Heralding the past: The Wantage Fire Engine House – Going, Going...

BY the time you read this, a decision will have probably been made on whether or not to demolish a building in Wantage with a long and important history.

This is the Officer Training Corps (OTC) Armoury in Portway, Wantage, opposite King Alfred's school.

This building, from my research, was originally built between 1878-1880 and was the first purpose-built Fire Engine House (or Fire Station as we would refer to such a building today) for Wantage. As such, it is an important building which is part of Wantage and local English history.

The story of the genesis of this building is linked to that of Wantage Volunteer Fire Brigade.

In 1844, Wantage parish records show that the Wantage Churchwardens were responsible for three small fire engines (which were basically wooden wheeled troughs with a crude pump attached), all of which were kept in Wantage Parish Church until 1847.

John and Joyoral Green were in charge of Fire Engine No 1 and Daniel and William Trinder were in charge of Engine no 2.

A third engine was the responsibility of all four men.

Twelve auxilliary helpers were allotted to each engine one of whom was called John Barr.

One engine survives to this day, named Johnnie Barr, it is in the Vale and Downland Museum.

In 1847, the fire engines were moved to the town hall, which was situated in the centre of the Market Place.

At a meeting of the Wantage Town Commissioners (forerunners of the present Wantage Town Council) on December 8, 1873, 'Mr Tosland & Mr Wenman on behalf of the residents attended & presented a memorial calling the attention of the Commissioners of the inefficient state of the fire engines & requesting that the a new one should be bought with a fire escape. Committee appointed to report what assistance the Fire Insurance Companies would give & the cost. Mr Tosland as one of the Churchwardens at the request of the Rate payers at the last Vestry meeting transferred the present Fire Engines and appliances over to the Commissioners.'

Thus responsibility for Wantage's Fire Brigade transferred from the Churchwardens to the Wantage Town Commissioners and the process of obtaining a new fire engine for the town commenced.

The organisation of the brigade was looked at by the Commissioners. A new captain of the volunteer fire Brigade was appointed Mr James Henry Frogley, a local wine merchant, and the secretary of the brigade William Hiskins was authorised to obtain some new uniforms for the firemen.

Simultaneously with this happening with the Fire Brigade, Lord Wantage informed the Commissioners that he was going to present to the town a statue of King Alfred.

The Town Commissioners therefore had a problem. Where to put the statue? The decision was made to demolish the existing Town Hall in the centre of the Market Place and King Alfred's Statue was unveiled here (after the Town Hall was removed), on July 14, 1877. This, of course, left the Fire Brigade without a home.

According to the minutes of the Wantage Town Commissioners, initially this proved to be a barn in Wallingford Street.

Unfortunately this proved only temporary as the barn was let to Mr Silver of Letcombe Regis.

The Town Commissioners agreed on July 1, 1878, to borrow the sum of £100 to provide for the cost of filling up the town pond and building a new fire engine house. No further mention of the fire engine house appears in the minutes, however it must have been built between then and 1880 as the Nichols Directory of Wantage records that the Wantage Fire Brigade was situated in Portway Place Wantage.

Only the fire engine and the firemen's equipment was kept here, however, and horses to pull the engine were kept by Jesse Wiblin, Landlord of the Three Tuns in Church Street, who undertook to rush to Portway with them on the sounding of the bugle summoning the fire brigade.

This was blown by the town cryer who blew the bugle in Grove Street, the Market Place and along Newbury Street.

Thus the Volunteer Wantage Fire Brigade operated out of the Fire Engine House in Portway until 1910.

This was when the building was sold to King Alfred's School for £96 to be used as an armoury for the newly-formed King Alfred's School Officer Training Corps.

The fire station moved to the front of the VC Gallery in the Market Place and a new steam Merrywheather fire engine was obtained.

This new station was regarded as being in a more central position for the firemen to reach in times of emergency.

The history of the Fire Engine House as an armoury for King Alfred's School Officer Training Corps (OTC) is no less important.

OTCs were formed in 1908 at universities and public schools to attract young men into the army and carry out training sufficient to allow the recruit to be commissioned at a later date.

There were 23 OTC contingents at universities and 166 of the ‘Junior Division’ at schools.

The Inns of Court, part of the legal establishment in the United Kingdom, also had an OTC.

The OTCs continued their activities throughout the war and played a key role in providing the raw material for selection of officers in WW1.

Many of those who joined King Alfred's School OTC obviously served in WW1.

With it being the 100th anniversary of this conflict, this building is a tangible links to them.

During WW1 more than 200 Old Alfredians served in the armed forces and 30 made the supreme sacrifice. A similar number served in WW2 with 17 being killed.

Since WW2, it has been used as an armoury for the combined cadet force and as a store for King Alfred's School.

It is an unremarkable-looking building but one that has contributed a great deal to the history of Wantage and, if at all possible, should be preserved in some way.