Somerset County Herald 13 Dec 1958 Changed Face of Taunton Civil War Battles in East Street

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Somerset County Herald and Taunton Courier. Saturday 13 Dec 1958

Page 8 Column 8 and 9


CHANGED FACE OF TAUNTON

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CIVIL WAR BATTLES IN EAST-STREET

By H. J. CHANNON

EAST-STREET links Fore-street with East Gate and East Reach. The invasion of it in recent years by big multiple firms has made it a very busy shopping part of Taunton.

There are some businesses left that were in this street sixty years ago – R. L. Cozens & Son, jewellers and watchmakers; W. J. Coles & Son; Gregory & Wrenn, chemists; G. D. Trenchard, umbrella shop; Hawkes & Sons, ironmongers, engineers, &c.; T. H. Serle & Son, house decorators; H. G. Mounter & Co., printers, stationers; and Eastmans, butchers.

Old Coaching Days

The Phoenix and the Swan are two inns with a long history. The London Inn (now the County Hotel) was a very busy coaching establishment in the 18th and early 19th century. Where GIBBARD's radio shop is now in Cheapside, there stood, in 1820, a farrier's and blacksmith's forge, kept by Sammy WARMAN. At night it lit up a large part of East-street. There the coach horses and travellers' horses were shod.

Some long-established businesses, remembered by many Taunton people – A. Clode & Co., fish and game dealers; H. Scott, hairdresser, and well-known judge at dog shows; Montague COOPER, photographer; James STANDFAST, coachbuilder; Arthur Steevens & Co., cabinet makers; H. HOOK, grocer; H. J. TRUMP, outfitter and pawnbroker – have gone.

I well recall Dr. J. A. MACDONALD, whose surgery was on the site of the present Woolworth's departmental stores. He went on his rounds in a hansom cab, and was a splendid rugger forward for Taunton and Ireland.

Bitter Fighting

Historically, East-street, is of much interest. On the east side, just short of Tancred-street, there is a slight bend to the right. In 1820 there was a much sharper turn towards the alms-houses opposite, leaving just space for a carriage to pass through. At the corner stood, high up, the White Lion Inn, and the access to it was by a flight of stone steps. Here was formerly the east gate of the town. During the Civil War East-street was the scene of bitter fighting. The Royalist attempted attacks on the castle from this direction, as this part of the town was difficult to defend. Many thatched houses were burnt, and Pope's alms-houses (on the site of Dunn's Motors) were destroyed, but later rebuilt. It is amazing that Gray's almshouses (1635) survived.

Old Council House

Until the Town Council purchased the present Municipal Offices in Corporation-street in 1887 (the home for 350 years of Bishop Fox's Grammar School), their meetings were held in the Old Council House in East-street. The name can still be seen above the premises of the West Somerset Co-operative Society (the butcher's department).

Adjoining Gray's almshouses is Huish House, formerly the residence of the late Mr. Arnold GOODLIFFE, headmaster of Huish's Grammar School, who will be remembered as one of Taunton's most lovable and outstanding citizens.

King's College Founded

On this spot, in 1880, a Mr. GREEN had a private school. Bishop Fox's Grammar School moved to South-road in 1870. It was now a proprietary school with a new name – Taunton Collegiate School. This enterprise failed, and the building (now King's College) was empty for three years (1877-1880). Canon WOODARD bought the premises for £8,000 in 1880, and founded King's College. In 1877 the few remaining pupils of the old Grammar School had returned to the old school premises (now the Municipal Offices), where they remained until the closing of the school in 1885.

When the old Grammar School move to South-road, a new school – Taunton Middle Class School – rented the old Grammar School buildings. This school was absorbed by Huish's Grammar School in 1874. On the return of the Bishop Fox's Grammar Schoolboys to their old home in 1877, the Huishers had to take temporary refuge in an old building near the site of the present snack bar in Corporation-street until 1880, when they moved to the building where Mr. GREEN had conducted his school. Their present building was opened in 1892.


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