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1901 RESIDENTS & SHOPS IN THE CENTRE OF MINEHEAD | |||||
Nowadays there are charity shops, estate agents and commercial premises which have taken over the central area of the town. However, in 1901 we should start with Mineheads best known landmark - The iconic Plume of Feathers Hotel, |
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Many people will remember Henry Woods shop and workshops on the corner site where W.H.Smith is now. Back in 1900 the premises was owned and occupied by a William Tarr, aged 43, Ironmonger born Roadwater and his wife Lily, 37 born Dunster. They had seven children all born in Minehead; William 16, Percival 13, Gwendoline 13, John 12, Nina 16, Vera 7, and Irene 7mts. Also living there were the mother-in-law, 62yr old widow, Eliza A Eames born on the Isle of Wight. They had 4 servants: Bessie Binning 24 born Cheddar, Maud Langsford 25 was the housekeeper, born Cornwall, Emily Norman 18 was the cook born Exford and Rose Cane, 17, was the housemaid, born Alcombe. |
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He was joined later by Mr. Andrews who came from the same district and on Mr.Woods death, Mr. Andrews carried on the business until it finally closed in 1976. Henry Woods Removal Company and buildings in Alexandra road and Irnham road were bought and taken over in 1976 by Ian & Daphne McCutcheon’s company - Macs removals & Storage Internationa, and the shop was bought by W.H.Smith. The building in Bancks street that used to be the cozy cinema and then Henry Woods secondhand shop was converted into flats. When Clarks shoe factory closed a small band of ex employees set up the shoe cooperative and rented the long building in Alexandra Road, shown in the middle picture on the second row from Macs Removals. They called their business, the Unicorn shoe co-operative. After about five years they bought the building in North Road that used to be Webbers stables and set up business there. In 1992 the buildings in Alexandra road were sold and converted into flats. |
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One of the lorrys owned by MACS Removals |
Alexandra funiture stores & secondhand shop |
Conversion into flats |
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By 1910 William Tarrs shop was located in Wellington Square. Hartgen’s butcher’s shop was occupied by a Mr. George Brown, butcher. He moved to No.1 Holloway Street when the shop adjoining the Old Plume of Feathers premises, was built. This was later acquired by Mr. Eli Harding, just before the First World War. Mr. Walter Holloway owned the next shop, a drapery emporium, later part of the International Stores, and now Boots. |
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A Mr. Robert Hunt, 56, grocer, owned and occupied the next shop, with his wife Elizabeth 54 and son, Walter 24 all born in Williton. They had a domestic servant names Sarah P Waggett from Glamorgan, she was only 13. |
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He Capron also captained the local fire brigade, equipped with an old hand-pump engine. Mr. John Croote (who was also a plumber and had workshops and a shop at the top of Bancks Street ) followed him for a number of years as fire brigade captain; and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. Ted Capron until the fire service became a national organization, when his son Fred took over. Fred became chief fire officer of one of the Midland counties and held a high position in the service. |
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On the corner of Bancks street was George Hayward aged 50, a wine merchant born in Ashpriors. He was originally a bank manager in Bruton, then transferred to Stuckeys bank on the opposite corner of Bancks street but resigned on 7th July 1888 and went into partnership with John Batting who had started the wine business in Minehead after being in the trade in Exeter. John was born in 1851 but died 2nd qt of 1889, about a year after going into partnership with George Hayward. He left a wife and 2 children. George’s wife Mary Jane 45 born in Pitminster and their sons Frank aged 22, Cecil 15, Arthur 9, and daughter Edith 20 who had a fine voice, and was much in demand at local concerts. Also living with them was Helen Edwards, 31, a governess born Spaxton and Annie Hurford 21 born Bampton who was the domestic servant. Mary E Westcott, 27 was a barmaid born in Thorverton. |
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Next came a block of properties, originally one building but since divided into three shops. In the early 1900s this was no.4 the Parade, a glass and china shop owned by Mr. George Tarr, a local character, who apparently spent a lot of time standing on the steps leading up to his front entrance. His well-bearded and corpulent figure was a familiar landmark, which disappeared regularly about mid-morning into the Feathers Hotel. George Tarr age 53 Glass and china merchant born Kingsbrompton, Somerset and his wife Rosa 55 born in Treborough. May Triggol age 21 was the shop assistant born Minehead and Eva Winter was the 18yr old cook born Carhampton. Bessie Nethercott was the 17yr old housemaid born in Old Cleeve. There was a Chemists shop between here and Floyds, but earlier it had been a superior tailoring establishment, a branch of a Bristol firm named Popperwell, which sported an elaborate coat of arms on its window, ‘By appointment to the Duke of Beaufort’. At first, the shop, like many others, was dark and lit only by candles. Customers carried the goods to the door to examine them in the daylight. Later gas lighting was installed. Primarily a draper, Floyds in 1889 supplied a wide range of goods from mop caps and Champion corsets to velvets, faille, damask and calico. The business continued to expand and the premises were extended to include shops in both Friday street and the Parade. You paid at the counter and the money was put in a metal cylinder which was put into a pipe that took it to the main office where the money was removed and any change due sent back to the appropriate counter.
Across the road on the corner, now a bookshop, was a whitewashed house with a sweet shop on the ground floor, and a guesthouse, known as Seaview, occupying the remainder. It was entered at the side and had a small lawned garden. In 1910 Seaview was a Private Hotel with Fred Stevens as the proprietor.
Minehead Hospital was built in 1888 which was then opposite the tannery. It was originally designed as the Town Hall with a concert hall on the first floor which would seat 200 people. It had been the centre of community life in the town with concerts, dances, flower shows, bazaars, etc. The building was later taken over by the council who used the ground floor as offices. Part of the premise also served as a bank, probably the West Somerset Bank, later absorbed by Lloyds. However in 1914, at the outbreak of the first World War, the building was taken over as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) hospital. It never reverted to its original purpose and replaced the outgrown hospital that was at Dunster. It now lies empty awaiting its next incarnation.
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