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Joseph Turner and Eliza Thompson

Joseph Turner

Joseph Turner was baptised in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England on Christmas Day, 1825. Like his father George Turner he was a stone quarryman, and worked the underground Cross Hands Quarry near Old Sodbury.
 

Information regarding Cross Hands Quarry and Tormarton Quarry supplied courtesy of South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group.

Eliza Thompson

Eliza Thompson was born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England in 1827 and was baptised in Chipping Sodbury Church on 24 February 1827, by her parents Isaac and Mary Thompson.

Horse Street, Chipping Sodbury
Horse Street, Chipping Sodbury

Residence

According to the various nineteenth century census returns, Joseph Turner and Eliza Thompson lived in Horse Street, Chipping Sodbury.

The Post Office which was run by his grandson Francis Turner and his wife Bessie Hine, is located on the right hand side next to the lamp post. 

Tortworth Court, Wooton under Edge

In February 1853 it was reported that the dressings of the windows, doors, arches etc of Earl Ducie’s new mansion at Tortworth Court, Gloucestershire are of stone from the three quarries at Crosshands and the Farleigh Down quarries near Bath.

Tortworth Court, now the Four Pillars Hotel
Tortworth Court, now the Four Pillars Hotel
Turners Quarry, near Cross Hands Hotel, Tetbury Road, Old Sodbury

Cross Hands Quarry or Turner’s Quarry

Of these three quarries, Cross Hands Quarry, also recorded on maps as Eyles’ Quarry and Turner’s Quarry, was an underground one. Directories and the census returns indicate that Thomas Eyles worked the quarry from before 1851 up to circa 1868 when his wife or widow described herself as a Stone Mason (Cutter).

From 1870 Thomas’ sons, James and Joseph worked the quarry. James was the active partner but was retired by 1891, in which year William J Collins of Old Sodbury is recorded as a Freestone Quarry Master. He worked it up to 1895 or 6, and was followed by James Mills a Chipping Sodbury builder who worked it up to 1900, after which it disappears from the record.

To complicate the above orderly succession of quarry masters, there is a surviving letter dated February 1881 from the HM Inspector of Mines addressed to Joseph Turner at Tormarton Quarries, Chipping Sodbury! Further research is needed to resolve this conundrum.

On the ground there are the usual tumps and hollows, earlier OS maps record a now lost shaft. It was still possible to get underground in 1988; the quarry is heavily gobbed up (almost to the ceiling) with waste stone retained behind high neat drystone walls flanking a very narrow haul road. The haul road ruts are about 3 feet gauge and there are small (about 6 inch square) chog holes in the ceiling, showing that a small crane was used here. Since 1988 the access has been obscured by sheep carcasses, old washing machines etc.

Tormarton Quarry

The photograph opposite is of Brookmans Quarry, Tormarton and shows a typical underground stone quarry.

Brookmans Quarry, Tormarton. Image courtesy of South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group
Brookmans Quarry, Tormarton. Image courtesy of South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group
Baptism of Joseph Turner 25 December 1825

Birth of Joseph Turner

Joseph was born sometime in 1825 and was baptized in the Parish of Chipping Sodbury on Christmas Day 1825, by his parents George Turner and Mary Coomes.

Baptism of Eliza Thompson

Like her husband Joseph, Eliza Thompson was baptised in Chipping Sodbury Church on 24 February 1827. 

Baptism – Eliza Thompson 24 February 1827
Marriage of Joseph and Eliza Turner

Marriage

Joseph Turner and Eliza Thompson were married in Chipping Sodbury on 28 December 1845.

Underground Quarries

In the 1861 census, Joseph Turner describes his occupation as “Stone Quarryman”. Turner’s Quarry only employed two staff below ground and one above ground with an annual output in 1885 of 70 tons.

By the 1881 census, Joseph has now become a stone mason. I take this to mean that he is no longer working below ground removing the stone blocks, but is now working as a mason to dress the stone to the profiles that will be required for the building for which it is destined. An altogether more skilled and less hazardous occupation. 

A stone mason dressing a cornice stone.
A stone mason dressing a cornice stone.

Eliza Thompson

Eliza Thompson died and was buried in the new churchyard next to Waitrose on the Wickwar Road on 23 February 1895.  Joseph and Eliza, during her life together raised sixteen children over 27 years. A remarkable achievement.

Her husband Joseph died in 1900 and is buried in the same grave as his wife Eliza. See below.

 

Grave of Joseph Turner and Eliza Thompson

The grave is situated in the Wickwar Road Cemetery in Chipping Sodbury. The headstone transcribes as follows:

Her End was Peace

In Loving Memory of

Eliza

The affectionate [wife of]

Joseph Turner

Who Fell asleep February 20 ???

Aged 67 years

Also Ruth & Ellen

Infant daughters of above

Also Ella the beloved child of George and Mary Turner

who fell asleep Dec 18 1894, Aged 2 years

“Not dead but sleepeth”

Also the Above JOSEPH TURNER

Who fell asleep March 18 1900

Aged 75 years

 
Joseph Turner and Eliza Thompson Tombstone

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