John Kyrle 1637-1724
Although he was born just over the border in Dymock, Gloucestershire,
John Kyrle spent nearly all his adult life in Ross-on-Wye where he is
best remembered was the 'Man of Ross'.
John entered this world on May 22nd 1637 at White House, Whitfield, Dymock, at the edge of
Dymock Wood. He could trace his ancestors back to the 13th century, they included soldiers,
baronets and noteworthy knights. The Kyrle family also owned the estate of Homme House, Much Marcle, since 1577.
That very year that John was born there was an outbreak of the plague
killed 315 Rossonians, no one knew then that this newborn babe would
grow up to be a great benefactor of Ross.
John's ancestors were the Cruls, an ancient Flemish family, the name coming down in various forms eg
Corle, Crowle, Crull, Cruyll, Curle as well as Kyrle.
In 1650 his father, Sir John Kyrle died. He is buried inside St Bartholomew's Church, Much Marcle.
His tomb chest has a beautifully detailed effigy of him beside his wife, with a hedgehog at his feet. Under the hedgehog is carved the family motto, 'Nil moror ictus' which means literally 'never delay the stroke' in other words don't loiter at any good task.
Four years later, John entered Balliol College, Oxford. At that time there was a custom
for new students to give what was known as 'caution money' which was spent in buying silver plate.
John's donation was turned into a silver tankard which weighed in at just over eighteen ounces.
He declared that if this weight was ever exceeded, he would exceed it again because he wanted to
be the most generous student the college had ever had. This trait of munificence was to be John's
Hallmark. He kept his word when this did happen in 1670, and he replaced a tankard that
weighed just over sixty-one ounces. This tankard is still in use at Balliol. To show his loyalty to the monarch, Kyrle
threw the old one into the furnace, after drinking to his king and country.
Finishing college, John became a lawyer, studying law in the Middle Temple. However he soon returned to Herefordshire. He soon inherited
some land at Ross which brought him an annual income of £500, which would be worth between
£35,000 and £40,000 i today's money. He settled in Ross, never to leave. In 1660 he located to a house
in the centre of Ross, opposite the market hall. His house, 'Kyrle House' is still there today,
a good example of a 17th century timber-framed building. After his death it became an inn called the
'King's Arms'. This tavern clsed in 1805 and the building has been divided into a holiday flat and
shop units, one of these being the home to the Ross Gazette since 1915. This building has
fifty feet of pleasing frontage, projecting storeys, carved timbers, a multitude of
low, small-paned windows. He had the entwined letters F and c above a heart etched into the corner of the
market hall so that he could see them when he sat down. These stood for 'Faithful to Charles at heart'.
Behind Kyrle House is his summer house which is now privately owned.
He remained a batchelor all his life. To look after his house he employed a kinswoman
called Miss Judith Babb, known as 'Miss Jude'.
During his long life of eighty-seven years,
John financed many civic works in his home town. He provided and put a lot of money towards
Ross's first water supply which was pumped from the river Wye to a fountain in Prospect Gardens which
he was credited in giving to the town. Later on he had built standpipes in the streets.
John aided the reconstruction of the church spire. When it was judged to be unsafe, he
extended the spire an extra forty-seven feet to what it is today. He also gave the
massive twenty-two hundredweight tenor bell in the tower. This was cast in 1691 in a foundry in Gloucester, and was to be the noisiest
one the town had ever had being even audible to dozens of surrounding villages. This bell was
named after him, and as its molten metal was being poured into the mould, he drank a toast from his silver tankard, "To Church and King!".
Strangely enough soon after his funeral, the great bell fell off it's wheel.
and planted elm trees in the
churchyard.
John provided seats around Ross-on-Wye, and made a causeway, Wilton Road, along a stretch of
road that was liable to flood.
John realized that there were townsfolk who were too poor to go to the doctors, so he
and housekeeper, Jude, made up simple herbal remedies instead. As Steward of the Lord of the
Manor, a position which entitled him to tolls of all the corn that was brought to market, and he
used this take of the corn to bake bread in his own ovens which he shared out to the poor
as they assembled on the steps of the market on Saturday mornings. Also food was brought every day
to the people who lived in Rudhall's almhouses in Church Street.
On Market Days he would sit
at the head of his table in the market, welcoming to dinner all those who had come to town
for market occasions. To each meal he provided he would have a toast in Herefordshire cider to
'The Church and King'. On a Sunday he cooked boiled beef for the poor (roast beef was just for
Christmas), and when available roast goose. He enjoyed carving the roasted geese so much that
if anyone offered to do it for him he used to retort "Hold your hand man!, If I am fit for anything, I am
fit for this!" Thus he would serve it out single-handed. If there were any food left unserved, John
would have it brought to the almshouse at the foot of his garden. Miss Jude would bid her maid make
broth for the poor which John would dish out.
John used his legal knowledge to arbitrate in local disputes such as those of rights of way, leasings
of measurements or of misconstruction etc. He assisted apprentices such as the boys
who passed through Ross Bluecoat School with difficulties
and to sort out lots of the 'quacks' who turned up to the Market Hall on Market Day. Because of
his responsible and caring attitude, John was made High Sherif of Ross in 1683.
When a child came into this world without anyone prepared to be its godfather, people would
tell John Kyrle and he stepped into that position. When there was a funeral, John would be
there in the procession.
Besides all his activities in the town, John still had to venture out to his field
two or three times a day bringing with him his spade and cider-bottle. He would even be
seen carring his watering can on days when he had been planting because he knew that his young
plants and seeds needed a good sprinkling lest they might well wither.
However busy he was, whenever he heard the church bells ring, week days as well as weekends, he
would put all his activities aside, wash his hands, and head for the church to pray. The vicar, Dr Whiting, was
a good friend to him.
There are borough records of his going to Berkeley in Gloucestershire in 1714 to vote for the two MP's, Moreton and Stephens.
John's Sober Apparel
John usually was attired in quite sober and modest garb what with his brown-cloth doublet and
jerkin (called his 'suit of dittos'), his long-drooping cambric neckerchief, and his full-wig of
curly hair. He was dressed so somberly that, once when he ventured to Oxford he was taken for
a bandit about to commit a robbery, and was hence apprehended. When he explained to the authorities who he was, he
was released straight away. In that era, those who supported Cromwell typically wore rather staid
clothing whereas those for the king had a reputation for being flamboyant, so John was a bit
of an exception which did not go without comment.
One instance when he did go out looking a bit glam, wearing clothes made of a gentleman's taste
was when he went to see a performance by a travelling theatre. He asked how much it was to get
in being told it would be half a crown (two and a half shillings in the old money) to which
he retored "Ods buds, ods buds ,that is too much". He then returned home and changed into
the clothing that he normally wore when he was out working in the fields, came back and enquired
once more as to the admission price. Deemed to be a mere farmer, he was informed that it would
only cost him sixpence.
On November 7th 1724, at the ripe, old age of eighty-seven, John passed away.
He died at his home, Fawley Court, situated on the peninsula formed by the twisting of the Wye near Kings Caple.
This was a noble stone-built mansion, whose boldly-projecting mullioned windows yet retain a fes remnnats of stained glass; within the spacious hall
and handsomely panelled rooms are probably little altered since this was the home of Sir John.
Hardly surprisingly,
he was extremely popular and the whole of Ross turned out to his funeral, his coffin being borne by his workmen. Twenty years afterwards, when the church
was having new pews put in, the townsfolk of Ross were unaminous that John's should be left untouched.
John Honoured
When poet Alexander Pope visited Ross, he found it shocking that there was no memorial to a man
who had made such a difference to the town and who was a model of philanthropy. "And what? No monument, inscription, stone?" enquired the cockney poet, to which the
parish clerk who was also the Master of the Bluecoat School went to the part of the church wall that overlooked John's grave, took out his chisel and
inscribed the letters 'J.K' upon the wall.
Alexander cited John in person
in his 'Moral Essays on the Uses of Riches', and in his poem, 'The Man of Ross', which included the following lines:
Behold the Marketplace with poor o'erspread!
The Man of Ross divides the daily bread;
He feeds yon almshouses- neat but void of state-
Where age and want sit smiling at the gate;
His portioned maids, apprenticed orphans blest
The young who labour and the poor who rest.
Is any sick? The Man of Ross relieves,
Prescribes, attends the medicine makes and gives.
Is there a variance!, Enter but his door,
Balked are the courts, and contest is no more.
Riots Over The Prospect Gardens
The townsfolk of Ross had been under the impression that John had donated the
Prospect gardens as a public space. However, there were other reports that he had merely taken
out a five-hundred-year lease on them though he had maintained the quarrying and pasturing rights
of the locals. In the 19th century when James Burnett built the Royal Hotel he also bought the
freehold of the gardens. The populace of Ross were angry as they felt cheated and went on the
rampage. In response James Burnett planted flower beds and built footpaths around the Gardens
and then enclosed the Royal Hotel with a high wall which is still stands today.
In the end MP Thomas Blake stepped in to purchase the freehold to the Prospect Gardens and gave them to the town whilst
at the same time got a Court Ruling that Royal Hotel grounds just belonged to the hotel and the locals
had no right of way.
The Kyrle Society
One legacy of the Man of Ross was that even more than one hundred and fifty years after his
death, he inspired the founding of the Kyrle Society in his memory. It promoted various social causes
for example the laying out of parks and open spaces.
John's Formal Memorial
Finally in 1924 a formal memorial was provided for John Kyrle, this being the clock on the church tower.
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