One and a half miles from the centre of Broadway is the village of Willersey where, in the early hours of Wednesday 29th November 1843, seven people lost their lives in a house fire. It is almost certain that this appalling loss of life, in a single fire, has not been equaled in the area since.

Living in the house at the time were farmer Thomas Rimell, his wife and his eight children. Also staying there was Elizabeth Jelfs of nearby Weston-Subedge, who was employed as a charwoman. They went to bed at about ten-thirty on Tuesday night, but were woken up at two o'clock to find the house on fire. Mr Rimell tried to get down the stairs but was forced back by flames. Finding his wife at a window he pushed her to where he thought she would be safe, and told her to wait while he fetched a ladder. He jumped out of the window to the ground; a height of about twelve feet. But before he could return to effect a rescue, his wife was overcome either by smoke or by flames. The children had been sleeping in another part of the house. Richard, aged ten, jumped to the ground, found a ladder, and put it up to the window where two of his brothers were trying to rescue a box containing their Sunday clothes. They also escaped through the window. The fire spread with such speed and ferocity that the other five children, David, Anne, Mary, Sarah and Betsy, along with their mother, were lost. Elizabeth Jelfs, the family's employee, also died, despite being the one, it was said, who had first raised the alarm. The house was totally destroyed before the arrival of fire brigades from Campden and Evesham.

A Coroner's inquest was held at The New Inn two days later, where a verdict was returned of, 'Accidental death from burning, in consequence of a beam taking fire in the chimney'. The chimney of the house had been on fire on Tuesday, the day before the tragedy. At about 7pm Phillip Cooke, a miller and neighbour, had informed Thomas Rimell that sparks and flames were still issuing from the chimney. But, he claimed, Mr Rimell disregarded his advice. The fire was so intense that it was not possible to identify the victims. Three days after the fire their remains were buried in a single coffin in Willersey churchyard, where the gravestone still stands.(*) A fund was set up to help Thomas Rimell, who had lost almost everything. His house was insured, but not his furniture and stock. Elizabeth Jelfs, a widow, left six orphaned girls, four of whom were still living at the family home in Weston-Subedge, and who had lost their mother, and their only source of income.

(* author's note: When I racehorse this incident in about 1997 I found the gravestone in the churchyard at Willersey. The inscription was still perfectly legible although the surface of the stone was starting to flake off. It is fortunate that I photographed and recorded the inscription as, on a subsequent visit in 2005, I found the stone to be completely bare. Presumably, frost had completely removed the surface.)
The inscription was as follows:-

TO THE MEMORY OF
ANNA RIMELL WIFE OF THOMAS RIMELL
FARMER OF THIS PARISH WHO DIED
NOV 29th 1843 AGED 42 YEARS.
ALSO OF SARAH AGED 11, MARY 8,
ELIZABETH 1, AND DAVID 3 YEARS.
CHILDREN, WHO WITH ELIZABETH
JELPHS OF THE PARISH OF WESTON SUBEDGE
AGED 50 YEARS, PERISHED IN THE AWFUL FIRE
WHICH HAPPENED ON THAT NIGHT
AT WILLERSEY, AND WHOSE
MUTILATED REMAINS WERE
HERE BURIED TOGETHER

(It is not clear why Anne's name is not inscribed on the stone as, according to the parish record, she was buried on the same day. A possible explanation is that, unlike the others, her body was able to be identified so was buried in a separate grave with its own headstone.)

Information extracted from a website about Broadway Fire Brigade By Brian Parsons