The house was built in the early eighteenth century and substantially altered a century or so later. There is evidence that it was leased to a member of the Throckmorton family from Coughton Court, Warwickshire whose ancestor had been involved in the Gunpowder Plot. It is said that he was known as The Judge and he acquired a reputation for unpleasantness. In the nineteenth century the house was occupied by Elias Bassett, who was involved in the establishment of the Tabernacle Chapel and he passed it on to his niece and her husband William Thomas.
Thomas provided the present Town Hall clock marking Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. Another member of the family, Mary Thomas, was better known as Marie Trevelyan, an author of some repute – she wrote historical romances and travelogues on local history and customs.
