Church Cottage
In the early 1800s the piece of land where Church Cottage now stands was Plot No 354, a garden of 9 perches opposite the church gates, and there was no building on the site. The garden plot was owned by John Allen who also occupied Plot No 350, now High House.
Extract from the 1807 Inclosure Act map for Norton
High House and it's extended garden was to be sold by John Allen at auction at the New Inn, Longford, on 23 March 1812 when it was described as; "a brick, sashed, dwelling house, with a large garden planted with choice fruit trees, and a small piece of land adjoining, in quantity about a quarter of an acre. The Premises, which are freehold, adjoin the churchyard, at Norton, and maybe entered upon at Ladyday next". At the time of the sale John Allen was living at Chaxhill, near Westbury on Severn, and there wvs no house here at that time.
It is not known when the cottage was first built but it does appear on the 1st Edition OS 25” Map, 1844-1888, at Plot No 242.
1st Edition OS 25” Map, 1844-1888
The cottage was also present in 1838 when a ‘terrier and valuation of the messuages, lands, and other hereditaments liable to poor rate in the parish of Norton’ tells us that it was a cottage and garden of 9 perches owned by John Weston and occupied by William Bartlett.
There was a William Bartlett, yeoman, living at Norton in 1827 but it is not known where he was residing. A William Bartlett died later in 1838 and in 1841 there was an Ann Bartlett, aged 40, living alone at Priors Norton, so possibly this was a relative living at Church Cottage.
For many years, the property doesn’t appear to have been named and it has proved impossible to follow its owners and occupiers through the nineteenth century with any degree of certainty.
The extended Freeman family had lived in a number of properties at Priors Norton throughout the nineteenth century. A James Freeman had been born at Norton in 1850, son of Joseph Freeman and Elizabeth nee Davis. The family originally lived at Church Hill, perhaps Church Cottage, and later in Marlpit Lane, at what I believe is now High View. After marriage James never lived at Priors Norton but later became a builder and was responsible for constructing the porch around the entrance to St Mary's in 1889. By the turn of the twentieth century he was living at Longford where he was the publican at the New Inn and it was here that he died in 1909. He must have acquired several properties at Priors Norton from the family and his death caused them to be put up for auction;
“ Lot 3 – Church Cottage, Norton, within 4 miles of Gloucester, a detached house in an elevated position close to the church, with garden and good supply of water, let to Mr Chambers at £6 10s a year. Tenants pay rates.”.
In the 1880s a cousin of James Freeman, another James, was living ‘near the church’ and this could well have been Church Cottage with the property staying in the family. By 1900 the second James had moved to Little Benges where his family remained till the late 1950s.
In 1901 we find Charles Jones, a blacksmith, living at Church Cottage with wife Anne and three young children, all born at Norton. From the ages of their children they were at Norton from at least 1898. In 1897 a Henry Jones first appears on the electoral rolls qualifying through a ‘dwelling house, near the church’ and he is still here in 1901 living with his family, employed as a blacksmith, near the church but not at Church Cottage. A Jesse Jones appears in the electoral rolls at this time as well also qualifying through a ‘dwelling house, near the church’ but not appearing in the census. 1904 is the last time the Jones family appear on the electoral rolls and they were definitely gone prior to 1910 when Church Cottage was occupied by the second of the James Freemans referred to earlier.
In 1915 Francis Roberts was in residence.
In 1924, Leonard and Sarah Bird appear on the Electoral List for the first and only time and it appears that they were at Church Cottage. A report in the Gloucester Citizen newspaper of 15 September 1928 stated; “Two Norton dog owners, Leonard Bird, of Church Cottage, Norton, and S W Freeman, of Little Benges Farm, Norton, were each fined 7s 6d for keeping a dog without a licence on August 25th”.
Church Cottage was put up for auction again on Saturday 3rd March 1928 at The Bell Hotel, Gloucester, at the same time as High House which was Lot 1 and suggests that the two properties may still have had the same owner. The following is an extract from the Bruton, Knowles & Co auction leaflet that gives a detailed description of how the property would have been constituted at that time.
“LOT 2 – CHURCH COTTAGE. A detached cottage situate near to Lot 1 and constructed of brick with slate roof. It contains two rooms and kitchen with furnace on the ground floor and there are two bedrooms. There is a good garden. This Lot is let to Mr W Gardner at a rent amounting to £8 8s 0d a year”.
Between at least 1924 and 1966, the Gardiner family were in residence at Church Cottage. George William Gardiner, a general farm labourer and later a labourer on the Norton Court Estate, had married Cynthia Dowding Mustoe at St Mary’s, Norton, in 1913 and they had five children; Enid, Leslie, Jesse, Leonard and Victor between 1913 and 1922. Cynthia’s family had lived in one of a pair of cottages near W House on the Tewkesbury Road that burnt down in 1912 at which time George Gardiner had been lodging with them. Cynthia died, aged just 30 years, in 1927.
At this time it is remembered that there were two tiny adjoined cottages here, presumably just the small cottage loosely divided into two. With the Gardiner family living in the one part, the following people would have been living in the other.
Between at least 1924 and 1936 Gertrude Beach was here, in 1936 Tom Bowen Kinsley and his wife Dorothy Primrose were here and from 1936 Lilian E Goode was living in one part of the cottage with her daughter Gwendoline. Lilian Emily was born at Overton, Maisemore, Gloucester, in 1892, to Benjamin Goode, a farm carter, and Mary Ann nee Wood. Gwendoline Regina was born in 1929 at Gloucester to Lilian Goode and given her father’s surname of Stratton. In 1948 Gwen Stratton married Colin Walter Gordon Miles at Gloucester Register Office, by license. Lilian Emily Goode was here between at least 1936 and 1949 and died at Gloucester in 1954. In 1960 Gwen Miles/Stratton remarried Henry Christopher Hook at Gloucester Register Office and they lived at Bibury Road, Gloucester. Gwen Hook died in 1996 at Gloucester.
The electoral list for Norton through the 1940s also indicates that Church Cottage may have been loosely split into two residences then; Nos 1 and 2 Church Cottages. Bill Gardiner remained at No 1 and Leonard John and Mildred Martha Cocks were at No 2 in 1948.
In 1954 Gwendoline R Miles, who had earlier been here with her mother Lilian Goode, was listed at No 1 Church Cottage as was William Gardiner and No 2 isn't recorded, and isn't recorded again after this date so the cottage must have returned to a single residence.
William Gardiner was still here in 1966 and he died in 1968 possibly whilst still in residence.
Around this time I believe there was large scale renovation work carried out and that after the renovation was completed Mr and Mrs Dorwood lived here but I have been unable to identify them.
In 1985 Maurice J D and Lorraine Clayton were at Church Cottage and were still here in 2002.
2021
