Kingsdown Social Life Suggested by Jane Hussey July 2023
George Betteridge (right) teaching boxing to his son Ernest George in 1930s (courtesy Jane Hussey)
Much research and articles about the quarrymen at Kingsdown has been based on census details. This largely gives names and occupations of the men and the names of their family members but there our knowledge of these people ends. Little has been recorded of the social and leisure lives of the Kingsdown residents. This article tries to lift the lid on their social activities and build a more complete picture of their lives.[1]
The great excitement of all locals was the annual Kingsdown Fair held on the downs. It was a time when the quarrymen took time off work to relax and enjoy themselves. Victor Painter recorded some of the stalls at the fair: Local employees would be given a half-day holiday to attend the fair. Attractions were coconut shies, swings, roundabouts with popular music, rifle shooting at bottles and pipes, freak shows and “other creations”. But the quarrymen were not attracted by these activities so much as the boxing booths, with highly ornate facias, blaring music, and celebrity showmen. Some of the contests were well-rehearsed, theatrical presentations, sometimes featuring women, black fighters or disabled people, with the event whipping up well-practiced audience interaction. These events often toured areas putting on the same show at different fairgrounds.[2]
Other contests were genuine contests where professional fighters took on challenges from the audience. At Kingsdown quarryman George Betteridge was a regular in the annual Fair, seeking to prove his prowess and to earn extra money offered as prizes to winning amateurs. Reputedly he won some fights and lost others against the professional fighters.[3] The headline photo shows George instructing his son Ernest in the Queensbury Rules for boxing fights (introduced in 1867) and wearing gloves rather than bare-knuckle fighting.
The great excitement of all locals was the annual Kingsdown Fair held on the downs. It was a time when the quarrymen took time off work to relax and enjoy themselves. Victor Painter recorded some of the stalls at the fair: Local employees would be given a half-day holiday to attend the fair. Attractions were coconut shies, swings, roundabouts with popular music, rifle shooting at bottles and pipes, freak shows and “other creations”. But the quarrymen were not attracted by these activities so much as the boxing booths, with highly ornate facias, blaring music, and celebrity showmen. Some of the contests were well-rehearsed, theatrical presentations, sometimes featuring women, black fighters or disabled people, with the event whipping up well-practiced audience interaction. These events often toured areas putting on the same show at different fairgrounds.[2]
Other contests were genuine contests where professional fighters took on challenges from the audience. At Kingsdown quarryman George Betteridge was a regular in the annual Fair, seeking to prove his prowess and to earn extra money offered as prizes to winning amateurs. Reputedly he won some fights and lost others against the professional fighters.[3] The headline photo shows George instructing his son Ernest in the Queensbury Rules for boxing fights (introduced in 1867) and wearing gloves rather than bare-knuckle fighting.
Swan Inn
The Kingsdown quarrymen worked six days a week, 12-hour shifts a day, which left little time for recreation. There was sport on the fields of Kingsdown but golf, cricket and occasional football matches were dominated by the middle-class sportsmen from Box and Bath. The ribbon development of the Lower Kingsdown Road was also unsuited for a central hamlet meeting hall. So, residents used the facilities which pre-existed in the area, including the Swan Inn.
For much of its existence, the Swan Inn served as a coaching stop on the Old Bath Roads where travellers to Bath could get a change of horses, food, and a change of clothes. This declined in the late Georgian period when the road from Corsham through Box became the preferred route. In 1841 the building became a lodging for labourers working on the railways and in the quarries but the popularity of the downs for the Kingsdown Fair and for horse riding meant that farmers and farm labourers continued to use the pub and the eviction of “gypsies” became an issue in 1873.
Because the inn was close to the quarry but some distance from many homes, we might surmise that quarry workers exited the quarry at the end of their 12-hour shift and got a quick drink at The Swan Inn. They probably used the public bar, a long narrow room to the right of the Inn door with the pumps that pulled the beer up through lead pipes from the cellar. This left the Smoking Room for travelling guests and farm workers.[4] The multiple use of the inn continued even when the Betteridge family took over the tenancy and the women ran the inn whilst the men worked in the quarries in the early 1900s. Most quarrymen lived down the Lower Kingsdown Road and, once they left the inn, they stayed at home rather than walk backwards and forwards.
The Kingsdown quarrymen worked six days a week, 12-hour shifts a day, which left little time for recreation. There was sport on the fields of Kingsdown but golf, cricket and occasional football matches were dominated by the middle-class sportsmen from Box and Bath. The ribbon development of the Lower Kingsdown Road was also unsuited for a central hamlet meeting hall. So, residents used the facilities which pre-existed in the area, including the Swan Inn.
For much of its existence, the Swan Inn served as a coaching stop on the Old Bath Roads where travellers to Bath could get a change of horses, food, and a change of clothes. This declined in the late Georgian period when the road from Corsham through Box became the preferred route. In 1841 the building became a lodging for labourers working on the railways and in the quarries but the popularity of the downs for the Kingsdown Fair and for horse riding meant that farmers and farm labourers continued to use the pub and the eviction of “gypsies” became an issue in 1873.
Because the inn was close to the quarry but some distance from many homes, we might surmise that quarry workers exited the quarry at the end of their 12-hour shift and got a quick drink at The Swan Inn. They probably used the public bar, a long narrow room to the right of the Inn door with the pumps that pulled the beer up through lead pipes from the cellar. This left the Smoking Room for travelling guests and farm workers.[4] The multiple use of the inn continued even when the Betteridge family took over the tenancy and the women ran the inn whilst the men worked in the quarries in the early 1900s. Most quarrymen lived down the Lower Kingsdown Road and, once they left the inn, they stayed at home rather than walk backwards and forwards.
Seated two in from the child on stool is Mary Shell, who married Frederick Newman Smith and lived at Vine Cottage, and later James Betteridge and lived at Tumble Down, Kingsdown. The photo was taken at the turn of the century as Mary died in 1905 (courtesy Jane Hussey)
The Methodist Chapel
In the absence of alternative social clubs, most leisure activities were instigated by the Methodist Church. As well as weekday meetings and organization, Sundays were for rest, domestic activities and worship. There was no golf on Kingsdown, no pubs open, little public entertainment not controlled by the church.
The first Methodist Chapel at Kingsdown was built in 1869, virtually identical to the date of the Box Hill Chapel but, lacking the wealthy sponsors of that building, it was constructed by local quarrymen out of donated stone and had to be rebuilt in 1926.
The initial appeal of the chapel was to provide both spirituality and education. Its appeal was often to women, who could use the building to meet for prayer, fundraising, and the education of children. Victor Painter later wrote that there were: Two services each Sunday at the Chapel 3pm to 4pm and 6pm to 7pm. And then there was Sunday school 11am to 12pm and in the afternoon from 2pm to 3pm. I think most children liked going to Sunday school. In the winter time there was a nice big hot stove going and that is what we sat around. One day every summer we had our Sunday school treat up on the down - a tea party with nice cake, and racing in a sack. Everybody got a prize; you didn't have to win. They had swings tied up in the pine trees.
For those who didn’t subscribe to Methodism there was even an occasional Church of England service: along the road from the post office was built a mission hall that was run by the Church of England and there was a Service every two weeks, but most people went to the Chapel.
The Kingsdown Chapel Harvest Festival was an important event for the area and one in which gardeners competed for status.
In 1916, the local Member of Parliament, Sidney Robinson from Ashley House opened the event.[5] The sale of produce generated £3.15s (today £500) and one single potato raised £1.1s.1d (today approaching £150). A Kingsdown resident recalled the annual harvest festival: Locals brought trolley loads of produce to the chapel and people came from Bath to Bathford bus station to the Methodist Chapel to buy produce on Monday after the Festival.[6]
In the absence of alternative social clubs, most leisure activities were instigated by the Methodist Church. As well as weekday meetings and organization, Sundays were for rest, domestic activities and worship. There was no golf on Kingsdown, no pubs open, little public entertainment not controlled by the church.
The first Methodist Chapel at Kingsdown was built in 1869, virtually identical to the date of the Box Hill Chapel but, lacking the wealthy sponsors of that building, it was constructed by local quarrymen out of donated stone and had to be rebuilt in 1926.
The initial appeal of the chapel was to provide both spirituality and education. Its appeal was often to women, who could use the building to meet for prayer, fundraising, and the education of children. Victor Painter later wrote that there were: Two services each Sunday at the Chapel 3pm to 4pm and 6pm to 7pm. And then there was Sunday school 11am to 12pm and in the afternoon from 2pm to 3pm. I think most children liked going to Sunday school. In the winter time there was a nice big hot stove going and that is what we sat around. One day every summer we had our Sunday school treat up on the down - a tea party with nice cake, and racing in a sack. Everybody got a prize; you didn't have to win. They had swings tied up in the pine trees.
For those who didn’t subscribe to Methodism there was even an occasional Church of England service: along the road from the post office was built a mission hall that was run by the Church of England and there was a Service every two weeks, but most people went to the Chapel.
The Kingsdown Chapel Harvest Festival was an important event for the area and one in which gardeners competed for status.
In 1916, the local Member of Parliament, Sidney Robinson from Ashley House opened the event.[5] The sale of produce generated £3.15s (today £500) and one single potato raised £1.1s.1d (today approaching £150). A Kingsdown resident recalled the annual harvest festival: Locals brought trolley loads of produce to the chapel and people came from Bath to Bathford bus station to the Methodist Chapel to buy produce on Monday after the Festival.[6]
Domestic Life
Pigeon keeping was a universal pastime enjoyed by many men, including the quarry workers. George Betteridge, stone quarryman and publican of the Swan Inn, advertised for sale in 1905: prize bred pigeons, tumblers, best blood obtainable.[7] Pigeon keeping was a past-time with the prospect of winning prizes but the breeding of ducks and chicken was for food for the table. Victor Painter said: We had lots of hens so never short of eggs … how lucky we were. There was always work keeping fowl, boiling potato rinds and other scraps to feed them. Eight ducklings owned by Henry Betteridge were stolen in 1884 by his neighbour Elizabeth Barnham, who was prosecuted and fined 30s.[8] Breeding of birds was a risky venture, however, because of the number of foxes in the area and the need to keep the birds secure every night. George Betteridge kept hens all his life.
When he left the Swan Inn in 1904, he advertised some of his equipment: 50-egg incubator for sale as new, used for two hatches only.[9] George ran the Longs Arms in South Wraxall but moved back to Kingsdown in 1929 and, after his death in 1949, his daughter Amy continued to keep the chickens.[10]
For all rural residents there was a need to keep domesticated livestock and keep a kitchen garden, growing fruit and vegetables. At Hundred Acre Cottage they cultivated potatoes and root crops: There was an apple tree of eating apples that would keep. We had greengage trees growing on the cottage wall at the back of the cottage and one plum tree was growing close to our gate to walk on to the downs and outside our railings.
Gardening was a gentle occupation but not exciting enough for some quarrymen. With many firearms available for the militia, shooting rabbits and sometimes poaching the animals was a common activity. Victor Painter’s father regularized the practice by renting the rights to shoot and ferret out these wild rabbits from different farmers around. During WW1 people would pay two shillings for one rabbit and one could get 9 pence for a rabbit skin. Twice each week we went to the city of Bath with perhaps a hundred rabbits. They were sold in no time at all. People came running out of their houses to buy them because butcher’s meat ration was on, with the war still going.
Pigeon keeping was a universal pastime enjoyed by many men, including the quarry workers. George Betteridge, stone quarryman and publican of the Swan Inn, advertised for sale in 1905: prize bred pigeons, tumblers, best blood obtainable.[7] Pigeon keeping was a past-time with the prospect of winning prizes but the breeding of ducks and chicken was for food for the table. Victor Painter said: We had lots of hens so never short of eggs … how lucky we were. There was always work keeping fowl, boiling potato rinds and other scraps to feed them. Eight ducklings owned by Henry Betteridge were stolen in 1884 by his neighbour Elizabeth Barnham, who was prosecuted and fined 30s.[8] Breeding of birds was a risky venture, however, because of the number of foxes in the area and the need to keep the birds secure every night. George Betteridge kept hens all his life.
When he left the Swan Inn in 1904, he advertised some of his equipment: 50-egg incubator for sale as new, used for two hatches only.[9] George ran the Longs Arms in South Wraxall but moved back to Kingsdown in 1929 and, after his death in 1949, his daughter Amy continued to keep the chickens.[10]
For all rural residents there was a need to keep domesticated livestock and keep a kitchen garden, growing fruit and vegetables. At Hundred Acre Cottage they cultivated potatoes and root crops: There was an apple tree of eating apples that would keep. We had greengage trees growing on the cottage wall at the back of the cottage and one plum tree was growing close to our gate to walk on to the downs and outside our railings.
Gardening was a gentle occupation but not exciting enough for some quarrymen. With many firearms available for the militia, shooting rabbits and sometimes poaching the animals was a common activity. Victor Painter’s father regularized the practice by renting the rights to shoot and ferret out these wild rabbits from different farmers around. During WW1 people would pay two shillings for one rabbit and one could get 9 pence for a rabbit skin. Twice each week we went to the city of Bath with perhaps a hundred rabbits. They were sold in no time at all. People came running out of their houses to buy them because butcher’s meat ration was on, with the war still going.
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Women at Kingsdown
If you think that the men worked hard, then spare a thought for a woman’s daily life. Disposing of night soil, fetching water from the standpipe, making breakfast, packing the quarryman’s lunch, getting the children to school, clearing the grate of coal ash, doing the laundry by hand with the mangle, collecting firewood and kindling, collecting infant children from school, preparing dinner for the family, heating the stove for the quarryman’s bath to wash away the stone dust, getting the children to bed, shopping for bread several times a week, and the normal domestic chores of bringing up families in overcrowded conditions. These were the daily chores needed to survive before domestic appliances became more common after the Second World War. It left precious little time for recreation or leisure for women apart from conversing with neighbouring wives who were doing the same. The only person who can be identified in the Methodist photograph above is Mary Shell, who married firstly Frederick Newman Smith and lived at Vine Cottage and then James Betteridge, who lived with his parents at Tumble Down after he was widowed. She is shown among a whole group of women on Kingsdown as a very old lady. They were her friends, neighbours, and fellow supporters of the Methodist Church. We would love to know who the other women were. Could the occasion for the photo have been a chapel tea at Kingsdown, one of the few recreational pleasures for women? |
Mary Betteridge, nee Shell (courtesy Jane Hussey)
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The women’s need for the chapel was partly for information, with the chapel leaders being the most responsible of citizens. Victor Painter described how these women needed to budget most carefully, especially for special occasions with high levels of expenditure: Mrs Tiley used to take the Coal Club money for all the people living on Kingsdown. By joining the Coal Club, one had a penny knocked off every hundredweight of coal when coal was brought up to your house a week or so before Christmas Day. Two of Box 's coal merchants ran Coal Clubs for Christmas.
Children at Play
For most, childhood and play ended by the age of 14, except for those who were employed at a younger age often at harvest time or the birth of siblings. Parents ran the risk of being caught by the school inspector but the cottages were a long way from schools. The children went to different day schools depending which was closest. Those near the Swan Inn went to Bathford School and those closer to Kingsdown House to Box School. Both were a couple of miles away. On Sundays, there was the inevitable Sunday School at the Methodist Chapel, or a few went to the Mission Hut at Longsplatt.[11]
Victor Painter wrote about his childhood: In those days most boys and girls had hoops to run to school with; the boys had iron ones with an iron crook. The girls' hoops were wooden and they used a short stick to hit them along We had two hours at dinner time, 12pm to 2pm. In the wintertime they had big black stoves going, one in each classroom. Lots of games went in the play yard, like marbles and whipping tops. Boys and girls played that game. All you wanted was a short stick with some string tied on to make a whip. Then winding the string around the top and giving a pull made the top spin. After that you just kept whipping. There were two kinds of tops, one that was fat, called a granny, the other was thin and called a flyer. Each top had a hobnail driven in the bottom to make it spin.
When you were big enough to use the yokes on your shoulder, you had to fetch the water from the springs that lay on the lower road of Kingsdown. There were three water troughs, always plenty of water in them. At the bakehouse they had a water pump for their use, and the other five houses in the row.
For most, childhood and play ended by the age of 14, except for those who were employed at a younger age often at harvest time or the birth of siblings. Parents ran the risk of being caught by the school inspector but the cottages were a long way from schools. The children went to different day schools depending which was closest. Those near the Swan Inn went to Bathford School and those closer to Kingsdown House to Box School. Both were a couple of miles away. On Sundays, there was the inevitable Sunday School at the Methodist Chapel, or a few went to the Mission Hut at Longsplatt.[11]
Victor Painter wrote about his childhood: In those days most boys and girls had hoops to run to school with; the boys had iron ones with an iron crook. The girls' hoops were wooden and they used a short stick to hit them along We had two hours at dinner time, 12pm to 2pm. In the wintertime they had big black stoves going, one in each classroom. Lots of games went in the play yard, like marbles and whipping tops. Boys and girls played that game. All you wanted was a short stick with some string tied on to make a whip. Then winding the string around the top and giving a pull made the top spin. After that you just kept whipping. There were two kinds of tops, one that was fat, called a granny, the other was thin and called a flyer. Each top had a hobnail driven in the bottom to make it spin.
When you were big enough to use the yokes on your shoulder, you had to fetch the water from the springs that lay on the lower road of Kingsdown. There were three water troughs, always plenty of water in them. At the bakehouse they had a water pump for their use, and the other five houses in the row.
Conclusion
The quarrymen and their families worked hard just to survive at Kingsdown. Much of this was similar to that in other locations, especially Box Hill, but the isolation of Kingsdown put additional pressure on their time and opportunities. For this reason, it was important to get on with your neighbours despite the pressures of overcrowded housing, lack of facilities and often poor education. This made the families at Kingsdown into unique people.
The quarrymen and their families worked hard just to survive at Kingsdown. Much of this was similar to that in other locations, especially Box Hill, but the isolation of Kingsdown put additional pressure on their time and opportunities. For this reason, it was important to get on with your neighbours despite the pressures of overcrowded housing, lack of facilities and often poor education. This made the families at Kingsdown into unique people.
References
[1] Much of this article is indebted to the memoires of Victor Painter, Kingsdown Memories, http://www.choghole.co.uk/victor/victor1.htm
[2] History of the Boxing Booth - Research and Articles - National Fairground and Circus Archive - The University of Sheffield
[3] The Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser 9 April 1949
[4] Victor Painter, Kingsdown Memories, http://www.choghole.co.uk/victor/victor1.htm
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 14 October 1916
[6] Courtesy Peggy Butt
[7] The Wiltshire Times, 4 March 1905
[8] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 28 August 1884
[9] The Wiltshire Times, 2 April 1904
[10] See Betty Shop
[11] Courtesy Peggy Butt
[1] Much of this article is indebted to the memoires of Victor Painter, Kingsdown Memories, http://www.choghole.co.uk/victor/victor1.htm
[2] History of the Boxing Booth - Research and Articles - National Fairground and Circus Archive - The University of Sheffield
[3] The Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser 9 April 1949
[4] Victor Painter, Kingsdown Memories, http://www.choghole.co.uk/victor/victor1.htm
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 14 October 1916
[6] Courtesy Peggy Butt
[7] The Wiltshire Times, 4 March 1905
[8] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 28 August 1884
[9] The Wiltshire Times, 2 April 1904
[10] See Betty Shop
[11] Courtesy Peggy Butt