About Frith’s Cottage All you need to know…and more! |
Go to: Why “Frith’s Cottage” • Location • History • Other famous “Frith’s” • Curious about St Helena?
We have no idea! If you can help us explain the name, please contact us!
Frith’s Cottage is located on the south-western corner of Napoleon Street and Nosegay Lane.
According to family history, Frith’s Cottage was built in the 18th Century, and purchased by Thomas Hopkins in the 1920s. It is a Grade III listed building of mud and stone construction{1}.
The old photograph (below) is interesting. The date is unknown but, by the style of the motorcycle, it was probably taken in the 1920s or 1930s. Frith’s Cottage is the left-most building. Note the old arrangement - window;window;door. The door was later moved to the (current) central position by the then owner Thomas Hopkins (again, date uncertain).
Thomas Hopkins left it to his daughter Jean, who in turn left it to Anne and Marianne Hopkins, from whom we bought it in 2014.
According to the Crallan Report, a survey of the built heritage of St Helena conducted in 1974:
JT 7/10 Mr Hopkins’ House 1 st. window/door/window Roof Early G.V. lean-to street. C.19?
Translating this into English:
the owner at the time was a Mr. Hopkins (Thomas Hopkins);
the house is single story (though actually there is a lower level behind);
the layout from the front is window : door : window;
the roof is Galvanised Iron (which was replaced with more modern metal roof in 2008) and leans towards the street (no, actually it leans away from the street); and
the building was constructed some time in the 19th Century{2}.
The St Helena Historic Asset Register lists Frith’s Cottage thus:
10833 Historic House - House - Grade 3
A single storey building of three bays under a single pitched roof of corrugated steel sheet. The walls are rubble masonry, exposed to the rear and cement rendered to the street. Joinery is all timber, with a plank built door with decorative light over and sliding sash windows. Ancillary range to the rear with first floor timber veranda in traditional cross braced form.
Interpretation: An unusual small building with historic joinery, doorway is particularly interesting as it seems to be higher status than the size of the dwelling would suggest.
Historical context: Unknown though light above door is circa 1800.
Significance comments: EIC period building with some original joinery.
It was renovated and rewired in 2008, and put up for sale by the Hopkins family in 2013:
FOR SALE
‘Friths’ Freehold property - ideal for letting. On the corner of Napoleon Street and Nosegay Lane, Parcel 10 Block 7 of the Jamestown Registration District, this Grade 111 Listed 18th Century cottage has two double bedrooms and a living room at street level; a kitchen-diner and separate dining room and workshop/store downstairs; shower room and separate toilet accessed across the yard. Renovated and rewired in 2008.
The Turner Family bought Frith’s Cottage on 21st November 2014.
Work In Progress
We are still working on this history but information is proving hard to find.
If you have any information on the history of Frith’s Cottage, especially concerning how it got its name, and any photographs, please contact us.
A quick trawl around the Internet turns up a number of famous “Frith’s”:
Go to: William Powell Frith • Lord Frith • Fred Frith • Francis Frith • Rebecca Frith • Another Rebecca Frith
William Powell Frith was a 19th Century painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting The Sleeping Model as his Diploma work. He has been described as the “greatest British painter of the social scene since Hogarth”.
William Powell Frith, The Derby Day, 1858
In the book Watership Down, by Richard Adams (1972), Lord Frith is the sun-god, and creator of the universe. In the rabbits’ creation story, he grants all the animals their distinguishing features.
Fred Frith, August 2006
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians.
As at 2014 Frith is Professor of Composition in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California. He lives in the United States with his wife, German photographer Heike Liss, and their children, Finn Liss (born 1991) and Lucia Liss (born 1994).
He was awarded the 2008 Demetrio Stratos Prize for his career achievements in experimental music. The prize was established in 2005 in honour of experimental vocalist Demetrio Stratos, of the Italian group Area, who died in 1979. In 2010 Frith received an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England in recognition of his contribution to music.
Francis Frith, also spelled Frances Frith, was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom. He opened the firm of Francis Frith & Co. in Reigate, Surrey, as the world’s first specialist photographic publisher. He died in Cannes, France at his villa on 25 February 1898.
Frith was re-launched in 1976 as The Francis Frith Collection by John Buck, a Rothmans executive, with the intention of making the Frith photographs available to as wide an audience as possible. His works can be seen at www.francisfrith.com.
Rebecca Frith is an Australian actress. She has appeared in a diversity of TV shows and gained international acclaim as the older of two sisters vying for the attentions of a lecherous DJ in Shirley Barrett’s Caméra d’Or winning debut, “Love Serenade”, screening in “Un Certain Regard” at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. For the role she was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci prize for Best Actress, Debut Performance by the Beaux Arts Society in New York. In 2002 she received an Australian Film Institute award nomination “Best Actress in a Supporting or Guest Role in a Television Drama” for her role in “Secret Bridesmaids’ Business”.
Rebecca Frith, Australian fashion model
The other Rebecca Frith is an Australian fashion model, as can be seen in the picture (right). See more of her here.
It’s a lovely, friendly, quirky, sunny, rainy, historical island and we’ve had a very special time here
Visitor Comment
St Helena is a small island in the South-eastern Atlantic Ocean at 15°55’24.3”S; 5°43’3.5”W{3}, around 1,900Km west of the Angola/Namibia border.
Discovered in 1502 and with a population of under 5,000 people this British Overseas Territory is one of the world’s most isolated islands; a paradise for the visitor. In its 16 by 8 kilometres, or 121 km² it has remarkable scenery, warm friendly people, fascinating wildlife much of it found nowhere else in the world, heritage going back to the 17th Century, and so much more…
For its first 500 years the only way to reach St Helena was by ship, but now you can fly to the island from South Africa, stay in a variety of accommodations and have a holiday you will never forget. Swim with dolphins and whalesharks; climb the 699 steps of Jacob’s Ladder; dive our warm, clear seas; and hike where you will not see another soul (and did we mention the spectacular scenery?) You can even get married here!
It’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times
Asian Proverb
To find out more about this spectacular island, explore the website below:
Footnotes:
{1} Minor repairs have uncovered areas of the original stone, beneath the (later) coating of render, and the Turner Family is seriously considering if the render should be completely removed and the original stone exposed.{2} Though family tradition says it to be older, probably 18th Century.{3} Location of Jamestown according to latest GPS data.
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