World War. He claimed a disability pension which was refused perfunctorily and he and his wife moved to Dagenham, Essex by 1939. That left their unmarried daughter Mary Ellen (2 May 1894-1985) to look after her parents. After Walter’s death, Rhoda lived until she was 90 in 1949.
The curtilage of the property was reconfigured around that time. The original plot included a narrow strip of land which extended up to the boundary with Elmsleigh Villas. In order to provide access to the new Bargates Estate, an exchange of land was made in April 1948, by which the part of the plot which now forms the entrance to Bargates was exchanged for a 20-foot-wide strip of land behind Highfield House.
Later Occupants
Mary Ellen sold the house on 22 June 1951 to Francis George Abrahams (1891-1967).[9] The Abrahams family were renowned as the local Box butchers, who also had a shop in Corsham. The family had a slaughterhouse at the top of Box Hill, originally operated by Francis’ father George. Francis and his wife Elizabeth (1888-18 May 1986) lived at Clare Cottage, Box Hill and later at Brookwell, the house which slipped down the hill 10 years after they left. Elizabeth recorded her memories of life running the business when cattle were herded along the road to the slaughterhouse and some had to be butchered where they died having fallen into a quarry near The Tynings. When the Abrahams sold their Corsham shop, they took over the business premises at the west side of the Queen’s Head. It made sense to move into the centre of the village when Fairfield came up for sale.
The Abrahams shop at Pickwick, Corsham (now demolished), courtesy Eric Callaway
When the Abrahams left Fairfield in 1957, they sold their shop and the house to Donald Arthur Whittle (1914-1957), who had previously run the butcher’s shop in the Chequers, Market Place.[10] Donald died suddenly in his mid-40s and his wife Phyllis stayed in the house until 1980, although she relinquished the butcher’s shop. She changed the name of the house from Fairfield to Highfield, possibly wanting to close a chapter on the past. From 1980 to 1985 the house was owned by Mr and Mrs Dartnell.[11] It then went to Elizabeth Newton who married Nigel Millward in 1992. Elizabeth Milward developed the house to its present footprint. She recounted that the parish office was situated in one of the downstairs rooms, which is why there are two front gates. The Millward family are probably best known in Box for their daughter Stephanie Millward, who won two Paralympic gold medals in the Rio games of 2016 and was awarded an MBE. The house was sold to the present owners in 2012.
Highfield House reflects the middle-class expansion of the village in the late 19th century when the affluence of the quarry trade allowed industrious working men to undertake highly lucrative contracts repairing, restoring and sometimes constructing new buildings. Often these men were sub-contract stonemasons to the Bath & Portland Stone Firms, who needed to move large volumes of stone blocks. The masons in Box could charge high prices for their work because it was skilled work measuring, estimating quantities and calculating the number of men needed to fit. As they rose in status the leading masons built the villas on the east of the Box village, and took over the management of the local institutions. Walter John Bradfield is a fine example of this period in Box’s history.
References
[1] The Wiltshire Times, 28 July 1894
[2] The Wiltshire Times, 17 July 1897
[3] The Wiltshire Times, 29 October 1892
[4] The Wiltshire Times, 9 September 1905
[5] Bath Chronicle and Herald, 28 December 1929
[6] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, November 1896
[7] The Wiltshire Times, 23 December 1933
[8] The Wiltshire Times, 23 December 1933
[9] Conveyance, 22 June 1951
[10] Conveyance, 15 January 1957
[11] Conveyances 19 December 1980 and 10 December 1985
[1] The Wiltshire Times, 28 July 1894
[2] The Wiltshire Times, 17 July 1897
[3] The Wiltshire Times, 29 October 1892
[4] The Wiltshire Times, 9 September 1905
[5] Bath Chronicle and Herald, 28 December 1929
[6] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, November 1896
[7] The Wiltshire Times, 23 December 1933
[8] The Wiltshire Times, 23 December 1933
[9] Conveyance, 22 June 1951
[10] Conveyance, 15 January 1957
[11] Conveyances 19 December 1980 and 10 December 1985