Early days
Originally, this building was a timber framed house, and dates from the 17th century.
Post Office days
The building is named Kingscote after the King family who lived there and who later ran the post office from the late 19th century when the post office was transferred from the Guild House.
In 1891, Martha King, a widow, was the postmistress and Miss Mary King, her daughter, the post office assistant. From Kelly’s directory 1904, we know that in 1904 Miss King, (now known as Mrs. Mary Willcox), was the post mistress.
The post office was also the sorting office with letters arriving early by mail cart from Birmingham, via Hampton in Arden, at 5.25am and by train at 1.20pm. Letters were dispatched from Kingscote at 12.15 and 7.48pm.
Home life
A few years later the post office transferred to nearby premises and Kingscote reverted to a family home with the shop front replaced by two new windows and the walls rendered. In photographs of this section of the high street, you can see an obvious shop front to the right and then later photographs showing the new windows of the restored private home. The house had beautiful gardens, enjoyed by Mrs. King and her grandson Charles Willcox. The grounds were reported to have a tennis court and an orchard.
From bread to chocolate
Around 1923, Kingscote became the second property of Mr G Statham who had run a bakery across the High Street since 1906 (in the property that is now Eros Restaurant). The family moved to Kingscote and ran a bakery there for many years. Later, Kingscote was divided into the three individual premises we see today but it still remains recognizable as the original 17th century building.
The three shop premises have been a home to a nursery (plants), a surveyor’s office, two jewellers, a boutique, two hairdressers, an estate agent, travel agents and chocolatier.
Distinguishing Features
- Kimbells Walk, a passageway at the side of Kingscote, named after a local family.
- The distinctive gabled roof
- Small lattice window visible from Kimbells walk
- The doorway to the ‘house’ entrance
Timeline
- Early 1600s: Construction of a timber framed house
- 1800s: Home to the King family
- 1891: Served as the local post office run by the King family
- Early 1900s: Restored to a family home
- 1923: Home to the Statham family and their Bakery
- 1970s: Divided into three premises
Image Gallery
You will be able to see more images of Knowle in the Local History Centre located upstairs in Knowle Library.
Explore the Trail
There are twelve buildings to explore on this trail.
The small print
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented on this heritage trail, details may be subject to change or interpretation. To the best of our knowledge, all content is correct at the time of publication. We accept no responsibility for any errors, omissions, or changes that may have occurred since.