Thornbury and District Museum

Thornbury and District Museum The Museum started in 1986, is managed by Thornbury and District Heritage Trust and run by volunteers. Suburbs include Morton and Thornbury Park.

It is dedicated to researching, preserving & displaying the history of Thornbury & District Thornbury is a market town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire approximately 12 miles from Bristol. One of its main features is Thornbury Castle, a Tudor structure begun in 1511 for Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. Henry VIII stayed there for ten days in 1535 with Anne Boleyn. The civil parish

includes the hamlet of Milbury Heath. It is a Britain in Bloom winner and has its own competition, Thornbury in Bloom.
1702 is the earliest record known of the building which now houses the Thornbury & District Museum when it was occupied by Innholder Anthony Powell. Later tenants were members of the Bayliss family, carriers, haulers and coal merchants. In 1888 the house was described as in Rotten Row and was occupied by William Clark a master cordwainer. From about 1891 to 1900 a basket maker, George Poole lived here. In 1901 it was purchased from the trustees of the Grammar School by Francis James Williams a surveyor and sanitary inspector. In 1907 Alfred Burrows, boot & shoe maker, lived in the house until his death in 1925. By 1926 it was occupied by the Bartlett’s who ran a butcher’s shop. In the 1950’s & early 1960’s, known tenants were Raymond Salisbury and Mildred Bayntun. The museum was started in 1986 to house a collection of artefacts bequeathed to The Thornbury Society and rapidly expanded. It is managed by the Thornbury & District Heritage Trust, a registered charity as well as a Trust company, and is supported by South Gloucestershire Council and Thornbury Town Council. It is an independent museum and financed by grants and donations.

1. Tytherington Families Charles Fry wife Ellen & Family2. Tytherington Families Charles Fry, wife Ellen, Children Char...
13/03/2025

1. Tytherington Families Charles Fry wife Ellen & Family

2. Tytherington Families Charles Fry, wife Ellen, Children Charles, Elsie, Lucy, Hilda in front of F***y, on stool Jack c1904

3. Tytherington Families Squire Hardwicke Lloyd Hardwicke, Rev Arkle & Tytherington Band c1906

4. Tytherington Skuse Family

1. Thornbury Station Staff c19222. Thornbury Station Staff Undated3. Thornbury Station mid-20th Century4. Thornbury Stat...
13/03/2025

1. Thornbury Station Staff c1922

2. Thornbury Station Staff Undated

3. Thornbury Station mid-20th Century

4. Thornbury Station 1936

Thornbury Station stood on what is now Midland Way named for the railway company. The platform & its buildings stood on the land where a row of houses (nos 2-16) are now built. The railway line was a small single-track line that ran where the footpath from Midland Way is now, which explains why it is on an embankment.

As it had only a single track, there had to be a turntable so that the engine could be turned around. The line ran to Tytherington & thence to Yate where passengers could change for the mainline & so it was unable to compete with the bus to Bristol which always took a con-siderably more direct route.

Thornbury’s first station master was appointed in 1873 & the station masters house was home to six station masters before the Davis family lived there. The property was demolished c1979.

Views of Thornbury from a Crane UndatedPhotos taken from a crane that was in Rock St when the sheltered housing complex ...
13/03/2025

Views of Thornbury from a Crane Undated

Photos taken from a crane that was in Rock St when the sheltered housing complex was built on the site of the police station.

Does anyone have a date for this please?

1. Fudge, Bert2. Fudge, Bert House No 4 Castle St3. Fudge, Bert ObituaryThe obituary of Bert Fudge who lived at 4 Castle...
12/03/2025

1. Fudge, Bert

2. Fudge, Bert House No 4 Castle St

3. Fudge, Bert Obituary

The obituary of Bert Fudge who lived at 4 Castle St until his death in 1974 gives a vivid description of the levels of unemployment in Thornbury in the 1930s.

Davis, Charlie 1979In 1979 Charlie Davis, well-known local builder, celebrated his 100th year by kicking off a charity f...
12/03/2025

Davis, Charlie 1979

In 1979 Charlie Davis, well-known local builder, celebrated his 100th year by kicking off a charity football match at the Mundy playing fields.

Castle St Fairfield House 1970
12/03/2025

Castle St Fairfield House 1970

Thornbury Youth Club Undated
11/03/2025

Thornbury Youth Club Undated

1. Awkley former Ebenezer Chapel dated to 1850 now known as The Vine Pilning St. 2. Awkley Manor Farm Possibly 1940sStep...
11/03/2025

1. Awkley former Ebenezer Chapel dated to 1850 now known as The Vine Pilning St.

2. Awkley Manor Farm Possibly 1940s
Stephen Bamfield sent this photo. William Carpenter is holding the horse. He was a carter at the Stephens family home, Manor Farm, Awkley. Williams son Ted, a general farm worker is on the left & Boyce Stephens who became Tenant of Manor Farm on the right.

1. Thornbury in Bloom 2002 (Evening Post)TIB won a Gold Medal in South West In Bloom. Sandi Shallcross and Jean Owen at ...
11/03/2025

1. Thornbury in Bloom 2002 (Evening Post)
TIB won a Gold Medal in South West In Bloom. Sandi Shallcross and Jean Owen at The Pump.

2. Thornbury in Bloom 2007 (Gazette)
TIB Tree Planting the year TIB won a Gold Medal in South West In Bloom.
Back: ?, Tony Sansum, Joan Tuck, Rita Freed, Judith Payne (Chairman), ?
Front: Sandi Shallcross, Val Gregory, Linda Peer, Jean Owen, Fran Sparrow.

3. Thornbury in Bloom 2007 (Gazette)

4. Thornbury in Bloom 2008
TIB Team Photo after winning Gold Medal, Sargent Cup and Sponsors Cup for Best in the South West.
TIB Team: Syd Philp, Jean Owen, Joan Tuck, Sue Aitken, Sue Horsfall, Fran Sparrow, Tony Sansum and seven members of the South Glos Street Care Team.

1. Tytherington Lime Kiln Poem by Tytherington Poet Alice Johnson2. Tytherington Lime Kiln Makeover 20173. Tytherington ...
10/03/2025

1. Tytherington Lime Kiln Poem by Tytherington Poet Alice Johnson

2. Tytherington Lime Kiln Makeover 2017

3. Tytherington Lime Kiln Makeover 2017

4. Tytherington Lime Kiln Makeover 2017

There have been a number of Lime Kilns in the village over the years but only one remains & it can be found along Baden Hill Road.

Lime was extensively used earlier, as a constituent of mortar in building; as a moderator of acidity in fields that had been over-grazed; as whitewash in keeping farms & cottages especially dairies, clean & hygienic; as a sweetener for privies, in ridding hides of unwanted fur & as quicklime for burying dead animals. Built about 1845 the lime kiln fell into complete disrepair but was restored in the late 1980's thanks mainly to the indefatigable efforts of the late Ted Oakey, with many other villagers lending a hand.

Thirty years after the Tytherington Lime Kiln restoration in 1987 Mother Nature was gradually taking back the kiln & in March 2017 an intrepid group of villagers gave the kiln a much needed 'make-over' & returned it to its former glory. Thank you to them!

In January 1987 villager Ambrose Johnson recalled his memories of lime kilns in Tytherington when giving a talk to the Local History Group:-

Well, it's pretty obvious that in Tytherington never underestimate our forefathers - by golly they had it there & they realised that as they were cultivating the land it had to be purified. They were putting muck in & it would get sour so they had to do something about it, & so what happened? Tytherington had limestone so you burnt lime or you burnt stone to get lime. Well now I know about four (limekilns) in Tytherington or where there has been four, although Ted Oakey thinks there were seven.

Well, you will see one under Tytherington Hill which is nearly hit to pieces (now restored) there was one going up Stowell Hill towards the Vicarage, there was one on Itchington Field, there was one in Mr Matthews field up towards the slope of Baden Hill & I believe there is quite a strong possibility there was one up the New Road where you'll see a dip by Ernest Matthew's sheds in there in the wood. So, lime & stone was being burnt in Tytherington, & that was making lime for purifying the land so the seasons could go on. So that was the start. Frank Pitt told me that in the records of the Church there was something about a sailor being found along by the lime kiln in Tytherington in the middle of the 17th century. Well, it's obvious that lime kilns go way back.

1. The Vicarage Thornbury c19002. The Vicarage Thornbury Undated3. The Vicarage Thornbury Canon Cornwall & Family Undate...
10/03/2025

1. The Vicarage Thornbury c1900

2. The Vicarage Thornbury Undated

3. The Vicarage Thornbury Canon Cornwall & Family Undated

4. The Vicarage Thornbury Canon Cornwall Bible Class Undated

The old vicarage was long the subject of complaints, the most colourful of which was made in 1767 by Rev William Holwell against the Steward of the Manor James Vaughan…

… who 'has made the Church Way, & the King’s Highway, & part of the Green before the Church, the Common Receptacle of all the Filth of the Town’.

Ancient water courses (contrary to express laws) have been stopped up, which used either to receive part of the washings, or decently to carry off the remainder into one of your Grace’s grounds, called the Pitties. Thus, the King’s Highway is destroyed, & the Church insulted; my house is become offensive & the whole Parish scandalized by an instance not to be paralleled in this Kingdom. The Filth thus collected, & after some months offensive continuance, dug out, & laid in heaps by the Church & before my windows'.

We don't know how long sewage was heaped in front of the church & the vicarage windows, but it wasn't until 1898 that the vicarage underwent a huge rebuild & refurbishment.

Alan Whitmore Cornwall was vicar from 1899.

1. Knole Park Entrance Lodge Undated2. Knole Park Entrance Lodge 1992
10/03/2025

1. Knole Park Entrance Lodge Undated

2. Knole Park Entrance Lodge 1992

Address

4 Chapel Street
Bristol
BS352AR

Opening Hours

Tuesday 1pm - 4pm
Wednesday 1pm - 4pm
Friday 1pm - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

01454 857774

Website

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