In 1854 a building and land at 60 Higher Street, at the top of Broad Steps, together with a further garden and land, and a garden belonging to Robert Narraway Smith, was registered as a property package. On the 21st July 1866 this parcel of buildings and land was sold to Thomas Rolstone. It was converted into a public house, known as The Shotover Inn.
Local rumour has it that houses in Higher Street were owned by a man who made his fortune in the New Zealand gold rush which started in 1862, at Arrowtown and the Shotover River in the South Island. Thomas Rolstone was born in 1833 at nearby Churston Ferrers. If he did make a fortune in the gold rush then he would have been in his 30’s, an age for adventures. It would have been natural for Thomas to name his inn after the place that gave him his good fortune. Thomas was married in 1865, just before taking over the Shotover Inn, to Elizabeth Sercombe, who was born in 1836 at Ashton, near Teignmouth.
Elizabeth and Thomas had two children, the first being Thomas W.H. Rolstone, who was born in Brixham in 1866, perhaps at the Shotover Inn. He was followed in October 1870 by his little sister, Evelina Rolstone, almost certainly born at the Shotover Inn. There were no NHS hospitals then and women gave birth at home, with local midwives and female family to help, whilst the men paced the street (or probably drank downstairs in the bar!)
In 1871 at 34 year old Elizabeth was recorded in the census as living at the Shotover Inn with her husband, 37 year old Thomas Rolstone (the innkeeper), their children, 4 year old Thomas W H and 5 months old baby Evelina, together with visiting school-girl nieces, 12 year old Florence Sercombe and 11 year old Henrietta Mann, and a domestic servant, 16 year old Emily Buffett.
On the 19th July 1888 Thomas Rolstone wrote a will and left all his worldly possessions, including The Shotover Inn, to his wife Elizabeth. Thomas died, aged 60 years, on the 14th September 1893, and title of The Shotover Inn passed to Elizabeth. She continued to run the pub, until the 13th March 1901 when the elderly Elizabeth sold The Shotover Inn to Starkey, Knight and Ford Ltd (a west country brewery chain based in Tiverton) for £900. It is believed that they ran the pub from then onwards.
One of the pub landladies was Susan Priscilla Vidgen. Her son, local character, Jim Vidgen, was born in the front upstairs room. Judging by the number of people telling the same tale, so appears to have been half the babies of Brixham!
At one point the front downstairs bedroom was used as a shop, as can be seen by the large window. In the 1930’s and 40’s a crab stall was in this room and the shellfish were boiled in the back courtyard and cooled there. Local children were able to buy ‘penny licks’ ice-lollies made on the premises in the summer months.
In the back courtyard of Brandywine House is an area, originally a stall for the donkeys used to move loads around the town, and the current back store was the old boat shed, later used to store the beer and wine for the pub. Above that there was a sail loft. There are various hooks and spikes still embedded in the tall stone walls and remnants of the old Inn sign seen in the plaster on the front of the building.
In 2001 the building was divided into two houses by local builder, Seymour Crang. There were always two front doors to the building but new stairs had to be constructed in number 60A. It is thought that the front door to number 60 lead to the living accommodation and that the door to number 60A lead through to the courtyard. This hallway is lined with horizontal wooden planks (perhaps to protect the walls as donkeys and barrels were loaded in and out). Doorways between the two new houses were blocked and traces of the links can be seen by the lounge and top bedroom. Number 60A has smaller rooms and it may be that this side of the original house housed the family and servants whilst the larger rooms on the Brandywine House side were used as guest rooms serving the inn.
A major water leak in 2006 meant renovations to Brandywine House (60). During these works an inscription was discovered written under the arch by the front door. It read
“THOMAS ROLSTONE
LICENSED TO SELL ALE, BEER, PORTER, CIDER, TOBACCO, ETC.”
Unfortunately, because of the state of the wall, it was impossible to leave the words exposed so they have been covered by water based paint again until such time as they can be preserved on view properly.
My two aunties lived in the house at the top of the steps, behind the railings, now owned by Peter from the Brixham Yacht Supplies. His mother, Yanna, used to live there. The old railings are still there.
Broad Steps are next to Brixham Yacht Supplies and opposite Brown's Linens shop. A lot of the houses on Middle Street were taken down during WW2. There were a number of them taken out by a bomb when they were trying to destroy the gas terminal, which would have been where the car park is now.