From time immemorial Small Street, in the city and county of Bristol, two-thirds of the west side of which the Post Office occupies, has been an important street. One of the nine old town gates was at the bottom of it, and was known as St. Giles's Gate, having obtained this name from a church dedicated to St. Giles, the patron saint of cripples and beggars, which in the fifteenth century stood at the end of "Seynt-Lauren's-Laane." Here, history says, was the "hygest walle of Bristow," which has "grete vowtes under it, and the old chyrch of Seynt Gylys was byldyd ovyr the vowtes." The cutting of the trench, from the old Stone Bridge to near Prince Street Bridge, for the new channel of the Froom, was completed in 1247. Before this date ships could only lie in the Avon, where the bottom was "very stony and rough"; but the bed of the new course of the Froom having turned out to be soft and muddy, it became the harbour for the great ships, and Small Street from this time became a principal thoroughfare. Then to this quarter of the town came Bristol's greatest merchants. From the centre of the town to the old Custom House, at the lower end of Pylle Street (now St. Stephen Street) there was no nearer way than down Small Street and through St. Giles's Gate. The existence of gardens in the 15th and 16th centuries at the backs of the Houses in Small Street is evidenced by the wills of old Bristolians. In that of William Hoton, merchant, of St. Werburgh's parish, who died in 1475, is mentioned "the garden of Sir Henry Hungerford, Knight," near the cemetery of St. Leonard's Church, and John Easterfield, merchant, of St. Werburgh's parish, who died in 1504, bequeathed to his wife his dwelling-house in Small-Strete, and also "the garden in St. Leonard's Lane, as long as she dwelleth in the said house."

In this historic Small Street, and just within the old city walls, have for two or three hundred years stood certain premises, in olden times divided into three separate holdings, the freehold of which was purchased in 1903 from the Bristol Water Works Company by the Post Office, for much-needed extensions to its already large building. The facts respecting these three edifices have been culled from ancient parchments which would fill a large wheelbarrow. The premises are not of very ornate exterior now. They are interesting, however, as denoting an old style of architecture; but the exteriors have, no doubt, been so altered and pulled about to meet the requirements of successive occupiers as to be not quite like what they were originally. The structures appear to have been erected in the middle of the 17th century, probably at the end of the reign of King Charles I. (1649). The plan of Brightstowe, published in 1581 by Hofnagle, shows that the Church of St. Werburgh and its churchyard occupied one-third of the frontage of the street, on the west, or Post Office, side, and that there were only five other separate buildings, which were each detached, and covered the remainder of the length of the street. Millerd's "Exact Delineations of the famous Cittie of Bristoll," published in 1673, does not so clearly illustrate the houses standing in Small Street on its west or Post Office side as could be desired. The deeds hereafter alluded to indicate, however, that of the three premises under consideration, the Elton Mansion, at least, was standing before 1680, as Richard Streamer, who died in that year, is named as having formerly dwelt therein. There is no earlier record, and as Streamer only came to fame as councillor in 1661, it may, perhaps, be assumed that the mansion was erected about the year 1650; and as a member of the Cann family is the first known owner of the property, no doubt the house was erected for him. The style of architecture appears to bear out that assumption as to date, and the frontages indicate that the three houses under special review were erected about the same time.

While there may be a little regret when these mediÆval buildings disappear, there will be the advantage of the street being considerably widened by their removal. It is now only 20 feet wide from house to house, and gives a very good idea of its appropriate appellation—Small Street. Taking first the property which formed the middle holding, now (1905) known as 7, Small Street, and which was not, therefore, actually contiguous to the existing Post Office, the earliest date alluded to in the parchments is the year 1700. In a deed of the 14th August, 1723, it is stated that Sir Abraham Elton, merchant, under indenture of lease dated 28th February, 1700, had bought from Sir Thomas Cann, of Stoke Bishopp, in the county of Gloucester, Esq., "All that great messuage or dwelling-house situate standing and being in Small Street within the Parishes of St. Walburgh (sic) and St. Leonard." The indenture was between Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., on the one part, and Christopher Shuter, of the same city, on the other part, and was worded thus: "Now this Indenture witnesseth that for and in consideration of the sum of five shillings of lawful money of Great Britain to the said Sir Abraham Elton in hand paid by the said Christopher Shuter the receipt whereof the said Sir Abraham Elton doth hereby confess and acknowledge and for divers good causes and considerations him the said Sir Abraham Elton hereunto moving hath granted bargained sold assigned and set over ... unto the said Christopher Shuter all the said messuage and tenements to have and to hold unto the said Christopher Shuter his executors administrators and assigns from henceforth for and during all the rest and residue of the above recited terms of 70 years which is yet to run and unexpired in trust for said Sir Abraham Elton."

The next record is that bearing date of the next day, thus:—"Mr. Cann's lease for a year of a Messuage in Small Street to Sir Abraham Elton. Date 15th August, 1723." Robert Cann "doth demise grant bargain and sell unto the said Sir Abraham Elton all that great messuage or dwelling house situate standing and being in Small Street within the parishes of St. Walburgh and St. Leonards or one of them within the said city of Bristol wherein Richard Streamer Esq. (who died in 1680) formerly dwelt and wherein Sir William Poole, Knt. (no trace of him can be found in local records) afterwards dwelt and now (1723) the dwelling of and in the possession of the said Sir Abraham Elton (First Baronet) (where also Sir Abraham Elton, the grandson, successively dwelt, and, after that, William Thornhill, surgeon) and fronting forwards to the street called Small Street and extending backwards to a lane called St. Leonard's Lane and bounded on the outside thereof with a messuage in the holding of William Donne, Ironmonger, and afterwards (1746) John Perks, Tobacconist (now 1905, known as No. 6 in Small Street and actually adjoining the Post Office) and on the other side thereof with a messuage in the tenure of William Knight, Cooper (and afterwards of Richard Lucas, Cooper) (now 1905, known as No. 8 Small Street and last occupied by Messrs. Bartlett and Hobbs, Wine Merchants), together with all and singular Cellars, Sellars Vaults, Rooms, Halls, Parlors, Chambers, Kitchens, Lofts, Lights, Basements, Backsides, pavements, court yards and appurtenances whatsoever"—for one whole year, yielding and paying therefor the rent of a peppercorn on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel (if the same shall be demanded). Signed and sealed, Robert Cann. In the Abstract of Title it is noted that William Knight, who occupied the house on the "other side," was succeeded in the tenure by Richard Lucas, cooper. On the 14th August, 1746, Sir Abraham Elton (3rd Bart.) and assignees leased the premises as before described to Dr. Logan, of the city of Bristol, doctor in physick, for 5s., as in the case of Christopher Shuter. The house of William Donne, ironmonger, adjoining, was in this deed mentioned as occupied by John Perks, tobacconist. The property appears to have been sold by William Logan, of Pennsylvania, Esq., and nephew and heir of the above-mentioned Dr. Logan, doctor of physick, of the city of Bristol, to the "Small Street Company (Richard Reynolds, Edward Garlick, Richard Summers, James Harford, William Cowles, James Getly)" on the 27th May, 1772. In the year 1847 the property was leased to the Bristol Water Works Company, and purchased by the company in 1865.

The several owners and occupiers of this "great house" were persons of no mean degree, as the following statement of their local positions indicates. According to Playfair's "British Family Antiquity," Vol. VII., Mr. Robert Cann was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Cann, who was the eldest son of Sir Robert Cann, the first baronet. Sir Robert Cann was the eldest son of William Cann, Esqr., Alderman of Bristol. He married the sister of Sir Robert Yeomans, who was beheaded at Bristol for supporting the cause of Charles I. Sir Robert was Councillor, 1649-1663; Sheriff, 1651-1652; Treasurer, Merchant Venturers, 1653-1654; Master, Merchant Venturers, 1658-1659; Mayor, 1662-1663; Knighted, 1662; created Baronet, 1662; Alderman 1663-1685; Mayor, 1675-1676. Under the south window of St. Werburgh's Church was a handsome monument, with a half-arch, for the family of Sir Robert Cann, of Compton-Greenfield, Bart. Richard Streamer was Councillor, 1661-1672; Sheriff, 1663-1664; Alderman, 1672-1680; Mayor 1673-1674; Master, Merchant Venturers, 1672-1673; died 1680. Sir William Pool cannot be traced in the local histories which have been consulted. Sir Abraham Elton (first baronet), baptized 3 July, 1654, at St. Philip and St. Jacob Church, was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Elton, of that parish. From entries in the registers, it may be seen that the family was settled there as early as 1608, about which time the members of it migrated from near Ledbury to the neighbourhood, attracted doubtless by the splendid field for enterprise offered by the second City of the Kingdom, as Bristol undoubtedly was at that period, and for some time afterwards. They were Puritans, and held some land in Barton Regis on the Gloucestershire side of the city. Richard Elton, bap. at St. Philip and St. Jacob, 29 April, 1610, was a Colonel in Fairfax's Army, and he published one of the earliest text books in the English language on military tactics; hence the family motto, "Artibus et Armis." A copy of this book is now in Clevedon Court Library, with its quaint frontispiece, portrait and inscription: "Richard Elton, of Bristol, 1649, aetas suae 39." Sir Abraham was apprenticed in 1670 to his eldest brother, Jacob Elton, but in 1672 went to sea. He married in 1676 Mary, daughter of Robert Jefferies, a member of a well-known mercantile family of that day. He served in many public offices, thus:—President, Gloucestershire Society, 1689; Councillor, 1699-1712; Sheriff, 1702-1703; Master, Merchant Venturers, 1708-1709; Mayor, 1710-1711; Alderman, 1712-1728; Governor, Incorporation of Poor, 1713-1715; High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1716; created baronet, 1717; Mayor, September, 1720; M.P., 1722-1727.

The portraits of Abraham and Mary Elton which are here given, are reproduced, with Sir Edmund Elton's kind consent, from photographs by Mr. Edwin Hazell, of Linden Road Studio, Clevedon. The original oil paintings hang in the picture gallery at Clevedon Court.

According to Barrett, in the St. Werburgh's vestry room, over the door on the inside, as part of a long Latin inscription, was the name of "Abrahamo Eltono, Guardianis, 1694." The baronetcy was conferred on him in recognition of his staunch support of the Hanoverian succession during the Jacobite riots of 1715-16, to the great disgust of Stewart, the local Jacobite chronicler.

In the Board Room, at St. Peter's Hospital, under the date 1700, Abraham Elton's name appears as a benefactor for £100.

In 1727, Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., gave £2 10s. per annum to five poor housekeepers in St. Werburgh's parish not receiving alms, paid September 11, £50. He died at his house in Small Street in the same year—1727. Having bequeathed considerable sums in local charities, he settled his estates in Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Wilts, on various members of his family. He was for many years head of the commerce of Bristol, a pioneer of its brass and iron foundries, owner of its principal weaving industry, and of some of its glass and pottery works, besides largely controlling the shipping of the port. His wife survived him by only two months. They are both buried in the family vault in SS. Philip and Jacob Parish Church, within the altar rails near Sir Abraham's parents. The house in Small Street was their town house from about 1690 down to the date of their deaths.

Sir Abraham Elton (second baronet), baptized 30 June, 1679, at St. John the Baptist, Broad Street, was Councillor, 1710-1723; Sheriff, 1710-1711; Mayor, 1719-1720; Master, Merchant Venturers, 1719-1720; Alderman, 1723-1742; baronet, 1727; M.P., 1727-1742; died October 19th, 1742. He married on the 14th of May, 1702, Abigail, daughter of Zachary Bayly, of Charlcot House, Wilts, and of Northwood Park, Somerset.

Sir Abraham Elton (third baronet), born 1703, was Councillor, 1728-1757; Sheriff, 1728-1729; Baronet, 1742; Mayor, 1742-1743; died November 29th, 1761. He died unwed.

Christopher Shuter was Councillor, 1699-1715; Sheriff, 1702-1703; Mayor, 1711-1712; Alderman, 1715-1730; Governor, Incorporation of Poor, 1715-1716; Warden, Merchant Venturers, 1718-1719; died 1730.

William Thornhill was surgeon to the Infirmary, 1737-1754.

William Logan was physician to the Infirmary, 1737-1757; died December, 1757, aged 69.

The neighbours on the right and left of the Elton mansion, mentioned hereafter, were not of great social consequence. There is, however, mention of one of them, a John Knight, having been warden of the Merchant Venturers' Society in 1671-2.

The other premises (6 and 8—1903) stand on the upper and lower sides respectively of the old Elton Mansion. They belonged in 1709 to Eleanor Seager, who mortgaged them to Edward Cook for £140. The property was described in the mortgage deed thus:—

"All those two messuages or tenements situate and being in Small Street in the Parish of St. Walburg (sic) in the City of Bristol in one (No. 6—1905) of which said messuages John Knight Gent now liveth and in the other of them (No. 8—1905) one M.E. Balley now doth or lastly did inhabit and dwell, in the said City of Bristol and all houses, outhouses, edifices, buildings, courtyards, and backsides to the said messuage or tenement."

The two messuages were leased to Mary Knight by Eleanor Seager for 1s. in money by indenture of 26 June, 1716, thus:—"Between John Saunders of Hazell in the parish of Olveston in the County of Gloucester, Esq., and Eleanora his wife the only daughter and heirs of William Seager late of Hazell aforesaid on the one part and Mary Knight of the city of Bristol widow, on the other part.

"hath granted bargained sold all these two several messuages or tenements situate being in Small Street in one of which said messuages or tenements John Knight, deceased, formerly dwelt and wherein the said Mary Knight his widow doth now dwell and in the other of them Thomas Balley Painter and Glazier doth also dwell (afterwards in tenure or occupation of John Mason Broker and Thomas Taman Gunsmith) and all the outhouses," &c., &c., &c. (as in 1709 mortgage deed).

In 1758 (24 June) there was a conveyance of the two messuages from Miss Knight to Mr. Samuel Page (one of the partners with Edward Garlick, Richard Reynolds, &c.) for £700. It was this same firm which purchased the Elton "Great House" in 1772.

The firm was known as Messrs. Reynolds, Getley and Company, by virtue of an indenture of co-partnership, dated 1st June, 1764. The document was signed and sealed by Richard Reynolds, Edward Garlick, Richard Summers, James Harford, William Cowles, James Getley, Samuel Page, William Weaver, John Partridge, and John Partridge, jun. The firm was engaged in the iron and tin-plate trades, and, according to the London Gazette of Saturday, March 17th, 1820, it was being carried on under the style of Harfords, Crocker, and Co. The partnership dissolved on the 30th day of June, 1821, by Alicia Calder, Elizabeth Weaver, and Sarah Davies retiring from the firm, and by reason of the death of the Philip Crocker. The business was continued by Richard Summers Harford, Samuel Harford, John Harford, William Green, and William Weaver Davies, under the firm of Harford Brothers and Co., under the date of 25th day of February, 1822.

These two tenements became the property of the Bristol Water Works Company at the same time as the Great House, in 1865, and a portion of ground at the back, facing St. Leonard's Lane, belonging to the St. Werburgh's charities, in 1902.

The old chimney-piece—a fine specimen of mediÆval stone carving—which stood in the principal upstairs room of No. 7, used as a boardroom by the Water Works Company, the richly decorated ceiling, and the panelled walls, marked the period at which the Eltons occupied the house; and the initials A. and M.E., representing Abraham and Mary Elton (Mary, daughter of Robert Jefferies, whom he married in 1676), and the date, 1700, quaintly cut, are on the chimney-piece. The chimney-piece has been removed, and re-erected in the new Water Works building in Telephone Avenue. The inquirer of the far-distant future may be misled when he finds it in this spot, unless, indeed, there be some tablet provided to indicate and perpetuate the history of this antique stone carving. The ceiling and panelling have been purchased by Sir Edmund Elton, and taken to Clevedon Court.

In letters to the Bristol Times and Mirror newspaper, certain writers have, in treating of the Water Works premises, sought to establish that the great philanthropist, Edward Colston, possessed a mansion on the east side of Small Street, and lived therein. No tangible facts have, however, been adduced to substantiate the statements. On the other hand, there is very conclusive evidence to the contrary contained in the notes on "Colston's House," read at the annual meeting of this society, in 1890, by the late historian of Bristol, John Latimer. Mr. Latimer demonstrated, beyond doubt, that Thomas Colston purchased the mansion of the Creswicks, on the west side of Small Street, upon the site of which the present Post Office stands. It was in that house that Edward Colston resided, if, indeed, at any time he ever did live for more than a short period at one time in Small Street.

When King Charles II, as Prince of Wales accompanied his father to Bristol, and the Court was located in Small Street on that very site, probably he rode into, and about, the city in a coach such as is given in the illustration at page 23, but there is no doubt, that in later days, after the Battle of Worcester, he rode in on horseback as a fugitive on his way to Abbotsleigh. His start on the long journey from Boscobel mounted on the Miller's pony, sans wig and sans royal garb, was not altogether dignified, although the incident here depicted is not wanting in pathetic interest, as indicating the attachment to His Majesty of the five faithful Penderel brothers.

In a report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary enquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary conditions of the inhabitants of the City and County of Bristol in 1850, it was stated in a petition from Messrs. H.J.J. Hinton & Son, Small Street, "There is a filthy lane, called Leonard's Lane, near the bottom of Small Street, and which leads round into Corn Street. The state of it, in a general way, is so bad as to be quite sufficient to produce pestilence."

According to the report the Parish of St. Werburgh contained 30 houses. Its population in 1841 was 99, and its area was 300 square yards. It had one burial ground, and the average number of interments was 5 per annum. Leaden coffins were always required.

The "Inspector of Lamps, etc.", reported that there were 21 houses in Small Street.