The Hill

Isaac Taylor's 1772 map shows a house close to the road at the top of Tunnel Hill, but in 1788 John Martin leased a house, "new built" to his Steward, John Claridge. At that time the house was known as "The Cottage". In 1795, following John Martin's death, a new lease was issued, the rent remained £50 p.a., but now John Claridge, "formerly of Upton", is said to be "of Charing Cross" and a sub-tenant is named, Richard Clarke. John Claridge is also mentioned amongst the tenants of the estate in the 1796 marriage settlement when Judith Martin, John Martin's widow, was marrying Thomas Bland. Here the previous house on the site is identified as having been occupied by "John Gurney, deceased". Both the leases contain plans, which, with the 1805 Ham Court Estate map, show a house, some 35ft square, standing well back. This is the core of the current house.

The next reference to The Hill is very certain: in 1821 Maria Martin drew a sketch of the front of the house and of its porch... "The Hill, Upton, in 1821 the residence of Mrs G. Martin and her daughter, the author of these sketches" reads the title. The drawing is one of over two hundred by Maria Martin of buildings around Upton and much further afield, which are gathered together in the Buckle Collection in the County Record Office. (Miss Martin married William Hill Buckle in Upton on 26th April, 1821.) Mrs G. Martin was the widow of the Rev'd. George Martin, a nephew of John Martin and the youngest brother of the Rev'd. Joseph Martin who became Lord of the Manor of Upton on the death of Judith Bland (formerly Martin) in 1809. She was also the sister of the Richard Clarke who had been John Claridge's sub-tenant in 1795. George Martin, born in 1765 , had been Vicar of Broad Windsor, Dorset and had died in 1796 at Ham Court not long after the birth ofhis daughter. By 1809 The Rev'd. Joseph Martin appears to have been providing housing for his brother's widow and child and, the records show, helping to manage their finances. Mrs George Martin did not stay long at The Hill after her daughter's marriage; perhaps she went with her to her new home at Chaceley.

The new tenant was Samuel Kent, a partner in W & S Kent & Son the wine, spirit and vinegar merchants who had rented their business premises in Church Street (now the site of Panes Garage) from the Martins since 1767. He remained at The Hill with his extended family - as well as his wife and three sons, his two sisters and two female and one male servant were living there at the time of the 1841 census - until his death in June, 1847 and his widow remained there until her death just over two years later. The tithe map of 1841 shows that the original house had been extended to the north by a slightly smaller (30 ft square) rectangular building. The house and surrounding land amounted to just over 19 acres with an annual rental of £75 Os Od. There is a model of the house of this time by one of Samuel Kent's daughters, Agnes, in Upton's museum, The Tudor House. The east front, rather battered, is illustrated above.

After the Kents there were two relatively short clerical tenancies: in 1851 The Rev'd. Charles Allen, Perpetual Curate and later Vicar of Bushley, lived at The Hill with his wife, a butler, a cook/housekeeper, a housemaid and a groom, but in the 1855 and 1858 trade directories the curate of Upton, the Rev'd. T. W. Hayward, is recorded as being in the house. The 1863 Enclosure Map shows that the house had yet to be further extended.

For the next fifty years The Hill became the residence of members of the Martin family. First, in the 1860s, it was the unmarried children of another Rev'd. George Martin, the younger brother of the then Lord of the Manor, Major Joseph Martin, who settled at The Hill after their father's death in 1860. At the time of the 1871 census there were four of them together with the two sons of their married sister, Mrs Johnson. One of the boys, Percy, died, aged 8, in 1877. The resident staff consisted of a governess, a cook/housekeeper, a ladies maid, a parlourmaid, a housemaid, a nursery maid, a kitchen maid, a page and a groom, so the accommodation must have been increased! The house was extended to the south; probably kitchens, and then stables etc. were attached to the southwest comer. In 1880 Colonel Charles Cooper Johnson retired from the Indian Army, he was knighted in 1881, and he and his wife Jemima, came to The Hill. Lady Johnson had long wished to return to England. As early as 1862, two years after her own marriage, she had written to her newly married sister-in-law "I hope and trust that before many years are past we may be back among you all in an English home of our own, it is the one thought we live on and I can't tell you how delighted we were to hear from Edward that he is sanguine as to being able to get something or other for Charles to do at home." It was eighteen years before her wish was fulfilled: her brother, George Edward Martin, and sister-in-Iaw, Maria Henrietta, were by then installed at Ham Court. G. E. Martin had become the Lord of the Manor ofUpton in 1873 and had moved into Ham Court in 1879.

Something of life at The Hill in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century and at the start of the twentieth can be gathered from reading the opening chapters of Margaret Bramford's book From Cottage to Palace based around the life of her aunt, Florence Bramford. Florence's father, George came to The Hill from Laxton in Nottinghamshire to become coachman to the Johnsons. Her brother, Henry , the Vicar of Laxton, recommended him to Lady Johnson. In 1888 George married Eva Alice Wills who was lady's maid to Charlotte and Renira Martin, Lady Johnson's sister and half sister, who were continuing to live at The Hill as they had since the 1860s. Lady Johnson was involved in good works locally, the Upton Nursing Association, the Church of England Home for Waifs and Strays at Hanley Swan of which she was Hon. Treasurer and visiting the school in Upton, of which Sir Charles was a manager (governor), to present prizes. Sir Charles also served as a churchwarden (Peoples' Warden from 1882 until his death), Chairman of the Governors of Hanley Castle Grammar School, Member of the Board of Guardians of the Poor Law Institution, Justice of the Peace, (he sat as a magistrate in Upton and regularly attended the County Quarter Sessions) and as an Alderman on the County Council. To meetings and many social events Sir Charles and Lady Johnson would be driven by George Bramford in his smart navy blue uniform -Ham Court's coachman wore green and red, Pull Court's wore fawn. Sir Charles was not actively involved with the local Volunteer Battalion, although he did allow them to camp in the fields below The Hill as one of their overnight stops when, in 1888, over 600 men took part in a test of rapid movement of volunteer forces around the county. He did, however, retain his army commission on the supernumerary list and was promoted regularly in retirement, (Major-General in 1886, Lt-General in 1889), until he became a full General in 1894. This was common at the time in both army and navy: harder to explain is why he was advanced in the orders of knighthood from K.C.B. (Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath) to G.C.B. (Knight Grand Cross) in 1900. At the turn of the century, in the 1901 Census, there were five resident staff at The Hill: by then George Bramford and his family were living in the cottage next to the Rose and Crown (now The Drum & Monkey). At The Hill were Rachel Woolfrey, the cook/housekeeper, Louise Linton, the ladies maid, Mary Hardwick, the parlourmaid, Cilly Arnott, the scullery maid, and Charles Evans, the footman: quite modest when compared with the twelve resident staff at Ham Court at the same time! Nonetheless it was at the turn of the century that a billiard room with accommodation over it was added as a northwest wing: the southwest wing was replaced and separate stables were built.

Sir Charles died in December 1905 less than a year after his brother-in-law, G. E. Martin. Lady Johnson continued to live at The Hill, but her nephew, Eliot Bromley-Martin, who had succeeded to the Lordship of the Manor and to the estate was, in common with many landowners of the time, finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet. He let Ham Court, he considered selling pictures, and he sold property, fIrst Tiltridge and then, in 1913, The Hill. Lady Johnson moved out and into The N ew House (now Yewleigh Lodge). This does not now appear to be much smaller house, but nonetheless Moore and Son advertised the auction sale of 410 lots of furniture on Monday, 29th September 1913 as a consequence of the move. Maurice Jewell was the purchaser of The Hill.

Major Jewell, he had been in the Royal Field Artillery during the war, lived at The Hill until the late 1960s. He and Mrs Jewell had a son and five daughters. He continued the tradition of public service of the previous occupants of The Hill. He was at various times a member of the Parish Council, the Rural District Council and the County Council; he was a magistrate and a Deputy Lieutenant of the County .He lent the money to the parish council, which enabled them to refurbish the town hall as the Memorial Hall. He was much involved in Worcestershire County Cricket, a right-handed batsman and a left armed slow bowler he played 121 matches for the county as an amateur. He had three spells as captain, 1920-21, 1926 and 1928-29. He was President of the Club from 1950-56. Whilst the Jewells lived at The Hill it was modernised: they had one of the earlier telephones in Upton, being connected in 1915 (Tel no. Upton 23) when there were 28 subscribers in the town.

Captain and Mrs. Bannerman followed the Jewells at The Hill. Captain Bannerman left in 1978 after the death of his wife. His stepdaughter and her husband, Mercy and Fred Rimell, moved into The.Hill from Kinnersley where they had their well-known and successful National Hunt stables. After Mr Rimell died in 1981, the house was reduced in size by the creation of separate houses in the southwest wing and the stables, and Mrs Rimell remained at The Hill unti1 1995.