Oswestry Town Trail - Upper Brook Street

Upper Brook Street runs from the traffic lights at the junction with Church Street up to Oswestry School. Most of the architecture here dates from the C18th. and C19th. The premises on the corner were once a dairy and in the latter part of the C19th. were occupied by Samuel Gittins, a grocer, and his family. Living in the house in 1881 were Samuel, then aged fifty two, his wife and four young children whose ages ranged from 7 months to 8 years. Also living there were Henry Gittins, aged twenty one, Samuel’s nephew, and Richard Morgan a sixteen year old apprentice grocer. There was one servant, twenty year old Emily Gilbert. Samuel died in 1883 and the grocery shop was then run by Henry Gittins.

John Cottam, a dental surgeon, lived next door before moving to Caxton House in Beatrice Street in 1870. Until the mid-1800s the property had been a public house known as the Green Dragon. The house next door had also been a public house known as the Britannia Inn but, like the Green Dragon, had been converted into a private residence.

The houses numbered 6 to 24 inclusive were all under one ownership until 1872 when they were sold off in lots, many to the occupants. By 1881, one house had been divided into apartments and sub-let. Another was occupied by Jane Whittaker and her widowed mother. This house had been altered and was run as a preparatory school by Jane. Frederick Buller Swete, the banker, lived in one of these houses for several years. He was unmarried and had a housekeeper and general servant living in the house. By 1900, Mr Swete had moved to The Quarry. He was Treasurer to Oswestry RDC, Oswestry Cottage Hospital and the House of Industry. He also became a Justice of the Peace.

No 26, Upper Brook Street was the Old Vicarage, so-called to distinguish it from the new vicarage in Church Street. The Rev. Thomas Salwey, vicar of St Oswalds from 1825 to 1871, lived here for some years. In 1881, the house was occupied by Thomas Bastow, a curate at St. Oswalds, his wife, three young children and his unmarried sister. They had two servants, 24 year old Alice Crane and 15 year old Sarah Probert.

Old Vicarage House, next door, was bought by Alderman Thomas Hill in the early 1860s. His son, Thomas, moved into the house in 1867 and stayed there until 1888 when he moved to Welshpool. Adjoining the Old Vicarage were several old cottages. These occupied a large site and some of the cottages were demolished while the rest were converted into one house.

The Girls High School was built on land belonging to the same property. In 1895 Miss Lucretia Mickleburg was living at Rilston, Victoria Road where she ran a school for young ladies with Miss Williams. In 1908 their school was incorporated into Salop County Council’s scheme for secondary education and became known as the High School for Girls. Four years later the school moved into new premises in Upper Brook Street with Miss Mickleburg as headmistress. The school was well equipped and girls were prepared for the School Certificate. As well as the basic subjects, girls were taught music, cookery, and needlework. There was a hostel for boarders at Bellan House, Church Street where there was also a preparatory school for children under ten years of age. In 1979, the school became the Fitzalan Comprehensive School and later part of Walford and North Shropshire College. In 2005, work started on its conversion into town houses and apartments. It is now known as Beresford Gardens after one of the school’s governors.

The foundation stone of the Roman Catholic Church was blessed and laid by the Bishop of Shrewsbury, the Right Rev. Edward Knight, on July 6th. 1889 and the building was consecrated in 1890. On the same site were built a school, a priest’s house and a convent for the Sisters who taught at the school. The land, about two thirds of an acre, was gifted to the church by Mr and Mrs T. Longueville of Llanforda who also paid for the convent and school. When Mrs Longueville died in 1910 she was buried in an enclosure at the west end of the church. In 1926, Lt. Col. Longueville commissioned a side chapel, designed by Mr A. Scott, to be built in memory of his wife.

Oswestry School moved to its present site in the 1770s from the old half-timbered buildings by the church (now the Heritage Centre). In the 1500s school hours were from 6 or 7am to 5pm and the curriculum included Latin, Greek and writing. In 1881, Michael Forster was the headmaster. Then aged 37, he lived at the school with his wife and two young children. Living with them were his brother-in-law who was unmarried and who is described on the census returns as Lieutenant of Volunteers, and Michael’s three nephews, probably boarders at the school, and twenty two other boarders, ranging in age from 9 to 17. To cater for their needs were matron, cook, two nurses, two housemaids, a kitchen maid and a gardener. A further eleven boys aged from eleven to sixteen boarded with one of the schoolmasters, George Cobley, who lived further down Upper Brook Street in Lloran House. He was married with two daughters. There were only two servants to look after this family and the boarders - a cook and a domestic servant. Also living in the house was Emma Spencer, a school governess.

Just to the north of Oswestry School is Oswalds Well. It is said that when King Oswald was killed, an eagle tore off his arm and flew away with it. One version of the story says that the eagle dropped the arm and water gushed from the ground where it fell. Another version is that King Oswald was sitting down to a feast with Bishop Aidan when his servant entered the room and told him that there were crowds of starving people outside. Oswald immediately sent the food they were about to eat out to feed the poor and said that the silver dish was to be divided into pieces and given to them as well. The bishop then blessed Oswald’s right hand and said it would never perish. When the king was killed, the eagle which took the arm fell down dead and the spring gushed out. A handwritten note in one copy of Isaac Watkin’s Oswestry says that Oswald’s arm is in Peterborough Cathedral.

Living in one of three old timber-framed thatched cottages, known as Yales Cottages, in 1851 was widowed Mary Redrobe described as keeper of the mangle. Monday was traditionally washing day and in wet weather washing was hung around the kitchen to dry. Thank goodness for washing machines and tumble dryers!

Next door to Mary Redrobe lived another widow. Ellen Griffiths was a laundress and it seems possible that they worked together. Ellen was 41 years old and had three children. Richard and Thomas, aged 14 and 10 were errand boys. Eight year old Ellen is not described as a scholar so probably did not attend school. Also living with Ellen and her children were another widow, Elizabeth Jones, aged 77, described as a mendicant (beggar) and 33 year old Martha Jones, a dressmaker, and her baby. Martha was unmarried and was a visitor to the house. Families like these almost certainly occupied only one or two rooms in a house and life must have been incredibly difficult for them.

Another occupant was Mrs Dorothy Piozzi (Poizzi) widow of Peter. (see entry for Willow Street) These houses were demolished in 1865. Part of the land was used to enlarge Lloran House and part to widen the road.

No. 47 was for some years in the 1800s occupied by masters at the Grammar School. In 1845, Thomas Henshaw lived there. He taught writing and some years later, the occupant was Mr Rieunier, the French master. He was one of the first people in the town to ride a velocipede – a three wheeled forerunner of the tricycle with wooden wheels, rubber tyres and a high backed wicker seat.

Lloran House is believed to have been built as the town residence of the Davies family, owners of the Lloran Ganol Estate in Llansilin who occupied the house for much of the C18th. The last member of the Davies family to live there was Thomas Davies who died at the house in 1810. His widow, Elizabeth, continued to live there until her death ten years later. The property was then purchased by Edward Williams, a partner in the firm of Longueville and Williams, solicitors. Mr Williams died in 1869 but some of his children continued to live there until about 1872. In 1881 the occupant was George Cobley, schoolmaster at Oswestry School. Mr Cobley died in 1898 having spent thirty two years as a teacher at the school.