From the list of those who paid rent to the Lord of the Manor in 1554, certain names turn up through much of the subsequent life of the community. Poolyng, Webbe, Colymer (Thomas Colymore 1491), Biggegard, Tyler, Smyth, Hobbys (or Hobbes), Kue are names which survived into the 20th century as Pullen, Webb, Cullimore, Bedggood, Tyler, Smith, Hobby, Kew, but only Pullen is here in the parish today. Hardwicke bought into the parish in 1728; the line ended in 1935. Cornock came by marriage in 1822 and still flourishes. Here still are Daniels, Bells from 18' century, Bryant, Curtis, Davis, Heaven, Holpin, Livall, Humphries, Woodward, Pearce, Skuse and Smith from the 19th century, and, living here within recent memory are Hobby, 15th century, Boyt, Jobbins, Moxham, Tayler and Shield, 17th century, Alway and Cassell, 18th century, and Barton, Clements, Fry and Kingscott from the 19th century. Prominent but not so enduring on the male side were Roach, Champion, Lyons, Sainsbury, Creed, Drew and Hewett. Twentieth century names are numerous and mostly ephemeral. Among those who have stayed in the parish for 50 years or more are the following families: Barge, Brock, Button, Cottrell, Edgell, Fowler, Gibbon, Godsell, Goulden, Green, Hetherington, Johnson, Lewis, Matthews, Messenger, Monks, Nelmes, Niblett, Oakey, Pitt, Ponting, Poole, Travell, Williams, Wilson, and Vizard.
Pullens, more perhaps than any other family, have personified
Tytherington. By 1608, five Pullens were husbandmen, Thomas, James,
Henry, William and John, and as farmers they subsequently lived at Tower
Hill Farm, at Mill Farm, at Newhouse Farm and at The Laurels in
Itchington. The Hobbs family were even more prolific in the 16th and
17th but in the 18th century they left Tytherington. Tylers were in
Itchington before 1600; Peter was a husbandman in 1608 and when the
clergy were ordered to keep copies of Foxe's Book of Martyrs and Bishop
Jewel's Apology in the Church, it was Peter who gave these books.
Presumably, they were chained to the reading bench now mercifully
preserved at the east end of the south aisle. Tylers farmed Manor Farm,
Itchington in 1769, Moses was at Pendick's in 1780 and Mill Farm in
1800, but their heyday was after Nathaniel moved to West Street and his
son John Hawkins at West End Farm by 1871 was farming 350 acres and
opening up the quarry opposite his farmhouse. As so often happens, the
family fell to pieces from this peak.
These three families were working farmers, though each with an
entrepreneurial touch, whether as clothiers or quarry owners. The
Hardwickes also had made money, originally in Nailsea, latterly in
Chipping Sodbury and Bristol; the Town Master of Chipping Sodbury in
1695, a tanner, was a Peter Hardwicke, father of Peter, a Bristol
physician, who bought part of the parish, the Manor of Tytherington, in
1728. Hardwickes then remained here for over 200 years until 1935. At
the same time, 1729, Peter purchased the advowson of the Vicarage and
thus was able to present the vicar; by this means, Hardwickes or
their relatives were the vicars here until 1830, a hundred years of
nepotism. The line almost died out in 1862, but there were two young
grandsons named Davies who, in compliance with the will of their great-
great aunt leaving the Hardwicke estate to them, changed their name by
Royal Licence to Hardwicke. Hardwicke Lloyd Hardwicke returned to
Tytherington in 1881, to The Grange which the trustees had kept for him,
and was 'The Squire' for over fifty years. His character is difficult to
assess by one who knows him only by hearsay. For many he was a despot,
yet for others he was a good friend. A careful appraisal is waiting to
be written before all those depart who knew him personally.
The Manor was bought by Peter and was inherited in turn by his nephew
James, his nephew Samuel, and his younger brother Joseph, in whose
family it then remained.
The first incumbent was John Shellard, who married Peter's sister
Rachel. Then came John's son, Thomas, Thomas's nephew James Hardwicke,
and finally a distant relative George Wade Green.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Annie Humphries 21st Birthday 1912 |
Villagers gather in the old vicarage garden 1906 |
Lucy Clements wedding 1949 |
Daniels family at Hawkins 1909 |
