This blog update will continue to look back at the history of Unison House on The Crescent in Taunton, Somerset, England as part of the Society of One Place Studies #OnePlaceBlogPrompts for 2021. #OnePlaceLandmarks was the blog prompt for January so yes I am a little bit delayed...but that's how it goes sometimes.
This is what the former Unison House looked like in March 2021.
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| Formerly Unison House - photo taken in March 2021 by Mark |
Continuing with my research, I read through the complete planning application [1] that Windsor Properties (Taunton) made to Somerset West and Taunton Council in April 2018 through to June 2019, when the Planning Officer's recommendation was made. There were 50 documents submitted in total, so it took a little bit of time to read though. It was interesting to discover the process required to change the use of a building from one type to another, especially as Unison House is listed on the list of Historic England's Listed Buildings. I also found a second planning application [2] submitted by the same company for the same site, which I also read.
So, we know that Unison vacated the building in the Summer of 2017, but when did they move in? In the planning application documents, it states that it was in about 1973, although I have been unable to establish this as I have not found any corroborating documents available online, during this pandemic lockdown. I hope to be able to establish this is due course.
We know from the listing on the Historic England's Listed Buildings website [3] that the building has architectural features from the mid/late 19th century. So, as I know the location of the building, I decided to start this part of my research by referring the maps on the National Library of Scotland website to see find the building is on historical maps. Although, they are based in Scotland, they have maps on their site covering Wales & England to. It is a great resource for One Place Studies and a website I would highly recommend adding to your favourite go to websites! I found the building on the Ordnance Survey six-inch Somerset LXX. SE map published in 1949 [4].
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| Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (https://maps.nls.uk/) |
On the Ordnance Survey six-inch Somerset LXX. SE map published in 1888 [5], it has the name 'Shrapnels' listed it next to it.
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| Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (https://maps.nls.uk/) |
So working back in time, I next took a look at the 1939 Register, which I accessed via the subscription website, Ancestry.co.uk. Prior to 1 The Crescent, there is the following entry for the Somerset County Club, The Crescent [6]:
Is this the more recent Unison House building? When I rechecked the information for the listing on the Historic England's Listed Buildings website, it does indeed state that it was formerly listed as the Somerset County Club [7]. There is very little information online regarding the club. The Somerset Heritage Centre does have a collection of records [8], which I hope to be able to refer to once the centre reopens following the pandemic lockdown. The collection has the following description:
The Somerset County Club was established in 1880 at premises in Fore Street, Taunton, and provided billiards room, cards room, reading room, dining room and smoking room. The Club subsequently moved first to premises in The Crescent and then to others in Middle Street, and ceased to exist in 1983. It was constituted of permanent, temporary and honorary members.
This does not tell us when they moved from Fore Street to The Crescent in Taunton. So, I checked the Trade Directories on Ancestry.co.uk to see if I could establish when they moved. I found the following entries:
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| Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
There was a further notice in the same newspaper on Wednesday 1 May 1929, page 7, giving notice of an auction [13], with the following article in Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser on Wednesday 8 May 1929, page 7, confirming the sale by auction of two lots relating to the Somerset County Club in Fore Street, Taunton [14].
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| Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
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Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
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| Was the home of Somerset County Club, now a department store. Photo taken in March 2021 by Mark. |
[2] Somerset West and Taunton Council - Planning Application 38/18/0064 (https://www3.somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk/asp/webpages/plan/PlAppDets.asp?casefullref=38/18/0064/LB)
[3] Historic England Listed Buildings (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1060042)
[4] National Library of Scotland (https://maps.nls.uk/view/101462065#zoom=6&lat=4301&lon=5000&layers=BT) - Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland as permitted under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-SA) licence.
[5] National Library of Scotland (https://maps.nls.uk/view/101462074#zoom=7&lat=4253&lon=4852&layers=BT) - Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland as permitted under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-SA) licence.
[6] Ancestry.co.uk - The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/7041B - Enumeration District: WOOU
[7] Historic England Listed Buildings (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1060042)
