Bishop Ingle House
Below is the history of this magnificent house, provided
by its current owners,
Peter & Gilly Cook.
At the beginning of the 19th Century, the house was owned by
the Girdlestone family: the Girdlestones were related by marriage to Lord
Nelson.
During the 1840's/1850's the house was occupied by James & Jemima Chapman and
their large family (at least 8 surviving children in 1851) and 4 servants.
James was a coal and corn merchant and maltster with premises on the quay.
He commissioned and owned a number of small ships including at least two that
were built at shipyards in Wells in 1831/32. The ships were employed in
coastal trade between Wells, the North East and London. The London trade
included stout from Elliott and Watney's Stag brewery which he sold in the town:
he also had a dray to distribute it round the county to the pubs and beerhouses
1.
James became a prominent member of the town and was a sub-commissioner of
pilotage. He died in 1890 in his 79th year: his headstone and that of his
wife Jemima can be seen in the burial ground adjacent to St Nicholas'
Churchyard.
In the late 1850's Joshua Gales moved into the house with his wife Mary Ann and
their family. Joshua, a Quaker, is described in his earlier career
variously as a shipchandler and timber merchant then latterly, as manager for
Gurneys, Birkbeck & Co Bank ("drawn on Barclays London"). Apart from being
home to Joshua and his family, the house also became a branch of the Bank and
was renamed "Bank House". One vestige of the use of the house as a bank,
is the presence of the old "strongroom", a cupboard set in one of the thick
walls protected by a very substantial oak door reinforced with steel and
complete with an original Chubb lock: the lock manufactured in 1867 has been
refurbished and is now in full working order.
Joshua's son Edwin Lesley Gales appears to have been somewhat of an entrepreneur
and adventurer: aged 32 at the time of the 1881 census, he is shown to be
residing at Bank House with his parents, his wife Ann, and their two children,
both shown to have been born in Canada! He subsequently became the
proprietor of a local newspaper, "The Wells Herald", and in Kelly's Norfolk
Directory of 1888 is shown as florist, nurseryman and grape grower at Bank House
Nursery - at that time he was offering a mail order service! When he
eventually sold the house in 1908, he is shown on the conveyance documents as a
political agent, then living in Bath.
Tragically, he was involved in a boating accident in Wells with his son Henry
and a friend on July 20th 1889, which resulted in 14-year-old Henry being
drowned. A detailed account of the accident is reported in the August 1889
edition of "The Wells Herald". Henry together with his paternal
grandparents, are buried in the small graveyard attached to the Friend's Meeting
House in Wells on Church Street.
In the mid 1890's, Herbert Edward Loynes and his new bride Violet moved into the
house as tenants. Herbert came from a well established local family of
solicitors and Herbert became a Partner in the family firm. The Loynes'
practice was on the Buttlands just opposite The Crown Hotel where the solicitors
Hayes & Storr are now established.
In 1908 Herbert and Violet purchased the house from Edwin Gales for the sum of
£1100 and the house was renamed "The Lawn" - traces of this "new" name can still
be seen on the gate pillar. A memorial stone to their pet dog "Pooh Bah"
is to be found in the South East corner of the garden.
The Loynes' expanded the gardens until the grounds of the house extended the
entire length of Clubbs Lane. They remained at The Lawn until the 1940's
and, following Herbert's death in 1945 at the age of ~80, his executors sold the
property at auction to Hubert Bishop Green, a local farmer.
Hubert and Evelyn Green enjoyed The Lawn until 1961 when, in their retirement,
they planned to move to a smaller house (Orchard House) they had built in part
of the grounds halfway down Clubbs Lane. Arrangements were made for The
Lawn to be sold to a charitable Trust for use as a holiday home for the clergy
but, although the sale did go ahead, Hubert Green unfortunately died before the
transaction took place.
One of the principal Trustees for the property under its new ownership was The
Right Reverend George Ernest Ingle, Lord Bishop of Willesden. He was
related to Evelyn Green and his father had been the Rector of Wells parish
church earlier in the century. Bishop Ingle died in 1966 and the Trust and
the House were renamed in his memory.
The Trust continued to offer holiday breaks for the clergy until 1995 when
escalating repair and maintenance costs prompted the Trust to put the house on
the market.
At about that time the current Owners, Gilly & Peter Cook were looking for a
special home in this beautiful part of the world and were fortunate enough to
find this gem in the centre of Wells: they purchased the property at the end of
May 1997. At the time the property was in a rather sad state of repair and
was in need of extensive renovation, which was undertaken over the next few
years. The objective was to restore the house to a modern family home
while at the same time retaining character and features in keeping with the
period during which the house was in its heyday.
Whether we have succeeded or not is perhaps for others to judge: we do, however,
feel privileged to be part of the long and rich history of a house of which, for
the present, we are the current caretakers.
~ Peter & Gilly Cook
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1"Some History of Wells-next-the-Sea and District" by Arthur W Purchas publ 1963
