THE tree-lined green with its duckpond at Norton-on-Tees is one of the most desirable addresses on Teesside and now, just off it, a fabulous property has gone on the market for £2.95m.
It is No 108 High Street, and it is hidden away behind a tall brick wall with just its upper storey peeping over. Those upper windows are clearly Georgian and they must have a view out over the duckpond.
108, High Street, Norton-on-Tees. Pictures courtesy of Jackson-Stops
Inside No 108 are seven bedrooms, a large indoor swimming pool (above) with a jacuzzi, sauna and gym, plus 1.1 acres of grounds featuring specimen trees including what may be the only locust tree – a native of South America – in the north of England. The coach house in the grounds has been converted into a guest cottage.
No 108 is a Grade II* listed building, and the schedule describes it as “a fine mid 18th Century house”. It is on the market with Jackson-Stops who describe it as “an important and beautifully presented Georgian manor house”.
The sale particulars also give No 108’s alternative name, Admiral’s House, and it looks like it was built – probably with proceeds of high seas prize money – by an admiral with a truly splendid name: Policarpus Taylor.
His entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says “details of his family life are scant”, but it tells of his naval career, of how he promoted to be captain of the Fowley frigate at Jamaica in May 1743, aged 37.
HMS Cornwall in the centre, with the red flag, in action off Havana in 1748. Captain Policarpus Taylor was on board along with Rear Admiral Charles Knowles
In 1748, he was captain of the British flagship, HMS Cornwall, that led a squadron of warships into battle against the Spanish off the coast of Havana, during the War of Jenkins’ Ear – a war named after Captain Robert Jenkins who boarded a Spanish ship to look for contraband and had his ear sliced off.
The British didn’t lose the Battle of Havana, but they didn’t capture the Spanish treasure ships they were after, and their commander, Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, was reprimanded for not pressing home his advantage and routing the enemy.
Subsequently, Taylor’s connection to him may have held back his sailing career, which ended after a spell at Gibraltar in 1757 and he retired with the rank of rear-admiral in 1762. However, over the course of his career, the admiral is said to have amassed a fortune in prize money by capturing Spanish and French vessels in the West Indies. Although he had the legitimacy of the British government behind him, many of the swashbuckling actions of sailors from all countries in the Caribbean were very close to piracy.
He married his second wife, Alice Gregory, in Mayfair in London in 1853. She had been born in Norton in 1815, and while he was at sea, she returned to her home village. There could be a whiff of prudish scandal here as their son, also called Policarpus, was baptised in Norton church on July 20, 1753 – if all the dates are correct, she was pregnant when she married the admiral.
The converted coach house at No 108, High Street
But he lavished his prize money on building a property that reflected the glory of his swashbuckling days on the high seas. To protect his investment, on February 4, 1768, an insurance policy was taken out with the Sun company – there's one of our favourite Sun fire marks on the building which gives the policy number 254044 – to the value of £600. According to the Bank of England Inflation calculator, that works out at £70,000 today, which shows how property prices have galloped away.
Admiral Policarpus Taylor remained in landlocked Norton until his death in 1781, and he is buried in the village church beneath a memorial which says that his “naval conduct had in a variety of public services reflected honour upon his country… Death is swallowed up in victory."
Top left is the duckpond on Norton-on-Tees green and bottom left, is that a locust tree?
A postcard showing the duckpond at Norton. It is postmarked as having been received in Jersey on November 21, 1905. The message on the back, written to a lady called May, says: "Sad news about the Hilda. Mrs Le Huguet's son John was steward on board and only left her four days before the mishap. He has come to see his mother today. She was very upset yesterday when she heard the news. All his comrades have gone down with her." The SS Hilda was the ferry from Southampton to the Channel Islands and St Malo on the French coast. On November 17, 1905, in thick fog, it struck rocks off St Malo and sank. Of the 105 passengers, only five survived; of the 28 crew, only one was rescued. John was a lucky fellow if he missed this disaster
The duckpond on Norton Green in 1981. The fountain has now been restored
It appears that he, and his son, are named in honour of St Polycarpus who was bishop of Smyrna in Turkey until AD155 when the Romans sentenced him to be burnt at the stake for refusing to pay homage to the emperor. However, just as Polycarpus had once saved the town of Smyrna from being engulfed by flames, so when he was at the stake, he miraculously managed to prevent himself from being consumed by the pyre at his feet.
So the Romans speared poor Polycarpus through the heart.
Bishop Polycarpus: his name is apparently Greek for "large harvest"
For more information on Admiral's House, contact Jackson-Stop's Yorkshire office on 01904-625033.
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