Richard James Tiley’s Reminisces
Transcript of interview tape made around 1970 by Jim Brain and Barrie Rider
Uncle Jim returned from France at Easter 1919. He had joined up at Longmore, Hants and was sent to Grantham from whence he went straight to France. On his way to Grantham he met a signalman Bill Jenkins from Clutton at Westbury Station. Bill had courted a daughter of Henry Moore, then licensee of the Hunters Rest or the Cannon. Ball kept the Cannon afterward, then Taylor.
There was a bonfire opposite the Cannon for the Coronation. Herb Collins, Ern Maggs and Uncle and chaps from Farmborough and High Littleton used to drink there until 11-00pm then the Clutton lads would return to the village down paths across the fields over Sunday’s Hill, in the dark. Ball kept goats at the Cannon (played the barrel organ). As a joke they would let the goats out and they would follow the lads all down over the hill as far as Burchills pit.
Collieries
The Burchills chimney stack was for the steam winding engine and a ventilation fan. The shots firing underground would shake the cottages in Northend.
After the pit closed, a man called Rivers from Radstock who was a one-time Labour agent for Frome district, started a wagon repair business at Clutton Station taking over from the former Greyfield Coal Co. “Dickie” Rivers then started a brickworks around 1925 and built brick kilns. Alf Owen and Tom Owen worked there as they had expertise gained as kiln firers from working at Greyfield brickworks when the pit was working there.
The field next to Clutton Hill where the footpath runs to Maynard behind the station is called “Cheerless”.
Jim Brain came to Clutton in 1911, having been born in Bath in 1906. Uncle Jim had worked trying to find coal at King Lane and Northend Farm after Clutton Greyfield pit closed. In the field at bottom of King Lane called “Alderbeds”, a test shaft was sunk to enter the Farmborough Fault ( or Kilmersdon Fault as some called it.) Walt Parfitt was a manager at Pensford-Bromley Colliery.
Coal was found on Sundays Hill. Incline went from Pritchard’s Yard under Railway line to a coal winding shaft over the line. The coal was house coal and was sent from Clutton Station or from road sales from the screens where the garage stood.
Uncle Jim worked at Burchills with Fred Cook, they used to enter the pit down the incline and their job was repairing and maintaining the timber supports. Alfie Perry used to load the trucks into the cage to be wound to the surface. There were also workers there from Paulton.
Up on Sundays Hill the mine engineers used a concrete base as a level to assess and survey the pit. There were two inclines at angles to each other. At the bottom of the pit was a spring of water and the miners were always concerned that water would spring in as it did at Greyfield a few years earlier.
Four Gates at Clutton Hill was the boundary of both pit workings (Clutton and Greyfield) and the nearer the miners worked to this point the easier the working became so the miners feared that was where the water lay.
The pit (Birchills) closed 1921–1922. Prospecting for more coal was allowed by EW on his land and the work was done by such as Alf Owen, Juby Harris, Maurice Purnell, Fred Baker from Zion Place and by Ern Collins at Knapps Hill. They also prospected at the top of “East Field” in King Lane by the Cannon.
Rudges. After 1922 there was a drift (incline) in the corner of the triangular field opposite where Withers farm stands today in Marsh Lane to try and rework the Rudges seam.
In the field next to Rudges called Ham, farmer White owned the pit cottage, lived in by Mervyn Comer’s brother. Charlie Taylor and Jim Golledge also lived there.
They collected water from the stand pipe at Bendalls Bridge by Baker’s cottage.
Planning was denied to Geoff Wilcox to build houses at Maynard Terrace due to misinformation re the depths of mine workings supposedly underneath.
Sir Henry Irving’s uncle lived at Maypole Farm - Brodribbs, William and a nephew. They employed Ern Carter who went then to live with Silas Bailey.
Uncle Jim started work on the Warwick estate for 6/- per week 8-00 to 5-00 and 8-00 to 1-00 on Saturdays. He played for Clutton against Bath City at Lambridge . His next door neighbour Fred Price also played and Sam Treasure. Uncle was 18 then, they lost 4-1 and uncle scored the only Clutton goal.
They used to play at Blagdon, stopping on the way for a drink at the Crown in WH then book the pub to stay open for when they returned late 10-30pm when the old lady would have supper ready for them. During the Boer war they went to Langford. Pope at East Harptree Court was a liberal, Llewellen at Langford was a Conservative and from Blagdon they had to go to tea at Langford Court. Miss Llewellen married into the Hill family. Their first photo was taken there, Bill Church, Sam Treasure and Fred Price were unsure about having it done. On the way home they sneaked into an orchard at Ubley and pinched some apples, after more beer at a Blagdon pub. Beer was 2½d a pint.
Temple Inn lane at noon was full of workers from the quarry drinking quarts not pints. Some would have three quarts and finish off with a pint. 3d a quart for ale, beer was 2½d per pint.
Clutton Brewery
The farm behind had sheep, steers, with the shepherd.
William Lewis lived in Snow’s House, before Jim Dury came there, Dix the police superintendent lived there for a time in between. Mr Richard Lewis lived in Bristol. Walter Lewis lived in the Brewery House and was a bachelor. He had three sisters, Arabella, Sylvanie, and Nellie who set fire to her self - committed suicide. Then Richard Lewis came from Bristol, Jim’s sister Lizzie lived there in Pembroke Rd (was she in service?)
The sons were Harry and George and the family also owned Cathay Brewery in Bristol by St. Mary Redcliffe. Beer used to be sent from Clutton station to Bristol.
Aunt Rose lived in the Brewery with the Lewis’ as a cook (for Walt Lewis). Wonder if that’s how she met Jim? The tramps from Cambrook House used to visit the brewery as Mr Walter was a ‘soft touch’ for free beer for them; they would get sozzled and go into Gastons to sleep it off.
Betsy Conk from Hinton Blewitt used to like her beer and she would try and scrounge some from the Ring ‘o Bells. The Landlord there would send her to Clutton with the horse and cart to collect a barrel or two with a promise of a free pint when she returned. Walter Lewis would get her drunk on old beer, put the barrels and her in the cart, send the horse on its way and it would find its own way back to Hinton just as the old lady was waking up.
Brewery closed during the Gt War, Pugsleys took all the machinery hauled to Clutton Station and on to Bristol. Walt Lewis’ son George had DT’s.
When Rose Tiley was at Gournay Court during the war, Richard Lewis asked her to come a live back at the Brewery and see to George until he died. It was originally said to have been built as a silk mill and with a very high roof which Arthur Maggs had demolished when he took over the premises as his transport yard..
The rent of a three cornered piece of land in Gastons goes to Clutton United Charities and which was set up by Ann Harris who was a barmaid at the Warwick before taking it over herself in early 1800s. She used to live in Uncle Tom’s cottage having moved there from the Warwick.
Special,trains from Frome, Bristol came to Clutton Flower Show. Dad could recall wagonette loads from Peasedown. There was dancing and attendance by the Coldstream Guards, and Marine bands, Countess Warwick used to come and open it. Uncle Tom made a brass trivet and entered in the show. Countess Warwick offered him £5 for it. (I still have it! EB)
Tom used to lodge at 12 Thomas St when he worked in Bristol at Adlams and return home Saturday on the train at 10 return.,
Charlie Rogers was a semi-educated man who lived in the next house down to the clubhouse. He used to like to sing and would go from house to house singing carols at Christmas. He was a chapel lay preacher, walking all over the area for as far way as Harptree.
In the first house on the left in Clutton Hill lived Charlie Gover who slept with the window open. Every morning he would poke his stick out of the window, and if came in wet, he wouldn’t go to work, only if it came in dry!
Emma Marsh lived in Miss Parfitt’s house before the school was built. She kept pigs which used to go in and out of the house. She married Marsh, a lodger who was a maltster at the Brewery and they used to travel the area selling fish and fruit from a horse and cart.
There was a cottage in King Lane just by the railway bridge and Jim Tiley and his pals used to run up the bank and put a stone on the chimney. Jimmy Hillman lived there, he was smoked out and used to cuss.
The Limekiln in Top Flat was run by Frankie Bird who transferred production to Stowey Hill. George Bailey worked for him.
Thomas Tiley was a plasterer and he plastered Alston House with Jim’s help using ashes and lime mortar. A chap Francis came to live there, he had lived in London, then Sutton Hill House and was a brushmaker by Royal Appointment to the queen. Uncle Harry Cook estate foreman married his daughter. Tovey built the Manse about 1907. The old roadman was John Ripley who used to go to Gurney Slade for a load of roadstone for 5/-. He would deliver to the stone depots where old disabled men would crack the stones to size for piece work about 2/6 a yard using a round headed hammer behind wire mesh screens. In winter he rain would make the roads loose surface into mud and roadmen used to drag a 4ft square box along the road to clear the mud off. It was very heavy and they would do about a half mile per day. Then a man with a horse and cart would come along and shovel up all the piled up mud into the cart and take it away..
The Clutton road foreman was Alan Gardner who lived in cottage above Clutton Clubhouse – Nick Church’s fathers cottage now demolished.
Transcribed 20th Jan 2004