Old Photos of the Forest of Dean - Broadwell, Berry Hill, Coalway, Clearwell and district

Clearwell Castle 1929 - after the fire

Courtesy of: Mrs Alice Yeates Uploaded: 14 Feb 2008

Clearwell Castle pictured shortly after the fire of 16th of March 1929. Parts of the building are blackened by the fire and a ladder remains propped against a wall. At this time the castle was occupied by Colonel and Mrs Vereker

Colonel Vereker occupied the castle from when he retired to Clearwell in 1911 until he died in 1947. ("Clearwell Castle Story", AAA Guide 1978)

Melvyn Jacobs added (Feb 2008): "I am told by my mother Violet Jacobs (nee Baldwin) that her mother Mable Baldwin was in service at the castle at the time of the fire and my grandad Ernest Baldwin carried Mrs Vereker from the fire to safety".
Melvyn also added ".. (Ernest) had a Jack Russell called Tiny. He used to sit Tiny under the bench seat on his cap and challenged anyone to take the cap from the dog. No one in the 'Butchers' ever achieved it. He also once sold his braces for a pint of scrumpy".

Bernard Yeates added (Feb 2008): '... Amazing how reading something can bring back long forgotten memories. I remember Ernie Baldwin very well, I believe he once sold his socks in the bar of the Butchers Arms for a pint of "rough zider", Especially I remember a story he once told me about the time when he was young and used to do work at the Castle for the Colonel. One particular saturday morning the Colonel asked Ernie and his friend ( can't remember who ) to oil the Library floor for a dance that evening. Being a tight old B ( Ernie's words ), he wouldn't buy wax polish but made his own polish from old engine oil and white spirit. However, Ernie and friend wanted to play football in the afternoon and knowing that to apply the 'special brew' and then polish it up to a good shiny finish would take most of the day so they decided to take a short-cut, i.e. no old engine oil, just the white spirit. Un-be known to them, the Colonel was in the conservatory which had a window which opened into the Library and the Colonel had been listening to their plan. He waited until they had finished and asked him to inspect their work which he did. To use Ernie's words,"he walked into the Library, bent down and rubbed his fingers across the floor, inspected his fingers and said, " Far too much engine oil for dancing, get the white spirit and wash off some of the oil". Poor old Ernie and friend spent the afternoon on their hands and knees instead of the football pitch pretending to take off the oil they hadn't put on in the first place'.

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