Vezey Wall at Hill View Family photos courtesy Clive Banks, December 2024
The Vezey children (Joyce, Joan, Ben junior, and Mary) sitting in the garden of Hill View about 1918
Walls are fascinating remnants of history. Sometimes they hide what lies behind; sometimes they are a boundary marker, much older than the buildings they protect. One of the most famous wall in Box is that along the Quarry Hill which has sheltered the tennis ball factory and before then the candle factory owned by the Vezey family. Clive Banks has dug into his family photo album to show how life was there in the past.
Nearly 100 years have passed since my Vezey family ceased to have a stake in the site at Quarry Hill. The soap and candle factory had a fundamental place in Box’s history, particularly in providing light for the excavation of Brunel’s Box Tunnel and the quarries. The family lived at Hill View and, for some reason, of family members sitting on the wall in front of the house seems to have become a family tradition.
The wall in 2020 (photo courtesy Carol Payne)
Hill View, Quarry Hill
The Wiltshire & Swindon Historic Environment Record lists two dwellings on the site of the candle factory, one with possible 17th century origins and another dated mid-19th century.[1] The whole site has been redeveloped over the years.
The candle factory is mentioned in 1835 (but is likely to have originated much earlier). We can speculate that Hill View house was built following the destruction of parts of the site recorded in the 1835 newspaper details:
A tremendous fire broke out on Thursday at half-past 4 in the afternoon, at the Soap and Candle Manufactory, at Box, belonging to Mr (Thomas)Vezey. The workpeople were employed in what is called “melting Palm Oil” and it is supposed that the fire originated from the candle, which is usually placed on the side of the furnace, falling into it. The flames meeting with such a mass of inflammable materials on every side as usually compose the stock of a soap boiler, soon raged beyond all control, and by 7 o'clock the entire building, with the whole of the stock and machinery, dipping furnace, cotton-wick machine, moulds etc., in the bleaching ground adjoining were entirely destroyed.[2]
The first mention of Quarry Hill as a location appears to be in 1877 but there was no mention of house names at that time.[3] The earliest reference I have found to the name Hill View is 1912 when Benjamin and Eugenie Sarah Vezey had a daughter Mary born on 5 February.[4] The name of the house may have been inspired by Benjamin’s parents’ home Vale View just further down the hillside at Bull Lane, Box.
There are significant differences with today’s images of the area. There was less traffic before Bargates was developed and the views from the Vezey wall looked out over open fields. There also appears to be a different social ethos affecting us all. Whilst the Victorians were extremely class conscious, the manufacturing middle class struggled to integrate and often felt a great deal of affiliation with their workers. The Vezey family appear to be socially open and relaxed at Hill View, as demonstrated by the tragic story of Ben senior, who was probably sitting on that wall when he had the poignant conversation with Codger Smith the day before he died.[5] Codger was in the railway gang who found Ben’s body and he told me the story of Ben’s last words years later over a beer in the Queen’s Head.
The name Hill View appears to have lapsed during the time it was used as an office by the Price company. Nonetheless, they retained the building almost intact and it would be wonderful if the name might be revived. My mother Olive Joyce (always called Joyce) said that it was a lovely family home. She said that there was an area at the back where Wilbert Awdry (author of Thomas the Tank Engine books) would climb over the wall from Netherby in Hazelbury Hill and join in with the children playing.
The Wiltshire & Swindon Historic Environment Record lists two dwellings on the site of the candle factory, one with possible 17th century origins and another dated mid-19th century.[1] The whole site has been redeveloped over the years.
The candle factory is mentioned in 1835 (but is likely to have originated much earlier). We can speculate that Hill View house was built following the destruction of parts of the site recorded in the 1835 newspaper details:
A tremendous fire broke out on Thursday at half-past 4 in the afternoon, at the Soap and Candle Manufactory, at Box, belonging to Mr (Thomas)Vezey. The workpeople were employed in what is called “melting Palm Oil” and it is supposed that the fire originated from the candle, which is usually placed on the side of the furnace, falling into it. The flames meeting with such a mass of inflammable materials on every side as usually compose the stock of a soap boiler, soon raged beyond all control, and by 7 o'clock the entire building, with the whole of the stock and machinery, dipping furnace, cotton-wick machine, moulds etc., in the bleaching ground adjoining were entirely destroyed.[2]
The first mention of Quarry Hill as a location appears to be in 1877 but there was no mention of house names at that time.[3] The earliest reference I have found to the name Hill View is 1912 when Benjamin and Eugenie Sarah Vezey had a daughter Mary born on 5 February.[4] The name of the house may have been inspired by Benjamin’s parents’ home Vale View just further down the hillside at Bull Lane, Box.
There are significant differences with today’s images of the area. There was less traffic before Bargates was developed and the views from the Vezey wall looked out over open fields. There also appears to be a different social ethos affecting us all. Whilst the Victorians were extremely class conscious, the manufacturing middle class struggled to integrate and often felt a great deal of affiliation with their workers. The Vezey family appear to be socially open and relaxed at Hill View, as demonstrated by the tragic story of Ben senior, who was probably sitting on that wall when he had the poignant conversation with Codger Smith the day before he died.[5] Codger was in the railway gang who found Ben’s body and he told me the story of Ben’s last words years later over a beer in the Queen’s Head.
The name Hill View appears to have lapsed during the time it was used as an office by the Price company. Nonetheless, they retained the building almost intact and it would be wonderful if the name might be revived. My mother Olive Joyce (always called Joyce) said that it was a lovely family home. She said that there was an area at the back where Wilbert Awdry (author of Thomas the Tank Engine books) would climb over the wall from Netherby in Hazelbury Hill and join in with the children playing.
Plan of Hill View site based on Joyce Banks' memories of her childhood home (courtesy Clive Banks)
The Vezey Wall
The gatherings on the wall outside the house mainly relate to the time of Benjamin and Eugenie Vezey. Most of the photos depict happy times, including below left which shows Benjamin and a friend (possibly Jim Browning) sitting on the wall having a beer. The photo below right shows my grandmother Eugenie Sarah Vezey and probably her eldest daughter Mary at the front door of the house. These were the days before Benjamin’s alleged suicide and the death of Mary of Spanish flu in 1918.
The gatherings on the wall outside the house mainly relate to the time of Benjamin and Eugenie Vezey. Most of the photos depict happy times, including below left which shows Benjamin and a friend (possibly Jim Browning) sitting on the wall having a beer. The photo below right shows my grandmother Eugenie Sarah Vezey and probably her eldest daughter Mary at the front door of the house. These were the days before Benjamin’s alleged suicide and the death of Mary of Spanish flu in 1918.
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Until the recession in the candle trade in the inter-war years of the twentieth century, the family lived a comfortable life.
The photo below left is of the siblings Joan, Ben junior and Joyce with the much loved family maid called Annie Greenland who came from Pontypridd, Wales. She later became part of the wider Vezey family when she married John Shewring who worked for the railways. They settled down at Mead View, Box High Street. The photo below right shows Benjamin senior and Eugenie Sarah in their horse and trap outside the house. The horse was called "Taffy".
The photo below left is of the siblings Joan, Ben junior and Joyce with the much loved family maid called Annie Greenland who came from Pontypridd, Wales. She later became part of the wider Vezey family when she married John Shewring who worked for the railways. They settled down at Mead View, Box High Street. The photo below right shows Benjamin senior and Eugenie Sarah in their horse and trap outside the house. The horse was called "Taffy".
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The family clearly enjoyed their time at Hill View. The photo below left shows all the children with parents (including Benjamin senior in a boating hat) relaxing on the front wall and that below right is of the parents entertaining Eugenie Sarah’s family the Shewrings who lived at The Paddock, Box (Jack, Edith and Joan Shewring with my grandmother and possibly Dick Shewring).
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The wall and the area in front of it appears to be used as a patio area to enjoy the views over the village. It was a comparatively safe area where the children could play.
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Above: Joan, Ben junior and Joyce (my mum) on the wall at different ages. And below: My uncle Ben junior having a lie down on the wall with a cushion. The house was not called Hill View for nothing.
People get nervous at the thought of changes in Box and it is important to safeguard our heritage. At the same time, doing nothing allows our history to rot away. The Price family seem to have trod the fine line between the two, so that Hill View still exists, even though its surroundings are no longer the same two centuries after its creation. We should be grateful that this unique site still exists to tell the story of some of the most significant historic events that formed Box.
References
[1] Historic Environment Records | Wiltshire Council reference MW175907
[2] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 26 November 1835
[3] The Bath Chronicle, 22 November 1877
[4] The Wiltshire Telegraph, 10 February 1912
[5] See Vezey Family in Box - Box People and Places
[1] Historic Environment Records | Wiltshire Council reference MW175907
[2] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 26 November 1835
[3] The Bath Chronicle, 22 November 1877
[4] The Wiltshire Telegraph, 10 February 1912
[5] See Vezey Family in Box - Box People and Places