Fellmonger House 1100 - 1841

Fellmonger House 1100 - 1841

Introduction
Towards the west end of St Ives, at 37 The Broadway, is Fellmonger House. It's a tastefully restored and much admired house built c1720. Who wouldn't like to live in such a house? In St Ives town centre with garden views of the backwater and the River Great Ouse. Not its owners during the first 120 years or more. For half its life, tenants occupied the building, the owners staying well away.

Read on to learn interesting stories of Fellmonger House and its occupants. And next time you're in the Broadway, pause awhile by Fellmonger House, close your eyes and imagine.

Fellmonger House, St Ives
Fellmonger House.

Previous buildings
It's likely there's been a building on the site for over 1,000 years. A local Saxon landowner gifted  ownership of Slepe to Ramsey Abbey about 986AD. The old drove road that is Ramsey Road and Old Ramsey Road was the primary access from the north. It was the route taken going from Ramsey Abbey to Slepe.

The bones of St Ivo were 'discovered' near Slepe in 1002AD. It was in Ramsey Abbey's commercial interests to increase pilgrim traffic. They built a priory near the location of the find. As a result, the route from Ramsey got busier.

In 1110, King Henry I issued the first royal charter, granting the Bishop of Ramsey the right to hold a fair at Slepe. Further royal charters followed over the years, amending the rights. For example, changing from an annual to a weekly fair.

The Street, St Ives
The Street and location of Fellmonger House.

Today's layout of St Ives town centre reflects the setup of the fair. The Bishop of Ramsey laid out the Street between Slepe and the Priory. This was to accommodate market stalls. And the site of Fellmonger House was a prime location. Not only was it one of the first to meet visitors travelling from the north. It also had direct river access to transport goods for sale.

Over time, the Abbey erected temporary stalls for traders. Soon, the Abbey provided accommodation for traders and visitors to the market. By 1279, the Abbey had 70 tenants in the Street. Land behind buildings filled with warehousing and more accommodation. But locations like Fellmonger House, with river access, were valuable.

Medieval markets located trades producing smell and gore away from the centre. And none combined those attributes more than the leather trade. For example, tanners used cow urine and dog faeces to clean and soften a hide. The first occupation traced to Fellmonger House is that of a currier. The original building on the Fellmonger House site likely also served the leather trade.

Between 1536 and 1541, King Henry VIII disbanded Catholic monasteries and took ownership for the crown. Henry Montagu supported both James I and Charles I. In 1682, in recognition of his service, Henry Montagu gained the title Earl of Manchester, ownership of St Ives and a right to its tolls. Those rights passed down through the Earl's descendants. The Earl leased land and property in the village. Owners of leases sublet to occupiers. As late as the 1920s, the now Duke of Manchester continued to collect a toll from those crossing St Ives bridge.

House construction
About 1720, the previous building was in a state of disrepair, or not fit for purpose. It is most probable Samuel Morton built the replacement. The earliest Fellmonger House record of ownership is his will dated 29 April 1732. Pettis' 1728 survey of St Ives listed James Morton Senior and Junior as established curriers. They were in Tanners Lane, part of what became the Bullock Market, today the Broadway. It seems likely Samuel arranged the construction to accommodate his relatives' currier business. Fellmonger House has a large coach arch. So it served both as living and trade accommodation. At this time, the property included land either side of today's boundaries.

Pettis Map of St Ives, 1728
Section of Pettis Map 1728, showing location of Fellmonger House.
Note the railings down either side of the Bullock Market.

The currier is an ancient occupation, the earliest record in England being 1276. Curriers were part of the trade in leather. Fellmongers and tanners first treated the skins of cow, pig and sheep. Curriers then stretched and scraped the hides. They massaged in beef tallow and cod liver oil. This resulted in a strong, flexible waterproof leather. Because of the smell, it was not a job for the faint-hearted. To our 20th century senses, the sights and smells would have been dreadful.

Fellmonger tradition
The first record of fellmongering at the site was that of Robert Stacey in 1791. He started a tradition. Apart from a break of thirty years, fellmongering continued for 150 years right up to 1943. Robert lived all his life in St Ives, born in 1743 and dying in 1811, aged 68 years.

The currier trade might have been distasteful to our senses. Fellmongering was on a whole other scale of ghastliness. A fellmonger was first in the line of transformation from raw hide to finished leather. Loaded with the hides of cattle, sheep, pigs, even dogs, his skin cart carried a heavy, grisly, smelly load. It dripped a trail of gore along the streets of St Ives as it travelled from the abattoir to his premises.

Fellmonger
Fellmonger.

Working at speed was essential to minimise decay. The hide was first washed in warm soapy water to remove all blood and tissue. A paste made from lime and sodium sulphate cleansed the hide and opened the pores. The fellmonger removed wool and hair to sell on, grading as he worked. Rubbed with a paste of Fuller's earth, he then warmed the hide and removed any fat. Next, bleaching with a weak solution of chloride of lime. Salt and acid pickled the skin. The finished product then went to a tanner.

The Fellmonger House site was perfect for the trade. There was plenty of space to stretch the skins. Also room for lime pits to dissolve the worst of the blood and guts attached to the hides and fleeces. Washing, drying and grading took place in outbuildings. Two pumps still exist in the garden, echoes of these activities. All the effluent ended up in the backwater. A stench hung over the location. That smell followed Robert Stacey wherever he went. In his house. About the town. For obvious reasons, Robert's closest friends were likely to be in similar work.

Temporary break in tradition
For a period, people knew the house as Rodwell's. Edward Rodwell was a waterman. He transported goods along the River Great Ouse using horse-drawn lighters. At its peak, his business owned 9 lighters and 2 horse boats.

Edward's business took a turn for the worst. In 1832, an auction at The Dolphin Inn sold all Edward's belongings. The lighters and horse boats were almost new. Items sold positively without reserve. Edward might be declining the water business, but there was an element of desperation to the sale. It must have been heartbreaking for Edward and family. Especially to part with their horses Gilbert, Turpin, the 2 Captains and 2 Princes.

Within 15 years, the railway would arrive in St Ives, killing trade on the river. But it wasn't the railway that caused Edward's business failure. It seems he somehow overstretched himself. With outstanding debts, Edward landed up in the debtor's prison in Huntingdon.

Edward's home was the County Gaol and House of Correction at St Peter's Road, Huntingdon. Charles Dickens wrote of a debtor's dilemma in Little Dorrit. A dilemma of a debtor imprisoned until they had paid off their debts.The alternative was to come to an agreement with creditors. Yet the debtor could not work to pay off the debt. In fact, their debts increased, since they had to pay for bed and board while in gaol. At Huntingdon Gaol, the charge for bed and bedding in the debtor's ward was 2 shillings 6 pence a week (today £12).

Huntingdon County Gaol c1828
Huntingdon County Gaol & House of Correction, c1828.

Trapped in gaol without end, it could be a life sentence. Some debtors lived in the gaol with their family, or married and had children. For decades, the prison became their home. On the closure of Fleet Prison, two debtors had served 30 years. Edward had a wife, Sarah, and 2 children aged 10 and 8 years.

In 1836, Edward applied to the Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors. The Court had the power to release Edward and absolve him from his debts. His creditors got any remaining assets. After 4 years in Huntingdon Gaol, Edward might have secured his freedom, but he was penniless.

In 1838, Edward worked for Jasper Fields, a master waterman. Employed to transport a barge load of silt, Edward brought a barge full of coal, and inferior coal at that. Jasper made a loss on the cargo and called Edward before the St Ives bench of magistrates. Edward's excuse was that the horse was lame. Jasper's father-in-law and another waterman proved this to be incorrect. Edward paid £2 damages and expenses to Jasper (today £190). Jasper sacked Edward.

In 1841, the family lived in Hemingford Green, later renamed Filbert's Walk. There was another child aged 2 years. In the previous 40 years, the population of St Ives increased by 67%, John Green, a local builder, put up some of the poorest quality housing in the town. He crammed in jerry-built accommodation wherever there was space.

John Green, St Ives c1820
John Green, c1820.

John Skeeles' manuscript describes John Green as having the knack of crowding the largest number of small houses on a given area. He erected Green Street some time before 1820. Although new, those houses were little above the standard of the poorest housing in the town.

Most of the 31 homes in Filbert's Walk had a cellar scullery, kitchen/living room on the ground floor. Above was a single bedroom and tiny landing. In such accommodation lived families of up to 10 residents. Most winters, cellars filled with up to 2 feet of water. Sewerage was always a problem when the river was full. Over 120 residents shared 3 water pumps.

Edward still found work as a bargeman. But major changes occurred after the railway arrived in St Ives in 1847. Within weeks, coach operators in the town were selling up. Trade on the Great Ouse declined so much, by 1870 parts of the river were unsuitable for navigation.

Edward died in 1851, aged 55 years.

Ownership changes
In 1832, when Edward's belongings were auctioned, Joseph Goodman took out a mortgage on Fellmonger House. This was for £600 (today £57,000) at an interest rate of 5%. Joseph was an astute man, schoolfriend and business partner of Potto Brown. For some reason, Joseph quickly changed his mind and defaulted on the deal.

George Game Day took over the deal for £410 in 1832. On his death, the Day family attempted to sell the property at auction. When this failed, the family converted stables and outbuildings into two small cottages. This was a period when accommodation in St Ives was in short supply. In the 40 years to 1841, the population of St Ives went from 2,099 to 3,614, an increase of 67%. John Skeeles' manuscript records the housing hastily erected in the town as follows.

Scores of houses faced only little narrow yards, frequently with no ventilation at the back or at most a small sash with one or two small squares. Two bedrooms were rare, frequently only one and an open landing.

Returning from the Church "by the Waits" almost every yard had its quota of cottages closely packed back to back right down to the Sheep Market.


To read more articles about this house, click Fellmonger House. To view stories of other interesting houses and their residents in St Ives in the style of David Olusoga's BBC television programme, click A House Through TimeTo access more topics on the social history of St Ives, its resident and the surrounding area, click St Ives 100 Years Ago.

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