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1573 (NH) By 1573, however the tenement had become the freehold property of the Warden and Almsmen of Lambourn and they leased it to widow Elizabeth Hill, together with 4 acres of land (2 in Middlefieid and 2 in Westbrook).
For centuries thereafter the rent of this property accrued to the Isbury Almshouse at Lambourn. How or exactly when it came into their possession is not known. Nor is it known why it became known as Hell House, a name in use as early as 1565. (Wilts R.0.110/16 which refers to land in Honey Furlong belonging to "Hell House".)

1589 (NH) In 1589 in a deed of lease it was actually described as Hell House and was demised to Thomas Sare the elder and to Thomas Sare and Richard Sare, his sons, for the period of their three lives at a rent of 20s. p.a. (Berks R.O. D/QI - T21/3) together with 4 acres of arable land (1 in Westbrook, 1 in Honey Furlong and 2 in Middlefield). Honey Lands, probably the same as Honey Furlong, are shown on the 1819 Enclosure Map as adjacent to north Westbrook and in earlier times the whole area may have been considered simply as "Westbrook".
The location of the house itself is described exactly - "on the East side of the Queen's High St., between the house of Sir Walter Hungerford called the Swan .. , on the South and another tenement of Sir Walter.. . on the north."
Elizabeth Hill widow is, I suspect, "old Mother Hill" buried in 1588. It could be her death in October of that year which released the premises and had enabled Thomas Sare to acquire his lease in the following year.

1589 (NH - Berks R.O. D/Q1 T21/3) Hell House demised to Thomas Sarre the elder, Thomas and Richard Sarre 10 October 31 Eliz. (=1589). Rent 20s per annum.
John Isbury almshouse of Lambourne, Martyn Culpeper, warden of College of St. Mary Winton, in Oxon; and Frances Alford of London esq.
On East side of Queen's High Street between house of Sir Walter Hungerford, knight, called The Swan, now in tenure and occupation of Thomas Seymer on south, and another tenement of Sir Walter now in tenure of Philip Seymer on north, and backside and four acres arable, one acre in Westbroke in Honey Furlong and two in Middlefield, for the life of Thomas Sare the elder and Thomas Sare, his son, and Richard Sare, his son. Rent 20s p.a. and repairs and maintenance. Attorney for Lambourne is Edward Brooker, clerk, and Thomas Watkyns, shearman.

1591-1609 (NH) The property and its 4 acres is shown as Thomas Sare's in rentals or surveys in 1591,1606 and 1609 but he has acquired from Thos. Hill (previously Roger Lovelake) an additional 1 acre at Squire Hedge in Ridden at an additional quit rent of 2½d -- bringing his total quit rent to the same amount as was paid by Stephen Yonge in 1573.
The house then passed through several generations of Sares. Thomas Sare's two sons, Thomas (bapt 1580) and Richard (bapt 1587} we know least about Thomas, but Richard was Constable in 1636: and since he is described in his will (1658) as baker we assume that he continued the bakery business in Hell House. In his will he requests that his widow Alice is to have use of the rooms in the house but she is not to exclude his son Thomas. Alice is also to have half the household goods except those items which belong to the trade of baking. It seems therefore that Thomas Sare was chosen to follow his father as proprietor of the bakery business. One of his first actions was to acquire a new lease, since the 1589 lease expired after his father's death.
The new lease of 1589 was granted for a further three lives, viz to Thomas Sare, baker, his sister Alice, spinster, and Richard Sate the younger, (son of Richard Sare the elder of Ore, in the parish of Chievely, Berks, clerk) and nephew to Thomas Sare. This lease was at an increased rent of 30 shillings (Berks R.O. D/QI T21/3).

1658 (NH) Lease of Thomas Sare Baker and Alice Sare spinster sister of Thomas and Richard Sare younger, son of Richard Sare the elder, of Ore in the parish of Chieveley, Berks, clerk, and nephew to Thomas Sare … Hell House between The Swanne, late of Sir Edward Hungerford, now occupied by Edward Mills, and another tenement now in the occupation of Ursula Osmond, widow, on the North. Rent 30s p.a.

1673 (NH Berks R.O. D/Q1 T21/3) Indenture 23 Jun Chas II (=1673). Michael Woodward D.D., Master of New College, Oxford [or St. Mary's Winton] and John Hippisley of Lamborne, supervisor of the said Almhouse and Thos. Sare of Hungerford Baker, in consideration of the surrender of a lease lately made by Thomas Sare for the lives of Thomas Sare and Edith his wife and Richard Sare his brother of Hell House between the house of Sir Edward Hungerford Kt. (and now in occupation of Walter Bosley) on the South and another tenement of Sir Edward Hungerford (in the occupation of Ursula Osmond) on the North for 99 years. Rent 30s p.a.

1673 (NH) A further lease of 99 years was obtained in 1673 on the same terms as the old, with the exception that this time it was on the three lives of Thomas Sare, baker, his wife Edith, and his brother Richard; the rent remained at 30 shillings p.a. (D/QI/T21/3).
It is quite clear from a later will by Edith (1698) that this Thomas was son of Richard the baker and Alice already referred to. Like his father he, too, was Constable (in 1677).
Thomas made his will in 1682 and in it he refers (a) to "his present dwelling house" (b) to the lease of "another messuage or tenement called Hell House" and its accompanying 4 acres of land "for a certain term of years which will determine on the decease of me, my wife Edith, and Richard my son".
He bequeaths his lease of Hell House and its 4 acres in the common fields to Edith for her life and after the death of Edith to his son Thomas and then to Richard (who receives the dwelling house after his mother), it is clear therefore that the Sares no longer lived in Hell House, but used it presumably for business or sub-let the premises to another. "Thomas Sare the elder" was buried in 1681 and "rebate granted to his widow Edith in Reb 1688/9.
Edith herself made her will in 1691, and died Feb. 1697/8. She makes no reference in her will to Hell House, its lease passing presumably with the residue of her estate to her son and executor, Richard.
This seems to be evidenced by an entry in the Poor Rate list in 1704 assessing a local tax (1s 4d) on Richard for Hell House, as it was still called, and its accompanying 4 acres.
Richard Sare died in 1737, having in his turn been Constable in 1700 and again in 1714. Like his parents, he owned or held on long lease several houses in the High St. and like them he did not use Hell House as his dwelling; nor does he mention its leasehold in his will. Unless a new lease was acquired, the lease of 1673 would have expired with his death, in the 1753 payment of the annual quit rent is listed against the house to "William Cheyney, late Thomas Sare's".
Cheyney was also landlord or owner of several houses in the High St., a fact which makes it difficult to determine the location of any particular one when a reference occurs to it.

1753-61 (QR) William Cheyney for his house late Thomas Sare's, q.r. 4d.

1762 However it is clear that William Cheyney was in possession of Hell House in 1753. together with two other houses on the East side of High St. and one on the West side, it is not certain in which of these he made his residence. This is a pity, for in whichever was his dwelling house occurred a murder which shocked both town and county. There is a full report of it in The Gentleman's Magazine (1762 vol 11, pp 124-5). It is certain, however, that it was not "Hell House". (See notes on 114 HS – HLP) A mural monument was erected in the parish church against the wall of the south aisle which commemorated the burial of the murdered couple in these words:- "Near this place rest the remains of William Cheyney, late of this town aged 83 and of Ann his wife, aged 71, who were barbarously murdered in their own house on the evening of 11th of December, 1762."'
Neither the memorial nor the Gentleman's Magazine mention any children, and there are no Cheyney baptisms entered in the parish register 1700 – 1799. To whom then did the properties descend?

1774-90 (QR) Richard Sheppard for house late Cheyney's, q.r. 4d.
We do not know, but we do know that in the 1774 rental roll the quit rent was claimed from Richard Sheppard "for his house late Cheyney's". It remained with Richard Sheppard when the 1795 quit rental was drawn up, but prior to the next rental roll in 1805 it had passed to John Ellis. Ellis's name is on the 1818 roll also, but the name George Hedden ( - Hidden) has been superscribed and it is George Hidden's name ("late John Ellis") which appears on the new roll in 1832, as well as in 1836.

1781 (CL) Henry Iles / Richard Sheppard

1795-1804 (QR) Richard Sheppard for house late Cheyney's, q.r. 4d.

1805-17 (QR) John Ellis for house late Shepherd formerly Cheyneys, q.r. 4d.
In a 1796 list of traders, printed in the Universal Directory, John Ellis is described as "joiner and baker". He is not included in the Berkshire Poll Book of that year; but even if he had acquired the lease of Hell House by this date he would not have qualified as a voter, as only freeholders had this privilege.
John Ellis (born 1755) was the son-in-law of Richard and Martha Sheppard, whose daughter Martha (born 1757) he married; having their first child Martha in 1781 named after her grandmother, it will be seen therefore that though the owner's surname changed, the lease of the house passed down within the family.

1818-25 (QR) John Ellis for house late Shepherd formerly Cheyneys, q.r. 4d.

1819 (EA) Un-named

1820 (NH) The 1820 Enclosure Act Award refers to John Ellis's lifehold tenancy under the trustees of the Isbury Almshouse, and records the award of 1 acre 3 roods and 2 perches in the Honey Lands (see p 1 of this article) in respect of his right, to the Isbury Almshouse. This land had 2 cottages built upon it, let on a yearly basis by Ellis, and was adjacent to Marsh Cottage (in which George Hidden was later to have an interest. finally conveying it in 1890 to George Taylor and Miss Martin (later Mrs Taylor).

1832 (QR) George Hidden

1836 (QR) George Hidden for a house late John Ellis, q.r. 4d. (NH) John Ellis died intestate (c1825) and was succeeded by George Hidden. Ellis was a joiner by trade and there may have been some trade or craftsman's link which resulted in George Hidden succeeding him, for George was a carpenter by trade. A descendant of one of the oldest families in Hungerford (they appear in the first pages of the parish register in 1559), George Hidden was living at this time in Church Lane, but moved to the High Street, almost certainly to Hell House, about 1823 or 4. There he and his wife Amy had a succession of children. George, by virtue of his holding in Sandon Fee, was a juror at the Sandon Fee Court Leet. He died in 1838, aged 43 and his burial entry-states that he was the parish clerk.
With 5 young children to support widow Hidden moved to less expensive quarters in Church Croft, probably disposing of the remainder of her late husband's lease (or sublease}.

1841 (CS) Benjamin Coxhead (50) baker

1843 (CL) Benjamin Coxhead By 1843 the premises were occupied by yet another baker, Benjamin Coxhead.

1847 (CL) Assignees of William Toms (owner), B Coxhead (occupier). In fact the property continued to be owned as it had been for centuries by the Trustees of the Isbury (Lambourn) Almshouses. Toms was most probably holder of a long lease and sub-let to Coxhead. The Lambourn Trust had been set up by the Almshouse Trust.

1851 (CS) Benjamin Coxhead (60), baker.

1861 (CL) Benjamin Coxhead has been replaced by Noah Martin whom the 1865? Post Office directory describes as 'baker and mealman'.

1861 (CL) Trustees of Indt. Isbury of Lambourn (owner) Noah Martin (occupant)

1861 (CS) Noah Martin (44) bricklayer (not baker??)

1864 (BD) Benjamin Coxhead, baker in H/S (but where?)

1869 (PO) Noah Martin baker & mealman

1871 (CS) Charles Buckeridge (22) - master baker. Frederick Fraser (railway clerk). H. Humphrey (station master) - lodgers. In 1871 the occupant is Charles Buckeridge (aged 22) master baker, possibly the employee / tenant of Noah Martin who (1874 voters' list) was resident in Aldbourne.

1881 (CS) Herbert Higgs (20), unmarried, grocer. (Alan Tocock, Nov 2010, add that Charles Edward Tocock is recorded as "Business partner" and William Hall as "Servant".) The Higgs family continue to be associated with these premises until at least 1920.

1891 (KD) Higgs Bros (grocers) HS. (Also Joseph Stuart Higgs - draper HS – at 4 HS).

1896 (CL) Isbury Charity Trustees (owners). Arthur Higgs (occupier).
1896 (CL) Arthur Higgs
1902 (NH - Endowed Charities of Berkshire 1908, Vol 2 H-R p.21 qB/KB) refers to a
     messuage in High Street, Hungerford called the Hull (sic!) House – on lease to Arthur
     Higgs for 7 yrs from Lady Day 1902, gross yearly income £40-10-0. In extent the property
     covered 13 perches. A land tax on Hall (sic) House amounted to 14s 7d. In 1908 a tithe
     rent charge was payable to the Vicar of Hungerford in respect of the allotments.
     [See NH's rough notes on Endowed Charities Report 1908]
1903-20 Arthur Higgs - grocer.
1914 (CL) Isbury Charity Trustees (own); Arthur Higgs (occ).
     (Mrs. M. Marks, Ramsbury) Higgs originally called "Pascoe, Higgs & Tocock"
1920 (KD) Arthur Higgs grocer (also pork butcher - own curing).

(Brenda Newton) South side (?=121 HS) was a sitting-room

c.1932 (QR #14) Hungerford Fish Supply (Simonds), for "House formerly Ellis' afterwards Hidden's then Tow's late J. Kimber", q.r. 4d.

1939 (KD) Frederick Simmonds - fried fish dealer.

1939 (Blacket's) 122: Hungerford Fish Supply Co (F. Simmons)

1939 (KD) Albert George Wyatt - greengrocer. (in 123 & 4)

1946 (Brenda Newton) A.G. Wyatt bought 122 from Simonds, and converted south side to a wet fish shop.

1947-1956 (CL) Albert George Wyatt.

1957 (Brenda Newton) A.G. Wyatt sold to J. Taylor, greengrocer, and moved to 123-124 HS. After Taylor came G.N. Franklin.

1963 (CL) Graham Neil Franklin

1968 (CL) 122: Graham Neil Franklin

1970 (CL) William Ansell - greengrocers

1976 (CL) Michael Anthony Sweet - greengrocers

1977 Nicholas Jim Aldridge – greengrocer (or ?Fish & Game)

1978 Y-K Fruiterers - greengrocers

1983 Nicholas Jim Aldridge – greengrocer

1976 (CL) Michael Anthony Sweet - occ.

1977  Nicholas Aldridge - Fish & Game - occ.

1983 (CL) Nicholas Jim Aldridge.
1984 (CL) Void

121 HIGH STREET

1984 Bought by Keith Haddrell

1986 Rayners opticians.
in 1993 Rayner Opticians
1998/2000 BT directory and their logo states 121 HS! (same building as Inklings)
2006 Rayners moved from 121 HS to 21 HS.
2006 Unoccupied

May 2010 BOHO Ladies Fashions (closed Mar 2011)

23 Jan 2012 Parsons Bakery opened. Family business, four generations, over 100 years. Started in Nailsea, Somerset, now in bakery in Ashton, Bristol, expanding west along M4 corridor. See www.parsonbakery.co.uk

122 HIGH STREET

Spring 1984 Bought by Keith Haddrell
Aug 1984 Inklings - gift shop
2000 (CL) Void
2005 (CL) Void
2011 (CL) Void

From Norman Hidden papers:

See Sare in Individuals Folder

Isbury Almshouses

Endowed Charities of Berkshire 1908, Vol 2 H-R p.21 qB/KB

Messuage in High Street, Hungerford called the Hull (sic!) House – on lease to Arthur Higgs for 7 yrs from Lady Day 1902, gross yearly income £40-10-0 (extent=0a0r13p)

[See Marsh Cottage etc file] 2 cottages with allotment gardens at The Marsh, Hungerford extent 1a 3r 2p in tenancy of Jas Looker and others (cottages on a yearly lease, gardens half yearly) gross income £9.19.0.]

The Hungerford rent charged was withheld in 1855 by Chas. Salisbury on the ground that he had theretofore paid it in error, and the supervisors being unable to identify his premises with those originally charged could not establish their claim to it.

Land tax is paid on all the properties except the cottages and allotments in Hungerford; or Hall (sic!) House it is 1457d.

[Tithe rent charge is payable to the Vicar of Hungerford in respect of the allotments (13s 2d in 1906). Poor rate and lighting rates on the cottages and allotments in Hungerford amounted to £1. 3. 0. in 1906]

122 High Street – Adjoining The Swan

Berks R.O. D/Q1 T21/3:
Hell House demised to Thomas Sarre the elder, Thomas and Richard Sarre 10 October 31 Eliz. (=1589). Rent 20s per annum.

John Isbury almshouse of Lambourne, Martyn Culpeper, warden of College of St. Mary Winton, in Oxon; and Frances Alford of London esq.

On East side of Queen's High Street between house of Sir Walter Hungerford, knight, called The Swan, now in tenure and occupation of Thomas Seymer on south, and another tenement of Sir Walter now in tenure of Philip Seymer on north, and backside and four acres arable, one acre in Westbroke in Honey Furlong and two in Middlefield, for the life of Thomas Sare the elder and Thomas Sare, his son, and Richard Sare, his son. Rent 20s p.a. and repairs and maintenance.

Attorney for Lambourne is Edward Brooker, clerk, and Thomas Watkyns, shearman.

Berks R.O. D/Q1 T21/3:
Indenture 23 Jun Chas II (=1673). Michael Woodward D.D., Master of New College, Oxford [or St. Mary's Winton] and John Hippisley of Lamborne, supervisor of the said Almhouse and Thos. Sare of Hungerford Baker, in consideration of the surrender of a lease lately made by Thomas Sare for the lives of Thomas Sare and Edith his wife and Richard Sare his brother of Hell House between the house of Sir Edward Hungerford Kt. (and now in occupation of Walter Bosley) on the South and another tenement of Sir Edward Hungerford (in the occupation of Ursula Osmond) on the North for 99 years. Rent 30s p.a.

1658 lease of Thomas Sare Baker and Alice Sare spinster sister of Thomas and Richard Sare younger, son of Richard Sare the elder, of Ore in the parish of Chieveley, Berks, clerk, and nephew to Thomas Sare … Hell House between The Swanne, late of Sir Edward Hungerford, now occupied by Edward Mills, and another tenement now in the occupation of Ursula Osmond, widow, on the North. Rent 30s p.a.

===============================

The property and its 4 acres is shown as Thomas Sare's in rentals or surveys in 1591,1606 and 1609 but he has acquired from Thos. Hill (previously Roger Lovelake) an additional 1 acre at Squire Hedge in Ridden at an additional quit rent of 2½ d -- bringing his total quit rent to the same amount as was paid by Stephen Yonge in 1573.

The house then passed through several generations of Sares. Thomas Sare's two sons, Thomas (bapt 1580) and Richard (bapt 1587} we know least about Thomas, but Richard was Constable in 1636: and since he is described in his will (1658) as baker we assume that he continued the bakery business in Hell House. !n his will he requests that his widow Alice is to have use of the rooms in the house but she is not to exclude his son Thomas. Aiics is aiso to have half the household goods except those items which beiong to the trade of baking. !t seems therefore that Thomas Sare was chosen to follow his father as proprietor of the bakery business. One of his first actions was to acquire a new lease, since the 1589 lease expired after his father's death.

The new lease of 1589 was granted for a further three lives, viz to Thomas Sare, baker, his sister Alice, spinster, and Richard Sate the younger, (son of Richard Sare the elder of Ore, in the parish of Chievely, Berks, clerk) and nephew to Thomas Sare. This lease was at an increased rent of 30 shillings (Berks R.O. D/QI T21/3).

This seems to be evidenced by an entry in the Poor Rate list in 1704. assessing a local tax (1 s4d) on Richard for Hell House, as it was still called, and its accompanying 4 acres.

Richard Sare died in 1737, having in his turn been Constable in 1700 and again in 1714. Like his parents, he owned or held on long lease several houses in the High St. and like them he did not use Hell House as his dwelling; nor does he mention its leasehold in his will. Unless a new lease was acquired, the lease of 1673 would have expired with his death, in the 1753 payment of the annual quit rent is listed against the house to "William Cheyney, late Thomas Sare's'^:.

Cheyney was also landlord or owner of several houses in the High St., a fact which makes it difficult to determine the location of any particular one when a reference occurs to it. However it is clear that William Cheyney was in possession of Hell House in 1753. together with two other houses on the East side of High St. and one on the West side, it is not certain in which of these he made his residence. This is a pity, for in whichever was his dwelling house occurred a murder which shocked both town and county. There is a full report of it in The Gentleman's Magazine (1762 vol 11, pp 124-5). It is certain, however, that it was not "Hell House".

A mural monument was erected in the parish church against the wall of the south aisle which commemorated the burial of the murdered couple in these words:- "Near this place rest the remains of William Cheyney, late of this town aged 83 and of Ann his wife, aged 71 : who were barbarously murdered in their own house on the evening of 11th of December, 1762.''

Neither the memorial nor the Gentleman's Magazine mention any children, and there are no Cheyney baptisms entered in the parish register 1700 - 1799, To whom then dirt the properties descend? We do not know, but we do know that in the 1774 rental roll the quit rent was claimed from Richard Sheppard "for his house late Cheyney's". It remained with Richard Sheppard when the 1 795 quit rental was drawn up, but prior to the next rental roll in 1805 it had passed to John Ellis. Ellis's name is on the 1818 roll also, but the name George Hedden ( - Hidden) has been superscribed and it is George Hidden's name ("late John Ellis") which appears on the new roll in 1832, as well as in 1836.

In a 1796 list of traders, printed in the Universal Directory, John Ellis is described as "joiner and baker". He is not included in the Berkshire Poll Book of that year; but even if he had acquired the lease of Hell House by this date he would not have qualified as a voter, as only freeholders had this privilege.

John Ellis (born 1755) was the son-in-law of Richard and Martha Sheppard, whose daughter Martha (born 1757) he married; having their first child Martha in 1781 named after her grandmother, it will be seen therefore that though the owner's surname changed, the lease of the house passed down within the family.

John Ellis died intestate (c1825) and was succeeded by George Hidden. Ellis was a joiner by trade and there may have been some trade or craftsman's link which resulted in George Hidden succeeding him, for George was a carpenter by trade. A descendant o! one of the oldest families in Hungerford (they appear in the first pages of the parish register in 1559), George Hidden was living at this time in Church Lane, but moved to the High Street, almost certainly to Hell House, about 1823 or 4. There he and his wife Amy had a succession of children. George, by virtue of his holding in Sandon Fee, was a juror at the Sandon Fee Court Leet. He died in 1838, aged 43 and his burial entry-states that he was the parish clerk.

With 5 young children to support widow Hidden moved to less expensive quarters In Church Croft, probably disposing of the remainder of her late husband's lease (or sublease}.

By 1843 the premises were occupied by yet another baker, Benjamin Coxhead. The comprehensive and reliable list of owners and commoners of 1847 gives Assignees of William Toms as "owner" and Benjamin Coxhead as "occupier". In fact the property-continued to be owned as it had been for centuries by the Trustees of the Isbury (Lambourn) Almshouses. Toms was most probably holder of a long lease and sub-let to Coxhead. The Larnbourn trust had been set up by the Almshouse Trust,

Benjamin Coxhead, aged 60, baker, is recorded as occupant of the premises in the 1851 census. In the 1861 Commoners' List he has been replaced by Noah Martin whom the 186S Post Office directory describes as 'baker and mealman'. In 1871 the occupant is Charles Buckeridge (aged 22) master baker, possibly the employee / tenant of Noah Martin who (1374 voters' list) was resident in Aldbourne. In the 1881 census he has been replaced by Herbert Higgs, unmarried, aged 20, grocer; and the family Higgs continue to be associated with these premises until at least 1920.

A report of the Charity Commissioners (1808) states that the messuage called the Hall (sic) House was on lease to Arthur Higgs for 7 years from Lady Day 1902 and the Charity's gross yearly income from it amounted to £40. 10. 0. In extent the property covered 13 perches. A land tax on Hall (sic) House amounted to 14s 7d. In 1908 a tithe rent charge was payable to the Vicar of Hungerford in respect of the allotments.

See also:
- Sare Family
- Isbury Cottage

Updated: 23.1.2012

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