West House ( W House / Cottage)
The first identified owners of the property at what is now West House were the Charter family. Thomas Charter, a woolcomber of St John the Baptist, Gloucester, had married Mary Savery in 1762 at Mary’s home parish of Withington, and in 1764 they had a son, also Thomas. The Charters would have been an important family in Gloucester with an earlier Thomas Charter having married Mary Maisey at Gloucester Cathedral in 1737. Father Thomas died in 1783 leaving Mary a widow, and he was buried at St Aldates, Gloucester. Thomas Charter Snr wrote a Will, “I, Thomas Charter, Maltster in the Parish of St John the Baptist, in the City of Gloucester … I give and bequeath unto my dearly beloved wife Mary Charter my freehold estate at Norton and my house and malt house in the parish of St John the Baptist … and after my wife’s decease … I do hereby devise that my son Thomas Charter shall have my dwelling house and malthouse”.
At the time the Inclosure Act reached Norton in 1806, the property here was Plot No 340, an acre in size, and was owned by Mary Charter, a widow. It was described as follows; “… all that tenement with the court yard, gardens thereto adjoining and belonging … called or commonly known as the W House containing one acre … bounded on the north east to south west by old inclosures belonging to the said Duke of Norfolk, on the south east by an old inclosure belonging to the said Mary Charter, on the west by a cottage and garden belonging to the said Richard Belcher and on the north by the Turnpike Road from Gloucester to Tewkesbury”.
Plot No 341 is now incorporated into the garden at West House. In 1806 this was a house and garden of 21 perches owned by Richard Belcher. Richard was the owner and innkeeper at the Red Lion Inn at Wainlode at this time. Richard died in 1818 leaving all of his real estate to his wife and children but it is not known if this included this ‘house and garden’ here.
Mary Charter owned considerable land in the vicinity of the house as well as Ivy House Farm.
From 1783 Thomas Charter Jnr held property at Norton that was likely Ivy House Farm although this was still in his mother’s name. It is likely that the family continued to own ‘W’ House as well. Thomas Charter was born in 1763 and married Esther Cotterill at Bishops Cleeve in 1802 having at least one child, Mary Ann, born at Norton in 1803. In 1802 and 1804 Thomas Charter owned and occupied several properties at Norton paying £5 2s and 6s land tax on them and this was still the case in 1830. In 1837 Thomas Charter was qualified to vote due to the ownership of a freehold farm at Norton that he occupied himself. It is likely that the larger property was Ivy House Farm and the smaller W House.
Thomas and Esther’s daughter, Mary Ann Charter, married Arthur White, a cabinet maker and later upholsterer of Cheltenham, at Norton in 1833, and had at least two children; Mary Esther and Elizabeth.
On 15 February 1834, Thomas Charter wrote an extensive will outlining his desire to keep the estate in his family line through generations through the supervision of trustees. He left the contents of his estate to his wife; “I give and devise unto my dear wife Esther Charter all and singular my household goods and furniture, plate, linen, china, wines, liquors, casks, horses, cattle, corn, grain, and crops of corn and grain, hay, implements of husbandry and all others my live and dead farming stock … for her own absolute use and benefit”. Thomas then disposed of his estate; “I give, devise and bequeath unto my friends Thomas Smith, of the city of Gloucester, gentleman, and Richard Butt, of Wallsworth in the parish of Sandhurst, gentleman, all and singular my freehold and leasehold messuages or tenements lands and hereditaments situate in the said parish of Norton … upon trust that they … permit and suffer my said wife Esther Charter to receive and take the rents, issues and profits thereof … during the term of her natural life … and after her decease … apply the same to my daughter Mary Ann … for her own sole and separate use and benefit independent … of her present or any future husband … and after the decease of my said daughter Mary Ann White … in trust for such one or more child or children of … my said daughter Mary”.
In 1838 the W House, cottages and gardens, was still listed as belonging to Thomas Charter. Thomas was at Norton when he died in September 1838, aged 74, and he was buried at St Aldate, Gloucester. Daughter Mary Ann’s husband, Arthur White, was at Norton when he died “after a protracted illness” in September 1839, leaving both mother and daughter widows. It is not known if any of the family were at W House or not but they were at Ivy House Farm at this time.
Also in 1828 what was Richard Belcher's Plot No 341, was cottages and gardens, then owned by Samuel Smith and let to George Curtis and William Kirby.
At the time of the 1841 census widow Esther Charter was living at Norton, a 65 year old farmer, and also in her household was widowed daughter Mary Ann White and her young daughter Elizabeth, aged 5. They were living at Priors Norton and likely at what became Ivy House Farm.
By 1859, if not earlier, Mary Ann White had left Norton and was living at Coombe Hill with her only surviving child, Mary Esther.
The next document to refer to W House is an indenture dated 6 August 1859. The indenture is between Mary Ann White, of Coombe Hill, widow, Mary Esther White, of Coombe Hill, spinster, only surviving child, John Raymond Pope, farmer of Abenhall, William Yeend, farmer of The Leigh, William Wood, gentleman of London Road, Gloucester. The indenture was brought about by an intended marriage between Mary Esther White and John Raymond Pope. It was agreed that Mary Ann and Mary Esther White would grant their properties at Norton unto the use of William Yeend and William Wood as trustees. “Doth hereby grant all that messuage or farm house with the several closes occupied therewith containing 91 acres or thereabouts situate in the parish of Norton in the county of Gloucester, and in the occupation of Edward Herbert [Ivy House]. And also all those two cottages and hereditaments in the respective occupations of William Marston and John Dowding which said messuages, cottages, land and hereditaments were formerly known or described as; “all that messuage or tenement with the buildings barns stables folds yards gardens and appurtenances thereunto adjoining and belonging containing in the whole one acre five perches. Also all that other messuage or tenement commonly called or known by the name of the W House with the yard garden and appurtenances thereunto adjoining and belonging containing together one acre 35 perches”.
This confirms that at one time there was three properties here, W House and two separate cottages adjacent to it, but by 1859 there was just two. The indenture also tells us that they were owned by Mary Ann White and the occupiers of the two W cottages at this time were William Marston and John Dowding.
In 1851 John Dowding was a 40 year old agricultural labourer from Norton who was living at W House with his wife Sarah and three young children. In 1871 John and Sarah were living on the Turnpike Road.
Also in 1851 William Marston was living at ‘White House’ with his wife Emma and two infant daughters. William Marston married Emma Cole at St Mary de Lode, Gloucester, in 1847 and by 1871 William, Emma and family were next door to John Dowding so likely both still in the same cottages. It is supposed that William Marston was living at what we now know as West House and John Dowding in the old cottage. As the cottage that used to stand in Plot No 341 does not feature on the OS 25” 1st Edition map, that was surveyed around this time, we can assume that it was cleared during the 1870s. What is now West House can be seen in Plot No 135 below.
OS 25” 1st Edition
Mary Esther White, then of Coombe Hill, married John Raymond Pope of Abenhall at The Leigh on 11 August 1859 and in 1861 they were farming at Shapridge Farm, Abenhall. They were to have six children; Mary, John Arthur, Raymond Cotterill, Mary Elizabeth, Frank Winstanley and Thomas Harry.
John Raymond Pope was born at Chaceley in 1825, son of John Pope and Ann nee Cotterill.
Mary Esther Pope died on 7 October 1868 in suspicious circumstances. Mary was still young and apparently healthy and her husband John had taken out a £1000 life insurance policy on her life with Norwich Life Office just the previous year requiring an inquest to be held at the family home of Shapridge House, Abenhall. The report of the inquest states that her mother Mary Ann White happened to be in residence with them at the time of her death. Both the coroner and the medical officer knew John and Mary and thought her to be in good health. John’s statement detailed the circumstances; “We went to bed between ten and eleven o’clock. The deceased was then perfectly well. In the morning, early, my wife awoke as usual, and asked me to give her the baby, which was in a cot. I did so and she suckled it. At about three o’clock, I think, she rose in bed and said ‘I am very ill, open the window’. This I did. She then got out of bed and I saw her sinking. I caught her in my arms, and then knocked at the bedroom wall, and shouted to Mrs White, deceased’s mother, who came immediately. I asked her to get some brandy, which she did. The deceased, I believe, did not drink any. Mrs White called up the boy, and hastened him off to Mitcheldean, for Dr Abell. The deceased died in a few minutes in my arms. Dr Abell was very soon present, and found the deceased still in my arms”. Dr John Richard Abell stated that “I have not made a post-mortem examination today. I consider the cause of death was some disease of the heart; perhaps fatty degeneration. Mrs Pope had been increasing in fat”. A post-mortem was later held by another doctor who reported to a later inquest that death resulted from fatty degeneration of the heart. At the time of her death Mary and John had six young children.
By an indenture dated 30 July 1870, William Yeend passed his trustee responsibilities to Rev Thomas Augustine Pope of Bredon Norton, Worcester, who was appointed by Mary Ann White and John Raymond Pope.
By 1871 Mary Ann White was at Stoke Orchard now describing herself as an annuitant. In 1871 John Pope was living with his children, still farming at Abenhall, and also in the household was a 16 year old governess, Mary Dyke. In 1881 we find John living in the household of Mary P Dyke at Pembroke Street, Gloucester, along with three of his children; John Arthur, Mary and Frank. In 1885 John Raymond Pope remarried Mary Poole Dyke at Norton, and they settled in the village at Elm House, Cold Elm, having two daughters here; Edith Mary and Eleanour (Nell) Dora Elizabeth.
Trustee William Wood died 28 June 1878 and Rev Thomas Augustine Pope died 5 January 1881 at Brunswick Road, Gloucester.
In 1881 Mary Ann White was at 30 North Place, Cheltenham. In 1881 William Marston and family were still tenants living at W House where wife Emma was employed as a grocer shopkeeper. They were also still here in 1891.
It is difficult to identify the occupants of the W Cottages and W House through this period as the properties often aren’t named in documents. It is likely that the occupants of the W House changed in the 1890s as William Marston died in 1898, Emma in 1902, both living at Twigworth at the time and both were buried at Norton. In 1901 Emma’s occupation was recorded as ‘selling a few sweets’ so she continued to be a shopkeeper.
Mary Ann White died on 18 March 1892. The Estate passed to John Arthur Pope, Raymond Cotterill Pope, Frank Wynstanley Pope and Mary Elizabeth Pope under an indenture dated 6 August 1859 made between Mary Ann White, Mary Esther White, John Raymond Pope, William Yeend and William Fluck derived from Mary Esther Pope (formerly White) delivered by Mary Elizabeth Pope of Elm House, Norton, and Joseph Mann of 31 Whaddon Street, Gloucester, trustees. “All that messuage or farm house with the cottages and outbuildings and the several close of land occupied therewith containing 74 acres or thereabouts situate in the parish of Norton in the county of Gloucester, now in the occupation of (with another 9 acres of land) William Henry Bishop at a yearly rent of £120 at 15 November 1892”. Valued at £2100 by Tayntons Solicitors and Sivetor when calculating death duties due.
The farmhouse is Ivy House Farm and presumably ‘the cottages’ refer to W House and other cottages but this isn’t clear.
When Tayntons and Siveter calculated death duties due upon the death of Mary Ann White in 1892 it was stated that the properties under trust had passed to John Arthur Pope, North Texas National Bank, Dallas, Raymond Cotterill Pope, 202 Fourteenth Avenue East, Ashland, Wisconsin, Frank Wynstanley Pope, Texas Pacific Railway, Dallas, and Mary Elizabeth Pope, Elm House, Norton.
An indenture date 9 July 1892 appointed Mary Elizabeth Pope of Elm House, Norton, and Joseph Mann, carpenter of 31 Whaddon Street, Gloucester, as new trustees.
John Raymond Pope and his wife Mary Esther are buried at St Mary’s, Norton, just inside the church gates to the right; “In memory of John Raymond Pope who died December 2nd 1910 aged 85 years. ...also Mary Esther... Dear little Thomas Harry their youngest child died January 22nd 1872 in the 5th year of his life”.
In 1921 widower William George James Moulder was living here in what was known as W Cottage, a retired attendant at Gloucester Asylum along with his son Redvers Ernest Henry, an out of work railway porter. William had been born at Norton in 1860, son of George Moulder and Elizabeth nee Summers, but the family left the village just the following year, moving to Kingsholm, Gloucester. In 1881 William appears briefly in Scotland before he returned to Gloucester and married Clara Jane Saunders at St Lawrence, Barnwood, in 1888. By 1901 he was working at the Gloucester second county lunatic asylum. Wife Clara died at Norton in May 1920 and William was living at Hucclecote when he died in May 1936.
Sam and Linda Hughes lived at West House from marriage in 1923 till their deaths in 1976 and 1978 respectively. In 1925-30 it was known as W Cottage but was West House by 1939.
It is believed this sketch was drawn by Peter Putnam, a cousin of Pat Ward (nee Wareing) who lived with her parents at The Orchards and later at The Green, Norton. The Wareing family were great friends with Sam and Linda Hughes and both Pat and Peter spent their honeymoons at West House. Pat's daughter Carolyn tells me; "The kitchen, if you can call it that, was the little ‘lean to’ on the right made of a timber frame and covered with a tin roof and green canvas wall".
In 1985 it was occupied by David J and Carole A Brennan.
In 2002 Edward M A and Karen S Krupa were in residence.
In 2020 West House was the home of Stephen 'Jock' Scott.
