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Taunton Courier. Bristol and Exeter Journal, and Western Advertiser. Wednesday 14 Jun 1905
Page 3 Column 4
TAUNTON & ITS TOWNSMEN.
INTERESTING RECORDS OF THE PAST.
SPECIALLY CONTRIBUTED.
DECADE 1784-1793.
The following is the second of the series of articles being contributed to our columns by Mr. G. H. BROCKLEHUST on “Taunton and its Townsmen”:-
THE OXFORD, on the west side of Cannon-street, stood on the site of the old church dedicated to St. Paul. Sarah MADDOX, its proprietress, belonged to an old Taunton family – John dying in the town in 1678; Roger, a fuller, at the age of twenty-four, in 1724, whose widow married Rev. John BOSWELL, vicar of St. Mary's from 1727 to '56, and a Prebendary of Wells from 1736 till his death, at the age of fifty-eight.
THE SHAKESPEARE, near the west end of the south side of East Reach, behind which, in 1786, Mr. BIGGS, the comedian, opened the small, but neat Theatre.
THE SWAN, which, with a blacksmith's forge and a dwelling-house, formed an island on the north side of East-street, was pulled down to carry out the improvements of the Turnpike Act, 1817, the sign being removed to a house on the other side of the street, equi-distant from the London Inn to the west, and the Phoenix Tavern to the east, was another ancient house. In 1790 it was under the double proprietorship of William HILL – whose ancestor, a Somersetshire man, settled at Yard House, on the outskirts of the town, in the reign of Henry VIII.; whilst another, William, “gent.,” who died in September, 1674, had been Mayor – and George JONES,who was the junior, and ultimately the sole proprietor, being such in 1822, and possibly some twenty years earlier. His widow died on 10th December, 1827, aged seventy-four. The shady, gravel walks, and green bowling alley of this inn at this time are often referred to; so they must have been exceptional.
THE TOWER, in Tangiers-place, which gave its name to Tower-street, was in the hands of Gilbert COGAN, or COGGAN, whose ancestor, John de COGAN, was one of the principal landowners in the county in the reign of Edward I., whilst another, Richard, in that of Henry VII., felt the effect of Archbishop MORTON's “fork,” for evidently, from his style of living, he “could afford to give a Benevolence to the King.” Sooner or later, this, or some other test of the loyalty of the family, had its effect; for on 15th December, 1647, William, a staunch Roundhead, served on the jury of a Court of Survey held in the town, preparatory to the lands held in it by the Bishop of Winchester being transferred to the Parliament. The sign of this house and its business was transferred to Silver-street in the following century.
An equally good second as the London to the Castle was the WHITE HART, at the corner of Fore-street and High-street, on the sign-post of which Judge Jefferies - of whom Charles II. once said “that man has no learning, no sense, no manners, and more impudence than ten carted street-walkers” - hanged one of his many victims. As on the 22nd of September, 1685, “Samuel STOREY, a Scotchman, came to the house of Francis HOBERT, Justice of the Peace, with a pistol in one hand and a paper in the other, containing a list of the members of the Corporation, and required the said Mr. HOBART, in the name of the late Monmouth, to come in his gowne to the White Hart Inn, in Taunton aforesaid, att his peril,” it is most probable that this inn was the rendezvous of the sympathisers of Monmouth – at least after his execution. John PURCHASE – whose ancestor John, a serge manufacturer, was living in East-street in 1602, and passed his business on to one DOLLON[?] – was its host. During the last decade of Century XVIII. and the first of the XIXth, John BLAKE, who was proud of being “a whelp, descended from one of England's greatest Sea Dogs,” was proprietor, followed by his son, Henry D. BLAKE, who was in possession in 1822.
Amongst the Taverns were the ANGEL, or NEW ANGEL, as it was often called, on the north side of the west end of Upper High-street, kept by Ann HILL. The HILL family were old residents, who had taken an active interest in the welfare of the town, Roger, “gent.,” being one of the Constables for the year 1626 – the year before the town received its first Royal Charter of Incorporation.
THE BARLEY MOW – a tribute of honour rendered to beer, as the vine or the bush was to wine – was on the north side of East Reach.
THE BEAR, on the east side of North-street, in the hands of John DELL, who passed it on to Robert DAY. The popularity of this sign throughout our land testifies to the common and vulgar amusement of our ancestors in seeing this animal, in common with the bull, ill-treated under the cloak of the sport of bear and bull-baiting. For the latter there was the reason, “to make them man's meate, and fit to be eaten, which bul's flesh, without such baiting and chasing, is not held to be,” according to William SOMNER, writing in 1640.
BIRD-IN-HAND, on the south side of Mary-street, was in the hands of M. JACOBS. Part of the decorations of this house – probably part of its fixtures – were two framed bits of homely information:-
“My Liquor's good, my Measure just;
Excuse me, Sirs! I cannot trust.”
The other was a picture of a boy, slain, in the arms of Death; with the following superscription, “Died last night, Poor Trust!” followed, at some distance, by the pathetic enquiry, “Who killed him?” and, with another space, “General Bad Pay.”
THE BLACK BOY, in the lane of that name, off the west side of Cannon-street, tells us that “the weed,” which Sir Walter RALEIGH brought from Virginia had found its votaries in the town; whilst the BLUE BOY, on the east side of High-street, showed that its fatherless lads had not been forgotten, for its original name and sign was the Bluecoat Boy.
THE BOOT was about the middle of the west side of Paul-street, and the BRISTOL on the east side of North-street. The names of the hosts of these four houses, during this decade, have not been preserved, by Arthur GARRETT was in possession of the Black Boy at the commencement of Century XVIII., and John LOVE of the Blue Boy in 1821.
THE COACH AND HORSES, a noted house for “good cheer,” in East Reach, where T. TUCKEY was host, and some years later J. SCARLETT, had been removed from the north side of East-street; and had been known as the Packhorse, but its position at that time is doubtful.
THE COMPASS, in Upper High-street, had been known as the Goat and Compasses, a corruption of the Puritan sign “God encompasseth us.” It was removed to the north-west corner of Wellington-road in the thirties of Century XIX.
THE CROSS KEYS presents two difficulties – first, its situation; then whether M. SHALLIS was its host or hostess.
THE CROWN, on the west side of High-street, having the Saracen's Head Tavern to the north, and the Bell Inn to the south, was an old house, and through its host during this decade is not known, Robert MIDDLETON held the position in the middle of Century XVII., and Thomas JONES early in the XIXth.
THE DOLPHIN, in East-street, came into the hands of Ben STACEY about 1810. Some elderly readers will remember this house under the name of “Chapel's Gin Shop.”
DUKE WILLIAM was held by Thomas LOCOCK.
THE FLEUR DE LIS was situated about the middle of the west side of North-street.
THE FOUNTAIN, where for many a long day matches of “The Royal Sport of Cock-fighting” were held, had been an inn for many years, being so when Tobias OSBORNE was host in 1666.
FOUR ALLS, at the west end of Hunt's Court, now Bath-place. It is much to be regretted that there is no description of the signboard of this tavern, as it leaves a doubt regarding which four of the following six had a place upon it:- The King, who “rules all;” the Soldier, who “fights for all;” the Lawyer, who “pleads for all;” the Priest, who “prays for all;” the Farmer, who “pays for all;” and the Devil, who “takes all.”
The WHITE LION, on the north side of East-street, was pulled down, with all the houses adjoining, as far as the corner of Harmony-row (Tancred-street) by the Turnpike Act of 1817. It was kept by James POOLE, whose ancestor had been keeper of the Castle in the reign of Henry VIII. During the first decade of the new century, William TURLE, a son of the host of the Saracen's Head, became its proprietor. He removed when the above Act came into force, to the house at the south end of the east side of High-street, and, some few years after, the sign was changed to the Royal Oak. A most unfortunate change, as the old name marked the home of the first HUTCHINS who settled in the town – a descendant of Hugh, Baron de TYNDALE and his wife Alicia, daughter and sole heiress of one HUNT of Hunt's Court at Nibley, Gloucestershire – the grandparents of William TYNDALE, the first to translate the New Testament into English – of whose romantic experiences something will be said, under the name of George HUTCHINS, stonemason, later.
(To be continued.)