By Mike Chapman
Print
Email
At the extreme western end of the High Street, the road to Newton originally climbed up the slope in front of the Full Moon, into the present churchyard, where it passed between a complex of buildings known as Church Row. Mid 14th century references to ‘… a certain bakehouse … in Twerton lying between the churchyard and the way leading towards Newton …’, and ‘… a cottage with adjoining courtyard called Churchcote there …’ indicate that this site had been occupied from earliest times and is therefore of particular archaeological interest. When the turnpike road was diverted in the 1830s the houses on the north side of Church Row were demolished and replaced with new buildings on the site of the old road next to the remaining houses. However, by 1900 most of these buildings were derelict and after WWI were demolished for the enlargement of the churchyard. The churchyard had already been closed for burials in 1881, so in 1920 the ground was merely backfilled for the erection of the war memorial. 
How Hill Cottages, remnant of Church Row, cut off by the How Hill road.
The old lane to Newton ran along the front of the cottages. 
The old house which once stood at the eastern end of Church Row, facing
into the churchyard. The steps, right, and gravestones still remain. 
Another old house in Church Row, below the churchyard. The alleyway by
the garden wall (the photograph is torn here), was formerly part of the
old lane to Newton. 
The high retaining wall between the old houses shown above, together
with the back of the eastern house (left) and the garden wall of the
other (right). In the fore-ground is the alleyway, formerly the old
road, and in the distance the feint outlines of the church tower is
just visible. 
The houses in Church Row built in the 1830s on the top of the old
Newton lane after it was replaced by the new Bristol road, on the
right. Beyond, are the houses in How Hill, built across the new road
when it too was closed in c.1840. Left, can be seen the gable end of
the old house which faced toward the churchyard, masked by the later
houses. Coming into view, extreme left, is the corner of the Sunday
School. 
A view of the same buildings, with the narrow alleyway which was all
that remained of the old lane to Newton. In the foreground can be seen
the pitching of the causeway along the front of Church Buildings. 
An anonymous drawing of the northern entrance steps and arch into the
churchyard, opened up in the1830s. Visible on the right are the houses
in Church Row, and below, the pitching of the causeway.
View Comments (0)
|
