n my last post I set to show you how I research a stop on my tours. You will need to read it before you read this one. I chose the example of Tymperleys in Trinity Street Colchester. I looked at the buildings themselves to see what I could learn about their history from the physical evidence they present. In this blog I will start to look at the sources available to see how much I got right (or wrong) and start answering some of the other questions.
I will start by saying I confine myself to the books that I have and what I can find online. For both, I have to consider how reliable the information might be, but it means that I can do it from home. To do deeper research I would have to visit archives and record offices. To do that means knowing where the records might be and the cost of getting there. It may also involve reading handwritten records in medieval abbreviated Latin.
I can’t read Latin so that’s a non-starter for me and I expect even the current generation of translation apps would struggle to do this. Of course, translation can be arranged and many archives have already created English transcripts of their documents, but if they haven’t for the ones I want, this would be even more work and expense. It would be appropriate to do all this if I was writing a book or a thesis, but it’s all too deep a dive to do just for a five-minute tour stop.
So, I began by looking at books: In his excellent book “Colchester History Tour Revised Edition” Patrick Denney describes Tymperleys thus:
“Tymperleys is part of the former home of Dr William Gilberd (1544-1603), a renowned scientist and physician to Queen Elizabeth I, He was a contemporary of such learned men as Galileo and Kepler and wrote an extensive treatise on magnetism called “De Magnate”. In the early twentieth century Tymperleys was owned by a local industrialist called Bernard Mason who had a passion for collecting clocks that had been crafted by Colchester tradesmen, Before his death, he gave the entire collection, as well as Tymperleys, to the borough.”
Patrick would have done his research and would only present facts over which there was no dispute so any guide that just says the above is probably on very safe ground. So, I could just decide to leave it there as I probably have enough from that for a brief stop.
However, I know some guides will add further elements to their story when stopping there as I have heard them using them on their tours. These include the following statements:
Gilberd could also be considered to be the father of electricity;
It was his childhood home, but he did not live there in later life;
There is a memorial to him in Holy Trinity Church just across the road;
He is buried in the churchyard there;
Tymperleys is named after John Tymperley;
John Tymperley built the house in the 14th century;
John Tymperley built the house in the 1490s;
He was the steward to the Duke of Norfolk;
The house is the north wing or range of a much larger house which once also had a parallel range to the south and was connected by a hall which ran along the street front;
The building on the street was a medieval hall and was there before the ranges were added;
The surviving wing may have been the servants’ quarters;
The brickwork and chimneys that form part of it shows wealth and status.
It once housed a clock museum put together by a former owner called Bernard Mason.
It would be nice to be able to include these on my tours. However, I need to know if they are accurate before I do. The level of research I am prepared to do should reveal whether they are based on common knowledge or if there is no obvious substance to them. So, I decided to investigate them to see which is the case and this is how I went about it.
The first place I looked was Colchester City Council’s Local List. You can read about it here: https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/about-the-local-list-and-other-heritage-designations
The Tymperleys site has three entries. The first is for Tymperleys itself (also known as No. 8 Trinity Street) which shows it as a Grade II* Listed Building and says:
“Originally a C15-C16 building, standing in its garden back from the road and facing south reached through the archway in No 7. Much restored. 2 storeys and attics, timber-framed and plastered, the timbering exposed on the front, the roofs tiled, 3 gabled dormers, the upper storey projects on the south front. Original doorway west end in the first floor with 4 centred head, now blocked, probably once led to an external stairway. Mostly modern period fenestration. Interior has original moulded ceiling beams and C17 staircase. Plaque over gateway records this as the house of William Gilberd, MA 1544-1603 - the Father of Electrical Science.” https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/Designation/DCC517
The dates match what I thought for it, but it does say that it is much restored which is interesting and implies we may not be looking at the building as it originally was which with a building this old is very likely. They also get the wording of the plaque wrong. It should be noted that these surveys are often almost drive-bys in some cases so they have to be treated with caution.
The second entry is for No. 7 Trinity Street which is at the front on the street on the south side of the entrance arch which now houses the bookshop. It shows it as a Grade II Listed Building and says:
“C16 origin, completely altered externally C18 and later. 2 storeys and attics, the roofs tiled. Big brick archway leading to No 8 through the centre of the building. The north part has a one-window range, double hung sashes with glazing bars, small pediment head doorcase. The south part of the building has a modern ground floor office extension on the front.” https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/Designation/DCC232
So that confirms what I thought about this part of the building.
The third is for Nos. 9 and 10 Trinity Street which are on the street to the south of the entrance archway. It shows them as Grade II Listed Buildings and says:
“C15 origin. L-shaped plan with addition at south end. Considerably restored. 2 storeys, attics and cellars, timber-framed and plastered, the roofs tiled. There is a good deal of exposed timber-framing, much of it renewed, and the upper storey projects at 3 different levels on the east front. There is a piece of embattled bressumer. Windows largely C18-C19 and modern. East entrance at south end No 9. At the rear the wing extending west has a small projecting wing near the east end with 2 hipped gables, interior has some panelling circa 1700. Cart entrance.” https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/Designation/DCC233
I don’t think No, 10 was part of the building complex we are looking at as is at a completely different level and not part of No.9, it just abuts it. No.9 matches what I thought, but once again it says it has been restored.
These entries describe the origin of the buildings, their layout, the various phases of the buildings’ development and their architectural features but say nothing about who lived there other than that there is a plaque to Gilbert over the entrance. They also show them as Listed Buildings which means as well as being of local significance, they are on Historic England’s National Heritage List for England which means they are also of national significance and are thus heavily protected from alteration or change.
I looked at the entries on the National Heritage List, but the text for each was the same as the Local List. There is the facility to add comments and photos to the entries there and for Tymperleys and its adjacent buildings there are a few nice photos there, but no extra information that is of any use as it can’t be verified.
The next place I looked was British History Online which says:
“Tymperleys off Trinity Street, claimed as the house of William Gilberd (d. 1603), incorporates the 15th-century timber-framed parlour range of a house of which the hall was probably immediately to the east and parallel to the street. The range preserved in the house to the south was probably adjacent to the service end of the hall. The hall was demolished in the 16th or 17th century, and a linking range built between the parlour and the street range of the house. The parlour range was extended westwards on more than one occasion.” - Victoria County History – Essex A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9, the Borough of Colchester Tudor and Stuart Colchester: Topography https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol9/pp102-110
This would also be very well researched, but already it’s introducing elements of doubt. It is only “claimed” to be Gilberd’s birthplace. The range preserved in the house to the south was only “probably” adjacent to the service end of the hall. They say that the original hall, which is the part where No. 7 including the passageway now stand, was demolished and replaced with the building we now have there. They are not sure exactly when this happened.
Looking at the building, I don’t think this is necessarily the case, I just think the hall was heavily modified as there are a lot of original features here. If it had been demolished, I doubt they would have replaced it with another wooden building. Maybe they demolished part of it to create the passageway. We haven’t solved this one yet.
In my next blog post I will continue the investigation.