Charles Pomeroy b 1854 - Section 2 - Giles Cross, Place of Birth

Giles Cross

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The 1861 Census has John and his family were living in the parish of Bradford Peverell, near Dorchester. The Enumerators notes state; The whole of the Parish of Bradford Peverell including Muckleford hamlet, Quatre Bras Cottage, Giles Cross, New Barn Cottages, Tilly Whim, The Lodges in the Bridport Road, Higher Skippet, Lower Skippet, and Bradford Cottages.

Giles Cross is the place stated on the 1861 Census, but that is not shown on the OS 25" Map. However it is shown on Historic England map. Search for Bradford Peverell.

The adjacent Gascoyne New Barn is however shown on the OS 25" Map, also shown. Click on the OS Map to see the area and follow the road to the South West of the marker, along Tilly Whim Lane. Tilly Whim is maked in the Tithing box of the census and was the main clue to finding Giles Cross.

The 1861 Census is as expected the first appearance in the Census for Charles Edward Pomeroy.

Giles Crofs is in fact Giles Cross as at the time ss was written fs, although the f was without the cross bar and was actually a tall s. The family was all born in Broad Windsor (Broadwindsor), Devon, except for Charles who was born in Bradford Peverell.

Looking at the place where born on the 1861, the family moved from the Parish of Broadwindsor, to that of Bradford Peverell between the births of Robert and Charles, i.e. between 1853 and 1855.

At the time of writing, I have been unable to find a Tithe Apportionment for the Parish of Bradford Peverell. This could be just that I have not found it or there was not one done for the area. As it is a small Parish, perhaps the LandOwner is predominantly one person. In the search I found an interesting article about Bradford Peverell in Dorset Life.

Giles Cross is the cross roads along the Roman Road and Tilly Whim Lane the the South West and Gascoyne Lane to the North East. The Roman Road is also known as Poundbury Road which leads to the Duchy of Cornwall Poundbury village, on the way to Dorchester. Which followed which I do not know.

I had hoped to find out from the Tithe Apportionment who owned and occupied the plots surrounding Giles Cross and if there were existing buildings in c. 1840, the date of the survey. Not to be unfortunately.

However, that still leaves another rabbit hole to bolt down. In the 1861 Census, there are two families living at Giles Cross, that of John Pomeroy and George Hallett. Hallett is a surname that crops up elsewhere in our story. In the article about John Bowditch, this Will refers to Elizabeth wife of Thomas Hallett. He married Elizabeth Bowditch on 14 February 1804 in Broadwindsor, Dorset. Elizabeth had a brother Michael, also mentioned in the Will. Michael had a daughter Mary Ann Bowditch in 1909. She married John Pomeroy on 8 September 1830 in her hometown of Broadwindsor. The same John and Mary that moved to Giles Cross form Broadwindsor between 1853 and 1855. I suspect I will be adding a George Hallet to my Tree sometime soon.

However, back to Charles Edward Pomeroy and first appearance on the 1861 Census in the Parish of Bradford Peverell. Most births were at home in this period, so I will record his place of birth as being Giles Cross, Bradford Peverell. There is no evidence if the actual dwelling  was among Gascoyne New Barn, which I assume was a farm, or the  property on the other side of the Roman Road. Which could also serve as a toll booth if the Roman Road was adopted as a Turnpike, just by the alignment of the building to that of the road. Although a more probable route for the Turnpike would be along the current A37 based on the milestone markers on that road, which is broadly parallel, but on the other side of the river.

Gascoyne Barn as an address now includes a business called Superglide Suspension, which also confirms the location of Giles Cross.

The picture is of Gascoyne Barn complex which from Google Streetview is now known as Bradford Peverell Farm Giles Cross. The dirt track on the left of the photo is Gascoyne Lane.

This building could have been the very place Charles Edward Pomeroy was born. The building on the other side is just buttcups in summer now,

The Bradford Peverell Farm shown on the OS 25" map of 1903 is shown to be in the village of Bradford Peverell, near the Rectory. That building is now Grade II Listed as Bradford Peverell Farmhouse. Clearly different places.

It is only a 12 minute walk from Giles Cross to St Mary's Church, going past Bradford Peverell Farmhouse, where Charles Pomeroy was baptised on 29 October 1854 by .... Williams, Rector.

Unfortunately, the Baptism record does not record Charles Pomeroy date of birth, nor his second name, Edward. I have not yet established if John and Mary Pomeroy are the only family of that name in the region.

Sadly, on the next page Reuben Pomeroy was baptised on 15 November 1855 only to die the following day. His parents were Henry and Sarah Ann.

The next step therefore is to look at the preceding Census records. Transcribed and listed at Online Parish Clerks for Dorset starting with 1841.

The families living at Cross Barn, presumably Giles Cross and Gascoyne Barn are Watts and Kellaway, Agricultural Labourers and Shepherds.

The whole of the Parish of Bradford Peverell: Inhabited houses 76 Uninhabited houses 2 Houses being built 1.

Male persons 181 Female persons 174 Total Persons 355

For those listed none are Pomeroy or Hallett or variants thereof.

Moving on to 1851. No statistics this time, and the location of Giles Cross is not separately identified. Again no Pomeroy or Hallett families.

The census in 1861 has two Pomeroy families, our John and Mary Pomeroy, and Henry and Sarah A Pomeroy and their children Frances, Robert, and Walter. Henry was a Groom from Coles Cross and it appears that the family had moved to Bradford Peverell between 1853 and 1857. Not dissimilar to when John and Mary moved to Bradford Peverell.

There is only the one Hallett family in the 1861 census of Bradford Peverell, as previously mentioned, living at Giles Cross.

In the 1871 Census there is still a George Hallett living at Giles Cross.

There is no certainty that this is necessarily the same George Hallett. The age is the same, but is not unusual for a slight variance between census, adjusting for the ten years of course. However, his wife's name has changed from Mary to Martha, and none of the children are still there on the day of the enumerators visit, even 14 year old Richard M. Inconclusive, either way.

The other families of Giles Cross are now Hunt, Joliffe, and Bailey.

There is another one family of each Hallett and Pomeroy in the 1871 census with the Pomeroy family living 8 buildings away from the Rectory in the village of Bradford Peverell. Which would place their homes in the vicinity of the now Grade II Listed as Bradford Peverell Farmhouse. The census extract for building 54, next to Hallet at 55, could well be for that Farmer, with both the Hallett and Pomeroy families working for him.

 However, our John and Mary Pomeroy and their son Charles Pomeroy had moved away. To Compton Valance as it turns out.