Norman Hill House, Cam

[dursleyglos]

Hello Pat
The date for the aerial views is around 1925 (it's in the caption of each photo) so that ties in with the 1933 date you give for the building of 12 houses. Where on the photo would The Croft be? I'm not familiar with it. Thanks, Andy

[Rich Hughes]

Hi Pat, It says 1925 on the first photo, Also maybe the Water Tanks you mentioned was the pond that that was said to be below the tower!

[davegoldsmith]

Ref.The castle, if the wall is listed and it belonged to the castle how come it was demolished? When I used to play in the castle thinking back I can't remember the house being there that's not to say it wasn't. Also has anyone managed to find out whether the castle was anything to do with the house at all? Or was the castle built many hundreds of years ago as I have always presumed.The castle was defo built from the same stone as the wall remaining, I can still see it very clearly in my mind. My first comments to this forum - is anyone out there??
Dave Goldsmith

[dursleyglos]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum. Interesting mention about the wall being listed as I've just searched my document of listed buildings and structures for Cam and can't see anything that resembles it. Listed building status only began in Britain on January 1st 1950 and it would have been many years before most of the buildings we know today got included so the 'castle' probably went at the same time the house got demolished as neither would have been listed back then. I believe the 'castle' was only a garden folly rather than any kind of medieval construction and probably dated from when Norman Hill House and garden was built, probably 18th or early 19th century. I'm still trying to find a date for its construction. Andy

[Rich Hughes]

Like I said I was told this by a relative of a family that live at the end of that wall. A garden folly is more than likely what it was.

[Rich Hughes]

Maybe the tower was put there by Arthur Winterbotham so he could keep an eye on his mill or even the occasional cricket match?

[Rich Hughes]

I was also told (by my dad's friend who used to play down there) that at the bottom of the tower was a door which came out on a lower level, below the estate. I don't know if you can confirm this Dave but this would be a short walk to the cricket field and to the mill.

[davegoldsmith]

Andy, I can't remember a lower door. I think we used to have to climb up over a small wall then go in through a wide but shallow doorway into a single room, approx 12 feet square. We then used to go up a spiral staircase, I can't remember a roof only the turrets. I am only guessing here but if it was built at the same time as the house then they would have used the same stone. I just wish I could go back in time to see it again.

[Rich Hughes]

Dave, I agree that it's a bit odd that they used red brick for the house and brown stone for the wall, (but its not unusual). If you look at Andy's pic the wall seems to go right round to the front of the house. It looks purpose built for the house and I'd wager that the whole estate was surrounded by that same wall.

[Rich Hughes]

And so that suggests that the Castle folly was built at the same time as the wall or added on later using the same materials as the wall (so it blended in.)

[dursleyglos]

I thought you'd like to see this extract from a 25 inch to 1 mile map from 1903 showing Norman Hill House. I'm not convinced the wall or tower exists on it. What do you think? Andy

[camexile]

Thanks to Rich Hughes for alerting me to this topic. I wrote to the Gazette about what we as kids used to call the Castle a number of years ago (I now live in Leicester) but didn't get very far with any recollections. I suppose I would have played around the Castle when I was between 10 and 14, say 1966 to 1970? The location would be along the end of Holywell Drive/Road (?) on Norman Hill. In retrospect I think the Castle was a garden folly. As an earlier post recalled it was about 12 feet square with a ground floor, an underneath and a stone spiral staircase to a first floor looking down towards the recreation ground. There was a Cotswold stone wall either side of the tower at right angles with a number of breaches (probably caused by kids scrambling over it!) In the grounds of the Castle there was a traditional Gloucestershire orchard but also overgrown formal gardens - I remember a row of shrubs that formed a tunnel towards a large house (say a few hundred yards away) with outbuildings - stables etc in the area where the School playing fields are now with lovely cedar trees. It was a super playground for kids. I don't remember the house being occupied and we always called it Major Hayes' estate though that could possibly have been a corruption of Hague. Very interested to learn of other recollections.

[Rich Hughes]

Glad you joined in Ian, Thanks for that, It's strange that so little info is available about the estate, as the Winterbothams were important employers to Dursley for around for 100 years.

Hi Andy, think you're right about the wall not being on the map. It has to be said though, the detail is lacking somewhat. If that's all there was in 1903 then the wall and castle had hardly set (were not old) when they knocked the castle and house down.
Somebody, somewhere, knows something!!!!

[Rich Hughes]

Although, looking at the map and comparing it to the photo (if i've got the alignment right) on the photo it shows a stable type building attached to the outside wall and tower and it looks to be that stable shown on the map, although no tower is shown on it.
I am no map reader, so what do the crosses and circles denote? walls etc?
Also there are 2 mentions of Stone on the map, what do they mean, standing stones? building materials? gravel for the drive? Actually could that mean the 2 bigger lines of dashes are stone(wall?)
Thanks for all the effort you have put in Andy!

[Rich Hughes]

Andy, I have been to an Address in Holywell road (directly behind the tower on your picture) and up the top of their garden is a tall brown stone outer wall, on the other side is where the Tower was, from the other side you can't see much evidence of the tower cos of dumped rubble and deep undergrowth, but the wall carries on through 12 gardens with some fancy cappings on them. The next road up Parkland road I called in on an old workmate who's house backs onto the estate and there is an (inner?) curved brown stone wall which also runs through their gardens (only this wall aint very tall!). Also you can see the outer wall quite clearly running along the gardens on Google maps of Norman Hill.