MEM23602 - Jasmine Cottage, Edbrooke Road, Winsford (Building)

The cottage was built in 1866 by Joseph Steer, a local tradesman, on land owned by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland. It was called Ashdale and housed a building business which was the biggest employer in the village before it closed in 1955.

The site is shown as part of a plot labelled 659 on the Winsford Tithe Map, which was in use as an orchard at the time. It was owned by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland and occupied by Joan Milton. [1] The building is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. At this time and by the time the 2nd Edition map was surveyed, it had various extensions to the rear, but these mostly appear to have since been demolished. [2-4] Jasmine Cottage dates from the 19th Century. It is recorded as built in 1866 on Sir Thomas Dyke Acland's land by Joseph Steer, a local building contractor who set up the adjoining carpenter's workshop (MSO10450). [5] The house was originally named Ashdale and was built in 1866 by Joseph Steer on land belonging to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland. It was rented to Joseph Steer on a lease of 60 years for 15 shillings a year. The lease included conditions stating it could not be used "as a place of meeting for religious worship or as a shop or other place for the sale of beer or cider or any fermented or spirituous liquor whatsoever." It was used for a building business and became the biggest employer in the village (see MEM23579). A number of houses in the village were built by the Steer family. The house included a carpenter's workshop at the south[?] end , an office in the garden and a store next door for timber and paints. A bell was rung to summon the workers at 8am; this still hangs outside the property. In 1909, following Sir Thomas Acland's death, a new lease was agreed with Sir Charles Acland, for £2 a year; however, the premises was sold to Joseph Steer in 1910 for £125. He died in 1918 and left the business to his sons John and James but John died a year later, leaving James the house and business. His mother and two sisters (Emily and Sarah Anna) lived at Ashdale while he lived at Thorne Cottage and he sold Ashdale to his sister Emily upon his mother's death. The business passed from James to his son Herbert and grandson Reginald until it closed in 1955. Ashdale remained empty after Miss Sarah Anna Steer went into a home in Minehead in 1956 and was sold on her death in 1961 to Madalina Royds and her husband. It was renamed Steers Cottage and the interior was reordered, with the workshop becoming a sitting room with a bedroom above, a new kitchen where the old log store had been and the kitchen garden becoming a lawn. The house was sold in 1968 to the Rev. Basil and Dorothy Bartlett, who changed the name of the property to Jasmine Cottage. It was then sold to the present owners in 1989, when the interior had not been altered since 1961 but the timber store was converted into a holiday cottage in 1996. [6]