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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Somerset => Topic started by: ranaridibunda on Sunday 14 December 08 19:04 GMT (UK)
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Hi
At some point in the 50's I was put into a home called 'Roundabouts Children's Hotel'. I've managed to find on Ancestry a phone directory listing for 1954 which gave the address as 3 St Paul's Road, Weston-Super-Mare. It sounds as though this may have been a private home and I wondered if anyone either knows of this place or could tell me if/where I could maybe get hold of early records?? Thank you :)
Regards
Karen
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Dear Karen
I have sent you a personal message with the details of how to contact a local historian in Weston Super Mare who may well be help to help you
regards
Sue
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Hi Karen
The aerial photo on Googlemap shows a large house 2 or 3 blocks from the seafront.
Cheers, Judith
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Sorry judb - I didn't have the notifications selected so hadn't realised that you'd replied. I have been kindly sent some photos of the house but I didn't realise that it was on the seafront so thanks for that :-)
Cheers, Karen
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Hello Karen
The house is near the sea front but not on the seafront - it is a road away- The exact location is towards the Uphill end of the sea front away from the pier
kind regards
Sue
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Thanks Sue - following judb's post I looked on Google Earth for myself (why I hadn't thought of that for myself I don't know!) and found it a little way away from the actual seafront. Thanks to all of you (and Brian Austin) I now have a much better idea of the place in which, as a small child, I spent some time.
Kind Regards
Karen
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Glad you found it! Living 12 000 miles away I use googlemap a lot for looking at my ancestors' residences and I'm surprised how many are still there, especially, of course, village houses etc. In Australia and US googlemap also shows street views so you can see exactly what the place looks like - very handy.
Best wishes, Judith
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Hi Karen
My first post on this wonderful site!
I felt I needed to reply to you as 'Roundabouts' from what I can remember was a day nursery - and I went there!
It would have been around mid 1960's about 1965 I think. All I can remember of the place from that time was that there was a highchair in the hallway where the naughty children would sit as a punishment! I remember being sat in it once - it obviously affected me as I can still remember sitting in that highchair vividly and the smell of the dinner cooking - horrible. I didn't like it there at all, but then I was very small at the time.
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SMG - I was there at about the same time, perhaps a year or so later. I have some photos. You are quite right in what you say about it being a day nursery. Don't remember the naughty chair, perhaps I was a good boy! I loved it there and even was a page boy at one of the carers wedding! Perhaps we can fiind out more between us. Photo attached if it works - this is my first time on here. Malcolm
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Hi all
Seems like there are different experiences of this establishment. I have no memory at all of being in Roundabouts but I am interested in all the posts anyway which is just as well since I started the ball rolling in the first place :-)
I was put into the home probably when I was about three years old or so. I could have been there for quite a while and it would have been residential as opposed to a nursery experience. The home must have changed it's function as the years went by I think.
Love the photograph by the way. Looks like Muffin the Mule off to the right :-)
K
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Hi All and thanks for posting the photo Malcolm - I'm sure there must have been quite a few children who went there as it seems that it had been going for a number of years - we will have to see who else posts messages - thanks for posting this in the first place Karen, I'd forgotten all about it - blocked it out probably, it was such a bad experience for me, and at such a tender age I hated seeing my Nan leave me there!
Shayne.
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Shayne,
I was hoping you were going to identify yourself in the photo! Never mind we will see what transpires as you say. Sad you have such bad memories. I had great fun there and Mum & dad dropped me off whilst they went to work, no problem for me at the time.
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I'm the one on the tractor by the way!
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I did wonder which one you were Malcolm!
No sorry - didn't have any photo's taken there, but I still live in Weston.
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Hi
At some point in the 50's I was put into a home called 'Roundabouts Children's Hotel'. I've managed to find on Ancestry a phone directory listing for 1954 which gave the address as 3 St Paul's Road, Weston-Super-Mare. It sounds as though this may have been a private home and I wondered if anyone either knows of this place or could tell me if/where I could maybe get hold of early records?? Thank you :)
Regards
Karen
Hello, I know this is 6 years old but I'm hoping you will see my reply. Roundabouts is my home, I've lived here 9 years! We knew that it had been a children's home of some sort, & later a nursery but we don't know the proper history. We would love to know more about it. We found letters behind a fireplace that had been written in the 50's to children who stayed/lived here. We were told the house has been used during the war to house evacuees but we're not sure if this is correct. Any information you can give would be great, thank you
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HI
I (obviously) saw your post as I received an email notifying me of a reply- not a bad service after all these years... you will have to contact others on this thread I am afraid as I know nothing about this place at all. As I said in my original post I only know that I was put there at some point but do not know when, how old I was or for how long I stayed. Others on this thread at least revealed to me where the 'hotel' was and you are living in it :-) I was going to try and find some records of the home but have failed; not helped by the fact that I know nothing of my own temporary residency. Still, it is fascinating that you have found letters - I would be interested to know more about them as they sound like an amazing find and should probably be preserved for posterity somewhere - you can imagine what importance they would be to the addressees! Good luck in your quest and I would like to know if you ever find out more; I think we all would :-)
Cheers, Karen (Francis)
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Hi Karen,
Thanks for the reply, I understand you have no recollections of your time here but I was wondering if you knew why you were here? From the letters/postcards we have it seems as though it may have been somewhere children were sent when their parents were unable to look after them, possibly due to illness. Does that sound familiar to you? We've just been looking at the deeds and it shows that the house was turned into a 'children's hotel' in 1951. It wasn't a nursery until the mid 60's and was turned back into a home in 1994.
Regards Sara
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Glad you found it! Living 12 000 miles away I use googlemap a lot for looking at my ancestors' residences and I'm surprised how many are still there, especially, of course, village houses etc. In Australia and US googlemap also shows street views so you can see exactly what the place looks like - very handy.
Best wishes, Judith
Hi Judith,
Do you have a connection to my house, formerly Roundabouts in St. Paul's road, Weston- super-Mare? I am trying to find out more about it's history. It is not on the seafront, you are correct about that!
Thanks
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Hi,
I used to live there from 1954 - 1960 then fostered out by one of the carers when it turned into a day nursery. I can tell you a bit more about it if you still want to know. Its not all pleasant reading but it was where I was placed at 6 weeks of age.
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Hi,
I used to live there from 1954 - 1960 then fostered out by one of the carers when it turned into a day nursery. I can tell you a bit more about it if you still want to know. Its not all pleasant reading but it was where I was placed at 6 weeks of age.
I'd love to know more as it was our home from 2005 until recently when we sold it. It was a beautiful house (eventually!), we found letters from parents to children behind a fireplace in the sitting room. I'm fascinated with its history
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The Roundabouts children's hotel was run by 2 spinsters called Gabriel Lemon (Auntie Gay) and one called Peggy who smoked a pipe and wore very masculine clothes, It was bought by Gabriels father who owned some larger properties further up the road near to St Pauls church. The Hotel, as it was called was like a private Barnados and was used mostly for single mothers who were shamed into giving up their children and ethnic children from white parents which was a major taboo in the 50`s. The majority of us their were illegitimate and given up to be fostered out eventually when a foster parent was found.
In the back garden I remember a raised concrete circular patio which housed for the early years an actual children's roundabout but was dismantled by the end of the 1950`s.
The 2 front rooms were the play rooms and were heated by 2 small single bar heaters high up on the walls, we ate in the back right hand room which lead to the kitchen. The "Office" was the room on the back left with toilets and wash basins with cold water only dividing the two rooms. The entrance hall was huge which lead up the stairs to the first of 2 upper floors, the 1st floor were bedrooms with 3 or 4 of us to a bed, no carpets and if you wanted a wee in the night you did it in the bed as you were kept in the beds by metal side bars. Any washing was done in tin baths and shared with other kids and was once a week if you were lucky.
The top floor was used as the owners residence and was strictly out of bounds.
From the eating room , it lead down a small corridor past a back door to the garden and past what was the food store (pantry - no fridges those days) into the kitchen which was a cold tiled floor with large hot water boilers and a large gas cooker, food seemed to be on the cooker at all times and I remember well that food was of poor quality and you sat at your table until you ate it, alternatively it was pushed down your throat by Peggy or Gabriel. Easter eggs were boiled eggs which had been painted. Anyway, past the kitchen was another corridor which had a massive coal fired boiler in it where clothes were hung over rope hung airers to dry. after that another room housed the laundry room and mangles ( clothes ringers) then that opened out onto the bottom of the garden.
During the late 1950`s Gabriel and Peggy retired and relocated to Chislehurst in Kent and fostered 2 of the kids there (Penny and Stephen ) I was fostered out to the lady who took over the place and ran it as the Roundabouts Day Nursery until she retired many years ago. This was my home from 6 weeks to 6 years as they could not find anyone who wanted me. The conditions did get better towards the end but it was what it was as that is what happened in those days but it is etched deeply into your memory and myself and countless others will have shared those memories and the respondents who say this was not a happy time for them I can totally emphasise with.
I am sorry if this is not the rosy story you were hoping to hear but I remember that place even as a small child very well.
Regards
Ashley
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Here is the raised concrete patio with me and some of the other residents
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Hi Ashley and welcome to Rootschat...what interesting memories. You should remove any names of people who may still be living as this is against Rootschats Privacy Policy.
Carol
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Hi Ashley,
I'm so sorry to read your story. It is not what we were led to believe the house was used for. I guess facts and stories get twisted and changed over the years.
It is interesting to hear your descriptions of the rooms and how they were used. For example, the coal fire boiler you refer to was still in the outbuildings when we purchased the house to do it up. The room you refer to as the kitchen has been blocked up so there was no access that way into the 'laundry' room or the back garden.
One thing that always flummoxed us and that we couldn't find the answer to (despite taking a trip to Taunton records office to see any plans or references to our house), was why there was a covered up opening into the house next door on the half landing between the first floor and the top floor? Would you have ever seen this?
I have pictures if you would like to see the house how it is now?
Again, I'm so sorry for your terrible experiences at no 3, St. Paul's road (Malpas Lodge to give it its original name).
I look forward to hearing from you
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Here is the raised concrete patio with me and some of the other resints
Was this on the left hand side of the garden (from the house), at the end?
The building (possibly a coach house) is no longer standing.
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Hi again,
The photo is taken at the back left hand side of the rear garden, the concrete covered about 3/4 of the width of the garden. You could also walk through an archway through to Severn Road shops through the other properties back garden.
The filled in walkway on the landing comes from a time when the two properties were occupied by the two owners and the other property was also used as some sort of residence or an overflow when the original hotel was "full". To my knowledge this was turned back into two separate properties in the early 1960`s but I believe was also used as an education facility for the older inhabitants.
It would be good to see a few updated photos, that would be most kind,
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Hi again,
The photo is taken at the back left hand side of the rear garden, the concrete covered about 3/4 of the width of the garden. You could also walk through an archway through to Severn Road shops through the other properties back garden.
The filled in walkway on the landing comes from a time when the two properties were occupied by the two owners and the other property was also used as some sort of residence or an overflow when the original hotel was "full". To my knowledge this was turned back into two separate properties in the early 1960`s but I believe was also used as an education facility for the older inhabitants.
It would be good to see a few updated photos, that would be most kind,
I thought it was to the left. It's a shame somebody demolished the coach house.
I wasn't aware of the walkway to the shops, do you recall where that was, on which side of the garden wall?
We were told the opening through to next door (which incidentally is now a private nursing home) was done during the war and that it was to do with evacuees. It shows how the story gets muddled over the decades.
I am unable to send the pictures without an email address (none of the pictures I have are stored on my new iPad). Sorry.
If you google 'Malpas Lodge 3 St. Paul's road' the sales details come up for when we sold the house last year. It says 6 bedroom house or something like that.
The house was very unloved when we acquired it in 2005. Prior to us buying it, it was being used as an HMO and every room was being let out to anybody for cash. The estate agent described it as a 'commune'! You can imagine the state it was in. As has previously been mentioned, before that it was a nursery and before that, the 'children's hotel' you know it as. We restored it to it's former glory, I hope that if you see the pictures it will help your not so good memories.
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Hi,
Just viewed the house photos and what a wonderful job your family made of restoring this house. The archway to Severn Road would have been in the top left hand side of the garden as you used to walk partly through next doors garden then down between the 2 houses at the back, you can see the natural spacing between the 2 houses in the photo taken from one of the back bedroom windows on the estate agents site.
I hope I have been able to fill in a few gaps, it might have been 62 years ago that I was taken there but the memories will never fade. The whole place just looks so much smaller now then when I remember it through a child's eye. I wish you good health in the future
Warm Regards
Ashley
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Ashley,
Thank you for the kind comments of the restoration we did of Malpas Lodge. We loved the house, ultimately it was way too big for our little family of 3, which seems funny when you say it seems much smaller than you remember! Hearing your memories of a sad time spent there, somehow makes our efforts more worthwhile, I'm so glad we took the coldness and neglect and made it a warm, happy place as it was when it was first built in 1901.
I can see what you mean about the gap between the two houses at the back which actually makes sense as there is still a lane straight ahead on the opposite side of Severn Road. You can no longer walk through the lane between the two houses you refer to on this side of Severn Road though. I'm sorry to be dim but I'm still struggling to understand where the archway was! Did it go straight into the garden of the house at the end of our garden?
On a separate note, do you happen to recall the big detached house next door (number1)? Was that a hotel then do you know?
Thank you for your memories, I really do appreciate it,
Sara
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Hi Sara,
The entrance was along the top left hand side of the garden and skirted round No1s back garden to the alleyway.
With regards to No1 St Paul's, when I was a resident of No3, next door was a normal home and all I remember then that it was home to a few elderly ladies. During the 1960`s it was bought by a builder from Winscombe called Winston and his Scottish born wife who we all called the Haggis as kids. Winston turned the property into an hotel but I cannot recall its name. It prospered for many years until Winston's sudden death in the late 60`s ( think that's right) but may have been very early 70`s. His wife remained at the property for some years after but sold up and relocated back to Scotland.
As I mentioned, the Roundabouts was bought up by my foster mother when Gabriel and Peggy retired, as such I used to go to and from school from what was now the Roundabouts day nursery. I remember cricket festivals in Clarence Park and all the cars parked in the middle of the road opposite the nursery and I also remember the steam trains on 2 lines at the bottom of the road as in those days you had stations at uphill, Lympsham, Brent Knoll, you changed at Highbridge and caught a train to Burnham, the station was opposite the RNLI station and I believe a supermarket is now where the station once stood.
When I next see my foster mother I will update her on what happened to the old nursery, at 88 she will be so thrilled at what your family did to the building.
Many thanks for your information, it has been a worthwhile find.
Ash