The Carr family at TwertonIn grainy photographs taken more than a century ago, members of the Carr family gaze back at me. Who were the Carrs? And what is their significance to Twerton? 
Some of the Carr family at Wood House Top row: Dora Mary, Jonathan Malcolm, Christopher Ralph and Emily Edith Carr. The Carr family came originally from Castle Sowerby in Cumberland. They had become substantial landowners by the 18th century and went on to be involved with the woollen trade. In the late 1840s the brothers Thomas, William and Isaac, bought Charles Wilkins' cloth mills at Twerton. The Carrs also purchased from Wilkins the coal mine at Pennyquick and Wood House, which once stood where the bungalows at Woodhouse Road are situated today. Wood House had been damaged by fire but was rebuilt by the Carrs in the style of an Italian villa (1). Thomas and William Carr, together with their sister Mary Ann, moved to Twerton from Penrith in Cumbria to manage the mills and supervise the rebuilding of Wood House (2). The Carrs soon became very influential in Twerton. Thomas Carr became the head of the Parish Council (3) while William Carr handsomely installed a new organ in the west gallery of the parish church. The Carr family also acquired Poolemead House at Watery Lane, where some of their members lived (4). 
Period view of the Lower Mill (on the right) from the Lower Bristol Road When Thomas Carr died in 1854 his brother Isaac took charge of the mills and established Isaac Carr & Co. The company gained an international reputation as a producer of high quality woollen materials and in 1860 a new mill was built on Weston Island to handle the middle stages of the wool processing (5). The Pennyquick coal mine is recorded as having been owned by Isaac Carr in 1869 but managed by Henry and Daniel Brown who were Quakers. The mine closed in 1888 due to on-going losses (6). When Isaac Carr died in 1875 the management of the firm passed to his sons, Thomas, William and Jonathan (7). Jonathan is the bearded gentleman in the top photograph, who resided with his wife and children at Wood House. 
Wood House decorated with flags - perhaps on Empire Day? Up until the demolition of Wood House in 1965, the building had seen little in the way of alterations since the mid 19th century. It provided a striking illustration of how the upper-class in Victorian society had lived. The author Ruth Coard has written a description of the old house:
To enter the front door of Wood House in 1965 was like stepping back a century, and to pass through to the service rooms which survived the fire was a further step back to the early years of the nineteenth century or before. Such conveniences as warm-air heating, gas lighting and plumbing were for the use of the family only, not for the servants. A cistern of rain-water lay beneath a trap in the housekeeper's room, and near the wine stores, larders, kitchen and fuel stores was a deep brick-lined ice-house, a luxury more often situated out in the grounds of a large house. Cooking was done by means of the great range and spits turned by a smoke-jack in the chimney. All of these, as well as the richly decorated reception rooms, the magnificent hall and stone staircase, and the carved display cabinets in the gallery, suffered by vandalism and were finally demolished by the corporation in 1965 (8). The grounds of Wood House featured extensive lawns and tennis courts, as well as a considerable walled kitchen garden. The glasshouses contained tropical plants, some of which were probably acquired by Jonathan Carr during his travels to the Far East (9). Much later, it was discovered that the old cellars of Wood House had not been properly filled in, when some modern gardens at Woodhouse Road suddenly fell into a large hole (10). 
Photographs of Ina and Jonathan Malcolm Carr at Wood House 
Another of the Carr family homes: Poolemead House It is no exaggeration to say that by the early 1900s the Carr family owned most of the property in West Twerton. In 1909 the Carrs donated land adjacent to Innox Road to be used as the recreational area called Innox Park. A year later, Jonathan Carr laid the foundation stone of Twerton Elementary School, to which the Carrs had donated the sum of £1500. 
Laying the foundation stone of Twerton Elementary School in 1910 During the First World War the Carr Mills were commissioned to produced military fabrics, but the economic depression of the 1920s marked the beginning of the end of the Carr textiles industry at Twerton. The firm's specialisation in quality materials made it easy for cheaper manufacturers to compete with them, and family involvement with the company ceased in 1930 with the retirement of Malcolm and Isaac. The firm itself went into receivership in 1954, having been crippled by damage to the mills during the blitz of Bath in 1942 (11). Over the decades, the life situations of many hundreds of Twerton people would have been linked to their employment at the Lower, Upper, and Weston Mills. 
An early aerial shot of Twerton showing the Carr Mills After the Second World War, a compulsory purchase order was placed on the Carr family estate at Twerton. This consisted of most of the village of Twerton and land stretching from the Newton Brook to The Hollow, including Whiteway. Jonathan Malcolm Carr and Ina Carr, the last members of the Carr family at Twerton, were given just £15,000 and were allowed to stay at Wood House for the rest of their lives. Jonathan Malcolm vigorously tried to fight the order but without success. Ina died in 1963 having requested that she be laid to rest in a walled grave - perhaps reminiscient of the walled garden at Wood House where she might have played as a youth (12). Johnathan Malcolm was a very recognisable figure at Twerton as he used to walk about wearing a black top hat and carrying a shepherd's crook. The old men of Twerton would touch their cap or forelock when they saw him, while the women would curtsey (13). He died at Poolemead House in 1970 (14). There are no known surviving Carr family members - i.e. people descended from the Carr family at Twerton and bearing the surname of Carr. There are, however, several known blood relatives of the Carr family alive today.
The legacy of the Carr familyA number of local amenities that are in use today can be traced back to the Carr family. Twerton Elementary School to which the Carrs had donated, continued as a school for many years, before becoming an elderly person's home. Now called the Culverhay Care Centre, the home is located at Lymore Avenue overlooking the former Brick Fields. Innox Park given to the people of Twerton by the Carrs, still functions as a playing area for children and a place where people walk their dogs. It is located at the far end of Freeview Road. Twerton Village Hall in the High Street was donated by the Carrs in 1920 and continues to operate as a venue for community events and regular groups to meet.
Aerial views of Culverhay Care Centre and Innox Park Poolemead House is now used as a base for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, and a housing block for semi-independent deaf people called Pennard Court has been built in the grounds. A home for deaf people who are more profoundly disabled has also been built next to the old Poolemead House building. Behind this complex, land donated by the Carrs to be used as premises for the care of the disabled, has been turned into the Bath Community Resource Centre for adults with learning disabilities. 
Left: Poolemead House with the Bath Community Resource Centre under construction. Place names around Twerton recall the influence of the Carr family. Woodhouse Road gets its name from Wood House, and one of the blocks of flats there is named Carr House. The nearby wood where Charles Wilkins planted many trees, later became known as Carrs Wood and is maintained by the Carrs Woodland Forum. Isaac Carr was born at How Hill, Castle Sowerby, in Cumberland. A terrace at the top end of Twerton High Street is also called How Hill but it appears that in this instance the name is not traceable to the Carr family, as Twerton already had dwellings called "Howe Hill Cottages" by the late 1820s (15). On the Lower Bristol Road the former entrance to the Carr Mills is marked by two great stone gateposts that many of the working people of Twerton would regularly have passed through. And between the rustling trees near Woodhouse Road, a flight of stone steps can still be seen among the piles of fallen leaves. These stairs once led to a path that several generations of the Carr family would walk to get to the mills, passing under the railway through a private tunnel that is now sealed off (16). 
The stone steps that once belonged to Wood House A collection of English glass over the centuries was removed from Wood House to the City of Bath Museum but has sadly never been displayed (17). However, the alabaster sculpture paid for by a Reverend A. R. Carr and depicting the Last Supper, remains a familiar and attractive focal point within the parish church of St Michael and All Angels (18). The early photographs that the Carr family took are an important historical resource, vividly bringing to life aspects of Twerton's past. More of these photographs can be viewed in the section below. Some of the Carr family graves are to be found at the parish church, while others can be seen at the Bellotts Road cemetery about a mile away. For photographs and information about the Carr family that appear in this article, I am particularly grateful to Mr Patrick Whitaker whose wife is a descendant of the Carrs. Also, to Mr Peter Little who kindly allowed me to scan the photographs sent to him by Mr Whitaker. Some more photographsA Carr family photograph showing the changing of the railway from broad gauge to narrow gauge at Twerton Tunnel in 1892: railway. A member of the Carr family (possibly Isaac Carr?): family member. Photograph of Thomas Carr: Thomas Carr. The Carr family opening Innox Park in 1909: Innox Park. Sketch of Wood House: Wood House. Wood House in a derelict state in the 1960s: Wood House derelict. Modern photo of the former entrance to the Carr Mills: entrance. References1) Whitaker, P. (2007) The History of Wood House From the Early 19th Century to 1965, notes. Pictures1) The old photograph of Poolemead House was supplied by Mr Peter Little. |
