Brookside

HOME PAGE FAMILY TREES TRIAL RECORDS MILITARY RECORDS CERTIFICATES ETC OLD NEWSPAPERS OTHER SERVICES NEWS CHARGES CONTACT US ARCHIVE		THE HISTORY OF A HOUSE IN SURREY THE LAND, THE HOUSE, AND THE OWNERS For reasons of privacy, some of the names of recent owners have been changed PART ONE - THE LAND Sparowe Felde The earliest mention of Sparrow Field is in 1220, when it was known as Sparfeld (meaning a clearing enclosed with spurs or posts - nothing to do with sparrows!) At that time there were at least four houses built on it. In 1540 the site of this house was at the lower end of Sparowe Felde (Sparrow Field). What is now Central Avenue ran diagonally from top left to bottom right in this map. At the time Worcester Park did not exist as a name - the area was known as Nether Cheme. On this map from c1550 the approximate location of the site of the house is marked with an X Cheam Common By 1800, Sparrow Field had become Lower Cheam Common. In 1806 parliament passed "An act for inclosing lands in the parish of Cheam in the county of Surrey" The common was divided up into strips of land, and allotted between 37 different landowners. In this Ordnance Survey map from c1800, just prior to the enclosure of Cheam Common, the site of the house is at the very north-west of the common Huntsman's Hall Field
	1806	At the time of the Enclosure Act, the strip of land nearest what is now Worcester Park railway station belonged to Anthony Brough
	1810	Four years later, the Enclosure Awards were made. By then, the land had been sold. "Thomas Bainbridge of Guildford…and John Soakes of Mitcham in the County of Surrey…commissioners named in and appointed by an act of parliament passed in the forty sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third" awarded "unto Francis Bowry in lieu of the right of common purchased of the said Anthony Brough all that allotment or parcel of freehold land situate on the said Lower Cheam Common containing 7 acres 3 roods 15 perches and …the owner of the said allotment shall make all the fences on the north west and south west side thereof". Francis Bowry was a young man (he was just 29 in 1810) from a wealthy local family. He had presumably inherited the family lands and money when his father, also called Francis, had died in 1801.
	1840	In the Tithe map of 1840 the field had become split into two. Both parts were now owned by Thomas Weeding, and farmed as arable land. There was a single occupant, William Harris, who presumably was working the land for Mr Weeding. Thomas Weeding was an influential landowner in the area who lived at Fullbrooks in Malden, and the land was to remain in Weeding family hands for the next hundred years.
	28.04.1855	In his will of this date (see below), Thomas Weeding left to his wife Mary, "my freehold and copyhold estates in the several parishes or places of Malden, Cheam, Kingston and Chertsey in the county of Surrey". Thomas and Mary being childless, the will then set out an order of succession, and was to play a fundamental role in the history of the land over the next seventy years.
	05.10.1856	After suffering from pneumonia for nine days, and bronchitis for seven, Thomas Weeding died, aged 81. He was buried at St John the Baptist church in Malden, in a family vault that was built for his death. The land passed to his wife Mary Weeding
	1859	Worcester Park Railway station opened. When the proposed Wimbledon-Epsom line was being considered by a Parliamentary committee in 1846, the principal argument put forward by Thomas Weeding in favour of opening a station was that it would enable farmers to have chalk brought from Ashtead to improve the soil. The fact that Thomas Weeding himself owned a lot of land, which would increase in value as a result, probably never entered into his thinking!
	29.02.1860	Mary Weeding died at 28 Portland Place, W1. Land passed to Thomas's nephew, also called Thomas Weeding. This Thomas belonged to the nomadic side of the family - his parents had emigrated to Tasmania, whilst he himself was working for the East India Co, and living in Karachi with his wife Elizabeth.
	28.08.1864	Thomas Weeding died. Tragically, he may never have known that his wife was five weeks pregnant with their first child. Elizabeth - alone, thousands of miles from home, recently widowed, and pregnant with her late husband's child - took the only course of action open to her, and returned home to London.
	20.03.1865	Elizabeth gave birth, in Marylebone, to a baby boy, Thomas Newberry Weeding. Thomas came into the world fatherless, yet privileged. With his first breath, he inherited the Weeding family estate.
	20.09.1866	Exactly eighteen months later, the infant Thomas died. In the space of just two years, Elizabeth had lost her husband, her son, and the Weeding inheritance. For, in accordance with Thomas's will of 1855, the land then passed to Thomas Weeding Bagallay, then aged 19.
	11.06.1868	Thomas Weeding Bagallay turned 21, and a month later, changed his name by Royal Licence to T.W.Weeding (It was a condition of the 1855 will that anyone who came into these lands, changed their name to Weeding!)
	1865-1874	Thomas Bagallay/Weeding played county cricket for Surrey - although he only made 9 first-class appearances in those nine years, as a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. His record was far from impressive - he only scored 181 runs in 15 innings (at an average of 12.06) and made just 4 catches. He did, however, manage one respectable innings of 82. In 1866 he was selected to play for Gentlemen of the South against I Zingari, alongside W G Grace, no less. Typically, he scored 0 and 3!
	20.12.1876	T.W.Weeding married Alice Brinkley
	07.07.1879	Their first son, Thomas, born. Thomas appears to have become a professional soldier. When he was 21 he was a Sub-Lieutenant in the Queen's regiment stationed at Muree, India. Later he was to see action in the Great War.
	21.03.1882	Their second son, John Richard Bagallay Weeding, born.
	1914-1918	First World War. At this time the land was a cornfield, worked by German prisoners of war.
	22.12.1914	John Richard Bagallay Weeding killed in action at Festubert, France
	28.08.1917	Thomas Weeding killed in action in Belgium. With his death, the male line was destined to die out. There was thus no heir to the Weeding estate, for although T.W. Weeding had two daughters, the 1855 will had stipulated that only the male line should benefit. The days of the Weedings were drawing to a close.
	09.04.1918	Wm Henry Lipscomb (trustee of the will) died
	27.07.1918	Robert Bagallay (trustee of the will) died intestate
	20.10.1921	Emma Maude Weeding and Daphne Weeding (daughters of T.W. Weeding) were made trustees. Land by now referred to as Huntsmans Hall Field, and measured 3 acres 0 roods 15 perches
	27.03.1929	Prior to the sale of the land (see below) T.W. Weeding signed a Statutory Declaration, confirming that the land legally belonged to him. Curiously, in this statement, he twice referred to Thomas Weeding as his grandfather. Actually, this was not the case - Thomas Weeding was his great uncle. Why he should lie, either deliberately or accidentally, about his relationship, is a mystery, as there is no question that he was the legal owner.
	19.04.1929	Shuttleworths Ltd of Jerrold Parade, London Road, South Cheam, purchased from T.W. Weeding "all that piece of land situate in Morden Lane (more properly known as Green Lane) Cheam Surrey and having a frontage of 570' or thereabouts and a depth of 240' or thereabouts….being part of a larger piece of land then or formerly known as Huntsmans Hall Field". Shuttleworths paid £2,700 for the land, and then borrowed £16,150 (at 7% interest) from Wilkinsons of 34 Nicholas Lane, City of London. This presumably was the working capital with which they built the 38 houses that form Beverley Gardens and Brookside Gardens, as shown in the original plan below
	19.12.1929	Just eight months after the sale of Huntsmans Hall Field, T.W. Weeding passed away, aged 82.
		PART TWO - THE HOUSE
	15.08.1930	13 Brookside Gardens sold to Minnie Ball, a widow of 390 Garratt Lane for £695. Minnie had a mortgage of £645 - repayments were £4 14/- 1d per month. Her deceased husband, Douglas, had been a licensed victualler.
	1932	The electrification of the railway. Rapid development of Worcester Park around this time.
	By 1933	Road renamed, and renumbered. By the time of the 1933 Ordnance Survey map, the house had become 7 Brookside Crescent. Some time during the 1930s, a garage was added to the side of the property.
	1939-1945	Second World War. There were dogfights in the skies above Worcester Park, and in June 1944 a Doodlebug, winged by ack-ack fire, fell two streets away, in Caldbeck Avenue.
	14.10.1950	Minnie Ball died, intestate, aged 71. She was senile, and passed away in this house.
	19.06.1951	Property passed to Ernest Edward Ball, Maisie Beatrice Ball, and Mary Kathleen Ball (Minnie's brother, sister, and daughter). Ernest was a Railway Official, and Mary was described as a Spinster. They took over the mortgage with £400 outstanding. Repayments were £3 2/- 4d per month
	15.01.1955	Mary Ball married Ernest Richard Davis
	11.03.1967	Mary Davis (nee Ball) died intestate.
	17.02.1978	Ernest Ball and Maisie Ball sold to Robert James Came and Rosemary Anne Hazell of Cobham Court, Mitcham for £16,500
	1985	Sold to Simon Neale and Frances Harris
	1986	Simon Neale and Frances Harris married
	1987	Simon and Frances Neale sold to Violet Mitchell, who lived here with her daughter Jane. In 1989 they were joined by Richard Waters, a builder by profession
	1993	Violet married Richard Waters
	1995	Garage demolished and extension built on side of house. Extension finished on June 1st.
	02.01.2001	Sold to Pauline Fowler and Frank Butcher for £175,000. House severely damaged after a burst pipe in the roof.
	2001	Following the flood, house underwent major structural and decorative repairs. Four ceilings were replaced, and a number of walls replastered. The quarry tile floor in the lounge was restored. Internal decorations were completely stripped and replaced.