Coleshill House - Post War

            

A painter had been using a blow lamp to remove paint from the 
dormer windows, the Evening Advertiser was told. Mr L H Knapp, 
Director of Messrs J Knapp & Sons Ltd, carrying out the 
renovations at the house said "The men were equipped on the 
roof with fire extinguishers and buckets of water in the event of 
something like this happening. The fire carried through cracks 
in the woodwork and the wind carried the fire away from the men. 
It was not detected at once and we could not stop it with our fire 
extinguishers"

Decorators, farmers, estate workers and villagers hurried to the 
house to help carry out valuable paintings, Furniture and
books. Everything of value was saved with the exception of one 
or two of the heavier pieces of furniture. Mr Harold Williams of 
Home Farm, described how he and his men stopped work immediately to help remove paintings and furniture. 
Soon all that remained were 3 busts, one beheaded which lay neglected on the lawn.

Suddenly a wave of heat swept over the spectators and a mushroom of yellow smoke rose skywards as the second  
floor caved in, whilst firemen continued in vain to play water on the flames from a turntable ladder.
Mr Williams said, "I think we managed to get everything of value out including 2 sets of chairs costing £2000 which 
Mr Cook had purchased from the Playdell - Bouverie family and left in the house. Only when the molten lead 
cascaded from the roof did we give up"

Whilst firemen waited for further water supplies, some carried by tender, they were served with cups of tea brought 
up in buckets from the village. Water was even taken from an ornamental goldfish pond, being replenished by a 
pump sited on the banks of the nearby River Cole. Even this was inadequate to meet demand and the goldfish 
were soon left floundering in the mud.

Villagers were visibly affected by the fire with one quote being that with the House having gone, the whole character 
of the village had gone.

The fire was eventually brought under control at 10:15pm, but continued to blaze until midnight. Fire brigades from 
Didcot and Abingdon continued to tend the fire overnight being relieved at 7.00am by firemen from Faringdon and 
Wallingford. Regretfully, 2 firemen sustained injuries whilst fighting the fire, these being Fireman H G Hocking of 
Curtis street, Swindon who was treated for shock at Swindon GWR Hospital when a turntable ladder from which he 
was operating collapsed. The other casualty was Sub officer N G Speight of Swindon who was treated at 
St Margaret's Hospital, Swindon after a burning ember dropped in his eye.

The fire was fought by Fire Brigades from 3 counties and included Brigades from Swindon, Faringdon, Fairford, 
Wantage, Abingdon, Bampton, Newbury, Lambourn, Ramsbury, Witney, Wallingford, Didcot and Oxford.    

The house was scheduled to be passed onto the National Trust upon the death of Mr Cook. Mr Cook was said to be 
too distraught today to make any comment.

The Fire Brigade Society 
The article below was kindly provided by "Fire Cover Magazine". The Fire Brigade Society Journal. 

MANSION DESTROYED - LOST THROUGH LACK OF WATER
Compiled by Mike Smith, Editorial Team, from a report in the January 1953 edition of "Fire".

The construction of Coleshill House was believed to have commenced in 1650. The building was situated on 
high ground in an extensive estate some 3.5 miles from Faringdon and some 9.5 miles from Swindon. It was a 
large structure in which timber had been extensively used. Fire precautions within the house included the 
deployment of fire extinguishers (soda-acid type) and some small-bore internal hydrants, with hose, fed from a 
tank in the roof. However, the tank seems to have been installed in such a way as to be singularly ineffective. 
There were no public water mains to the house (the nearest 6" main was 3.5 miles away), an immediate water 
supply being available from an ornamental fishpond in the grounds some 60' from the house and holding some 
3000 gallons. Additional water could be obtained from the River Cole some 2400' away. At the time, this river 
marked the boundary between the counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire. Access to the river was not easy and it 
was 200' below the level of the house.

Over the summer of 1952 major renovation work was proceeding at Coleshill House. During the afternoon of 
23rd September workmen were burning off paint with blowlamps. They were working on paintwork around upper 
floor dormer windows. It appears that fire extinguishers had been deployed in the vicinity of this work and 
buckets of water had been provided as an additional precaution.

At about 1500 a workman smelled smoke but could see no sign of fire. A minute or so later however, he saw a 
puff of smoke followed by flames from a dormer window. An attempt was then made to deal with his fire using 
the internal hoses, but there was no pressure. Soda-acid extinguishers were then used, but several were faulty. 
Further attempts at fire fighting were then made using buckets of water. These were ineffective and the fire had, 
by now, taken a firm hold, fanned by a strong wind. At this point the attention of a man mowing the lawns 
appears to have been drawn to the fire and it is believed that he called the fire brigade.

There is no doubt that this was a, "delayed call". Some 40 plus minutes appear to have elapsed between the 
first hint of fire and the call to the fire service. Communications were nowhere near as sophisticated then as 
now and although Coleshill House was in Berkshire, the fire call was taken by Wiltshire Fire Brigade at 
Swindon fire station. There was a predetermined first attendance for the house - PE and WrT from Swindon 
and pump (possibly an ATV and TrP) and WrT from Faringdon (then Berkshire & Reading Fire Brigade, today
Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service). It is not clear who operated Faringdon's siren and call bells - it may have 
been Swindon. In the event, Faringdon could not raise enough men to turn out both appliances and the WrT 
proceeded on its own - getting away within a remarkable three minutes of the alert sounding. To make up the 
full PDA, Gloucestershire was asked to send a pump from Fairford.

The Faringdon WrT was the first appliance to arrive. It seems, Jn keeping with its speedy departure, to have 
made very good time, sending back an assistance message (a telephone would have to have been found to 
do this)-"Make pumps 4, turntable ladder required", at 1600. This resulted in pumping appliances being 
ordered on from Abingdon and Wantage (both towns then in Berkshire) and from Bampton, Oxfordshire. 
The TL from Swindon was also mobilised. At 1642 a "Make pumps 8 " message was sent - bringing on pumps 
from Didcot (also then in Berkshire), Hungerford, Berkshire and Witney, Oxfordshire. CFO Taylor of Berkshire & 
Reading Fire Brigade, had arrived form his HQ in Reading to take command and, at 1710, he made pumps 10 
and requested a second TL. The pumps for this make up came from Ramsbury (Wiltshire Fire Brigade) and 
Newbury. Oxford City Fire Brigade supplied the TL.

Five fire brigades - Berkshire & Reading, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Oxford City had now been 
involved in mobilising 15 appliances from 12 stations to this job. Four of the attending stations-Swindon, Didcot, 
Newbury and Oxford had whole time personnel, the rest were fully retained. Almost half the crews attending had 
had to travel over 15 miles to the fire, with Newbury clocking up 28 miles.

Initial fire fighting fell on the shoulders of the crews from Faringdon and Swindon - almost literally so, molten 
lead flowing from the roof was a severe problem. Two lines of hose were got to work from Faringdon's WrT and 
from the WrT from Swindon. Swindon's PE set into the fishpond and a line of hose was taken up the escape. 
This was transferred to the TL from Swindon when that appliance arrived on the fire ground. Reinforcing pumps 
were directed to the River Cole. However, given its distance from the fire and the higher level of the latter, only two 
"fair" jets could be provided from this source. But a light trailer pump was "dismounted" on the riverbank and 
used to supply three WrTs, which operated a shuttle to the fire ground.

In spite of the fire fighters' efforts the fire continued to spread. At 1700 it was decided to withdraw all personnel 
from the building. This was done just in time before a major roof collapse took place.
With the arrival of the last of the reinforcing pumps further relays were set up from the river. These produced an 
additional three jets - one of which was deployed from the Oxford TL.
At 2230 two of the massive brick and stone chimneys collapsed into the building. Prior to this virtually of the 
whole of the structure had become involved in fire, but the "Stop" was sent at about 2215. In sending it CFO 
Taylor added, "Am now proceeding to the 5 pump fire at Shrivenham", suggesting that there was another 
significant fire under way at the same time and in the relatively near vicinity.
By 2241 it was possible to dispense with one of the water relays and by 2358 only one relay was left in 
operation. The use of large amounts of dry timber in the roof; heavy lead covering, also in the roof, which 
insulated and retained heat in the upper parts of the house; extensive cavities between panelling and walls, 
which assisted fire spread and a glass cupola which collapsed into the hall at an early stage in the blaze, all 
contributed to the intensity and extent of the fire and to difficulties in fighting it. These factors were compounded 
by the serious shortage of water. CFO Taylor commented that even a 4" main at the house and a larger fishpond 
would have provided enough water for the initial Faringdon and Swindon appliances to have held the fire in the 
roof. But, as it was, a part of the nation's heritage was, in spite of heroic efforts on the part of the fire fighters, 
totally destroyed.

Glossary Of Terms Used Above

PE          Pump Escape - fire appliance with pump and 50 or 60 foot ladder which was moved into position on 
a large wheeled carriage.

WrT       Water Tender- a standard British fire appliance evolved from wartime experience, carrying pump, hose, 
ladders, etc and 400 gallons of water. The 1952 version is likely to have been of pretty basic construction.

ATV       Auxiliary Towing Vehicle - a wartime fire appliance; virtually all of these that remained in post war service 
were on the Austin 2 ton chassis. As originally configured, they were vans with a ladder gantry carrying crew, hose, 
etc and towing a trailer pump (TrP). After the war many were modified by the fitting of a 100 gallon water tank, 
hosereel and small pump driven by the road engine. They still towed the trailer pump and remained in service, 
particularly in rural areas, until the 1960s/70s.

TrP         Trailer pump - pump, often Dennis or Coventry Climax, on towed two wheeled chassis.

PDA        Predetermined attendance - a specified number and types of fire appliance automatically turned out to 
a call to a particular fire risk.

TL           Turntable ladder - self supporting, mechanically extending and swivelling, ladder, usually at least 100 feet 
when fully extended.

CFO     Chief Fire Officer



The site and grounds are now managed by the National Trust. Click here for info.

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Des Williams grew up in Coleshill and explored the site as a child he also remembers the House burning down. You can read his story here


         

           

          

Coleshill House, Coleshill, Mabel Stranks, Highworth, Highworth Post Office, Colonel Gubbins, Auxiliary Units, Churchill's secret army, Special Operations Executive (SOE), Home Guard, The Countryman's Diary-1939, Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming, Pleydell-Bouveries, Sir Thomas Freake, Sir Henry Pratt, guerrilla warfare