The Southend
No 22
Tithe Map Plot No 273
Unlisted, I believe this was built around 1830.
Clearly suited for its use as a wheelwrights business it was occupied by the Kings family, wheelwrights, from at least 1832 to about 1900 after which one Charles Smith ran the business
The wheelwright trade was obviously doomed and the house became a private house in the 1900's. Now known as Farigoule House.
1839 Tithe Map Owner Robert Slade. Occupier John Kings.
1841 John Kings 47 Wheelwright.
1851 John Kings 61 Wheelwright employing 2 men.
1861 Charlotte Kings 69 Wheelwright.
1871 Charlotte Kings 79.
1881 Charles Kings 58 Wheelwright.
1891 Charles Kings 68 Wheelwright.
From 1910 survey Occupier E Gardner. Owner Lord Biddulph.
1911 Edward Gardner 63 General Dealer.
Ex Tilley's
1903 Smith C. Wheelwright.
1904 Mason M. Builder.
1908 Gardner E.
1911 Unoccupied.
1921 Now ‘Dunkeld’. Griffiths Mrs.
1922 Niblett Miss.
1937 Unoccupied.
1938 Barnett A.J.
1951 Hewitt A. O.
1955 Johnstone Miss.
1984 Rees W.S.
1999 Now ‘Farigoule House’ Hart J.
More Info.
John Kings was born in Tarrington to John and Sarah, nee Pritchard, in 1789.Established as a Wheelwright in Horse Lane in 1821 he married Charlotte Bosley in Ledbury on January 24th 1822.
Their first child, Charles was baptised on June 5th 1822, soon after the wedding! Frances followed in November 1823, Ann in 1825, John in 1826, Harriett in 1829 and William in 1831. William died in 1832 address given as Southend so the family were established there by that date.
With John and his family established in the Southend before 1832, in 1841 they have three lodgers including a Thomas Morgan, 20, Wheelwright and the King family remained here for the rest of the century.
By 1851 Charles is a Wheelwright with his father, John died in 1859 aged 69. In 1861 Charlotte is given as head of household, Wheelwright, and Charles is there in the same capacity.
By 1871 he is the main breadwinner with Charlotte as head of household – no occupation. Charlotte died in 1879 aged 87.
In 1881 and 1891 Charles is Head of Household still a Wheelwright now (in 1891) aged 68, and from the Electoral Registers they are still here in 1897.. He died in 1900 in South Parade.
In 1901 Ann Kings, 75, Charles ‘younger sister’ is in South Parade with her brother John, 74, occupation shown as ‘gardener not domestic’. John died in 1902 in ‘South Parade Yard’ and Ann in 1907.
Charles John Smith, born in Birtsmorton in 1860, married Sarah in about 1887. A son, Charles was born in 1891.
It is likely that the Kings decided to retire to South Parade sometime before 1900 and Charles Smith took over the business. The railways had done away with stage coaches, which would have needed wooden wheels, and although there were still farm carts etc. around they too would succumb to the motorised age. This was not a good time to move into the wheelwright business. He didn't last long. In 1903 he filed for bankruptcy and seems to disappear.
The arched entrance on the right of the building leads only to the back of the property.
The building is so suitable for a wheelwright‘s business, with coaches and carts being able to go through the arch to a workshop at the back, that surely it was built for this purpose, perhaps by Robert Slade.
Next door in No 20, (there was no No 21 in 1841) was a blacksmith‘s shop, Southend must have been as important a street as the High Street. Coachmen could leave their passengers at the Unicorn, the George or The Royal Oak and get their horses shod and wheels fixed in the same street.
Robert Slade, the owner in 1839, also owned No 7 and 8 in the Southend. Who was he?
Born in 1785 in Ledbury to John and Sarah, he married Elizabeth Cox in Ledbury in 1811.
They had:
Eleanor in 1812. Married Thomas Smith in Hereford in 1841.
John in 1813. At this time Robert is in Horse Lane as a carpenter. John died in 1836 in Malvern Wells.
Ann in 1815.
Robert in 1816.
Thomas in 1817. Robert is still in Horse Lane now a builder.
Elizabeth in 1819. She died in 1855 in Parkway.
Jane in 1821.
Maria in 1823.
Hannah in 1824. She died in 1848 in Worcester.
Philip Henry in 1826. He died in 1848 at the family home in Parkway.
Reginald in 1830. Robert is still in Horse Lane now Gentleman.
He was what today we would call a property developer, building up a portfolio of properties for rent.
From the 1839 Tithe map as well as the three properties in Southend he owns a further 12 properties dotted around Ledbury.
The family were in ‘Parkway House’, which I believe is the house now called Woodlands, in 1851. Elizabeth died there in 1861, Robert left the district and the house contents were up for sale in 1862. The list of the contents can be found in the Hereford Times of January 18th 1862, too big an advert to be included here, and includes some very handsome items.
He died in Ross in 1865.
As a close neighbour of John Kings in Horse Lane in the first part of the nineteenth century he would have been the ideal person to approach to build a suitable building for Wheelwright purposes.