For 83 years the house was in the possession of one family, the Shorts. They were cordwainers - the name for makers of shoes and boots who worked with good quality leather, as opposed to cobblers, who literally cobbled together old leather scraps.
2 August 1790
William Roach sold the house to Robert Short of Yate, cordwainer, for £112 10s. Mr Thomas Fereby was the tenant.
Robert Short and his wife, Ann, had two children, George and Jane, baptised at Wickwar in 1765 and 1768.
Thomas Fereby married Hannah Heaven, by licence, at Chipping Sodbury on 9 May 1774.
1793
Robert Short's son, George Short, remodelled the cottage adjoining the house.
21 December 1801
Robert Short died intestate and the house passed to George Short, his only son. Like his father, George was a cordwainer.
George Short was baptised at Wickwar on 1 December 1765. He married Jane Rawbone in Yate on 12 May 1788. George and Jane had two children, Priscilla and George, baptised at Yate on 5 October 1788. Priscilla had been born before her parents' marriage and was baptised under her mother's name of Rawbone. George and Jane Short had a further nine children baptised at Chipping Sodbury between 1792 and 1810.
1812
George Short remodelled the front of the house, replacing the 17th century gable front with a fashionable Georgian style facade.
15 September 1815
George Short mortgaged the house, together with a property in Yate, for £260 to Thomas Watts, proprietor of the Royal Oak in Chipping Sodbury.
£180 of the money was used to pay off an earlier mortgage on the property in Yate, which George Short and his sister Jane had inherited from their father, George having used the money to buy out Jane's half share.
The other £80 was for George Short's own use. It may well have been used to pay for the building work on the house.
23 April 1818
George Short wrote a promissory note to his son-in-law, John Haynes, in return for a loan of £260 (presumably to pay off the 1815 mortgage).
1 July 1829
George Short signed an indenture granting the reversion of the property to John Haynes upon his own death. This was in settlement of £290 owed by George Short to John Haynes (the 1818 loan of £260 plus £30 accrued interest).
9 May 1833
George Short died, aged 67, and was buried in a large chest tomb, prominently situated at the entrance to the churchyard of St John the Baptist, Chipping Sodbury.
Under the terms of the 1829 indenture, the property passed into the ownership of John Haynes. John, who was described as a gentleman, was married to George Short's eldest child, Priscilla.
6 June 1841
The census shows the occupants of the house as John and Priscilla Haynes. John was aged between 65 and 69, of independent means and not born in Gloucestershire.
September 1844
John Haynes died and left the house to Priscilla in his will.
30 March 1851
The census shows the occupants of the house were Priscilla Haynes, a widow and house proprietor, aged 64 and born in Yate, and her niece, Elizabeth Short, daughter of Priscilla's brother, Shirley Short.
7 April 1861
The census shows Priscilla Haynes, a widowed house proprietor, aged 74 and born in Yate. She was living alone.
16 August 1864
Priscilla Haynes died childless. Under the terms of her will, the house was to be sold and the proceeds used to pay legacies to her brothers and sisters and their families.
29 June 1866
Priscilla's brother, George Short, bought the property for £140 from her estate. For the first time, the "court or garden" was mentioned and the adjoining cottage was included in the sale. George Short was already tenant of both properties.
George Short was also a cordwainer. He and his wife, Ann, had five children born in Chipping Sodbury between 1829 and 1841.
8 November 1870
George Short died, aged 82. His effects were valued at under £200.
2 April 1871
The census shows that the house was occupied by George Short's son, Shirley Short, a bootmaker, aged 29 and born in Chipping Sodbury. The other members of the household were Shirley's wife, Ann, and sister, Victoria.
Shirley Short had married Ann Endicott in Bristol only a few weeks earlier.
24 October 1871
Shirley Short bought the property for £150 from his father's estate. Shirley was already the tenant of the house and cottage. He was using the cottage as a workshop for his boot and shoe making business.
5 January 1873
Shirley Short died childless, aged only 31. Under the terms of his will, the property passed to his wife, Ann. She sold it four months later.
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