History of Canonbourne, Weston sub Edge, Gloucestershire. GL55 6QR.
It is thought that the original Rectory was built on this site between 1790 and 1810 from the cut stone salvaged from the remains of Giffard’s Manor. The manor/tower house was probably sacked in 1645 and seemingly lay derelict for circa 145 years until 1790. It seems likely that stone was taken during that period for a variety of structures in the village, including boundary walls, many of which contain cut blocks rather that random stones straight from the quarry.
In 1790 the land and garden to the North of what is now known as Parsons Lane, where the Rectory was built, was raised by at least 3 feet with the stream being diverted down the Eastern boundary. The original Rectory was much smaller than the current building, without the East side extension or the three floor rear extension across the back, North side, of the property. The main entrance was via the Lodge Gate on the corner of Parsons Lane and Friday Street with the original estate included the Lodge, the Stables and also Manor Farm.
The Vicar at the time the original Vicarage was built was Hugh Smith followed in 1846 by Rev (later Canon) George Drinkwater Bourne – details of his early life are included in the History of the Village School.
Canon Bourne’s stipend as Vicar is reported to have been £900 per annum, a sum equivalent to £125,000 today – it is also believed that he received a further £900 per annum when appointed Canon. He was therefore a wealthy man in his own right and was able to fund the work required to extensively enlarge the Rectory. In circa 1850, a porch was added to the front, with stained glass windows in each side panel. The East side was enlarged over two floors and a three-floor addition was attached to the rear of the property with a second internal staircase. By 1865, the completed house would have had three large bedroom and two smaller rooms on the top floor. The first-floor front consisted of three large bedrooms plus two smaller bedrooms plus a bath room and a separate WC. The rear first floor on a slightly lower level had three large bedrooms plus three smaller rooms for ablutions et cetera. The ground floor consisted of a Drawing Room, Morning Room, Study, Dining room plus a kitchen, two sculleries and a boot room. In all over 10,000 square feet on the three floors.
Up to the Second World War there were a number of Rectors. Canon Grice Hutchinson arrived in 1924 leaving in 1939. He was followed by Revered Hookham. A lifelong villager, Jeff Tomes, recalls Rev Hookham generously providing food from his kitchen for the starving village children during WWII.
However, by 1953 Rev Hookham found the property too much to handle and a new and smaller Rectory was built in the grounds, with the front entrance close to the drive to the Stables.
The original Rectory, together with the Stable block and Lodge, were bought by Janet Webb in 1955 for her husband (Major Patrick Webb) to turn the Rectory into a school after his retirement from the Army. They had another property in the village called Latimer’s which Patrick Webb’s father had purchased in 1923. The school never materialized and after a short period of two years, when it was a failed guest house called Valmar, it was decided in 1960/1965 to convert the building into 6 self-contained flats and to make an opening for vehicles through the stone boundary wall out into Parsons Lane. This was where previously there had been a pedestrian gate from which Canon Bourne would walk up to the Church on a blue brick path, which he had specially laid to prevent his shoes and cassock from becoming muddy in the winter.
It was at this point that the Webb family renamed the building Canonbourne, in honour of its most distinguished former occupant, and this is how it is still known.
By 1978 the former Rectory was in poor condition and the roof needed a serious overhaul. At that time Patrick and Janet Webb’s youngest daughter, Lydia had recently married 11th September 1976, in Chipping Campden Church, a Captain Young of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. In order to stop the sale of the property they invested a substantial sum, which was spent on overhauling the roof and central atrium. Over the next few years, they gradually took over the management of the building, putting in separate gas fired central heating and hot water boilers, new kitchens and bathrooms into each flat. The rent of the largest flat 1 on the ground floor was 25/- a week!
Over the next four decades the building was further upgraded. The three blind windows on the front elevation were opened out in the early 1980’s and the majority of the Victorian single paned sash windows installed by Canon Bourne in 1860 were replaced with the original Georgian period style 6 paned sash windows made of hard wood.
In 1998 the building was Listed Grade II.
In 2014 Lydia and Peter Young rebuilt the garages which were 6 single breeze block low-built garages dating from 1960/65 with up and over doors. At the same time they put in electric gates on the main drive gates into Parsons lane. They repeated the exercise on the rear drive to the Stables a few years later.
In July 2018 the wedding of their son took place in the local Church. They held the reception on the lawns of the house. By then the building had been reconfigured so that the top floor flat, comprising two double bedrooms kitchen and bathroom, was self-contained using the second staircase. A one-bedroom flat was retained on the ground floor with its own access directly into the garden.
After the renovation work, reinstatement of the main part of the house took place over the next two years.
The original estate extended to include The Lodge, Stables and Manor Farm. Manor Farm House was sold off by the Church many years ago to the Robins family along with some acres of land. The Lodge was given by Patrick Webb to his son Charles who sold it with a small parcel of land from the house in circa 2000. The latest owners have upgraded the property to a very high standard.
The Stables were effectively given away in 1972 to a local resident, Mrs. Lee Smith, for £1,000 and only repurchased by Peter Young in 2000 when Mrs. Lee Smith decided to move to the coast to be closer to her children. In 2016, and after refurbishment, Peter and Lydia Young moved in whilst they were obtaining planning permission and vacant possession of the majority of flats. After two years of refurbishment, they had relocated back to the Rectory in 2020. Peter Young’s parents moved into the Stables in 2001, remaining in residence until Mr Young senior died in 2012 aged 90 and his wife in 2022 aged 95. Both are buried in the Churchyard. They had met in August 1945 when Mr Young senior was a night fighter pilot and Mrs Young a WAAF signaler. They married in November 1945.
The Stables are now tenanted with the income maintaining the houses, flats and the gardens.
Details prepared by P D Young 2025