David Borrett: Remembering Mud Town featuring silk makers

The road is now the upper part of Eastfield Road that runs north to south, before turning at a right angle towards the town.

Behind the photographer of the Frith image is today’s Recreation Road and to the left runs Acre Path, all of which was undeveloped until the 1920s.

Eastfield Buildings, in Eastfield Road, c.1905, from a postcard by F Frith & Co. (Image: F Frith & Co)

The nearer, brick-built and slate-roofed terrace of 19th century date still stands today and replaced a ‘yard, barn, sheds, three tenements and a garden’ that was there in 1848, while in place of the much older cottages there is a row of semi-detached houses of 1930s date.

The name ‘Mud Town’ may reflect that the houses were all mud-built (a traditional local method of construction), rather than muddy surroundings.

The thatched cottages could have been standing 300 years or more before these photographs were taken, so why were they constructed in what was then an isolated spot?

The most likely explanation is that they were for farm workers.

Winchester College had bought an already existing farm called Calley’s or Callice in 1567 which comprised much of this area, so the college are the likely builders.

College leases of Callice Farm from 1604 onwards mention a mansion house (the main farmhouse) and houses, as well as barns, stables, edifices etc. as part of the successive lettings.

During the following centuries, segments of the farm were probably sold off, while it may also have been affected by the enclosure awards of 1785 when land was swapped and exchanged.

The final, surviving piece of Callice Farm was today’s recreation ground, bought by the borough council from the college in 1887.

Many of the cottages eventually became homes to hand loom silk weavers.

In the early 19th century, there were two silk mills near to each other in London Road.

These were just a short walk along the footpath at the right angle of Eastfield Road, a path that is still accessible today.

Indeed, there were more such houses set along the line of the path.

We can place the two factories reasonably accurately from the tithe map of c.1848, which sets out all the plots of land.

On two separate sites, in the lower, northern side of London Road, silk mills are shown – approximately where Woodlands Way and Eastfield House are now located.

Another view of the cottages, from the other end of the row. (Image: Supplied)

Frustratingly, any detailed information about these silk manufactories is sparse.

Early directories of Hampshire that include a list of the gentry and tradespeople of Andover are sporadic in date, but there seems to be no mention of any silk factory proprietor until Pigot’s 1823 directory; under the title ‘Silk Manufacturers’ we have two names: George Ransom and Thomas Tarrant, presumably each running one of the factories.

Both these names are repeated in the same publisher’s work of 1828, but two years later, Pigot fails to list any.

This may be correct, as George Ransom died in 1828, his will confirming him as a silk manufacturer who left all his wealth to his wife Mary Ann, while Thomas Tarrant has proved impossible to identify.

It is likely that both factories were rented, and in 1830 were vacant, awaiting tenants.

The 1841 census reveals that Henry Attwood and James Chappel were silk proprietors, each living in London Road in a house that was within the boundaries of their factories.

These two men were both listed in Pigot’s 1844 directory, but the information was by then out of date as Henry Attwood had failed to pay his rent for both dwelling and silk factory, thus forcing a sale of all his property in November 1843.

James Chappel may also have been in financial difficulty, as by 1848, he was no longer in charge, and the business had been taken over by ‘Messrs Jones, Pain and Goodman’ who employed 90 people.

Although there were three proprietors, it seems to be James Pain who ran the factory.

The other two may have been financial backers, while Pain himself lived in one of the Mud Town cottages.

Also in one of the cottages was earlier proprietor James Chappel with his wife Sarah; in 1851, both were listed as hand loom weavers.

Undeniably, we are left with the impression that silk weaving in Andover was a difficult business.

The 1848 tithe survey shows that a large block of the cottages, one of the silk factories and other parcels of land nearby were held by the executors of John Reeves, who lived at Upper Clatford and was killed by falling from his horse in Andover High Street in 1846.

His wife Mary died a few months later, but the executors continued to administer the property and it was some years before a public auction was held in September 1856.

The sales particulars, deposited in Hampshire Record Office, comprise 15 lots.

Lots 9, 10 and 11 were blocks of the cottages and the particulars list the individual tenants (let to them on a weekly basis) and show the annual value in rents of each lot.

A simple cottage, like we see here, was well under 2s per week but silk weavers were notoriously badly paid, as were agricultural labourers whose wage was something like 9s per week in the 1850s.

Both cottages and plots of land could be sold at auction to new buyers without affecting any existing tenant; indeed, an occupied house or piece of land was an incentive to any prospective buyer who would immediately receive the rents.

The last we hear of any silk factory (whether one or two) is in January 1857 when auctioneer Frederick Ellen was ‘authorised to let a substantial building used as a silk factory, situated in the London Road, Andover, with comfortable dwelling house attached.’

The inference is that it had failed to sell at auction, but Ellen himself may have been the buyer, together with Lot 15, an adjoining arable field, all of which was to be the future site for Eastfield House, his family home.

Maybe in 1857, he was not yet ready to build and a temporary letting was a way of bringing in some money.

Lot 15, the arable field, according to the sales particulars, was already let to James Pain at £6.5s per annum.

Eastfield House still stands today, though in recent years it has been converted into flats, having for many years served as a home for the blind.

It is unique in style for Andover, described in the recent edition of Pevsner’s Buildings of England as ‘a consequential stone-faced villa of c.1860 [with] Belvedere tower and round arched porch.’

The cottages remained until the 1930s but both their age and condition served to condemn them, a part of the general slum clearances that saw similar houses in New Street demolished by a progressive council attempting to improve Andover.

In those days, nobody would have made any attempt to save them.

If you are interested in local history, why not join Andover History and Archaeology Society? Details can be found at andoverlocalhistoryarchaeology.uk.