Random Wibblings

Another archives visit????today????and????I’ve????actually????found????something????useful!

Looking throught the indexes to the documents relating to the deeds of Steep Hill House, I found references to the Hickson family who I know from census & rate records owned????the house next to James’s. This now fixes the position of their property and means that the Casrterton one must be where the current Parish Hall is.

I also checked the will’s of William Wilkinson, who owned several houses leading downhill to James’s, and Elizabeth Hickson. Neither gave me any useful information relating to location.

Documents relating to the building of the Parish Hall seem to be rather sparse (i.e. none found as yet..) but on a chance I viewed the 1925-1927 bound copy of the parish magazines. In it I found the following useful snippets:

From the Feb. 1925 issue:
“It is generally known that one of the two cottages which stand on the Parish Hall Site is now vacant. Mrs Richardson, our other tenant, is anxious to move as soon as she is can find another house. The building of the hall will be taken in hand at once.”

From the accounts in the April 1825 issue:
“Parish????Hall????Property????Costs????????505????4s????8d”

From the Jan. 1826 issue under the heading Stop Press:
“The Parochial Church Council has given general approval to Mr H. G. Gamble’s plans for the Parish Hall”

From the May 1926 issue:
“Welcome news! Mr E Scarborough has signed a contract for building the Hall.”

Finally from the June 1926 issue:
“A scene of destruction is not often greeted as a welcome sight, but that which meets one’s eye as one looks down from the South Door of S. Michael’s Church does merit this description.”

So not only is there the first mention of what was where the hall currently is, but also the date it was demolished (May-June 1926).