Monday 12 May 2014

Norton, Gloucestershire, Norton Cash Stores in 1911

Norton, Gloucestershire, Norton Cash Stores in 1911. Norton is a hamlet north of the city of Gloucester. The village shop was run by Esther Hughes. That is probably her on the right, holding the baby. To the left of her may be her assistant in the shop, Elizabeth Whiting. According to the 1911 census the pair lived in the building, with the baby, Norah Mary Perry. I don't know why they lived with a baby with a different surname, perhaps an orphaned niece? A notice in the shop advertises a 'rummage sale' on Wednesday the 7th of June which helps me date the photograph accurately to 1911.
I am indebted to Mike Dill, Steve Maidment and the Village of Norton Website for the following information about the shop and 'The Elms' shown below. The building - Tess Hughes's shop, "was a cottage at right angles to the road opposite the top of Wainlodes Lane".  It was destroyed by fire early in the morning of November 2nd 1935.  "Tess herself was not much harmed.  She had a distrust of banks and kept most of her money in buckets that hung from the beams.  The place after the fire was littered with coins."  ('How it All happened' by Canon Evans-Prosser, Vicar of Norton).
The modern bungalow you can see in the modern Google Street View now stands just behind the approximate site of the shop.
Also notable is the horse bus operated by George Symonds of Gloucester. It appears to be a very primitive bus, even by the standards of 1911. It had a very short run between the nearby villages of Lonford, Twigworth and Norton. One has to wonder how often the bus ran and how successful the service was. I think the young man standing to the right of the horses was the bus conductor. This postcard was published by Young & Co of Teddington. Click the postcard and blow-ups to enlarge.



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This is another postcard by Young & Co of Teddington showing a large farmhouse in Norton, called 'The Elms'. Prior to 1897 it was called 'Norton Farm' and reverted back to that name in 1923 (source: Steve Maidment - 'Norton Farm'). The farmhouse has not changed much in the last century, but one of the chimneys appears to have slid down the roof. Click the postcard to enlarge.



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