LAURA BUILDINGS, off Regent Street, Weston-super-Mare.
by Pat Hase
For several years now I have been interested in Laura Buildings a road which lasted for just over 100 years near the centre of Weston-super-Mare. It was demolished shortly after I moved to Weston in 1961, so I can’t really say I remember it but once I started researching my husband’s family it kept appearing on records connected with the HASE family.
It was a short terrace of houses forming a cul-de-sac made up of just 13 small dwellings.
They were originally numbered 1 to 13 but when the house numbers of many central roads in Weston were changed in 1908/9, they were given just the odd numbers 1 to 25.
This photograph was taken from Regent Street looking towards the tower of Emmanuel Church.
The road was developed in about 1852/3 and may have been named after Laura Hoblyn, the sister-in- law of Francis SYNGE – who was Chair of the Town Commissioners at that time.
I have used maps, street directories, censuses, parish records and newspapers to trace the people who lived in Laura Buildings over the years. Many of the residents who lived there had links with the Victoria Hotel and although small, several houses had two families living in them or took in lodgers.
A map of Weston-super-Mare dated 1853 (original in Weston Library) shows the first Railway Station at the end of the Plantation (where the Floral Clock is now).
Laura Buildings runs between the Station and Emmanuel Church near to the Victoria Hotel with houses only on the east side.
The houses backed onto the yard of the Victoria Hotel which is where John HASE (my husband’s grandfather) had his stabling and operated as a Fly Proprietor in about 1883. John’s father and grandfather had also lived in Laura Buildings.
This terrace was intended to provide accommodation for the people who were moving into Weston at that time and working to support the development of the new town.
In later censuses it can be seen that each house had just 4 rooms apart from a kitchen and that sometimes two families shared a house. The HASE family moved in from Cross, near Compton Bishop along with other relatives.
The road does not appear in the 1851 census but on Saturday, the 1st December 1855 this was reported in the Weston Gazette:-
“Fatal Accident. On Monday last, an infant child named Rowe, whose parents reside in Laura buildings, was accidently scalded by the upsetting cup of boiling tea upon its chest; medical attendance was procured, and the little sufferer survived until Wednesday, when it expired from the injuries it had sustained”.
This was before the Cemetery had been opened and so I looked in the burials in Emmanuel Church to see if I could identify this child.
This appears to be the little lad from our own transcriptions.
BAPTISMS at Emmanuel
26-Nov 1855, Charles James ROWE son of James & Betsey Anne, Weston-super-Mare, Labourer
BURIALS at Emmanuel
Charles ROE Weston Super Mare 04-Dec 1855 8 months
It looks as if he had been christened at the time of the accident. His father, James ROE, the son of a Charles ROE, had married a Betsy Ann PARSONS in St John the Baptist, Weston-super-Mare on the 20th August 1847. James ROE had been born in Compton Bishop in about 1829 and christened when he was 5 years old as the son of Charles & Elizabeth ROE. Charles & Elizabeth ROWE/ROE née MILLARD can be found living in Laura Buildings in the 1861 Census. They had married in 1923 in St James Church, Bristol.
William HASE married Rebecca MILLARD, Elizabeth’s sister in 1919, also at St James Church, Bristol
Life was not always quiet in Laura Buildings. In January 1858, Rebecca HASE and her sister Elizabeth ROWE were up in front of the Magistrates for alleged assault on a neighbour because her children were noisy! The magistrates said the affray was “six of one and half a dozen of the other” and both sides had to pay costs.
When William HASE, a blacksmith, (grandfather of the John HASE whose business card is seen above) died in Weston in 1859 his death certificate gives his place of death as Laura Buildings. His widow, Rebecca, made a mark when giving the information and her name is entered as HARSE – so there are two spellings of HASE on this certificate!
After William’s death Rebecca married again in 1860 to a James WESTERN (or WESTON) and in 1861 can be found still living in Laura Buildings with her new husband, two of her sons, a grandson and 4 lodgers (one of whom, Edward BREWER, was brother-in-law to one of her married daughters) – all living in 4 rooms.
1861 Census of No 4 Laura Buildings, Weston-super-Mare:
Unmarried
First name |
Last name |
Relationship |
Marital status |
Age |
Occupation |
Birth place |
James |
Weston |
Head |
Married |
61 |
Cordwainer |
Wookey, Somerset |
Rebecca |
Weston |
Wife |
Married |
62 |
- |
Cross, Som |
John |
Hase |
Stepson |
Unmarried |
33 |
Ag Labourer |
Cross, Som |
James |
Hase |
Stepson |
Unmarried |
18 |
Butchers Man |
Cross, Som |
Frederick |
Hase |
Stepgrandson |
- |
7 |
- |
Axbridge, Somerset, |
Charles |
Harle |
Boarder |
- |
16 |
GenLabourer |
Milton, Som |
Charles |
Purdham |
Lodger |
Unmarried |
37 |
Stone mason |
Cannington, Som |
William |
Jones |
Lodger |
Widower |
76 |
Mason’s lab |
Bristol, Glos |
Edward |
Brewer |
Lodger |
Unmarried |
20 |
Lab at Pottery |
Bleadon, Somerset |
Ann HASE, a daughter of William & Rebecca HASE, had married Edward’s brother, Henry and they were also living in Laura Buildings.
1861 Census of No 13 Laura Buildings, Weston-super-Mare:
First name |
Last name |
Relationship |
Marital status |
Age |
Occupation |
Birth place |
Henry |
Brewer |
Head |
Married |
23 |
Moulder In Clay... |
Blackford, Somerset, |
Ann |
Brewer |
Wife |
Married |
26 |
- |
Cross, Somerset, |
Rebecca |
Brewer |
Daughter |
- |
1 |
- |
W-s- Mare, Somerset, |
John |
Brewer |
Brother |
- |
18 |
- |
Bleadon, Somerset, |
The ROWE family and their lodgers are at 2 Laura Buildings in 1861.
First name |
Last name |
Relationship |
Marital status |
Age |
Occupation |
Birth place |
Charles |
Rowe |
Head |
Married |
61 |
Ag Labourer |
Axbridge, Somerset, |
Elizabeth |
Rowe |
Wife |
Married |
60 |
- |
Compton Bishop, Som |
Noah |
Rowe |
Son |
Unmarried |
18 |
Plasterer |
Compton Bishop, Som |
Benzall |
Rowe |
Son |
- |
14 |
Ag Labourer |
Compton Bishop, Som |
Stephen |
Hares |
Boarder |
Unmarried |
17 |
Mason’s Lab |
Shipham, Somerset |
Mary |
Bennett |
Head |
Widow |
75 |
Ex Laundress |
Ubley, Som |
Patience |
Hurst |
Dau |
Unmarried |
43 |
Laundress |
W.Harptree, Som |
Arthur |
Hurst |
son |
Unmarried |
39 |
Ag Lab |
W.Harptree, Som |
Alfred J |
Ball |
Nurse child |
|
7 |
Scholar |
W-s-M, Somerset |
John |
Stephens |
Nurse child |
|
4 |
|
W-s-M, Somerset |
Alfred |
Stockham |
Nurse child |
|
4 mths |
|
W-s-M
Somerset |
Of the 3 Nurse Children in the care of presumably Mary Bennett or her daughter, at least one, Alfred BALL, was christened at Emmanuel as the son of a single woman, Jane BALL and I expect the other two are in a similar situation - perhaps the Overseers’ Accounts for Emmanuel would give more information.
These houses were rented or leased by the occupants and in 1863 an advertisement appeared in several papers offering for sale the Victoria Hotel and 4 houses including Nos 1 and 2 Laura Buildings.
Lot 5: All that COTTAGE or TENEMENT and premises known as No 2 Laura Buildings adjoining the last lot and now in the occupation of Mrs ROW as tenant thereof.
The sale of the property might have increased the rent because the ROWEs were living in Regent Cottages, Union Street by 1871. In 1864 Emmanuel Church records show the baptism of twins, Selina and James, children of Henry & Mary Ann HASE of Laura Buildings. In the 1871 census Henry and family were living at No. 2 Laura Buildings the previous home of Charles & Elizabeth ROWE and Amelia HASE, widowed sister-in-law of Henry was at No. 6 with her family.
But the real pleasure in researching a single road is seeing it and its inhabitants change over the years. The BREWERs went to Torquay and developed a successful Pottery based on their experience at the Weston Pottery. Amelia HASE married again and later ran a boarding house in the Royal Crescent for the employees of Lance & Lance. John HASE moved to Whitecross Road establishing his own Stables in Albert Road which is still a working garage.
The lives of other residents were touched by both wars and changing social conditions. Some had their own 15 minutes of fame such as sudden death or domestic disputes etc. reported in the local papers.
There follows a list of some of the surnames which appeared in Laura Buildings over the years:
ATHAY |
CHURCHILL |
FRANKPITT |
NIGHTINGALE |
BAKER |
COLES |
HARDING |
PURNELL |
BANWELL |
COLLINS |
HASE |
ROWE |
BARNETT |
COUNSELL |
HEMMENS |
SHEARS |
BARY |
CRABBE |
HILL |
SHORNEY |
BEWLEYBULL |
DAVIES |
HODGES |
STARKES |
BIDDER |
FARR |
HUNT |
TEMPLAR |
BILLINGS |
FEAR |
KEIRLE |
THORNE |
BISHOP |
FIFOOT |
KENNEDY |
TREGO |
BOWDEN |
FISHER |
LEWIS |
URCH |
BROWN |
FLETCHER |
MADGE |
WESTON |
|
FOWLER |
MADRICK |
|
|