Southbroom House, Devizes School (geograph 5922226)

Southbroom House is an 18th-century Grade II* listed house in

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

, Wiltshire, England. The house and its grounds were bought by

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county. As a result of the 2009 restructur ...

in 1925 for use as a school, and today the house forms part of Devizes School, the town's secondary school.

History

The Southbroom area, south-east of Devizes town centre, was part of

Bishops Cannings Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate (not to be confused with Coate, Swindon) and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little Ho ...

parish until boundary changes in 1894 and 1934 brought it into the town. The first known owner of Southbroom House was John Drew (or Trew), a wealthy clothier from Devon. When John Drew occupied the estate in 1501 it consisted of the house, a dovehouse, a small park, orchards, and gardens. A small pond was thought to have existed on the estate at that time although this was not shown in later records. This could have some connection with Drews Pond, which is on the outskirts of Devizes. The estate passed to John Drew's grandson who was also called John. When he died in 1614, the estate passed to his son, Robert. For unknown reasons Sir Charles Lloyd burnt down the house in 1645. Robert died in the fire leaving the dovehouse, etc., to his widow Elizabeth. Their son, John Drew, died soon after inheriting the estate, leaving the remaining property to his widow who, in 1664, married Sir Henry Andrews, 1st Baronet, of

Lathbury Lathbury is a village and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is just to the north of Newport Pagnell and just outside the Milton Keynes urban area. History The village name is an Old English language word, ...

. The bulk of the estate stayed in the Drew family until 1680 when it was bought by John Eyles, a London merchant, who was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

for part of 1688. In 1773, a new house was built on the original site by Edward Eyles, with imported Bath labour. A fire occurred in the new building in 1779 but did not destroy the whole house. The property descended to Edward's daughter Maria who married

George Heathcote George Heathcote (7 December 1700 – 7 June 1768) was an English merchant and philanthropist and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1747. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1742. Early life He was born in Jamaica, the so ...

of London. Maria was born on 12 June 1706; she married in 1724 and died in 1792. She is buried in St John's Church cemetery in Devizes. George Heathcote became

in 1742. Devizes School, which now occupies Southbroom House, is organised into four houses, one of which is called Heathcote House, another 18th-century house nearby. George and Maria's son Josiah Eyles Heathcote died in 1811 and the estate was sold in 1812 to William Salmon. The park (then 22 acres) was by this time encircled by trees and rare plants and adorned by ‘romantic' walls. The whole estate while in the possession of William Salmon amounted to . William was succeeded by W. W. Salmon, who left the town in 1828. Then or later the whole estate was sold to

George Watson-Taylor George Watson-Taylor (1771 – 6 Jun 1841), of Saul's River, Jamaica, was the fourth son of George Watson. From 1810 he was the husband of Anna Susana Taylor, the daughter of Jamaican planter Sir John Taylor, 1st Baronet, and heiress of her brothe ...

Erlestoke Erlestoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain. The village lies about east of Westbury and the same distance southwest of Devizes. Erlestoke Prison, the only prison in Wiltshire, is wit ...

. Some accounts say that his son Simon Watson-Taylor was the occupier in 1880 but other accounts say that it was owned by

Robert Parry Nisbet Robert Parry Nisbet JP DL (1793 – 31 May 1882) was a British public man. He was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1849, from 1852 a Deputy Lieutenant for the county, and Conservative Member of Parliament for Chippenham from a by-election in 1856 t ...

(1793–1882) who owned the estate in 1841, and is referenced to live there on the occasion of his marriage in 1847. His crest is on one of the two lodges, the other of which was demolished in 1968. In 1913 and 1914, R. H. Caird owned the property. He left the town and sold the estate, which then consisted of the house, a private golf course, a park with a small maze, and rare trees and plants to Sir Horace Westropp McMahon. The next owners of the house were

, who bought it in 1926. They were succeeded by

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

in 2009.

The house

In the days when the Eyles family owned the house the attics had one main use, to provide a place to sleep for the servants. Each night the butler would bring a ladder to the attic entrance so that the servants could go up to their room to sleep. He would then remove it until the following morning when again he would bring the ladder and allow the servants to get down. The house consisted of a dining hall, library, study, drawing room, servants quarters, morning room, bedrooms, bathroom and conservatory. Also there were extensive gardens and shrubberies. The house was considerably altered and extended in the 19th and 20th centuries for use as part of a school. The original building dating mainly from 1773 is of

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

and consists of a two-story central block flanked by much lower service wings. The wings have been considerably altered but retain a few original round-headed openings on the ground floor with some oval windows above. The house was recorded as

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1954.

Schools

purchased Southbroom House in 1925, together with of grounds. The house was adapted as a senior school for children over the age of eight in the southern part of the town. The adjacent Heathcote House, formerly the private Devizes Grammar School from 1874 to 1919, was used as the Headmaster's residence of the new school, and in 1929 a large classroom at the rear was adapted as a Domestic Science Room. By 1930, there was a 'housecraft centre' near the school and a large garden for the pupils to work in. In 1936, a new block was added to the Heathcote House section to form a Handicraft Centre and Science Laboratory. The school continued to expand and in 1937 a kitchen and canteen were opened to provide hot dinners for the children. Early in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the school's buildings were converted into a reception and dispersal centre for evacuees. The Devizes Day Nursery was built in the grounds as an emergency measure; this became redundant in 1947 and provided extra accommodation for the school. In 1949, the school became a

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually ...

with the name of Southbroom Secondary School. In 1950, there were 452 pupils and numbers rose to 590 aged between 8 and 15 by 1954. The school was considered too small and was enlarged in 1956, and again in 1964. In 1969 Southbroom Secondary School was merged with Devizes Grammar School to form Devizes Comprehensive School, which later became Devizes School. As of 1980, Southbroom House was used mainly for school staff offices and the staff common room.

Sources

References

* The History of Wiltshire, Volumes 5 and 7. * Wiltshire Archaeological Society, History of Devizes, Volume 5. * Chronicles of Devizes by Waylen, 1839.

External links

Images of Southbroom House, front
https://web.archive.org/web/20071010082500/http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gallery/school/devizes_picF0042.jpg and rear] {{coord, 51, 21, 2.09, N, 1, 59, 14.38, W, display=title, type:landmark_region:GB Country houses in Wiltshire Grade II listed buildings in Wiltshire Devizes Grade II listed houses