1964 Part 107 – Bathampton and Bathford
Types of Great Western Countryside
Michael L. Roach
Although the heading is Bathampton and Bathford, that is only for convenience and where the article concludes. The starting point is a story about two men with the same surname – Winstone. The name is not common, but there are/were quite a few Winstones in North Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and more right up the M4 corridor to London. There was also an enclave of Winstones in Glamorganshire. I am going to tell you about the second Winstone I came across first. It is the story of a young man who worked for the Great Western Railway and the Brecon & Merthyr Railway in mid-Victorian times and how he got into a spot of trouble. His story came to light while researching the opening dates of railways to Brecon. Among the results was the report of a court case involving a break-in at a Brecon & Merthyr railway station. The young man was called David B Winstone.
David William Banaster Winstone was baptised on 3 November 1847 at the parish church of St John the Evangelist in Brecon, which became Brecon Cathedral in 1923. David's parents were Evan and Jane Winstone who had been married for more than 21 years when David came along. The first mention of David Winstone in employment is in September 1865. He describes himself as 17 years old but he had not reached his 17th birthday. He is working for the GWR at Chippenham Station as a goods clerk on a salary of £50 per annum. He advanced quickly and in May 1867 was doing the same job at Swindon on £60 per annum. He quickly advanced to £70 in December 1867 and to £90 in May 1869. He resigned from the GWR in December 1869. By 1871 he has returned to Wales doing the same job of goods clerk for the B&M at £110 per annum. He was now 23 years old and was earning about double the national average wage for the time.
David had married while he was working in Swindon He married Fanny Elizabeth Coates on Sunday 21 June 1868 at St Marks Church in the Parish of New Swindon. He was 20 years of age, a bachelor, an accountant and son of Evan Winstone, builder. She was 18, a spinster of no occupation and daughter of William Coates, bootmaker. The address of both groom and bridegroom was New Swindon. The couple's first child was baptised at Swindon on 28 February 1869 and was named Frank W W Winstone (1869 - 1934). The Father's occupation was given as Railway Accountant. I suppose it is possible to be an accountant, but employed as a goods clerk, but its just as conceivable that David is telling fibs. It would have been interesting to find the family in the 1871 census, but I had no luck searching for David, Fanny or Frank Winstone in that census. I was thinking that they had somehow managed to evade the census enumerator, or moved on, and was on the point of giving up when I tried a couple of variations of the surname; e.g. Winston and Winton. This brought a bit of luck as the entry had then been transcribed as David Wenstone (since corrected ) and the family that I was looking for, with the right names and ages. On the night of 2 April 1871 they were living at 10 Spring Street, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil. Spring Street was just across Pant Road/Victoria Street from the huge Ifor Iron Works. David gives his occupation as Railway Clerk. If you have difficulty finding the entry, it is at Glamorgan/Merthyr/ Upper Merthyr/District 14/Page 36 of 52/ Line 172.
In 1881 and 1891 the family are at Workington in Cumberland and David is a clerk in tin-plate and iron-works respectively. Their son is doing rather well and in 1891 he is 21 and an analytical chemist; while 10 years later he is a Works Manager on The Wirral. His mother, Fanny, is with him in 1901 but not his father. She describes herself as married, and not widowed. David B Winstone disappears completely after 1891. I found no death for him, but did find a D Winstone emigrating to Boston USA on the “Saxonia” on 15 October 1901, but he describes himself as a driver. I also found no death for Fanny or find her emigrating.
No mention of the names Winstone and Merthyr Tydfil would be complete without saying a few words about Howard Winstone. Howard was born in Merthyr in 1939 and died there in 2000. Howard hit the headlines in 1958 and was never out of the headlines for the next 10 years culminating in becoming world featherweight boxing champion in January 1968. He retired from boxing 5 months later.
While searching for opening dates for the Brecon & Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway in the 1860s my eyes alighted on a result involving alleged theft from the company by one Daniel Banaster Winstone who was employed as a clerk by the Brecon & Merthyr. The case against Winstone was heard in front of a jury at the Glamorganshire Midsummer Quarter Sessions held at the Town Hall Cardiff starting on Tuesday 27 June 1871. The case was reported in at least 3 newspapers, as follows, and created “considerable interest in court” The allegation was that Winstone broke into the booking office of his own station and stole the day's takings late at night. The evidence was a bit circumstantial as the station's night watchman only got a rear view of the burglar while looking through a window as the burglar escaped out of the opposite window. His christian name was reported as Daniel but it was a regular thing to use an alias in those days, and each newspaper spelled his surname differently. Witnesses testified that Winstone had been drinking at the Bruce Arms public-house (now the Bruce Hotel, Victoria Street, Dowlais) at the very time the watchman said the robbery was committed. The three newspapers were:
The Western Mail of Thursday 29 June 1871
The Merthyr Telegraph of Friday 30 June 1871
The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian of 01 July 1871
Winstone was found not guilty; but finding David B Winstone got me thinking as to where I had seen that surname previously. It had been decades earlier in the GWR Magazine. In 1960 I bought my first batch of GWR Magazines – a substantial pile from the 1930s and 1940s. Right through the 1930s the magazine regularly carried a photograph of pretty villages in GW territory; places like Polperro, Noss Mayo (where my great-great-grandmother was born in 1825 – see 1964 Part 53), Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Tintern and Wells Cathedral. The last photo at Wells was taken by one F.R. Winstone, who was a regular contributor. Indeed I thought he might even be on the payroll of the railway, so regular were his photographs in the magazine.
Frank R Winstone was born on 3 September 1909 at Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4QT close to Victoria Park. His father had a menswear shop in East Street, Bedminster BS3 4HH and the young Frank joined him in the shop when he left school. Frank's real interest was in photography which he had started at school, which became his passion and his full-time occupation in 1937. In 1939 he is living at St. Agnes Avenue, Bedminster BS4 2DU, but in a directory of 1938 he has an address at St. James Street, Mangotsfield BS16 9HE which may have been a photography shop and portrait studio. During the war he served in the photographic section of the Royal Air Force. After the war he resumed his career as a freelance photographer and was quite obviously successful as he, wife and child moved to a smart new house in Hyland Grove, Henbury BS9 3NR. Frank's mission in life was to collect photos of Old Bristol, to take record photos of Bristol landmarks; and to give lantern and later slide shows of Bristol. In 1957 he published his first book of vanished scenes and some authorities would give him credit as inventing the genre. A total of 37 books of his photos were published but some were put together by his son John (born 1944) from Frank's extensive archive of 43,427 photographs. His middle name was Reece (his mother's maiden name) and after 1945 he used the name Reece Winstone. Bristol's history is very well recorded photographically thanks to Reece Winstone who was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society as a result; and his books were very popular with the first one, published in 1957, selling 20,000 copies.
If one types Reece Winstone author into Ebay books dozens of results show up with the books still commanding good prices considering the numbers printed. The last image today shows one of Reece Winstone's photographs for the GWR Magazine. When I saw it for the first time the picture entranced me as representing the GWR, and the beautiful territory it served, in the 1930s when the railway was at the height of its zenith. In 1960 it was only 20 years since the 1930s came to an abrupt end with WW2. It has only taken me 66 years to find a use for that picture and bring it to a wider audience. In 1960 it was only 12 years since nationalisation and some rural lines were still the same as in the 1930s, with the same GWR engines, the same GWR coaches, and even some of the same GWR staff operating the trains as pre-war. A good example is the Plymouth to Tavistock and Launceston Branch. The Editor of the GWR Magazine in the 1930s must have liked the River Yealm, near Plymouth, because three photos appeared in the 1930s under the heading Great Western Territory and the three are attached to this article.
David William Banaster Winstone was baptised on 3 November 1847 at the parish church of St John the Evangelist in Brecon, which became Brecon Cathedral in 1923. David's parents were Evan and Jane Winstone who had been married for more than 21 years when David came along. The first mention of David Winstone in employment is in September 1865. He describes himself as 17 years old but he had not reached his 17th birthday. He is working for the GWR at Chippenham Station as a goods clerk on a salary of £50 per annum. He advanced quickly and in May 1867 was doing the same job at Swindon on £60 per annum. He quickly advanced to £70 in December 1867 and to £90 in May 1869. He resigned from the GWR in December 1869. By 1871 he has returned to Wales doing the same job of goods clerk for the B&M at £110 per annum. He was now 23 years old and was earning about double the national average wage for the time.
David had married while he was working in Swindon He married Fanny Elizabeth Coates on Sunday 21 June 1868 at St Marks Church in the Parish of New Swindon. He was 20 years of age, a bachelor, an accountant and son of Evan Winstone, builder. She was 18, a spinster of no occupation and daughter of William Coates, bootmaker. The address of both groom and bridegroom was New Swindon. The couple's first child was baptised at Swindon on 28 February 1869 and was named Frank W W Winstone (1869 - 1934). The Father's occupation was given as Railway Accountant. I suppose it is possible to be an accountant, but employed as a goods clerk, but its just as conceivable that David is telling fibs. It would have been interesting to find the family in the 1871 census, but I had no luck searching for David, Fanny or Frank Winstone in that census. I was thinking that they had somehow managed to evade the census enumerator, or moved on, and was on the point of giving up when I tried a couple of variations of the surname; e.g. Winston and Winton. This brought a bit of luck as the entry had then been transcribed as David Wenstone (since corrected ) and the family that I was looking for, with the right names and ages. On the night of 2 April 1871 they were living at 10 Spring Street, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil. Spring Street was just across Pant Road/Victoria Street from the huge Ifor Iron Works. David gives his occupation as Railway Clerk. If you have difficulty finding the entry, it is at Glamorgan/Merthyr/ Upper Merthyr/District 14/Page 36 of 52/ Line 172.
In 1881 and 1891 the family are at Workington in Cumberland and David is a clerk in tin-plate and iron-works respectively. Their son is doing rather well and in 1891 he is 21 and an analytical chemist; while 10 years later he is a Works Manager on The Wirral. His mother, Fanny, is with him in 1901 but not his father. She describes herself as married, and not widowed. David B Winstone disappears completely after 1891. I found no death for him, but did find a D Winstone emigrating to Boston USA on the “Saxonia” on 15 October 1901, but he describes himself as a driver. I also found no death for Fanny or find her emigrating.
No mention of the names Winstone and Merthyr Tydfil would be complete without saying a few words about Howard Winstone. Howard was born in Merthyr in 1939 and died there in 2000. Howard hit the headlines in 1958 and was never out of the headlines for the next 10 years culminating in becoming world featherweight boxing champion in January 1968. He retired from boxing 5 months later.
While searching for opening dates for the Brecon & Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway in the 1860s my eyes alighted on a result involving alleged theft from the company by one Daniel Banaster Winstone who was employed as a clerk by the Brecon & Merthyr. The case against Winstone was heard in front of a jury at the Glamorganshire Midsummer Quarter Sessions held at the Town Hall Cardiff starting on Tuesday 27 June 1871. The case was reported in at least 3 newspapers, as follows, and created “considerable interest in court” The allegation was that Winstone broke into the booking office of his own station and stole the day's takings late at night. The evidence was a bit circumstantial as the station's night watchman only got a rear view of the burglar while looking through a window as the burglar escaped out of the opposite window. His christian name was reported as Daniel but it was a regular thing to use an alias in those days, and each newspaper spelled his surname differently. Witnesses testified that Winstone had been drinking at the Bruce Arms public-house (now the Bruce Hotel, Victoria Street, Dowlais) at the very time the watchman said the robbery was committed. The three newspapers were:
The Western Mail of Thursday 29 June 1871
The Merthyr Telegraph of Friday 30 June 1871
The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian of 01 July 1871
Winstone was found not guilty; but finding David B Winstone got me thinking as to where I had seen that surname previously. It had been decades earlier in the GWR Magazine. In 1960 I bought my first batch of GWR Magazines – a substantial pile from the 1930s and 1940s. Right through the 1930s the magazine regularly carried a photograph of pretty villages in GW territory; places like Polperro, Noss Mayo (where my great-great-grandmother was born in 1825 – see 1964 Part 53), Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Tintern and Wells Cathedral. The last photo at Wells was taken by one F.R. Winstone, who was a regular contributor. Indeed I thought he might even be on the payroll of the railway, so regular were his photographs in the magazine.
Frank R Winstone was born on 3 September 1909 at Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4QT close to Victoria Park. His father had a menswear shop in East Street, Bedminster BS3 4HH and the young Frank joined him in the shop when he left school. Frank's real interest was in photography which he had started at school, which became his passion and his full-time occupation in 1937. In 1939 he is living at St. Agnes Avenue, Bedminster BS4 2DU, but in a directory of 1938 he has an address at St. James Street, Mangotsfield BS16 9HE which may have been a photography shop and portrait studio. During the war he served in the photographic section of the Royal Air Force. After the war he resumed his career as a freelance photographer and was quite obviously successful as he, wife and child moved to a smart new house in Hyland Grove, Henbury BS9 3NR. Frank's mission in life was to collect photos of Old Bristol, to take record photos of Bristol landmarks; and to give lantern and later slide shows of Bristol. In 1957 he published his first book of vanished scenes and some authorities would give him credit as inventing the genre. A total of 37 books of his photos were published but some were put together by his son John (born 1944) from Frank's extensive archive of 43,427 photographs. His middle name was Reece (his mother's maiden name) and after 1945 he used the name Reece Winstone. Bristol's history is very well recorded photographically thanks to Reece Winstone who was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society as a result; and his books were very popular with the first one, published in 1957, selling 20,000 copies.
If one types Reece Winstone author into Ebay books dozens of results show up with the books still commanding good prices considering the numbers printed. The last image today shows one of Reece Winstone's photographs for the GWR Magazine. When I saw it for the first time the picture entranced me as representing the GWR, and the beautiful territory it served, in the 1930s when the railway was at the height of its zenith. In 1960 it was only 20 years since the 1930s came to an abrupt end with WW2. It has only taken me 66 years to find a use for that picture and bring it to a wider audience. In 1960 it was only 12 years since nationalisation and some rural lines were still the same as in the 1930s, with the same GWR engines, the same GWR coaches, and even some of the same GWR staff operating the trains as pre-war. A good example is the Plymouth to Tavistock and Launceston Branch. The Editor of the GWR Magazine in the 1930s must have liked the River Yealm, near Plymouth, because three photos appeared in the 1930s under the heading Great Western Territory and the three are attached to this article.
Noss Mayo from the July 1931 Magazine. This view is looking north from Noss Mayo to its twin village of Newton Ferrers on the opposite side of the River Yealm. In the centre is The Dolphin Inn where my father's uncle (William Charles Roach 1878-1962) was the publican in 1911. Later he was the ferryman operating a rowing boat when the causeway between the two villages was covered by the tide. Above the chimney at the left end of the Inn and on the opposite side of the road is the small cottage where William's son Leslie (the village postman) lived with his family and where my mother and I lived when I was a baby. No copyright
The River Yealm from the June 1935 Magazine. This view shows the River Yealm; open sea to the left; and Newton and Noss to the right. Directly ahead and two miles away up the creek was Steer Point railway station on the Yealmpton Branch. There was a landing stage alongside the station from where a ferry sometimes connected with trains and ran to Newton and Noss. The line closed to passengers in 1930. More in Alan Kittridge's book ISBN 0906294541 No copyright
Noss Mayo from the September 1936 Magazine. No copyright
From the June 1940 Magazine is taken this nicely composed view by F.R. Winstone, who would have taken the photo before 3 September 1939 since private photography of railways was banned during the war. The train is heading north and just starting to curve around to Bathampton Junction and the village on the horizon is Bathford. The tree is quite unusual and has not yet been identified; being very tall with few branches and the main trunk covered in ivy at the bottom. This photo was one of very few in the series that actually showed a railway line. No copyright
Bude Turntable
Andrew & Diane Jones
Some really outstanding coverage of the recent rail tours, its amazing how much the original Midland Blue Pullman resembled the much later HST design! Perhaps all the credit was stretched a bit by Sir Kenneth Grange and possibly Jack Hoe F.R.B.l.A F.S.IA and Metro Cammell should be mentioned in dispatches!
Moving on....
It would be easy to forget the contribution victorian canals played in every day life before the coming and during the dominance of railways.
In Cornwall they were a rarity but nevertheless considering the challenging terrain attempts were made. Bude to Launceston is a case in point.
For those that are interested there is a very good website at:
https://www.bude-canal.co.uk/index.html
Connecting the canal to the sea was a short tramway which still exists in part and has been recently preserved in an extensive rebuilding of the canal embankment.
Diane and I took our dog Flinty for a walk on Summerlease beach adjacent the canal and found the remains of the original tramway turntable. Please see photograph.
From time to time the railway on the beach is uncovered, please see the following link:
https://www.railwayramblers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/NewsArchive/18news/18budetramway.pdf
Very best wishes Andrew and Diane
Moving on....
It would be easy to forget the contribution victorian canals played in every day life before the coming and during the dominance of railways.
In Cornwall they were a rarity but nevertheless considering the challenging terrain attempts were made. Bude to Launceston is a case in point.
For those that are interested there is a very good website at:
https://www.bude-canal.co.uk/index.html
Connecting the canal to the sea was a short tramway which still exists in part and has been recently preserved in an extensive rebuilding of the canal embankment.
Diane and I took our dog Flinty for a walk on Summerlease beach adjacent the canal and found the remains of the original tramway turntable. Please see photograph.
From time to time the railway on the beach is uncovered, please see the following link:
https://www.railwayramblers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/NewsArchive/18news/18budetramway.pdf
Very best wishes Andrew and Diane
The Bude Tramway turntable. Copyright Andrew & Diane Jones.
Many thanks Andrew and Diane - what a remarkable survivor.
The Cotswold Festival Of Steam
Graham Jakes
'Coffee Pot' GER loco 229 at the GWSR for the Festival of Steam event. 24.05.2026, copyright Graham Jakes.
78022 calls at Winchcombe with a goods train. 24.05.2026, copyright Graham Jakes.
0-4-4 15189 between duties. 24.05.2026, copyright Graham Jakes.
35006 undergoing restoration. 24.05.2026, copyright Graham Jakes.
GWR 2807. 24.05.2026, copyright Graham Jakes.
Many thanks Graham - I bet you were hot! And thanks also to Ken Mumford for forwarding these on.
Clay on a hot day!
Jon Hird & Mark Lynam
On a scorching Tuesday afternoon, 66735 leads the Goonbarrow - Fowey JIA's across Ponts Mill viaduct. 26.05.2026, copyright Jon Hird.
Further down the branch at Middleway, the recent warm weather has done wonders for the vegetation. 66735 pushes through with 6G09. 26.05.2026, copyright Mark Lynam.
With the engine and cooling fan both screaming, the train slogs up the gradient past Stoneybridge. 26.05.2026, copyright Jon Hird.
66735 passes Golant with 16 wagons working 6G09 1258 Goonbarrow Junction Dbc to Fowey Dock Carne Point. 26.05.2026, copyright Mark Lynam.
A bonus shot of 175011 at Middleway, running ahead of 6G09 with the 1217 Newquay - Par. Later in the afternoon, both this unit and the class 150 which was also covering the branch diagrams failed at Par! The final departure from Newquay was 1620 with all later trains cancelled. 26.05.2026, copyright Mark Lynam.
Many thanks Mark, a nice day for it.