The Fry family tree can be traced back to the late 1400s in Corston. The first member of the family to settle in Sutton Benger was William Fry (born about 1627); he and his immediate family were clothiers (cloth makers).

William's great grandson John Fry (1701-1775) became a Quaker; he married Mary Storrs in about 1727-1728. (Mary's sister Martha married John's brother Richard.) John is credited with having built the house that eventually became 5/6 Seagry Road; at one time it was licensed for use as a Quaker Meeting House.

There is a carving above a door in La Flambé which shows F - J M - 1726; it is understood that it represents John and Mary Fry and that it commemorates the building of the house. Although John and Mary are not believed to have been married at that time.

Joseph Fry (1728-1787) was John's son; he moved to Bristol and started the business that became Fry's Chocolates.

There are various documents in the archives which show members of the family with property and land in the village. They had land north west of Seagry Road, plus a 'messuage' and the land known as 'Rack Close' until the early 1800s. The 1808 Survey of Sutton Benger shows the main house (and an outhouse / barn) marked as P293; the Survey confirms that the occupant at that time was William Fry; this was William (1768-1858), the grandson of John and Mary. The Fry family presumably left the village between 1808 and 1830. (An Edward Fry had the lease on Ross Cottage in 1839, but he is not believed to be directly related to this family.) A lease dated 1830 shows a transfer of the land and house to Richard Hull, who set up his Emporium in the 'Fry house'.

There were quite a large number of people called 'Hull' in the villages around Sutton Benger in the early 1800s; Richard Hull (born 1781) was from Christian Malford, and took over the lease of the 'Fry house' in 1830. By 1839 he also had the lease of the house that became Park View (20 High Street). Richard was living at 5/6 Seagry Road and trading as a grocer; his son Thomas was at 20 High Street and trading as a draper.

The 1848 entry in Kelly's Directory shows 'Richard Hull; Grocer, spirit merchant and cheese factor' but by 1851 the business was being run by Richard's son Joseph, assisted by younger brother Richard (born 1823); their housekeeper was their elder sister Mary Ann.

By 1861 Joseph was running the business alone; he was a widower, with 4 children under the ages of 8, and sister Mary Ann was still his housekeeper. His two sons Richard (born 1855) and Joseph (born 1859) followed him into the business. They were shown as 'Grocers and Wine & Spirit Merchants and Cheese Factors' by 1881. Joseph married in the 1880s and moved into the new 'Park View' house at 20 High Street, while Richard remained on Seagry Road. At about this time they expanded by taking the Hazelwood Farm farmhouse on the opposite side of the road.

In the early 1900s Joseph moved to Bristol to start up his own business as a wine merchant in Clifton. Richard carried on running the family emporium, and was Chairman of the Parish Council, until his death in late 1919.

With thanks to Richard Palusinski for the photo of his wine flagon.

The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC) has several documents, catalogued as WSHC 2816/155/80, which relate to the legal history of The Vintage Inn from the 1860s to 1926. These appear to show that the building subsequently known as The Vintage was being let to Joseph Hull in August 1866. The terms of his Last Will and Testament show that the property went to his daughter Frances Ann Hull in December 1875, and then to his sons Richard and Joseph Hull, when they ‘came of age’, to ‘carry on the trade or business of wine and spirit merchant’.

One of the ‘Wadworth’s documents’ in the WSHC shows the extent of the property leased by Joseph Hull in 1866. The numbers are the same as the Tithe numbers:

• 83 Nos 5/6 on the east of Seagry Road
• 161 Stanhill
• 82 House opposite Nos 5/6 Seagry Road, Hazelwood Farmhouse
• Pt 86 Land around Hazelwood Farmhouse, to the north and west
• 93 Buildings just off Seagry Road, to the north of Hazelwood Farmhouse
• 94 Large field west of Seagry Road and south of the Brook.

Following the death of Richard Hull, the property went first (in September 1919) to Dennis Cottrell. It then went (in September 1920) to Alfred Britton, Baker and Provision Merchant, and Florence Louise Bull, wife of Frank Bull of Sutton Benger, carrying on business as Baker and Provision Merchants, ‘under the style of Alfred Britton & Co’.

Alfred Britton was already ‘the Sutton Benger Baker’ in Park Lane; however, his involvement in the Seagry Road property was short-lived; the property was sold to George Grant Stevenson in February 1921; he then seems to have sold it back to Florence Louise Bull (wife of Frank Bull, Grocer), in July 1922, who possibly paid for it by taking a loan from F H Allen of Church Farm.

Despite the earlier reference to Frank Bull ‘of Sutton Benger’ and the later reference to him as a ’grocer’, there is no record of him in the 1911 Census or earlier. Nor is there any reference to him in any of the Kelly’s or Parish Magazines of the 1910s or 1920s. However, Kelly’s of 1923 does show that Mrs Florence Louise Bull was then the landlady of The Vintage Inn. But possibly not very successful; she seems to have had to take out several mortgages / loans over the years 1923-1926. The final document in this series is a draft sale agreement.

The documents seem to show that the building that is now ‘The Cedars’ and ‘La Flambé’ was sub-divided prior to the purchase by Wadworths, who presumably bought the property in 1926.

The plan of the building also shows that there was originally no car park between The Vintage and the field known as Church Piece - just a footpath leading to Barrett Lane and the fields east of the village.