At the far end of Old Post Office Lane there are two pairs of semi-detached houses (known today as Orchard View, 20 & 22 Old Post Office Lane, and West Lea (24 & 26 Old Post Office Lane) which were built at the turn of the 19th century. This is their history.
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Land ownership before the houses were built
The houses were built on land which, in 1812, at the time of the Badsey Enclosure Act, had been part of an old enclosure belonging to Joseph Jones. It was called Townside Close and amounted to nearly three acres. Joseph Jones sold this at auction, along with the majority of his other land and property, in 1831. It was bought by siblings Sarah, William and Mary Byrd. The land passed by inheritance to their nephew, William Byrd (1841-1902). William Byrd got into financial difficulties and appeared in a debtors’ court in 1880; an Abstract of Title dated 1890 shows that William Smith, the Trustee, was entitled to all William Byrd’s land-holdings, and began to sell of the land. The field, now combined with the neighbouring plot to the west, was described as a Hovel Ground or Green of just over six acres and was used as pasture. It was bought by William Hurd Adams who then sold it to James Brewer in 1897. James Brewer began selling off smaller portions of the land.
Richard Pendlebury buys the land and builds houses
On 4th May 1899, the land was bought by Richard Pendlebury, a Lancashire businessman who had moved to Badsey from Manchester in 1891, following the death of his partner, Elizabeth (née Trueman), who hailed from Gloucestershire. Elizabeth’s sister, Hannah Newbury (née Trueman), was living with her family in Badsey. Earlier that decade, Richard had bought the four cottages situated on the corner of Mill Lane and High Street from the trustees of the estate of John Pickup Lord, so he was beginning to build up a portfolio of property in the village.
Having acquired the land, Richard Pendlebury immediately built a pair of semi-detached houses known as Orchard View (present-day Nos 20 & 22 Old Post Office Lane) which were in occupation by the time of the 1901 census. A date and name plaque was added with the right-hand half of the pair having the date plaque of 1899 and the left-hand one having the name plaque. He later made No 20 Old Post Office Lane his home.
Four years later, he had another pair of semi-detached houses built on the land – West Lea – taking out a mortgage with William and Harriet Emms on 5th September 1903 in order to do so. As with Orchard View, a date and name plaque was added. The houses were rented out to tenants.
Richard Pendlebury died at Orchard View, Badsey, on 26th January 1908, leaving four surviving children from his first marriage and a daughter, Maud Ellen, described in his will as his “natural” daughter (after the death of his first wife, Matilda, in 1876, he had never married his partner, Elizabeth, who was married). Maud, together with her half-brother, George, were executors. Richard Pendlebury’s will directed that his estate should be sold and divided between his five children, but whilst the four eldest children received a sixth each, Maud received two-sixths.
Ownership of Orchard View by Maud Ellen Pendlebury
On the death of her father, Maud Ellen Pendlebury inherited the cottages known as Orchard View. She also Maud bought the four cottages on the corner of Mill Lane from her brother.
On 7th January 1911, Maud married her first cousin, Wilson Newbury, at the parish church of St Arden Bradford, Manchester, but then came to live in Badsey at Orchard View, where her father had been living at the time of his death. The Newburys remained at Orchard View until the mid 1920s when they moved to a new house on Sands Lane.
It is thought that Orchard View was sold at that point.
Ownership of West Lea by James Edwin Pendlebury
As executors, together with Harriet Emms, Maud and George sold Nos 1 & 2 West Lea to their brother, James Edwin Pendlebury, of Didsbury, Lancashire (Richard’s youngest son from his marriage) on 12th August 1908 for £475 (this also included half an acre of land and a greenhouse). There is no evidence that James ever came to live in Badsey. As far as we know, he remained living in Didsbury until emigrating to Australia in 1913.
Ownership of West Lea by Mary Stephens
On 28th November 1912 the pair of houses known as West Lea were valued at £220. James Pendlebury was about to start a new life in Australia so he sold them on 20th January 1913 to Mary Stephens (née Curnock) of Dumbleton. Mary Stephens was the widow of William Stephens, a farmer and innkeeper of Bishampton.
Mary Stephens never came to live in Badsey; she voluntarily conveyed the houses to her younger son, Harry Curnock Stephens, two months later on 16th March 1913. Harry Stephens, a farmer, remained living in Dumbleton where he died in 1922 aged 37.
Ownership of West Lea by Elsie Mary Pethard
On 20th January 1930, Josephine Louisa Stephens of Dumbleton, who was the widow of Harry Curnock Stephens, sold the houses to Elsie Mary Pethard. Elsie and her husband, Joshua, had been living as tenants at No 24 for some years. The houses remained in Pethard family ownership until Elsie’s death in 1970.
Occupiers of Orchard View, 20 Old Post Office Lane
The house now known as 20 Old Post Office Lane is the right-hand one of a pair of semi-detached houses and was originally known as 2 Orchard View. The house was surveyed on 7th November 1912 as part of the nationwide Land Valuation Survey. No 20 was described as:
Brick and tile cottage in good repair: living-room, kitchen, back kitchen, furnace, pantry, water closet, 3 bedrooms. Walls damp on south side; wood and iron shed.
At the time of the 1901 census, this half of the semi-detached pair was empty. It was described as “in occupation” but the normal occupiers were away on census night. Richard Pendlebury, who had had the house built, was living just a short distance away at Vale Cottage (the present-day No 29 Old Post Office Lane) with his nephew, Wilson Newbury. Possibly he was living at Vale Cottage until the house was ready for his occupation. He was certainly living at Orchard View in 1907 at the time of making his will. Richard Pendlebury died in 1908 and his daughter, Maud, inherited the house. Maud, who married Wilson Newbury in 1911, lived there until the mid 1920s when they moved to a new home on Sands Lane, Badsey.
According to the Electoral Roll, George and Margaret Fortune were the new occupants. In the early 1930s, the Jones family lived there. John Kelland Jones married Winnie Liversidge in 1932 and they spent their early married life at Orchard View; their son, Christopher, was born there in September 1933; they then took on a tenancy at The Manor House in about 1935. By 1939, John’s younger brother, Francis Edward Jones, was living there with his wife, Nancy, whom he had married the previous year, and baby daughter.
In the 1950s, Reginald Hardiman and family lived there, until at least 1961 (by 1963 he had moved round the corner to No 18); Reginald had grown up in the other half of the semi-detached pair where his parents still lived.
Occupiers of Orchard View, 22 Old Post Office Lane
The house now known as 22 Old Post Office Lane is the left-hand one of a pair of semi-detached houses and was originally known as 1 Orchard View. The house was surveyed on 7th November 1912 as part of the nationwide Land Valuation Survey. No 22 was described as:
Brick and tile cottage in good repair: living-room, kitchen, back kitchen, furnace, pantry, water closet, 3 bedrooms. Walls damp on south side; wood and iron shed.
At the time of the 1901 census, Frank and Alice Beck lived there with their three teenage children, Alice, Nina and Frank. Frank Senior was the Secretary of a Land Company. They lived there for about two years. In 1911 it was home to a young married couple, Wilfred and Emma Geden.
By around the end of the First World War, Thomas William Hardiman and his wife, Elsie, whom he had married in 1914, lived there. Thomas had grown up at one of the cottages on the corner of High Street and Mill Lane which was also owned by the Pendleburys. His younger sister, Elsie Pethard, lived at West Lea. The Hardimans remained living there until their deaths in 1979 and 1959 respectively. Their son, Reg, who married in 1947, lived next-door at No 2 Orchard View until at least 1961.
Occupiers of West Lea, 24 Old Post Office Lane
The house now known as 24 Old Post Office Lane is the right-hand one of a pair of semi-detached houses and was originally known as 2 West Lea. The house was surveyed on 7th November 1912 as part of the nationwide Land Valuation Survey. No 24 was described as:
Built 1903, brick and tile house in fair repair: sitting-room, board floor, bay window, passage, kitchen, back kitchen, pantry, 3 bedrooms (2 small), glasshouse on brick foundation, 5 rows of trees.
At the time of the 1911 census, No 24 was occupied by 29-year-old George Allard, a nurseryman gardener’s labourer, and his wife, Sarah, plus their three-year-old daughter, Marjorie.
For many years, the house was occupied by Joshua Pethard and his wife, Elsie (née Hardiman), whom he married in 1912. Elsie had grown up at one of the cottages on the corner of High Street and Mill Lane which was also owned by the Pendleburys and was the younger sister of Thomas William Hardiman who lived at Orchard View. The Pethards were living there at the time of the 1921 census with their only son, John Douglas (known as Doug). Elsie took the opportunity to buy both houses in 1930. Tragically, Doug was drowned in 1937 whilst swimming in Austria. Joshua died in 1943 a few years after his son. His widow, Elsie, remained living at West Lea until her death in 1970.
Occupiers of West Lea, 26 Old Post Office Lane
The house now known as 26 Old Post Office Lane is the left-hand one of a pair of semi-detached houses and was originally known as 1 West Lea. The house was surveyed on 7th November 1912 as part of the nationwide Land Valuation Survey. No 26 was described as:
Built 1903, brick and tile house in fair repair: sitting-room board floor and bay window; passage kitchen, back kitchen, kitchen and pantry, 3 bedrooms (2 small); wood and iron shed (tenants).
At the time of the 1911 census, No 26 was occupied by 73-year-old Emanuel Dore, a market gardener, and his wife, Eliza, plus their 18-year-old granddaughter, Cecilia Barnard. Lodging in a separate unit of the house was their youngest daughter, Beata Gilbert, and her husband, Frederick, an implement manufacturer and coach builder, and their baby son.
Emanuel Dore died in 1914. At the time of the 1921 census, Frederick Gilbert was now listed as head of household, which comprised his wife, Beata, five children and his mother-in-law, Eliza Dore. The Gilberts left Badsey in October 1921. For a short time, Eliza’s granddaughter, Ida Osborne, and her husband, Frederick, lived there. Eliza Dore continued to live at West Lea until her death in 1928.
Francis and Lilian Meadows family then lived there, followed by George and Emily Greening family from at least 1931. George Greening died in 1937. At the time of the 1939 register, Edith Greening lived there with her three adult daughters.
In the post-war period it became home to the Dennick family, Don and Esmé Dennick living there until their deaths in 2005 and 2014 respectively.
Maureen Spinks, June 2022
Acknowledgements
With thanks to John Waters, a descendant of the Stephens family, for allowing us to see documents relating to the sale of West Lea.