Fir Tree Cottage (Norton Cottage)
At the time of the 1806 Inclosure Act where Fir Tree Cottage can be found today was Plot No 19, a cottage and garden belonging to William Symmons. Plot No 18 was an allotment in Powell’s Ground, also belonging to William Symmons.
On 15 June 1786, William Symmons of Down Hatherley had married Elizabeth White of Norton at St Mary’s. William Symmons died and was buried at Norton on 10 July 1829, aged 63 years.
[1806]
In 1838 there appears to have been two cottages on this site. Plot No 18, near the Tithe Barn (203), was described as a cottage and garden of 7 perches belonging to the widowed Elizabeth Simmons and Plot No 19, also near the Tithe Barn, was a cottage and garden of 9 perches belonging to John Perkins.
On 26 April 1824, John Perkins of Hardwicke, Gloucester, married Charlotte Simmons, daughter of William who owned this land, at St Mary’s, Norton. Perhaps a cottage was built by William to house his daughter and family, or the existing cottage turned into two, although when William wrote his will just two years later, in 1826, he made sure that John Perkins would not get ownership of the family home; “I give devise and bequeath that tenement or cottage which now is in the occupation of John Perkins unto my daughter Charlotte Perkins to have and to hold and to enjoy during her natural life with the goods chattels and appurtenances thereunto belonging but immediately after her decease then I give devise and bequeath unto my daughter Jane Simmons the same to have and enjoy during her natural life and to her heirs and assigns for ever”.
As to his own cottage, William bequeathed it to his wife and then to his daughter Jane; “First I give devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife Elizabeth Simmons all my monies securities for money goods chattels estate and effects of what nature or kind soever and wheresoever the same shall be at the time of my death to have and to hold and to enjoy during her natural life but immediately after her decease I give devise and bequeath that tenement or cottage with garden grounds goods and chattels therein and all appurtenances thereto belonging now in the occupation of myself unto my beloved daughter Jane to have and to hold during her natural life and her administrators and assigns forever”.
In 1841 John Perkins, an agricultural labourer, and Charlotte were living at Plot No 19 with five sons; William, Charles, James, Daniel and George. Almost next to the Perkins on the census return was Elizabeth Simmons, a widowed 75 year old agricultural labourer, living with her daughter Harriet.
Elizabeth Simmons died in November 1845, aged 80 years, and daughter Harriet in May 1854, aged 53 years. The family still have a memorial in the churchyard at St Mary’s; “Sacred to the memory of William Simmons who died July 7th 1829 aged 62 years. Also of Elizabeth, wife of the above, who died Novr 22nd 1845 aged 80 years. Also of William and Charlotte, children of the above”.
By 1851 the Perkins’ also had a daughter, Elizabeth, and John’s sister Harriet, a lunatic and pauper, was also living with the family here. John died in October 1857 so in 1861 Charlotte was widowed and living with son William at Norton as they were in 1871 and 1881, one can assume in the same cottage.
1st Edition, OS 25” map, 1844-1888
In 1861 Norton Court Estate papers record that the cottage once occupied by the Simmons’ at Plot No 18 was occupied by William Wheeler. It is likely the Wheelers moved in upon Harriet’s death in 1854.
When William Simmons wrote his will in 1824 he bequeathed property to his daughter Jane, baptised in February 1807 at Norton. On 14 April 1829 John Wheeler married Jane Simonds at Christ Church, Gloucester, and they were the parents of William Wheeler born in 1843 who was to occupy this cottage from <1861. Jane died in March 1845 so presumably the cottage passed to William Wheeler by right of inheritance. In 1851, still prior to Harriet Simmons death, widower John Wheeler was living with his son William near the Green at Norton.
By 1871 William Wheeler, was a 28 year old agricultural labourer, living at Plot No 18 with his wife Alice and four young children. William had married Alice Painter at Fairford, Alice’s home, in 1864 and they were to raise six sons here, still being resident in 1901 when the property was briefly known as ‘Norton Cottage’. William died in September 1906 and Alice in October 1907.
In 1871 and 1881 Charlotte Perkins and son William were living next door to William Wheeler and his family suggesting that there were still two cottages here at that time. Charlotte died in July 1883 aged 77 years. The lane between Fir Tree Cottage and the top of Wainlode Hill is still known as 'Wheelers Pitch' today.
The Perkins family proliferated around the village through the nineteenth century with many of them being buried at St Mary’s, Norton, but unfortunately no memorials are still visible, if there ever were any. An entry in the minute book of the Parochial Church Council of 3 December 1926 might explain why that is so; the Vicar stated “I shall be glad to hear of some method of identifying graves – outside the clergy vestry there are 18 graves of one family (Perkins) levelled and unidentifiable as graves”.
By the time of the 2nd Edition of the OS 25” map from the early 1890s it appears that there is only one cottage here again. Perhaps after Charlotte Perkins died in 1883 the cottages were returned to one for the occupancy of the Wheelers who still had six sons living at home at that time.
1894-1903 OS 25” 2nd Edition
The cottage hasn’t been identified again until 1924 when George, a farm labourer, and Mary Elizabeth Griffiths were resident. In 1939 John Slatter, an estate labourer and special constable, was also here. The Griffiths were last identified here in 1949 and were remembered by Denise Cole who used to live at Hill Farm and one of the Tythe Cottages from the 1940s, when she shared her memories with us in 2009;
“Fir Tree Cottage on the other side of the road from Hill Farm, I have a picture of that taken from the garden of the cottage where we used to live and it was a little thatched cottage and there was a couple in there called Mary and George. They used to call Mary, ‘Mad Mary’, and you could hear her banging the tables in there and she used to seem like she would have bad tempers or brainstorms or whatever and everyone seemed to be petrified of her and my mother said I never seemed to be frightened of her at all. When I was missing out of then garden she’d call me and I was over seeing Mary, I’d gone across to see her. I remember the old lady so well. She used to wear long black dresses, her hair was snow white and it was tied back and I remember George being a little man with a cap and they lived there until they both passed away. Then, of course, the cottage was taken over by Harry Cook and restored”.
As I understand it, Harry Cook bought the cottage at the time the Norton Court Estate was auctioned in 1952. It was in poor condition so he gave it a full restoration, presumably also replacing the thatched roof.
Roy Mullens married Kathleen Elizabeth ‘Kay’ Gambleton in 1949 and after briefly living in Roy’s parents home at Yew Tree Cottage they came here and in 1954 the name ‘Fir Tree Cottage’ is first recorded. They had one child whilst they were here, Ruth Alayne. In 2023, Ruth remembered the cottage from her childhood; “We rented from Harry Cook. Dad helped on the farm with hay making, sheep dipping, etc, on his days off and I helped with milking cows. We had two bedrooms, a sitting room, dining room, and on the back a kitchen and bathroom. There was a big cupboard at the top of stairs and it was really dark so perhaps the window was behind it . The stairs were between the dining room and sitting room with a corridor by the side going to the kitchen then bathroom. We had cold running water also a pump in the kitchen that pumped water from a well. We didn’t have hot water, mum had an electric boiler and used a bucket to fill a bath”.
In 1969 Roy Mullens moved to Green Corners where his recently deceased grandmother and aunt had lived.
[Roy, Kay and Ruth in the garden at Fir Tree Cottage, 1955]
The next identified residents were Christopher D and Jacqueline A Good in 1985 then Gary J and Clare A Adkins in 2002.
[2002]
