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Myrtle Grove, London Road
Alan Payne Research Mike (Jake) Jacobs Photos Old Glory Magazine via Mike Jacobs November 2019 You might not know the name Myrtle Grove but you do know the traction engine in the front garden of the High Street house in Box. With a couple of others, Mike installed the engine in 1980 in the property of collector and antique steam enthusiast, George Purser and his wife Pat. The most famous house of that name still exists in County Cork, Ireland. It was once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1588 who planted the first potatoes there and a servant threw a bucket of water over him, thinking that Raleigh was on fire when he was smoking tobacco. Reputedly the poet Edmund Spencer wrote his epic poem The Faerie Queene there. Right: Illustration from Old Glory magazine Sep/Oct 1990 |
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It was this tobacco connection that persuaded Taddy & Co to call their branded cigarettes by the name Myrtle Grove. After the 1890s, they promoted these by including informative cards in each pack, such as English Royalty, Natives of the World and Railway Locomotives. The name of the cottage probably comes from this tobacco connection, perhaps the builder’s favourite brand.
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House Origins
The land for the Box house was originally owned by the Northey family and there is a reference to it owned by George Northey in 1889. They sold the land for development and it is probable that it was bought and constructed by a stone mason for himself and his family.[2] The first recorded resident was Arthur Henry Eyles (20 March 1869-1946), banker mason, and his wife Rose Hannah Jefferies (29 January 1866-1940). They lived in the cottage with their family for a number of years from at least 1901 until 1946. Possibly Arthur built the property and moved in shortly after his marriage to Rose in 1896. He was a well-known mason. In his day he was an accomplished singer, a member of the Northey Lodge of Oddfellows, and in 1906 was one of the nominators of Sir John Dickson Poynder as Liberal candidate for North-West Wiltshire, proposed by HRN Pictor.[3] Rose Eyles was a great flower gardener and the rockeries in the garden were notable for their displays to liven up the Bath Road in the very centre of Box. Left: Still with flower display by Pat Purser in 1980 |
The Steam Engine
George A Purser married Patricia M Miles in 1957 and they moved into Myrtle Grove in about 1980. George bought the steam engine as scrap for £40 from Leigh Grove Nursey, Bradford-on-Avon.[4] It had once been used as a static engine by the plant nursery to sterilise soil, transported by horse, not using its own steam power. The nursery added the large wheels hoping that it could be transported more easily but it lay rusting away for many years before George bought it.
He identified it as a Marshall Portable engine, made in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, an early agricultural steam manufacturing company which was started in 1848. The earliest known engine under this name is 1866, still preserved in Australia, and there are examples of the engine which have been restored to running order around the world. The date of the Box engine could be about 1880, certainly between 1866 and the First World War.
George A Purser married Patricia M Miles in 1957 and they moved into Myrtle Grove in about 1980. George bought the steam engine as scrap for £40 from Leigh Grove Nursey, Bradford-on-Avon.[4] It had once been used as a static engine by the plant nursery to sterilise soil, transported by horse, not using its own steam power. The nursery added the large wheels hoping that it could be transported more easily but it lay rusting away for many years before George bought it.
He identified it as a Marshall Portable engine, made in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, an early agricultural steam manufacturing company which was started in 1848. The earliest known engine under this name is 1866, still preserved in Australia, and there are examples of the engine which have been restored to running order around the world. The date of the Box engine could be about 1880, certainly between 1866 and the First World War.
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Installing the Engine
George Purser brought the engine from Bradford-on-Avon early one Sunday morning using just a Landrover and a low-loader. On the journey, the trailer burst a tyre and nobody knows how George and his colleagues managed to get it all the way to Box. Eventually, using a crane, they managed to get the engine positioned in the front garden. George spent two weeks cleaning the rust off, welding and renovating rotten parts and repainting the engine to its present green, black and red colours. Left: Installing the engine (courtesy Mike Jacobs) |
Myrtle Grove has often been the centrepiece of village celebrations, Christmas decorations, Remembrance Day, carnivals and significant happenings. It was once featured in BBC local television. It probably is one of the most talked about gardens in Box. Thank you, George and Pat, Myrtle Grove and your wonderful Marshall Portable.
References
[1] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 15 June 1929 and 27 November 1937
[2] Courtesy Julian Orbach from his unpublished research to update Pevsner Architectural Guide to Buildings of England: Wiltshire
[3] The Wiltshire Times, 20 January 1906
[4] Terry Vaughan, Old Glory magazine, September/October 1990, p.54-5
[1] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 15 June 1929 and 27 November 1937
[2] Courtesy Julian Orbach from his unpublished research to update Pevsner Architectural Guide to Buildings of England: Wiltshire
[3] The Wiltshire Times, 20 January 1906
[4] Terry Vaughan, Old Glory magazine, September/October 1990, p.54-5