New Model Cottages
New Model Cottages21/23 Hayes StreetGrade II Listed1889 A delightful pair of cottages designed to look like one which were the work of George Devey (1820-1886), architect to Everard Hambro, and possibly completed later by James Williams. Nationally listed in 1994 as an example of George Devey’s work at its very best. Each cottage consisted of two rooms and a scullery on the ground floor and three bedrooms on the second floor. 21 Hayes StreetIt has an L shaped building plan, red brick to the ground floor with black beams and white pebble dash to the first floor. The red tiled roof is terminated at each end by transverse roofs with gables to front and rear. The first floor is jettied and has a Venetian style window. The area below the jetty is supported by strong curved bracket beams at each end. On the ground floor are a four casement window and a further window on the side, also a casement but of metal construction. All the windows have leaded lights. 21 Hayes Street It is unclear who was the first occupant but by 1900 it was occupied by Mrs Rebecca Poynter who had recently been widowed when her husband Frederick, the local blacksmith, died. She is recorded in the 1901 census as the owner of the Smith’s shop and after her death in January 1911 her son William lived at 21 Hayes Street until the First World War. Arthur Carter, who safely returned from the war, resided there with his family until replaced by Richard Piper in 1928. When the house came up for sale in 1931 it was described as a substantially constructed semi-detached residence, let on a weekly tenancy to Mr Piper. Albert Collard bought both this and the next door cottage for £1150 and lived there until his death in 1956. Kenneth Smith was the occupant in 1962.A major fire occurred in the roof in 1984 which resulted in the roof caving in and damage by fire, smoke and water to the first floor.The neighbouring property lived in by Mrs Henderson was also slightly affected. Aileen Kennedy was the occupant by 1990. In the 21st century there have been a number of planning applications to extend the property at the rear including a single storey conservatory in 2004 and in 2019 Mr & Mrs Clarke were given permission for a part single/part two storey side and rear extension. Consent was also given for a roof replacement for Nos 21 & 23. 23 Hayes Street 23 Hayes Street This cottage is gabled and adjoins the cross gable of No. 21 but lies at right angle to it. Linking the two houses is the principal chimney breast to No 23, the side of which faces the front and has an attractively corbelled top. On the ground floor are two small casement windows and on the first floor an attractive oriel window. The entrance door is on the side. The first occupant was the builder Noah Boxall whose wife Mary died in 1899 but in 1901, at the age of 64, he married Harriet Stacey. He died in 1921 but his widow still lived in 23 Hayes Street in 1931 when this ‘superior modern cottage style residence’ came up for sale and was bought by Albert Collard. She died in March 1938. Model Cottages, 21 & 23 Hayes Street Sir Everard Hambro also had the neighbouring properties, 25/27 Hayes Street, built as Model Cottages. They have not been nationally listed although they are on the Council’s local list.
Whites Cottages
WHITES COTTAGES,Pickhurst GreenGrade II Listed buildingLate 16th century to early 17th century The entry on the Historic England website for the national listing in 1988 suggests that these cottages may be the earliest surviving example in Hayes of a building with a late Tudor connection. Weatherboarded timber framing; tiled steeply pitched roof to eaves. Square headed windows; small panes. 2 storey gabled projection to centre of block with casement windows and applied timber. Framing visible inside. Nos 1 and 2 appear originally to have been a single 3-bay cottage. Nos 1 and 2 have a roof with raking queen struts and straight wind bracing, set on jowel posts. The structure of the building indicates that parts originally date to the late Tudor or early Stuart period although the first maps on which the cottages are shown are from the middle of the 18th century. OwnersIn the 18th century it became part of the Langley estate. When the lands of Lord Gwydir were put up for sale in 1820 the cottages were bought by Miss Wilhelmina Traill of Hayes Place and later owned by Sir Everard Hambro. They were purchased by Agg-Large after Hambro’s death and when the properties came up for sale in 1931 they were bought by Miss Vera Gilchrist Thompson, the daughter of the Rector Canon Thompson. Later, according to Pamela Nevard, the cottages were given names as well as numbers. No. 1 was called ‘The Glebe’, No.2 ‘The Glade’ and No.3 ‘The Glen’. In 1982 she and her husband Mick bought White Cottages from Miss Thompson and the cottages were modernised internally. He had lived in one of the cottages as a boy. Pamela Nevard researched the history and published “Whites Cottages” in 1999, a very interesting account with many illustrations and memories from the late 19th and 20th centuries. OccupiersThe original cottages were used by labourers whose families were often crammed into the small rooms. In 1931 the sale catalogue stated that Cottages No 1 and No 2 each consisted of one large room and scullery on the ground floor and two bed rooms above. Cottage No 3 had two rooms and a scullery on the ground floor and two bedrooms above. In 1821 there were 23 people living in the cottages including 16 children. Thirty years later the numbers were very similar, a total of 21 people and 13 children. There were no inside toilets, an earth toilet at the bottom of garden, no running water and no adequate heating. Edward White, later to become a Wing Commander, was born in one of the cottages in 1901 and recalled the very deep shared well in the garden of No 2 which he said was 62 feet deep. In summer they would use it as a refrigerator by lowering the pail containing butter, meat or milk to water level. The name Whites Cottages is applied to these buildings in the sale catalogue of 1931. Possibly the name was first used during the occupancy of the White family. Edward White senior married Harriet Dunmall in 1898 and moved into cottage No 1 in which her family had lived for over half a century. ‘Old Cottage at Pickhurst’, photograph taken by Mr E Dewey (Bromley Mercury 1929) When Miss Thompson bought the properties a condition of the sale was that the purchaser had to comply with a sanitary notice that had been served by the local authority. Miss Thompson had the well water sampled and it was found to be infected. She organised for the cottages to be connected to the mains water supply in 1937 and the well to the cottages was filled in in 1938. Until the 1950s there was still no electricity supply, paraffin lamps were used, and Rodney Cottrell remembered how with his friend John Boylan their Saturday job was to carry the rather heavy accumulator [battery] to Rays in Station Approach so that it could be charged up and they could listen to the radio. Comparison of the earliest photographs reveal that probably in the late 1930s a projection was made to the second storey of the middle cottage. In the Second World War the cottages were damaged by a rocket falling nearby in April 1942. It was feared the cottages might need pulling down but post war they were repaired, the existing roof was replaced and the opportunity taken to install bathrooms, although initially the lavatories remained outside.In more recent times some of the outbuildings have been demolished and the properties modernised to meet the current requirements. Although houses have been built to the side and rear of Whites Cottages they still front Pickhurst Green and wooded surroundings Whites Cottages 1953
Hayes Grove Cottage
Hayes Grove Cottage 1987 Hayes Grove CottageWest Common RoadGrade II Listed BuildingFrom end 18th century Hayes Grove Cottage started its life as two cottages that seem to have been built towards the end of the 18th century on Churchfield, land owned by the Parish, by a journeyman bricklayer George Kadwell who occupied one of the cottages. Thomas Kelly, a shepherd, and his family were in the other cottage in 1794. An additional larger cottage was built by 1810 and occupied by Mrs White. The Grade II listing made in 1973 suggests that part of the original cottage was 17th century but that it was altered in the 19th century. Its description of the building is‘2 storey brick with tiled roof and half-timbered upper storey. Brick dentil eaves cornice. Three 19th century windows. Ground floor cambered arches.’ Early OccupantsMrs White, who lived in the more substantial cottage died in 1824 and her place was taken by Mr Cook. A small painting of his house was made in the 1840s and provides a good illustration of how the property looked. Painting of Mr J Cook’s house in the early 1840s (Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) The neighbouring cottage formerly occupied by George Kadwell and Backett Chapman was painted about the same time. Cottages formerly occupied by George Kadwell and Backett Chapman (Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) The area was beginning to change as the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 resulted in local Parish workhouses being amalgamated into the Bromley Union, administered by a Board of Guardians. The Parish owned Churchfield on which these cottages were built. The lease expired in 1853 and it was agreed that the Bromley Board of Guardians could sell all the land and its cottages to Lady Pilkington in 1856. It included the cottages occupied by Mrs Mary Cook, Thomas Smith and William Davis that later formed the single dwelling known today as Hayes Grove Cottage. The conveyance map of 1856 shows the cottages occupied by Mrs Mary Cook, Thomas Smith and William Davis Lady Pilkington allowed Mary Cook to continue as a tenant until her death in 1867. On 24 June 1872 she granted a 21 years lease at £58 a year to Horace Mann, a barrister. He became Secretary of the Civil Service Commission in December 1875 and retired on pension in 1887. Included in the lease was permission to convert the nearby cottage which had lately been used by the Common Ranger, John Spraggs, into a stable. Considerable improvements were made by Horace Mann as the cottages were made into one building. By 1892, however, he seems to have moved to the Reform Club, Pall Mall. In September 1892 Lady Pilkington’s heir, Louisa Lee, leased Hayes Grove Cottage to Thomas Duncombe Mann, also a barrister, for 21 years at £95 a year. He was married to Marie with two sons,Thomas Basil aged 10 and Frederick aged 7. However, the following year Louisa Lee died and in her will she instructed her executors to sell certain real estate including Hayes Grove Cottage. Sale of Hayes Grove Cottage 1893Horace Mann bought the property for £1700. Thomas Duncombe Mann, who had been appointed clerk to the Metropolitan Asylum Board in 1891, continued to be the leaseholder. The upper storey of part of the house went over the public footpath and became a nuisance as it was used by vagrants. A new footpath was created to the north of the building and in 1893 permission was eventually granted to close the old footpath under the house. A painting shows the old path and later photographs shows how the footpath was filled in and additional accommodation obtained in the house. Hayes Grove Cottage showing footpath under part of Hayes Grove Cottage 1876 (G W Smith) Hayes Grove Cottage in the 1890s (G W Smith) Footpath by Hayes Grove Cottage 1912 (G W Smith) Thomas Mann’s daughter Margaret was born in 1898 and baptised in Hayes Church. In 1901 the census recorded that his son Thomas was still living with them and had become a stockbroker’s clerk. They employed three servants, a cook, housemaid and nurse. When Margaret was older a governess, Hilda Plant, the daughter of the local school headmaster, was appointed. In 1910 Grove Cottage was describes as an ‘old detached brick & tile house. It is really two cottages converted into a house. Low-pitched rooms and some of these are approached through others. Roof defective. The land has a road frontage, also two staircases.’ In 1915 Thomas was knighted for his ‘many years of strenuous and able work in the public service’. In the same year his son Frederick married Vincenzia Chiappini from Cape Colony in Hayes Parish Church. He was an engineer but at that time was an acting Lieutenant, an Inspector of Ordnance, in the Army Ordnance Corps. His older brother Thomas, who had become a stockjobber, joined up in July 1915 and was a Major with the 10th Battalion London Regiment. An impressive house has been created from the original three cottages Part of Hayes Court SchoolHorace died in 1917 and his will gave Sir Thomas Duncombe Mann, one of his executors, the right to buy Hayes Grove Cottage within three months of his death. He bought the property but on 3 April 1919 he sold Hayes Grove Cottage to Arthur Kilpin Bulley, who purchased it on behalf of his niece, Katherine Cox, who established an exclusive girls’ boarding school at Hayes Court. Over the next 20 years Hayes Grove Cottage was used for staff accommodation and later for pupils. Post War historyIt is unclear how Hayes Grove Cottage was used in the Second World War but after the war it returned to private accommodation. Mrs Clipston was followed by the Misses Clark and then George Proctor, an estate agent, lived there from 1967 to 1976. During this time the property was sympathetically restored and became listed. Mr Jones followed and the property was put up for sale in 1987 at a price of £395,000. It was described as ‘a dream house’ with three/four elegant reception rooms, six bedrooms, three
Pickhurst Mead
Pickhurst Mead (Bromley Historic Collections, Kadwell Portfolio) Pickhurst Mead1833 – 1934 Owner Charlotte MoyseyIn 1833 Charles Kadwell described the very pretty rural residence in the Swiss Cottage style of architecture that Charlotte Moysey was building on seven acres of land to the south of Pickhurst Green. The architect was Robert Wallace of Westminster. On its completion she moved from Hayes Grove, where she had lived with her father Abel who died in 1831, to Pickhurst Mead until her death in 1846. She left the property to the son of her elder brother Charles, Henry Gorges Moysey, who agreed that his uncle Frederick Moysey, a barrister, could live there for the rest of his life. When Frederick died in 1863 the estate was put up for sale, although the family kept some land. House sale details 1863By 1863 the house and land covered 24 acres and its estimated rental value was £350 a year. It was described as an exceedingly comfortable and well arranged substantial brick-built family residence. The house had four bedrooms on the second floor, three bedrooms with two dressing rooms and a bathroom with hot and cold water on the first floor, a large drawing room, dining room, library, housekeeper’s and butler’s rooms on the ground floor. Outside were farm buildings, a four-stall stable, a double coach house and two kitchen gardens. Worthy of note were the pretty ornamental porch at the front entrance and the ornamental lodge at the entrance gate. Ellen Hall recorded in her diary that, ‘Mr Moysey’s house at Pickhurst is to be sold … but the price is so ridiculously high that I don’t think anyone will buy it … they will sell at £12,000!’. Pickhurst Mead (Bromley Historic Collections Overseers’ Map) Jonathan Crocker, a merchant and wholesale dealer in cotton, silk and woollen manufacture, moved to Pickhurst Mead from his house in Camberwell and stayed seven years. He was followed by Samuel Herman de Zoete, a retired stockbroker and chairman of the Stock Exchange, who lived there with his wife Ellen, two daughters, four sons (also in the Stock Exchange or allied professions) and seven servants. Ten years later his son Charles and daughter Matilda were still unmarried and living with their parents at Pickhurst Mead. Samuel de Zoete died in 1884 and a banker and army agent with Messrs Cox & Co, Arthur Hammersley, occupied the house from 1886 with his wife and young daughter. By 1891 they had two more daughters and 11 resident servants. He left in 1902. It is possible that Everard Hambro who had both family and banking connections with Arthur Hammersley may have purchased the house about this time. Fires at Pickhurst MeadBetween 1902 and 1911 the house was leased from Everard Hambro by racing car driver Arthur Huntley Walker at £440 per annum. Several tragic events occurred.His three-month-old daughter, Queenie, died and was buried in Hayes Churchyard in 1904 and the house suffered two serious fires. The first fire occurred on 25 June 1905 and damage was limited to the main wing but the loss was estimated at £15,000; the library was burnt out and the value of the books destroyed amounted to £5,000. Fortunately the family were able to get out through the servants’ staircase. This fire became known as the ‘Red Tape Fire’ and received extensive publicity in the newspapers, because Beckenham firemen refused to attend the fire as it was outside their district. Hayes Parish Council had previously declined to pay towards the maintenance of the Beckenham Brigade. Pickhurst Mead (Bromley Record August 1905) He continued his racing career and competed at the first Brooklands meeting in 1907 with a Darrack. Mr Huntley-Walker’s second fire occurred early on 4 January 1909 when Pickhurst Mead suffered even more damage; estimated at £30,000. There were twelve people in the house at the time and the local police constable had to break open a door to rescue three women from a bedroom. Fortunately no one suffered any injuries.Fourteen cars were destroyed in the fire including a new 90 hp. Darracq that had been specially built to compete in the 1909 Grand Prix, two Napier touring cars, two Mercedes cars, four Weigel cars and two 120hp Darracq racing cars, one which won the Vanderbilt Cup in 1906 and 1907, the other a winner of the Italian Grand Prix. Apparently a gas explosion in the rebuilt library was the cause of the fire. Charles Eric Hambro, owner 1909 – 1933Sir Everard’s son, Charles Eric, was the owner by 1909 of the house, grounds and stables that covered 13 acres. The house was extensively repaired and he took up residence from 1913 until 1924. It was valued with its land at £9,300 and described as ‘a large detached house built of red brick, stone and tiles, old but recently overhauled and a considerable sum spent on improvements and decoration’. On the 2nd floor there were 7 bedrooms, a bathroom, W.C. & a lumber room, on the first floor 5 good bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 W.C.s, a day & night nursery, dressing room, housemaid’s parlour, butler’s room & linen room. On the ground floor were the drawing room, dining room, library, ‘boudoir’ room & smoke room, and in the grounds a cottage with 2 bedrooms, a one bedroom bothy and a garage for 2 motor cars with a cement floor Pickhurst Mead (National Archives IR58/142070) First World WarCharles Eric Hambro worked in the Central Intelligence Service during the First World War and was knighted for his services. An anti-aircraft gun was set up in the grounds of Pickhurst Mead and formed part of the outer defence of London. After his father Everard’s death in 1924 he moved to Hayes Place and his eldest son Charles Jocelyn occupied the house for a couple of years. Edward Thomas John, tenant 1927 – 1931The last tenant in 1927 was the Welsh nationalist Edward Thomas John and his family who leased the property for five years at a rent of £300 a year. He had followed his
Hayes Grove
Hayes Grove Hayes Grove, Prestons Road Nationally Listed Grade II Built about 1730 The listing for Hayes Grove in 1955 describes it as an 18th century house of red brick with the following features: Stringcourse cornice and Parapet. Segmental-headed windows with glazing bars intact. Consists of a centre and 2 projecting wings. Pilasters flank each of the 3 sections – Behind the parapet of the wings are weatherboarded gables. Central doorway up 5 wide steps with iron handrail, the doorway having fluted Doric pilasters, curved pediment and door of 6 fielded panels. 2 storeys, attic and semi-basement, 9 windows and 5 dormers. The garden front has 2 symmetrical bays of 3 windows on ground and Ist floor, 1 round-headed window and a doorway with flat hood on brackets. Early history 1729 – 1820 At the beginning of King George II’s reign a brewer from Wapping, Thomas Curtis, began to build a mansion in Hayes that was unfinished at his death in 1729. It was sold for £630 to Captain George Wane who completed the house that became known as The Grove. It was the traditional Georgian symmetrical building but did not yet have the projecting wings. George Wane traded ‘as a merchant in buying and selling of wines, brandys, rum and other goods and merchandizes’. To help his cash flow he borrowed £500 from John Roberts of Woodley, Berkshire but in 1735 was behind with the interest and a London merchant, John Small, took over the debt of £562 10s. 0d. Gabriel Neve, a member of the Inner Temple, became the owner by 1751. A daughter Frances was baptised in Hayes Church in November 1752 and a son Edward in 1758. He died in 1773 leaving his estate to his wife Ann. After her death in 1775 his eldest son Philip took over the administration of his late father’s properties. Joseph Martin, the next owner was given permission in 1773 to enclose just over an acre of Common land and plant an avenue of trees [lime trees], most of which survive today. He died in April 1777, leaving his wife Elizabeth with a ten-month-old son Joseph William. Her second husband William Pickard, a wealthy Yorkshire gentleman, died in 1783 and by 1790 Elizabeth had married Edward Robinson and employed three resident domestic servants. A gardener and a coachman lived in separate cottages. Her son Revd Joseph Martin inherited The Grove after her death in 1805. He let it to Samuel Savage and then sold it to William Brown in 1813. Three years later Sir Vicary Gibbs, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who lived at Hayes Court bought the Grove. Description of the Grove in 1820 The Grove had four storeys consisting of three attic rooms, four rooms on the first floor and three main rooms heated by stoves – drawing room, dining room and breakfast room – on the ground floor. The kitchen, scullery and wine cellars were In the basement and there was also a laundry, dairy, brewhouse and stable. Hayes Grove (G W Smith) Marianne Fraser, owner 1820 – 1852 Vicary Gibbs died in 1820 and his wife’s niece, Marianne Fraser, was granted the property for her life time. At the time she lived at Hayes Court and she continued to be a companion to her aunt Lady Gibbs who died in 1843. She initially let the property to Samuel Nevil Ward before he bought Baston Manor in 1823 and then to Abel Moysey, whose family were great friends with the Gibbs. After her father’s death in 1831 Abel’s daughter, Charlotte Moysey, remained at Hayes Grove until her new house, Pickhurst Mead, was built on land south of Pickhurst Green. In the drawing room in 1824 there was a Brussels carpet measuring eighteen feet by sixteen feet, in the dining room a Turkish carpet of sixteen feet six inches long by twelve feet nine inches wide, mahogany tables and a handsome sideboard. The breakfast room had two mahogany bookcases and a large map of the world by Arrowsmith.. For insurance purposes the contents were valued, when at £450, about £20,000 today. In 1834 Lord Strathallan stayed there for a few months before Marianne Fraser arranged for her brother Charles Fraser and his large family to stay at the Grove whilst his home, Castle Fraser, was having major alterations. There was considerable correspondence between Marianne and her brother about the arrangements. She described the 5 or 6 little attic rooms going the length of the roof which could be separated by locking a door in the middle. Two back staircases meant that a complete division could be made for staff at one end and children at the other. The kitchen was near the coachhouse with a colonnade approach from it to the house. There was one man’s room over the stable and another small one in the pantry. She also said she had hired a man for the garden & odd jobs on the same term as Lord Strathallan. The next tenant was a Mr Wickham who remained for 34 weeks paying £2 a week. Colonel Cator then wanted to take over the lease but Marianne rejected his plans for alterations as she did not want it to become a ‘hunting establishment’ preferring a quiet tenant like Mr Wickham. In 1838 she moved to the Grove and employed four servants. Various changes were made to the building and towards the end of her life a verandah was removed and some chimneys pulled down and restored. John Buswell Dudin , tenant 1856 – 1884After Marianne Fraser’s death in 1852 the property reverted to Vicary Gibbs’ daughter Maria who had married Andrew Pilkington. She let the Grove to John Buswell Dudin, a wharfinger who lived there with six servants including the dairy maid, gardener and groom. He married Clara Webb Pilcher, 12 years his junior, in January 1865 and their three children were baptised in Hayes Church. They remained at the Grove until his death in 1884 Charles Marston Rose 1884 – 1899Maria
Hayes Court
Hayes Court, West Common RoadGrade II listed buildingBuilt 1776 The listed building entry for Hayes Court provides the following information: Built by John Nixon in 1776 and enlarged by Chief Justice Sir Vicary Gibbs after 1797. 2 storeys. 13 windows. Painted brick. Parapet. 2 storeyed bay of 3 tall windows not centrally placed. Wide porch to the right of this with 4 columns. Doorway in porch with rectangular fanlight and door of 6 fielded panels. Modern ground floor projection to the left. Further projection of 3 windows at the east end of front. Glazing bars intact. In 1773 James Alexander was given permission to enclose part of the wasteland near his house and on this ‘Thistley Field’ the house was built and occupied by Mr Nixon, his wife, three daughters, a maidservant and two men. This was either John Nixon. mentioned by Charles Kadwell, or William Nixon recorded in the Baston Manorial rentals in the 1780s. The next occupants were Andrew Drummond and his wife, Lady Mary Perceval, their four men and three maidservants. Her sister Elizabeth may have married Revd Edward Lockwood, who was at Hayes Court from 1792. In 1794 he was a widower and lived with his daughter and 14 servants, Owner from 1797, Vicary GibbsVicary Gibbs, called to the bar in 1783 married Frances Kenneth Mackenzie in 1784. Their only daughter Maria was born the following year. They had a London home but set up a country residence in Hayes living at first in the Pickhurst Green area. In 1797 he bought the property known then as Hayes Common House, later Hayes Court. Vicary Gibbs had great plans to provide himself with a fine estate and the house was expanded as his career progressed. The road around his house was diverted. Permission was given by the Vestry to enclose two acres of the common that adjoined his garden in exchange for other land and John Nisbet’s house, which had been a boarding school for at least twenty years, was pulled down and the grounds incorporated into the property. By 1798 fifteen people were recorded in his household. His wife’s sister Helen died unexpectedly in January 1802, leaving four children – Marianne, Helen, Charles and Frederick, aged respectively thirteen, eleven, nine and six. Their father, Major-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser accepted Vicary Gibbs’ offer to look after them whilst he was abroad and Vicary and Lady Gibbs became responsible for them after Alexander Fraser’s death at Hayes Court in 1809. Extensions to the house continued and Vicary was planning changes to the farm buildings when he died in 1820 Proposed alterations to Hayes Court 1819 (T Woodman 2002) Owner from 1820 – 1843, Frances Cerjat Kenneth Mackenzie Lady Gibbs continued to live at Hayes Court to which she had made great changes when her husband was alive. At times during the alterations it had not been possible to stay at the house because it was in ’so open and uncomfortable a state’ in the extremely cold weather. Revd John Till, the rector remarked ‘her taste for building, alterations, and improvements still seem to continue in full force: and if she lives at Hayes much longer her house will resemble the man’s knife which he had called ‘an old one’ ; though it had several new handles and blades’ Hayes Court in the time of Lady Gibbs (Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) Lady Gibbs was 88 at the time of the 1841 Census and her daughter Maria and husband Sir Andrew Pilkington were staying with her with their two daughters and seven servants. It was Maria who inherited the house and grounds on her mother’s death and Hayes Court remained in her family until 1919. They did not live there but rented it out. Hayes Court from the Tithe Map 1841 Tenants from 1846 – 1919 Hyman Elias, merchant, leaseholder 1846 – 1851A merchant Hyman Elias took the repairing lease from June 1846 and agreed to insure against fire and destruction of the building. He moved in with his wife and two sons under two. Two daughters were born in Hayes and in March 1851 there were 7 resident servants including a nurse, nursemaid and footman. The family moved away later in the year. Revd Clement Strong, clergyman, leaseholder 1851 – 1859, Catherine Strong 1851-70The next occupants were Revd Clement Strong and his wife Catherine, who continued to live there after Clement’s death in 1859. Her unmarried son & daughter were also staying with her in 1861 and she employed 8 resident servants. The house at this time was referred to as Thistlefield House. Mrs Strong played an active part in the community, particularly providing support to the Parish Church and the school. Charles Loyd Norman, banker, leaseholder 1870 Charles Loyd Norman, son of George Warde Norman of Bromley Common, had dined with the Strongs and after Catherine Strong’s death in 1870 he decided to take over the lease. He recorded in his diary that ‘he and [his wife] Julia walked to Hayes to see their new house’, the lease of which he signed in March 1871 at £265 per annum. However, the builders’ estimates for the alterations and improvements he required were higher than he expected, ranging from £3700 to £4520, and he decided to sub let and asked Baxter, Payne & Lepper to find a tenant to take over the lease. Austen Horatio Smith, Assistant Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, leaseholder to 1877Austen Smith moved to Hayes Court. In 1875 his daughter Adeline married in Hayes Church Aretas Akers Douglas, later Lord Chilston, whose mother lived in Warren Wood, Hayes. The family left Hayes in 1877. Frederick Henry Norman, barrister & banker, leaseholder 1877 – 1887 On 27 December 1877 the lease was assigned to Frederick H Norman of the Inner Temple, barrister at law. He paid £375 for the lease and agreed a rent of £265 a year. Frederick was Charles Loyd’s younger brother and he married Lina Collett in 1870 and had three children. He was a keen
Gadsden
GADSDENBuilt 1875, a locally listed building From 1798 the Norman family of Bromley Common owned the land on which Gadsden was built. George Warde Norman sold 14 acres in 1873 for £2811 to his nephew Henry John Norman. Henry wanted to build a house in the country close to his family and friends. It was built in a semi – Gothic style and became known as Gadsden Owner from 1873 -1905, Henry John NormanHenry John Norman was a director of the London and Westminster Bank. His wife was Anne Hewitt Coote and at the time of his purchase they had three sons Harold aged 6, Reginald 3 and Alfred 1. A suite of three nurseries and a nurse-maid’s room was provided for them. The main rooms consisted of a large drawing room, dining &, morning rooms, a library and three principal bedrooms. Five more children were born by 1881. The Architect, March 1874, includes a drawing of the house which had been erected under the direction of Thomas Dinwiddy of Greenwich. The builders were Messrs Downs & Co of Union Place, Southwark who had contracted to complete the building for £3738. They also had a separate contract to build the lodge, stabling with coachmen’s residence and ‘vineries with potting sheds, store and apple room.’ Architect’s image of Gadsden Although Henry John Norman also had a property in London he continued to use Gadsden as his country retreat until his death in 1905 when he was buried in Hayes Parish Churchyard.Owner from 1905 – 1927, James RailtonIn 1905 James Railton, a Dock & Railway Contractor, bought the house and land for £7000. He spent a further £3500 on improvements. Photographs of the inside of Gadsden from the Bedford Lemere daybook record that James Henry Swan and Geoffrey Norman (Henry’s fifth son) were the architects involved with some of the changes. The Drawing Room (G W Smith Slides) Fireplace, Gadsden Hall Door, 1909 James Railton was married to Margery Ann and by 1911 had three daughters under 8. He employed eight resident servants. The house comprised 23 rooms. In November 1912 it was valued at £14,000 and described as a ‘Red brick & tile House, partly covered with ivy. Semi-gothic style in first class structural & decorative repair throughout. Electric light generated on property, mahogany doors, parquet floors, heated throughout by radiators’.In 1916 Railton left Gadsden and put the property up for sale. It was advertised as a freehold residential property standing well back in its own ground, 280 feet above sea level in a rural and bracing position, approached by a long carriage drive with lodge at one entrance. It had 15 bed & dressing rooms, 3 bathrooms, 5 reception rooms, a principal and a secondary staircase, coachman’s quarters, glasshouses, beautiful pleasure grounds and park like paddocks, squash racquet court, in all over 14 acres. South east corner of Gadsden (G W Smith slides) Gadsden 1916 – 1927It was the middle of the First World War and the property did not sell. It was let during the next eleven years to a number of tenants : Richard Martens 1917, Thomas Scott 1920, George Simmons 1922-24 and then Donald Haldeman who moved from Baston Farm to Gadsden in 1924. Born in Pennsylvania in 1860 Donald Haldeman became a naturalised British subject and was made a JP in 1918. Three years later he became Master of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners. In 1925 the resigned as UK manager of the Mutual Insurance Company of New York and became life manager of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company. He was also a very successful farmer and breeder of pedigree cattle.Gadsden was put back on the market in December 1927. It now included a billiard room, photographic dark room, garage for three cars, two stall stables, a chauffeur or gardener’s quarters and a four roomed lodge. The grounds still covered 14 acres and it was stated that there were ‘1340 feet of valuable building frontage’.Owner from 1928, Kent County CouncilIt was not sold for development but the Kent County Council purchased it for £8600. They planned to use Gadsden as a Secondary School. Over the following years the Kent Education Committee (KEC) considered a number of plans for the property including its use as a boys’ school, a school for girls and later a regional college. In the meantime the house was leased, on condition that its grounds could only be used as a sports ground or for grazing cattle. The tenant was Henry Wilding who moved to the Grove in the 1930s. The grounds continued in use. In October 1935 the HVA reported complaints from residents in Hayes Street about the smell and noise of pigs kept at Gadsden and the pigs’ owner promised to remedy the situation. Gadsden during the Second World WarGadsden was empty in 1938 and became a base for the local ARP Rescue Units. It was used in practice exercises to test arrangements in the case of air raid attacks. On the outbreak of the Second World War there was an instant need for more gas masks and a further 700 were assembled over a weekend at Gadsden, Camouflage nets were made & stored, some were used by local army units. Several stretcher party practices continued and a concert and party for school children was organised in 1939. Gas mask ARP badge ARP Exercise 1939 The following year in May 1940 Gadsden became the North West Kent Reception centre for nearly 1000 refugees from Belgium, Holland and France. Marquees were set up in the grounds and the refugees were given identity cards, ration books and gas masks before being allocated to individual homes. The international situation worsened and the camp was closed on 25 May. A bomb fell in the grounds on 29 September 1940 when window were shattered. Further damage was inflicted in October 1943 by a bomb which destroyed the East Lodge.With the increasing demand to grow one’s own vegetables, one acre of Gadsden land was taken over for allotments in April 1942
Oast House
OAST HOUSE, Croydon Road Built 1873 -4, Grade II Listed Building ‘Built in the middle of Hayes Common in 1873-4 by Philip Webb for the eccentric Lord Sackville Cecil. A large house but as independent minded as any by Webb and composed with a good deal more finesse than the Red House as one would expect fourteen years after that pioneering effort. Long, low with a deep barn-like roof and the chimney stacks in four massive slabs. The materials squared ragstone blocks and red brick dressings, not always where expected. White window frames and a little white weather boarding in the gables. The entrance (w) front rather like an enlarged school——ending in gabled wings of equal width but unequal projection. The windows are wide and have his favourite segmental heads (one or two window sills lowered in recent years). In the centre three evenly spaced dormers of Queen Anne proportions. Low square porch running at the full depth of the right wing. The east side has a memorable feature of four wide gable dormers in a row starting up from the foot of the roof. They impose a rhythm on a façade otherwise quite without symmetry (The bow window at the r end not original) The interior has been altered out of recognition.’ This description from The Buildings of England ed Nikolaus Pesvner is reproduced with the permission of the Building Books Trust and Yale University Press. It provides a good summary of the building which was originally designed by Philip Webb. The supervision of its construction was taken over by Charles Vinall when Philip Webb withdrew his services, possibly because Lord Sackville Cecil with his very firm ideas may have attempted to supervise some of the building work himself . Original Cottage before the Oast House Lord Sackville Cecil, the younger son of James Cecil, the second Marquess of Salisbury, bought the land and two small cottages on 30 April 1873 from Mrs Ann Fry of Baston Manor after the death of her husband James in November 1872. Original Cottage on Oast House site Oast House land purchased by Lord Sackville Cecil 1873 By 1875 Sackville Cecil was in residence and in the October an acorn was planted by Thomas Carlyle in the grounds for Sackville’s mother Mary, Countess of Derby. It successfully grew into a large oak tree Acorn planted at Oast House by Thomas Carlyle 1875 Oak tree from acorn planted 1875 Lord Sackville Cecil had very stout pillars built in the brick vaulted cellar to support the delicate equipment he used in his ground floor study. The basement where he conducted his electrical and mechanical experiments was reached by a spiral staircase. He remained at the Oast House until his death in 1898. The property was then let briefly to a solicitor Frederick Hoare who moved in with his wife Amy, and in 1901 their household consisted of 3 children, a governess, nurse and three resident servants. The following year Henry Wellcome, founder of Burroughs & Wellcome, moved to the house with his new wife Syrie (née Barnardo). A son Henry Mounteney was born in 1903. They left the Oast House in 1904 and moved to another property in Hayes, the Nest. Oast House, Hayes Common (G W Smith) In March 1907 a seven year lease on the property was taken out by Alexander Boord with the Hon. Margaret Ceil and Arthur James Balfour. They subsequently sold the property to Arthur William Cecil. In 1914 the house was described as in a lovely position surrounded by common. It had a small garden for the size of the house which was reported to be in fair decorative and good structural repair. The house included 3 large and five small bedrooms, a night nursery and dressing room over two floors, 2 large reception rooms, a dining room, kitchen and hall on the ground floor and cellars. The notes on the diagram at the time refer to the parquet flooring and oak panelling in the dining room and the carved oak overmantel in the drawing room. Some of the oak carving was said to have formed part of the Duke of Wellington’s bed. Outside was a lodge with four rooms, a coach-house, stabling with three stalls. It was rated as a very saleable property with a market value of £3600 and the current rent was £220 a year. Ground floor plan of Oast House 1914 1916 – 1934 By 1916 Alexander Boord had moved into Coney Hill, the former home of his wife Coralie Hoskier and the Oast House became empty. The property was put up for sale after the First World War on 27 August 1919 and was bought by Guilford Edward Lewis, a solicitor. One of his first actions was to convert the Coach House and stables into a house, Turtons, and divide it from his garden making an entrance on to the highway. It was put on the market at an asking price of £2700. The following year it was stated that it might rent for £100 per annum A balcony was added to the Oast House in the 1920s so that his daughter who was suffering from TB could sleep in the fresh air. He was in considerable disagreement with the Conservators of Hayes Common in 1926 when he proposed to build a small cottage for his gardener at the north east corner of his garden and make a pedestrian access from it which involved going on to the Common. By 1928 the cottage was built and finally agreement was given for this gate on payment of one shilling [5p] a year. His daughter married in 1932 and he put the Oast House up for sale in 1934. One of the main selling points was that because of the covenants on the property ‘it was secured from building development for all time and was surrounded by acres of beautiful Common lands’. It comprised a spacious entrance hall, 3 reception and 7 bedrooms, 2
Pickhurst Manor
PICKHURST MANOR Early History The manor of Pickhurst existed from early medieval times and was associated with the Hever family for more than a century. Richard de Hevere paid six shillings (30p) in the 1373 tax and John Hever was one of the men who took part in Cade’s rebellion in 1450. The property was sometimes referred to as Hevers. It descended through the Hever family until bought by Robert Rede, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in 1503. His daughter Jane, married to John Caryll, inherited and passed on the land to her sons. In 1590 it was bought by William Jackson and his heirs sold it in 1642 to John Cliffe. In 1674 John Cliffe received £870 for ‘the manor and manor house of Pickhurst in the county of Kent’ from Thomas Cooper, a London citizen and salter. Twelve years later John Hall of Reading bought the manor house and 96 acres for £950 and in 1693 sold it to a brewer Matthias Walraven of Rotherhithe, Surrey. The exact site of the manor house in medieval times is not known but by the 18th century it stood in approximately the position today of Hayes Free Church on Pickhurst Lane. 18th Century The manor descended to Peter Walraven but he had difficulties in repaying the mortgages on the property and in 1757 it was bought by William Cowley of Westminster, a Malt Distiller for £2200. William Cowley sold it in 1765 to Mariabella Elliot. The house was described in the auction catalogue as ‘an elegant and almost new brick built dwelling house, finished in the present taste and consisting of two handsome parlours with Venetian bow windows, two bedchambers on the first and three chambers on the second with convenient closets, a kitchen, wash-house and offices’. In addition there was ‘a large and good farmhouse.’ Miss Mariabella Eliot paid £3,500 for the house and farm. Plan of ground floor of Pickhurst Manor 1765 (LMA 1017/441) Sadly, Mariabella died in 1769 at the age of 33 but her brother John then resided at Pickhurst until the 1780s. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who owned Hayes Place wanted John Eliot to exchange three of his fields for land at Brook Wood. John refused, writing: The three fields mentioned in thine received yesterday are to me a very valuable part of my little property here as they lie contiguous to and form an agreeable view from the House so that I think my Neighbour placing himself in my situation would hardly wish to sever them from the other land, however I cannot think of doing it. John Eliot was the last owner to live in the property. After his death Pickhurst Manor was inherited first by his son John and then his daughter who married Luke Howard. It remained in the Howard family’s ownership until 1931. 19th Century Following short stays by Mr Drummond, Mr and Mrs James Margetson & Mr James Cruikshank, a 40 year lease was made with John Bowdler of Sevenoaks in April 1791 at a rent of £100 a year on condition that he spent at least £500 on the building. In 1813 Miss Mary Dehany, owner of Hayes Place took a sublease of the property which was then occupied by Dowager Lady Viscount Isabella Hawarden who lived there for ten years. In 1823 the lease was transferred to the Hon. Caroline Eustatia Morland, a widow from West Wickham and sister of William Courtney, Earl of Devon. The rent was fixed at £150 per year and £10 for every acre of old enclosed meadow or pasture that was tilled. She could replace (but not erect) any new farm buildings and fire insurance must be taken out for at least £2,000. Every four years all outer doors, windows, gates, ironworks etc. were to be painted ‘in good and proper oil colour’. Within the lease it was stipulated that ‘the house must not be used for a school, boarding house or receptacle for insane persons or for any trade or business or for any other use or purpose that may tend to impair the value or lessen its respectability as a place of residence’. The lease detailed the fixtures and fittings in each room, including the enriched plaster cornice, tinted walls hung with satin papers and gold mouldings in the drawing room, the veined box marble chimney with slate stone hearth in the dining room, paved flag stone floor in the scullery and the brick stairs to the cellar. Outside were wine and ale cellars, a wash or brew house, servants’ privy with a deal double seat, coal hole, hen house, cow house and carthorse stable. Pickhurst Manor, seat of Lady Caroline Morland (Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) Lady Morland died on 6 March 1851 and for a few months Revd H R Dukinfield, Rector of St Martin in the Fields, lived at Pickhurst Manor. Lady Morland’s son William had married Margaretta Eliza Cator in 1843 and it was her brother, John Farnaby Cator, who took over the lease at a yearly rent of £198 17s 0d (£198.85). His wife had died in 1850 leaving him with two young children but in 1852 he married Julia Hallam, whose father the historian Henry Hallam (1777 – 1859) sometimes stayed with them at Pickhurst. Their third child was born in 1860 and was named Henry after his grandfather. When John Cator inherited Wickham Court from his uncle in 1863 the family left Pickhurst Manor and the lease was assigned to Hon Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird MP of Pall Mall. He agreed on a new lease with the owner Robert Howard at £300 a year that included an adjoining barn and additional fields and he compensated the farmyard tenant. He remained there seven years before Charles Devas became the new tenant and his family remained at Pickhurst Manor until 1909. Major additions were made to the building in the 1870s and the house was well described by his grandson Walter who spent
Baston Manor
Early history A manor house possibly existed when John de Bastane was recorded in a 1301 tax roll as owner of the most movable goods in Hayes. In 1499 the property was owned by wealthy Henry Heydon and a new hall was built probably lined with painted wood panels. These showed portraits of Anglo-Saxon kings and are some of the earliest paintings in oil on wood that survive in the UK. They were found lining a cupboard when the house was modernized in 1813 for James Randell of Queenhithe, who bought it in 1795. By this time the Tudor house had been dramatically altered by the addition of a new house for Mrs Elizabeth Lloyd in the late 17th century. She had inherited the house through her mother-in-law Elizabeth, whose father Cuthbert Burbage, better known for his association with William Shakespeare, had bought it in 1629 with 180 acres of land from Robert Wade of Grays Inn. Her house was described as a ‘part brick and part plaister and tiled house’. Her husband continued to live there after her death but it then became owned by members of Richard Wood’s family until sold in 1762 to John Luxford. From 1773 until his death in 1795 the property was leased by Gabriel Clarmont who lived there, according to the records made by Revd John Till, with Mrs Taylor, a young lady, a gardener, maid and a boy. When the estate was put up for sale it was described as a ‘neat and desirable freehold villa situate on a delightful eminence on Hayes Common’. It included both the old and new house, coach-house, stable, gardens, orchard etc. James Randell purchased it for £2000 and spent a great deal of money combining the two houses into one property . In 1798 he lived there with two male and two female servants.. He married Ann Lucy and their seven children were baptised in Hayes Church between 1806 and 1819. At the time the house was known as Baston Court. In 1823 he sold the house and lands to Samuel Nevil Ward who enlisted the services of the architect Decimus Burton, one of the fashionable architects of the late Georgian period, who under the supervision of Nash had designed Cornwall and Clarence Terraces in Regent’s Park. Baston Manor owned by Samuel Nevil Ward ( Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) The new and fashionable house containing 10 bedrooms, a large drawing room and dining room, was sold in 1851 to James Fry, Registrar of the Court of Chancery, who moved to Barston, as it was then called, with his wife and eight children aged between four and sixteen. More bedrooms were added and a schoolroom for his growing family. By 1871 he had retired and described himself as a gentleman farmer of 97 acres, employing four labourers and a boy. The house and gardens provided an ideal setting for parties where his six daughters might meet suitable husbands. In 1863 Charles Darwin wrote to W.E.Darwin that ‘we went to the Frys and had a gorgeous party with about eighty people chiefly from London and dancing on the lawn and dinner in a grand tent, band, ices etc.’ By that time James Fry had already agreed to the marriage of two of his daughters, Mary in 1857 and Henrietta, who the following year married Julius Caesar, an import merchant from Camberwell. When he died in 1872 the house was bought by John Lennard and leased by Captain Alfred Torrens who remained there until his death in 1903. He built greenhouses to pursue his botanical interests and was particularly renowned for chrysanthemums brought back from his travels to Japan. In 1896 a burglar was caught at Baston Manor by his son Matt Torrens who was commended by the judge for his bravery in apprehending Charles Taylor, the last of a notorious gang. Alfred’s widow Ann remained at the Manor with her son Attwood and eight servants until she moved to Hayes Grove in 1916, shortly before Attwood was struck by a shell and killed in France. By this time the house was described as ‘a large detached old fashioned house’. Ground floor plan Baston Manor 1913 After the First World War Henry Legge moved to Baston Manor from The Nest, once again alterations were made to the property and a squash court was added. His sons, Philip and Geoffrey, played for Hayes Cricket Club and Geoffrey captained Kent Cricket Club from 1928-30. He toured South Africa with MCC in 1927-8 and New Zealand in 1929-30. A photographic album survives showing both the interior of the property and the gardens at the time. Baston Manor Hall 1929 (Legge Family Photos) Drawing Room, Baston Manor 1929 (Legge Family Photos) The Dutch Garden, Baston Manor 1929 (Legge Family Photos) View from the terrace, Baston Manor (Legge Family Photos) In 1934 Arthur Collins took up residence. In the First World War, he was a captain in the Royal Engineers and gained the MC. He was a keen tennis player, and his son was a junior England tennis champion. Many fetes for the whole community were held at Baston Manor in the 1930s and groups of women from Miss Knowles’ mission in the East End of London were entertained. During the Second World War, a 1,000kg bomb fell on the grounds of Baston Manor but failed to explode and two other bombs caused minor damage in 1940/41. A Canadian detachment of Artillery requisitioned part of Baston Manor for transport repairs. In 1944 a V1 flying bomb completely destroyed the Lodge but the Manor house survived. After the death of Arthur Collins the building was converted into flats between 1951 and 1953 by builder Messrs Barnard (Bromley) Ltd, whose architect was H G Payne. By 1955 the six flats were occupied and the house remains divided into flats today.