Jubilee Centre and Initial Research on
Dyers Yard in the Market Place
David Ibberson
February 2014
Built just off the Market Place, this site has been little written about until David Ibberson started his research. Here are his initial findings.
Left and below: Photos Carol Payne
Dyers Yard in the Market Place
David Ibberson
February 2014
Built just off the Market Place, this site has been little written about until David Ibberson started his research. Here are his initial findings.
Left and below: Photos Carol Payne
The Jubilee Youth Centre will be well known to generations of Box children particularly if they attended the Youth Club, St John’s Ambulance, Brownies or Guides. Whilst over time these organisations have moved on or perhaps closed down, today, the Centre is the home of Box Kids and Box Pre-School Play Group. A simple question from Becky Townsend who runs Box Kids concerning the history of the building, exposed my ignorance and worse still, exposed the fact that I had never even thought about it despite the fact that I had been on the Management Committee for nearly 30 years.
Address is Dyer's Yard |
Perhaps a clue to its history can be found in the address: Dyers Yard, Market Place, Box.
My first thoughts took me to the possibility that the area had once been used for dying wool or even leather. |
My flight of fancy took me through Glovers Lane and to the area that was once, a candle and soap factory. Fat from animal skins, a by-product of the leather manufacturing process, was used in making candles, so is there a link? Well we do have a problem with that theory in so much that Hooper’s carpentry business has the address Dyers Yard, Quarry Hill. Add to that that at the turn of the last century, Mr Robert Dyer owned a business which was multi-faceted: that of carpenter, undertaker, general builder etc. Is it possible that these, the two Dyers Yards, could be so named because of the user/owner rather than the process? Before I embark on another flight of fancy let us consider the building itself.
The history of the Jubilee Centre and its uses, like any other building, lies in its architecture so does that provide any clues? The Centre has undergone many changes in its lifetime with major changes in 1978 which resulted in the wing being added to the left hand side of the building to provide safe and easy access to the first floor. Natural light on the first floor comes from skylights and a single window, the former a modern addition; the latter, by virtue of size may have been added early in the last century. The ground floor has very large metal framed windows divided by square pillars and a double door. Looking at the frontage one gets the impression of a series of ‘stalls’. Is it possible that the first floor was a hayloft and the ground floor stables? This would tie in nicely with the story that hay was once stored there.
Thus far, I have leant heavily on what is known about the Market Place, perhaps with wild assumptions; I must now produce evidence. Thanks to the National Archives Website, I discovered that the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre was holding documents relating to Dyers Yard which proved to be a goldmine. On 24th June 1919 one Robert Dyer signed papers which in effect was a mortgage document to raise the purchase price for the area we now know as Dyers Yard. Hence we can say with some certainty that its name originates from the owner. How much did he pay? Just £150 raised by mortgage from Thomas Bence (Grocer).
The history of the Jubilee Centre and its uses, like any other building, lies in its architecture so does that provide any clues? The Centre has undergone many changes in its lifetime with major changes in 1978 which resulted in the wing being added to the left hand side of the building to provide safe and easy access to the first floor. Natural light on the first floor comes from skylights and a single window, the former a modern addition; the latter, by virtue of size may have been added early in the last century. The ground floor has very large metal framed windows divided by square pillars and a double door. Looking at the frontage one gets the impression of a series of ‘stalls’. Is it possible that the first floor was a hayloft and the ground floor stables? This would tie in nicely with the story that hay was once stored there.
Thus far, I have leant heavily on what is known about the Market Place, perhaps with wild assumptions; I must now produce evidence. Thanks to the National Archives Website, I discovered that the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre was holding documents relating to Dyers Yard which proved to be a goldmine. On 24th June 1919 one Robert Dyer signed papers which in effect was a mortgage document to raise the purchase price for the area we now know as Dyers Yard. Hence we can say with some certainty that its name originates from the owner. How much did he pay? Just £150 raised by mortgage from Thomas Bence (Grocer).
The document in question describes the Jubilee Centre as the Malthouse Stables and reference is made to the Malthouse Gardens. So there you have it, the Centre was a stables and named after the owner. As is oft the case, you answer one question only to raise more with the introduction of malt house.
On the 2nd June in the same year a document records that Ethel Rowe Perrin of London, Frederick Noble and Mildred Noble sold the area to Robert John Dyer. These were the children of Samuel Rowe Noble (farmer) who had purchased the area from the Bath Stone Firms on 3rd January 1890.
However, it is recorded on another document that a syndicate of Robert Chubb (Maltster), Samuel Rowe Noble (Stone Merchant) and David Pinchin (Gentleman) sold the Malthouse Gardens to the Bath Stone Company in 1865. Why do these documents survive? I suspect that it is by virtue of the fact that the District Council purchased Dyers Yard in 1951-2.
The 1901 census records Samual Rowe Noble living with his wife Elizabeth, son Frederick Thomas and Daughter Mildred in the Market Place. Samual is described as a retired Stone Merchant which strongly suggests that the two Samuals, Stone Merchant and Farmer were one and the same. By 1911, Samual was dead and the family had moved to Lorne Villas with Elizabeth the Head. All the Family were recorded as having ‘Private Means’ .
So there you have it, well I am not sure, having written the foregoing I decided to make a visit to the Jubilee Centre and speak with Becky (Box Kids) who raised the original query regarding the Centre’s history. What was nagging me was that the building seemed rather too substantial to be just humble stables. Becky pointed out that windows in the upper part backing on to a private courtyard had been ‘bricked up’ and to my surprise she showed me, hidden away in a storeroom on the lower floor, where stairs had been cut (not that long ago) away and removed. These stairs seemed to be rather domestic in structure, less rugged than one would expect to see and positioned such that access appeared to be from the adjacent building. This left me with the thought that yes, it may have been stables in 1919 but could it have been built for other purposes? There remains, a hidden history within the confines of Dyers Yard and research must go on.
The 1901 census records Samual Rowe Noble living with his wife Elizabeth, son Frederick Thomas and Daughter Mildred in the Market Place. Samual is described as a retired Stone Merchant which strongly suggests that the two Samuals, Stone Merchant and Farmer were one and the same. By 1911, Samual was dead and the family had moved to Lorne Villas with Elizabeth the Head. All the Family were recorded as having ‘Private Means’ .
So there you have it, well I am not sure, having written the foregoing I decided to make a visit to the Jubilee Centre and speak with Becky (Box Kids) who raised the original query regarding the Centre’s history. What was nagging me was that the building seemed rather too substantial to be just humble stables. Becky pointed out that windows in the upper part backing on to a private courtyard had been ‘bricked up’ and to my surprise she showed me, hidden away in a storeroom on the lower floor, where stairs had been cut (not that long ago) away and removed. These stairs seemed to be rather domestic in structure, less rugged than one would expect to see and positioned such that access appeared to be from the adjacent building. This left me with the thought that yes, it may have been stables in 1919 but could it have been built for other purposes? There remains, a hidden history within the confines of Dyers Yard and research must go on.