Highley Forum articles on Highley in the 20th Century

These articles deal with 20th Century village life. Topics range from the first cinema to Woodhill Cricket team in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Gothic Hall

One of the more mysterious buildings of the 20th Century in Highley was the Gothic Hall. This stood on the site of what is now Highley Garage for twenty years from 1908. It was both a hall for meetings and entertainments and also the village’s first cinema. In spite of its importance, there are no certain photographs of the outside of the building; somewhat surprising considering the number of post-cards that exist of the High Street in Highley.
The Gothic was opened in May 1908. It was built by George Edward Bache, the landlord of the New Inn (and also the Ship). It was a typical early 20th Century pre-fab; corrugated iron and timber. None-the-less, it was remembered as a very smart building. It had a particularly ornate façade, based very loosely on medieval, Gothic architecture, hence its name. For its first few years it existed as hall for hire for concerts, public meetings, private parties and also for plays put on by travelling theatrical groups. Thus in early October 1908 Hybert’s Company put on “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, “White Slave” and “The Prodigal Son” before departing for Tenbury Wells, where presumably they repeated the programme. Previously an evening at the theatre would have involved a train trip to Kidderminster or Bridgnorth; the availability of the Gothic made this much easier.
In addition to plays, there were occasional film shows; moving pictures were rapidly gaining in popularity. In January 1913 the Bridgnorth Journal announced that an application was being made by Bache for a cinematographic licence for a new building in Highley. In fact the new building never materialised; the licence was granted for the Gothic Hall which was promptly sold to Ernest Copson. Copson renamed it the “Picture Palace” and began showing films. At first attendances were poor; it seems that the projection quality left a lot to be desired. There was also a small fire within a few weeks of opening. Eventually matters improved (although not before Copson parted company with his manager, Thomas Swift) and the Picture Palace (also sometimes called the “Electric Theatre” or by its former name of the Gothic Hall) became established. It seems to have provided picture shows several nights a week and been available as meeting or concert venue at other times. In 1915 it was taken over by Hector Lightfoot who ran it with his wife and son throughout the First World War. In 1921 the cinema licence was held by Mrs Jane Lloyd and indeed throughout the 1920s the manager was her grandson, Sammy Richardson. However, shortly afterward the hall temporarily closed. It was open again by 1925 when it was owned by Messrs Hill and Evans from Stourbridge and Kidderminster. Although films were still shown, its main business seems to have been hire by travelling entertainers and for concerts and dances. Richardson lead the “Gothic Orchestra”. The end came in October 1928 when it burnt down. Around 1932 a new cinema, the Plaza, was built in its place.

The Working Men's Club

Working Men’s Clubs were established in many parts of the country towards the end of the 19th Century. They aimed to provide the facilities of a public house but run for the benefit of the club members rather than for profit. The Highley club was registered on 7th November 1899 as the “New Castle Working Men’s Club”. Its offices were at the Castle Inn but it actually met in the New Castle Building; the first house on the left as you enter Highley from Chelmarsh and built that year. The exact relationship between the owners of the Castle Inn and New Castle Building and the founders of the club remains somewhat mysterious. The aims of the club were to gives its members “the means of social intercourse, mutual helpfulness, mental and moral improvement, and rational recreation”. Membership was by election, with the annual fee fixed at 1/- and the club was to be run by a committee of nine, at least two thirds of whom had to be bone-fide working men. The original applicants were Arthur Jones, Richard East, Ambrose Goff, Louis Turner, William Poundford, Isaac Beddoe, John Philpott, John Field, Noah Lawton and William Wedgbury, the secretary. Wedgbury was soon succeeded by Arthur Jones.
The club was known in its early years as “The Canteen”. At first it did not meet with everyone’s approval. Apart from the Ship, it was the only place in the village where wine and spirits were available; the other pubs could only sell beer. In 1901, when the New Inn applied for a spirits license, one of the arguments advanced in its favour was that it would prevent the “excesses” of the club, which was not subject to the licensing laws. It was hoped that people would go to the New Inn instead of the club, forcing it to close. In 1908 the Bridgnorth Journal was forced to print an apology after quoting a Mr Yates of the Bridgnorth literary society, who spoke of 5 members at the club “turned out on the grass and during the night they got alright”. The club in fact had prohibitions against drunkeness, gambling or bad language and members were occasionally expelled. It joined with other village groups to support institutions such as Bridgnorth Hospital; a collection in 1902 raised £2-4-61/2. Far from closing after the New Inn obtained its spirits license, in 1904 it moved to a new club house in the village centre. Sister clubs were formed in Alveley and then Chelmarsh in 1907. In 1913 the club premises were extended by the construction of a new billiards room, reading and writing room, committee offices and cloak room. This extension cost £600 and the total premises were now valued at £2500; back in 1899, the starting balance was reckoned to be just £50. The club now had over 300 members. Soon a generator was installed so the club was one of the first buildings in Highley to have electricity.
Perhaps the ultimate signs of respectability were the dealings the club now had with the church and the “squire”. In 1913 the first joint Highley and Chelmarsh Club church parade was held and for several years this was an annual event. When the Rev. Shields was appointed as the new vicar of Highley, almost his first act on arriving was to join the club. John Oakley Beddard, the “squire”, spoke at the grand opening of the club extension in 1913 and after the war was frequently invited to judge the annual flower and vegetable show. New rules were issued in 1918; the document was almost twice the size as the 1899 rulebook, now with details of the finance subcommittee and other such minutiae; the club had property investments to look after. Some things had altered for the worst; membership was now 1/- per quarter; a 400% increase from 1899. The committee felt the need to introduce an extra rule, instructing that nobody was allowed in the billiard room in their “black or working clothes”, nor was smoking permitted over the table.

In a relatively short period, the Working Men’s club had transformed itself from “The Canteen”, a disreputable drinking den hidden on the very edge of the parish, into one of the village establishments.

Woodhill Cricket Club

[Article written by George Poyner, member of Woodhill CC]

I have recently bought a book about the history of Bridgnorth Cricket Club and it makes very interesting reading. It made me stop and think about Woodhill Cricket Club, the team I used to play for in my younger days. I think it started about 1927, when they used to play on Woodhill Farm in Highley, hence the name. As a child before the war I used to go down to the field to watch them play. They had a nice wooden pavilion and it was very nice sitting out in the country. The players usually gave us children the “left-overs” from their tea; that was probably the main attraction in those days. A slice of cake or an sandwich was always welcome! One of the old teams dismissed Arley for 4 runs! The team folded in the war.
We started up again about 1948. We had no ground or pavilion and so we could only play away matches. Then we managed to get a piece of ground down by Smoke Alley and the fun started. We had to dig the ground with spades, roll it and seed it to make a good wicket. Then we had to fence it with steel posts and barbed wire to keep the animals out. We had a wooden shed at first to house our push-mower in, then when we had managed to get some funds I built a new pavilion, with a little help from the other players. After about 2 or 3 years the farmer wanted the ground back and so we had to find another place. Our next stop was Netherton Farm, where the golf course now is. Of course, the pavilion had to be dismantled and moved, causing a lot of damage as it was asbestos. We struggled on and put it all together again and made another cricket pitch fit to play on, for another 2 years. Then the farmer moved us on again to a field on the other side of the road but we left the pavilion where it was and put a gate in the corner of the field so we could get through to it. All went well for about another 2 years then the new landlord at the Malt Shovel started to play for us. He decided that we would be better off by playing on one of his fields! So once again the pavilion had to be moved and another pitch prepared. We purchased turf for it this time and had a bulldozer in to level the field. We had our teas at the pub and of course the players would go there for a drink afterwards, so it was extra trade for the landlord. The only trouble was that he was not a very good cricketer but we had to pick him to stay in his good books! We stayed here until the team folded through the players getting older; some were in their late 60s.
We used to have some good games playing all the local teams. Most of the villages had teams in those days and we also played sides from Birmingham and Wolverhampton. We often had 3 or 4 players from one family; I played with my brothers Ray, Des (slogger) and Geoff. The photo shows the team in about 1950. We used to play in the Bridgnorth Knock-out and the Highley Knock-out, holding our own against most of the country teams. We made some good friends and had many enjoyable matches.

Miss Newey's School

Mention “private schools” to most people and it will conjuror up visions of places such as Harrow or Eton, or “prep” schools. I suspect many would be surprised to learn that between the wars, Highley boasted a private school that educated a number of well-known villagers.

A Miss Caroline Newey appears to have arrived in Highley at the end of the First World War. Initially she rented “Waroona”, the large house on the bank between Clee View and Garden Village and usually the home of the various village doctors. I do not know where she came from or why she moved to Highley, but she started a school, presumably at Waroona. In the early 1920s she moved to the Stonehouse, just up the lane behind Waroona. This had originally been a farm but its land had been sold when Garden Village was built. She now ran the school from the house. Most of her pupils came from Garden Village; the County school was at the other end of Highley and a long walk away (as I can testify from personal experience!). Garden Village mainly housed miners but the area had its own shops, pubs and of course was surrounded by the much older farms. Quite a few of her pupils seem to have been sons or daughters of the local tradesmen or farmers, although some mining families also sent their children there.

Miss Newey obviously made a reasonable living, for her school was still flourishing in the early 1930s. I am very grateful to Mrs Marion Breakwell (nee Pearce) for lending me the photo below, showing the school in about 1930. The children are of all ages; I assume Agnes Elcock worked for Miss Newey as a helper. Shortly after this picture was taken, my father George Poyner started at the school; living in Garden Village it was much easier for him to get to than down the village. After he had been at the school about a year it closed; judging by the appearance of Miss Newey in the photo, I imagine she had decided to retire. This must have been in about 1933. All George can recall is playing with a train set in the class room; in fairness, that is pretty well all I can remember of my first year at Highley school over 30 years later!

The New Road, Highley

The "New" Road is today the main road south from Highley. However, as its name suggests, it is a comparatively recent addition to the local road network, dating from 1930

Before the New Road was built, there was simply a track heading south past the churchyard, eventually meandering out into some fields near the river. The main road to Bewdley and Cleobury was via Borle Mill. This must have posed quite a challenge to horse and carts and was frequently quite beyond the capabilities of the early motorised vehicles. It was a common occurrence for cars, lorries and buses to get stuck on the bank. Some incidents were more dramatic; in 1919 the steam roller belonging to Cleobury Mortimer District Council (who were responsible for Highley) ran away down the bank and collided with the bridge, doing considerable damage in the process. It is likely that losses to the municipal pocket weighed more heavily with local councillors than the misfortunes of the private motorist; in 1925 the District Council applied to the Ministry of Transport for a grant to construct a new road out of the village on easier gradients. The cost was estimated at £27,500 and the Ministry would pay 75% of this. Whilst the council doubtless calculated that the road was needed purely on grounds of transport, they must also have been aware that it would also create new jobs in the village. I suspect that the scheme was soon taken over by the County Council. Plans were drawn up at one stage for a second road leading to a bridge over the River Severn, but these were soon abandoned leaving just the link out of Highley.

Work seems to have started in 1927, under the supervision of Mr Bradley. Stone was obtained from quarries near Kinlet on the line of the road and also apparently by reopening a riverside quarry at Stanley. This was brought close to the site of construction either by lorry or horse and cart. The Highley Mining Company’s railway leading to the old Billingsley Colliery was also used for transport as it crossed the site of the road in Kinlet. At the point of working there was a temporary narrow gauge railway, used to bring stone to the site or move spoil away. The harder rock was removed by blasting but much work was carried out by hand. Once the embankments and cuttings had been formed, the road surface was made with a steam roller. There were two substantial bridges, one over the Borle Brook and then almost immediately afterwards a second over the colliery railway.

The Highley men employed on the project continued to live locally. However there was a living van parked at Kinlet; presumably specialist workmen such as the steam roller driver lived here during the course of the week. Local hauliers benefited especially from the work. The New Road was particularly important in helping the Whittle business; a lorry was used for haulage for most of the time but was swept out, covered with a tarpaulin and then driven by the late Frank Jones to take Clee Hill miners home from Kinlet and Highley pits. This was the start of Go Whittle coaches!.

The bridge over the Borle Brook was underway in May 1930, in spite of delays over the spring due to heavy rain. At the end of September 1930 it was announced that the road would be open the next month. As far as I know, this did indeed happen, with very little ceremony

The Wheelwright

Of all the country craftsmen, it is perhaps the wheelwright who is best associated with a vision of vanished rural England. There is something particularly evocative and timeless about this rural woodworker, making and maintaining the farm carts and wagons that kept the countryside moving in former times.

The craft of the wheelwright is certainly both ancient and important; by the end of the Middle Ages he had evolved from the general carpenter with his special skill in making wheels and from then until after the First World War almost every village would have a wheelwright, often working closely with the blacksmith.

I have recently been fortunate enough to look over a series of ledgers kept by one local wheelwright, John Derricutt. John was born around 1869 and his father was an important farmer, related by marriage to the Jordan family, the “squires” of Highley. John did not follow his father into farming but instead became apprenticed to a wheelwright, setting up in business in Billingsley in 1889 at the Bind Farm, which his father then worked. Within a few years, John had moved to Highley, to Borle Mill. There he combined the roles of miller with wheelwright. John Harley was the long-established wheelwright in the village, living at Rose Cottage in the village centre. However, following Harley’s death in 1909, John seems to have bought the business and moved to Rose Cottage, where he remained until his death in the 1950s, latterly working in partnership with his son, Leslie.

The ledgers show the work that John undertook. It covered a wide variety. Initially he concentrated on the traditional business of making and repairing carts and wagons. A brand new cart before the First World War would cost around £10. A flat-bedded wagon would cost twice this. Whilst he might get a couple of orders a year for new vehicles, most of his wheelwrighting involved repair of existing ones. Wheels needed regular maintenance; new tyres, spokes or rims (felloes). The sides of the carts were built up with struts and planks (rathes and the cratch) so they could carry extra loads and these frequently needed replacing. He also maintained the floats of the village tradesmen and the traps that were the equivalent of the family saloons.

Most wheelwrights also undertook general carpentry and John was no exception. He was fortunate to be in business when the village was turning itself into a small town. Whilst he did not build houses, he was kept busy with a host of repair and maintenance jobs, both for householders and shopkeepers. In 1909 he had a particularly large job, rebuilding a barn for the village squire. Soon after that, the Billingsley Colliery Company began building a new colliery, railway and houses, and he found regular work cutting timber for the company’s main contractors or repairing their plant. He did not restrict himself to carpentry, also doing plumbing, glazing and mechanical repairs. Like many country carpenters, he was also an undertaker.

Whilst John was in some ways the typical traditional wheelwright, his accounts show how he adapted to changing times. As an apprentice, he would have had to make everything he sold; working in Highley before the First World War he found it much more cost-effective to purchase items such as wheel hubs or spokes from specialist merchants in Kidderminster, Bridgnorth or Shrewsbury. These would arrive within a day on the train. He was shrewd enough to turn his business from a wheelwrights in the 1900s to that of a general builder in the 1950s. He readily adopted powered woodworking machinery. His business in the 1950s was very different from the one he started in 1889.