Vale View at Glovers Lane and Bull Lane
George Elwell and Alan Payne July 2021
George Elwell and Alan Payne July 2021
The way in which some late Victorian families were able to make considerable amounts of money is remarkable, as is the way in which much of it was quickly lost around the First World War years. This is certainly true of the Vezey family at Vale View, Glovers Lane, but not of the Lambert family of stonemasons. The story is more complicated, of course and tracing these events gives a great insight into Victorian life in the village.
Vale View is right in the middle of the village between the top of Glovers Lane and Bulls Lane, near Townsend House. The house is partially hidden behind the big wall on the left of Glovers Lane, above which is the garden. Although the house is only a few feet higher than the surrounding area, the vale viewed in the name is the dip still seen in the Market Place before the A4 main road was built to level the area about 1841.
Vale View is right in the middle of the village between the top of Glovers Lane and Bulls Lane, near Townsend House. The house is partially hidden behind the big wall on the left of Glovers Lane, above which is the garden. Although the house is only a few feet higher than the surrounding area, the vale viewed in the name is the dip still seen in the Market Place before the A4 main road was built to level the area about 1841.
Early History
The house itself is a bit of a mish-mash, from the very old, through to the slightly old and then the very new, as different owners adjusted the house to suit their own purposes. It sneaks into many photographs of central Box. Its name is apparent from the garden because it offers some wonderful views of the village.
The house itself is a bit of a mish-mash, from the very old, through to the slightly old and then the very new, as different owners adjusted the house to suit their own purposes. It sneaks into many photographs of central Box. Its name is apparent from the garden because it offers some wonderful views of the village.
A surveyor in 2019 suggested that the original house was probably a labourer’s small cottage or cottages, consisting of one room downstairs and perhaps two rooms upstairs, and dating from about 1700 or possibly a little earlier. There are two original mullion windows which appear to date from that time and the remnants of a stone dividing wall running under the floor. In fact, looking at the stonework, it’s quite easy to see where that original property started and ended. The front door was also in the middle of that wall originally, facing Glovers Lane, but was later filled in.
A local anecdote suggests that the house was once the stables for the brewery in the Market Place and had an archway for access opposite where the school now is sited.[1] One could imagine that there had been some horses on the site at some point and, what is now the utility room, looks a rather likely candidate for stables!
There is no indication of the house on the Allen maps of 1626 but is clearly marked on the 1840 Tithe Apportionment maps as reference 358. It was occupied by Edward Cottle, whilst The Chequers Inn (reference 356) was held by Michael Sumpsion and tenanted by James Vezey.
Edward Cottle was 64 years old in 1841 and living with his sister Ann, eleven years his junior, who was still working as a shopkeeper, at a shop which Edward had operated before he retired due to infirmity. Ann possibly died at Bath in 1862 and Edward died in 1863, aged 86.[2] 1840 Tithe Apportionment map (courtesy Wiltshire History Centre) |
Vezey Family at Vale View in 1800s
The Vezey family were the first residents of the house that we can identify. They were affluent, upper middle-class people, successful through their manufacture of candles and soap at Quarry Hill. Unlike many working-class people, they were able to borrow on credit and used this to invest in freehold properties. In 1891 different branches of the family controlled this whole area of the village with James Vezey the landlord of the Chequers Inn and John Cook Vezey resident of the next-door property at Vale View. We know that the Vezey family lived there earlier, though, at least from 1871 when the census recorded John and his wife Jane at Townsend Lane, next to Bulls Lane. It was the family’s dynastic base and in 1875 James Vezey late of Thornbury died there; in 1876 a son was born there; in 1878 a daughter.[3]
We can see how the family adapted the house to cope with their growing family. A surveyor thought that the ‘tower’ part (the section on the side away from Glovers Lane), and the third floor (plus the major alterations to Bow Cottage: attached to the back) were completed gradually in the 1800s. The addition of the ’tower’ was very likely from the early 1800s. This is supported by the shape of the building captured in the 1840 Tithe Apportionment. The top floor of the older part was added later in that century, but appears to have then undergone major repairs in the early 20th century, with large areas of stonework replaced. These could well be part of the works Julian Orbach mentions taking place in 1915. The structure of the roof of the ‘original side’, beneath the terracotta tiles, is barely changed from the original cottage. It was suggested that as the house went up so did the roof, which was typical for this sort of alteration. The scale of the elm floorboards also offers a clue as to when developments took place, with the enormous boards of the first floor getting, on average, gradually smaller up the house, as quality elm became less available over the centuries, from 12 inch boards on the first floor to mostly 8 inch boards on the second floor.
The Vezey family were the first residents of the house that we can identify. They were affluent, upper middle-class people, successful through their manufacture of candles and soap at Quarry Hill. Unlike many working-class people, they were able to borrow on credit and used this to invest in freehold properties. In 1891 different branches of the family controlled this whole area of the village with James Vezey the landlord of the Chequers Inn and John Cook Vezey resident of the next-door property at Vale View. We know that the Vezey family lived there earlier, though, at least from 1871 when the census recorded John and his wife Jane at Townsend Lane, next to Bulls Lane. It was the family’s dynastic base and in 1875 James Vezey late of Thornbury died there; in 1876 a son was born there; in 1878 a daughter.[3]
We can see how the family adapted the house to cope with their growing family. A surveyor thought that the ‘tower’ part (the section on the side away from Glovers Lane), and the third floor (plus the major alterations to Bow Cottage: attached to the back) were completed gradually in the 1800s. The addition of the ’tower’ was very likely from the early 1800s. This is supported by the shape of the building captured in the 1840 Tithe Apportionment. The top floor of the older part was added later in that century, but appears to have then undergone major repairs in the early 20th century, with large areas of stonework replaced. These could well be part of the works Julian Orbach mentions taking place in 1915. The structure of the roof of the ‘original side’, beneath the terracotta tiles, is barely changed from the original cottage. It was suggested that as the house went up so did the roof, which was typical for this sort of alteration. The scale of the elm floorboards also offers a clue as to when developments took place, with the enormous boards of the first floor getting, on average, gradually smaller up the house, as quality elm became less available over the centuries, from 12 inch boards on the first floor to mostly 8 inch boards on the second floor.
The family were pillars of late-Victorian society, attending funerals for others in their social sphere. John Cook Vezey was appointed executor for those in his acquaintance, such as the estate of James Hooper, Esq of Bath.[4] Jane died in 1907 and John, aged 68, applied for a general servant, plain cooking, no children in 1908.[5] John Cook Vezey died in 1910 and appointed his two eldest sons as the executors of his will amounting to £3,088.19s.2d (today worth £370,000). It was his third son, Benjamin, who took over both the house and responsibility for running the candle factory.
But the house wasn’t entirely suited to Benjamin. He was in his thirties in 1911, married in April of that year and was starting a family. Vale View was a rambling, old-fashioned property with 9 rooms in 1911. Benjamin had 5 siblings who were due to inherit in the will and the candle factory was beginning to experience a downturn with town gas being used in the Box Schools before the First World War. He was obliged to put the house up for sale in May 1914. The property was described as two sitting rooms, six bedrooms, boxroom, kitchen and scullery. In other words, no bathroom, although gas and water were laid on.[6] The family also owned the 3-roomed property next door, Bow Cottage, which they rented out and a quarter of an acre of garden on the north side of Quarry Hill. They also appear to have owned a few properties on Box Hill.
Alf Lambert and Bessie Lewis
A new family bought Vale View in 1914 and lived there for nearly 50 years, Alfred Lambert. Like the Vezeys, the Lambert family also experienced a dramatic rise in business success followed by a great slump later in the century. The family were an integral part of Box’s stone quarry industry as masons shaping the stone for buildings and as decorative additions. Thomas Herbert Lambert, operated a stone yard at Box Railway Station but it was his much younger brother Alfred Kingston Lambert (1876-1965) who bought Vale View. Alfred (always known as Alf) owned the Corsham stone masonry yard at Corsham Railway Station, replicating the business model of his brother. Many thought that Alf was a life-long bachelor and in 1911 he was living with two of his sisters in Townsend, possibly Townsend Cottage.
On 16 February 1916 Alf became the talk of the village because of his marriage to his long-term fiancée, Elizabeth Anna Lewis (known as Bessie) (1875-1962), headmistress at Box Girls’ School. She was 40 years old at the time of their marriage, the third daughter of a small farmer from London Road, Chippenham. Bessie had lived in Box for a long time and from at least 1901 she lived with her sister Fanny, both teachers, in the schoolhouse next to the school. She was obviously committed to village life and in August 1901 went on a Sunday School outing to Calstone, near Calne, where the two sisters had cycled ahead to prepare refreshments for the party.[7] Villagers were amazed by the union because the well-known couple came from such different backgrounds. The local newspaper reported that the wedding excited more than ordinary interest (amongst residents). Even relatives were surprised, Alf’s nephew Cecil wrote from Belgium in the middle of the First World War: Uncle Alf is going to “do the deed” at last, but what a pity we are not home to be present on the day.
A new family bought Vale View in 1914 and lived there for nearly 50 years, Alfred Lambert. Like the Vezeys, the Lambert family also experienced a dramatic rise in business success followed by a great slump later in the century. The family were an integral part of Box’s stone quarry industry as masons shaping the stone for buildings and as decorative additions. Thomas Herbert Lambert, operated a stone yard at Box Railway Station but it was his much younger brother Alfred Kingston Lambert (1876-1965) who bought Vale View. Alfred (always known as Alf) owned the Corsham stone masonry yard at Corsham Railway Station, replicating the business model of his brother. Many thought that Alf was a life-long bachelor and in 1911 he was living with two of his sisters in Townsend, possibly Townsend Cottage.
On 16 February 1916 Alf became the talk of the village because of his marriage to his long-term fiancée, Elizabeth Anna Lewis (known as Bessie) (1875-1962), headmistress at Box Girls’ School. She was 40 years old at the time of their marriage, the third daughter of a small farmer from London Road, Chippenham. Bessie had lived in Box for a long time and from at least 1901 she lived with her sister Fanny, both teachers, in the schoolhouse next to the school. She was obviously committed to village life and in August 1901 went on a Sunday School outing to Calstone, near Calne, where the two sisters had cycled ahead to prepare refreshments for the party.[7] Villagers were amazed by the union because the well-known couple came from such different backgrounds. The local newspaper reported that the wedding excited more than ordinary interest (amongst residents). Even relatives were surprised, Alf’s nephew Cecil wrote from Belgium in the middle of the First World War: Uncle Alf is going to “do the deed” at last, but what a pity we are not home to be present on the day.
The couple had been courting for some time and Bessie brought Alf into several school events and social activities such as judging the School Sports events held at Fete Field (now Bargates) in 1910.[8] It doesn’t seem to have been Alf’s comfortable environment but he supported his fiancée when he could throughout their married life. In 1902 Alf and his brother Thomas Herbert were renting a property called Bellevue (probably 4, Devizes Road) when they bought land from the Northey Estate on the High Street to build Kingston Villas, presumably intending that each of them would live in one of the semi-detached properties. Thomas lived in number 2 but Alf never occupied his part. Instead, Alf bought Vale View in anticipation of his wedding and the architectural historian Julian Orbach has dated major alterations to the house as 1915 (mentioned earlier), when Alf was adapting the house to suit just the two of them.[9] The house was a wedding gift to his bride, as were the furs seen in the wedding photograph. In return, Bessie gave her husband an oak writing table and chair. Both gifts were highly aspirational, offering social status to one and education to the other. However unlikely the couple may have been, they obviously complemented each other with different skills and remained together for nearly 50 years.
Alf’s main preoccupation was with his work and the stoneyards at Corsham endured a mixed fortune in the 1920s and 30s. He never learnt to drive and let Bow Cottage to Victor Brunt, who acted as his chauffeur and handyman. The Corsham Stoneyards had considerable work with the restoration of Downside Abbey in the early 1920s but these were difficult times and Alf narrowly averted his workforce going on strike with the Masons’ Operative Society which brought out a hundred of its local members in 1924.[10] Alf served in the Home Guard during the Second World War, known as Major A Lambert, responsible for protecting the underground factories with nine anti-aircraft guns.
According to the custom of the time, Bessie resigned from her job and threw herself into Box society, working tirelessly on her various interests. She was the treasurer and foundation member of the local Women’s Institute from its start in 1930 until the 1950s. She brought a professionalism to bookkeeping and was inventive in fundraising ideas, such as a potato-growing contest in 1932 and making a patchwork quilt for exhibition in London in 1935.[11] Always keen to promote female initiatives, she helped form a Girl Rangers Company in 1939 aimed partly at integrating the daughters of evacuated servicemen in the Second World War.[12] In April 1946 Mrs Lambert was commended by the County Education Committee and the Minister of Education for her efforts.
Her commitment to Box School remained undiminished and she was instrumental in persuading her husband to replace the earth lavatories with a water-flushed system in 1922.[13] She was also a great supporter of Box Church in a variety of activities. She performed in the 1925 theatrical play put on by Rev George Foster and his wife, organised Whist Drives for church funds and was selected to represent Box Church in the Church Ruri-Decenal Conferences of 1938 and 1941.[14] She was also a long-term supporter of the Mothers’ Union.
Bessie Lambert was an inspiration to Box through her energy and commitment to the interests of women and girls in the village. She spanned a generation from Edwardian England to life after the Second World War with a background of impoverished farming in her childhood to considerable wealth after her marriage. I like to summarise her achievements with a performance she put on for the Old Age Pensioners in Box in 1948 when she worked a Mechanical Jane automaton (what we call a robot) satirising ladies who had the misfortune to be without a maid when serving afternoon tea.[15] Elizabeth Anna (Bessie) Lambert (nee Lewis) died on 31 December 1962. Alf was still living at Vale View on his death 11 May 1965, when he left £3,896. By this time the society in which they lived had almost totally disappeared.
Bessie Lambert was an inspiration to Box through her energy and commitment to the interests of women and girls in the village. She spanned a generation from Edwardian England to life after the Second World War with a background of impoverished farming in her childhood to considerable wealth after her marriage. I like to summarise her achievements with a performance she put on for the Old Age Pensioners in Box in 1948 when she worked a Mechanical Jane automaton (what we call a robot) satirising ladies who had the misfortune to be without a maid when serving afternoon tea.[15] Elizabeth Anna (Bessie) Lambert (nee Lewis) died on 31 December 1962. Alf was still living at Vale View on his death 11 May 1965, when he left £3,896. By this time the society in which they lived had almost totally disappeared.
Vale View’s Recent History
Mr Jack Dean bought the house after Alf’s death and lived there for a long time, about 40 years, until 2009. When he died, the house was in a very poor state of repair and there was considerable work to do by the new owners Dr and Mrs Thomas. It was they who added the modern extension to the house in Bath Stone and restored some of the windows that had been unsympathetically mended. George Ewell and his wife Michelle became the custodians of the house in 2019 and continue to enjoy the charming view down into the centre of the village that, although ever-changing, must have been enjoyed by so many through the centuries.
Mr Jack Dean bought the house after Alf’s death and lived there for a long time, about 40 years, until 2009. When he died, the house was in a very poor state of repair and there was considerable work to do by the new owners Dr and Mrs Thomas. It was they who added the modern extension to the house in Bath Stone and restored some of the windows that had been unsympathetically mended. George Ewell and his wife Michelle became the custodians of the house in 2019 and continue to enjoy the charming view down into the centre of the village that, although ever-changing, must have been enjoyed by so many through the centuries.
References
[1] Courtesy Richard Browning
[2] The Wiltshire Independent, 17 September 1863
[3] The Gloucestershire Chronicle, 13 February 1875, Trowbridge and North Wilts Advertiser, 26 August 1876 and 31 August 1878
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 16 April 1896
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 29 August 1908
[6] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 16 May 1914
[7] Parish Magazine, August 1901
[8] The Wiltshire Times, 30 July 1910
[9] Courtesy of his research on updated Pevsner’s Buildings of Wiltshire
[10] The Wiltshire Times, 12 July 1924
[11] The Wiltshire Times, 23 November 1935
[12] WI Records
[13] The Wiltshire Times, 25 March 1922
[14] Western Daily Press, 8 October 1925 and 18 June 1932 and The Wiltshire Times, 2 April 1938 and 26 April 1941
[15] The Wiltshire Times, 29 May 1948
[1] Courtesy Richard Browning
[2] The Wiltshire Independent, 17 September 1863
[3] The Gloucestershire Chronicle, 13 February 1875, Trowbridge and North Wilts Advertiser, 26 August 1876 and 31 August 1878
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 16 April 1896
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 29 August 1908
[6] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 16 May 1914
[7] Parish Magazine, August 1901
[8] The Wiltshire Times, 30 July 1910
[9] Courtesy of his research on updated Pevsner’s Buildings of Wiltshire
[10] The Wiltshire Times, 12 July 1924
[11] The Wiltshire Times, 23 November 1935
[12] WI Records
[13] The Wiltshire Times, 25 March 1922
[14] Western Daily Press, 8 October 1925 and 18 June 1932 and The Wiltshire Times, 2 April 1938 and 26 April 1941
[15] The Wiltshire Times, 29 May 1948