Warren Wood
Built 1873
Demolished 1936
Warren Wood stood on the edge of Hayes Parish and was built in 1873 for widow Mrs Frances Whitmore whose mother Maria Brandram had a similar house, Hawthorndene, built on the neighbouring land adjacent to Hayes Common. For many years it was referred to as Whitmore’s house but later became known as Warren Wood. The map below shows the position of Warren Wood and neighbouring properties after the railway had come in 1882.
Frances Maria Whitmore was widowed twice. She first married Revd Aretas Akers, minister of West Malling, but was a widow by the time of the 1861 census when her son Aretas was 10 and her daughters Isabella and Eleanor 7 and 5 years old. Her son Aretas Akers later inherited Chilston Park in Kent and changed his name to Aretas Akers-Douglas. He became a leading Conservative politician, a cabinet minister in 1895 and home secretary in 1902. His sister Isabella was to become the first woman to be appointed as a Guardian of the Bromley Poor Law Union and she devoted her life to helping the poor.
Frances married William Whitmore in the 1860s but he had died by the time the plans were made to build Warren Wood. In 1875 both her son and younger daughter were married in Hayes Parish Church. In June Aretas married Adeline Smith, the daughter of the owner of the nearby property called the Warren. In August her young daughter Eleanor married Edward Norman, son of George Warde Norman of Bromley Common.
Frances Whitmore played a significant part in the affairs of Hayes Church and the school. She contributed to a school extension and was involved in helping deprived children. After her death in 1900 her family paid for new flooring in the church sanctuary as a memorial to their mother and sister Isabella who died in 1903. They were both buried in Hayes Churchyard.
John Isdale and Laura Caroline Smail were the next tenants and moved to Warren Wood after their marriage in 1901. A son John was born in 1903 and another son Adam the following year. In the 1911 Hayes Census John Smail was described as a retired South American Merchant. They employed eight resident servants. He was an elder and treasurer of the Bromley Presbyterian Church and it was said he was ‘distinguished by his charming simplicity, his modesty, his dislike of ostentation, his obvious sincerity, and his single-minded devotion to his church’. When the arrangements for the appointment of the five Governors of Hayes Church School changed in 1903 after it came under the Kent Education Committee, the County Council selected John Isdale Smail as their representative.
Warren Wood was well maintained and in 1910 its ground floor plan showed some changes in the building which had a value of £7500. It was described as a red brick and tiled detached mansion, well built in very good structural and decorative repair. On the first floor there were five bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a bathroom and WC. On the second floor were the schoolroom, four bedrooms, a bathroom and WC. The first floor of the stables contained two bedrooms and a sitting room. The dairy was of red brick and tiled and the garage was modern and well built.
John Smail died in February 1916 but his wife stayed in Hayes for another ten years. During the war she was on the Food Control Committee and became a Guardian of the Bromley Union. She was the first woman to become a councillor on the Hayes Parish Council to which she was co-opted in 1921 and then elected in 1922 and 1925. During this time she also looked after her aunt, Charlotte Trevor, who died at the age of 91 in 1924 and was buried in Hayes Churchyard. When Laura died she was laid to rest in 1946 in the same grave as her husband.
George Coppin was the next occupant and he opened his garden to visitors in July 1927. The Bromley Mercury reported that in the conservatory at the rear of the house were some very fine specimens of hydrangeas, gloxinias and sweet peas. The new rambling roses were well set off against a background of woodland glade. In front of the house was a striking bed of mallow flowers and candytuft and in the centre of the rockery garden an artificial pool. The grape vines were very fine. His wife was a member of the Hayes Nursing Association who wished her well when she resigned in 1933 as the family were leaving Hayes.
Hugh Wylie was the next occupant but in 1934 he was approached by a developer to sell his land.
By 1935 it was confirmed that Warren Wood had been sold and the land would be developed for housing by Durable Buildings Ltd. Hugh F Thorburn Ltd were the surveyors and sole selling agents and obtained approval from Beckenham Council as the majority of the land was in the Parish of West Wickham. In spite of this the estate has always been thought of as a part of Hayes by most residents. Warren Wood was demolished in about 1936.
Initially, the estate consisted of Holland Way, Sandilands Crescent and the east section of Westland Drive. The houses were mainly detached with three, four or five bedrooms in ten styles and prices ranged from £1025 to £1700. Later Thoburns expanded the estate to the west and advertised it as ‘Warren Wood (Extension) Hayes Kent.’ The area included Abbotsbury Road and the remainder of Westland Drive. The houses cost from £1125 to £1375 and were completed and occupied by 1940.