Reg. Charity 1043675 No. 85 November 2016

Some of the 23 seals recently purchased by Tiverton Museum

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterCONTENTS

Page

Chairman’s introduction, Jeremy Salter 3

Heathcoat 200 Walk, Andrea Rowe 6

John Heathcoat and the ‘Loughborough’ Job, Tony Jarram 11

Clare House. A Brief History, Roger Whittlesey 14

Membership Subscriptions, Tony Longbourne 22

The Greenway Chapel Window at St. Peter’s, Fern Clarke 23

Displaying Tiverton’s Wool Trade in the Museum, Pippa Griffith 26

_________________________________________________________

Committee Members and Members with Special ResponsibilitiesJanet Rendle President

Jeremy Salter Chairman

Brian Jenkins Vice Chairman / Newsletter Editor

Anthony Longbourne Hon. Treasurer

Fern Clarke Hon. Secretary

John Rendle Membership Secretary

Mary Cross Social Secretary

Frank Connock

Dennis Knowles

Andrea Rowe

Alison Gordon Outings organiser

Anne Davies Heritage Open Days, Walks and Refreshments

Contact Telephone Number for membership enquiries: 01884 254914

Our thanks to Pippa Griffith for providing the front cover picture

2

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter Chairman’s Introduction November 2016

We hope that you enjoy this Newsletter, which is our 85th, and the first since

Brian Jenkins stepped down as our main editor. Production costs as well as

technical problems have mounted and, regrettably, this could be the final

edition in the present format. We will be considering various future options

during the coming months, but, whatever we decide, which could include

greater use of email or our website, the option of a printed version would, of

course, be made available for those who prefer it. Our Newsletter remains

important, so please keep sending in new material: it will be distributed to

members in whatever format we decide upon. We would, of course, greatly

welcome the addition of greater manpower and expertise!

Reference was made in the May Newsletter to our desire to focus on the

problems facing the Tiverton Conservation Area, especially the upkeep of

listed buildings, several of which are at present empty, little used, or

neglected. This remains our intention, but in this issue we have largely

concentrated on other matters, including the Heathcoat 200th anniversary,

although Roger Whittlesey looks at one listed building with an assured future!

Some planning developments during the past few weeks have been well

publicized in the press, but they could have significant implications, and I

make no excuse for concentrating on two of these.

Remarkably, after a prolonged campaign by Eden Westwood, Mid Devon

District Council has given the green light for possible future major

3

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterdevelopment by voting to include Junction 27 in the Draft Local Plan 2013-

2033. Eden Westwood’s somewhat grandiose but purely illustrative plans are

only for leisure, retail and tourist development, and they do not include

housing, but this could conceivably change, and it is bound to have a

significant effect on the emerging plan. The previous decision, taken after a

period of consultation, was to designate land to the east of Cullompton,

rather than land close to Junction 27, or further eastward expansion of

Tiverton, as the major focus for future major housing and employment

development in Mid Devon. Although it was published in February 2015,

submission of the plan has already been considerably delayed, especially

because of the need to find ways to resolve potential flooding risks and

transport problems in Cullompton. The further changes will necessarily mean

real pressure for the MDDC Forward Planning Department, and, at the

earliest, the revised plan is unlikely to be completed until well into November,

followed, probably in January, by a further six-week period of consultation. It

is therefore unlikely that the final submission document will be submitted

until well into the New Year, which is very close to the target date of the end

of March 2017 which the Government has set for all Councils to have

submitted a post National Planning Policy Framework (2012) local plan.

A further important holdup has occurred in the Eastern Urban Extension, and

this threatens to derail the agreed triggers in the Masterplan, in which it is

stated that ‘all major infrastructure should be in place before development in

the Tiverton Eastern Urban Extension commences’. In particular, the costs of

4

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterat least £15.5m for the new link to the A361 are considerable and the major

landowners and developers are reluctant to pay their contributions upfront

for this and other major infrastructure because of the uncertainties in the

local housing market. Early in the summer the Chettiscombe Trust stated that

they were not prepared to sign the Section 106 agreement attached to their

major planning application, legally committing them to contribute £3.7m

towards the building of the new link, unless they were permitted, in advance,

to build and sell 270 houses north of Blundell’s Road. They also sought

concessions on other planning conditions. This request was unanimously

rejected by the MDDC Planning Committee on August 3rd and further

developments are awaited. More recently, the building firm Bovis, who were

negotiating with Waddeton Park Ltd, the other major developer, have decided

not to proceed. An S106 agreement has, however, been signed by Waddeton

Park Ltd, and their contributions have paid for the traffic calming in Blundell’s

Road. They are now seeking to attract a new buyer to develop the land, and

this could well lead to further delays.

Unless these problems in the Eastern Urban Extension can be resolved, the

very necessary link to the A361, planned for completion in 2018, could well be

delayed, potentially resulting in considerable extra traffic being channelled

along Blundell’s Road. One imagines, however, that Mid Devon District

Planning, who are desperate to demonstrate a five-year housing supply, and

are far from achieving it, might be persuaded to make some unwelcome

compromises! Jeremy Salter

5

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter Heathcoat 200 WalkIt all started at a discussion at the Tiverton Museum Executive about the

Heathcoat 200 Anniversary and what the Museum should do to recognise the

event. The usual ideas of an exhibition in partnership with the factory, a

themed Family Day, displays of photographs and sound recordings of oral

histories were voiced. Then I suggested a replica walk from Loughborough to

Tiverton - all 200 miles. There was a deafening silence. There followed many

practical questions: where would we stay, how long would it take, who would

walk, insurance queries etc. Not many believed it was achievable.

After the meeting, however, one trustee, Sandy, said she was keen to do the

walk. That was all the encouragement I needed to pursue the idea. I got in

touch with the Museum and Library in Loughborough. They were immediately

interested. They were planning to use a community event in one of the Parks

in Loughborough to launch a Luddite exhibition and to reprint the Lacemakers

book they had produced in 2008. Only one of their volunteers signed up to do

the walk though, an historian, Ian Porter. So then there were three! Sir Ian

and his eldest son Billy were enthusiastic and supportive.

Over eight months I planned and worried about the practicalities and did test

walks of the route. The original walkers used the Fosse Way but this was not

feasible, as it is now a main road with no footway. I then looked at canals and

realised we could walk on canal towpaths across the Midlands and down

through Oxfordshire and Wiltshire as far as Trowbridge. The Canal and Rivers

6

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterTrust were helpful. I obtained route maps and contact details for the local

trusts. We walked the Grand Union Leicester branch, the Grand Union Main,

the Oxford Canal South, the River Thames Navigation and the Wilts/Berks

Canal. The last is in the early stages of being reconstructed as a navigable

waterway. I searched for a long distance path to take us from Trowbridge to

Taunton and came across the Macmillan Way. I test-walked four sections

which were reasonably straightforward, although the thick green line on the

map did not match reality. I had done the route from Taunton along the

Grand Western Canal and West Deane Way so knew that stretch.

I then turned to accommodation. How many of us would there be each night?

I had little idea. Loughborough Museum and Library were planning to send the

walkers off from their Luddite hub in the Park. Time commitment was difficult

for many as we knew it would take at least a fortnight. I realised that using

Premier Inns would be too expensive. I suggested camping. Sandy thought

that would be best as long as we didn’t have to carry the gear. She had use of

a family tent and I sourced another one from St Andrew Street. That gave us

some number flexibility as both slept at least four people. We decided not to

cook but buy food en route, apart from breakfast.

I had been debating whether or not to take my one year old Giant Schnauzer

pup, Killigrew. He loved walking, but camping with him? Anyway after a

practice camp and a chat to the vet I decided to take him.

7

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterSo who did walk in the end? Well, Sandy, Ian Porter, Killigrew and I did all of

it. Malcolm Kitchen, another Museum Trustee, and his wife Janice walked as

far as Oxford. Sir Ian walked 90 miles over 3 weekends with us. His cousin, the

former MP, David Heathcoat-Amory, did the first day with us. Tim Herniman

did two days in Oxfordshire. Jane Evans, a former resident of St Andrew

Street, and her friends who are descendants of Robert Harriman, one of the

original walkers, walked one very wet day with us in Oxfordshire. Tim Pyatt,

the Rights of Way officer of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust guided us over the

four days it took to do the sixty-three miles. As we got nearer home, several

members of the Heathcoat-Amory family joined us, and on the final day from

Sampford Peverell, about thirty-five people drawn from the Rotarians,

National Trust, Museum and Civic Society, together with friends walked with

us. A friend of mine from Yorkshire agreed to back up the walk with her car. I

took mine and so we ferried walkers and gear as necessary.

The send-off in Loughborough was very traditional. They even had a band.

People gave speeches and a local actor read Byron’s speech to Parliament in

defence of Luddites as democratic leaders. We were taken on the Trail

through the town to see where the factory, the pub where the Luddites met

and John Heathcoat’s blue-plaqued house were.

The walk itself was extremely long. We averaged seventeen miles a day. We

kept reminding ourselves we were covering distance not exploring the canals!

The latter were very interesting though and the little Museum at Foxton Locks

is well worth a visit. We often spoke of the original walkers and compared our

8

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterexperiences - things like blistered feet, lack of opportunities to eat along the

way, navigation aids and sleeping bags and so on.

When we finally arrived at Sampford Peverell, on the Sunday, a night in my

own bed was bliss. On the Monday morning I did a trolley dash and hoovered

up M&S sandwiches, fruit and mini desserts to take to the Museum and then

set off for Sampford Peverell where about 25 people turned up to do the last

stage. Lord Lieutenant David Fursdon met up with us in the basin and we

headed off to the museum for lunch and a look at the Heathcoat 200

Exhibition which thankfully had just been launched in the nick of time. I had

the opportunity to take David Fursdon around the Museum. At 3 pm Sandy,

Ian and I walked down to the Factory where to our surprise and amazement

there were nearly 150 Heathcoat pensioners, councillors, the High Sheriff of

Devon, Rotarians and friends in a marquee where we had a Devonshire cream

tea! It was a lovely conclusion.

What were the challenges? Well, looking after our feet was the major one,

food or the lack of it, another, and the variability of facilities at camp sites, a

sort of inverse rule that the more they cost, the worse the loos, washing and

level mown pitches were. I had taken three First Aid kits: one for feet, one for

muscles and one general. I lost over a stone in weight. Navigation was difficult

even on the canals. How do you know which way to start going when you

meet one? There are few signposts and canal maps don’t help much. Sat Nav

and GPRS were most useful but in the end asking boatmen and other walkers

generally saved time and was reliable as I guess it was for the original walkers.

9

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterSurprisingly the weather was not the challenge I feared. The original walkers

had atrocious weather, being affected by an Atlantic weather system. We only

had two full days of rain. I can’t imagine five hundred walking together. Such a

large group would have been threatening to the communities they passed

through. I think they must have trickled down in groups.

I had some regrets. I am sorry we did not raise very much money for the

Museum but I didn’t want the walk to be another sponsored walk charity fund

raiser, but also, I didn’t want it to cost the Museum anything. The High Sheriff

of Devon, Angela Gilbert, told me that she graced the finale with her presence

because it was a REAL re-enactment of an honourable, history making event,

not an ‘invented’ anniversary like she is often asked to attend. Curry Spice

sponsored the Tee shirts and the Factory sponsored our walk. I needed

someone to help publicise the walk or a marketing plan to get the media

interested, but didn’t have the energy alongside planning the Walk. Killigrew

was fun to have with us most of the time and a real gentleman in the tent, but

often an unhelpful distraction for me on the walks.

The highlights were the warm send-off and support from Loughborough, Ian

Porter’s knowledge of the Luddites and the trip he organised around the

Boilerhouse Museum at Foxton Locks, the welcome sight of Sir Ian at the

weekends, the tenacity of Tim Pyatt when even he couldn’t find a stile or

pathway in a hedge and the good-humoured way Sandy and Ian took my

rather optimistic predictions of daily mileages. Would I repeat it? Probably.

Andrea Rowe

10

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter

11

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterReflections on John Heathcoat and the

‘Loughborough Job’ The growth of so called ‘Luddite’ activity must have greatly alarmed John

Heathcoat, but the death of a Yorkshire Mill owner and other deaths in 1812

must have sent shivers down his spine. John Heathcoat had established a

large factory in Loughborough, Leicestershire, following his invention of the

Bobbinet Lace Machine in 1808.

Heathcoat had come to Leicestershire from Duffield, Derbyshire, as a child in

1794, living on a farm in Long Whatton where the family produced woollen

hosiery on warp machines. He received a good education, probably in nearby

Hathern. Initially he worked for a Mr Swift on knitting frames before becoming

apprenticed to a local frame smith and framework knitter, William Shepherd.

With Shepherd, Heathcoat learned not only how to make Derby ribbed

stockings, but also how to repair and build frames. The latter years of his

apprenticeship found him in Kegworth where he was taught science and

mechanics by a local schoolmaster named Wooton. His next move was to

Nottingham to work under Leonard Elliot, where his mind turned to invention.

When he reached the age of 21 he married Ann Caldwell in Hathern Parish

Church in 1802. They first lived in Long Stairs, Nottingham, before moving to

the “Stone House” in Wide Street, Hathern. This house is still extant and

listed. It is known Ann made pillow lace and that Heathcoat would watch the

finger movements, translating them into mechanised ones.

12

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterThe location for Heathcoat’s first bobbinet machine is difficult to identify. It

was probably at “The Rookery” in Kegworth, but Hathern and Nottingham

were certainly used during development. The success of his machines found

him moving to Loughborough, already a hosiery centre and home to other

inventors. Heathcoat obtained finance from backers in Loughborough, Derby

and Kegworth. It is of interest that Boden, Oliver and Cartwright, at that time

the premier hosiery factory in town, also offered backing, but later backed

out.

Initially Heathcoat entered a partnership with Charles Lacey, who taught him

skills in finishing and marketing. The fiery Irishman was, however, hard to

work with. John Boden left Oliver and Cartwright to join Heathcoat.

By 1816, their Loughborough factory in Malt Mill Lane (present day Market

Street) contained fifty-five Heathcoat “Old Loughborough” bobbinet lace

machines. They had a foundry on-site and were probably making his patent

machines on site. Heathcoat was in a good position, as most of his patent

machines were operating in Nottingham, for which he was receiving duty. It is

strange that, given this advantage, Heathcoat cut his workers’ wages in 1816.

At this time Heathcoat had a house in Leicester Road and it is believed that

the house next door was that of John Boden. In 2007 men working in the

extension to the house found a large piece of sandstone under the

floorboards that, on removal, revealed a void. It was concluded that the void

was made when the extension was built and disguised by the sandstone. It

13

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterwas boarded over and forgotten. It was further discovered that a small tunnel

led from under a shelf in a cupboard in the cellar to the secret chamber. The

discovery of cast iron ventilation pipes in the roof of the chamber added to

the mystery. It is my own conclusion that these features were constructed by

Heathcoat, and probably Boden, as a retreat should a ‘Luddite’ attack take

place against them and their families.

When the attack came it was against the factory and not the house, yet the

attackers actually drank in an inn only hundreds of yards from the house prior

to the deed. It is interesting to note their leader, James Towel, had recently

been acquitted of another ‘job’ in another industry in Nottingham. Was this a

paid job by the Nottingham lace masters?

The details of the attack and the migration of Loughborough workers to

Tiverton is well recorded, but there is one question that needs to be

answered. Why was Heathcoat already in Tiverton looking at a former

woollen mill at the time of the attack on his Loughborough factory?

The fear of attack is an obvious one, but there is also another consideration.

Heathcoat’s Loughborough factory was situated on the junction of two

branches of a water course, the ‘Woodbrook’. There was great demand on

this water from dye works and the brewery industry, including a malt mill.

There was simply not enough water for Heathcoat to power his machines,

something that Tiverton had in abundance.

Tony Jarram

14

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter

Clare House: A Brief HistoryThis is an abbreviated version of the history detailed in Clare House. A History 1816 –

2016, written

by Dr. Roger

Whittlesey to

mark its

bicentenary as

a building.

Map accompanying Elizabeth Hole’s Will, showing the extent of the Clare House messuage (land

holding), 1877.

Clare House. Rear of the building with conservatory.

N

15

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter

Peter Wickham 2003:

Private collection

Clare House from the front, 2014, after the new medical centre was built

Clare House gained its name from the ancient ecclesiastical portion of Clare,

which formed approximately one quarter of the ecclesiastical parish of

Tiverton, centred on St.

Peter’s Church. This lies

immediately north-west of

the house. The portion, which

covered an area west of the

river Exe including

Washbeare, Loxbeare and

16

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterCalverleigh, was the responsibility of one of the three rectors who held livings

at the collegiate church. It gained its name from the de Clare family, Earls of

Gloucester, who married into the Redvers family, Earls of Devon. Despite its

name, the present house was not built as a rectory.

An earlier parsonage house is recorded on the messuage of Clare House in the

Fursdon Devon Parish Records for 26.9.1605. It was sited on what became the

south lawn of the present Clare House. Part of this land was sold in the mid

twentieth century to extend the market car park and the remainder is now

the site of the extension to the refurbished Clare House GP practice.

Clare Rectory was burnt down during the civil war between King Charles I and

Parliament in 1645, along with other properties in Newport Street, either as

part of upgrading the fortification of Tiverton Castle, or more probably to

improve the sightlines for the Parliamentary army’s cannons firing at the

castle. The last occupant of Clare Rectory was Rev. Richard Newte, Rector of

Clare Portion, who was away in France and the Low Countries with the

permission of the king when this happened. Clare Rectory was never rebuilt.

Information about the ownership of the messuage of the former Clare Rectory

for the next two centuries is scarce and, where available, somewhat

confusing. By 1777, it was owned by Henry Land. In 1815, William Hole sold

the messuage for the redemption of land tax. The foundation stone for the

present Clare House was laid on May 7th 1816. By the following year, the

house was completed. It appears to have been owned by Richard Henry

17

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterStrong. In 1817, land adjacent to Clare House garden on the west, which

included a coach house, was purchased by James Hussey from Richard Henry

Strong. This property may be the present Clare Corner.

Richard Henry Strong died in 1821. By 1866 Clare House was in the ownership

of Elizabeth Hole, a prominent and wealthy resident of Tiverton. When

Elizabeth died in 1877, her executors put the house and garden on the

market. The property was split into two lots. Lot 2, to the east of the house,

became the site for a drill hall. Later the Electric Cinema, an Arts and Crafts

building, replaced it. This was converted to a bingo hall in the postwar years.

This building was demolished in 2009 to make way for ‘affordable’ housing.

Lot 1, Clare House and gardens, was purchased by Rev. Henry Venn, a rector

of St. Peter’s Church. In 1884, the Benefices (Tiverton) Consolidation

Amendment Act was passed by Parliament, abolishing the collegiate status of

the church. The following year Rev. Venn resigned from his post. The parish

was split between St. Peter’s Church and St. George’s Chapel in Tiverton, and

chapels in the rural areas, the chapels becoming parish churches with their

own stipendiary vicars and parishes. St. Peter’s retained a Rector but Clare

House was considered unsuitable as the new St. Peter’s Rectory due to its

juxtaposition to the Market and Drill Hall!

18

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterIn June 1886, Venn and Lewis Mackenzie entered into a ‘conveyance of equity

of redemption in Clare House Tiverton’. At that point Venn owed John Venn,

Thomas Dalton and JGH Wallace £1800, which they had paid on his behalf to

John Spurway, Sir John Heathcoat-Amory and Thomas Hole, executors of

Elizabeth Hole, for the purchase of Clare House. It seems that Lewis

Mackenzie paid off this amount, purchasing the property. Another document

later that year outlined a re-conveyance of Clare House between Venn and

Mackenzie, and confirms that, having paid the outstanding interest to John

Venn, Wallace and Dalton, Mackenzie paid off the outstanding £1800 to these

three and thus obtained Clare House in 1887.

Blundell’s School Quinquennial Thanksgiving Service Parade 1908 passing Clare House. Courtesy of Tiverton Museum

On 27th May 1920, Mackenzie sold Clare House to John Drury Renton for

£3,500. By this time, the drill hall had become a cinema, but those queueing

for tickets were not permitted to line up in front of Clare House while the

Renton’s owned it! The house and the carriage of the Rentons were too smart

to risk such proximity to the hoi poloi of the

town.

On 25th June 1923, Clare House changed

hands again, this time for £2,650. The new

owners were H.J. Craig, a shipping agent of

Tynemouth, and JRC Montgomery of Tiverton. Montgomery had married

19

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterBertha, Craig’s daughter, and this formed a marriage settlement. However,

the marriage appears to have failed at an early stage.

During the 1920s, Drs. Burgess and Perry were in a medical practice

partnership in nearby Bampton House (32 Bampton Street). Bampton House

and Clare House shared a disputed wall. In 1928, Dr. Burgess retired from

practice and George Lowe became the new partner. On 30th March 1929,

Clare House was sold by Craig and Montgomery to Drs. Perry and Lowe for

£3000. They became the founding partners of the Clare House medical

practice. In order to raise the capital for the purchase, the doctors took out a

mortgage for £2000. This was eventually paid off in 1953 by the partners of

the time, Drs. Lowe, Rudd and Pembrey.

The doctors of the Bampton House practice who moved to Clare House were

consulting medical officers at Tiverton Infirmary, built in 1868 at 57 Bampton

Street on land purchased by Caroline Brewin (daughter of John Heathcoat) for

the purpose. Under the reforms of George Lowe, Clare House practice

provided specialist medical officers for the infirmary. George Lowe himself

became surgeon to Tiverton District Hospital, as the Infirmary became. He

built up a practice of four partners at Clare House, each with specialisms. He

lived at Clare House before moving to Horsdon House where he died in 1961.

The fourth partner in the Clare House practice, joining in 1946, was Dr. Dick

Pembrey, who became an anaesthetist at Tiverton District Hospital (TDH).

20

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterIn the aftermath of World War II, Drs. Nicholson and Haggart were creating

the medical practice that later became Castle Place. Dr. Foster, gynaecologist

and obstetrician at TDH, briefly became a partner at Clare House (1950-1)

before leaving to join Drs. Nicholson and Haggart. A reverse movement took

place when Dr. Nicholson retired from Castle Place practice and became a

locum at Clare House when Dr. Lowe died and Dr. Pembrey became ill.

A partner who joined the Clare Place practice in the late stages of his career

was Dr. Roche (1957-61), who worked from his surgery in Castle Barton. This

was transferred to Clare House when Dr. Gillian Sladden joined the practice.

Specialists at Tiverton District Hospital widened to include physicians. The first

physician partner at Clare House was Dr. Seaton. By this time the practice also

provided medical care to Post Hill hospital lying east of the town, and to

Belmont Hospital, which had formerly been the town’s workhouse. The

practice also provided medical care to Tidcombe Hall (former rectory for

Tidcombe portion), which was acquired by Drs. Lowe, Rudd, Pembrey,

Graham, Stevenson and, later, Foster, and run as a private nursing home until

1953 when it was sold to the Marie Curie foundation for the care of cancer

patients. Dr. Graham became Medical Officer to Blundell’s School, a role that

was continued by later partners, and expanded to include Ravenswood

School, a boys’ preparatory school, at Stoodleigh.

Until recently, the interdependency between the Tiverton Hospitals (Tiverton

& District, Belmont and Post Hill), Clare House and Castle Place lifted the two

21

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterpractices above routine general practice, with each and every partner being

additionally responsible for their own obstetrics, casualty and in-patient care

and bringing a medical specialty to the mix, including surgery, anaesthetics,

ophthalmology, geriatrics, psychiatry, medical teaching and terminal care.

These responsibilities have altered somewhat with the onset of out of hours’

care, consultant input and the current wave of political interference, but the

practice remains an integral part of the area’s overall medical provision.

For much of its history, Clare House has resembled a gentleman’s residence.

There are no extant plans of the original design of Clare House. A document

dated 6th September 1910 shows a plan of the house in ‘domestic’ mode,

while another later document details the specifications for the alteration to

the house required for the medical practice moving from Bampton House. The

conservatory at the rear of the house became a minor operations room. Later

it had to be re-roofed with slate as it was too hot for the task in summer. It

became Dr. Seaton’s consulting room when the minor operations took place

at Tiverton District Hospital.

In 1946, further alterations were needed to provide another consulting room,

waiting room, dispensary and dark room. Further internal changes were made

in the early 1970s to provide more consulting and office space. The first floor

rooms, no longer used for domestic purposes, were redesigned and the

dispensary became a second waiting room.

22

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterBy the mid-2000s, the new hospital on the former Globe Elastic factory site

near Morrison’s supermarket on the north side of the town had replaced the

Victorian infirmary and its extensions on the corner of Bampton Street and

William Street. Castle Place practice had moved to new purpose-built medical

facilities attached to the new hospital building, but difficulties beset the Clare

House practice when they also considered removal to the new hospital.

Significant changes to General Practice and to hospital appointments were

emerging, the town was expanding in size, and the suitability of Clare House

for the medical practice was under question. By 2011, the restrictions on

space for minor operations, disability requirements and the desire of patients,

staff and council for the practice to ‘stay put’ at Clare House led to a

compromise between affordability and the limitations imposed by the Grade II

status of Clare House as a building. A modern ‘glass and zinc’ extension was

built on the remaining garden to provide a modern medical centre able to

cope with the necessities of modern General Practice. The old servants’ hall

and the conservatory were demolished to provide the transitional corridor

and reception desk to the new multi-purpose consulting rooms and operating

suite. The pharmacy occupies a former consulting room.

Roger Whittlesey

23

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS

It is the time of year when the committee thanks members for paying their

subscriptions hitherto and reminds them that the annual subscriptions are

due on 1st November. Many members pay by standing order, but,

alternatively, please would you pay your subscription by means of a cheque

payable to ‘Tiverton Civic Society’ and send it to the Honorary Treasurer:

Anthony Longbourne, Brook House, 178 Chapel Street, Tiverton, EX16 6DF.

Telephone 01884 257530

The Membership Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer are grateful to the

many members who pay their subscriptions before the AGM, which takes

place this year on 15th November.

INCREASE IN SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscriptions have remained the same for at least eight years, during which

the Society’s varied activities have been fully maintained for the benefit of

members and the Tiverton community. Unfortunately, and inevitably, it has

now become necessary to increase the subscription rates as from 1st

November 2016. The new subscription rates are:

Full single member £12

Two or more full members in the same household £9 each

Junior member £2

Life membership and Corporate membership are also available.

24

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterSTANDING ORDERS

If you pay by standing order, please amend this before the end of October so

that the correct amount is paid on 1st November 2016.

GIFT AID

Many members have completed Gift Aid forms, thus enabling the Society to

increase its funds without any extra cost for these members. Please contact

the Honorary Treasurer if you would like information about this scheme.

Tony Longbourne

The Greenway Chapel Window at St. Peter’s

Church In the final article on the stained glass windows of St. Peter’s Church, I shall

focus on the delightful Morton Moncrieff memorial window, high up in the

Greenway Chapel. This was the last stained glass window to be installed

(1924), and has an interesting story behind it. The pearl effect of the glass

places it in the Arts and Crafts movement, although by this time, styles were

moving into the heyday of Art Nouveau.

The window consists of two adjacent arches in the west wall of the Chapel.

The theme of the window is the life of St. Peter. In the apex of the canopy

between the arches is a symmetrical dagger-shaped light displaying the keys

of heaven entrusted to Peter by Jesus (Matthew 16:19). These are placed over

25

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletteran inverted crucifix, and bordered by opalescent glass. Peter is reputed to

have been crucified in Rome upside down. On either side in the apex of the

two arches are similarly shaped lights containing the initials S and P for St.

Peter in gold on a pale dappled lilac glass bordered with pearly white glass.

The main lights have upper borders in white and pale blue-green glass on

which is a banner across the two middle lights. It reads: 'You are Peter and

upon this rock I will build my Church'. The main lights show Peter being given

authority by Jesus to lead the church. On the left and right, six disciples are

shown watching the centrepiece of the picture in the middle lights, where

Peter kneels before Jesus accepting his new role. A seventh disciple stands

behind Peter in the middle left light. This light also hints at the context in

which this episode takes place, in the district of Caesarea Philippi in Galilee.

Below the picture is a lower border which continues the design of the upper

border. In the right light, a scroll covers part of the lower border, inscribed: 'In

loving memory of Archibald Loudon Morton-Moncrieff who fell asleep in

Calcutta in the 82nd year of his age. D.D.E. M-M'.

Archibald Loudon Morton-Moncrieff was a merchant who made his fortune in

India. He started life in the Gorbals, Glasgow. His father, Archibald Morton, a

soap and candle-maker, came there from Loudon, Ayrshire. Glasgow was

often referred to as the second city of the British Empire at this time. Like

other able young men, Archibald left the city to make his way in the British

Empire. He travelled to Shanghai where he met and married Esther Eliza

26

Tiverton Civic Society NewsletterPomfrey, a farmer's daughter (born Attlebridge, Norfolk). Their elder son,

Arthur Oswald, was born in the city. By this time Archibald's surname had

mysteriously become Morton-Moncrieff. By 1885, they had returned to

London where their younger son, Loudon, was born. Thereafter, Archibald

concentrated on trading in the Indian subcontinent and is described on

Loudon's baptism record and later census records as a merchant. During the

1890s the family moved to Tiverton, living first at Wilcombe Villa and then at

Ailsa House, off Tidcombe Lane (now demolished to make way for a housing

estate). The boys were educated at Blundell’s School.

Archibald made frequent visits to the Indian subcontinent, travelling aboard

P&O liners to places such as Colombo, Bombay, Karachi and Calcutta. He

never retired. The couple developed a wide circle of influential friends in both

India and England. After the boys finished their education, Esther travelled

with Archibald on trips to the Indian subcontinent. Sadly, he died on arrival in

Calcutta on 24th November 1923 aged 81 years. Esther continued to live at

Ailsa House and was very active in the local community.

Both sons followed their father into work on the Indian subcontinent, Arthur

as a civil engineer and Loudon as a merchant. In the 1920s, Arthur became a

farmer near Honiton and Loudon directed his business in India as a

'manufacturer' from Tiverton. He lived at Horsdon House until his mother

Esther died in 1925, and then moved to Ailsa House. Sadly, Loudon was killed

in a road accident on Blundell's Road during a blackout in late 1939. Arthur

retired to Torbay and died in 1979 in his late nineties.

27

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter Fern Clarke

Displaying Tiverton’s wool trade in the Museum At the end of 2015 Tiverton Museum ran a successful public appeal enabling

us to purchase a collection of 23 lead cloth seals featuring a range of Tiverton

merchants’ names and marks. Over the past twenty years a Dutch metal

detectorist has been gradually retrieving Tiverton seals from the soil in the

neighbourhood of his village, 10 miles north of Amsterdam. The result is a

remarkable collection of seals with examples from a range of well-known

Tiverton merchants. The museum also received a recent donation of a

wonderful painted tillet cloth from Coldharbour Mill featuring the arms of the

East India Company (either used as a wrapper used when sending long ell

cloth to the East India Company in London or was a tillet cloth used to wrap

cloth for the export market). Until now, the museum had very few objects

relating to the wool trade, and the current gallery is filled with ‘set dressing’

to give a period feel. These new acquisitions offer us a rare chance to present

Tiverton’s history through tangible objects, these acquisitions being at the

heart of a redisplay of the museum’s wool trade gallery which museum staff

are currently working upon. Funding for the conservation of the tillet cloth

and the redisplay of the gallery has come from The Draper’s Charitable Trust.

Small lead cloth seals have been found by metal detectorists in Germany and

Holland, often featuring the names of Tiverton merchants reflecting the large

28

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterexport trade in serges from Topsham to Rotterdam and Amsterdam from the

late seventeenth century through most of the eighteenth century. The seals

were attached to bolts of cloth and often discarded when all the lengths of

cloth were sold. The seals are not often found in this country, but usually at

market sites on the continent where Tiverton's cloth was sold.

The seals in this collection date between the late seventeenth century and the

late eighteenth century. There are seals from well-known Tiverton merchants

including:

The Lewis family who built their grand Fore Street house after the fire of

1731.

Oliver Peard who lived where Boots the Chemist is today, who was very

wealthy, but killed himself with a blunderbuss in 1764.

Benjamin Dickinson, Peard’s nephew, who eventually took over his

business and rebuilt his uncle’s house on Fore Street to become a

mansion that was said to ‘be finished with great taste, having every

convenience suited to a very superior station in life and furnished

throughout with costly elegance.’ To improve the view from his new

house, Dickinson ordered the removal of the Market Cross which had

stood at the centre of the street since the mid seventeenth century. In

the same year, 1787, work was completed on his new country mansion

at Knightshayes (which was later rebuilt by John Heathcoat’s grandson).

In all, 19 of the seals feature Tiverton merchants and 3 of Exeter merchants. A

very unusual seal is of John --- of Uffculme. Until this seal came to light, it was

29

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterthought that local seals only carried the names of merchants from Tiverton,

Exeter or Wellington. Research is ongoing as to the identity of this merchant.

Space on the seal requires it to be a short name, maybe How, who was

recorded as a sergemaker in 1771.

The seals are currently on display

in the museum’s entrance area

before the new gallery is

completed.

Seal from William Lewis with two

scallops. The Lewis family lived on

Fore Street and were trading early in the 1700s until 1748.

Seal from Oliver Peard and George Osmond with a mermaid

holding her tail. After George Osmond died in 1744, Oliver Peard

took over his business, including his stamps and mermaid emblem

The seal below with a crown over a scallop is

likely to be

from the

Thomas

Enchmarch

30

Tiverton Civic Society Newsletterbusiness, middle 18th Century. The Enchmarch family lived at Bampton House on Bampton

Street.

31