1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow St Peter's Street

 

I am gradually transcribing the original 1833 handwritten parochial assessment working notebooks of the assessors which my family own along with related correspondence. The purpose of the assessment was to calculate local taxes for 1834. The books were updated with additions and corrections up to circa 1839. Any such updates are highlighted in my transcription.

Format of my transcription:

Name

Property occupied

Annual value of each property

Any comments or research by me in square brackets

By Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. Use this information if you wish but please credit this blog.

Duck Lane [Also called St Peter's Street which is it's modern name, sometimes in the past called Old Bridge Street too. The name St Peter's does NOT derive from the church as this was not built until the 1840s. The name St Peter's Street was used alongside Duck Lane much earlier]

Thomas Clinkenbury 

House and garden

£5

*****

Timothy Chance [two men of this name headed households in this street. The other in a smaller cottage was a bargeman.]

House and garden

£5

*****

Richard Oxlade

The Blue Banner house [Pub, premises there till at least 1862 before becoming a house. This was very close to the River Thames and the water's edge. There was another pub of this name in Marlow in Henley Road later in the 1800s] and yard.

£8

*****

Christopher Copas

House and Garden

£5

*****

Aaron Oxlade [shopkeeper aged about 67. In St Peter's Street by 1830 when Pigotts Directory lists him. He had married Mary Truss at High Wycombe in 1800. She took over the shop after his death. She was specifically a grocer, Aaron just "shopkeeper". The shop was later licensed to sell beer as well. The Richard of the Blue Banner above was their son]

House and garden

£6

*****

Samuel Barnes [He owned this and other property in the street which was all sold 1850 after his death. His friend Richard Gibbons below was one of his will executors].

House, yard, garden, stable and lofts

£20

Malthouse

£15

*****

Thomas Gibbons [he was a coal merchant. Brother of Richard below]

House, yard, garden, stable and chaise house

£20

Orchard

£5

Wharf at Bankside

£15

*****

Richard Bye [Had recently moved from Abbey Farm Little Marlow. He moved again by 1841. He married the year of the assessment Mary Hewett, by her first marriage Mary Hawkins, some years his junior but she left him two years later. More on this couple in a post here. Mary's first husband had also run the Two Brewers in his time].

Two Brewers house [pub], yard, stables and garden

£12

*****

Samuel Carter

House yard and garden 

£9

******

John Shanks [journeyman blacksmith. In 1833 a court case to get back his alleged ancestral property Finnemoor, a farm near Marlow from Joseph Townsend failed. 1841 blacksmith Church Passage. 1851 blacksmith St Peter's street, 1861 St Peter's Street Blue Banner]

Cottage and garden

£3 10 shillings

*****

George Easley

Cottage and garden

£2 10 shillings

*****

John ?Fusten

House ["and garden" crossed out and "woodhouse" added later]

£6

*****

Thomas Gardener [a market gardener]

Cottage [the words "and garden" later crossed out]

£5

Garden [not attached to his cottage, further down the assessment]

£4

*****

George Newbery [Tailor. Still in street 1841 when aged about 75]

Cottage

£4

*****

William Coleshill [died prematurely in 1837. Widow Martha continued to live in St Peter's Street]

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Richard Heath [labourer, in street since at least 1823]

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Richard Gibbons [had a small brewery and also made rope. Sent to Newgate Prison in 1842 after giving false evidence to an inquiry into one of Marlow's many dodgy parliamentary elections. Brother of Thomas above. The property occupied here was inherited from their dad. Richard later rented Samuel Barnes' malthouse listed above as well. Richard was a friend of Samuel's and one of the executors of his will].

House, garden, mill house, counting house, yard, stables, lofts, store rooms, large yard, store house, brewhouse with malt lofts etc

£35

*****

The following people occupied cottages with an annual value of £3 each:

James Downing [labourer. Still in street in same cottage 1841]

John White [bargeman, see below for another John White]

Timothy Chance [2nd person of that name in Street. This one was a bargeman, wife Ann who continued to live in the Street in the 1840s]

Widow Neighbour

Widow Moore [Jane Moore widow of John Moore bargeman who died 1814]

Robert Corby [painter?]

William Lewington [on 1841 census he was said to live in "Mill Yard"]

George Hawes [labourer]

Joseph Gimmet

James Harding

Henry Clark

*****

Occupying cottages each with an annual value of £2 10 shillings:

George Collins

John Hawes

*****

Each occupying a cottage and garden with an annual value of £4:

Widow Butler x2 [could be an accidental repetition of an entry or two Widows Butler occupying identically valued property]

*****

Each occupying a cottage with an annual value of £4:

Henry Clark

Robert Oxlade [probably the shoemaker of this name]

*****

Each occupying a house and garden with £5 annual value:

William Croxen [usually spelt Croxon]

John White [seems to have started as a bargeman but became a beerseller here by 1838 until at least 1852. Wife Eliza. Cottage no longer exists. Name of his beer house is currently unknown. Note that there was a different John White, also a bargeman in St Peter's Street at the same time, see above].

Elizabeth White [the first name originally left blank, name Elizabeth added later in pencil]

*****

Occupying cottage and garden with an annual value of £4 10 shillings:

Samuel Hobbs [Later at the two Brewers]

*****

Cottage with annual value of £1 10 shillings [an exceptionally small value. This must have been a one room hovel]:

Ann Clark [lacemaker]

*****

Robert Gudgeon [also occurs as Gudgin. He worked in the paper mills. His wife Charlotte's grave is here. In 1843 he lived in St Peter's Street in a rented "newly built" stone house erected a few months earlier so he had moved within St Peter's Street]

House and garden

£5

*****

Late Bradshaw [no first name]

House, lawn, stables, yard, coach house, large garden and orchard

£25 [In 1837 a Mr Bradshaw a poor man of Duck Lane, that being an alternative name for St Peters Street, suffered a terrible fire at his cottage that left it completely destroyed. He was much burned when rescuing his children from the blaze. The family lost all their possessions. Two neighbouring cottages were badly damaged. This must be a different Bradshaw as the man called Bradshaw in the assessment above is far from poor if in a £25 house. This earlier Bradshaw he has either died or moved from St Peters Street in 1833, 4 years before the fire, as his recorded occupation is as "late Bradshaw", though the two Bradshaw men may be related] 

*****

John Morgan [draper, premises High Street. More here]

House, yard, offices

£10

*****

Ann Bond [widow. For more on her, her husband and an odd burglary Ann suffered in this house see here]

House, yard, garden

£25

Coach house belonging to Badger

10 shillings

*****

Martha Badger [likely widow of William]

Cottage and large garden

£5 10 shillings

*****

John Badger

House and garden

£4

*****

James Brown

Cottage and garden

£6

*****

Brown [no first name]

House and garden

£7 10 shillings

*****

Robert Jonathan Oxlade [in 1813 a man of this name was a shoemaker. Son of Robert Jonathan Oxlade senior who sold up his business -of an unknown nature but he owned a malthouse- and left Marlow in 1787. Obviously Robert junior had decided to return to the town]

House and two gardens

£9

*****

William Davis [could be the man of this name who was a Marlow beer seller in 1831, though presumably now of different trade as his premises are not noted as a beer shop or inn]

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

George Davis

Cottage and garden

£5

*****

John Collins

Cottage and garden

£5

*****

Thomas Frith

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Transcribed and researched by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors.

James Haynes - Boatbuilder & Thief Catcher

 

James Hayne(s) was born in Marlow in the first few years of the 1800s. Perhaps not as famous as the late Victorian boat builders of Marlow and Bisham, he deserves a post of his own because of the many roles he played here - from preserving law and order, to preserving Marlow Bridge. 

As a young man James followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a carpenter. His dwelling house and work premises were in the High Street and Causeway at this point. In 1828 the workshop is described as located 200 yards from his home and were also separate in 1833. In any event, in 1828 a thief broke through the shutters of the workshop and stole a saw and an axe from James. This kind of theft was taken very seriously at the time as depriving a workman of his tools of the trade could too easily lead to him loosing the means to provide for himself. James was lucky in that the tools were recovered and the thief caught. The young man responsible, John Green, was an apprentice to another carpenter. It was James himself that recovered the tools, after he received something of a tip off. They had been hidden under some wood shavings in a loft. The judge expressed a regret that John had begun "a career of crime at a very early period in life" which seems perhaps a little strong given it was a first offence and he had previously borne a good character. Luckily for John, his master was willing to keep him on and spoke of his general steadiness. The judge therefore decided to be merciful and sentenced him to 2 months in prison. 

James did well in his carpentry business and seems to have been well regarded by his fellow traders. By 1833 he was working from a workshop and yard "at the wharf" with a residence in the High Street, still officially a carpenter. There were many buildings at the wharf, some quite ramshackle, that this could have been, used for all kinds of purposes over the years. 

James worked on Marlow's new suspension bridge and like so many others involved had to put in a few requests to actually get paid. This would be the start of a long involvement with the bridge. He was regarded as someone who could get things done, so it is no surprise he also later fulfilled the then elected role of parish surveyor. But the biggest role for James was as one of the parish constable in the days before a regular paid police force. If a warrant was issued for someone's arrest, James and his colleagues were supposed to stop their day jobs and execute it without delay. If they failed to do so without sufficient energy, they could themselves end up in court for neglect of duty. They also had to fit in routine patrols. James fulfilled the role for at least 10 years in the 1830s and early 1840s. He was required to follow up leads as regards to suspects or locating stolen goods, such as the parasol he found hidden in a water storage tank in the yard of Bond the builders in 1843 (not stolen by a Bond!) His finest hour was probably policing Marlow Fair in the same year. His patrols with fellow constables Henry Stallwood and Steadman Camden (biographical post about Steadman here) were completed with such a sharp eye and energy that not a single robbery was reported, despite the massive influx of visitors. 

It was not all hard work for James at this time. He was a regular participants in the charming Sunny Side v Shady Side of the High Street cricket matches which ran for several annual contests in the 1840s and 50s. It was usually played at the Aldermary - that is the meadow more or less where Marlow Cricket Club is now to be found off Pound Lane. So which side was the sunny one? The West Street / Higginson Park side. The Shady, Liston Court / Station Road side had the best level of success and was the one that James played for. It attracted a good crowd, no doubt including wife Elizabeth (nee Osborn) and their several children. One of these, Caroline, would go on to marry Robert Shaw, son of "King of the River" Robert Shaw, of boatbuilding fame. 

A little after this time, James begins to be more consistently described as located at the Causeway or "Bridge House" (of which there have been more than one in Marlow) and eventually his former home was taken over by Sellmans plumbers and painters. James also begins to be described as a boat builder at this time. He chose this occupation when filling his census return in 1851. He may well have always had a side line in repairing or maintaining boats but the hiring of them for leisure purposes was exploding in popularity at this time. Marlow was becoming more and more of a fashionable destination for visiting anglers from London and elsewhere - it's easy to underestimate just what a role tourism played in Marlow's past even at this period. See below for some linked posts about this. At some point James began to use what was known as the old tithe barn by the suspension bridge* as part of his business, or at least he used part of the area. It seems he may have shared usage of the actual barn building itself, apparently with a wheelwright at some point. (In 1872 the barn was let by the new Buckinghamshire Chair Co as a temporary workshop, although they were still there several years later)  James sold second hand boats and fishing punts as well as making his own river craft to a customer's specifications. It seems he specialised in punts in fact. He would also hire you a boat, house yours out of season, or do routine maintenance such as varnishing the timbers. The Marlow Amateur Rowing Club which started in 1871, used Haynes as their boathouse too, before they had their own premises. 

Next to James at the riverside was of course the suspension bridge. The story of its construction was frankly a tale of misery, and you can read about it in the posts linked to below.  James must have been only too aware that before the bridge was very old, it needed quite a bit of maintenance. He was Clerk of the Works for the repairs done in 1860 - facing some difficulty due to the reluctance of some to stop attempting to use the bridge while it was worked on. The surveyor assessing this work asked James to provide a boat so he could take a good examination of its state from the water. Finding one suitable proved difficult it seems. When the surveyor was taken ill, James was asked to make a report on the bridges condition himself. But the work was nevertheless completed on schedule. (The deal platform was replaced at "considerable expense" but by 1869 dry rot had set in and more work was needed.) By 1863 James was Surveyor of Bridges for the district, and under his care the bridge was repainted and repaired further. He was responsible for gathering tenders for this work. 

In 1866 James was one of a number of local men that testified before a parliamentary committee on improving the condition of the Thames. He made it very clear that he regarded the existing Thames Navigation Commissioners should all be sacked for incompetence. He claimed they had neglected to do routine maintenance on the river for many years and so had made it less appealing for those who wanted to use the river for commercial transportation of goods. While the rival attractions of the railway he acknowledged, he considered that the Commissioners had done nothing to make the river stand up against the competition. Instead James said the Commissioners had bought shares in the Railway and effectively given up!  I find his information concerning the river at the time Marlow had a flash lock the most interesting. He said the flash (surge of water) was made twice a week in those days, and this required the "draining" of the river for 4 miles (not literally drained dry of course!) so in "short water time" there was "no water" for days together - that is the water level was comparatively very shallow. 

By 1865, the business was known as James Haynes and Son(s) and its location was "Marlow Bridge". The eldest son Joseph James, who initially worked as a carpenter, sadly died aged just 32. It was less than a year after his marriage to Mary Poulton of Ferry House, Cookham. James himself would not live much longer. In May 1879, he passed away at Marlow. Wife Elizabeth survived until 1883, living in her later years in the High Street with son George and unmarried daughter Ann. George defined himself as a boat builder on the 1881 census, but it seems the business under the name of Haynes was largely over. Robert Shaw, mentioned above, would take over the site.  Eventually he would build a fancier boathouse by the bridge, the "tithe barn" having been demolished "recently" in November 1877, to make way for a never built hotel that faced strong local opposition. James was to quote one contemporary guide to the Thames, "a grand character" and I'm sure he was sorely missed by the boat men of Marlow. 

*This building was where Tierney Court is now. It was known at that time as the tithe or conventual barn but this was not probably its actual purpose. It's the "curious old building" that James Joseph Sheahan described in his History and Topography of Buckinghamshire. He was correct to describe how it was generally referred to by the locals (as there are a number of sources using this title before he did) but I have a suspicion that he got his information about the Marlow building confused with the tithe barn at Bisham. He described the roof of the Marlow barn as Spanish chestnut, which it was not, but the Bisham one was according to several earlier sources.  Both were also used to house Napoleonic war prisoners. I wonder if Sheahan might not have poached his description of the Marlow barn from the 1860 John Murray Handbook for Travellers in Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire. (John Murray, 1860) in which the description "curious old building"  is also used. That book goes on to describe the "monastic barn of Bisham abbey in which French prisoners were kept during the war" and also mentions that the "conventual barn" at Bisham has a roof of Spanish chestnut. So possibly Sheahan confused the two if he helped himself to a little reused information!? 

 Owner of the "barn" at its demolition (autumn 1877) was Owen Williams who seemed confident his hotel plan would go forward. He had apparently got as far as inviting tenders for its erection. However, this was premature and in the end Mr Williams sold the site to "Mr Burt" for the creation of a 50 bed hotel with stabling for 20 horses, a  coffee room and 100ft long covered balcony. The authorities scuppered this plan by making it clear that they would refuse the alcohol licence on the grounds that there were too many others suppliers of liquor in the area. The real reason was probably the objection of existing traders to such competition, in particular that voiced by Charles Miller Foottit of the Compleat Angler who had recently invested in improving his own premises! At this point the barn had descended into a place that tramps and the destitute sort shelter. It was described as dilapidated but also a picturesque feature of the river side and there were clearly many who did not want it to disappear but to no avail. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

More related Posts:

To find all mention of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

James' daughter Eliza features in a post here

The amateur who built a barge in his back garden, 1860s here

Life for the parish constables of Great Marlow here

Robert Shaw - here

Marlow Fair here

The troubled building of the Suspension Bridge here

1820s recreated trade directory Great Marlow here

Bellows, bricks and brandy - reviving the drowned here

Picnics and Punts- Summer leisure in late Victorian and Edwardian Marlow here

Biography of Charles Miller Foottit of the Compleat Angler here

The Bucks Chair Co here

SOURCES INCLUDE:

1833 Parish Assessment, original copies held by us. 

Census 1841,51,61,71, 81 - transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte and Jane Pullinger. 

Harrods Directory 1847, J G Harrod & Co. 

Slater's Royal and Commercial Directory 1852

Thames Navigation Improvement Commission, (1866) Parliamentary Papers Vol 33, Great Britain Houses of Parliament. 

The Architect, April 17 1869, digitised by Google. 

Reading Mercury, 6 April 1839, 24 April 1858

Oxford Journal 26 April 1828. 

Bucks Herald 2 July 1836

Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 8 Feb 1873

Berkshire Chronicle 4 November 1843

Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette  4 July 1863

Bicester Herald, 6 June 1879.

GRO BMD index

Q/AB/43/515,Letter, Bucks Archives. 

Dickens, Charles - Dictionary of the Thames, 1880 edition. 

Pask, Arthur Thomas - From Lock to Lock, "Judy" 1882. 

Salter, John Henry. River Thames: a guide, 1881. 

© MarlowAncestors.