5 bedroom Detached House for sale,

Hill Road, Clevedon, North Somerset, BS21

Woodspring House was first owned by Thomas Barrett, who ran a boarding school there, I assume for boys, until 1850, when Mr Joseph Cottle rented the house from him as a boarding house. It was run by his wife, Mary Cottle until the couple then built Stancliffe in Wellington Terrace and opened a boarding house there.

After the mid-1850s, William Green was renting Woodspring House, and his wife Mary Green, was in charge of the lodging business there. William himself was already a noted builder in Clevedon, to be followed by his son William A Green, who was born in 1855. Between them they have an amazing list of public buildings and private houses to their names, including the pier tollhouse, St John's church, the bandstand, Jesmond Road and Station Road. Their tenders were always very fair.

Staying in 1861 were a music teacher, printer's compositor and a lady with two daughters and her cousin. With Mr Green, his wife, three children and a general servant living there, the house was well filled.

William's older brother Thomas ran Woodspring as a lodging house after a few years and continued until a Mrs Edwin Caswell, Elizabeth Caswell, took over in the early 1870s. By 1875, the house was once again a boarding school, this time run by Mr Frederick Todd, a boys' school for day pupils and boarders. In 1877, he was advertising in the Bristol Mercury: 'Woodspring School Clevedon, on the Bristol Channel. Thorough tuition, combined with home comforts and Christian training. Terms moderate and inclusive. Principal Mr F Todd.'.

This enterprise only lasted a few years, and the house was taken by Felicia and Louise Vaughan, sisters in their early fifties who had private means. The census of 1881 shows that the two kept a cook and a housemaid, Sarah Backer and Annie Hopkins. The house had eleven rooms with four persons rattling about in it!

Ten years later, a retired grocer from Berkshire, Thomas Field, lived at the house with two of his grown-up grandchildren staying. He kept a cook, Emily Yeeles and a general servant Rose Parsley. This pattern remained in places, private families living at the house, in 1906 Mr Field was sharing with Miss Highmore. In 1911, Miss Alice Long, a lady in private means again, was at the house with two servants, a cook, Mary Draper Miles, and housemaid Daisy Stock.

The last traceable occupants are the Misses Le Marchant, Mary, Eleanor and Emily, who moved to the house after the Great War and stayed until at least 1939, when they are listed in the England and Wales Register as living on private means – no surprises there. They have a domestic living with them, Margaret Burgess.

We are aware the property was then split into 3 flats (one over two floors) – we have an old plan of the layout – hence the 3 entrances (both sides and the rear). When we bought it in 2018 it was a tenanted 3 bed flat at lower ground floor and a 5-bed house above. We returned it to a family house and have transformed the garden.

Woodspring House, 17 Hill Road, Clevedon BS21 7NE - The History by Jane Lilly - 3rd January 2021

IMPORTANT NOTE TO POTENTIAL PURCHASERS:
We endeavour to make our particulars accurate and reliable, however, they do not constitute or form part of an offer or any contract and none is to be relied upon as statements of representation or fact. The services, systems and appliances listed in this specification have not been tested by us and no guarantee as to their operating ability or efficiency is given. All photographs and measurements have been taken as a guide only and are not precise. Floor plans where included are not to scale and accuracy is not guaranteed. If you require clarification or further information on any points, please contact us, especially if you are travelling some distance to view. Fixtures and fittings other than those mentioned are to be agreed with the seller.