The Joyce Family
In 1795 Thomas Joyce appears to rent out his house called Westwood House at Westwood to Henry Fisher. This is interesting, for Henry from 1784 had been the Tenant of George Hayward Tugwell at Freshford Manor. Perhaps Thomas needed the house vacant before he purchased the Freehold the following year. Born in Freshford in 1767 to a humble Shearman and having made a fortune applying the new mechanization of the woollen trade with the development of Factories at Avoncliffe, Bradford and Freshford he was now the owner of the village's finest house .He continued purchasing farms and buildings in the surrounding area and in 1811 bought a large part of the village from the Methuen's for £13,500. He also bought the largest Mill at Staverton which employed nearly a 1,000 people. When he died most of his wealth went to his eldest daughter Frances Maria who had married her cousin John Joyce. But their marriage was not happy and by 1823 they were separated with John living at Ramsgate and Frances bringing her family up in Bath. Her sister married the Rev. James Harrington Evans and inherited some properties in Station Road. The descendants of Thomas Joyce lived a distance from the Village and it was not until the end of the Century that they started selling off parts of it.