Frances Pickford: Living in Bath

  7 Sion Hill, Bath

Frances Pickford lived for many years in Bath, at 7 Sion Hill, in the Walcot Parish area, north of the city centre.

Sion Hill is an area of the city that was developed substantially in the late 1780s to the early 1800s.

History of the house and its occupants

The house was built c 1785-90 (ref and photo: British Listed Buildings website), and the building is listed on the National Heritage List for England. 

In the early part of the 19th Century the house was one of many owned by James Dunn. Several of his properties in Bath were in prestigious streets such as Portland Place, Milsom Street and Saville Row. When he died in 1815, the properties were passed down to his nephew, James Dunn, and then to this nephew's son, another James Dunn. When this James Dunn was 21, in 1834, he inherited 7 Sion Hill but lived at 8 Camden Place in Bath.

He died at a young age in 1846 and the control of the properties reverted back to his father,  the 'original' James Dunn's nephew. The house at No 7 was lived in by James Dunn senior's widow, Ann, until her death in 1821, aged 84.

The Bath Directory of 1826 shows that the Misses Read were living at No 7. Nothing more is known about them (from: house history compiled by previous owners).

By 1832 the Land Tax return shows that the house was being rented by Harriet Alexander.

The 1841 census shows Harriet Alexander as the householder, living with Frances and their 4 servants: Eleanor Mason, Martha King, June Priest and Sarah Feard (?).

The census returns show that Eleanor Mason was originally from Yorkshire and worked for the Pickford sisters for at least 10 years.

1841 Census image

Harriet was the head of the household until her death in 1849. Frances then became the head of the household and she was classified on the 1851 census returns as the annuitant. She had her own independent income.

The 1861 census shows Frances, classified as the fund holder, and living with her cook, parlour maid and housemaid. These 3 servants were all local women from the West of England area.

1861 Census image

All census images from Ancestry.com

Exactly which house is it?

Look at a map today to search for 7 Sion Hill and you will find a picture of a large and sprawling Georgian property overlooking a stretch of common land, now a public park.

The house that Frances and her sister lived in is now the present No 10 Sion Hill (shown in the above picture) and the property known today as 7 Sion Hill, 'Tylehurst', is the larger property behind the row of houses on Sion Hill and was previously known as Acacia Villa. 

Acacia Villa is shown on the earliest maps available in Bath Archives and is named on the 1810 map. The 1947 Ordnance Survey map still shows this property as Acacia Villa. 

The property name of Tilehurst/ Tylehurst was reallocated when in 1878 there was a compulsory purchase of Bath Common, the land adjoining Sion Hill, and by 1879 there were changes made to the roadways and the footpaths abutting the properties on Sion Hill. It was then that the houses were renumbered and No 7 became the present day No 10 (information from present owners history of the house).

The Bath Directory of 1878/9 has a Mrs Vaughan at No 7 and by 1880 she is shown in the Directory as now residing at No 10 Sion Hill, when the renumbering had occurred.

Sorting out the house numbers and their positions

The 1840 Tithe Map was the key source to help sort out the confusion of identifying the exact property. It can be freely viewed on the 'Know Your Place' online search site, and is a map that identifies each property and the tithes payable on land attached to each building. By comparing this with the Tithe Appointments Transcripts Register in Bath Archives we can identify the properties, find out who owned them and who lived in them, and compare the map of 1840 with the modern day map of the area. 

Source: 1840 Tithe Map https://maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp

The numbers on the map relate to the tithe register. And, in 1840, Number 1116 was No 7 Sion Hill and No 1115 was Acacia Villa.

The Tithes Register in Bath Archives, supports the facts that 7 Sion Hill was owned by a James Dunn in 1840 and leased by Mrs Harriet Alexander, of course this is Frances Pickford's elder sister.

Payment for the land/garden

The 1840 Tithe Register shows us that Mrs Alexander paid a tithe of 2/- on a garden size of 31 perches.

A perch is classified as 5 1/2 yards = 16 1/2 feet (= 5.02 metres)

We can see that their garden size was about 170 yards / 155 metres.

Little extra bits

An incident at 7 Sion Hill

In the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette of 14^th Nov 1861 there was a report of an incident that happened outside Frances' house. A thief stole an album from a shop in Bath and was captured outside No 7.

According to the Royton Local History Society article about Frances Pickford, she was in Lancashire on Wednesday 10th July 1861, visiting Royton Hall, where she had been born.  She visited the family vaults the next day on 11th July. It is likely that Frances was actually at Sion Hill when the above incident happened in November because it was only a few days later that she died, at her home in Sion Hill, on 4th December.

And a few months after Frances' death,  7 Sion Hill was up for rent in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 3rd April, 1862.

The Mr Smallbone who is shown above as the businessman who rented out the property had married Catherine Dunn, the daughter of James Dunn.  When James Dunn died in 1858 the business transferred to his daughter Catherine and the Smallbone family now became the owners of the Dunn properties and the brewery business. 

What it was like on the inside

We can get an idea of the layout of the house from an advert from 1865 for the lease of the house. This was 4 years after Frances died.

 (source: Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 14th September 1865.  British Newspaper Archive).

Later changes and developments in Sion Hill

In 1865 the house at No 7 was being rented out and by 1869 Catherine Smallbone had applied to have a coach house and stable built at No 7 Sion Hill. This was before the renumbering of the houses so we can assume that these developments were made to the house we see today,  No 10,  and could be the added sections to the house that became what is now  known as 10a Sion Hill. The house had previously been detached, and we can see this on the 1840 Tithe Map. The houses today are joined together, terraced, with no gap between the buildings.

Later in the C19th it seems that 7 Sion Hill was developed and properties called Tilehurst Villas 1 and 2 were on the housing market. It may well be that these became the present properties that are situated at the driveway entrance to today's Tilehurst.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 20th May 1886

Bath Chronicle and weekly Gazette 27th April 1893

Sources and references

1. Tithe map 1840 available on the Know Your Place West of England' online website 

 https://www.kypwest.org.uk/

2. Tithe Appointment Transcripts Register for the Walcot Parish of Bath. Available at the Bath Archives. Not online.

3. Maps of Bath. Available for viewing at Bath Archives. Not online.

4. Picture reference:  Historic England https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1394917

5. Newspaper articles from British Newspaper Archive online.

6. Royton Local History Society  https://www.rlhs.co.uk