History of the building
The building was home to Warners Solicitors for very many years. Tracing the ownership of 180 High Street is complex, not least because it once formed part of the same plot of land known as “Lord’s Garden” passing through the hands of many infamous local families and was therefore metaphorically “joined at the hip” to Fosse Bank House next door.
During excavation works from 2001 to 2003 in the area close to 180 High Street the remains of a medieval building fronting onto the High Street and dating from circa AD 1200 was discovered. To the west to the rear of the properties evidence was found for waste disposal in the 12th – 13th century AD, as well as for medieval industrial activity, including evidence for iron-working in the form of slag, hammerscale and hearth bases. One unusual find was the burial of an un-butchered pig in a box. None of the box survived, but there was a trace of iron nails (rusty streaks) around the edge.
Structural remains dating to the post-medieval period included a 17th-century cobbled surface and building or plot boundary walls in brick and stone, whilst the area to the west continued to be used for waste disposal in rubbish pits. Some 18th-century structures continued in use or occupation until the construction of the public hall in 1873.
In 1739 John Hooker bought Tonbridge Castle and immediately started to dismantle it and sell the stone to build river bridges. During this time it is probable that he also begins to sell off plots still entailed to the Castle. The Lord’s Garden remained a single plot until about 1740 when it was split into two. Dr. Francis Austen, attorney of Sevenoaks, possessed the northern half and built Fosse Bank House.
The southern half passed into the hands of the Woodgate family.
Ann Woodgate was a spinster and sister to the Reverend Francis Woodgate of Mountfield. When she died she left the property by Kentish Gavelkind to her three nephews. Two of the brothers then signed over their interest in the land to their brother Stephen Woodgate, son of Francis and brother of William Woodgate of Somerhill. Thomas Hooker, son of John Hooker, had begun to build a handsome stone mansion residence adjoining the Castle in 1793. However, one year before its completion he sold the whole estate to William Woodgate of Somerhill who had married his sister Frances.
In 1780 Francis Austen sold the northern half of Lords Garden to Thomas Hooker as trustee for his father John Hooker. Thomas in turn immediately transferred the property into the hands of Henry Austen, nephew of Francis Austen, who had married Thomas Hooker’s sister Mary.
Henry Austen
The Austen family were from the Weald and involved in the cloth trade at the Broadford estate in Horsmonden. John Austen married Elizabeth Weller in 1693 at Tonbridge. The Wellers were a Tonbridge family whose origins dated from the Civil War. As a child Elizabeth lived at Chauntlers, a substantial house in Bordyke now divided and renamed as The Priory and The Red House. John and Elizabeth had seven children before John died unexpectedly eleven years later, leaving Elizabeth with considerable debts. As a widow and single parent with little financial support she took employment as housekeeper to the headmaster of Sevenoaks School, enabling her sons to be educated there free of charge. Naturally as she was a lady from Tonbridge she would have preferred a post at Tonbridge School but there were no vacancies as the headmaster there was married.
Two of John and Elizabeth’s sons came to live in Tonbridge:
·
Henry Austen was the son of Thomas Austen (mentioned above) and was a cousin of Jane's father George. Born in 1726, Henry was also educated at Tonbridge School a few years earlier than George. Henry graduated from Cambridge and took holy orders and, through the auspices of his Uncle Francis became the curate at Shipbourne, Chiddingstone and eventually Steventon in 1759. Unlike his cousin, Henry never moved to Hampshire but remained in Kent.
Since he seemed unwilling to move to Hampshire his uncle intervened once more and secured the living at West Wickham from 1761. Henry married Mary Hooker in Tonbridge on 4 August 1763. She was the daughter of John Hooker, Lord of the Manor of Tonbridge and owner of Tonbridge Castle. There were three children of the family, two daughters and one son Edgar Francis Austen (known by his cousin Jane as “Frank of Tonbridge”). During Henry’s tenancy at West Wickham he caused controversy by adopting strong Unitarian views which eventually ended his career in the clergy in 1780. Henry sold Fosse Bank House or “The Bank” as it was then known to George Lingard on 29 March 1800 as it was a substantial property and as all his children had now left to continue their lives elsewhere Henry and his wife Mary decided to “downsize” and leased the neighbouring house, 180 High Street.
George Lingard died in 1843 leaving The Bank to his wife Sarah. Sarah only survived her husband for one month and her nephew Richard Bathurst of Sittingbourne inherited the property. The property was superfluous to his requirements and so by the end of 1844, Richard Bathurst had sold The Bank to William Gorham. On 1 March 1877, William mortgaged The Bank for £1,900 in order to purchase the property next door to use as office premises. Even though Fosse Bank House was large it must have been difficult to accommodate a solicitors’ office with a home environment. After William’s death in 1881, Mary Gorham left Fosse Bank House and went to live at 172 High Street with her daughter Caroline. Fosse Bank House remained unoccupied until 21 July 1892 when it was leased to Charles Benjamin and Babette Vetterli King 197 who started the Tonbridge Ladies College intended for sisters of pupils at Tonbridge School.
If Jane Austen ever visited Tonbridge it is highly likely that she would have stayed with Henry and his family.
Stephen Woodgate
In 1792, Stephen Woodgate of Fawke of Seal, an attorney, inherited two houses in Tonbridge High Street from his aunt, Ann Woodgate, who died in intestate. One of these properties was 180 High Street. On 8 February 1793, Stephen Woodgate released the property into the hands of John Wells of Nettlestead.
In 1767, Stephen Woodgate was articled as a solicitor, and living with his sister Mary and her husband John Acton at Shire Lane, London together with his brother Henry Woodgate, who was later to become a barrister. Before setting up in business on his own account Stephen Woodgate was engaged with a firm of solicitors in London although it appeared his expenses far out ran his salary. Boarding with his sister and her husband was beneath his proper station in life according to his new colleagues. His brother-in-law, John Acton, obviously felt slighted by this remark as he mentioned the matter in a letter dated 29 March 1768 to his father-in-law Rev. Francis Woodgate of Mountfield.
Stephen Woodgate was sworn and enrolled as an Attorney of the Queens Bench before Lord Mansfield on 30 April 1768 whilst still living with his sister. Stephen’s brother Henry became Private Secretary to Lord Mansfield who at the time was the Lord Chancellor. Henry was certainly much in presence at the courts although this is possibly because of his position rather than practising as a Barrister. Henry made his home at Riverhill House, Sevenoaks.
In 1792, the excesses of the French Revolution caused great panic in England. In order to calm the nerves of the population meetings were held up and down the country to pass resolutions of allegiance to the constitution and the Crown. By 1794, Volunteer Corps were forming all over the country. In Kent a subscription was opened and Stephen and was appointed with Mr. John Fellowes Claridge (Deputy Clerk of the Peace and Attorney at Law and partner of Dr. Francis Austen II), to receive the subscriptions. Stephen donated £21 for the cause as he was made an officer in the Volunteers and was present when the King reviewed the troops at the Mote (Ightham Mote). At Sevenoaks there were 44 signatories, all men of good standing and consequence.
Stephen Woodgate died on 1 June 1811 at his house at Fawke in Seal after a long illness aged 66 years. Henry Austen’s lease of 180 High Street continued until his death in 1807. Thereafter John Wells moved into the property as his main residence.
The Wells, Allan and Brain Families
John Wells died in 1821 without issue and left 180 High Street by Will to his niece Mary Allen, wife of John Allen formerly of East Peckham. John Allen and Mary Wells were cousins, John being the son of John Allen and Juliana Wells and a nephew to John Wells with his wife Mary being the daughter of John Stone and Mary Wells.
John and Mary Allen also died without issue and the Probate of the Will of Mary Allen left the greater part of her estate to her brothers Robert and John Stone. She also left bequests for her sisters Elizabeth Stone, Ann Brain and her nephew John Brain.
Robert and John Stone released the property to Robert’s daughter Sarah Stone in 1822. Sarah’s husband, her cousin, John Brain was a grocer from Wrotham and he left her a widow in 1859 and alone in the property. By the census of 1861, she had the company of her sisters Elizabeth, Juliana, her brother Henry and his wife Eliza, and their children Robert, Juliana, David and Henry together with her nephew Robert Luck aged 19 a sailor and a niece Elizabeth W. Luck both born in Nettlestead. By 1871, the household had dwindled to her sisters Elizabeth, Juliana, nephew Henry Stone and niece Ann Luck, a dressmaker by trade and sister to Robert and Elizabeth above.
In 1873, Sarah Brain contracted to sell to the Committee of the Public Hall Company the property occupied by Richard Corke next door, plus a wood lodge, closet and yard with a strip of garden, in order to give the Public Hall a side access way and for the Public Hall Company to build a new boundary wall.
After Sarah’s death in 1876 her trustee, nephew John Stone sold 180 High Street to William Gorham at the price of £1,900. After this transaction, the building was used as solicitors’ offices with caretaker tenants living in.
Solicitor’s office
Around 1905 the building was remodelled to provide for larger windows to the two front first floor offices and provide a clerk’s office in the centre. The windows were enlarged to provide more light and the front door was extended in width to provide a grander entrance. The new frontage also provided a new cellar beneath used to store old letters books, manuscripts and boxes. Eventually, new Law Society rules required old files to be kept in store rooms and original deeds and documents to be kept in a strongroom or safe. An extension at the rear provided a bijou courtroom with an even smaller outer office. The outer office is still part of the building and the coat pegs encircling the room were still visible on the day we vacated. The old wine cellar was converted into a strongroom with a heavy metalled fire proof door to protect the contents. The centre gable retained its original glass and a flagpole was erected to fly the flag on high days and holidays. A selection of appropriate flags sat in a chest on the landing with a set of map drawers containing often hand drawn maps used for assessing estates and lands of clients before the days of registration. There was also a cupboard in the attic containing all the papers from the days when Warners was in charge of the Tonbridge Turnpike Trust including, nailed to the back of one door, a sheet detailing the tolls charged to use Hadlow Road.
A body in the basement
In 1986 the staff had spent their last summer lunch times on deckchairs in the garden of 180 High Street. Warners, like a well cared for child, was growing and growing and needed more space to continue this trend. In view of this it was decided to build a further extension to the premises and use up what little remained of the garden. The builders duly arrived, pick and shovel in hand, and began the footings. If this had been a TV detective series the next part of the story would have been anticipated. The builders, on the other hand, were more than put out to discover a skull in their trench!
Much ado then ensured as Police detectives arrived to examine the corpse. Lots of forensic types wandered around in white moon suits poking this and that for clues accompanied by much head shaking and pencil chewing. The staff watched from the windows in fascination, work all but suspended by the lunar pantomime. After about two hours the corpse had been removed to a mortuary for closer examination and analysis. The circumstances were indeed suspicious. The body had been buried slightly across the boundary between Warners and where the old Fosse Bank School for Girls had stood. It was buried on a diagonal to the plot about two to three feet down with the feet slightly higher than the head. There were no marks of disease or violence on the bones. It later transpired that it was the body of a female, about 14 years old, and she had been dead for at least 150 years. Thus if any foul play had been involved the perpetrator was also long gone. She was reburied in more suitable circumstances.
Naturally with a building the age of 180 High Street there is always talk of ghosts as an amusement. Indeed tales of gentleman ghosts abound although highly discouraged by the partnership. As there is no proof of the existence of ghosts any tales have no merit being recorded in an historical chronology. However, if they did exist then it would surely be the spirit of this unfortunate girl whose life ended so abruptly at such a young age.
Acts of God and “business as usual”
In 1921 the Public Hall next door was converted into a cinema. On 28 December 1926, it caught alight and was gutted spewing hot ash all over 180 High Street and threatening to burn it to the ground. Fortunately, the fire station was situated close by in Bank Street and managed to save the fabric of the cinema and a last minute change in wind direction meant that 180 High Street was safe.
At the beginning of the 20th century our neighbours were Fosse Bank School for Girls. The grounds to the rear of the premises were extensive and included, at the bottom near the Fosse itself, an ornamental pond, supplied by a natural water spring, surrounded by trees. The School is, of course, long gone but the trees and the pond from the garden remained until about 1985.
Shortly after completion of the last extension to the building and after a particularly trying morning of stormy weather, one of the trees took it upon itself to fall loudly and neatly on roof of Warners. This produced an impressive hairline crack in the ceiling plaster from the rear wall to the top of the back stairs, but more than this created an uneasy feeling of wondering when the remaining trees might fall down as they creaked and groaned in the wind.
As it turned out, this was the least of our worries in the years to come. In October 1987 the “Hurricane” came. Those of us who made it to work, the morning after the night before, had to pick their way through the debris in the front garden to reach the door. The building was rendered useless for it lacked all the basic modern amenities like electricity or telephones. These were the days before computers. As the day wore on it became clear that services would not be restored but we persevered until the end of the day.
The “hurricane” heralded the start of the “windy years”. During this period our Capitol neighbour failed to properly maintain the roof of their premises and in January 1990 one roar of the wind enabled the larger part of their roof to become deposited on Warners’ front garden. A sign was prudently affixed to the gate to urge visitors to “look up” as more pieces of roof fluttered to the floor like black confetti arriving with a thud. Our sign caught the attention of the local TV news that evening.
For several years pieces of our neighbour’s roof fell off here, there and everywhere.
The state of the building next door had been a concern for some while and we probably would have had something pertinent to say had it not been burnt to a cinder in 1997 once more nearly catching Warners alight in the process. Ironically, they were repairing their roof when the bitumen caught fire. Fortunately, both buildings were mostly empty as it was the end of the working day. The quick thinking action of the firemen soaking our roof with gallons of water saved Warners to trade another day. The morning after the fire most of the staff turned up in “civvies” with mops and buckets in hand ready to clear up any damage caused by water ingress but they were relieved to find the building dry and intact so business as usual.
Jenny Saggers
During excavation works from 2001 to 2003 in the area close to 180 High Street the remains of a medieval building fronting onto the High Street and dating from circa AD 1200 was discovered. To the west to the rear of the properties evidence was found for waste disposal in the 12th – 13th century AD, as well as for medieval industrial activity, including evidence for iron-working in the form of slag, hammerscale and hearth bases. One unusual find was the burial of an un-butchered pig in a box. None of the box survived, but there was a trace of iron nails (rusty streaks) around the edge.
Structural remains dating to the post-medieval period included a 17th-century cobbled surface and building or plot boundary walls in brick and stone, whilst the area to the west continued to be used for waste disposal in rubbish pits. Some 18th-century structures continued in use or occupation until the construction of the public hall in 1873.
In 1739 John Hooker bought Tonbridge Castle and immediately started to dismantle it and sell the stone to build river bridges. During this time it is probable that he also begins to sell off plots still entailed to the Castle. The Lord’s Garden remained a single plot until about 1740 when it was split into two. Dr. Francis Austen, attorney of Sevenoaks, possessed the northern half and built Fosse Bank House.
The southern half passed into the hands of the Woodgate family.
Ann Woodgate was a spinster and sister to the Reverend Francis Woodgate of Mountfield. When she died she left the property by Kentish Gavelkind to her three nephews. Two of the brothers then signed over their interest in the land to their brother Stephen Woodgate, son of Francis and brother of William Woodgate of Somerhill. Thomas Hooker, son of John Hooker, had begun to build a handsome stone mansion residence adjoining the Castle in 1793. However, one year before its completion he sold the whole estate to William Woodgate of Somerhill who had married his sister Frances.
In 1780 Francis Austen sold the northern half of Lords Garden to Thomas Hooker as trustee for his father John Hooker. Thomas in turn immediately transferred the property into the hands of Henry Austen, nephew of Francis Austen, who had married Thomas Hooker’s sister Mary.
Henry Austen
The Austen family were from the Weald and involved in the cloth trade at the Broadford estate in Horsmonden. John Austen married Elizabeth Weller in 1693 at Tonbridge. The Wellers were a Tonbridge family whose origins dated from the Civil War. As a child Elizabeth lived at Chauntlers, a substantial house in Bordyke now divided and renamed as The Priory and The Red House. John and Elizabeth had seven children before John died unexpectedly eleven years later, leaving Elizabeth with considerable debts. As a widow and single parent with little financial support she took employment as housekeeper to the headmaster of Sevenoaks School, enabling her sons to be educated there free of charge. Naturally as she was a lady from Tonbridge she would have preferred a post at Tonbridge School but there were no vacancies as the headmaster there was married.
Two of John and Elizabeth’s sons came to live in Tonbridge:
·
- Thomas, the third son, became an apothecary, and lived with his wife and son in a house of mediaeval origin in the upper High Street, now restored as known as Blair House. This is number 186 and is situated next door to the property that was once Fosse Bank House (numbers 182-184) and is now a modern office block
- Thomas’ younger brother William became a surgeon and lived at number 174 High Street latterly known as Bonner’s furniture store before becoming engulfed in the 1997 fire. William Austen’s only son was George Austen born in Tonbridge in 1731. William died when his son was only six years of age. George became an orphan as his mother had predeceased William. George was educated at Tonbridge School at the expense of his great-uncle Francis of Sevenoaks. After going to Oxford George returned to Tonbridge School for a few years as Second Master or “Usher”. He then returned to Oxford as chaplain and junior proctor, before becoming rector of Steventon in Hampshire. He married in 1764 and he and his wife had eight children of whom Jane Austen the novelist was the seventh
Henry Austen was the son of Thomas Austen (mentioned above) and was a cousin of Jane's father George. Born in 1726, Henry was also educated at Tonbridge School a few years earlier than George. Henry graduated from Cambridge and took holy orders and, through the auspices of his Uncle Francis became the curate at Shipbourne, Chiddingstone and eventually Steventon in 1759. Unlike his cousin, Henry never moved to Hampshire but remained in Kent.
Since he seemed unwilling to move to Hampshire his uncle intervened once more and secured the living at West Wickham from 1761. Henry married Mary Hooker in Tonbridge on 4 August 1763. She was the daughter of John Hooker, Lord of the Manor of Tonbridge and owner of Tonbridge Castle. There were three children of the family, two daughters and one son Edgar Francis Austen (known by his cousin Jane as “Frank of Tonbridge”). During Henry’s tenancy at West Wickham he caused controversy by adopting strong Unitarian views which eventually ended his career in the clergy in 1780. Henry sold Fosse Bank House or “The Bank” as it was then known to George Lingard on 29 March 1800 as it was a substantial property and as all his children had now left to continue their lives elsewhere Henry and his wife Mary decided to “downsize” and leased the neighbouring house, 180 High Street.
George Lingard died in 1843 leaving The Bank to his wife Sarah. Sarah only survived her husband for one month and her nephew Richard Bathurst of Sittingbourne inherited the property. The property was superfluous to his requirements and so by the end of 1844, Richard Bathurst had sold The Bank to William Gorham. On 1 March 1877, William mortgaged The Bank for £1,900 in order to purchase the property next door to use as office premises. Even though Fosse Bank House was large it must have been difficult to accommodate a solicitors’ office with a home environment. After William’s death in 1881, Mary Gorham left Fosse Bank House and went to live at 172 High Street with her daughter Caroline. Fosse Bank House remained unoccupied until 21 July 1892 when it was leased to Charles Benjamin and Babette Vetterli King 197 who started the Tonbridge Ladies College intended for sisters of pupils at Tonbridge School.
If Jane Austen ever visited Tonbridge it is highly likely that she would have stayed with Henry and his family.
Stephen Woodgate
In 1792, Stephen Woodgate of Fawke of Seal, an attorney, inherited two houses in Tonbridge High Street from his aunt, Ann Woodgate, who died in intestate. One of these properties was 180 High Street. On 8 February 1793, Stephen Woodgate released the property into the hands of John Wells of Nettlestead.
In 1767, Stephen Woodgate was articled as a solicitor, and living with his sister Mary and her husband John Acton at Shire Lane, London together with his brother Henry Woodgate, who was later to become a barrister. Before setting up in business on his own account Stephen Woodgate was engaged with a firm of solicitors in London although it appeared his expenses far out ran his salary. Boarding with his sister and her husband was beneath his proper station in life according to his new colleagues. His brother-in-law, John Acton, obviously felt slighted by this remark as he mentioned the matter in a letter dated 29 March 1768 to his father-in-law Rev. Francis Woodgate of Mountfield.
Stephen Woodgate was sworn and enrolled as an Attorney of the Queens Bench before Lord Mansfield on 30 April 1768 whilst still living with his sister. Stephen’s brother Henry became Private Secretary to Lord Mansfield who at the time was the Lord Chancellor. Henry was certainly much in presence at the courts although this is possibly because of his position rather than practising as a Barrister. Henry made his home at Riverhill House, Sevenoaks.
In 1792, the excesses of the French Revolution caused great panic in England. In order to calm the nerves of the population meetings were held up and down the country to pass resolutions of allegiance to the constitution and the Crown. By 1794, Volunteer Corps were forming all over the country. In Kent a subscription was opened and Stephen and was appointed with Mr. John Fellowes Claridge (Deputy Clerk of the Peace and Attorney at Law and partner of Dr. Francis Austen II), to receive the subscriptions. Stephen donated £21 for the cause as he was made an officer in the Volunteers and was present when the King reviewed the troops at the Mote (Ightham Mote). At Sevenoaks there were 44 signatories, all men of good standing and consequence.
Stephen Woodgate died on 1 June 1811 at his house at Fawke in Seal after a long illness aged 66 years. Henry Austen’s lease of 180 High Street continued until his death in 1807. Thereafter John Wells moved into the property as his main residence.
The Wells, Allan and Brain Families
John Wells died in 1821 without issue and left 180 High Street by Will to his niece Mary Allen, wife of John Allen formerly of East Peckham. John Allen and Mary Wells were cousins, John being the son of John Allen and Juliana Wells and a nephew to John Wells with his wife Mary being the daughter of John Stone and Mary Wells.
John and Mary Allen also died without issue and the Probate of the Will of Mary Allen left the greater part of her estate to her brothers Robert and John Stone. She also left bequests for her sisters Elizabeth Stone, Ann Brain and her nephew John Brain.
Robert and John Stone released the property to Robert’s daughter Sarah Stone in 1822. Sarah’s husband, her cousin, John Brain was a grocer from Wrotham and he left her a widow in 1859 and alone in the property. By the census of 1861, she had the company of her sisters Elizabeth, Juliana, her brother Henry and his wife Eliza, and their children Robert, Juliana, David and Henry together with her nephew Robert Luck aged 19 a sailor and a niece Elizabeth W. Luck both born in Nettlestead. By 1871, the household had dwindled to her sisters Elizabeth, Juliana, nephew Henry Stone and niece Ann Luck, a dressmaker by trade and sister to Robert and Elizabeth above.
In 1873, Sarah Brain contracted to sell to the Committee of the Public Hall Company the property occupied by Richard Corke next door, plus a wood lodge, closet and yard with a strip of garden, in order to give the Public Hall a side access way and for the Public Hall Company to build a new boundary wall.
After Sarah’s death in 1876 her trustee, nephew John Stone sold 180 High Street to William Gorham at the price of £1,900. After this transaction, the building was used as solicitors’ offices with caretaker tenants living in.
Solicitor’s office
Around 1905 the building was remodelled to provide for larger windows to the two front first floor offices and provide a clerk’s office in the centre. The windows were enlarged to provide more light and the front door was extended in width to provide a grander entrance. The new frontage also provided a new cellar beneath used to store old letters books, manuscripts and boxes. Eventually, new Law Society rules required old files to be kept in store rooms and original deeds and documents to be kept in a strongroom or safe. An extension at the rear provided a bijou courtroom with an even smaller outer office. The outer office is still part of the building and the coat pegs encircling the room were still visible on the day we vacated. The old wine cellar was converted into a strongroom with a heavy metalled fire proof door to protect the contents. The centre gable retained its original glass and a flagpole was erected to fly the flag on high days and holidays. A selection of appropriate flags sat in a chest on the landing with a set of map drawers containing often hand drawn maps used for assessing estates and lands of clients before the days of registration. There was also a cupboard in the attic containing all the papers from the days when Warners was in charge of the Tonbridge Turnpike Trust including, nailed to the back of one door, a sheet detailing the tolls charged to use Hadlow Road.
A body in the basement
In 1986 the staff had spent their last summer lunch times on deckchairs in the garden of 180 High Street. Warners, like a well cared for child, was growing and growing and needed more space to continue this trend. In view of this it was decided to build a further extension to the premises and use up what little remained of the garden. The builders duly arrived, pick and shovel in hand, and began the footings. If this had been a TV detective series the next part of the story would have been anticipated. The builders, on the other hand, were more than put out to discover a skull in their trench!
Much ado then ensured as Police detectives arrived to examine the corpse. Lots of forensic types wandered around in white moon suits poking this and that for clues accompanied by much head shaking and pencil chewing. The staff watched from the windows in fascination, work all but suspended by the lunar pantomime. After about two hours the corpse had been removed to a mortuary for closer examination and analysis. The circumstances were indeed suspicious. The body had been buried slightly across the boundary between Warners and where the old Fosse Bank School for Girls had stood. It was buried on a diagonal to the plot about two to three feet down with the feet slightly higher than the head. There were no marks of disease or violence on the bones. It later transpired that it was the body of a female, about 14 years old, and she had been dead for at least 150 years. Thus if any foul play had been involved the perpetrator was also long gone. She was reburied in more suitable circumstances.
Naturally with a building the age of 180 High Street there is always talk of ghosts as an amusement. Indeed tales of gentleman ghosts abound although highly discouraged by the partnership. As there is no proof of the existence of ghosts any tales have no merit being recorded in an historical chronology. However, if they did exist then it would surely be the spirit of this unfortunate girl whose life ended so abruptly at such a young age.
Acts of God and “business as usual”
In 1921 the Public Hall next door was converted into a cinema. On 28 December 1926, it caught alight and was gutted spewing hot ash all over 180 High Street and threatening to burn it to the ground. Fortunately, the fire station was situated close by in Bank Street and managed to save the fabric of the cinema and a last minute change in wind direction meant that 180 High Street was safe.
At the beginning of the 20th century our neighbours were Fosse Bank School for Girls. The grounds to the rear of the premises were extensive and included, at the bottom near the Fosse itself, an ornamental pond, supplied by a natural water spring, surrounded by trees. The School is, of course, long gone but the trees and the pond from the garden remained until about 1985.
Shortly after completion of the last extension to the building and after a particularly trying morning of stormy weather, one of the trees took it upon itself to fall loudly and neatly on roof of Warners. This produced an impressive hairline crack in the ceiling plaster from the rear wall to the top of the back stairs, but more than this created an uneasy feeling of wondering when the remaining trees might fall down as they creaked and groaned in the wind.
As it turned out, this was the least of our worries in the years to come. In October 1987 the “Hurricane” came. Those of us who made it to work, the morning after the night before, had to pick their way through the debris in the front garden to reach the door. The building was rendered useless for it lacked all the basic modern amenities like electricity or telephones. These were the days before computers. As the day wore on it became clear that services would not be restored but we persevered until the end of the day.
The “hurricane” heralded the start of the “windy years”. During this period our Capitol neighbour failed to properly maintain the roof of their premises and in January 1990 one roar of the wind enabled the larger part of their roof to become deposited on Warners’ front garden. A sign was prudently affixed to the gate to urge visitors to “look up” as more pieces of roof fluttered to the floor like black confetti arriving with a thud. Our sign caught the attention of the local TV news that evening.
For several years pieces of our neighbour’s roof fell off here, there and everywhere.
The state of the building next door had been a concern for some while and we probably would have had something pertinent to say had it not been burnt to a cinder in 1997 once more nearly catching Warners alight in the process. Ironically, they were repairing their roof when the bitumen caught fire. Fortunately, both buildings were mostly empty as it was the end of the working day. The quick thinking action of the firemen soaking our roof with gallons of water saved Warners to trade another day. The morning after the fire most of the staff turned up in “civvies” with mops and buckets in hand ready to clear up any damage caused by water ingress but they were relieved to find the building dry and intact so business as usual.
Jenny Saggers