Northbury House by Lesley Gould & Simone Panayi - Part Two of a trilogy on North Street
Eastbury Manor House is well known in Barking, but Westbury and Northbury manors have left only their names behind – both are more widely known as schools today – two of the earliest council (Education Board) schools built in the borough - Westbury, built in 1904, is now a site of Ripple Primary. Northbury, built as North Street School in 1895, was later renamed, after Northbury House which was sadly demolished in 1936, to make way for the London Road extension. It left behind an interesting history…
Northbury School today as viewed from upper North Street...
The site of Northbury was an ancient tenement in the manor of Barking, long managed by Barking Abbey. It was originally named Fulks, after a local land owing family, in the middle ages.
In the mid-15th century, it was purchased by the landowner of Samkynes (Thomas Sampkyn), who also owned the Wyfield estate. After the dissolution of the Abbey, this land was all granted by King Henry VIII to Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor, and eventually passed to Thomas Fanshawe, who in 1628 became the new ‘lord of the Manor’ of Barking.
Fulks House, was on the east side of North Street, on the northern corner of Nelson Street - now incorporated into London Road. When Fulks was owned by Sir Edward Hulse he sold it separately from the manor, in 1773. It was occupied as St Margaret’s Vicarage for a time before the new vicarage was built in Ripple Road, in 1794. The late medieval manor may have remained on the site up until then, but it was eventually redeveloped and became known as Northbury House (50 North street) in the nineteenth century.
Christopher Spashett one of Barking’s Fishing Smack owners lived in Northbury House in 1841. It was a bustling household, with his wife Mary, their children Mary, Agnes, Harry, Christopher, Louisa, Emily and six fishing apprentices all residing there. The Spashett’s story reflects the rise and fall of the fishing industry in Barking. In 1851 the family were still living at Northbury, with one servant, and Christopher employed 40 men and boys, yet three years later he was facing Bankruptcy. His occupation latterly shows diversification - to mast and block maker, smack owner and Chapman (or merchant), but by 1854 he had moved to Gorleston, in Norfolk. He was one of the first of many Barking fishing men to move there and was helped by his friend Samuel Hewitt who famously owned the Short Blue Fleet! Splashet continued to adapt starting out as a fishing agent and eventually becoming licensee of the “Feathers” pub in Gorleston.
In 1861 Northbury became a school for young ladies, run by the Tuck sisters Emma, Charlotte, and Louisa. Among their seven pupils were three sisters with the unusual surname of Jamrach. These were the daughters of Charles Jamrach, the owner of Jamrach’s Animal Emporium in London. Which has since become the subject of an acclaimed novel, Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch. James Reed was the occupier of Northbury in 1862, in this period a well provided fresh spring water and by 1867 it had a new gas supply!
Nineteenth century Northbury, in the snow, before being demolished in the thirties...
From 1868 and for almost half a century, Northbury belonged to Barking’s Quash family. John Thomas another local smack-owner and his family filled the house. Along with his wife Mary and children: Mary Amelia, Jane, Elizabeth, John James, Emma, Maria, William, and a baby, there was father-in-law James Bure Mills, a nurse, and two domestic servants. Records suggest they were a very close family as the children all had nicknames.
John Quash had retired by 1881, but still lived at Northbury with his family, some of the older children were then working themselves – James as a Ship Brokers’ Clerk and John Junior kept a Hossier, Hatter & Glover Shop, further along North Street. This shop was recorded by local historian Frogley as becoming the base of the Industrial Co-operative Society in Barking, in 1889. Supported by the Stratford Co-operative Society, the Co-op expanded into ‘Bonnet Box’ a milliners’ shop, next door, owned by two sisters called Read.
In 1900 the Co-operative Society erected a new building on this enlarged site, with a beautifully glazed first floor, crowned by their symbol of an industrious community working for each other – the beehive - which can still be seen on the building today and will hopefully receive some loving restoration work over the coming year.
George Westbrook coloured this plan of the Co-op building, 1900, held in the borough archives.
John Quash Junior became the captain of Barking’s volunteer fire brigade and remained in post there for fifteen years. Younger brother William had even greater success as an amateur football player. He competed in the 1900 Olympic Games for Great Britain in Paris, where he won a gold medal, as a member of Upton Park club team! “Bill” was an all-round sportsman, he excelled at cycling, swimming, figure skating and cricket and is believed to have been one of the founder members of Barking Cricket Club in 1901.
Around this time John senior moved from Northbury to Linton Road, with several of his children, also their partners and children. Most of the family remained at Linton Road after John senior’s death. At one point at least fifteen of them lived in a 12 roomed house. There is some evidence that William moved back into Northbury before 1917, including a photograph of William’s niece, Ethel, having her wedding party in Northbury garden, in 1912.
By 1917 Northbury had been taken over by the notorious Cape asbestos company and became known as Cape Lodge and eventually converted to a local club before it made way for the London Road during a phase of Barking redevelopment in the thirties. Asda roughly covers the site of Northbury House today.
This Story Featured in the Barking & Dagenham Post: https://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk/lifestyle/heritage/history-of-northbury-house-barking-7563106