The Forge and the Ivy Cottage

This page describes my interest in Shoreditch and Orchard Portman, which are two miles south-southeast from Taunton near the Taunton Racecourse. Both are labelled and easily found on Google Maps.

SHOREDITCH is a hamlet, being a small collection of residences, a large lodge, and not much else remarkable. But it used to be a very important junction because there was a Smithy on the corner and farmers needed the services of a blacksmith for shoeing their horses and fixing their implements.

This is where my ancestors John Clist and his eldest son George Clist lived, raised families and ended their days.

John was born and raised in Hemyock, a village on the Blackdown Hills just south of the Devon border. In the 1851 Census we find him aged 15 and working as a labourer on Shuttleton Farm, Hemyock. But when he was married in Hemyock in 1861 we find him residing in Shoreditch Road in [parish district] "St Mary Magdalene, Taunton" (an ancient and dominant church in the centre of Taunton) and working as blacksmith. This indicates that he had been taken on as apprentice and learnt the blacksmithing trade before he was married. This was a big step up in life, as blacksmithing was regarded as an important occupation in that era.

Census records confirm that he lived and worked as Blacksmith at Shoreditch for the rest of his life. These records are described in the history page for John Clist. Family lore was that he owned the Smithy, but I don't know if he was a tenant or property owner.

John's eldest son George (my great-grandfather) is working in the business at age 18 (1881 Census) and was a blacksmith all of his life, continuing the family tradition until retirement. We do know that George owned the blacksmithing business (see Ref. 1 below) and I suspect he owned the Smithy as well.

In the next generation, George's eldest son Sidney George Clist (my grandfather) learnt the trade from boyhood, and his occupation at age 15 is listed as Blacksmith in the 1901 Census. But at age 24 years he decided to emigrate to New Zealand in 1910 along with his younger brother John Clist aged 18 and their cousin Charles Rossiter aged 19. They travelled to New Zealand on the SS Rotorua, on its maiden voyage. In the ship's Passenger List Sidney's occupation is Electrical Engineer, John is a Cabinet Maker, and Charles is a Smith. So Charles must have been working in the family business, too. I know John continued in cabinet making all his working life. But why would Sidney identify as an Electrical Engineer? My guess is that blacksmiths were regarded as the technologists of the day, and as electricity was a new service, that a new opportunity arose and Sidney became involved with the reticulation of electrical power in the district. But that theory is unproven. Sidney died in Auckland when I was aged 15. I have a few memories, particularly of him patiently trying to teach me how to heat up steel strip and make ornamental scrolls for wrought-iron items such as side tables and photo frames.

Charles' older brother Edward (Ted) James Rossiter had also been taken in to the Clist household and by reason of proximity, effectively and affectionately became George Clist's eldest son and at some stage took over the Smithy and the attached Clist family home. We met Ted at his home in 1973 when returning from a holiday in Devon, as described later on this page.

ORCHARD PORTMAN is an ancient locality, and once was the site of a very large and gracious country house rivalling the grand castles of France. It's hard to imagine, as nothing remains except for the Church of St Michael, of which the bell tower still functions as a stand-out landmark in the area. More about Orchard Portman follows in a later section of this page.

St Michael's Churchyard is important to me, because there lie the graves where members of three generations of Clists are buried, and two generations of Rossiters.

Planning to visit Shoreditch and Orchard Portman?

The houses and graves of our Clist ancestors are not easy to find. If you do find the churchyard, you will find headstones for John Clist and his wife Elizabeth, and a triple grave for George Clist, his wife Mary and their daughter Helen Joy. But you won't find the Rossiter graves, because the plots for Ted Rossiter and his wife Emily, for son Charlie and for daughter Lizzie have no headstones.

Before you visit I suggest you read my Navigation Instructions folio (opens in a new tab/window). The folio is full of annotated photos formatted to make them easy to read on mobile devices while en route. And you can download a PDF of all pages to your device if you want to be independent of mobile networks. (Look for the PDF button in the Navigation Instructions.)

Now expand the following sections to read more. There's a lot on this page.

Shoreditch is the name of a hamlet, a very tiny place of little significance to the general public. Shoreditch Rd (B3170) leads to it. I was told by my grandmother Mercy, wife of Sidney Clist, that it was "2 miles from Taunton", so not very far out of town.

But for a Clist or Rossiter descendant, there are five things to see:

• The old Smithy and attached house on the corner (Pin 1 on map)
• The Ivy Cottage a short distance down the B3170 from the old Smithy (Pin 2)
• The big racecourse and huge grandstand behind the Ivy Cottage
• St Michael's Church at Orchard Portman (Pin 3)
• The churchyard cemetery alongside.

All these are described in following sections on this page.

A visit to the churchyard will take about an hour or more.

All properties are now in private non-family ownership. You can see the houses from the road easily enough, but stopping to take photos is very, very difficult. The roads are narrow and busy, there are no footpaths, and the traffic is fast. There are driveways near the racecourse which may be suitable. I tried walking along the B3170 but found I had to take refuge by pressing into the hedges whenever a car approached. It was scary!

Be warned! It was on this road that George Clist was hit by a motorcyclist, and died the next day in hospital. That was in 1934 when the traffic would have been a small fraction of what it is today.

Now let's see more details of some of our ancestors.

John Clist This is the one and only photo of my great-great-grandfather John Clist. Born 1835 in Hemyock, Devon, just two years before the UK Register of Births was started. Died 20 August 1891 aged 56 years. Blacksmith.	Elizabeth Manfield Great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Clist (neé Manfield) was also born in Hemyock (1836). She was a widow for many years, living mostly with George and Mary. She died 22 April 1918 aged 82 years.	George Clist This photo of my great-grandfather George Clist was taken at Eton, Windsor (England) in 1880. He was aged 17 at the time, being born on 12 May 1862. He died on 4 May 1934 aged 71 yrs 11 mths. Blacksmith.	Mary Quick My great-grandmother Mary Clist (neé Quick). Photo taken at Taunton, Somerset (England) in 1880 before she and George married in 1884. Born 22 October 1859, died 2 April 1934 aged 74 years.
John and Elizabeth are buried in Orchard Portman Churchyard. George, Mary and Joy are also buried there in a triple grave. My grandfather Sidney George Clist grew up in Shoreditch, but his grandfather John Clist died aged 56 when George was but 29 and Sidney only 5 years old. How sad it must have been for them! I doubt if Sidney was old enough to remember his grandfather. I feel greatly blessed to have memories of my grandfather as I was 13 when he passed away, and to have enjoyed the companionship, insight, and guidance of my father Eric Clist until I was 49. In 1910 Sidney and his brother John Clist (and their cousin Charles Rossiter) emigrated to New Zealand. At that time, their sister Joy was aged 6. The next time Sidney saw her was in 1931 when my grandparents Sidney and Mercy made their one and only visit to England. Joy was now 27. Read more about their trip in Sidney Clist's album.		Helen Joy Clist The youngest of George and Mary's six children, Helen Joy Clist was born in 1904 and lived with her parents in The Forge and the Ivy Cottage. She contracted tuberculosis and died in 1935, less than a year after her parents. During her illness she lived at Tiverton with her sister Dorothy and husband Tom Bellamy who nursed her until she passed away. She never married. So young, so sad.

What we learn from their Wills

In date order:

• John Clist died on 20 Aug 1891, having written his Will on 6 Sep 1890, being at Shoreditch near Taunton, Blacksmith. His tools and implements of trade were to go to his sons George and Mark. His real and personal property were bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth who was appointed Executrix. Probate was granted on 1 Sep 1891, the gross value of his Personal Estate being £284.

• Elizabeth Clist died on 21 Apr 1918, having written her Will on 25 Aug 1893, being at "Shoreditch in the parish of Taunton Saint Mary Magdalene (Without) in the County of Somerset." Her Executors were to be her son George and daughter Ellen Brewer. All her "household goods and furniture wearing apparel linen jewellery trinkets and housekeeping effects" (written just like that without commas) were to go equally to her three daughters Elizabeth Ann, Ellen and Lucy. All real estate if any and all the residue after paying funeral and testamentary expenses and debts were to be divided equally bettween the three daughters and her three sons George, Frank and Mark. Probate was granted on 22 May 1918. The gross value of her Estate was £183 14s 1p. Divide that by 6 and it looks like her children all received about £30 each!

• Mary Clist died on 2 Apr 1934 but did not leave a Will. Her husband George was entitled to her estate but renounced Letters of Administration in favour of their daughter Joy. Probate was granted 3 May 1934, one day before George died. Gross value of estate £296 6s 7p bearing a stamp of £1 10s 0p.

• George Clist died on 4 May 1934. His Will is more complicated being two full typewritten pages. It was signed 20 Feb 1934 appointing Ted Rossiter Blacksmith and Tom Bellamy of Tiverton as Executors and Trustees, for the purposes of the Settled Land Act 1925. All real and personal estate bequeathed to his trustees in fee simple to sell call in and convert into money such parts thereof forming his residuary Trust Fund to pay an annuity of £26 to his wife Mary and further income to their daughter Helen Joy during her life or until she shall marry after which the six children were to receive equal parts of the residue. Probate granted 31 May 1934. Gross value of estate £1638, personal estate £511 14s 0p, Estate Duty £48 7s 6p.

• Joy Clist died on 28 Feb 1935. Joy wrote her Will in Jan 1935 establishing her brother-in-law Tom Bellamy as sole Executor. She nominated two women, a man (a missionary in Johannesberg, South Africa) and two charities to receive 1 or 2 fortieth's of her estate, with the remainder being shared equally between Herbert Maddox, her five siblings, and her two foster-brothers Ted and Charlie Rossiter (NZ). Probate granted 19 Mar 1935. Gross value of estate £189 16s 7p bearing a stamp of £1 10s 0p.

Observations

• The estates of John, Elizabeth, Mary and Joy are modest and give no indication of them owning property. I could be wrong, but I think John Clist was a tenant.

• The meaning of "bearing a stamp" is curious. It no doubt refers to estate duty. Stamp duty was first introduced in England in 1694, during the reign of William III and Mary II, which is soon after the Monmouth Rebellion described above. Originally it meant that a document had been officially stamped to mark receipt of the tax being paid.

• Joy's minor beneficiaries received less than £5 or £10 each. Her major beneficiaries received less than £20 each. And overseas remittance costs would diminish the amounts still further. Her heart was large, and this is to be admired and respected.

• George Clist's estate is five or more times bigger than the others, but is not large. The annuity provided for his wife Mary amounts to 10s per week, and seems very small. Perhaps in those days it could pay for one's food and clothing. But as Mary died 40 days before George, this bequest failed.

  George's Will specifically refers to the Settled Land Act 1925 and indicates his real estate was to be placed into "his residuary Trust Fund", the income of which was to fund annuities to Mary and Joy "during her life or until she shall marry" after which the residue would be divided among the children as final beneficiaries.

  It all sounds complicated but it must have been understood by the solicitors of the day. I presume the Ivy Cottage was George's property, and I expect he had sold the Smithy and The Forge cottage to Ted Rossiter, as The Forge was Ted's family home to the end of his days, and it was sold after Ted's son Charlie died. This history is described by Lizzie Rossiter in her letter "Sale of The Forge".

• Betty Sipowicz (neé Jenkins) of the Argentinian branch of the family gave me more background first-hand in two respects. George and Mary were her grandparents, and Joy her aunt. Betty had stayed with her grandparents and Joy in the Ivy Cottage on several visits in her childhood, and in fact was in England when both her grandparents passed away, her mother happening to be on furlough.

  • Firstly, Betty said that Joy did have a love interest "Mr Maddox" so marriage was a distinct prospect. In the event, Joy fell ill with tuberculosis and Mr Maddox did not sustain his interest, which hurt Joy. She grew weaker and died 10 months after her father. But Joy named Herbert Maddox as a beneficiary of equal status to her siblings, which shows he had a special place in her affections.
  • Secondly, George Clist owned five cottages in Shoreditch which were tenanted, and "each Christmas he would visit his tenants and give them a cake and a [Gospel] tract". As his death was due to an accident, I expect he still owned them and the rents were his retirement income. These rents would continue after his death, so the residuary Trust Fund would have regular income to support the annuities.

• George also had built a small Brethren meeting room on the Ivy Cottage property. In 2012 I was told by a Shoreditch resident that this was an unpretentious and small building with corrugated iron wall cladding. I have one photo of it. I was told by a Shoreditch neighbour that it was demolished when the Ivy Cottage's long driveway was established in recent years. George Clist never owned a car so had no need of a driveway, and as far as I can determine from photographs taken from the road in the 1920's and 1930's, the area currently occupied by the driveway was George and Mary's vegetable garden.

In summary, I suspect that George Clist's residuary Trust Fund was much greater than his probate estate. Would the difference between his gross estate and his personal estate (£1,127) be represented by the value of the Ivy Cottage, five cottages and a meeting room?

To answer this will need more understanding of the interpretation of a 1930's Will, and knowledge of property prices in 1934 gleaned from issues of the Somerset County Gazette.

I must admit that I expected more in George's Will. Why? Because I knew from family lore that George and Mary's grandfather clock was to go to son Sidney, his desk to son John, and the carpets to daughter Edith. Perhaps these instructions were in another document such as a Memorandum of Wishes. Anyway, George's executors Ted Rossiter and Tom Bellamy faithfully attended to these matters. The clock was shipped to Sidney in NZ, inherited by Eric, then by me. The desk was shipped to John in NZ and is now with one of John's grandchildren. And Betty told me about the carpets being received by her mother Edith in Argentina.

As you will read later, we met Ted Rossiter in 1973 and he confirmed about the clock. And so did Tom Bellamy, whom we visited in 1973 at his home in Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkstone. He told me that he and Ted filled the case of the clock with books from the Ivy Cottage, some of which are in my possession today. One such is "Success in Life, A Book for Young Men" and on the spine "There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune - Shakespeare". Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, Paternoster Row, London, 1878, well known publishers of Christian literature. Inscribed on the flyleaf is "George Clist, Christmas 1879, From Mr Bonsey". George was 17 at the time.

How old is the Smithy?

The blacksmithing business at the Smithy owned by John Clist, later George Clist, and still later by Ted Rossiter is reputed to have been operating on the junction of Shoreditch Road (B3170) opposite Octon Lodge for about 300 years, as said by Lizzie Rossiter, Ted's daughter in her letter of 6 Oct 1985 describing The Sale of The Forge.

I searched for some evidence to confirm this statement, and found it in an interesting small book at the Somerset Heritage Centre, namely Orchard and the Portmans (1986, Ref. 2).

The drawing shown at right is from this book. I remember an old-fashioned signpost being on that same corner when we visited Ted Rossiter in 1973, as described in the next section. The caption states "Shoreditch Forge as it appears today" but does not state the source of the drawing or its date. It might have been as late as 1985 but I suspect it is much older. It is the aspect one sees when approaching the Shoreditch corner from Taunton, except that it now has a lot of fences and tall trees shielding the house snd smithy from view.

The Monmouth Rebellion

The above book refers to the Duke of Monmouth's rebel army of untrained recruits in 1685, saying that they:

This makes me think that the drawing is from the 1700's or 1800's. It also tells me that the Smithy belonged to Sir William Portman (6th Baronet, 1644-1690) and that the blacksmith, no doubt living alongside, was his tenant. Therefore at some stage the property was made freehold, because my great-grandfather George Clist was an owner.

Monmouth's sad history is well recorded in history. Sir William Portman was the one who arrested the fugitive hiding in one of the fields not far from Orchard Portman. If you don't know much about this civil war, just look up "Monmouth Rebellion" on Wikipedia.

Re-hafting of scythes

Monmouth's defeat was shortly after he paused at Shoreditch, taking place at the Battle of Sedgemoor north-east of Shoreditch, where a lot of Monmouth's supporters were armed with pitchforks, sickles and sythes "re-hafted" (handles replaced by long poles). A re-hafted scythe was described as a "desperat wepon" (Ref. 3) and indeed formidable as it could cut the leg of a horse in two, let alone the damage it could do to soldiers doesn't bear imagining. The re-hafting was mostly the work of blacksmiths, who could convert the agricultural use of a scythe into a weapon. I wonder how many were made in the Shoreditch Smithy?

Reference 3 tells us that some of the Sedgemoor weapons still survive:

More history found

Interestingly, in researching names I found a thesis which gave a sequel concerning Daniel Manning. Evidently the poor young man ended up on the Barbados Plantations basically in servitude. His downfall was illiteracy. But he is remembered thus: (Ref. 4)

I wonder if Daniel Manning ever found his way back to England? I also wonder how many blacksmiths worked in the Smithy from Walter Upham to John Clist? That is a span of about 180-200 years, from 1685 to 1865 or thereabouts. I doubt if we shall ever find answers.

These years were very turbulent and Monmouth was very soon executed at Tower Hill. Then the Bloody Assizes were held in Taunton and, according to Wikipedia, 320 rebels were executed and 750 transported to the West Indies for 10 years' hard labour. History records that Sir William Portman, a Royalist and supporter of James II in 1685, later changed allegiance and within a few years was a supporter of the crown passing to Prince William of Orange.

After my great-grandfather George Clist retired, the blacksmithing work was continued by Ted Rossiter, George's nephew, whom we visited on 29 May 1973 when on holiday in the West Country. As it happened, this trip turned out to be pivotal in launching my interest in family history, so I will begin by giving a bit of background.

We lived in London when we were newly married, renting a small two bedroom flat in West Ealing. As ex-pats will testify, such a situation attracts visitors and we were no exception. In 1973 my in-laws came to the UK from Brisbane in company with my sister from Auckland, and with a convertible bed-couch in the living room we managed to accommodate all three. Not only that, but all five of us managed to squeeze into our tiny Vauxhall Viva, and being May Bank Holiday weekend, to avoid traffic congestion we set out early on the Friday morning with the arrangement of arriving at our home-stay in Ilfracombe in time for dinner that evening.

Our trip to Ilfracombe, North Devon

In the course of the day we met several relatives on the Clist side of the family, and happened to meet more than planned!

Our return via Taunton, Somerset

After two days spent in Devon and Cornwall, on the Tuesday we set out home for London, and in the early afternoon were passing through Taunton, Somerset. At my sister's suggestion, we decided to look for the Ivy Cottage and the Smithy being "at Shoreditch, two miles from Taunton" (our grandmother Mercy Clist's instructions). We stopped in the town centre while deciding what to do. The problem was that Shoreditch was not on any of our maps, and no passers-by had knowledge of the place. So we were not hopeful of finding it. How easy the solution would be today, but this was decades before the internet, mobile phones and GPS guidance existed.

Then I spotted a public map in a glass display panel mounted in the road's central pedestrian refuge. This contained a large road map of the town, and had external handles to roll it upwards and downwards. In the process of examining the streets I discovered Shoreditch Road radiating out from close to the town centre. This was encouraging, so we set out along Shoreditch Road.

After leaving Taunton behind us we were in the countryside. At exactly 2 miles we reached a few buildings and, the road being narrow, I pulled into a driveway and parked. Here is the narrative taken from a letter written the next day by my mother-in-law to my brother-in-law and his wife in Australia.

"We stopped to study the map outside a place with a couple of big wooden doors and Father said that he thought that that looked as if it could be a blacksmith's shop. Anyway, Roger went in to seek directions and found that we had stopped right outside the place. We stayed with Mr Ted Rossiter, 89, for a couple of hours. He isn'y exactly a relative but was orphaned at the age of 13 and as he was a connection by marriage of the Clists, Mr Clist, great grandfather to Roger, brought he and his brother up so he had come into the blacksmith's business too. He was a dear old man and owned to knowing the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. The forge had been closed for 15 years but he took us through it and Roger took photographs of where his grandfather had worked and the anvil he worked at. The old man was delighted. He has such a clear mind that he was able to tell Roger such a lot about his forebears. When his great grandfather was converted he held gospel preachings in his kitchen for a while and had about 60 in to hear the preaching. When they could not all fit in the kitchen they overflowed up the stairs. They were happy as long as they could hear. Then the grandfather (great) built a meeting room further up the street. It was quite interesting hearing all the happenings of an earlier age in the locality."

I agree, Ted was remarkable and his memory was sharp. He described everyone and everything from my relationship point of view.

My memories of visiting Ted Rossiter

Our visit was completely unplanned and without warning or prior contact. Ted was in his everyday gardening clothes, and indeed, he had a very big vegetable garden beside the house. I thought we were at the Ivy Cottage, as it was indeed covered in ivy. But I was mistaken. Years later I realised that my great grandparents' Ivy Cottage was further down the B3170 and the house that Ted lived in was "The Forge". We had to wait until 2012 before we had opportunity to revisit Shoreditch and see the Ivy Cottage for ourselves.

We talked for a good while inside the Dining Room. It was a big room and had an uneven flagstone floor and a wide and deep fireplace in which you could hang things on hooks above. I referred to the grandfather clock and Ted showed us where it used to be standing.

Ted did not live alone. Two of his children, both single, lived in the house: Lizzie (62) and Charlie (60). We missed seeing Lizzie as she was out shopping in Taunton. This was unfortunate as Lizzie was was the family correspondent and historian. I am very grateful for her diligence in putting pen to paper, and regret that we did not meet or correspond. She is the writer of two of the folios on this site, one giving a history of The QUICK Family (our great grandmother Mary was of this line), and the other describes the The Sale of The Forge in 1985, which took place just 12 years after our visit.

Charlie was home and I caught a glimpse of him. He was painfully shy and kept himself well out of sight, not joining in conversation.

Ted enjoyed our visit. It was very exciting when he took us into the old Smithy adjoining The Forge and showed me the forge and massive anvil which my grandfather Sidney used. There were three large forges and bellows in one big room, and Ted said that they could shoe up to four horses simultaneously, and often made "two dozen horseshoes before breakfast". It would have been heavy and tiring work in a dim and dusty environment with smoke and heat all around. The two photos at right were taken when we were talking in the old smithy, and that was the anvil that my grandfather Sidney had worked at.

Ted's neice Freda, daughter of his younger brother John Thomas Rossiter, has written a detailed family history and I quote here from page 4 of her Rossiter Report.

Those were the busy days, now long gone.

Their trade was closely associated with the farming sector. But the invention of the tractor removed the need for farmers to use horses, and blacksmithing went into decline. See the newspaper clipping Craftsmen of the West which I obtained in 2012 from Ted's grandson John Rossiter. In this article Ted is quoted saying

"In 1914, before the War, the first tractor made its appearance in the district, and from then there was less work for the horse. By 1925 there was not a great deal of the old business left."

Ted Rossiter kept the Smithy going by designing and manufacturing ornate wrought-iron gates and fences, many of which are still in use in Taunton. His younger son Harry worked as a blacksmith with Ted for quite a few years. But according to Page 5 in Lizzie Rossiter's notes Harry eventually worked as a plumber and water engineer with the local Council. To me this suggests that work in blacksmithing was reducing and Harry needed to change direction in order to secure a future.

I've seen some of Ted and Harry's workmanship, because on our visit in 2012 John Rossiter, Harry's son, took us on a tour of where their gates and fencing were still in use in some large and important civic properties in the town centre.

John also took us to the Orchard Portman Churchyard and showed us where Ted, Charlie and Lizzie are buried. Strangely, none of the Rossiter graves have headstones. But they rest there, along with George, Mary and Joy Clist, and John and Elizabeth Clist whose headstones we were already familiar with. I think it is fitting that the three generations of blacksmiths are buried so close to the Smithy and their homes, The Forge and the Ivy Cottage.

Ted told me he "closed the Smithy 15 years ago" which would be in 1958 when he was aged 74. Certainly it was unused, cobwebby and derelict when we visited. The building has now been refurbished into housing. The name "Little Forge" can be seen on its wall today.

Generation 1: John & Elizabeth Clist

The Forge cottage must have been a very busy house when our forebears John and Elizabeth Clist lived there. John was the first of three generations to occupy this historic site. They had six children: George (my great grandfather), Annie, Frank, Ellen, Lucy, and Mark. Plus they had up to three boarders as well, some being young blacksmiths and/or apprentices. John needed the men in the Smithy, and they needed accommodation close to work in order to do the early starts. Shared bedrooms were common in that day, and sometimes children needed to share beds. Life was tough, but you did what you needed to do.

Dorothy Jenkins' notes at the end of the first Feature Article George and Mary Clist's Family Bible tell the histories of each of these six children, and I have added extra details from my own research.

The UK census records are helpful in tracing the family and finding out who lives where, and with whom. You can read my analysis of these records from 1841 to 1891 in John Clist's History page.

Of John Clist's sons, George and Mark were blacksmiths, and probably started working in the Smithy at age 12.

Of the other children, In the 1881 census I found that Ellen at age 12 was living nearby at the Orchard Portman Vicarage and working as house maid. She was two years older than her sister Lucy, who at age 10 is listed as "Scholar". But in the 1891 census I found Lucy now aged 20 working as a nurse maid in Maidstone, Kent. So I suspect she also started work at age 12 as well. It seems so young for them to leave home, but that was the circumstance of that era, and it would relieve pressure in the house.

Generation 2: George & Mary Clist

Eldest son George was a blacksmith all his life. On 3 Jan 1884 he married Mary Quick who lived nearby at Buckland St Mary. He never travelled far from home and never owned a car. I have one photo taken when they were at the seaside. But I have many photos of them taken from about 1910 to 1934, when they both passed away. Their grandfather clock and family Bible are with us, and one or more books.

In the 1891 census they are listed with three young children two houses away from George's parents John and Elizabeth who are living with their youngest son Mark, 19 blacksmith and a 16-yr old apprentice. Both addresses are "Road, Taunton St Mary, Taunton". I suspect by then it was George aged 28 who was now running the Smithy as his father John was ill and died just a few months after the census.

There were also six children in George and Mary's family: Edith, Sidney, Dorothy, John, Annie and Joy. In addition, they took in nephews Ted Rossiter (13) and his brother Charles (5) after their mother Elizabeth (Mary's older sister) had taken ill and died and Edward their father had gone missing in America and presumed dead. This led to a very strong linkage between the Clist and Rossiter families. So it was a very crowded household, but that's what families did in those days.

Then in quick succession, the nest emptied.

The photo here, likely taken in the early 1930's, shows all three anvils in action. George (retired) is standing at the left, Ted is on the right, with Harry next to Ted. It must have been a hot and noisy work environment and bad for their health, and with no apparent ear protection, very bad for their hearing.

The 1911 Census was recorded on the night of 2 Apr 1911. Find My Past gives two records of interest for "Shoreditch Near Taunton, Pitminster, Somerset": firstly for George and Mary Clist with daughter Joy and George's mother Elizabeth in a house with 6 rooms; and secondly for close relatives John and Elizabeth Mansfield in a house with 4 rooms, both with postal address as Shoreditch, Taunton (the houses are not named). Then another record of interest is for Edward (Ted) and Emily Rossiter, Find My Past gives the record for "Smithy Shoreditch Road Taunton, Taunton St Mary Magdalene Without, Somerset" being a house with 6 rooms but I cannot see this more specific address on the census image, although it is undoubtably correct. Their postal address is Shoreditch, Taunton, Somerset.

The conclusions I draw from this information are

I've not yet found Dorothy Clist in the 1911 Census, but she married Tom Bellamy in 1920 and they lived at Tiverton, about 25 miles South West. They remained very close family-wise to Dorothy's parents and I have many photos of them with George and Mary. Tom had a car, and they often took George and Mary on outings. There were no children. Dorothy died in 1966 and Tom remarried. We met Tom in 1973, at his home in Capel-le-Ferne near Folkestone. He died in 1978.

Likewise, I've not yet found Annie Clist in the 1911 Census. People had to live near their place of employment. She married Met Knight in 1917, but we know little about him. There were no children and there are no photos in my collections. Met died in 1955. Annie told me "she was the black sheep of the family" and I suspect she was not emotionally close to her parents. She ended her days in 1974 in Bristol, in the flat where we visited her.

George and Mary's daughter Edith Jenkins returned home from Argentina on furlough several times, and her four daughters completed their education at schools in the South West, which gave them a special bond with their grandparents.

Son Sidney Clist (my grandfather) and Mercy made the trip of a lifetime from New Zealand in 1931, but their son Eric (my father) never had the opportunity of meeting his Clist grandparents, and he was sad for this.

Son John Clist and family (my father's cousins) visited at least two times, once being when returning from Canada.

Son-in-law Tom and Dorothy Bellamy were living in Yeovil then in Tiverton, so were often at Shoreditch. Also, Tom's mother Ellen was postmistress at Shoreditch so they had a double reason for calling by.

I have several photos of when daughter Annie Knight visited. As far as I know, she lived in Bristol but I do not know her history. When my parents visited us in London in Dec 73/Jan 74 they visited Annie in Bristol so my father Eric Clist had the opportunity of meeting his Aunt. But this was just days before she died, so they visited Bristol again with my father conducting her funeral and my father and mother attending to the clearing out of her Council flat.

According to Freda Vince's Rossiter Report (Part 2) George and Mary Clist moved down the road to their new home, the Ivy Cottage, about the time that Ted and his wife Emily married. The photo here was taken in the Ivy Cottage garden, because as you will see further down, a subsequent photo shows them dispersing afterwards at the front gate. Ted and George are standing, Emily is nursing baby Elizabeth Emily (Lizzie) beside Elizabeth Clist (George's widowed mother), then there is Joy aged 8 and her mother Mary. Lizzie was born in Dec 1911.

With the Clists now settled in the Ivy Cottage, Ted and Emily established their home at The Forge. Two sons followed, Charles Edward (Charlie) in Dec 1912 and Harry in Nov 1914.

The 1939 Register records the household at The Forge Shoreditch, Taunton R.D. just prior to the start of World War 2.

• Edward J Rossiter, 1 Aug '84, Married, Master Blacksmith & Agricultural Mechanic Heavy Worker
• Emily E Rossiter, 24 Feb '86, Married, Domestic Duties Unpaid
• Elizabeth E Rossiter, 2 Dec '11, Single, Typist Book Keeper Domestic Duties
• Charles E Rossiter, 20 Dec '12, Single, Charging & Repairing Radio Engineer Accumulator

Sadly, Emily died in 1959 leaving Ted a widower for 14 years.

Ted lived in The Forge until the end of his life. Years after our visit, we heard that he died just seven weeks after our visit. I expect we were his last family visitors, and our photos would be the last taken of him. The blacksmithing generations had passed away. It was the end of an era.

Ted left a Will, which is somewhat hard to follow. He passed ownership of the property to the three children: Lizzie, Charlie and Harry as tenants in common but that it should not be sold while Lizzie and Charlie were living in it "as tenants in common". This shows his care for his unmarried children. Harry, the youngest of the siblings, had married in 1944 and with his family was independent and living in Taunton.

With respect to Charlie, Lizzie in her Quick Family history, says that Charlie "joined the RAF and was in MALTA during most of the siege, afterwards had his own little business at Shoreditch as a Television and Radio engineer. He died on the 12th May 1985 being unable to work for the last 10 years of his life."

Freda, in her history of the Rossiter family, gives more details. Of Charlie, she says

I feel this latter comment gives a reason for Charlie's aloofness in May 1973 when we visited The Forge. The man was ill.

Charlie's younger brother Harry was a blacksmith for some years. Lizzie says he "was for a time working with his father but eventually worked as plumber and water engineer with the local council, [until he] retired." To me this indicates that Ted found it hard to maintain a flow of blacksmithing work sufficient to sustain them both in the business.

After Ted's death, brother and sister Charlie and Lizzie remained living The Forge, then in 1985 Charlie died aged 72 years. After his death "the property had to be sold" (see Lizzie's letter Sale of The Forge. As Charlie did not leave a Will, I believe Lizzie here refers to the terms of their father's Will.

The Probate document for Charlie grants his sister Lizzie Letters of Administration to deal with winding up her brother's affairs. The gross value of Charlie's estate was £14,096 and I expect this value is largely Charlie's third share in the property.

Lizzie moved to a flat in Taunton, and oversaw the sale of the property. It was a huge change for her but she was very accepting of the situation. She knew that The Forge cottage needed renovation but she and Charlie didn't have the financial resources to undertake such work. As you will read in the sections following, the property has been subdivided to make two independent residences maintaining much of their original external character but with vastly improved interiors.

The Smithy and The Forge were no longer connected to the Clists or Rossiters.

Lizzie died in 2009 aged 97 years, the last of Ted and Emily's children.

I've not yet discovered what age her brother Harry reached, but it seems that he was living in 1985 when The Forge was sold and that he helped Lizzie with the disposal of items. In Lizzie's Will, one of her many beneficiaries was Emma, Harry's wife, her sister-in-law. From this, it seems that Harry had passed away before her Will was written, being survived by his wife and son John.

Ted Rossiter had just one grandchild, Harry's son John, whom we met as mentioned earlier when touring in the UK in 2012. A lot of photos collected by Ted and Lizzie came into John's possession, and he shared them with Ernie Wide who scanned, indexed and forwarded the collection to me. My intention is to make this archive viewable in the Galleries section on this site in the near future.

I am grateful that we had an opportunity to meet Ted in 1973 and John in 2012. I value the knowledge that Ted was a faithful de facto step-son to my great grandparents George and Mary Clist, and that he maintained the Clist tradition of blacksmithing until the end of his working life.

These blacksmiths were skilled artisans, and as far as I know, their wrought iron creations are still to be seen in Taunton.

In The Rossiter Collection, Folio 1 there are two photos snapped at the Old Smithy which I believe could be the last ones taken while the Smithy and The Forge cottage were in Rossiter ownership.

A Rossiter from New Zealand visits her relatives

It so happened that Dianna Rossiter from Christchurch, New Zealand was backpacking in 1984 with Jim and Kathleen Rossiter at Pickney Farm and on this particular day Kathleen and her daughter Suzanna had brought Dianna to the Old Smithy to visit their relatives of the "Ted Rossiter" lineage: Lizzie and Charlie Rossiter were living in The Forge, and their brother Harry was also visiting along with his son John. I was told these details when my wife and I were visiting Suzanna and family in September 2023. We also spoke with John, who was now living on the Isle of Wight. John told me he was the one who operated the camera.

In the top photo, the group are posing right outside the Smithy and the camera is looking towards the big Smithy door on the corner with the Corfe Road behind it. The gable in the top left is the roof of Octon Lodge on the opposite side of the road. From left are Kathleen Rossiter, Dianna in green dungarees, Charlie Rossiter (71), Harry Rossiter, Kathleen's daughter Suzanna (7) in front, and Lizzie Rossiter (73) on the right.

In the lower photo, from left we have Charlie, Kathleen, Suzanna, Lizzie and Harry. The Rossiter family likeness is remarkable. The car is Harry's Ford Escort. All the older generation have now passed on, in the same order left to right:

• Charlie died in 1985 aged 72
• Kathleen died in 1990, age 48
• Lizzie died in 2009 aged 97
• Harry has also passed away.

These photos are cropped for the purpose of display on this page. To view the originals, scroll through the Gallery associated with this Feature Article.

Why am I interested in these photos?

I'm interested in these photos because that's the driveway where we parked our car in 1973, and the exact path we walked down to reach the door to The Forge cottage. Nothing much has changed between 1973 and 1985. I presume Charlie and Lizzie had no money to spend on maintenance, or lacked the motivation to arrange for needed repairs and painting.

Having seen more recent photos of The Forge, I realise now that this path led to the back door to the cottage, the front door being on the other side and accessed from the road to Orchard Portman and Staple Fitzpaine.

We never saw that side in our 1973 visit. If we did, we would have seen that for half of the house there was an extra level below the main floor which we were on, so had a more space than I gave credit for.

As you will see from the following two sections, both The Forge and the Smithy have been vastly renovated since 1985. In particular, the Smithy has been converted to a two-bedroom cottage named "Little Forge" and is in separate ownership to The Forge. For this reason, I suspect that access to the back door of The Forge from the Corfe Road is now closed off.

The bowser shed

Another interesting discovery is the sign on the side wall of the building on the right, which reads "Petrol Pump Switch Off Here". I knew that at some stage Ted Rossiter sold petrol at Shoreditch, and I expect I heard this from my grandmother Mercy Clist who visited there in 1931.

This could indeed be the case, as in my research I found a record in the Somerset Archive Catalogue of a Deposited Building Plan for the Taunton Rural Distric Council entitled "1000 gallon petroleum storage, triple compartment tank, Shoreditch, Taunton, 1930" which will be Ted's application for planning consent. This shows that Ted was proactive in seeking another income stream, and it was likely to be the latest innovation at the Smithy when my grandparents visited.

The triple compartment tank probably means that three grades of fuel could be stored for retail sale.

I have found just one photo (poorly focused) showing three bowser hoses in a shed opposite the big Smithy doors and right on the road frontage. It must have been very difficult for vehicles to park in Corfe Road to be refuelled. So I doubt if the venture persisted long. I can't remember seeing the bowsers in 1973.

In the renovations, the bowser shed has been converted into a double garage belonging to "Little Forge" as seen in the next section.

In 1985 after Charlie died, Lizzie Rossiter had to deal with selling the property. In her letter dated 6 Oct 1985 to Jack and Lucy Clist of Tauranga, New Zealand, Lizzie describes her experience in handling the sale and consequent disposal of furniture and other possessions. It was obviously a big matter for her to undertake, particularly as it embodied the memories of a lifetime. But there comes a time when most of us have to face downsizing and taking life at a slower pace.

Around 1910, my great grandparents George and Mary Clist built a new home a short distance from the Shoreditch junction down the Corfe Road (B3170) towards Corfe. It was built on a tiny sliver of land squeezed between the road and, what was then, countryside but which is now Taunton Racecourse. I think George might have purchased this land from a neighbour who subdivided off part of his garden, because early photos of the house show the land to have mature trees and hedges.

At right is the new house, named the Ivy Cottage. It was modest in size and of necessity built quite close to the road. I judge this photo (Sidney's copy) to be taken in May or June 1912 because I found another copy in his brother John Clist's memorabilia which was mounted on backing card, and on the back was written "July 1st 191", the final digit on the year being cut off to fit in its frame. Also, some names were written on the back - "Effie Rossiter holding Lizzie", "Joy Clist", "Ted Rossiter" and "Shoreditch, Taunton, Devon, UK" -should be Somerset, not Devon.

But there is previous photo taken at the same time with the group formally arranged in the area just the other side of the hedge, and now it looks like the men are about to get on their bikes so they have asked the photographer to take a photo of the new house so they can send it to the children who have emigrated to Argentina and New Zealand.

The photographer has crossed the road and climbed up the bank. The other side is a metre or so higher - I know, because I've climbed it to get photos, too.

From left are Ted Rossiter with his bicycle, Joy Clist, her parents Mary and George Clist, George's widowed mother Elizabeth, and Ted's wife Emily holding baby Lizzie. Lizzie was born in Dec 1911, and would therefore be about 6 months old. Joy was born on 12 Apr 1904, so would be aged 8. These figures agree with the year being 1912. The windows of the house are open, so it must be getting warm. The gardens and hedges look to be well established, and ivy has started growing up the wall behind Mary and behind George.

I'm not sure when George and Mary moved to the Ivy Cottage, but I expect it was before the 1911 census was taken on the night of 2 Apr 1911, which has the following records:

So this is why Dorothy and Annie are not in the photo. George and Mary's other children Edith, Sidney (my grandfather), John and Charles Rossiter are also absent and are not listed in the 1911 Census because

The Ivy Cottage has been much enlarged since originally built, probably trebled in size, but the distinctive chimneys and roof angles remain unaltered. The stone fence and two wrought iron gates are gone, being replaced with a closely boarded wooden fence. The B3170 is quite a busy road, and you could not casually stand in the roadway or park a car there now on account of traffic. It still has no footpaths so is quite dangerous to walk along.

Back in the day, many a photo was taken by the front gate, often with a car parked there. Mostly, it looks like the photos are taken before saying goodbye to family or visitors.

I mentioned earlier about George Clist building a small meeting room for the local Brethren assembly. The only photo I have that shows the Hall was discovered when we were visiting our Argentinian relatives in Córdoba, shown at right. The building is no longer there, having been demolished by more recent owners to make room for a vehicle entrance and driveway for the Ivy Cottage.

Here are some stories that need telling:

This third photo was taken in 2012.

(This section is to be worked on)

was once occupied by Orchard House, an ancient stately home belonging to the Portman family which had fallen into disrepair and was demolished in 1840.

In 1927 Viscount Portman agreed to grant the adjacent land to the newly formed Taunton Racecourse Company for creating the course which has been greatly developed over the years.

is the other side of the racecourse and rather hard to find, although you can see the steeple quite clearly. There is a public footpath that leads from the Ivy Cottage driveway across the racecourse to it. A taxi driver should know how to get near to it. This is a very interesting place, though you will likely find the church is locked and you can't go inside. It is very old. It has services on some Sundays. My brother Alan visited when someone was mowing the lawns, and they unlocked the church for him and he was allowed to climb up the steeple and view the countryside from the steeple roof.

is very interesting. You will need an hour here, at least. If you search among the gravestones you will find the grave of John & Elizabeth Clist near the fence facing the racecourse, and of George and Mary and Helen Joy Clist in a more central location. These last three all died within a year. Mary Clist died of cancer. Shortly after her death George Clist was in a wheelchair and visiting a neighbour when he was hit by a motorcycle. He was taken to hospital but died the next day. So the road was even dangerous long ago! Helen Joy (30) caught tuberculosis and was being nursed by her older sister Dorothy ("Auntie Doll"). Dorothy and her husband Tom Bellamy lived at Tiverton. Helen Joy later died and was buried with her parents.

The grandstand is also used as a Reception Centre for weddings, etc. Not really of much interest, but if you can see the Ivy Cottage, then the grandstand is just alongside and dominates the poor old house. I believe the racecourse now owns the Ivy Cottage and it is rented out. George Clist considered racing to be an evil vice. So when Betty was a child stayed there when visiting her grandparents from Argentina, he always drew the curtains so you couldn't look out and watch the horses racing on the other side of the Ivy Cottage fence!

The Motorway was built in 1974-75. There is a deep cutting where it goes under Shoreditch Road, and the spoil was used to improve the Taunton Racecourse.

No history of the Shoreditch area would be complete without mentioning Octon Lodge, which continues to this day. As well as the Lodge itself, the stables have been converted into comfortable suites, and we have stayed there.

1. Craftsmen of the West
   A clipping from an unknown newspaper with title "Village Blacksmith's New Tune On His Anvil" describing Ted Rossiter and the Smithy at Shoreditch. Date unknown, but possibly in the 1930s. Viewable on this website.

2. Orchard and the Portmans by T W Mayberry 1986, 52 pages
   Somerset County Library Book No. 0758082, viewed at the Somerset Heritage Centre in Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton. Now that's a place where I could happily spend some hours, should a travel opportunity come along.

3. The Antiquaries Journal, 99, 2019, pp 225-270 © The Society of Antiquaries of London and Cambridge University Press 2019, 46 pages
   'A DESPERAT WEPON': RE-HAFTED SCYTHES AT SEDGEMOOR, IN WARFARE AND AT THE TOWER OF LONDON
   Edward Impey, FSA, Royal Armouries Museum, Armouries Drive, Leeds LS10 1LT. Downloadable from the web. A very well researched paper giving the history of re-hafted scythes in England and Europe.

4. "They can now digest strong meats:" Two Decades of Expansion, Adaptation, Innovation, and Maturation on Barbados, 1680-1700, 379 pages
   Ryan Dennis McGuinness, PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. Downloadable from the web. A well-researched dissertation on the Barbadian sugar plantations' slave trade in the late 17th century.