Lavatoria

1873 map of the area around Lavatoria.
The diagonal straight line from bottom right is the path taken by Burton's Boundary wall

Lavatoria was originally laid out as a square, with small houses facing each other at the west end of Norman Road, the north side being somewhat earlier (1829-30) than the south, with the northern houses being built by Messrs. Towner, Smith and Thorne and the southern range built and inhabited by Messrs. Putland, Burgess and Mortimer. The shop-fronts on a line with Norman Road were added about fifty years after original construction.

Burton's Wall

Originally Norman Road was blocked at its junction with the square by a boundary wall that provided access only for foot traffic between two posts on the east side of the square. The wall was taken down around 1841/2

Numbering

In terms of numbering, from Census returns, it would appear that number 1 was the north-west property in the square, the numbering proceeding clockwise, ending at 18 at the south-west property

1837 Residents

Brett in his manuscript histories gives the 1837 occupants as follows:-

1: Thos. Bumsted
2: Thos. Burt
3: Wm. Quaife
4: Thos. Smith
5: Jno. Sinnock
6: Christopher Deering
7: Thos. Marchant
8: Chas. Vaughan
9: Benj. Cork
10: Wm. Palmer
11: Geo. Savage
12: Hobden
13: Thos. Burgess Jno.
14: Wilson
15: Mortimer
16: Sam. Summerall
17: Jno. Prendergast
18: Jas. Bungay

1867 Suicide in a Well

At an inquest held in the British Hotel, East Ascent in June of 1867, a coroner's court was informed how a well-sinker, Frederick Chapman aged 34, had opened the lid of a well situated in the square and jumped to his death below at about 3:45pm on Monday the 17th of June. Ropes were hastily found and lowered into the well to retrieve the body; it having taken about 30 minutes to locate a suitable rope to pull Chapman up. The court was informed that the well was in a dangerous state and a firm recommendation was made that the well be closed off. Chapman having been known to be a heavy drinker appeared to a number of witnesses to be intoxicated prior to his descent and a verdict was given that death was due to temporary insanity brought on by heavy drinking.

Images

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  WW1 Troops Lavatoria