Coleshill House Post War

See also: Wartime site layout - Coleshill pre war- Coleshill today - Coleshill discoveries - Coleshill Uncovered Project, Coleshill Reborn Project

Please Note: The Coleshill House site and grounds are owned by the National Trust. The woods and grounds of the house are all strictly private and access is limited to set days a year. See our events page for their official open days. Attempting to access the site outside of these times is not only trespassing but could damage the future of our work and relationship with the Trust and villagers. Please respect this.

If you wish to discuss anything connected with the house itself or it's staff please email cartcoleshill@gmail.com

In 1946, shortly after the end of the Second World War. Coleshill House was purchased from the Playdell - Bouverie family by a Mr E Cook, a founding partner of the international travel Agency, Thomas Cook & Son. Six years later in the late summer of 1952, disaster struck and Coleshill House was no more.

The following is extracted from the Swindon Evening Advertiser of 24th September 1952 and graphically displays the drama of the previous day:

Fire last night destroyed Coleshill House, Nr Swindon, the former home of the Playdell - Bouverie family.

Molten lead pourng from the roof like silver rain, drove from the house, Firemen and Estate workers who were carrying out onto the lawns art treasures and furniture.

An inadequate water supply which had to be pumped half a mile uphill, hampered the 14 fire brigades that responded to the call. Within 4 hours of the start of the fire, all that remained of the building was the burned out shell surmounted by the 8 massive chimneys, 3 of which had recently been renovated at a cost of more than £2000.

Flames leaping more than 20 feet from the roof were seen for miles around and within a short time the lawns around the house were crowded with spectators.

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

Growing up in Coleshill  - By Des Williams

I was born in 1945 and lived in the Home Farm at Coleshill.   My father, Sidney Williams, was responsible for the livestock, whilst his unmarried sister and brothers took charge of other aspects of the farm.   Leslie was responsible for the agricultural side of the farm, whilst Harold and Bert looked after the garden and helped with the livestock and agriculture.   Albert had a garage at Highworth and Kitty was the housekeeper.   We all lived in the large farmhouse, my parents, sister and myself in one part with all my uncles and aunt in the other half.

We had a pedigree herd of Wessex Saddleback pigs, later to join with the Essex Saddleback to become the British Saddleback.   All pigs bred by my father had the prefix `Merrywood`.   We had the champion pig at the Royal Show three years in a row, and sold pigs to customers all over the world.

I spent my childhood in the village, and loved exploring the woods.   I remember Coleshill House, and sometimes crawled into a tunnel from the Park which led to the cellars under the house.   I also played in the various shelters in the woods which had been used for training purposes during the war.   I remember troops and equipment being dropped by parachute at nearby Arnhem Camp at Watchfield.

I clearly remember the day in 1952 when the house was burnt down.   I attended the High School in Swindon, and I travelled daily by bus from Highworth.   My father collected me from Highworth, and as we reached the top of Eastrop hill and looked towards Coleshill, there was a glow in the sky.   My father said, `Oh my God, Coleshill House is on fire`.   As soon as we arrived home, my father ran to the house, where he formed a chain with the farm workers to carry books from the library before molten lead began to drip through the ceiling and the local policeman ordered them to leave on safety grounds.   There were about 20 fire engines from numerous fire stations, but there was no proper water supply, and they tried to pump water in relays from the river.   It proved totally inadequate, and the house was completely destroyed.   It was rumoured that a worker had left a blow lamp alight during his tea break, and that this had set fire to the lead on the roof.   About three years after the fire, the land where the house had stood was made into a cricket pitch, but the club only lasted about five years.

The house originally belonged to the Pleydell-Bouverie family, and I remember meeting Miss Mollie and Miss Beano who were both excellent potters.   They moved to the Mill where they continued to make pots.   They either sold or left the land to the Cooks Trust, and it was then given to the National Trust.

Our thanks to Des for this story.