Staddles
Not far from the centre of Taunton, the county town of Somerset, lay an Arts and Crafts jewel from the 1920s, a house lost in a time-warp from that era: Staddles.
My first memory of Staddles was when, as a boy of 8, I went to the sale of the contents. Can you imagine how excited I was to enter this amazing house, which was clothed in Viginia Creeper, for the first time and to see it in all its untouched glory? Inside lay it's treasures: paintings, chairs, furniture, a splendid record player with enormous speakers and a dinner gong! How thrilling it was to be there and to explore the huge garden, with its giant cedar tree on the edge of its sweeping drive and various sheds, greenhouse, motor house with a loft and its spinney with towering pine trees, knowing that before long our family would be moving in!
The House
Staddles was indeed a special home and a very special house. Standing in majestic landscaped grounds on Compass Hill in Taunton it was built in about 1925 and was the home of a Mr Chapman of Chapman's Store, a large and successful shop in the town. When my parents bought it from Mr and Mrs Small it was still just as it would have been in the 1920s!
The front door was approached over large slate steps and had a brass horse head knocker on it. Going through the door you entered a porch with tiled floor, complete with an oak umbrella stand. A wooden door with small panes of glass in it opened to the long oak-floored hallway. Immediately on the left was a cloakroom and beyond this the beautiful oak stair case with a very tall window situated half-way up.
Just past the cloakroom door on the right was the beautiful drawing room, with dark gold-coloured pelmets above the multi-paned windows. On the wall on the far side of the room next to the fireplace with its polished mahogany mantelpiece, was one of the brass buttons which operated the servants' bells. It was set in a square of brass, which was always highly polished! We called this room The Blue Room, as it had a fabulous blue Wilton carpet in it! The record player and speakers remained there because my parents bought them at the house sale!
Further down the hall on the right and just past the staircase was the oak-floored dining room with a fireplace and French doors leading out onto a patio and rockery beyond which lay the main lawn. This was a wonderful setting for birthday parties and family get-togethers and many a Summer's day saw us out on the lawn eating scones with jam, whilst listening to the sound of the birds in the trees! In this room too I used to have band practices! How my parents encouraged my musical aspirations!
At the end of the hall a door opened into another lovely sitting room we called The Red Room. This was where we had our TV, a rather refined-looking Dynatron set bought from Chapman's Store with a remote control unit on a cable! In the winter we would have an open fire and toast chestnuts in the fireplace! Cakes and cups of Earl Grey tea and Scottish shortbread biscuits could be passed through the serving hatch from the scullery.
Staddles was indeed a special home and a very special house. Standing in majestic landscaped grounds on Compass Hill in Taunton it was built in about 1925 and was the home of a Mr Chapman of Chapman's Store, a large and successful shop in the town. When my parents bought it from Mr and Mrs Small it was still just as it would have been in the 1920s!
The front door was approached over large slate steps and had a brass horse head knocker on it. Going through the door you entered a porch with tiled floor, complete with an oak umbrella stand. A wooden door with small panes of glass in it opened to the long oak-floored hallway. Immediately on the left was a cloakroom and beyond this the beautiful oak stair case with a very tall window situated half-way up.
Just past the cloakroom door on the right was the beautiful drawing room, with dark gold-coloured pelmets above the multi-paned windows. On the wall on the far side of the room next to the fireplace with its polished mahogany mantelpiece, was one of the brass buttons which operated the servants' bells. It was set in a square of brass, which was always highly polished! We called this room The Blue Room, as it had a fabulous blue Wilton carpet in it! The record player and speakers remained there because my parents bought them at the house sale!
Further down the hall on the right and just past the staircase was the oak-floored dining room with a fireplace and French doors leading out onto a patio and rockery beyond which lay the main lawn. This was a wonderful setting for birthday parties and family get-togethers and many a Summer's day saw us out on the lawn eating scones with jam, whilst listening to the sound of the birds in the trees! In this room too I used to have band practices! How my parents encouraged my musical aspirations!
At the end of the hall a door opened into another lovely sitting room we called The Red Room. This was where we had our TV, a rather refined-looking Dynatron set bought from Chapman's Store with a remote control unit on a cable! In the winter we would have an open fire and toast chestnuts in the fireplace! Cakes and cups of Earl Grey tea and Scottish shortbread biscuits could be passed through the serving hatch from the scullery.
An example of a bell indicator box. The one is Staddles was larger, with more room boxes.
At the end of the hall on the left was the servant's wing. The first room was a parlour with a wall-mounted cupboard with shelves which we used as a bookcase for my father's many poetry books by the Romantic poets, Wordsworth, Tennyson and Coleridge and others. This parlour opened into a scullery with a large pantry and a hanging clothes dryer which was suspended from the ceiling on a pulley. In this room was a free-standing ceramic fire with a ceramic chimney and on the wall was the front door bell and individual room bell indicator box with a bell. We used this as our breakfast room. Through the window could be seen the rustic greenhouse next to a rockery, which housed families of very sweet garden voles!
Beyond this room was the kitchen and next to this was a coal bunker room and the servants' cloakroom as well as the back door, which led into a vegetable garden with sheds next to a wall where an old quince tree grew.
Beyond this room was the kitchen and next to this was a coal bunker room and the servants' cloakroom as well as the back door, which led into a vegetable garden with sheds next to a wall where an old quince tree grew.
Upstairs
At the top of the two-cornered staircase lay the landing with a balustrade overlooking the staircase and immediately on the right was the bathroom which had a door to the right leading into the WC.
The first room after the bathroom was the principal bedroom, which featured a mahogany sink unit, the lid of which lifted up to reveal a stunning marble sink! The servants' bell was operated by a button on a cord above the bed. What stunning views over the garden were had!
The next bedroom was smaller and also contained a similar mahogany sink unit. This was to be my bedroom when we first moved to Staddles. The window was directly above the French windows. This room was also equipped with a servants' bell button on a cord.
At the end of the landing, just before the servants' wing on the left, was a large bedroom with a large brass lamp in front of the windows, with twin bulbs, on a pulley, which could be lowered to the required height when needed! The servants' bell cord hung from the ceiling above the bed. There was a sink on the left of the main window next to the side window. This was my sister Heather's room and later became my room when she got married. Here my teenage friends and I used to sit and listen to records in the halcyon Summer days of the late 70s!
The servants' wing contained an airing cupboard and another cupboard with shelves. Both these cupboards had small cupboards above them and must have originally contained sheets for the principal bedrooms. Just beyond the second cupboard and opposite the window was the butler's room, which contained a large built-in double wardrobe with drawers. The window overlooked the greenhouse and the voles' rockery! This was my brother, Chris's room. He used to keep his Airfix tanks, planes and soldiers in the drawers! I had this room as my bedroom at the age of 20 when Chris got married.
Just outside this bedroom was a tap over a lead floored draining tray and at the end of the servants' wing landing was a deep built-in cupboard with shelves. to the right of this was the smallest bedroom overlooking the back garden, where the scullery maid/cook must have slept. This became my brother Richard's room and later mine when he got married. I therefore ended up having the experience of sleeping in 4 bedrooms during our time in Staddles, thus experiencing life in the principal part of the house and the servants' wing!
The loft entrance was at the end of the main landing and the loft itself was one very large room with two sections, the second being over the servants' wing. It had a very large cold water tank!
The roof was an outstanding feature, with its Delabole slates, and the tall chimneys perfectly complimented it. I loved the way the windows reached the eaves. The whole house was designed beautifully!
The Motor House
Staddles was given its name because of the numerous old staddle stones which were positioned up the sweeping driveway and in other parts of the garden. At the top of the driveway was a circular garden which the drive went around and a motor house with a loft which we used as a den! My fathers beautiful metallic blue Humber Super Snipe, resplendent with its walnut dashboard and picnic tables looked perfect in its house! Over the years a Commer camper van, a blue Rover 110, a gold Ford Zodiac, a deep red Austin 3 Litre, a brown Rover P6 V8, and other second cars like a green mini and two Austin 1100s, one blue and one white, as well as my first car, a red Morris Minor van, followed by a two-tone grey Austin A40, were also to share the motor house with their more grand companions!
In 1980 my jazz rock band Desperados used the motor house as a Saturday rehearsal room!
At the top part of the drive by the perimeter wall to the left of the garage stood a 1950s black Ford Popular. Dad bought this lovely old car for us to play in! I can remember the times when I pretended to drive to the seaside in it!
The Garden
Staddles was blessed with a very large garden, which had been beautifully designed. It was certainly one of the largest gardens in Taunton and for some time we had a gardener, a Mr Rettalic, who had previously been the gardener when the Smalls lived at Staddles. He mowed the lawn with a wonderful old British lawnmower which left stripes on the lawn.
The garden contained many interesting trees, like flowering cherry trees and one particular tree which produced tasty small pale yellow cherry-sized fruits! At the far end of the lawn were flower beds and shrubberies with different types of apple trees behind. The lower part of the garden contained rose beds and at it's farthest extremity the aforementioned spinney with its towering walnut tree and even taller Scots Pines complemented by a very romantic carpet of ivy! Owls lived in this wood as well as rabbits. It was a wildlife haven!
Dad loved birds and had a large aviary in the lower garden with canaries and zebra finches in it. We also kept bantams, which lived happily under the cedar tree and roamed around to their heart's content! Dad also had a dovecote and kept tumbler, fantail and tippler pigeons, which flew high up into the sky and always returned to their home!
In the 1970s mum and dad bought a lovely 1950s caravan in mint condition which was parked up by the side of the house and overlooking the lawn. It's just visible in the photo! We used it for holidays and it made a super summerhouse too!
The boundary wall next to the road had a rockery garden next to it which was somewhat lopped when the main A 38 road down Compass Hill was widened.
In the 70s my parents sold the lower part of the garden including the Spinney to a couple, who, with their three daughters, became our good friends. They built a very fine house there called Kells and kept the Spinney intact along with the trees which bordered the outer perimeter fence.
Goodbye
We said goodbye to our dear home Staddles in 1984 when my parents sold it and moved to a smaller house with a balcony overlooking Vivary Park. We all loved Staddles and cherished its originality but It was the end of an era. I am sure that I would have kept Staddles in 1920s time-warp condition throughout if it had been mine to keep! I have to add that a 1960s Humber Imperial would have been kept in the motor house and maybe a much earlier car too!!!!
Staddles Lost
Staddles, was a very special house in Taunton, from a golden age of house building and was probably the last house to be built with a servants wing in the centre of Taunton but alas, is no more, for several years ago it was sold to developers and demolished, along with Kells and the house next door higher up the hill, to make way for new houses. It remains now only in my memories and in the memories of those who knew and loved it and sometimes in my dreams. The magnificent cedar tree remains, the noble sentinel on its hill, (as well as some of the Spinney), a reminder of a more gentle age and of the great house which once stood above it - our Staddles!
Footnote. I intend adding more photos in due course.
At the top of the two-cornered staircase lay the landing with a balustrade overlooking the staircase and immediately on the right was the bathroom which had a door to the right leading into the WC.
The first room after the bathroom was the principal bedroom, which featured a mahogany sink unit, the lid of which lifted up to reveal a stunning marble sink! The servants' bell was operated by a button on a cord above the bed. What stunning views over the garden were had!
The next bedroom was smaller and also contained a similar mahogany sink unit. This was to be my bedroom when we first moved to Staddles. The window was directly above the French windows. This room was also equipped with a servants' bell button on a cord.
At the end of the landing, just before the servants' wing on the left, was a large bedroom with a large brass lamp in front of the windows, with twin bulbs, on a pulley, which could be lowered to the required height when needed! The servants' bell cord hung from the ceiling above the bed. There was a sink on the left of the main window next to the side window. This was my sister Heather's room and later became my room when she got married. Here my teenage friends and I used to sit and listen to records in the halcyon Summer days of the late 70s!
The servants' wing contained an airing cupboard and another cupboard with shelves. Both these cupboards had small cupboards above them and must have originally contained sheets for the principal bedrooms. Just beyond the second cupboard and opposite the window was the butler's room, which contained a large built-in double wardrobe with drawers. The window overlooked the greenhouse and the voles' rockery! This was my brother, Chris's room. He used to keep his Airfix tanks, planes and soldiers in the drawers! I had this room as my bedroom at the age of 20 when Chris got married.
Just outside this bedroom was a tap over a lead floored draining tray and at the end of the servants' wing landing was a deep built-in cupboard with shelves. to the right of this was the smallest bedroom overlooking the back garden, where the scullery maid/cook must have slept. This became my brother Richard's room and later mine when he got married. I therefore ended up having the experience of sleeping in 4 bedrooms during our time in Staddles, thus experiencing life in the principal part of the house and the servants' wing!
The loft entrance was at the end of the main landing and the loft itself was one very large room with two sections, the second being over the servants' wing. It had a very large cold water tank!
The roof was an outstanding feature, with its Delabole slates, and the tall chimneys perfectly complimented it. I loved the way the windows reached the eaves. The whole house was designed beautifully!
The Motor House
Staddles was given its name because of the numerous old staddle stones which were positioned up the sweeping driveway and in other parts of the garden. At the top of the driveway was a circular garden which the drive went around and a motor house with a loft which we used as a den! My fathers beautiful metallic blue Humber Super Snipe, resplendent with its walnut dashboard and picnic tables looked perfect in its house! Over the years a Commer camper van, a blue Rover 110, a gold Ford Zodiac, a deep red Austin 3 Litre, a brown Rover P6 V8, and other second cars like a green mini and two Austin 1100s, one blue and one white, as well as my first car, a red Morris Minor van, followed by a two-tone grey Austin A40, were also to share the motor house with their more grand companions!
In 1980 my jazz rock band Desperados used the motor house as a Saturday rehearsal room!
At the top part of the drive by the perimeter wall to the left of the garage stood a 1950s black Ford Popular. Dad bought this lovely old car for us to play in! I can remember the times when I pretended to drive to the seaside in it!
The Garden
Staddles was blessed with a very large garden, which had been beautifully designed. It was certainly one of the largest gardens in Taunton and for some time we had a gardener, a Mr Rettalic, who had previously been the gardener when the Smalls lived at Staddles. He mowed the lawn with a wonderful old British lawnmower which left stripes on the lawn.
The garden contained many interesting trees, like flowering cherry trees and one particular tree which produced tasty small pale yellow cherry-sized fruits! At the far end of the lawn were flower beds and shrubberies with different types of apple trees behind. The lower part of the garden contained rose beds and at it's farthest extremity the aforementioned spinney with its towering walnut tree and even taller Scots Pines complemented by a very romantic carpet of ivy! Owls lived in this wood as well as rabbits. It was a wildlife haven!
Dad loved birds and had a large aviary in the lower garden with canaries and zebra finches in it. We also kept bantams, which lived happily under the cedar tree and roamed around to their heart's content! Dad also had a dovecote and kept tumbler, fantail and tippler pigeons, which flew high up into the sky and always returned to their home!
In the 1970s mum and dad bought a lovely 1950s caravan in mint condition which was parked up by the side of the house and overlooking the lawn. It's just visible in the photo! We used it for holidays and it made a super summerhouse too!
The boundary wall next to the road had a rockery garden next to it which was somewhat lopped when the main A 38 road down Compass Hill was widened.
In the 70s my parents sold the lower part of the garden including the Spinney to a couple, who, with their three daughters, became our good friends. They built a very fine house there called Kells and kept the Spinney intact along with the trees which bordered the outer perimeter fence.
Goodbye
We said goodbye to our dear home Staddles in 1984 when my parents sold it and moved to a smaller house with a balcony overlooking Vivary Park. We all loved Staddles and cherished its originality but It was the end of an era. I am sure that I would have kept Staddles in 1920s time-warp condition throughout if it had been mine to keep! I have to add that a 1960s Humber Imperial would have been kept in the motor house and maybe a much earlier car too!!!!
Staddles Lost
Staddles, was a very special house in Taunton, from a golden age of house building and was probably the last house to be built with a servants wing in the centre of Taunton but alas, is no more, for several years ago it was sold to developers and demolished, along with Kells and the house next door higher up the hill, to make way for new houses. It remains now only in my memories and in the memories of those who knew and loved it and sometimes in my dreams. The magnificent cedar tree remains, the noble sentinel on its hill, (as well as some of the Spinney), a reminder of a more gentle age and of the great house which once stood above it - our Staddles!
Footnote. I intend adding more photos in due course.