Glebe House
Glebe House Glebe HouseBuilt 1890Demolished after Second World War Glebe House was built on land purchased from the Norman family in April 1890 by the banker Everard Hambro for his son Charles Eric. He paid £5232. The grounds covered 15 acres. However, Eric preferred to live at Pickhurst Mead and in 1895 the property was leased for 14 years to Charles Frederick Wood, a merchant banker, who moved to the house soon after his marriage to Ellinor Appert Hoskier. By 1901 they had a son Charles, daughter Ellinor and four servants. Three more daughters were born by 1908 and they employed additional domestic staff including a nurse and nursery assistant. The older daughters had a governess and their son was educated at Winchester. In 1912 the house was described as ‘a detached house situated in main road [Baston Road] standing well back & screened therefrom by ornamental timber and shrubbery approached by a long carriage drive. The grounds are well timbered and nicely laid out with lawns etc. The house has recently been added to and the whole is now roughcast and tiled, in good structural and decorative repair, cesspool drainage. Gas.’ It comprised 23 rooms. On the 2nd floor there were 6 attic bedrooms and a box room. On the 1st floor were 5 bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a day and night nursery, wc. The ground floor included a lounge, dining room, drawing room, library and study as well as the kitchen and servants hall. In addition there was ‘ Stabling roughcast and tiles, good covered coaching space. 2 stalls and harness room. 2 bay coach house with kitchen scullery 2 beds and loft over.’ There were also heated greenhouses, potting shed and a Lodge in good order containing kitchen, scullery, 2 bedrooms and WC, main water and cesspool drainage. Glebe House and its land was valued at £8200 Glebe House Coachhouse 1920s Glebe House Lodge 1912 Charles Wood was very involved with village life. He was a churchwarden, an accomplished musician with an excellent voice and a good cellist. He was president of the Glee Club, producer of the village pantomimes and on the committee which ran the Gymnasium which acted as a community hall. A keen sportsman, when a billiard table was provided for the use of the men of the village, he presented a cue for a competition, entered himself and won it by beating all opposition. Hayes Cricket Club greatly benefitted from his appointment as Captain in 1896 and his contribution for over twenty years as a batsman, bowler and organiser. Each year he arranged a concert in aid of the cricket club funds. He was also president of the Rifle Club which was opened by Field Marshall Lord Roberts in 1910. Tragedy struck his family in 1916 when their only son, Charles Harald, a second lieutenant, died from wounds received during the battle of the Somme in an attack on Delville Wood. A memorial was erected in Hayes Church. He was 21 years old. Charles Harald Wood 1895 – 1916 Their oldest daughter Ellinor worked as an orderly at Oakley VAD Hospital, Bromley Common, from March 1917 until December 1918. Before leaving Hayes in 1919 Charles Wood was largely instrumental in collecting money for the Lady Chapel in Hayes Church, which was erected as a memorial for the rector, Canon Clowes, who died in November 1918. In May 1919 Charles and Ellinor held a farewell tea at Glebe House. James John and Ellen Katherine Frost became the next occupants of Glebe House which they leased from Everard Hambro and later bought from Hambro’s heir Eric in 1925. They moved from Epping, a place which had too many memories of their two eldest sons, Arthur Colin and Jack, who were killed in action in the First World War. James Frost was a director of Frost Brothers, rope makers, whose factory moved from Commercial Road, London to Charlton in 1914. He was an active church member and his house was lent on a number of occasions for church events. A keen sportsman, in 1926 he arranged an exhibition tennis match at Glebe House in aid of funds for the building of the Village Hall. The players included Mr. and Mrs. Godfree, the winners of the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship. Glebe House & tennis courts 1928 Rockery & Garden, Glebe House According to their son David Richard (known as Dick) Frost, who was five at the time of the move, Glebe House had a large dining room, drawing room, music room, lounge, library and 12 bedrooms. The grounds consisted of 17 acres with rose gardens, shrubberies, woodland, a boat-house and lake. There were four tennis courts. Plan of Glebe House grounds in 1920s James Frost with his son Richard The entrance drive from the lodge was lined with yews and was about a ¼ mile to the house. It then continued to the garage (formerly the stables) at the northern boundary of the property. John Frost died in March 1930 and his wife soon sold the house for £6500. It was almost immediately resold and within eight months changed hands twice more, eventually selling for £24,000. In June 1931 it was announced that the builders, the Morrell Brothers planned to develop the site and build 120 houses. There were problems with the access as the site had no road frontage and could only be entered via the former carriageway to Glebe House from Baston Road. Eventually, Burwood Avenue was cut through providing an easier route. Glebe House Drive & Glebe House 1930s Meanwhile there were various plans for Glebe House, including its conversion into six flats in 1933 and its possible use as a Church school in 1937. During the Second World War it was used for various ARP training exercises and in the 1950s the Kent Education Committee recommended its use as a Youth Club and Scout Centre. Eventually it was pulled down. Isard House, an old people’s home was built in its place in 1961.
Longcroft
Longcroft Longcroft1830sDemolished by October 1939 To the north of Pickhurst Green a house, later called Longcroft, was developed on the site of a former public house the Fox & Hounds. It was described as a ‘cottage abode’ when auctioned in July 1838 and consisted of ‘ four best bedrooms, two servants’ bedrooms, a dining room, drawing room with folding doors to another small parlour, light kitchen, dairy and wash house’. It included a four stall stable, two coach houses, a pony stable, newly built small granary, waggon and cart lodges and just over four acres of freehold land. It had a ‘cow house, rick yard and a piggery’, which was useful for the new owner John Stratton, a pork butcher. John Stratton let the property to William Hare who in 1857 donated one guinea (£1.05) to the Hayes Charity School and from 1859 until his death in 1865 gave an annual donation of 10 shillings (50p). John Robinson Peill, a gentleman farmer, bought and redeveloped the property creating a fine gentleman’s residence where he lived with his wife Ellen until her death in 1879. He leased more land and by 1881 farmed 110 acres and employed 11 farm workers, a boy, three gardeners and four resident servants. He died in 1889 and the property was put up for sale. Longcroft, 1889 Sales Catalogue (Bromley Historic Collections 1200/342) Mrs Emma Linwood looked after the house and its 19 acres until it was sold in 1891. The house was regarded as a ‘beautiful residence with 11 bedchambers, well fitted bathroom, … dining room, drawing room, billiard room, study and conservatory 20ft by 25ft with a picturesque waterfall’. There were the usual servants’ rooms, kitchen and pantries and two cottages. The Pleasure Grounds had a walk that extended for nearly a mile. John Thomas Hedley, the unmarried son of a Northumberland coalmine owner Oswald Hedley, bought the property. He was 37 years old and planned to marry Phyllis Broughton, an attractive Gaiety Girl and live at Longcroft. She rejected him and he remained a bachelor for the rest of his life, living in the family home in The Avenue, Beckenham until he moved to Ambleside. In 1913 the property was valued at £7000. Ground floor plan of Longcroft 1913 (National Archives IR58/14207) Although Longcroft was empty it was well maintained by five or six gardeners who, it was said, provided flowers and produce for Miss Broughton. James Clacey who lived in the Lodge had been John Peill’s head gardener and continued in that role and was succeeded by his son Arthur. The coachman, Arthur Richard Attenborough lived in the other cottage. Arthur Attenborough’s wife, Elizabeth, died in 1925 and five years later he was still at Longcroft when he died at the age of 67. In 1938 the local newspaper reported that Arthur Clacey was leaving Hayes where his family had been for over sixty years. Longcroft Rose Garden Arthur Clacey, head gardener, Longcroft Gardens 1936/7 (Mrs V Blinks) Over time the house acquired an air of mystery. Popular superstition was that the house was haunted although opinions differed on the exact nature of the ghost. Longcroft 1938 (Mrs V Blinks) John Hedley died in 1937 and very soon interest was expressed in Longcroft and its 14 acres of land. E F Bates of Shirley proposed a plan for a housing development for the whole estate. Nothing came of it and the house was put up for sale by Baxter, Payne & Lepper in May 1938. Plan of Longcroft 1933 (OS Map) By September it was sold and the majority of the house was demolished by October 1939 when the local ARP units used the site for training, ‘the plot on which it stood is just an ugly ruin as might be left after a bombing raid – haphazard pile of bricks and rubble, twisted metal’, ideal to make a training exercise as realistic as possible. The ruins provided the Gadsden based No.3 Stretcher Party and Light Rescue Sections with practical training in the recovery of realistic mock casualties from building debris. A few new houses were built along the roadside but in January 1947 the rest of the site was acquired by Kent County Council and later Pickhurst School was built. Sale Board for houses on the Longcroft Estate before 1939 (Bromley Historic Collections)
The Nest (Redgates)
The Nest (Redgates) The Nest (Redgates)Built mid 18th centuryDemolished November 1936 The Nest, later called Redgates, was built in the middle of the 18th Century and was demolished in 1936 to make way for 56 Baston Road and Redgate Drive. Its first known occupant was John Hinton who died in 1781. He was the 18th century publisher of the Universal Magazine, first published in 1747: a journal ‘of knowledge and pleasure, and other sciences which may render it instructive and entertaining to country merchants, farmers and tradesmen’. John Hinton’s house is shown on the 18th century Andrews and Drury Map (Bromley Historic Collections) He married widow Elizabeth Austen in 1750 and her niece Leonora also lived with them. In 1765 he was allowed to enclose a portion of the waste ground to the south of his house for the annual rent of 2/6d (12½p). John Hinton was a generous supporter of Hayes Church giving a Reading Desk & books to it in 1779. When he died he left a legacy of £20 for the benefit of the poor of Hayes, some of which was given in cash and the rest used to buy stockings and material to make clothing. Elizabeth continued to live in the house with two male and two female servants until she married Stephen Cumberlege in 1783 and moved to Islington. The house was let to Mr and Mrs Broderick. She died suddenly in 1784 and her widower continued to let the Nest until it was sold to Mr Jones and subsequently bought by Sir Vicary Gibbs of Hayes Court in 1797. The Gibbs family owned the property until the 20th century and leased it out. 19th Century TenantsWidow Elizabeth Margetson moved to the property in 1800 from Street House, Hayes and lived there with five servants until her death in 1839. In her will she left many bequests including a chess table to Lady Gibbs of Hayes Court, a pair of bracelets from Rome to Marianne Fraser of the Grove and other pieces of jewellery to Mary Ward of Baston Manor. Her successor was Captain Thomas Henry Sparke Thompson, his wife Henrietta and their three young children and three servants. They left the Nest when he was promoted to Commander and put in charge of HMS Comus stationed near Buenos Aires. The Tithe map shows The Nest and its land in 1841. The adjacent house, tithe 192, is Ash Lodge. The next family to move into the Nest were Lydia and Revd William Drummond. She was the daughter of Samuel Nevil Ward of Baston Manor. After her death in 1857, Revd Drummond continued to live there until 1866 when a widow Eliza Henry took out a 12 year lease at £65 a year. She agreed to spend £400 on repairs or additions to the house. Her land covered 6 acres. She had a six year old son, three female servants and a young boy who acted as a page and a groom. Huson Morris, son of Dr Thomas Morris of Baston Farm, took over the lease in 1879. His wife Elizabeth had just given birth to their first daughter Ella and while they were living at the Nest they had a further two sons and three daughters. Their staff included a nurse and nursemaid until the children were grown up. By 1901 only their 20 year old daughter Hilda was still at home but they had five resident servants – a cook, lady’s maid, two housemaids and a kitchen maid. In 1901 Huson inherited Five Elms and left the Nest in 1904. The Nest in 1908 Henry Wellcome, co-founder of Burroughs Wellcome, leased the Nest from 1904 – 1913 and moved in from the Oast House, Croydon Road, Hayes with his wife Syrie and son Mounteney. The rent was £143 a year. The house and grounds covered about 6 acres and its gross value was £3671 in 1913. Inland Revenue Assessment 1913 (National Archives IR58) Ground floor plan of The Nest The ground floor plan shows the additions to the building that had taken place between the tithe map in 1841 and 1913, most notably the addition of the bay windows to the drawing and dining rooms. Henry Bevington Legge and his wife Edith moved to the Nest in 1913 from Sundridge Avenue, Bromley, where they were listed in the 1911 census with three children and five resident servants. Both he and his young sons Philip and Geoffrey occasionally played for Hayes Cricket Club. Geoffrey became a well known cricketer, later captaining Kent 1928 – 30 and playing for the MCC in their tours of South Africa 1927-8 and New Zealand in 1929. (History of Hayes Cricket Club 1828 – 1878 by P.A.Thompson). In 1921 the Legges moved to Baston Manor The Nest about 1914 The Nest renamed Redgates in 1921 Henry Arthur and Margaret Payne moved to the Nest and changed its name to Redgates. Henry was a joint permanent secretary at the Board of Trade, involved in the Paris Peace Conference and in 1923 a key adviser at Lausanne in the negotiations with Turkey.. He was knighted in 1925 and in 1928 seconded as an adviser to the Egyptian Government on Trade and Commerce. He died suddenly at Redgates in September 1931 possibly from an illness contracted in Egypt. The Nest in the early 20th century, painted by Jack Cross Lucy Annesley, a dog breeder of Golden Retrievers, was the last occupant in 1933. In July 1936 she agreed that she would move to 85 Baston Road, a new house built for her by local builders W W Courtenay Ltd. The builders then pulled down Redgates and began to build the Redgate Drive Estate comprising 14 exclusive houses.
Redgate Cottage (the old workhouse)
Redgate Cottage (former workhouse)106 West Common Road18th centuryLocally listed Redgate Cottage (also known as Redgates Cottage, 18th Century Cottage) dates from before 1754 when Joel Kempsell sold his cottage for £18 to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor for ‘the sole use and benefit of the parishioners’. WorkhouseIt was used as the Parish Workhouse until 1836. Revd John Till, rector from 1777 – 1827 described it as a ‘small timber and brick dwelling, standing on the right hand side of the road leading from the upper village towards Baston House and Keston.’ It was probably originally a two storey oak framed building with a single storey rear wing, later faced in brick at the front in the Georgian style. It still retains timber box sash windows. In 1782 the house contained seven elderly or infirm parish poor, Thomas Kelly, a labourer, his wife (who took care of the house) and their four children. Thomas Kelly later took employment as a shepherd and the house was then in the charge of John and Sarah Ward, who had five children by 1798 when his mother and Widow Lucas were living there. Numbers in the house varied but never seemed to be more than 20. After the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 neighbouring parishes were grouped together and a central Bromley Workhouse set up at Farnborough. The use of this building as a workhouse ceased when its few inhabitants were transferred. What happened to the workhouse?At first there was some dispute about who would benefit from the sale of the workhouse – would it be for the poor parishioners of Hayes or for the wider area? Initially the Vestry decided to let the Poorhouse at an economical rent of not less than £8 per annum and Lady Gibbs of Hayes Court used it for her workers. It was lived in by Joseph and Sarah Nisbet and their family until Joseph’s death in 1842. In 1844 it was decided to sell the house and garden lately used as a Poor House. Four tenders were received. The highest of £220 was from Wilhelmina Traill of Hayes Place but in practice the money was paid by Lady Pilkington who had inherited Hayes Court and who was already renting the property.The sale was confirmed 7 April 1845. It continued to be used to house Hayes Court employees. A trust was set up to ensure the sale money was administered for the benefit of the Hayes poor. In 1879 Frederick Norman took over Hayes Court and Henry Harwood, a labourer, moved in to the cottage with his wife Eliza and 9 children and they lived there for the rest of their lives. In 1881 there were also 2 lodgers. Henry died in 1898 and his widow in 1902. John Dingwall, a gardener, was the next tenant and then Edward Pattenden. The cottage was described in 1910 as a 3 bedroom property with a gross value of £235. In the 1911 Census it was said to have 4 rooms. In 1918 the property was sold by Lady Pilkington’s descendant, Mrs Diane Rose, to Sir Thomas Duncombe Mann of Hayes Grove Cottage for £200. He then sold both his house and the adjacent land and cottages to Miss Katherine Cox who established a boarding school at Hayes Court. Percy Jones, tenant 1919 – 1950s Percy Jones Percy Jones became head gardener at Hayes Court and lived in Redgate Cottage until the mid 1950s. Pupils at the school later testified to his amazing gardening skill and one pupil Valerie Finnis attributed her love of plants to him. She later became a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and received the Victorian Medal of Honour of the Society. He was also very active in the community. A Parish Councillor from 1925 – 1931, he was elected to the Bromley Town Council in 1937 where he served for 10 years. During this period he also became a committee member of the Hayes Village Association, secretary of the Hayes Village Hall Management Committee and President of the Hayes Horticultural Society, Allotment Association and after the Second World War the Victory Social Club. He was also a Hayes Common Conservator and a Trustee of the Poor’s Land Charity. Stanley LilleymanStanley Lilleyman and his family lived at Redgate Cottage by 1957 and the swimming pool at the bottom of the garden was used by the pupils of Baston School in the 1950s and became known as Lilleyman’s Pool. The house Deep End was later built on the site of the swimming pool ExtensionsLater owners made changes both to the building internally and added extensions. A flat roof single storey extension was added to the rear and a lean-too pitched roof built to the side which extended to the rear as a mono pitch. Rear of Redgate Cottage 1980 (A Stanley) Front of Redgate Cottage Today the house retains a simple appearance at the front but there is now a wooden front door. The rear is highly varied but retains some of the original oak framed building at first floor level. All the external walls of the building have been painted white, except for the black oak timbers.
FINDLAY, Alexander
FINDLAY, Alexander7 December 1788 – 7 January 1870Geographer and Engraver of maps and chartsFounder Member Royal Geographical SocietyBuilt The White House, Hayes about 1830 Alexander was born in Bermondsey, the eldest child of Archibald and Mary Findlay. From an early age he was involved in the production of maps and charts and did much of his work for the map publisher Richard Holmes Laurie, whose business he helped to expand He married Sarah in 1810 and had four children, Alexander, Archibald, Sarah and William. His office was in London but he moved with his family to the countryside, initially to Keston. His son Archibald died in 1828 and was buried in Keston Parish Churchyard. Shortly afterwards the family moved from Keston to a house, later known as the White House, on Hayes Common. He also leased some land at the back of the house from George Norman. Map workIn 1829 he engraved R H Laurie’s survey of the Environs of London and a year later he became one of the founding members of the Royal Geographical Society. He remained a fellow of the society until his death in 1870.His works included a Chart of the Estuary of the Thames, maps of North America and Europe and a chart of the Mediterranean Sea. He continued to be involved in producing maps until 1865. His map of Hayes and its environs was included in Charles Kadwell’s History of Hayes, 1833. Churchwarden and Overseer of the PoorHe played an active role in the Hayes Vestry between 1835 and 1855. In 1840, as one of the two Overseers of the Poor with Joseph Langridge, he presented the accounts which the Vestry approved. In 1841 the other overseer was John Rose Brandon and from 1842 to 1844 Timothy Tilden. This included the challenging period when the local workhouse was replaced by the Union Workhouse set up in Farnborough after the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and there were difficult decisions to be made about the sale of the Parish Workhouse. He attended the Vestry as a Churchwarden from 1845 to 1855 and chaired some of the meetings in 1848,49 and 52. He was also present in 1859 and 1860 when the Vestry considered encroachments on the Common, the possible disposal of Parish properties which included his home and the rights of Commoners. DeathHis wife Sarah died in 1865 from congestion of the lungs at the age of 76. She was buried in Hayes Churchyard. Alexander seems to have been deeply affected by his loss. In 1870 he died from ‘Decay of Nature’ in the presence of his clergyman son William who assisted at his burial in the Churchyard on 13 January 1870. References:P Griffiths The Findlays of Leith & London and their Kettle descendants www.genealogycrank.co.uk with special thanks for the photograph of Alexander FindlayC Kadwell The History of Hayes in the County of Kent Bromley Historic Collections P180/28/12
Glebe View
Glebe View Glebe View8/8a Baston RoadEarly 19th century with extension 1894Post Office 1894 – 1940Locally listed No 8 Baston Road was originally a two storey detached house which was owned by Thomas Staple, a tailor and shopkeeper, and seems to exist by 1814. The house was let until 1830 when Ann Staples was recorded living there. On her death in 1840 ownership passed to her son Thomas who leased the property to William Alp, a retired victualler, until the 1860s. Arrival of Robert Pearce (tenant 1880 – 1940)By 1880 Robert Pearce had moved into the house with his wife Phoebe and two young children. Robert was born in one of the three cottages facing the Cricket Ground (later Ivy Cottage), where he helped his father Thomas who was a florist Death of Thomas StapleThe owner, Thomas Staple, died in 1885 and his properties were bought by Sir Everard Hambro of Hayes Place. A major rebuilding and refurbishment took place which is shown by comparing the detached house shown on the Tithe Map, No. 204, and the position in 1898 where it is called the Post Office. The house had now become semi-detached with the addition of Elleray, 6 Baston Road to the north. Robert Pearce continued to live at No 8, known as Glebe View, and had five children by 1891. 204 is Glebe View Overseers Map 1898 (Bromley Historic Collections) South ExtensionThree years later a single storey extension in brick with a slate roof was added to the south of the property. It became used as the Hayes Post Office and was completed by 11 March 1894 when Robert Pearce took over the postal services. The sorting office was in the rear of the extension. In 1910 it was recorded that he was paying 4/3d (21p) a week in rent and that his house was worth £300. It was described as brick built and slated, bricks built on edge, in good decorative and structural condition. It had a sitting room, kitchen scullery, larder, 2 bedrooms, a box room and an earth closet. Glebe View and the Post Office extension Post OfficeIn the 1911 Census Robert Pearce was described as a sub postmaster and he was helped by his two daughters Amy & Bessie. They sorted the incoming mail into the various rounds and post marked the outgoing mail. There was an old fashioned telephone on the wall, the mouthpiece being fixed, and the ear trumpet detachable which clipped to the wall when not in use. This was not only used for sending and receiving telegrams but gentlemen who were being kept late at business would ring to ask them to send a message home to their wives, to let them know. All part of the service in those days. Christiana Timms recalled that the telegraph boy was the only one who had a bicycle in those days and she remembered her father Charles Harrod, a postman, saying that he had to walk as far as Leaves Green, sometimes delivering letters to a farmer which could mean a trip across ploughed fields. The mail which arrived at Hayes Station from Beckenham was picked up by her grandfather in the early morning in the handcart which he used as a gardener on Hayes Place Estate. In the evening he took back the outward mail. Robert Pearce would deliver two or three rounds a day around the village, on foot. When he retired after 40 years service at the age of 81 in 1934 it was estimated that he had walked over 115,000 miles in the course of his duties. At that time he was said to be the oldest postman in England and it was remarked that he always had a smile on his face and a chuckle in his eyes. He had a rosy complexion, rounded face with a full white beard and moustache, and the local children thought he looked liked their image of Father Christmas. Robert Pearce Sale of 8 Baston RoadSir Everard Hambro’s properties were put up for sale after his death and in 1931 Glebe View was purchased by Mr Agg-Large. Amy Pearce had taken over the management of the Post Office from her father and her rent was 5/5d (22p) a week. A bay window was added to the main house and became a shop selling cakes, bread, sweets, chocolates, cigarettes and later ice cream. Robert Pearce died in April 1940 and in November the sub Post Office was transferred to 20 Hayes Street. Miss Pearce continued with the confectionery and general business until her death in 1944. Hayes Post Office and Cake Shop By the mid 1950s the Post Office extension had become a separate dwelling, No.8a, occupied by John Gregor and No.8 was lived in by Mrs Carter. The properties have remained separate dwellings since that time. No.8 remains basically unchanged, the brick walls are painted white with two dark stained solid windows at the front at first floor level. The windows have substantial timbered sections. No.8a had side extensions approved in 1983 and in 2003 but an attempt to replace it with a two storey new building in 2017 was refused planning permission. Together with the building at No. 6 these houses reflect their interesting Victorian heritage.
Ivy Cottage
Ivy Cottage Ivy CottageWarren Road, HayesLocally listedBuilt about 1891 Ivy Cottage is an attractive building situated on the north side of Warren Road. It is within the Hayes and Keston Commons Conservation Area and faces an open area of Hayes Common, used in the 19th century for cricket. Early CottagesIt stands on the site of three cottages built about 1851 for Miss Wilhelmina Traill of Hayes Place and known as Cricket Ground Cottages. The cottages were occupied by the families of Thomas Pearce, a florist, Alfred Smith, a policeman and William Carton an agricultural labourer. A total of 27 people lived there in 1871 including 14 children under ten years old. Miss Traill had leased the land from the Howard family and when the banker Everard Hambro moved to Hayes Place in the 1880s he bought the cottages, the surrounding land and the Star Brewery site for £8,500 with the existing tenancies. By 1890 all the existing families had left. Thomas Pearce in front of 1 Cricket Ground Cottage Conversion to one house Everard Hambro decided to redesign the cottages into one superior house as a home for his sisters-in-law Clara and Octavia Stuart. The changes included raising and remodelling the roof, adding a central staircase and the construction of a lobby that became the main entrance. The architect is unclear. It may be Ernest Newton whom he used to make alterations to the George Inn in 1904 but there is no evidence in his records. It was probably the firm of Williams, West and Slade whom he often used after his architect George Devey’s death in 1886. In 1910 the house consisted of a sitting room, dining room, kitchen, scullery and lobby and was described as: detached, substantially built of red brick stock and tile. Of good design. First floor; four bedrooms, one dressing room, bath and WC. Fitted with gas, hot water. Two greenhouses are in the garden with a smaller boiler. A very saleable property. Ivy Cottage 1955 (H King) Ivy Cottage was one of the properties that Everard Hambro later gave to his son Harold. The Stuart SistersClara Stuart was remembered by Elinor Harrold as ‘a tall angular lady with a very loud voice, she rode a large bicycle with an outsize basket on the handlebars, the basket was always overflowing with various articles. She was a pillar of the church and ran the Sunday School and most of the other organisations of the church.‘She died in 1918 but her younger sister Octavia continued to live at Ivy Cottage with a resident cook and parlourmaid. Her sight failed and she became deaf but the obituary on her death, at the age of 80, in March 1940 referred to her courage and cheerfulness. She maintained a close interest in the affairs of the village, especially the Parish Church. Towards the end of her life she was helped by her niece Marjory Gray Buchanan. World War IIThe empty house was made available for use as a canteen for servicemen and women stationed in the area during the Second World War. Plans for the United Services canteen, as it became known, and for which Hayes Kent Village Association was largely responsible, were well under way by November 1940. Requests had been made for volunteers and essential equipment. It opened in December 1940 with dining, reading and writing rooms available for soldiers. Money for ‘little extras’ was raised through dances at the Village Hall. Fortunately, although it was affected by incendiary bombs in the raids on 25 March 1943 it incurred no major damage during the war. It closed in January 1945 and the Mayor and Mayoress of Bromley, Councillor and Mrs Arthur Collins, attended the farewell party held for the Ivy Cottage Canteen at the Village Hall. During the four years it had reportedly served 91,467 hot meals, 173,407 hot drinks, 75,400 cake and 81,925 cigarettes. After the warIvy Cottage reverted to a private house after the war. In 1953 planning permission was eventually given for the building of four architect designed bungalows and two houses on some of its land. The house was put on the market in 1955: For sale with vacant possession, 5 principal bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, room for double garage, entrance hall & cloakroom, bathroom & separate WC to be auctioned at the Royal Bell Hotel Bromley. Ivy Cottage in the snow in 1954 There have been a number of alterations to the property in the last fifty years including a side and rear extension. In 2010 planning was approved for a replacement double garage. It remains an interesting historic property. Ivy Cottage
Dreadnought Cottage (Stacey’s Cottage)
Dreadnought Cottage (Stacey’s Cottage) Dreadnought Cottage, (Stacey’s Cottage)Baston RoadEarly 19th centuryLocally listed Stacey’sDreadnought Cottage was originally part of Winch’s Cottage which in the mid 19th century became known as Stacey’s after George and Ann Stacey and their eight children, aged from 5 months to 13 years in the 1841 Census, moved into the southern end of the property to look after Anne’s mother, Elizabeth Winch. A lightweight partition was fixed between the two halves of the cottage. When Elizabeth died in 1850 she left George and Anne all the property in her will. Anne’s brother James disagreed, claimed he had a right to it and he occupied part of the cottage. The matter went to court and eventually through the arbitration of the rector, Revd Thomas Hussey, the boundaries were fixed between the two cottages in 1853. George, a vermin destroyer, and his wife Anne were allowed to remain in that part of the property in which they had lived with their family. James was allowed the part that had been occupied by his mother. When Elizabeth died Sir Charles Farnaby agreed that George and Anne Stacey could purchase their cottage for £11. Two of their sons, Richard & William, also became rat catchers.In 1867, after their mother Anne’s death, the other siblings who had an interest in the property agreed to convey the premises to the eldest son Richard, providing that their father George was allowed to live in the cottage and be fully supported by Richard until his father’s death, which occurred in 1870. The property was lived in by successive generations of the Stacey family until the Second World War. Stacey’s Cottage In 1910 it was described as a very old timber and tile bungalow, containing two bedrooms, kitchen, washroom and WC. Outside was a range of very old brick and tile buildings, sheds and WC washroom. On the opposite side of the road was a cowshed and two dilapidated sheds. Its value was put at £200. A Smuggler’s Hiding PlaceGeorge Smith, a builder, remembered Richard Stacey junior, with his ferret bags and pack of terriers at his heel – a fine specimen of a Kentish-man. He also recalled in 1924 that some years ago when they were making additions to the cottage they came upon a smuggler’s hiding place under the floor with iron hooks upon which to hang the booty of spirit or silk. Richard Stacey said that it was in the neighbouring cottage.Tea GardenAt the end of the First World War Richard Stacey decided to run a tea garden known as the Dreadnought Tea Gardens. It was very popular with local cycling and hiking groups. He continued to run this until his death in 1938. His widow Mercy died in 1942. Dreadnought Tea Gardens Second World WarWorld War II saw considerable activity over the Common and frequent incendiaries and bombs which left their mark on nearby areas. In a heavy bombardment on 16 April 1941 a number of high explosive bombs fell near Dreadnought Cottage. Eric Strouts, a stretcher bearer and fire watcher, who lived in Redgate Drive, was killed fighting the fires. After the WarAfter the war the family decided to rent out the cottage as a furnished property and they secured planning agreement for a garage, providing a large shed was taken down and all the ‘temporary’ buildings opposite were demolished.For many years it was rented by Leslie McCrow Redevelopment In 1985 it was bought by a builder Mr Brace and considerable ingenuity was used to make it a modern dwelling for his son, incorporating the footprint of the numerous outbuildings. Dreadnought Cottage before it was developed in the 1990s The original wooden cottage was maintained but reroofed When completed the property consisted of a lounge, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, a conservatory, 3 bedrooms and an outside garage. The development was praised and reported fully in the magazine Finesse in 1999. There have been two more owners since that time. The redeveloped Dreadnought Cottage
Pleasant View (Winch’s Cottage)
Pleasant View (Winch’s Cottage) Pleasant View (Winch’s Cottage)Baston RoadBuilt 18th centuryLocally listed This brick built cottage is locally listed and is within the Hayes and Keston Commons Conservation Area. The original cottage was a squatters’ cottage built on Hayes Common by the middle of the 18th century. It was allowed to remain by the lords of Baston Manor, the Lennard family. By 1782 William Green, a labourer, lived there with his family and in 1800 he was joined by his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Richard Winch, a rat catcher. Originally the cottage was thatched and in 1802 William Green was granted 9 shillings (45p), out of the funds for the poor distributed by the rector Revd John Till, to pay for a quarter of a load of straw to help him thatch it. The help given by the Revd Till at various times may have encouraged Richard Winch to be confirmed at the age of 40, at the same time as his son William in 1806. The cottage was referred to as Winch’s Cottage. Richard died in 1827 and was survived by his widow Elizabeth who took over her husband’s rat catching activities. As she grew older her daughter Anne, who had married George Stacey, moved in to look after her and a thin partition was made separating their part of the cottage from Elizabeth’s. In 1841 there were 12 people living in the cottage including eight of George and Ann’s children aged from 5 months to 13. Elizabeth made her will in the same year and left the house and land to her daughter Anne for her life and then to Anne’s children once they had reached the age of twenty-one. She died in 1850 and her will was proved 26 September 1850. Controversy over ownership, Stacey v WinchHowever, Elizabeth’s eldest son James, an agricultural labourer, claimed that as the copyholder he had the right to the cottage and in the subsequent legal dispute he was awarded the part of the cottage in which his mother had lived. It was the rector, Revd Thomas John Hussey, who fixed the agreement about the division of the house which had been extended with numerous out buildings. Agreed division of the property in 1853 (Bromley Historic Collections P180/28/8) James Winch lived to the age of 75 but died in 1880 owing money to Sir John Farnaby Lennard who had helped him in his last few years. His daughter Emma said that she and her son would settle the debts and it was agreed that his niece Wilhelmina Langridge, a needlewoman, who had been living there as his housekeeper could remain. By 1891 she was joined by her older sister Elizabeth Ellis. After Wilhelmina’s death her sister Elizabeth remained, relying on charity until she died at the age of 86 in 1904. Ownership by the Knights family to 1989C. Puckey bought the cottage and in 1907 Charlotte Knights, whose husband had recently died, moved from Charlton into the property with her son and two daughters. At the time the cottage consisted of a bedroom, living room and a scullery and was described in 1910 as a very old bungalow built of brick and slate. Charlotte later bought the property. Harold,Ella and Grace Knights with their mother Charlotte and their father in 1901 (Photo W. Weaver) Pleasant View Tea GardensWith the help of her daughters she started to run a Tea Garden to cater for the increasing number of visitors to the Common. It was in competition with the one managed by Richard Stacey from the adjoining property. In 1935 her daughter Ella married Alfred Arnold, a school caretaker and moved to George Lane. Charlotte died two years later and her daughter Grace inherited the cottage and lived there until shortly before her death in 1988. Alfred Arnold at entrance to the Tea Garden Charlotte Knights with her daughters Grace & Ella. Tea Garden tables in the background (W Weaver) Sale of PropertyGrace’s niece inherited the cottage which was bought by a builder Kenneth Brace. He was granted planning permission in June 1988 for single storey extensions with accommodation in the roof. The property was therefore much enlarged and he lived there with his wife Peggy for over 30 years.
Ash Lodge
Ash Lodge (Bath House)54 Baston RoadGeorgian, locally listed Today Ash Lodge is within the Hayes and Keston Commons Conservation area and is locally listed. OwnersA property stood on this site on the northern edge of Hayes Common from at least the middle of the 17th century, but it later burnt down. It was rebuilt in brick and by 1731 the land was owned by William and John Oliver, members of a wealthy family. Later owners have suggested that this Georgian building may contain some timbers from a much earlier date.The Olivers sold the house and land in 1773 to Andrew Bath who had lived and farmed in the Pickhurst area since the 1750s. He was one of the largest ratepayers in Hayes and a Churchwarden from 1756 -1774, a role he gave up when he was 70. However, he could not yet move into the property as it was being leased by Edward Hall. Therefore, with the help of his son he continued to farm his Pickhurst lands until 1785 when, at the age of 81, he finally moved into the house which now became known as Bath’s House. His land included the area on which 87 to 133 Baston Road were later built. Land owned by the Bath family from 1841 Hayes Tithe Map (T Woodman) His daughter Mary lived with him and they had one resident servant. On her father’s death in 1794 Mary inherited the property. She continued to live in Hayes, did not marry and on her death in 1813 the property passed to her cousin James – the last of the Bath family to live in the house. His son John inherited in 1828 and the house continued to be owned by the Bath family until 1948. Its name had changed to Ash Lodge by 1901. Its rateable value in 1910 was assessed at £1387 and it was described as ‘a very old brick built and slate house detached. In very fair structural and decorative repair considering its age. First floor 5 bedrooms, bath, WC.’The ground floor plans shows two drawing rooms, a dining room, kitchen and scullery The Overseers Map 1898 shows the Victorian additions to the property (Bromley Historic Collection) Post Second World War ownershipWilliam St John Leonard bought the house and the land opposite in 1948. The following year the house, coach house and surrounding garden were bought by Hamilton Speller, the land on the east side of the road was sold separately. He lived there with his wife Eileen and daughter for 37 years. The exterior of the house was rendered and painted white as the brickwork, through age and war damage, was in need of considerable repair. In 1985 it was sold to Brian and Penny Walker and has since changed hands twice. OccupiersEdward & Esther Hall 1741-1775The first definite occupant was Edward Hall. He leased the house and paid the rates from 1741 until his death in 1774. His initials EH and the year 1754 are carved in the brick garden wall. He left instructions that after his wife Easter’s death the lease of his house was to be sold for at least £300 and their goods and furnishings shared between his cousins and their children. Apart from the linen, glass, china, books, pictures and carpets there were many silver items that bore her Seymour family crest, such as a large silver salver, pair of silver snuffers and tea canister. Easter died in 1778, two years after she had moved to the parish of St Dunstan in East London. Bath family owner/occupiers 1785 – 1828 Young family 1828 – 1848Samuel Young and his wife Mary took over the lease in 1828, He was at one time landlord of ‘The Mark’ at Keston and was previously a leather merchant in Leadenhall Street, London. When his beautiful daughter Mary died in 1831 at the age of 18 he arranged for her to be interred in the parish church because of great anxiety about ‘ ‘the resurrectionists’ of the time and the fear that should she be buried in the graveyard she might be dug up. Samuel died a year later but his widow continued to live there. Back family – 1867John Back, a merchant in cotton goods, Manchester had moved into Bath House by 1851 with his wife Anne, two young daughters and two servants. By 1861 his wife had died leaving him with 6 daughters and a son who were taught by a governess. He had one resident servant. Short tenanciesCharles Heginbotham, a wine merchant, took over the lease of Bath House and his son Charles was born in January 1869. He was delighted as he already had four daughters, aged from seven to two. After five years the next tenancy was that of Henry Wadham Dalwood and his wife Lucy Anne, whose son Stanley was baptized in August 1875.Captain Arthur Hill took the lease in 1879, the year he married Katherine, daughter of Dr Thomas Morris, who lived across the road at Baston Farm. Her brother Huson lived in the neighbouring house They had three sons before they moved in 1887.Harold Paine was briefly there to 1889 before wine merchant John Selby who left in 1898. It is probably at this time that the building was extended. The house was extended in Victorian times Hilton Skinner 1898 – 1924Hilton Skinner, his wife Emily and son Douglas moved to Ash Lodge in 1898 where their son Charles was born. Hilton, at the age of 39, was described as a ‘retired’ civil engineer in the 1901 Census and employed a nurse, cook and parlourmaid. He was very involved with the local Parish Church, became a churchwarden and compiled the Hayes Roll of Honour after the ending of the First World War in which his eldest son, Douglas Hilton, was killed. The family left Ash Lodge in 1924 but remained in Hayes and moved to Fernlea in Baston Road. Cyril Penman 1925- 1940Cyril Penman, a bank manager and his family lived in Ash Lodge