The Wellesley Arms
The Wellesley Arms public house was built in the late 18th century. It was originally a coaching inn, like the Bell Inn at the far end of the village. At the beginning of the 1800s, more than 200 years ago, it was called the Tylney Arms Inn. At that time the Lords of the Draycot Manor were the Tylney Long family. They married into the Wellesley family in 1812, and in the 1840s the pub name changed to the Wellesley Arms. It has kept the same name ever since, even though the Lord of the Manor became Lord Cowley in 1863.
The black and white postcard captioned 'JJ Hunt Calne', with people standing in front of The Wellesley, dates from 1904-1910; the landlady at this time was Mrs Louisa Sharp, who continued running it after it was bought by Wadworths following the 1920 Auction. With acknowledgements to JJHuntArchive for allowing us to use this photograph; see https://jjhuntarchive.weebly.com and also JJ Hunt’s Wiltshire Camera: One Hundred Historic Photographs of Marlborough and District
Standing in the doorway of the pub in one of the photos from the 1930s are (left) Oliver Heath, the Park Lane Baker, and (right) Graham Olds, the butcher. They are taking a break from the fancy dress parade at one of the village carnivals.
Across the road from The Wellesley, 100 years ago, there were two other farms in the village. Straight across the road was Arms Farm, named after the pub, and further along the road towards Draycot Cerne is Gate Farm.
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8 High Street
8 High Street, Rose Cottage, is a Grade II Listed Building. It was built in 1782, probably for Edward Russ. The date is shown in a crest over the front door, hidden by the ivy - it can be seen in the black & white photograph from the early 1900s
It was Lot No. 59 in the Draycot Sale in 1920.
6 High Street - Appletrees
The house now known as ‘Appletrees’, at 6 High Street, Sutton Benger, is a Grade II Listed Building; it was built in the mid-1860s. From the 1940s to the early 2020s it was the home of the Gardeners, who owned French Gardens, behind the house.
This house replaced one on the same plot, but which was closer to the road; it is shown on the 1808 and 1840 maps. (It is at #55 on the 1840 map). The house was occupied in 1808 by William Collins, and in 1840 by his son Isaac Collins; they were described as 'nurserymen'. The occupant of the new house in the 1870s was Thomas H Green, a 'Gardener', who lived at a 'House, Garden and Nursery'. It seems likely that the occupants of this house have always had some connection to the Draycot Estate gardens and nursery.
The 1920 Sale Catalogue describes the property as follows: 'Charming Residential Cottage in Chalet Style. With extensive walled-in gardens, well stocked with fruit trees.' After the house and land was sold it was bought by Henry Harris, Nurseryman, who ran it as a commercial nursery, with a retail shop in Chippenham in the 1920s and 1930s.
2-4 High Street - Box Cottages
In the early 1800s there was only one house at the location of Box Cottages; it was known as 'Box Bush' and also as 'the cottage near Spencers'. The attached 1808 map shows the western end of Sutton Benger - note that East is at the top with North to the left. #215 is The Wellesley Arms (then known as The Tylney Arms), and #218/219 are at the corner of French Gardens Lane. Box Bush is at #211, and the house at #213 was demolished to make way for Appletrees - which also took the empty plot at #212.
William Messiter, who died in 1800, was a painter and decorator, and rented several properties in the village. His son William Messiter (1771 – 1835), also a painter, was tenant of the cottage ‘near Spencers’ (aka 2/4 High Street); but then sub-let it to John Reeks of Dauntsey in March 1811.
It is possible to trace the house through various tenants and sub-tenants over the next 50 years, as the house becomes more commonly known as 'Box Bush'. But the property reverted to the Lord of Manor in 1835 when William Messiter died.
In 1851 the only occupant was Frances Hunt, aged 85, a widow. But there are two families living there in 1861: John Withers and Mrs Anne Miles. A set of leases from 1862 shows that they were each renting 'a House & Garden on the site of Box Cottage.' It therefore seems that the old 'Box Bush' house had been demolished to make way for a new pair of Estate Cottages at some time between 1851 and 1861.
The Toll House
Gate Farm, Gate Court and Gate Cottage get their names from the fact that there was a Toll Gate to the west of the village during the 1800s, when the High Street was part of a Turnpike road from Bristol to Oxford. Throughout that time there was a small Toll House on the north side of the road. The house, in the field immediately west of 2-4 High Street (Box Cottages), was demolished in the 1880s when the Turnpike system ended.
The toll gate can be seen on the 1839 map as a line across the road between #45 (now Gate Cottage) and #46 (the Toll House).