Frome Family History Group
Our recent meeting began with our annual business meeting, the first at the Cheese and Grain.
Chair Chris Featherstone thanked the audience for their continued support over the past year, then went on to thank the committee. Treasurer Gerry Burdall stood down in April when we welcomed Marilyn McCullough to the committee as treasurer. The audience was asked for their thoughts on both the new venue and suggestions for future speakers.
Our speaker for the evening was Sue Latham, a well-known Frome resident and photographer. Her presentation entitled Secret Frome was a selection of her fantastic photos of lesser-known places in Frome together with unusual facts and figures relating to the images.
We started in Portway by looking at those houses, beginning with Lee’s chip shop at number 5. The next house on the row was number 11. Where were the missing numbers? A narrow gap between 5 and 11 leads to a row of beautiful old cottages, the missing 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Still in Portway, we looked at the quirky building that was the Marble and Stone Works established in 1805 by Joseph Chapman.
We went on to look at a selection of cottages and terraces, some with challenging access, making us wonder how they got their furniture to the front door.
Sue, told us about Royal visitors firstly the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1881 followed by Prince George and Princess Mary in 1909. The Prince and Princess of Wales travelled along the Portway, where the schoolchildren from the workhouse cheered them on. Cockey and Sons were asked to provide railings to prevent people from falling off the edge of Coal Ash Walk.
The town bridge is one of only three bridges in Britain to have shops on it. The other two are Pultney Bridge in Bath and High Bridge in Lincoln. There has been a bridge on this site since at least 1540 when it was made of stone and supported five arches.
Victoria Park was our next destination. There is a plaque on the base of a large oak tree that was planted in 1911 in honour of James Matra, who was a midshipman on the voyage to Botany Bay by Captain James Cook. The New South Wales prime minister came to Frome to plant the commemorative oak.
Sue’s talk covered many more locations than can be described here.
Sue was thanked for a very enjoyable talk and the meeting came to a close. Our next talk will be on Tuesday 25th February, when Mike Nicolas will talk about the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Frome Family History Group
Pictured: Victoria Park
