High View
In the early 1800s the piece of land where High View now stands in Marlpit Lane was Plot No 338, a house and garden of 20 perches and was owned by Thomas Greening.
Extract from the 1807 Inclosure Act map for Norton
This part of the village has changed a lot since this time, most notably when the new route for the Gloucester to Tewkesbury road was constructed and opened on 29 April 1925. The new road ran straight from the top right to the bottom left of the above map extract, along the boundary between Plot No 339 which, in 1807, was a barn, yard and garden owned by the Duke of Norfolk, and Plot No 340. To help with orientation Plot No 340 is now West House and the road leaving the bottom right of the map is Marlpit Lane.
For much of the 1800s it is difficult to judge exactly where people were living in this area with addresses usually being recorded simply as ‘Marlpit Lane’. During certain periods of time both High View and Marl Cottage, opposite, were owned by the same family and they even appear to have moved between the two. A number of the families that lived these cottages were also closely related by marriage adding to the difficulties. What follows is a ‘best guess’ based on research of a diverse range of primary sources.
In 1824 Richard Loveridge married Mary Guttins of Deerhurst and in 1828 Richard, shoemaker of Norton, died having written a Will concerning property he held at Norton. He left “…all that my freehold house and two gardens which I now occupy at Norton …” to son John to hold on behalf of his wife Mary. I believe this to have been what is now High View and also the piece of land across Marlpit Lane that later became Marl Cottage/House. Richard also left ten pounds to his grandson William who was living with them at the time. William appears to have been the illegitimate son of Ann Loveridge who was baptised at Matson in 1806. An Ann Loveridge died and was buried at Norton in 1822 which may have left William in the care of his grandparents.
We find this property again in 1838 in a ‘terrier and valuation of the messuages, lands, and other hereditaments liable to poor rate in the parish of Norton’. At this time it was still described as being a cottage and garden of 20 perches in Marlpit Lane. It was owned by Mary Loveridge, presumably still Richard’s widow, and was occupied by Phoebe Kale.
In 1841 we find Phoebe Kale, aged 60, and Mary Loveridge, aged 45, living together at Priors Norton, almost certainly at the same cottage as in 1838. Phoebe was recorded as being a shopkeeper, presumably on the premises. There were three other unrelated residents who were possibly lodgers.
Over the coming years it has not proved possible to positively identify the residents here but I believe that at some time, possibly prior to 1871, William and Mary Ann Loveridge, who had built Marl Cottage, crossed the lane to come and live here probably due to there being a workshop for boot and shoe making attached to the property, the trade that most of the Loveridge boys and their father followed. It is possible that they used the workshop at High View even when living at Marl Cottage.
Daughter Eliza Loveridge had an illegitimate daughter Ada Beatrice in 1872 that was raised as their own by her married sister Ann and her husband William Noxon. In 1881 Eliza Loveridge was living in the household of a Thomas Shroder and family at Upton St Leonards, employed as a nurse and domestic, on the same street as the Noxons and her daughter Ada.
In 1881 William, Mary and son George Loveridge are recorded as living at the shoemaker’s shop, Marlpit Lane. William was employed as a cordwainer and shoemaker throughout his life as were a number of his sons. William was also later recorded as being a shopkeeper and grocer although this was more likely wife Mary’s domain. William was also parish clerk at St Mary’s for many years. William died on 15 September 1884 and Mary Anne on 27 January 1902 at Yew Tree Cottage, Bishops Norton. They both still have a memorial in the churchyard at St Mary’s; “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. In the memory of William Loveridge for many years clerk of this Parish who died Sep 15 1884 aged 78 years. Also of Mary Ann wife of the above who died Jan 27 1902 aged 95 years. Also of John Richard Loveridge son of the above who died Dec 14 1840 aged 4 years”.
From at least 1851 until his death William Loveridge appears on the village electoral list through a freehold house and land near Norton Mill but from the time of his death in 1884 there are no Loveridges on the roll until 1902 when son George appears. It would appear that Mary Loveridge kept bee hives at the cottage as at the 1885 annual Longford, Twigworth, Hatherley, Sandhurst and Norton Horticultural Show at Norton Court, she won 1st prize for honey in the cottager’s class.
Several of the Loveridge children continued to live with their widowed mother in what was described as a shoemaker’s shop, daughter Eliza, who returned home, helping in the shop with sons William and George employed as bootmakers. We know from a later account of Betty Oakley, see later in this account, that High View used to be two properties, a house and a cobblers, so it is also possible that another family were living here at the same time or that the Loveridges occupied both.
Son William Richard Loveridge married Annie Gertrude Wood at Twigworth in 1897 and they settled at Twigworth with William continuing to work as a shoemaker, possibly even in the Marlpit workshop as he appears to have been renting the property at that time.
With the death of William Dyer of Norton Court Farm, on 13 July 1901 Messrs Bruton, Knowles and Co conducted a sale in three Lots at the Bell Hotel, Gloucester. Lot 3 was let to Mr William Loveridge at a yearly rent of £2 5s, was purchased by Mr Loveridge for £50, and at the time of the sale the substantial property was described as follows;
“A plot of freehold garden ground forming a capital site for a cottage, situate on the Gloucester to Tewkesbury road. The dwelling house is substantially built of brick with tiled roof and contains the following accommodation;-
On the Ground Floor; Drawing room, Dining room, Small sitting room, Kitchen, Dairy, Pantry, Scullery and back kitchen fitted with Baking Oven, two Furnaces and Force Pump to supply bathroom and WC.
On the First Floor; 6 Bed rooms, Bathroom and WC.
In the rear of the house is a small Courtyard with lean-to Open Shed, Tool House and Coal House.
Adjoining the house is a Tennis Lawn and a large garden planted with a choice selection of fruit trees.
The Agricultural Buildings comprise the following;
Around First Yard; Barn with raised floor containing cider mill and press, and fitted with horse gear for chaff cutting, Wagon Shed, Cart Stables for six and two loose boxes, Nag Stables with granary over, Trap House, Piggeries and Fowl House.
Around Second Yard; Range of enclosed Cow Sheds for five, second range of enclosed Cow Sheds for 11, with Hay House at the end.
Around Third Yard; Implement Shed, Cart table with Loft over, Barn (4 bays), two Open Cow Sheds with three enclosed cow pens adjoining”.
After mother Mary’s death in 1902 her children Eliza and George, still a bootmaker, continued to live here in what, in 1911, was described as a five room property suggesting that since the sale in 1901 the substantial house had been divided into two.
In 1901 Charles Lydford was living in Marlpit Lane, with his wife Elizabeth and three infant children. If the property had been split into two at this time perhaps the Lydfords lived in the cottage and the Loveridges at the shop. The Lydfords remained at Norton until 1904 when they returned to Gloucester and eventful future lives.
Charles William was born in 1862 at Bath, son of Matthew Lydford, a coach builder. In 1881 Charles was in lodgings at Bearland, Gloucester, employed as a mill labourer. Charles married Elizabeth Ellen Turner at Christ Church, Gloucester, in December 1894 at which time they were both living at 3 Foley Cottages, Park Road, Gloucester, with Charles employed as a labourer. In 1897 they were living at 2 Foley Cottages so must have come to Norton between then and 1901. Charles appears at Norton until 1904 when they were living at 9 Victory Road, Gloucester. Wife Elizabeth died in 1905 and not long after her death, Charles was the father of a son, Ernest William, and in 1906 Charles remarried Harriet Amelia Crump/Beckley at Gloucester Register Office.
In August 1906 the family were back living at Foley Cottages when Charles summoned neighbour George Hall of 5 Foley Cottages to Gloucester City Petty Sessions stating that “the defendant met him on the corner of Park Road , and after abusing him without provocation gave him two smart smacks on the side of the head, knocking him against a door”. George Hall admitted the charge saying that Charles had insulted his mother. George was fined.
Son Ernest was born in May 1900 but was not baptised until December 1907 at the Mariners Chapel at Gloucester Docks at which time father Charles was employed as an excavator and they were living at 96 New Street, Gloucester.
In January 1910 Charles was employed as a carter for John Rymer of Grey Hill Farm, Apperley, who he sued at Tewkesbury County Court for 8s 6d per week on the grounds of being unable to work due to injuries received. He had been feeding two colts at the farm when one of them squeezed him against a hay rack and he received internal injuries to his right side. Medical evidence was contradictory and no decision was reached by the court.
In 1911 father Charles was employed as a farm carter living at 38 Longsmith Street, Gloucester, with wife Harriet, two sons from his previous marriage and a stepson from his wife’s earlier marriage.
Son Ernest’s problems seem to begin in February 1912 when he appeared with his stepbrother Thomas Crump at the Children’s Court of the Gloucester City Petty Sessions. The brothers had been taking pieces of brick from a bedroom fireplace in their home at 38 Longsmith Street and throwing them at the house opposite. They were let off with a caution.
Charles, Harriet and family leave Gloucester in October 1913 and settled at Brampton Street, Ross, Hereford, and in January 1914 the whole family appeared at the Ross Police Court together. Son Ernest was charged with stealing a leather wallet containing a cheque for £2 11s 9d and two postal orders of 19s 9d and 5s. Ernest was working as an errand boy for Barnwell and Son, grocers of Market-place, Ross, and accompanied a shop assistant on a delivery round on the firm’s pony and trap where payments were placed in the wallet. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 months in a detention home and 12 strokes of a birch rod. At the same court both of his parents appeared with him charged with receiving the wallet knowing it to be stolen. They were both discharged on recognizances to be of good behaviour for 12 months or to reappear and receive judgement. The jury commented that they believed the mother, Harriet, was at the bottom of things.
On 25 February 1914 Ernest’s punishment was addressed at the Court of Criminal Appeal in London. It was suggested that under the recent Children’s Act his sentence could be no more than 1 month and that birching was no longer allowed. They agreed that his sentence should be reduced but that the whipping should go ahead and be carried out by the Sheriff or a subordinate.
In August 1914 Ernest was living at 2 Portland Street, Gloucester, when he appeared at the Gloucester Quarter Sessions charged with having stolen £3 17s 11d from the Gloucester branch of the International Stores in July. He pleaded guilty and said he only did this as he wanted to be taken away from his home as his stepmother would have nothing to do with him. He was sent to a reformatory school for 4 years.
Ernest was employed as a gardener when he appears to have joined the Royal Air Force, briefly, in June 1918.
Ernest married Edith Mary Ealey at Calne, Wilts, in 1920, and had a son, Ernest Frederick Charles, born there later that year, at which time father Ernest was employed as a motor driver. In January 1923 Ernest was in court at Hinckley, Leics, charged with stealing a ladder from a local builder as he was ‘down and out’ and needed money for food.
In 1921 Charles and Harriet were residents of a social welfare lodging house in Ross.
In January 1925 Charles was back at 38 Longsmith Street when he was at Gloucester City Police Court charged with not keeping a dangerous dog under control and was ordered to pay costs of 10s.
In 1926 Ernest was in lodgings at 122 Westgate Street, Gloucester.
In November 1927 Ernest was living at 10 Upton Street, Gloucester, when he appeared at Cheltenham Police Court for driving a 4-ton Daimler van at 16mph, 4mph over the reduced limit. Ernest pleaded not guilty and told the court he had been summoned for similar offences at Newnham and Gloucester and had lost his job as a result. He was fined 20s but asked for time to pay as he already owed £5 in respect of previous fines.
Harriet died in 1928 and the sad circumstances were reported in local newspapers; “A woman who was found dead in a ditch at Zoon’s Court Farm, Hucclecote, on Wednesday, has been identified as Mrs Harriet Amelia Lydford, the wife of Charles William Lydford, of 8 Montpellier, Gloucester. She was 63 years of age. For some time past she had suffered mentally, and in May of last year was found wandering by the police in Birmingham. She was taken home and remained there until the 6th of June last, when she left home with the intention of meeting her step-son at the Midland Station. She did not return, and the police were informed. Nothing further was heard of her until July 11th when she was discovered … lying dead in a ditch at Zoon’s Farm, Hucclecote. The body, which had been lying four or five weeks, was so badly decomposed that the features were unrecognisable. The body was clothed, but one boot was missing”.
In April 1930 son Ernest was employed as a car park attendant in Kings Square, Gloucester.
In May 1931 Ernest again found himself at Gloucester City Police Court accused of planning to break into the Co-Operative Society offices in Brunswick Road, Gloucester, using a set of skeleton keys. Ernest was given three months imprisonment and his previous misdemeanours were read to the court. He had recently lost a job at Taylors Garage, Worcester Street, Gloucester, when there had been a robbery there and “in 1923 he had three months for stealing a ladder, in 1918, 12 months for theft of money, in 1914 sent to a reformatory for theft of money, and in the same year two months’ detention at a home and a birching for theft of a wallet and cheque”.
Returning to High View, Eliza Loveridge was still here in the 1920s when her married daughter Ada returned from Canada to briefly visit her and she stayed here between February and April 1924. Eliza was still here when she died in 1927 and in her will she left all of her furniture, household and personal belongings to her ‘old friend’ Ada, her daughter in Canada.
Eliza Loveridge, left, and daughter Ada
The next residents at High View were the Jordan family who were to remain here for many years.
Walter Berry Jordan, a gardener of Birmingham, had married Ann Miranda Preston, daughter of Henry Preston a bootmaker of Norton, at St Mary’s, Norton, in September 1884. George Walter Henry Jordan was their first child, baptised at Twigworth in January 1885. Walter, Ann and children moved around Gloucestershire before briefly settling in South Wales then returning to Birmingham but son George remained at Twigworth living in the household of his maternal aunt Love and her husband George Tarr. George moved to live with his uncle Duncan Huntley Preston, baker at Norton Mill, where he followed in his uncle’s trade.
In December 1902, George Jordan of Norton Mill was summoned to the Gloucester Police Court, City Petty Sessions, for cruelty to a mare through working it in an unfit state, and Duncan Preston was summoned for causing cruelty to the horse. An inspector with the RSPCA spotted Mr Jordan working a baker’s cart in Southgate Street, Gloucester, and noticed two wounds; a large and a small one on the forepart of the belly. The harness was cutting in and the inspector advised Mr Jordan to get some string and tie the harness back. About three hours later the inspector met Mr Jordan again, driving the cart along the Tewksbury Road and the girth was still cutting into the horse. Duncan Preston insisted that the wounds were not on the horse before it set out for Gloucester but accepted that it may have got ‘a little chaffed by the load on the way’. Mr Jordan was ordered to pay for the cost of the summons and Mr Preston, his employer, was fined 5s and costs.
George Jordan had a love for pigeons from an early age and the following are just a few examples of this. At the Churchdown Show of August 1908 he had a 2nd place in the category for pigeons that had flown more than 100 miles. At the Gloucester Pigeon Fanciers’ Society, Annual Open Show, January 1912, George had a 2nd place in the working homer, likeliest flyer, cock, category. George must have maintained his love of pigeons throughout his life as in July 1935 one of his birds recorded one of the best times in a West Midlands Combine Thurso Race. In December 1948 George was awarded a trophy by the Gloucester Alington Flying Club for a Penzance pigeon race.
Duncan Preston died in November 1911 and although his widow, Mary, continued to be recorded as the baker at Norton Mill it was George who took on the job. In December 1915 George enlisted into the Royal Marine Light Infantry, Plymouth Division. I can find no record of his service and in July and August 1916 George was amongst those listed who had made gifts to the Hillfield Red Cross Hospital, Gloucester, for donation of homemade bread so must have been back at Norton. In 1921 George was still employed as a baker living at The Mill. Mary Preston continued to live at Norton Mill, with George baking bread there, until her death in 1931 when the Archer family of Norton Court Farm bought the mill.
On 22 April 1920 George appeared at the County Police Court where he pleaded guilty to “exposing for sale and selling a number of loaves not of an even number of pounds, contrary to the Bread Order of 1918, at Coombe Hill, on March 29. – Frank Prosser (Cheltenham), Inspector of Weights and Measures, said that he met defendant’s cart in charge of a man named Veale, and weighed 20 loaves, two only of which were of correct weight, the other eighteen being all from 2¾oz to ¼oz under weight”. George was fined £5.
In the 1920s George is recorded as being the Master of Ceremonies at a number of village shows and concerts.
George Walter Henry Jordan married Edith Beatrice Hicks in 1923 and they had six children; Lucy, John, Eileen, Betty, Minnie and Peter. George first appears at Marlpit Lane on the village electoral roll of 1924 so they likely moved into High View upon marriage, possibly living with Eliza Loveridge for a few years. On 27 August 1925 George Jordan ran a hoopla stall at a village fete and raised £2 8s 3d.
On 13 June 1925, Bruton, Knowles & Co were instructed to sell from the horse rostrum at Gloucester Market “10 acres of mowing grass growing at Norton Mill, Norton, the property of Mr G Jordan, Norton Mill”.
In December 1925, George was one of those supplying Reynolds bakers in Gloucester.
George Jordan
In 1929, George’s wife Edith’s mother, Sarah Jane Hicks, was also in residence although it is believed that there were two dwellings here at this time in the same building and she lived in what was the shop.
In September 1933 George was advertising for domestic help; “Wanted, working man’s housekeeper (middle-aged), must be fond of children”. This need can be explained when George’s wife Edith died in early 1934 and the Gloucestershire Echo newspaper of 20 March 1934 reported from the inquest; “Mr George Walter Henry Jordan, of Highview, Norton, forester, said that his wife had been in poor health during the last 12 months, and had been in hospital for 10 months. On leaving hospital she went to live with her sister, Mrs Burroughs, at Brockworth. She suffered a great shock at a Christmas party, when a child fell in the fire, and her mind seemed to be affected. She was attended to by Dr Logan and Dr Foster, and went as a voluntary patient to a mental institution for a few weeks. On leaving this place she returned home, and seemed fairly well, though suffering slightly from delusions. She had a dread of going back to the institution, and made witness promise not to send her there. On Thursday, March 16, witness left her in the house in the morning. She asked witness to hurry back home. Later in the day his foreman told him to go back home quickly, as there was bad news for him. He arrived home at about 2.30, and found his wife dead. She had never threatened to take her life, and left no message. He was satisfied no one else was responsible for her death. Mrs Hicks, Mrs Jordan’s mother, said that on Thursday morning her daughter seemed quite bright when she said goodbye to her husband. They went about their normal duties in the house, and Mrs Jordan then said that she would go up and dust the bedrooms, and left witness in the kitchen making cakes. When witness went upstairs she found her daughter lying on her own bed. Two scarves were tightly tied round her neck. She tried to revive her, but she was dead. There was no sign of a struggle and no one had been upstairs with her. Dr J D Foster said he had attended Mrs Jordan for a good many years. In his opinion death was due to asphyxia due to having strangled herself with a scarf. He had no doubt that she was not of sound mind at the time. The Coroner, in returning his verdict, said that the case was very sad”.
Edith’s mother Sarah Hicks last appears here in 1934, moving to live with other relatives after her daughter’s death.
George Jordan remarried Evelyn M West later in 1934 having two more children; Georgina and Roger. In 1939 George, his wife and seven children were still in residence at what was then recorded as Hill View. This is the only reference I have seen to this name and was likely recorded in error. George was employed as an estate labourer and was also an auxiliary postman and special constable at this time.
George divorced his wife Evelyn on grounds of misconduct that was not defended by her. When decree nisi was granted at Gloucestershire Assizes on 1 February 1943, wife Evelyn was already living at Polworth Gardens, Edinburgh. Evelyn appears to have met William Howard Elphinstone who, in 1938, was living on Cheltenham Road at Churchdown. In 1945 Evelyn was living with Lily Foreman at India Street, Edinburgh, then she settled with William Elphinstone and in 1964 William and Evelyn were at Broomhall Avenue, Edinburgh, along with children William jnr and Edith.
In July 1939, Mr Jordan of Norton, was advertising a small cottage and garden to let at Norton, in May 1940, a furnished bedroom and sitting room, to let.
In October 1941 a bungalow with three rooms at Highview was advertised for let and through the 1940s there are several other references to there being a bungalow on site at High View.
In 1947-48 Rosie Freeman was at the bungalow. Rosie was born at Hardwicke in 1922 and was related to the Freeman family who had lived in several properties at Priors Norton over the previous 100+ years. In 1939 Rosie was a live-in domestic help at Putloe, Moreton Valance, Gloucester, and she married Rowland Righton Hayward in 1944 at St Catherine, The Leigh.
Between 1948-58 David and Eileen Hurd were at The Bungalow. Eileen was born in 1927 and was the daughter of George and Edith Jordan and had married David George Colin Hurd at St Mary’s, Norton, in 1948 so likely came here straight after marriage. The couple were living at Parton Road, Churchdown, when David died in 1993.
In February 1946 John Edward Jordan, George’s son, was living at High View when he was taken by ambulance to Cheltenham General Hospital suffering from concussion after falling off his bicycle.
1960 was the last time that George Jordan appears on the electoral roll for Norton with George living at High View with sons Roger and Peter. In 1962 son Roger is here and was using the surname West-Jordan. Wilfred Stanley and Edith Irene Wrench were also in residence in 1962.
George Jordan left High View when he moved into Sunnyside Residential Home, Cheltenham, around this time.
In June 1967, Peter Dudridge conducted a number of interviews of various people in a collection he called Cotswold Roundabout. and amongst these was one with George Jordan. For the purposes of the following transcript Peter Dudridge will be ‘PD’ and George Jordan ‘GJ’.
PD - Mr George Jordan who is 83 and lives at Sunnyside Residential Home, Cheltenham, used to be the village baker at Norton near Gloucester. At the early age of 18 he found himself in charge of the business when his uncle died and I asked him how he coped at such an early age.
GJ – We didn’t know what to do at all to get a baker cause, the old fashioned baking, it’s a job to get anybody who knows out about old fashioned baking. It was all wood, all faggotted wood.
PD – Well, how did you set about running it because it was quite a job wasn’t it finding out who your customers were ?
GJ – The bread used to sell itself, that’s how I’d get it.
PD – How did you used to take the bread round and what form of transport did you deliver it in ?
GJ – Horse ‘n’ trap we ‘ad then.
PD – Did you go very far from Norton ?
GJ – Oh I worked up around in Gloucester and I worked up around at Hatherley. All around. They got to know what sort of bread I made and they all used to call there.
PD – Now what sort of bread was it ? Would you describe the bread to me ?
GJ – Different to today. Oh, it was bread, it was made with me own hands with my old grandmother’s recipe.
PD – Now was there anything special about this recipe ?
GJ – Well, the recipe, the best part of it was putting wood in the oven and getting the oven hot with wood then mop it all out, mop all the ashes and dirt all out.
PD – That was very essential first of all ?
GJ – Oh yes, get it all nice and clean, oh it was a job.
PD – It was a very old oven was it when you took over ?
GJ – Oh yes, very old oven, brick oven.
PD – Did you sell anything else besides bread ? What about cakes ?
GJ – Oh I made dough cakes and they’d come from all over the place for dough cakes.
PD – They were very popular ?
GJ – Yes, they were very popular, but I used to collect all I could from most of the toffs for the dripping.
PD – You collected all you could from the toffs ?
GJ – All the toffs, all the way round, cause there were a lot of toffs when I was a young boy. I used to get a nice bit of dripping.
PD – Ah, so you didn’t buy your dripping in bulk, you just went round and got it locally.
GJ – Oh I had it from wherever I could get it. Anywhere.
PD – Were there any times when you found it difficult to go round your journey, perhaps because of floods or snow ?
GJ – Oh, very often. I have been working in the bakery up to my knees in water.
PD – Because of the flooding ?
GJ – Because of the flooding. The bakery’s been very nearly flooded, yes.
PD – What happened to people, perhaps in some of these rather isolated riverside cottages when this happened ?
GJ – Oh, I went round in a boat. I took the bread out in a boat to ‘em.
PD – Wasn’t that rather dangerous ?
GJ – Eh ? Oh, it was. I have took bread to some of the customers round Norton, right round the villages close by, on my horse ’n’ cart, with me old grey mare, and I sat on there with half dozen loaves and, on her back, and poked the bread up to the windows with a pike.
George died in 1970 and was buried at St Mary’s where he has a memorial in the churchyard.
Rev Evans Prosser once wrote of the 1963 floods; “the floods also got into the house that was the home of the old Jordan’s at the bottom of Marlpit and did damage there. They were both in their nineties and were much upset. Fortunately, a Flood Relief Fund had been started for Gloucester and District and this paid reparation for the Norton damage”.
On Thursday 5 November 1998, the village History Society met for a social evening at High View in the company of Mrs Betty Oakley (nee Jordan) and the following is taken from notes of her reminiscences discussed on that night; The Jordan family lived at High View on the corner of Marlpit Lane. High View is now one cottage but used to be two, the one being a cobblers – Grandma Hicks lived next door to us and was the sort that could move mountains. Mr Jordan married twice; having six children by his first wife and two children by his second wife who he later divorced – three sons and five daughters. He was the local baker, baking his bread in the bread oven in the cottage. He delivered his bread locally, firstly by van and later by push bike with a basket attached at the front. Betty remembers that bread was also baked at the Mill at this time and it was from here that he obtained his flour; later this was obtained from the mill in Tewkesbury. Mr Jordan was also verger, grave digger, a special constable and local postman at different times. He also kept free range hens and was a great pigeon fancier and used to race them. Water for the cottage was obtained from the mill stream opposite, an offshoot of the River Chelt. Betty’s Jordan grandparents later lived at Marl Cottage on the other corner of Marlpit Lane.
The next residents were Wilfred Stanley and Edith Irene Wrench who were at Benges Cottage in 1954, had moved to Hammonds Mead by 1960 and by 1962 to High View where they were still living in 1965. Wilfred died in 1966 and Edith remarried Wilfred Stanley Papps at St Mary’s, Norton, in 1973.
In 1985 James (Jim) F and Jean W Taylor were in residence at High View.
In October 1998 permission was granted for an all-weather horse training surface to be constructed on land here on condition that it was dug into the rising ground so that it would not be visible from the A38.
In 2002 Julian Matthew and Gillian Lamb were here.
In 2002 Julian Matthew and Gillian Lamb were here.
