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.
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| 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.
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| 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 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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, and 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.
Fellmonger and overseer
By 1841, the building was back to fellmongering. Benjamin Lyon moved from Cambridge. He lived at Fellmonger House with his wife and 2 children aged 5 years and 2 years, and a servant. With them at the time of the census was John Baynes, of independent means. John was a rare commodity, an owner with the stomach to stay at Fellmonger House. At least, on the night of the 1841 census on 6 June. There's no evidence John repeated the experience.
Benjamin was one of the 2 elected overseers of the St Ives Union Workhouse. This was a responsible position. Overseers handled the assessment and collection of poor rates. They also managed the distribution of money, food and clothing to the poor. Finally, the overseers arranged supervision of the workhouse. They checked those claiming poor relief were born in the parish. Overseer was an honorary position, so Benjamin received no pay. They were often reluctant appointees. Benjamin probably saw the role as establishing himself in a position of authority. He must have been ambitious.
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| Plan of St Ives Union Workhouse, 1834. |
In April 1841, Benjamin was one of 6 signatures to a petition presented to the Poor Law Commissioners. They accused George Game Day of rigging an election. The election was for appointees to the Board of Guardians of the workhouse. This was the body ultimately responsible for the workhouse. George was a solicitor and clerk to the Board of Guardians. He was also one of the most gifted and controversial men to come from St Ives. George was a ferocious debater and political fixer. He owned the lease of the property Benjamin occupied. So the action was a particularly brave move on Benjamin's part.
It wasn't the first time George appeared accused of fixing an election. In 1836, George was on trial for illegally placing 4 persons on the voters list. He put up a spirited defence and won. George was popular. Prominent businessmen in the area had a collection to cover his legal costs. George recounted the affair at a dinner to present him with a cup containing 500 gold sovereigns. Today, that is worth almost £50,000. So Benjamin and his 5 collaborators were taking on a political powerhouse. No surprise they lost. George took charge of the elections the following year.
By 1851, Benjamin employed 3 men. Another daughter was born. Benjamin became a churchwarden of St Ives Parish Church in 1852. But it appears he overreached himself. In 1855, his creditors placed Benjamin's belongings in trust. This ensured they got their money back. What must Benjamin and his family felt? To watch all their worldly possessions auctioned off to the highest bidder?
Benjamin stayed in St Ives for a period. He continued to work as a fellmonger and became a parish constable in 1858. It seems the family moved away from St Ives. Benjamin died in Chelsea in 1867, aged 58 years.
Murder most foul?
There were 11 pubs and inns along the Bullock Market. They served drink to thirsty drovers from Monday's cattle market. Most were large coaching inns with accommodation. Next door to Fellmonger House was the Queen Victoria pub, where York House is now.
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| York House, formerly the Queen Victoria pub. |
Robert Stocker was 38 years old, born and bred in St Ives. Like most publicans in the town, he had more than one occupation. Besides running the Queen Victoria, he was also a cordwainer, an old term for a shoemaker. There were another 36 cordwainers in St Ives. St Ivians got through a lot of shoes!
Robert might have been the licensed publican, but it was his wife, Mary, who did all the hard work. Besides looking after their 5 young children, she tended 11 lodgers at the pub. Mary was the perfect publican's wife. A quiet woman who never touched alcohol.
Robert more than made up for Mary's abstinence. Robert liked to drink. Not good for a publican. When under the influence, he was a very savage and violent fellow. Robert loved his wife, but when he was tipsy and they argued, Robert wasn't averse to knocking Mary about.
One Thursday evening in April 1852, a shocking event occurred. It must have disturbed Benjamin Lyon and his family next door. Robert Stocker, the landlord of the pub, had murdered Mary, his wife. The following day, there was much excitement in the town and surrounding area.
Returning home the worse for drink, Robert asked his daughter to treat a friend to a pint of beer. Mary objected, saying the friend should pay. During previous arguments, Robert had threatened to leave home and go on the road. Mary suggested he should hit the road right away. When Robert headed for the stairs to pack, Mary shoved him in the chest. Robert uttered he would not be beaten by a woman. He knocked Mary to the floor with a blow, then went upstairs to gather his shoemaking tools.
The pub's customers got Mary into a chair. There was no sign of life. Robert came downstairs and was much distressed. He kissed her and begged her to speak. Robert said he had killed his polly. He expected his punishment to be hanging, or transportation to Australia. If the latter, he would have joined the list of 13 St Ivians transported. Robert threatened to drown himself. He didn't know what would become of his children. They were a credit to Mary. Did the neighbour, Benjamin Lyon, take care of the children?
The following day, parish constable Henry Golding escorted Robert to the Coroner's Court. On the way, they stopped off for a quick pint. When the Magistrates heard of this, they severely reprimanded Henry.
Imprisoned at County Gaol and House of Correction in Huntingdon for 3 months, Robert avoided the treadmill. Prisoners sentenced to hard labour treaded in silence for up to 10 hours a day. It was the same as walking 17,000 vertical feet and broke their spirit. The treadmill ground corn for the prison. There was also a crank machine, which served no useful purpose other than punishment.
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| Treadmill at Brixton Prison, similar to that at Huntingdon Gaol. |
Imprisonment was no holiday for Robert. His cell measured 9ft by 6ft. Prisoners had to remain silent. His cell walls were black. Light and ventilation came from a small grate in the door. A daily ration was 1.5lb of bread. The gaol keeper also supplied a quart of oatmeal and milk porridge on 5 days. On the other two days, there was meat and vegetable soup. For this he charged 2 pence a day (today £1). Parts of the gaol survive at 27/29 St Peters Road, Huntingdon.
In July 1852, Robert appeared at Huntingdon Assizes. An hour before her death, Mary had gone looking for Robert with her eldest daughter, Harriet. They found him at Isaac How's beer house. Mary fell down as though she'd tripped and was faint. Robert and Harriet helped her home, where she appeared to recover. The post mortem examination revealed Mary had damaged her head when she tripped. This caused her fainting attack and was the reason for her death. The Assizes found Robert not guilty.
What happened to Robert and his children? There's no trace after 1852. According to Bob Burn-Murdoch's The Pubs of St Ives, by 1859 the Queen Victoria was a former pub. In that year, Potto Brown bought the building and leased it to a corn merchant. Potto was an avid fan of the temperance movement and abhorred alcohol.
Fellmonger and parish constable
In 1851, William Papworth was a journeyman fellmonger living in Merryland. He got work where he could find it, often on a day rate. It's probable William worked for Benjamin Lyon on occasion. By 1961, Fellmonger House was home to William, his wife, sister-in-law, nephew and 2 lodgers.
William became a parish constable in February 1856. This was another unsalaried honorary position. There was no formal training and no uniform. The primary duty was dealing with drunks. Six weeks into the job, William dealt with something more serious.
Jacob Stevens, a grocer, lived opposite Fellmonger House. When he tied a rope around his neck and suspended himself from the balcony, his servant knew who to call. He rushed across to Fellmonger House to get William, saying my master is dead. William took the servant's statement at face value. On arrival, he focused on consoling the widow.
It was 10 minutes and the arrival of more help before anyone thought to check on Jacob. By that time he was certainly dead, still suspended by his neck above the stairwell. If only William had rushed upstairs immediately after he arrived. He could have released the rope from Jacob's neck and saved Jacob. William took the servant's hasty utterance about his master's fate at face value. The Coroner severely censured William.
William died in 1876, aged 74 years.
Senses assailed
What was it like to step out of Fellmonger House on a Monday morning? That was the day the livestock market took place in St Ives. This weekly market was one of the biggest in England, even bigger before the railway in the mid 1800s. Over 12,000 beasts of all kinds filled St Ives town centre. This was in a medium-sized village, the population of which up to the 1950s was never over 3,000. St Ives market fed London.
The experience must have been a shock. Way beyond anything our sanitised 21st century sensibilities could imagine. A newspaper article from 1819 gives us an idea of how awful it was, right in front of Fellmonger House. John Edwards, a butcher, built 4 cottages in his yard. Edward's Yard was one of 49 yards of St Ives in which the poor lived, somewhere opposite Fellmonger House. The cottages suffered from damp, so John dug a well and pump to lower the water level. Next to the well was waste from John's large slaughterhouse and other muck. Effluent leaked into the well. Whenever John emptied the well, the contents ran in a stream down the centre of the Bullock Market. This created an intolerable stench, to the annoyance of every one living near. The authorities ordered John to stop the practice.
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| Bullock Market, c1880. |
As a child, a St Ives resident recalls falling asleep on Sunday evenings to the plaintive music of cattle lowing in the meadows surrounding the town. The occupants of Fellmonger House heard that sound travelling from Hemingford Meadow.
Many of those attending the market would stay overnight on Sunday at one of the inns or hostels. On Sunday evenings, the town centre was full of visitors from across the UK. Most in a 'happy' state from visiting the 70 licensed premises. Some were simple beerhouses, a front room open to customers serving beer brewed at the back of the house. All these establishments were very much male-orientated. The presence of a woman was a certain sign of her lack of respectability. It was from the pubs, beerhouses and market crowds that nymphs of the pave found their customers.
Early Monday morning, cattle queued into the Bullock Market. Cattle were wall to wall, as shown in the photograph below from the late 1800s. In 1921, the Mayor recalled cattle queuing to get into the Bullock Market. They filed along the Waits, up Ramsey Road, along the full length of St Audrey's Lane, and down into Pig Lane and Needingworth Road.
The air was thick with cursing as the drovers tried to control the cattle. Though many swear words would pass St Ivians by, such was the variety of accents. Irish, Welsh, and Scots mixed with West Country and Northern accents.
A drover's role was to take care of their livestock so they were in good condition on arrival at the market. But that was not always the case. Some drovers treated their beasts cruelly. In 1835, a poor bullock, harassed and tormented by those monsters in human shape - "Drovers", took refuge in the shop of Mrs Robinson, milliner. In 1837, there was a report of a Bluntisham man fined for mistreating a horse at St Ives market. The magistrates stated they would make an example of anyone doing so again, to check the brutality which is witnessed in that place every market-day. In 1856, magistrates fined John and Levi Allsop for cruelty. They fined Levi 12 shillings for cruelly beating a beast at the market. John was the worst of the two, fined 20 shillings (today £80) for using the beast very cruelly generally.
Read Adams, the first Mayor of St Ives, wrote a letter in 1886 about the old Bullock Market. He sought to improve the lives of the cattle. Read wanted to lessen the cruel blows and brutal uproar. He wished the market was more like a place of business than a pandemonium.
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| Read Adams, first Mayor of St Ives, 1874. |
The Bullock Market could be a dangerous place. Posts ran down either side. On Monday mornings, officials inserted rails into the posts. These protected pedestrians and buildings from injury or damage. A beast would often run riot. So it's likely the woman and children of Fellmonger House stayed in Mondays and did the washing.
In 1801, a bullock wandered into the Royal Oak pub on Crown Street. It trampled up the stairs. Next, the bullock came crashing through the middle window frame, landing on the street. Much terrified, it ran off down Bridge Street. Stopped at the bridge, the animal leapt into the river and disappeared.
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| Royal Oak, and the first floor middle window the bullock crashed through in 1801. |
James & Harriet Rowell’s infant son Hector had a lucky escape in 1858. Less than 1 year of age, he was safe in his nursemaid’s arms at the corner of Merryland. A passing cow ripped him from his place of safety as it escaped from the Bullock Market. Hector dangled from the cow’s horns, careering towards Bridge Street. The nursemaid sprinted after the beast to rescue little Hector without harm. She saved the day and her job.
Today, it’s hard to imagine what the Bullock Market was like, as cattle filled the space. Noise, smells, steam from the cattle and effluent. Also, strange accents from Ireland, Scotland, Wales & all parts of England. All outside the front door of Fellmonger House. It was no place for the genteel of St Ives to promenade. No wonder some interesting boot scrapers still survive around the town centre.
The smell was no less challenging at the back of Fellmonger House. In 1873, Dr Grove delivered his annual report on the health of the town. He wrote about the condition of the Back Water, which passes along the back of Fellmonger House. There was little water flow, and a large amount of sewage discharged into the stream. This mixed with decomposing vegetation in summer. There was a most unwholesome and poisonous gas. No doubt, the smell was made all the worse from the blood and gore thrown into the Back Water from Fellmonger House.
Fellmonger and chicken fancier
One of William Papworth's 3 employees was his nephew, William Hinson. William moved from Sutton to St Ives in his early teens, and lodged with his uncle. When William Papworth died in 1876, William Hinson took over the business. In 1881 he was fellmonger and woolstapler, employing 4 men. A woolstapler grades wool and sells on to a maker of woollen goods. In the 1885 Kelly's Directory for St Ives, William had one of the largest entries:
Hinson, William, fellmonger and woolstapler, agent for Thorley's cattle food and lactifer, Simpson's cattle spices & calf meal, Ayer's calf meal, Waterloo oil cake &c., Bullock market.
By 1891, William was a fellmonger and farmer, employing a housemaid and dairymaid. He was also a poultry fancier, with a model poultry farm in Pig Lane. He displayed duckwing leghorn chickens all over England, winning many prizes. Serving as a Town Councillor, many thought he should have been Town Mayor.
William suffered from illness for the last few years of his life. He underwent an operation in London, but worsened on his return. He died in 1906, aged 61 years.
Change in the Bullock Market
The old Bullock Market was subject to periodic closure to prevent the spread of disease. In 1867 rinderpest caused closure for weeks. Unsanitary conditions from muck and gore became unacceptable to public health. It risked spreading disease in both animals and people. In 1886, Cambridge questioned the viability of continuing the old market at St Ives. The aim was to remove competition to its own newly opened cattle market. The Privy Council threatened St Ives market with closure unless it made radical changes.
The Town Council debated options for a new market. One suggestion was to purchase and demolish all the buildings on the north side of the Bullock Market. This would make more room at the current location. It would also have meant a dramatic change in appearance from the front door of Fellmonger House.
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| The two men responsible for St Ives new market. The Duke of Manchester and Mayor Frank Warren, 1886. |
In less than a year, St Ives planned & built a new market near the railway station, opened in 1886. The newspapers carried extensive reports. The cost was £15,000 (today £2 million). Described as the best market in England, so ended 700 years of selling cattle in the Bullock Market. Irish traders finally deserted St Ives in the 1890s for Cambridge. It had better railway links. St Ives cattle market struggled on for a further 90 years until the pens were finally closed in 1976.
The Town Council removed the Bullock Market's posts and rails. John Bingham and John Kidman had charged drovers for the posts and rails. Each received compensation of £100 (today £10,000).
Overnight, the old Bullock Market lost its purpose. Suggestions arose about what to do. There was news some residents were keen to plant trees. Should the Town Council rename the Bullock Market? Before 1867, none of the streets in St Ives had an official name. People randomly assigned names. Cromwell-place applied to 4 locations. Water-lane to 5. Back-street was called Backside. Other streets had more than one name. No surprise much confusion arose.
In 1867, the Improvement Commissioners erected zinc nameplates around the town. This fixed the street names as we know them today, and proved a boon conferred on the townspeople in general. You can still see many of these original old zinc nameplates, now over 150 years old (there are later ones too).
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| The Bullock Market, c1900. One of the earliest photos of Fellmonger House. |
The Bullock Market changed name until 1887. This was after trade in cattle had moved to the newly built cattle market at the other end of town. Suggestions were to rename it The Avenue, or Cromwell-street. There was opposition to The Broadway because it sounded too American. The name finally settled on was the Broadway.
The Dellar Dynasty
George and William Dellar came from Oakington. George moved to St Ives in 1879, aged 15 years. He worked as a fellmonger's labourer for William Hinson. George boarded with widow Elizabeth Mason in Cow and Hare Passage.
In 1887, George married Nellie Culpin, a dressmaker from Darwood Place. They moved into Olive Cottage, in Crown Walk. Two sons followed. In 1891, Olive Cottage was full of relatives. Brother William moved to St Ives and lodged with George's family. Also in the house were George's mother in law and sister in law. George and Nellie had a further 2 children, both daughters.
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| George & Nellie Dellar at Olive Cottage, c1910. With Doris, George, Harold & Marjorie. |
William also worked as a fellmonger for William Hinson. In 1894, William married Ada Crawford, a milliner from a small village in Lincolnshire. Quite how they met is a mystery. By 1901, they lived less than 100 yards from Olive Cottage, at 7 Orchard Terrace. Squashed into the two up two down with their 4 young children.
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| William & Ada Dellar at Fellmonger House, c1910. With Horace & Hilda, their 2 youngest children at that time. |
George and William Dellar took over the business in 1906 when William Hinson died. William and his wife moved into Fellmonger House with their growing family. Three further children followed. George moved to a larger home, at North Lynne, Tenterleas. The Dellars advertised themselves on a stylish sign at Fellmonger House. A replica of the original held by the Norris Museum is today displayed at the house.
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| Copy of G & W Dellar sign outside Fellmonger House. The original is with the Norris Museum. |
Mrs Phillis Smith is the granddaughter of George Dellar. She remembers visiting her grandfather's yard at Fellmonger House.
I remember going as a child with my twin and experiencing the smells and sights of the skins on the wooden slatted boards in the passage. I found visits horrible but slightly fascinating.
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| Plan of Fellmonger House site, early 1900s. |
About 1916, William extended Fellmonger House. He added a 2 floor extension to the rear. This included a kitchen, scullery and 2 bedrooms.
One of many interesting parts of the house is its baffle entry. This is a feature from timber framed buildings of the Tudor and Jacobean periods. For many dwellings of this time, entrance would be straight into a room. With a baffle entry, when the front door is fully open, access to the interior is closed. In the case of Fellmonger House, the front door seals off the dining room. One prime advantage explains why Fellmonger House had a baffle entry. It stopped dirt, dust and muck blowing into the house from the Bullock Market. It stopped cold drafts entering the interior. Also, there was greater security and privacy.
St Ives tragedy
In 1915, George was foreman of the jury at the inquest of one of St Ives great tragedies. Violet Watson, aged 17 years, was a bright bonny girl. She was a domestic servant living in Brampton. Violet cycled along the Thicket path on her way to St Ives for an interview for another position. A group of boys from St Ives Grammar School walked in the opposite direction along the Thicket Path. They were under the supervision of one of their masters, Arthur Watson (no relation to Violet). As they met, Violet tried to ride past the boys on the narrow path. She skidded sideways and fell into the river, which was in flood.
With Violet screaming, Arthur went into the water to save Violet. He wore a heavy topcoat and couldn't swim. Arthur waded in until the water was up to his shoulders, holding out his walking stick for the girl to hold on to. Violet appeared to grab the stick, but then took hold of Arthur's coat. He stepped into a hole in the river bed and disappeared. The schoolboys then saw Arthur carried away under the river's surface. Meanwhile, Violet drifted into the middle of the river, buoyed up by her clothing. She sank and rose back up 3 times before disappearing below the surface.
The terrified schoolboys raised the alarm. A search commenced. It was 2 hours before one of the policemen spotted Violet's body 200 yards downstream. It was more than a month later that a worker on Holt Island found Arthur's body.
Family tragedy
William's 2 eldest sons served in WWI. Both returned uninjured. That was not the case for George's eldest son. George Housden Dellar worked as a law clerk. When WWI started in 1914, he joined the St Ives volunteers. By 1915, he enrolled with the Hunts Cyclists. George married Grace Harlick in January 1916. By summer 1916, he was in France, transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment.
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| George Housden Dellar, 1916. |
On 3 September 1916, his battalion took part in a huge attack on Leuze Wood, part of the Battle of the Somme. The aim was to go on and capture Falfemont Farm. This was a German fortified strong point on high ground. At 6pm, the Bedfordshires attacked the south-west edge of Leuze Wood. They had to cross 1,000 yards of open ground to reach their goal. German artillery and machine gun fire caused casualties. Among these was George, wounded in the chest.
Doctors thought George's wounds were not serious. Then a wire to his parents and wife said he was in a dangerous state at a base hospital. George Snr and Grace travelled to France, where they found him much better. They returned home, expecting George to recover. He returned to England, to King Edward 7th Hospital, Windsor.
Unfortunately, his condition again deteriorated. George's faltering health was probably from repeated bouts of infection. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. It was the first antibiotic to combat infection. It came too late to help the injured of WWI. Geroge's father and wife again travelled to be with him. George died at King Edward 7th Hospital on 4 December 1916, aged 27yrs.
George was popular in St Ives. On the day of his funeral, businesses closed and mourners lined the streets. George got a full military funeral. During the service at the Free Church, the Rev. Hooper said 93 of their congregation had joined up. Of those, 10 died, but only 2 had received a memorial service. Many of the congregation were in tears as he read out the 10 names.
George's grave is at Broad Lees Cemetery, St Ives. Besides the St Ives War memorial, his name appears at St Ives Free Church, St Ives Literary Society and All Saints Parish Church.
The artillery piece that killed George?
After WWI, towns and villages throughout England sought a war trophy to display. St Ives Town Council was quick off the mark, a suggestion arising in December 1918 that a request for one or two cannons ... to place in the town should go to the War Office. In June 1919, the War Office offered St Ives a German 15cm sFH13, a heavy field howitzer. It was a most important and common piece of German artillery. One of hundreds displayed around England after the Germans surrendered their weaponry. It could fire 3 shells a minute. This howitzer caused many deaths and injuries in the British trenches.
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| St Ives War Memorial unveiled to remember the dead, 1920. At that time the German howitzer, a potent reminder of the War, was hidden away. |
Displayed on Sheepfold, there was opposition to such a potent image of WWI. No doubt the widows and mothers of those who died objected. They didn't want such a prominent reminder of the War. Particularly of the very gun that might have caused the death of their husband or son. So the trophy found its way into a backyard, still hidden away in February 1921. The Comrades of the Great War applied pressure. The howitzer moved to the Waits, on display later in 1921.
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| A family photo on the Waits, the German howitzer in the background, c1930. |
George Dellar's death might have been from a shrapnel wound to the chest. Possibly, the shell that killed George came from a German 15cm sFH13 howitzer. How devastating must that thought have been to George's father and his family? They lived within yards of the cause of his death.
Further family tragedy
In 1920, George's eldest daughter, Doris, married Harry Holmes. Born in Elsworth in 1893, by 1911 Harry's family lived in Royal Oak Yard, another of the 49 yards of St Ives. Harry worked as a monitor, or teaching assistant, for Hunts County Council. He qualified as a teacher and took up a post at St John's Boys Council School, Spitalgate, Grantham.
Harry also enlisted with the Hunts Cyclists in November 1915. He transferred to 14th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Harry embarked for France in 1916.
Some of the fiercest fighting during the 1916 Battle of the Somme was for High Wood. The location was important. It crowned a 100ft ridge, with views for some distance around. Between July and September, British and German forces fought for control. Inclement weather turned approaching roads to mud. Trenches and shell holes filled with water. This made infantry movement very difficult and exhausted the soldiers.
On Sunday 3 September, the British Army planned another attack on High Wood. Early that afternoon, Harry's Company came out of their trenches. They advanced towards the wood. With their right flank open to German machine gun and rifle fire, Lt Col Murray wrote in his war diary.
Under these conditions the impossible was being asked. Both Coys advanced very gallantly and in splendid spirit, but at once coming under very heavy M/G (machine gun) fire and losing heavily, they began to wither away.
The attack failed. Casualties were 2 officers killed, 7 injured. Other ranks 141 killed or missing, 152 wounded.
Harry was one of the other ranks reported killed or missing. Hit by shell fire, he lay unconscious and seriously wounded on the battlefield for some time. He could have been one of the 32 of 74 men named on St Ives War Memorial who have no known grave. But Harry survived. The Hunts Post reported on 15 September 1916 that his parents had received news. Harry was lying in a French hospital, severely wounded and partially paralysed. His thigh and pelvis smashed to splinters, his left leg paralysed with 4 serious wounds in his back.
Stout hearted nurses more than winced when his wounds were dressed (for he was back to consciousness), but all through his agony neither murmur nor complaint ever passed his lips. To enquirers, he was always getting better.
In hospital for 15 months, Harry spent 11 months laid face down. By September 1918, he left the hospital. Harry was back teaching at St John's Boys Council School, Grantham. His injuries meant he needed a stick to get about. Harry suffered a relapse and spent another year on his back recovering at his parent's home in St Ives.
Harry returned to Grantham, reported by the Hunts Post on 13 September 1918. In 1920, he married Doris and she moved to Grantham.
In 1923, Harry caught typhoid fever. Outbreaks were common, caused by consuming contaminated food or water. Harry's injuries had a detrimental effect on his constitution. He developed pleurisy, a common complication. Harry died on Sunday 7 January 1923 at Grantham.
Harry's funeral took place in St Ives the following Wednesday. His gravestone is in St Ives Church cemetery, Westwood Road, St Ives. The Hunts Post reported his death on 12 January 1923.
What happened to Doris? It appears she had a troubled time. In 1939, Doris was one of more than a thousand patients at the Three Counties Hospital. Once, this was the Three Counties Asylum. Doris died at St Ives in 1965, aged 70 years.
Erection of the Norris Museum
In 1932, building work started 2 doors along from Fellmonger House. This was on the other side of what had been the Queen Victoria pub. Builders demolished the old maltings down to its medieval stone footings. There was great interest and pride in St Ives at what was to take its place. A new museum to house the vast collection of Herbert Norris. But St Ives came close to losing the museum to Cambridge.
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| Herbert Norris |
Born in St Ives in 1859, Herbert's family was an established shoe and boot maker in the town. Herbert trained as a jeweller and silversmith. He had an intense love of St Ives, its surroundings and history.
Herbert moved to Cirencester and took over a business there, living over the shop. Trade was good, and with 3 servants tending to his every need, Herbert wanted for nothing. Except, he was homesick for St Ives. Herbert collected anything about St Ives and Huntingdonshire. He kept in touch and travelled home several times.
Herbert never married. In retirement, he seemed intent on returning to live nearer St Ives. He bought Ferrar House in Huntingdon, planning to open a county museum. It would house a prodigious collection. Books, documents, prints, paintings, photographs. Objects about the history of the local area. Herbert died before plans reached fruition, on his 72nd birthday in 1931. His grave is in Cirencester.
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| Herbert's study at Cirencester. Full of material on the history of St Ives and the local area. |
The Gloucester Citizen reported the value of Herbert's estate at £20,000. Today's value would be £1million. In his will dated, some 30 years before his death, Herbert left everything to St Ives Town Council. They were to establish a library and museum. St Ives had to enact the will as written within 12 months. If they didn't, the entire estate went to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.
It was clear from pencilled notes on his will that Herbert intended to alter it. He meant to provide for his sister, Emily, and the aged employees in his jewellery shop. The Town Council did the decent thing. They started paying Emily an annuity of £3 a week (today £7,500 a year). Herbert's manager bought the Cirencester shop on favourable terms. Albert Hughes, another employee, got £50 (today £2,500).
The Cambridge Antiquarian Society challenged the administration of the will. If they could prove St Ives had misused the funds, the entire estate would pass to them. St Ives halted a payment to the last employee, Elsie Pope. The Gloucester Citizen interviewed Charles Coote. Charles was Mayor of St Ives the year before, when the Town Council made the payments. The position the Town Council found itself in amazed and dumbfounded him.
A report on the court case appeared in the Peterborough & Hunts Standard in August 1932. Lump sum payments, sale of the shop and the amounts paid to Herbert's sister should stand. The Town Council were to make no more payments. All the remaining money must go on setting up the Norris Museum. St Ives Town Council had a narrow escape. Emily faced a bitter irony. Living in poverty whilst passing the Norris Museum. A prominent display of Herbert's wealth.
Building work started in late 1932. Sidney Inskip Ladds, architect and local historian, designed the museum. It reflects his deep love and expertise for Gothic and medieval architecture. This extended to the use of bricks from the 1700s in its construction.
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| Norris Museum plan by Sidney Inskip Ladds, 1932. |
The museum opened in September 1933. Emily was the secretary of the museum. Elsie Pope moved to St Ives to become the museum's first curator. The canny Town Council paid both an income.
End of fellmongering
George died in 1939, aged 75 years. In that year, William still showed his occupation as fellmonger and woolstapler. William died in 1943, also aged 75 years. This brought the trade of fellmongering at the house to an end.
William's wife, Ada, continued to live at Fellmonger House until her death in 1958, aged 86 years. Ownership stayed with various members of the Dellar family until 1971. Maurice and Jennifer Smithers then bought the property. In 1973, they extended the living room, built a garage and carport, and added dormer windows.
In 1988, the property received a much-needed upgrade by local architect, David Pitts. His business operated from Harry Anderson's old butcher's shop on the Waits. David's sympathetic treatment won a Huntingdonshire Conservation Award.
Further work took place in 2001, again supervised by David Pitts. The redundant stable became a separate dwelling, 37a the Broadway. The Smithers rented it out. Nicholas and Heather Wells bought 37a in 2017.
When Jennifer Smithers died in 2018, Colin and Christine Phillpotts bought Fellmonger House. Further renovation took place. A double garage built to domestic specification replaced the old carport and garage. Such is the house seen today.
Below is a timeline of owners and residents of Fellmonger House. Also, images of the house.
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