Introduction

48 High Street, known as ‘Sutton House’, has a long and quite well-documented history. It is a Grade II Listed Building, dating back to the middle of the eighteenth century. It was a draper’s / tailor’s shop in the 1800s and a butcher’s shop in the 1900s. The distinctive ‘wavy wall’ fronting on the main road was built in the 1960s and is apparently a traditional Wiltshire style of wall.
Pre-1700s

In an email to Benger Trails (October 2023) a former resident from the 1960s-1980s notes the following:

Apparently the foundations are 15th century, the building was 'sacked' (burnt down) by Cromwell and rebuilt in the 17th century.

17th - 18th Centuries

There are some collections of Sutton Benger leases from the 1700s, but there are no definitive references to this property. Other references (eg Manor Court Records) suggest that the Uncles family and/or the Arundel family may have lived here, but there is no conclusive evidence as yet.

1800s

The Great Fire of Sutton Benger; 1802

A fire broke out in Sutton Benger on 24 May 1802, probably on the south side of the High Street opposite Park Lane; the fire then spread to several houses north of the High Street and West of Park Lane. However, the records are not very precise, and it may have actually started in either 48 or 50 High Street. The Manor Court records that:

… a fire broke out in the Dwelling house of Isaac Smith being part of the leasehold premises belonging to Joseph Uncles … which destroyed these [buildings] and outhouses thereto belonging …

As noted below, the 1808 Survey shows that Isaac Smith lived on the south of the High Street in that year; the assumption is that this is where he had been in 1802. However, it is entirely possible that he had been living in 48 or 50 High Street when the fire broke out.

1808 Survey

The 1808 map of Sutton Benger has East at the top; the extract at Figure 1 shows the Church at the top centre, with ‘the Old Corner Shop’ as the building at #260, The Bell Inn at #H268, and the ‘old School House’ at #250.

The entrance to Park Lane was wider than it is today; it included the ‘Parish Pound’. 48 High Street expanded at some time, to take over some of the land at the entrance.

In 1808 Joseph Uncles leased several properties in Sutton Benger, including the two on either side of Park Lane, #256 and #258 on the 1808 map (now known as 48 and 50 High Street). He sub-let #256 to his sister, Ann Newman, a widow. The Uncles family were farmers and butchers who lived in and around Chippenham as well as in Sutton Benger; even those who lived in Chippenham came to church in Sutton Benger.

In 1808 Isaac Smith (in whose house the 1802 fire broke out) was at #265 (43 High Street).

1839 Tithe Register / 1841 Census

The 1839 Tithe Map (shown at Figure 2) has a ‘normal’ orientation with North at the top; it has a different numbering system from the 1808 map. Today’s 48 High Street is shown as #68; the house is leased to Joseph Uncles, and he has sublet to Elizabeth Davis / Davies. The 1841 Census shows that Elizabeth was 75 years old; living with her (presumably sub-sub-letting) were John Heath, a tailor, and his family.

1840-1900

Charles Pomroy

It is not clear who was living at today’s 48 High Street in 1851, but by 1861 it was Charles Pomroy, a Draper. Documents in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre dated 31 October and 1 November 1860 relate to the mortgage and life policy to secure a loan of £100 on a ‘messuage, tenement, gardens and premises’ by Charles Pomroy, Draper of Sutton Benger; he had previously been at the house now known as Gate Cottage, but probably moved to No 48 in early- / mid-1861; however, he seems to have left in the mid 1860s; he is shown in the 1871 Census in Market Lavington.

William Bilson Havell

He was replaced by William Bilson Havell, who, according to the regular Censuses and the Kelly’s Directories, was the village ‘draper and undertaker’ until about 1900. The 1872 Survey of the Draycot Estate shows conclusively that Havell was at 48 High Street; the property was let to him by The Trustees of the late Earl of Mornington ‘on a quarterly tenancy at £25 per annum’.

The 1891 Census shows Havell, aged 66, originally from Reading, with an extended family of seven, and 2 servants. His son Albert and brother-in-law William Clement are also shown as Drapers, while 17-year old Albert Russ (from Camden Town in London) was an Assistant Draper. However, by 1901 he had retired and was living in Lands End, Langley Burrell.

1900-1920

Frank Gartside

The 1901 Census shows that the village Draper was Frank Gartside, aged 39, from Rochdale; he had almost certainly moved in to No 48.

George Hall

However, by 1910 he had been replaced by George Hall, from Bristol; he was still there as tenant when the property was advertised for sale as Lot # 63 in the 1920 Auction of the Draycot Estate. It apparently did not sell at the Auction in 1920 but presumably it was eventually sold at a later date, and then became the village butcher’s shop.

The Butcher’s Shop

1930s–1980s

Graham Olds

Nesta Heath notes that ‘Mr Olds’ butcher’s shop in the 1930s ‘was right in the middle of the village … [it] was a wooden building on the front of 48 High Street, now Sutton House’. The butcher’s shop can be seen clearly in photos from the early 1900s, as an extension to the front of the house, with an awning over the pavement. The shop closed in the late 1970s and the wooden building was removed in about 1980, as can be seen in the records in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.

Graham Olds, ‘Purveyor of beef, mutton, lamb and pork’, appears in Kelly’s Directory from 1927 to 1940, and he advertised regularly in the Parish Magazine from the early 1930s. His butcher’s shop can be seen clearly in photos from the early 1900s, as an extension to the front of the house, with an awning over the pavement. A more modern photo, possibly from the 1980s, shows it without the extension.

Bill Ledingham

The butcher in the 1960s to the 1980s was Bill Ledingham; his daughter remembers that he renamed it as ‘Sutton House’. She remembers the extension, and also provided the anecdote about the possible fire in its early history. The name ‘J&W Ledingham’ is on the 1980 planning application for its removal.

The ‘wavy wall’

48 High Street is well known as ‘the house with the wavy wall’; there are many anecdotes and theories about why it has such a wall, but Bill Ledingham’s daughter remembers the following:

...the extension on the road end is exactly the same outline as the previous extension. The wall was commissioned by my dad; apparently wavy walls were traditional Wiltshire walls. The wall imperfection on the left of the entrance was a result of the builders’ lunchtime visit to the local pub. The original outbuildings were the same outline as today and included a stable.

Listed Building Details

Grade II Listed Building Listed Entry Number: 1363823

House, mid C18, painted rubble stone with stone slate roof, coped gables and end stacks. Two storeys and attic, 3-window range. Three hipped dormers with triple casements. Cyma-moulded flush mullion windows with hoodmoulds and small-paned lights, three 2- light above, 3-light, 2-light, C20 lean-to porch and door replacing a window. Flush quoins on south gable end. Rear has similar 2- light windows, two each floor and central 2-light stair window. Door in flush moulded surround to left of centre.

Listing NGR: ST9461078687