STOKE SUNDAY HISTORY SPOT
Investigating the Past, to Understand the Present, to Plan for the Future
Click HERE for Main History Site
Griggs Hill
In the days when the route from Stoke to North Curry was via Huntham, what is now Griggs Hill was known simply as 'The Lane'. Lane End House, and Lane End Farm were exactly that - at the end of The Lane. Eventually, Curload Hill was dug out, and (around 1810) a road was driven through what had been the common called Meare Green, and The Lane was renamed after a certain Mr William Grigg, one of the many blacksmiths of Stoke St Gregory.
William had been born to James and Ann Grigg of Isle Abbots in 1804. He married Charlotte Andrews in North Curry in 1836. By the 1841 Census, they were
living next to the smithy in what was called Lane End, later becoming known as Griggs Hill. They had three children - Samuel, 3, Taphines, 2, and Thomas, 5 months. They had lost their first child, James in 1838, aged 2. Also living with the Griggs were Charles Dare, aged 13,
and Thomas Street (from ‘out of county). The census does not give details, but they may have been apprentice blacksmiths. The house and smithy are marked 885a in Fig 1, the property being owned by John Lyddon, sometimes spelt Liddon.
By 1851 William and Charlotte had four more sons - William, 8, James, 5 (it was customary to name another child after one who had died), Henry, 3, and Edward, 1. Charles Dare, a local 19 year old, was a journeyman blacksmith (apprenticeship completed) at William’s Smithy. In 1861, son Thomas was now working alongside his father as a qualified blacksmith. The 1860s were bad times for the family. In 1861 James and Samuel both died, aged 14 and 22. Thomas the blacksmith died in 1866, aged 25, and his father, William died 2 years later, aged 66. Charlotte took over the business and worked alongside another son, William. In the 1871 census Taphines was also at home working as a dressmaker, and son Edward, aged 20, is listed as a farmer of 6 acres. Charlotte died in 1879, aged 61, and there is no record of Edward or William in the Stoke census records for 1881. Samuel and Hannah Barrington were still living opposite the old Baptist Chapel (Fig 2), but the smithy and adjoining cottage were not inhabited, and neither was the cottage at the rear of the chapel.
It would be wonderful to connect the Griggs of Stoke St Gregory with an Australian blacksmith, Joe Grigg, 1852 - 1934, but alas we can find no link. He was the unwilling maker of the armour worn by Ned Kelly in the shootout at the Glenrowan Hotel in June 1880. It seems Kelly took over Joe’s smithy and forced him to make a suit of armour from parts of ploughs and harvesting machines. Ned Kelly paid well in gold soveriegns, and later, when Joe told the authorities, he was allowed to keep the money.
See more on Wikipedia HERE