Opposite the bottom of Shophouse Lane, on the east side of the chapel car-park, was a hedge which in the early 19th century marked the boundary between Poole’s Buildings and the pasture grounds and orchards adjoining the river which surrounded a large house belonging to the owner of the Upper Mill. This house is shown on Brunel’s railway plan of 1833 on what was eventually to become the site of Twerton Railway Station. In 1825 however, the house and adjoining grounds had already been sold off for development, and four dwellings were built on the site of nos.1-4, with a large malthouse at the back. When the railway was built, most of the malthouse was demolished but part of the remainder to the north of the line was extended and enlarged into the present maltings building on the Bristol Road, now occupied by the Somer housing trust. The four houses which remained on the south side of the station, soon became known as Railway Terrace. On the adjoining plot next to Poole’s Buildings, another rank of dwellings (confusingly known as Newman’s Buildings) had also been built, but most of these were demolished by the railway, except for five grouped inside a walled yard next to the road. In about 1905 these were also demolished and replaced with four new houses fronting the road (nos.5 to 8), but during the air raid in January 1941 the pair at the western end were destroyed, leaving only the present nos.5 and 6. The empty space was filled in with the present no.7 in the 1990s.

All the houses in Railway Terrace appear to have been used as small shops from the outset. The largest of these was no.4 which served as the ‘Ring o’Bells public house from the early 1850s until its conversion to a dwelling in 1964. Number 3, which still retains its facia board and window frame, was initially an ironmongery, followed by a furniture dealers and, from 1914 to its closure at the end of WWII, a boot-makers. The making and selling of boots was also carried on at no.2 from the 1850s up to 1917. More varied and unusual activities were carried on at no.1, such as a ‘clock-cleaner’s’ (1860-1876), the ‘Welcome Coffee Tavern’ (1879-1883) and newsagent (1905-10). However nos.1 and 2 were combined in 1915 when they were taken over by the Twerton Co-operative Society Ltd. Since the removal of the Co-op to a more modern premises further up the High Street (mentioned above) in 1960, the site has been occupied by Harris’s of Green Street, Bath, for an art materials and picture-frame workshop. The painted Co-op sign on the east gable and the TCS mosaic on the entrance step still remain.

Originally the triangle of ‘waste’ ground on the east side of the terrace seems to have been the station-master’s back yard, and was fenced off with iron railings and an entrance through a wicket gate at the apex next to the railway arch. After the station was closed in 1917, the yard seems to have been converted to a garden with shrubs. The railings were removed during WWII, since which time the ground level appears to have been raised by rubbish dumping.

A view of the eastern end of the High Street taken in about 1905 from the Railway Station, before the two end shops of Railway Terrace were acquired by the Co-operative Society. Note the empty area at the end of the Terrace, with railings and wicket gate.

A photograph of the second shop in Railway Place, which was then occupied by Mrs. Emily Brown, newsagent.

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