Felbridge & District History Group

As we steadily advance through the 21^st century and with an extensively accrued Felbridge archive, it is perhaps time to reflect on the lost property of Felbridge, dwellings and structures that have disappeared, some in the lifetime of former and current Felbridge residents and some properties whose mere existence has only become known through researching old documents and maps relating to Felbridge and its surrounding area. 

This document is the fourth in a series that aims to catalogue these lost properties and, where known, give a few details about the property and the cause of its loss.  Some of the lost properties we have covered before and have their own handout devoted solely to their history, in which case only a brief synopsis will be supplied here along with any additional information discovered since the publication of the original handout.  Research into other lost properties may produce enough information to create a future handout devoted solely to that property and other lost properties will inevitably prove to have very little surviving information on them, but at least they will have been identified and included in this series of catalogued lost property of Felbridge.  No doubt some lost property will escape our attention altogether or not yet have been revealed through our researches and there are many more recent properties that have been sacrificed for the numerous housing developments in Felbridge and the surrounding area of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries; this latter category of properties will not be covered in detail unless the lost property was of significant merit.  

The lost property covered will be presented by location within the Felbridge area made up of the land holdings of the Evelyn estate of the late 1700’s that incorporated the manor of Hedgecourt and their own Felbridge lands (for further information see Handout, The Early History of Hedgecourt, JIC/SJC 11/11) with additions made by the Gatty family after their purchase of the estate in 1856 (for further information see Handout, Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03); the ecclesiastical parish of Felbridge created in 1865 out of parts of the ecclesiastical parishes of Godstone, Horne and Tandridge in Surrey and East Grinstead and Worth in Sussex (for further information see Handout, St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02i); and the Civil Parish of Felbridge created in 1953 (for further information see Handout, Civil Parish of Felbridge, SJC 03/03); together with the occasional lost property abutting these areas as part of manorial lands associated with Felbridge.  In all, an area stretching from the Newchapel area in the north across to the Snowhill and Crawley Down area in the west, the north end of East Grinstead Common, North End and Imberhorne manor and its associated holdings in the south and Chartham and the Wiremill area in the east. 

Part 1 covered the west side of the north end of East Grinstead Common (ref: JIC/SJC 07/18); Part 2 covered the east side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane (ref: JIC/SJC 07/19); Part 3 covered the west side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane (ref: JIC/SJC 10/21).  Further family details relating to the properties covered in these documents can be found as additional appendices available on request. 

This document covers the lost properties on the remaining west side of Imberhorne Lane that were not covered in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Part 3, to its junction with the main London Road (A22)  and those lost along the west side of the London Road to the county boundary at Felbridge Water.  Further family details relating to the properties in this document can be found in an additional appendix available on request as an Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.4 

Properties on a parcel of Mercer’s and the junction of Imberhorne Lane with the west side of the London Road to Felbridge Water

This area is an extension of Holdings A and B as identified in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3 (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21).  

The extended area of Holding A, a ‘parcel of Mercers’, encompasses a property that has been re-developed over the years that includes: the site of a structure on a ‘parcel of Mercer’s’, later a bungalow associated with Stream Place Market Gardens and finally Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility (three losses on just one site), together with Stream Place Market Garden’s Outbuildings and Glasshouses and a ‘Barn and Buildings on Mercers’, Stern’s Squash Court and The Moorings.   

The extended area of Holding B, within the Borough of East Grinstead, encompasses several properties that have been re-developed over the years and includes: a ‘Cottage on the Common’ [of East Grinstead], Rose Cottage, a ‘Small building’ associated with Rose Cottage, The Hawthorns, Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd,Sargents Workshop, Blue House, Olde Felbridge Kitchen Garden, Glasshouses and Stables, the 1^st Felbridge Scout Hut and Little Stream later The Stream.  

In total, 33 lost structures have been identified as once being part of the extended area of Holdings A and B, which excludes all the very small structures that have been identified from a range of maps starting with the Gardner and Gream map of 1795.   

Holding A

This holding had since at least the mid 16^th century, been a parcel of a 22 acre holding known as Mercer’s, a copyhold property held of the manor of Imberhorne in 1557 by James Mercer.  However, after the sale of the holding in 1911, by then known as Harts Hall, this northern part of Holding A followed a different course to that of the southern end that was sold by the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd to George Herbert Neighbour who developed that section as a dwelling and a nursery known as Clevecote accessed off Imberhorne Lane (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21). 

Structure on a ‘parcel of Mercer’s’ (TQ3748 3927)

(on the site of what is now Clevecote, StreamPark [not to be confused with Clevecote, Imberhorne Lane])

The structure is depicted within what had been known as ‘Mercer’s land’, just south of the site of Clevecote Nursery (later incorporated as part of the farm complex known as The Birches), lying parallel to and west of a stream that runs down the western side of Imberhorne Lane (for further information see Holding A and Holding B in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.3. JIC/SJC 10/21).  In 1597, the Buckhurst Terrier (a survey of properties and land held by the Sackville family) and the accompanying map states that the area on which the later structure stood was called ‘the Customarie lands of Henry Mercer and Nicholas Terrie’.  At this date there is no mention of structures, just land. 

Little is known about this structure, which could be either a cottage or a barn, except that it does not appear on the Gardner and Gream map of 1795 but does appear of the Draft OS map of 1805/8.  This would suggest that the structure had been erected during the occupation of the Nicholls family before the northern section of Holding A was separated from the southern section (for further information see Holding A and Holding B in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.3. JIC/SJC 10/21).  The structure also appears on the East Grinstead Common map of 1816, situated outside of the Common and thus the Borough of East Grinstead (Holding B) (see below).  The structure is also depicted on the Greenwood map of Sussex of 1825 but had gone by 1841/3 when the East Grinstead tithe map and apportionment was produced, the tithe records showing that the site of the structure was plot 2324, described as arable and held by Robert Hawes (for further information see Handouts, Ann’s Orchard, SJC 05/01, Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 01/13 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.3. JIC/SJC 10/21) 

This plot was to remain as open land until it was re-developed as a bungalow for Stream Place Market Gardens. 

Stream Place Market Gardens’ Bungalow (TQ3748 3927)

(later the site of Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility, now the site of Clevecote, StreamPark [not to be confused with Clevecote, Imberhorne Lane])

On 4^th December 1911, the site of the structure on a parcel of Mercer’s was purchased by Talbot Hugh Palmer esq of The Elms, Weybridge, Surrey, being part of Lot 7, ‘a portion of the Felbridge Place Estate’ offered for sale as a freehold.  The Lot had not sold in the initial auction of the Felbridge Place Estate by the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd in May 1911 (for further information see Handout, 1911, Sale of Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11) but in December 1911 sold for the sum of £1,335.

Lot 7

A VERY VALUABLE

FREEHOLD BUILDING ESTATE,

OF ABOUT

13a. 1r. 39p.

 Of well-timbered PastureLand, on the main London Road and confines of East Grinstead.  A little over a

mile from the Railway Station, it possesses a very

Valuable Frontage of 615 feet

to the main road (the paths are made up and the road is lighted to this Lot), and a return frontage to the road

to Turner’s Hill, offering an unusually attractive site for a

GENTLEMAN’S FIRST-CLASS HOUSE OR VILLA RESIDENCES.

 The whole of the land is sound pasture and it is intersected by a stream and prettily studded with timber trees.

SCHEDULE.

 VACANT POSSESSION ON COMPLETION OF PURCHASE

 The commuted Tithes for the purposes of Sale are apportioned at £2/9/6 Present value £1/14/8

The occupier of Rose Cottage has a right of way to the small building at the S.E. corner of No. 27

 

The above schedule shows that there has been a merger of some of Holding A with Holding B, as plot 28 and 29 had originally formed part of Holding A prior to this sale and plots 13 and 27 formed part of Holding B (see below) prior to this sale.  The structure on a ‘parcel of Mercer’s’ had once stood at the southeast end of plot 28, which along with plot 29, had been part of the manor of Imberhorne, whilst plots 13 and 27 had formed part of the Borough of East Grinstead.  The four plots had a covenant that allowed for the use of land as Market Garden or Fruit Farm and the erection and maintenance ‘thereon or on any part or parts thereof such Glasshouses and other buildings as the purchaser might from time to time or at any time require…’.  The purchaser could also ‘erect 2 cottages at such cost as he may think fit on any part of the same hereditament except on the parcels of land nos. 13 and 27’.  

Shortly after the purchase, Talbot Palmer established Stream Place Gardens on all four plots.  Thus it was potentially under the ownership of Talbot Palmer that a bungalow was built on the site of or very close to the site of the structure on a ‘parcel of Mercer’s’.  

Talbot Hugh Palmer

Talbot Hugh Palmer was born on 20^th September 1886, the son of Talbot Palmer, a banker who in later life was a stock broker, and his wife Mary née Shaw, who were residing at Alexander Road, Kingston Hill, Surrey, at the time of Talbot Hugh’s baptism on 4^th December 1886.  Sadly Mary died in December 1886 and Talbot senior died in April 1900, leaving effects of £33,802 9s 10d.  At the time of his father’s death, Talbot junior was at Grove House, a private school in Guildford, Surrey.  By 1912, Talbot was living at The Elms, Weybridge, Surrey, the address from where his father had died in 1900. 

As established above, in December 1911, Talbot purchased a portion of the Felbridge Place Estate and established Stream Place Market Garden.  Sometime between 1912 and 1914, Talbot had moved to The Mount, [13, Station Road], East Grinstead, the address he gave when he enlisted to serve as Private, Supply Column, Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), Reg. No. 110, on 26^th September 1914; perhaps whilst he waited to have a dwelling constructed at Stream Place Market Garden.  His military records show that he had previously served with Territorial RASC and gives a brief description of him as 5ft 10ins/ 1.78m, weighing 210lbs [15 stone/95.25kg], with a chest measurement of 39ins/99cms, and a military record from 1915 states his occupation as a Fruit Grower.  By 7^th October 1914, Talbot had been promoted to Corporal and on 15^th July he was promoted to Sargeant; a later military record states that he had served in Cairo. 

On being demobbed in 1919, Talbot Palmer gave his address as StreamPlaceGardens, Felbridge nr. East Grinstead and his occupation as ‘Market Gardening’.  On 26^th January 1920, Talbot Hugh Palmer esq of London Road, East Grinstead, sold plots 28 and 29, totalling 8.120, acres to Fraser George Baddeley esq of Weir Cottage, Weybridge, Surrey (see below), for the sum of £2,486, but he retained plots 13 and 27, which were in turn, he leased to Fraser Baddeley as tenant from 25^th December 1919 for 14 years at a rent of £16 per annum, the whole area continuing to operate as the market garden enterprise (see below).  It would appear that Talbot and Fraser were known to each other as they both stock brokers, as their fathers’ had been before them, they both lived in Weybridge and they both served with the Royal Army Service Corps during World War I.  

In 1925, Talbot married Constance Helen Vivian, the marriage registered in Hammersmith, London; Talbot and Constance appear to have not had a family.  After a short sojourn in the Birmingham area, the couple settled at The Croft, 10, BeechcroftGardens, WembleyPark, until sometime between 1929 and 1939 when Talbot was recorded as living at 18, Portland Road, East Grinstead.  Sometime between World War II and 1950, the couple moved to Devon where Talbot died, aged 64, from 1, The Avenue, Taunton, leaving effects to the value of £5,400 10s 3d; Constance died in Exeter, aged 70, in 1963.   

Fraser George Baddeley 

Fraser George Baddeley was born on 30^th December 1876, the son of Fraser Ellis Baddeley, a stock broker, and his wife Harriett Louisa [sometimes known as Nina] née Tyler.  In 1881 the family were living in Paddington, London; in 1891 at The Orchard, Buckland, Surrey and in 1901 at 68, Onslow Grove, Kensington, where Fraser junior was recorded as working as a clerk at the Stock Exchange.  On 19^th May 1906, Fraser junior married Muriel Beatrice Alice Barnett in Surbiton.  Fraser and Muriel had one son, Fraser John, born on 15^th May 1910 and in 1911 the family were living at Weir Cottage, Weybridge, Surrey; Fraser working as a stock broker.  During World War I, Fraser served with the Royal Army Service Corps, rising to the rank of Captain.     

As established above, in 1919, Fraser purchased plots 28 and 29 from Talbot Palmer and leased plots 13 and 27, from which Fraser established Stream Place Market Gardens.  In 1921, Fraser married Dorothy Margaret Tedder, the daughter of William James Tedder, solicitor, and his wife Jane, of Cantelupe Road, East Grinstead.  As Fraser’s first wife is recorded as dying in 1935, it is assumed that Fraser and Muriel divorced sometime preceding 1921.  Dorothy had been born in 1899 making her twenty-three years younger than Fraser.  In June 1925, Fraser was residing at the Quebec Hotel, Marble Arch, London, and in November he sold plots 28 and 29 to Edith Mary Gertrude Dix (see below).  A year after the sale, Fraser and Dorothy were bound for Wellington, New Zealand, and in 1933 were living at Tauranga.  Fraser George Baddeley died on 27^th December 1942 at Mount Manui, New Zealand, and as a death cannot be found in British records, it is assumed that Dorothy also died in New Zealand. 

On 7^th November 1925, Fraser George Baddeley, esq of Stream Place Market Gardens, Felbridge, sold plots 28 and 29 to Edith Mary Gertrude Dix of Forest Dene, Worth, Sussex, ‘wife of Arthur Harold Dix’.  The holding was described as ‘that parcel of land together with a cottage bungalow and other buildings and erections thereon, field nos. 28 and 29, together with the strip of land that has a frontage to the main road in field no.13’.  At the time of sale it was stated that Fraser George Baddeley ‘had for some years carried on the business of a market gardener, fruitier and poultry keeper’.  The wording in the conveyance also confirms that the ‘cottage bungalow’ had been constructed by this date, along with ‘other buildings’, presumably the outbuildings and glasshouses associated with Stream Place Market Gardens (see below). 

Just prior to the above sale, on 9^th June 1925, Talbot Palmer sold plots 13 and 27 (part of Holding B) amounting to about 5 acres to Catherine Emma Caroline Lovell of Woodland House, Snow Hill, widow, with ‘right of access over plot 27 to be held by owners/occupiers of Rose Cottage (see below) for access to ‘small building’ at SE corner of plot 27, plus rights for the ‘owners and occupiers of adjoining land at rear [plots 28 and 29] for use of road or way at the north end of the part of plot 13 running between the Public Highway [main London Road – A22] and such adjoining land respective positions of such rights of way’.  At the time of this sale in June 1925, Fraser Baddeley was the occupier of plots 13 and 27, the land forming part of Felbridge Place Market Gardens.  Within a year of the sale, Fraser Baddeley was residing at Quebec Hotel, Marble Arch in London, so potentially had given up market gardening. 

On 7^th August 1928, three years after the purchase of plots 28 and 29, Mary Gertrude Dix formerly of Oakhurst, East Grinstead, Sussex, but by then of Sunny Dene, Grand Avenue, Worthing, Sussex, sold the freehold of the land totalling 8a 0r 30p known as Stream Place Market Gardens and the strip of land measuring 250 feet with a frontage of 170 feet to the main road (field no. 13) to Major Thomas Stewart Inglis FRIBA (see below) of the Felbridge Hotel (for further information see Handouts,  Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge Pt.1, SJC 05/07, Felbridge Remembers - World War I, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 07/17 and Buildings and Architects of Felbridge, Pt. 2 JIC/SJC 07/18), for the sum of £2,200. 

On 7^th September 1935, Major Thomas Stewart Inglis of Ye Olde Felbridge Hotel, Major retired, sold plots 28 and 29 to The Wembury Estates Ltd (Handout, Buildings and Architects of Felbridge, Pt. 2 JIC/SJC 07/18) of Maxwell House, Arundel Street, Strand, London, for the sum of £1,400.  The conveyance detailed that the land was by then known as Stream Park and had been divided into 19 plots suitable for housing development.  It was sold together with the strip of land fronting the main road, but not field no.13, which was retained by Major Inglis, Stream Cottage [plot 5] or plot 17 in Stream Park, which had been sold to Jack Rogers on 23^rd March 1935.  Stream Place Market Gardens’ Bungalow stood at the rear of what had become plot 8.  

On 7^th September 1935, the Wembury Estates Ltd took out a mortgage for £625 with Simon Burns of 32, Gresham Street, London, against the Stream Park Estate.  It would appear that the Wembury Estates Ltd defaulted on the repayment as on 15^th October 1957 Simon Burns sold his interest in a large portion of the uncompleted development of Stream Park to Ernest George Jones (for further information see Handouts, Buildings and Architects of Felbridge, Pt. 2 JIC/SJC 07/18 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 10/21) of 94, Railway Approach, East Grinstead, for the sum of £500.  Then on 13^th March 1958, Wembury Estates Ltd of Woodcock Hill, Felbridge, also sold their interest in StreamPark to Ernest George Jones.  The purchases resulted in Ernest Jones being the sole owner of the access road to Stream Park (the strip of land giving right-of-way from the main London Road through plot 13) and part of field 28 encompassing the undeveloped plots 6 to 12 Stream Park, which included plot 8, the former site of Stream Place Market Gardens’ bungalow.  Shortly after his purchase, Ernest Jones built Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility (see below). 

Returning to Stream Place Market Gardens’ Bungalow, it was potentially built under the ownership of Talbot Palmer and had definitely been built by 1925 when George Baddeley sold to Mary Dix, although the property does not appear on any known maps or plans until the 1935 conveyance between Inglis and Wembury Estates Ltd.  The location of the bungalow shows that it was built on the site of or very close to the site of the structure on a ‘parcel of Mercer’s’.  The 1935 sale plan indicates that the Stream Place Market Gardens’ Bungalow measured about 60ft/18.3m long by 20ft/6m wide, with entry into the building at the southern end.  From documented memories of a local resident, the bungalow was a ‘ranch-style wooden bungalow with a veranda’ built about 3ft/90cm off the ground on stumps.  The bungalow is clearly depicted on the 1936 OS map being a long thin rectangle, running parallel to the stream, which is on its east side.  The structure is depicted with a ‘veranda’ running the full length of the property on its west side.  

Again from the local resident, by the end of the 1930’s, the ‘ranch-style wooden bungalow and veranda’ were in a bad state of repair and in the early 1940’s the structure was dismantled and the wood was used to make the roof of an air-raid shelter for the residents of Stream Park during World War II.  The base of the shelter was an old boiler house that had been built to heat the Stream Place Market Gardens Glasshouses, which once stood within the grounds of what is now nos. 20 and 21 StreamPark (see below).   

Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility (TQ 3748 3927)

(now the site of Clevecote, StreamPark [not to be confused with Clevecote, Imberhorne Lane])

As established above, the site of Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility had formerly been the site of Stream Place Market Gardens’ Bungalow between c1920 and c1940 and prior to that the site of a structure on ‘a parcel of Mercer’s’ between c1805 and sometime between 1825 and 1842.  Also established above, the plot was in the sole ownership of Ernest George Jones by 1958.  Shortly after this date, a pre-fabricated office and storage facility was constructed on the site for use by Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers. 

The structure was square in shape with a flat, felted roof.  It had a concrete floor and wooden frame covered on the outside of the frame by a sort of fibre board.  Entry into the building was via a door in the southern wall.  As a child in the first half of the 1960’s it was a great ‘climbing frame’ for myself and my younger brother (totally forbidden by our parents!).  Although the building had only been standing for a few years, it was by my youth, in a bad state of repair.   Pieces of the ‘fibre board’ had broken off exposing the timber frame beneath creating a wonderful climbing frame for access onto the roof.  My brother has recently owned-up to punching holes through the roof, which definitely would have added to the building’s demise!  Neither myself nor my brother remember the building having any windows or a door in the doorframe, although it seemed quite light inside but with no electrical supply so perhaps there were window openings or at least gaps in the walls.  The inside of the building was used for storing ‘stuff’.  I particularly remember a lot of old telephones, possibly made of Bakelite, a pre-runner to plastic.  I also remember, at one time, a large cardboard box full of a job-lot of glass urinal bottles! 

By 1967, the Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility had been demolished as it was in such a bad state of repair.  The building was replaced by a caravan, which was later re-located to a site on the Farm complex known as The Birches (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 10/21).  In 1971, another caravan (a wonderful vintage Showman’s style van) was put on the site of the demolished pre-fabricated building, which was used for storage.  Sadly this got vandalised within about 2 years and in 1973 a residential mobile home was set-up on the plot and the site was given the name Clevecote [not to be confused with Clevecote, Imberhorne Lane, (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 10/21)]. 

The loss of the Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility made the third structure to be lost on this part of Holding A in a time frame of about 165 years.  

Stream Place Market Gardens’ Outbuildings (TQ 374 393)& Glasshouses and Outbuilding (TQ 373 394)

(now within the rear gardens of 3 & 4, StreamPark and 20 & 21, StreamPark)

Stream Place Market Gardens’ Outbuildings and Glasshouses follow the same historical lineage as Stream Place Market Gardens’ Bungalow until 1937, after which date plots 1 to 5 and 13 to 19 StreamPark where individually sold at various dates and plots 6 to 12 were purchased by Earnest George Jones in 1958.  

Outbuildings in the rear gardens of 3 & 4, Stream Park

The 1935 sale plan shows a long rectangular outbuilding in the garden of no.4 that measures about 45ft/13.7m by about 15ft/4.6m.  At the northern end of this building there is a small square structure of about 12ft/3.7m by 10ft/3ms, which was in the rear garden of no.3.  Without documentation or local memories to rely on, these two structures could be something to do with the poultry keeping that Fraser Baddeley practised, as established above.  If this is the case both structures should have been constructed shortly after his purchase of the plot in 1919.  Both structures were still standing until at least 1960, and potentially the larger of the two structures appears on the OS map of 1979, although the smaller of the two had disappeared.   

Glasshouses and Outbuildings in the rear gardens of 20 & 21 Stream Park

The 1935 sale plan shows 3 glasshouses and 4 small structures in plot 1 (now nos. 20 and 21 StreamPark).  There is a pair of glasshouses adjacent to one another, the one on the east measures about 15ft/4.6m wide by 95ft/29m long.  The adjacent one on the west measures about 20ft/6.1m wide by 95ft/29m long.  The third glasshouse to the west of glasshouse measures about 15ft/4.6m wide by 95ft/29m long.  To the east and north of the glasshouses are a number of unglazed structures.  It is known that there were boiler houses supplying heat to the glasshouses which may have been any one or more of these structures. 

When compared to a sale plan of 1928, this area by 1935 had already lost 2 small non-glazed structures, one that would have potentially been in the front garden of no. 3 Stream Park measuring about 15ft/4.6m by 12ft/3.7m and a fifth non-glazed structure on the northern boundary of the rear gardens of nos. 20 and 21 Stream Park measuring 9ft/2.7m by about 12ft/3.7m.  

The following description is from a resident who moved to StreamPark in 1937:

… by 1939 they’d done about two thirds of the bungalows round there [StreamPark] and when the war started they had to leave off.  In the garden next to us (no.19) there used to be the underground boilers for the big nursery [Stream Place Market Gardens], with big glasshouses and everything.  For the heating the boilers were dug down into the ground about 12 feet [3.7m] so that you got your boilers low enough to get your water flow to shove [heat] round.  So we knocked the old wooden [Stream Place Market Gardens] bungalow down, brought it down and put it over the old pit where the boilers all were and turned that into an air raid shelter.  To my knowledge it is still there, but covered over.  We boarded it all over, covered it back over with soil and brought it back to being a real garden, so it could well still be down there’. 

From the documented memories of the local resident, it would appear that the boiler house structures above ground were removed just prior to or at the beginning of World War II when they were re-purposed as an air raid shelter to serve the residents of Stream Park.  It is not known when the remaining outbuildings and glasshouses disappeared, possibly during the war years, for safety if nothing else.  What is known is that neither the Stream Place Market Gardens’ Glasshouses or Outbuildings located in the gardens of nos. 20 and 21 StreamPark appear on the 1955 OS map.  

This portion of Stream Place Market Gardens lost a total of 9 structures that were once situated in the gardens of nos. 20 and 21 Stream Park, which, when added to the 2 outbuildings in the gardens of nos. 3 and 4 Stream Park, makes 11 structures lost, plus the wooden bungalow (see above) that served the nurseryman; a total of 12 structures have been lost associated with Stream Place Market Gardens.  

‘Barn and Buildings on Mercers’ (TQ 373 394)

(now within the development known as Standen Close)

A barn appears on the plan of ‘The Harts Hall Estate’ and in the text of the indenture between William Ramsden Price (for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 03/08) of Harts Hall and Charles Henry Gatty of Felbridge Place in 1878.  It is depicted at the northern end of the holding known as Mercers, south of the stream forming the county boundary.  However, the first known mention of the ‘barn and buildings’ is on 7^th October 1735, when Thomas Argles and his wife Elizabeth, surrendered ‘the barn and buildings and land being a parcel of lands called Mercers containing 16a in East Grinstead at a rent of 3s ½d to the use of John Nycolls of East Grinstead, yeoman’ (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.3, JIC/SJC 10/21).  Three years later the death of John Nycolls is recorded in the Imberhorne court records and his will, dated 11^th January 1737, left the property (including the barn and other buildings) to his youngest son Benjamin Nycolls.  However, Benjamin was a minor and his mother Sarah Nycolls was his guardian.  On 15^th October 1761, Benjamin Nycolls and Sarah his wife took out a loan of £150 secured on the property. 

On 27^th October 1821, George Nicholls, yeoman of Worth, surrendered, for the sum of £400, the ‘barn buildings and lands called Mercers containing 16 acres in East Grinstead, at a rent of 3s ½d to the use of William Muckamore (for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 03/08), timber merchant of Felbridge Water, East Grinstead’.  Within 3 months, William Muckamore had sold the ‘barn, buildings and lands called Mercers containing 16 acres in East Grinstead’ together with a moiety of a ‘messuage or tenement known as Harts Hall, alias the Red Lion at Felbridge Water’ to  John Cuthbert Joyner esq (for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05) of Denmark Hill, Lambeth.  By 1864, the Harts Hall Estate including the ‘barn, buildings and lands called Mercers containing 16 acres in East Grinstead’ was in the hands of William Ramsden Price (for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05). 

Although the indenture between William Ramsden Price and Charles Henry Gatty of 1878 refers to barns and buildings, the ‘barn and buildings on Mercers’ are not listed in the East Grinstead tithe apportionment of 1842, nor do they appear on the accompanying map; the site of the barn being in plot, no. 2321, being described as arable in the tithe.  However, with the importance placed upon tithe from arable land not all barns were depicted, particularly so with the East Grinstead tithe, and although the barn plot appears on the 1873 OS map, it does not have a barn depicted within it.   It is therefore assumed that the ‘barn and buildings on Mercers’ had been potentially lost by 1842 but definitely lost by 1873. 

Stern’s Squash Court (centred on TQ 3735 3944)

(now part of the development called The Moorings [not to be confused with the bungalow called The Moorings])

The Squash Court was built by Major Douglas Carter Stern, DSO after he and his wife Elsie, moved from London to Stream Farm (now The Feld), Felbridge, in 1928 (for further information see Handout, Old Felbridge House and The Feld, SJC 02/01).  The site of the Squash Court, being on the west side of the stream, puts the plot of land as part of the Harts Hall Estate (see above), formerly part of Mercers (see above).  The Sterns purchased the site of the old farmhouse and the field to the north of it that bounds the southern bank of the stream at the county boundary, plus the land of Harts Hall on the southern side of the stream that wraps round the back of Stream Park, formerly Stream Place Market Gardens (see above); the house then being named The Stream, now Old Felbridge House (still standing), not to be confused with the bungalow initially called Little Stream that the Stern’s later renamed The Stream (see below).  

As a point of interest, during World War II the Squash Court was temporary home to the 1^st Felbridge Scout Troop after their meeting place, the old coach house at the Felbridge vicarage, sustained damage when three bombs fell in the vicinity of St John’s church on 28^th August 1940 (for further information see Handouts, St John the Divine, SJC 07/02i and Felbridge Scouting Review, 1^st Felbridge Scouts, SJC 01/18).  In later years, Douglas Stern, who was heavily involved with the QueenVictoriaHospital, allowed the doctors to use the Squash Court, free of charge, and later still, pupils from ImberhorneSchool.  After the bungalow called The Moorings (see below) was built, entry to the Squash Court was via a gate from the property.  The Squash Court was also the location where Douglas Stern chose to lay out his possessions on trestle tables and invited friend to join him in his house clearance.  On arrival he gave each person a raffle ticket and when their number was drawn the person could go and choose something they wanted.   

Douglas Stern died on 17^th September 1977 and the Squash Court transferred with subsequent owners of Old Felbridge House (formerly known as The Stream) until the site was re-developed, along with the bungalow called The Moorings (see below) building a new house called Yew Trees, Stream Park, and nos. 3 and 4, The Moorings (the development being an extension of Standen Close) in 1991/2. 

The Moorings (TQ 3736 3944)

(now part of the site of the development called The Moorings)

The bungalow called The Moorings, together with an attached double garage, was built in 1957 by Cyril and Violet Jones, on what had been part of the vegetable garden for The Stream (formerly Stream Farmhouse, now known as Old Felbridge House), which had not been used for several years.  Like the Squash Court (see above), the site of the bungalow known as The Moorings was on the west side of the stream, on the plot of land had been part of Harts Hall Estate (see above), formerly part of Mercers (see above).  

The Jones’ purchased the plot of land from Douglas Stern, who at the time was living at The Stream, the  bungalow they’d originally had built close to the stream at the county boundary, for their chauffeur, originally called Little Stream (see below).  The Moorings was the Jones family home until 1990, when it, like the Squash Court was demolished and replaced by the new house called Yew Trees, Stream Park, and nos. 3 and 4, The Moorings (the development extension of Standen Close) in 1991/2. 

Summary of the Lost Property from the extended part of Holding A

With regards to this extended part of Holding A that encompasses the structure on the ‘parcel of Mercer’s’ Stream Place Market Garden’s Bungalow, Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers’ Office and Storage facility, together with Stream Place Market Gardens’ Outbuildings and Glasshouses, a ‘Barn and Buildings on Mercer’s’, Stern’s Squash Court and The Moorings, a grand total of 17 structures have been lost from these properties, excluding very small structures identified from map evidence.  

Holding B

This Holding was originally part of East Grinstead Common, held by the Borough of East Grinstead and is the continuation on from Thatched Cottage (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21).  Over time, the common land was enclosed and granted out by the Borough. Holding B abuts the east side of Holding A, travels along the west side of Imberhorne Lane to its junction with the main London Road (A22) and continues along the west side of the London Road ending at the stream at the county boundary.  Although some records survive for the Borough of East Grinstead they are sparse from the early 1600’s and disappear at the end of the 1700’s, so it has been difficult to chart the complete history of Holding B.  Unfortunately, only two plots, numbered as 77 and 89 were still common land when it was mapped in 1816.  These then combine and are plot 27 in the 1911 sale plan (above).  These two plots are now the site of the Felbridge Parade.  There is evidence that these plots, along with those heading north to the county boundary, were being recorded outside of the Borough records.  This is highly likely as both the Borough of East Grinstead and the manor of Imberhorne were held by the Sackville family and it is apparent that several Borough properties mistakenly appear in the Imberhorne court books!  The Borough remained with the Sackville family and their heirs until some time between 1888 and the cessation of manorial tenure in 1927. 

In 1842, the East Grinstead Tithe apportionment records that the plot abutting the north of Thatched Cottage (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21), which ran along the west side of Imberhorne Lane to the junction with the main London Road (A22), was plot 2306 (plot 104 on the 1873 OS below) known as ‘Rose Cottage’ (see below), in the ownership of George Lowdell.  This plot along with 2308 and 2309 (plots 102, 101 and 100 on the 1873 OS below) had already left the ownership of the Borough of East Grinstead by 1842, and was subsequently sold by John Saunders to Charles Henry Gatty of Felbridge Place on 24^th December 1862. 

The landholding, extending north from the ‘Rose Cottage’ plot (plots 2307 formerly plot 77 on the 1816 East Grinstead Common map) was in the occupation of William Payne in 1841/3, and owned by Earl de la Warr’s manor of the Borough of East Grinstead.  It would appear that William Payne may have actually been a tenant of George Lowdell.  This is implied by the fact that George’s father, Isaac Lowdell, was named in the Abstract of Title for plots 77 and 89, at their sale between George’s son Sydney Poole Lowell of Baldwins Hill and Charles Henry Gatty of Felbridge Place on 16^th November 1886.  The document starts in 1831 at the death of Isaac Lowdell, who left the land holding to his son George Lowdell (father of Sydney Poole Lowdell).  

It is known that Isaac Lowdell had held an interest in the Felbridge area since the mid 1700’s and had moved to the area in the early 1800’s, having a house called Baldwyns built on Baldwins Hill (for further information see Handout, Builders and Architects of Felbridge, Pt.3, SJC 03/19).  Isaac Lowdell continued to enlarge his interest in the area by acquiring land that was being enclosed off the Commons from the late 1700’s and it is also known that he acquired the area of East Grinstead Common on the east side of the London Road, which now encompasses the site of the Crown Plaza Hotel Felbridge up to Sackville Lane at North End, that was once part of the Borough of East Grinstead. 

The part of Holding B on the west of the London Road continued to be held by the Lowdell family, being enfranchised in sections during the late 1870’s.  Again records are scant, but plots 77 and 89, amounting to 2 rods 35 perch where enfranchised to Sydney Poole Lowdell by Earl de la Warr on 30^th May 1877.  These two plots, together with the remaining land holding on their western and northern sides were sold to Charles Henry Gatty of Felbridge Place on 16^th November 1886.  The 1886 sale used the 1873 Ordnance survey map for the plot numbers so plots 77 and 89 had become plot 103 and part of plot 104 and the remaining land on the western side of the main London Road extending to the county boundary were recorded as plots 102, 101, 100, 75 and 74.  The remaining plot on the south side of the county boundary, plot 2314 on the East Grinstead tithe in 1841/3, became plot 10 by 1911.  This plot was in the ownership and occupation of John Southy in 1841/3 and was sold to Charles Henry Gatty on 29^th September 1879. 

With the purchase of these eight plots, together with the ‘Rose Cottage’ plot, no. 104, the land holding referred to as Holding B extension in this document was under the ownership of Charles Henry Gatty or his heirs until they were purchased by Emma Harvey and the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd who began the break-up and sale of the Felbridge Place estate in 1911 (for further information see Handout, 1911, Sale of Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11).  

Thus the following lost properties were part of the Felbridge Place Estate, under the ownership of the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd, until being sold off at which point the holdings follow different ownerships after being initially purchased by three different people.  The ownership of each property from 1911 will be outlined within each of their sections below.    

Cottage on East Grinstead Common (TQ 3754 3933)

(now part of the road into and car parking area of BridgePark)

The first plot in the extension to Holding B, adjacent to Thatched Cottage (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21), is that on which Rose Cottage was later built.  

The first reference that can be found with regards to this property is in the Imberhorne court records at a period when Earl de la Warr’s Steward appears to mistakenly include Borough entries in the Imberhorne court records.  The entry is dated 17^th September 1695 whereby John Bennett and his heir is being granted ‘a cottage and garden and orchard containing 1 rod in East Grinstead, now in the tenure of the said John, abutting East Grinstead Common on the east and the land of Edward Nichols called Mercers on the west and the cottage and land of John Matthew on the south [Thatched Cottage, (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21)] and the land of John Putland on the north’ at a rent of 5s per annum.  This record confirms that a cottage was standing on the plot from before 1695 as John Bennett is recorded as already holding the tenure.  On 29^th September 1700, John Bennett is recorded as conditionally surrendering the cottage, garden and orchard standing in 1 rod to William Putland, a cutler, of East Grinstead, for the sum of £15 15s.  On 15^th June 1711, the cottage and garden, with the 1 rod, was in the occupation of Joseph Turner, Richard Chantler, Anthony Withers and ‘widow Bannister’ when the property was mortgaged by John Thorpe junior on the death of his father, Jervis Thorpe senior. The last appearance of the property in the Imberhorne court records is in 1730. 

With a lack of early and incomplete Borough records for this area, map evidence is the best option to determine the history of the property from 1730.  The Gardener and Gream map of 1795 and the Draft OS map of 1805 show the cottage just north of Thatched Cottage (further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt. 3 JIC/SJC 10/21).  The cottage still appears in the same position on the Greenwood map of 1825.  The East Grinstead tithe map of 1841 shows the cottage in plot 2306 however, the East Grinstead Tithe map of 1843 (above) shows that plot 2306 had been divided into two plots and the ‘cottage and garden’ was then in 2306a; 2306b described as a meadow.  The tithe apportionment details that the cottage and its land, amounting to 1a 2r 15p consisting of plots 2306 (later 2306a and 2306b) together with plot 2308, was in the ownership of George Lowdell (see above) and the occupation of Carew Saunders (see below).  There had been Saunders (also known as Sanders) in this area of the East Grinstead Common since the censuses of 1821 and 1831 when Thomas Saunders, a cordwainer, was listed as occupying ‘1 house’; the house being home to ‘1 family’ which consisted of ‘3 males and 1 female’ in 1821 and ‘2 males and 2 females’ in 1831. 

Having determined that the cottage was standing in 1821/3, later census records can provide an answer as to who was actually living in the dwelling and in 1841 head of the household of ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’ was Carew Saunders. 

Carew Saunders

Carew Saunders was born 7^th October 1804, the son of Thomas Saunders, a shoe maker, and his wife Jane née Byshe.   Carew’s father Thomas was probably the Thomas Saunders, cordwainer, recorded in the 1821 and 1831 censuses.  Carew was one of at least 7 children including: Thomas born in 1801 (see below), Sarah born in 1802, James born in 1806, Jane born in 1809, Mary born in 1812 and Henry born in 1817; all listed as being born in East Grinstead, potentially at the ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’.  Carew appears to have followed his father’s trade as in 1841 he was listed as a shoe maker.  On 2^nd January 1827, Carew married Susannah Agnes Chart Inkpen, the daughter of William Chart Inkpen and his wife Hanna née Edgar.  Carew and Susannah had at least 13 children, including: Carew born in 1827, William born in 1829, Susannah Agnes born in 1831, Maxwell born in 1833, Philadelphia Jane born in 1834, Sarah (Betsy) born in 1836, Mary born in 1837, Fanny Elizabeth born in 1839, Henry born in 1840, Emily born in 1842, Margaret (Maggie) born in 1844, Thomas born in 1847 and James Edgar born in 1850. 

In 1854, Carew and Susannah Saunders, along with 9 of their children, joined Carew junior and William who had emigrated to America in 1851 (for further information of this part of the Saunders family see Handouts, The Star, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 06/01, Gullege, SJC 03/02, More Biographies of the churchyard of St John the Divine Estate workers of the Gatty Family, SJC 11/03, Eating and Drinking Establishment of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 03/08, Felcot Farm, JIC/SJC05/08, Hedgecourt Watermill and Cottages, SJC 07/04, Felbridge School, SJC 09/05, Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 01/13 and Builders and Architects of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 07/18).  On their departure, or at least by 1861, it would appear that the ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’ was taken over by John Saunders (see below), who in 1861 was listed as a farmer.  The cottage, or at least a cottage in the vicinity, according to the census records was now called Rose Cottage.  

The ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’ does not appear on the OS map of 1873, however, another dwelling appears within the same plot, this property is called ‘Rose Cottage’ (see below) and occupied by John Saunders in the 1851 census.  Sadly there are no known maps of this area between the years of 1841/3 and 1873 so it is not known exactly when the ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’ was demolished.  However, to have another dwelling depicted within the plot but on a different footprint would suggest that John Saunders (see below) was responsible for the demolition of the cottage and the construction of a new the new dwelling.  Thus the ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’, which had stood since before 1695, was the first of several buildings to disappear from this site. 

Rose Cottage (TQ 3757 3934)

(now part of BridgePark)

As established above, the dwelling known as Rose Cottage superseded the ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’, probably built by John Saunders sometime between 1851 and 1861.  

John Saunders

John Saunders had been born in Worth on in February 1825, the son of Thomas Saunders, shoemaker and later publican of the Star Inn, and his wife Jane née Hayward.  Thomas Saunders was the brother of Carew Saunders senior (see above) making John Saunders Carew’s nephew.  Besides John, Thomas and Jane Saunders had two other children including Henry born about 1826 and William born in 1829.  On 11^th November 1848, John Saunders married Sarah Wren, the daughter of Thomas Wren, the Felbridge blacksmith.  John and Sarah had at least 5 children including; Sarah Jane born in 1849, Thomas born in 1850, Ellen Elizabeth born in 1854, Clara Agnues [Agnes] born in 1857 and Henry (Harry) born in 1858. 

John and Sarah remained at Rose Cottage until sometime between 1891 and 1901, moving to The Lodge, Borers Arms, Copthorne, by 1901; John listed as a farmer and gardener.  John eventually died in 1909 aged 84; Sarah died in 1911 aged 84.   

From map evidence of 1873, Rose Cottage was built on a north/south alignment with a chimney stack against the outside of the northern wall.  To the rear, on the southwest of the dwelling, there was a pair of pig sties and to the north of the dwelling a small building.  There was no change to the depiction of the site on the 1895 OS map but the 1910 OS map shows that the pig sties were no longer standing and what was potentially a detached privy had been built to the rear of the southwest side of the dwelling. 

As a point of interest, in 1861 and 1871, Amelia Payne was living in the Saunder’s household at Rose Cottage.  Amelia had been born in Worth in 1829, the daughter of William (a labourer) and Elizabeth Payne.  The census lists Amelia Payne as a school mistress. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to establish whether Amelia actually taught from Rose Cottage, although in the documented memories of Cecilia Carmichael, the grand-daughter of Ormond Meppem (a later resident, see below) it is noted that she had been led to believe that Rose Cottage had been a school at sometime in its history (for further information see Handout, North End School, SJC11/10).  

Unfortunately Rose Cottage does not seem to appear in the census records for 1901 nor does it appear in the sale catalogue or on the accompanying plan, for the break-up of the Felbridge Place Estate in 1911 thus it is likely it had been sold prior to the auction.  However, in the 1911 census, Ormond Edwin Meppem was recorded as living at Rose Cottage. 

Ormond Edwin Meppem

Ormond Edwin Meppem had been born on 29^th December 1856, the son of Edwin Meppem and his wife Eleanor Mary née Smith, of Ewhurst, Sussex, and married Isabella Banister on 23^rd April 1881, at Ewhurst Church. Isabella was born 19^th February 1860, the daughter of Henry Banister and his wife Jane née Gurr; Isabella gave her place of birth as the ‘Railway Station, Salehurst, Ticehurst’. 

Isabella had a son, Earl James Banister, born in March 1876, five years before her marriage of Ormond in 1881.  However, Ormond and Isabella had at least 10 children, including; Ormond Edwin born on 9^th February 1882, Samuel Edgar born on 22^nd January 1884, Hubert John born on 5^th July 1885, Eleanor Bethia born on 30^th October 1887, Bessie Matilda born on 8^th January 1890, Serena Mahalath born on 30^th April 1892, Ada Isabella born on 22^nd May 1894, Sydney Clarence born on 28^th June 1895, Adelaide Isabel born on 15^th January 1898, and Cyril Thomas born on 13^th February 1899.  Of these ten children, only two were lost in early childhood, Ada Isabella died aged three months in 1894 and Cyril Thomas died aged three years in 1902.  The remaining children all reached adulthood and only Sydney Clarence and Adelaide Isabel did not marry.  However, Ormond and Isabella did lose two sons in World War I, Ormond Edwin, who died in June 1917 (see below) and Sydney Clarence, who had not married, and who died in October 1916, in France, aged twenty-one years. 

Ormond Meppem and his family moved from the Battle Abbey estate to the Felbridge Place estate where he was employed as Estate Bailiff, between 1899 and 1908.  They were at first housed at ‘Harts Hall’ (for further information see Handout, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05) Copthorne Road, now the site of Felbridge Court, but purchased ‘Rose Cottage’, Imberhorne Lane, sometime around 1911, at the time of the break-up and sale of the Felbridge Place estate, and were well established at Rose Cottage before the start of World War I.   

Both Ormond and Isabella were heavily involved in the Felbridge community, in particular the allocation of the Beef and Faggot Charity (for further information see Handout, The Beef and Faggot Charity, SJC 03/03) and by 1924, with a grown-up family, Isabella was an ideal candidate to be a founding member of the Felbridge WI (for further information see Handout, Felbridge Women's Institute Celebrates 90 years, SJC 11/14).  As a point of interest, several of Isabella’s descendants have followed in her footsteps and become members of the Felbridge WI, these include: daughter Serena (Mrs Albert Pitt) (see below) and her daughters Jean (Edwina) Pitt (Mrs Cyril Starr) and Barbara Pitt (Mrs Arthur Gill), the latter being secretary before her marriage, and Linda Meppem (later Colwell), the daughter of Isabella’s son Samuel. 

Map evidence shows that Rose Cottage had been extended after 1910 and a photograph of Rose Cottage taken during World War II shows external chimneys on both the north and south end walls of the house and a logia style porch along the front of the building on its east side.  Family members talk of heavy beaming inside and a large bread oven.  The dwelling was set well off the road in extensive grounds, in which were later built a bungalow called The Hawthorns along with a Butchers Premises (see below).  

Isabella Meppem died from Rose Cottage on 16^th July 1942, aged 84, and was buried in the churchyard at St John’s, Felbridge, and on 1^st January 1945, Ormond Edwin Meppem died at ‘The Hawthorns’, Imberhorne Lane, aged 88, although his address was given as Beverly, 5, Sackville Lane, East Grinstead.  

However, shortly after the death of Isabella, Ormond made the decision sell Rose Cottage, it being described in a local newspaper in October 1942 as:

For Sale

Freehold

All main services etc.

Four Bedrooms, Box Room, Breakfast Room and Lounge,

Kitchen, Scullery and Larder

½ acre of land

View any time

Possession by arrangement Meppem, Felbridge

 

The potential purchaser was a Mr Stone who appears in a War Damage Report of 1945 as the owner of Rose Cottage, which was in the occupation of Mr Slater.  However, from documented memories of Meppem descendants, they believe Rose Cottage had been purchased by ‘Mr A Gemmell’.  With the resumption of the Electoral Roll, after the war years, Michael Alexander Gemmell was recorded as residing at Birchwold, Domewood in 1948. 

Between 1951 and 1960, H E Bawden is listed as the occupier of Rose Cottage in the local Telephone Directories.  Harold E Bawden, was a well-known connoisseur of dwarf shrubs and was well acquainted with Frederick and Emma Millard of Camla, Copthorne Road, Felbridge, and the Felbridge photographer Donald Merrett (for further information see Handouts, Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine, SJC 07/02vi and Felbridge Horticultural society, SJC 09/11).  However by 1960, Harold E Bawden had moved from Rose Cottage being succeeded at the property by John R Parker who only lived there for a couple of years.  The last entry for John R Parker is in 1962 and it is around this date that the property known as Rose Cottage was sold for re-development.  The house was demolished and the site, along with that of The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises (see below) was re-developed as a factory unit, occupied initially by Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. Felbridge Laboratories (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 10/21) before being taken on by Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd (see below). 

Thus Rose Cottage was probably built about 1861 and stood for the next 100 years before being demolished between 1963 and 1965. 

 ‘Small Building’ associated with Rose Cottage (TQ 3756 3937)

(now part of BridgePark)

The site of the ‘SmallBuilding’ associated with Rose Cottage later became the site of The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises (see below).    

As established above in 1911, the ‘SmallBuilding’ stood within plot 13, being part of Lot 7 (see above), an amalgamation of land formerly part of Mercers in Holding A.  In 1911, access to the site of the ‘Small Building’ was granted to the owner/tenant of Rose Cottage and this clause would continue to be written in future deeds until at least 1925, although it appears that the same wording may have just been repeated in each new deed.  Lot 7 did not sell in the initial auction but on 4^th December 1911, the plot on which the ‘Small Building’ associated with Rose Cottage stood, together with the adjacent plot (plot 103), plus 2 further plots numbered 28 and 29, formerly part of Mercers (see above), were sold to Talbot Hugh Palmer (see above).  

As established above, Ormond Edwin Meppem senior purchased the Rose Cottage plot around 1911 and, based on the documented memories of members of the Meppem family, it would appear that he had acquired an interest in the site on which the ‘Small Building’ associated with Rose Cottage stood by 1914.  As yet it has not been possible to determine whether the interest was through the purchase of the plot or a lease and eventual purchase of the plot. 

The ‘SmallBuilding’ associated with Rose Cottage was first depicted on the Draft OS map in 1805 and appears on all known maps up until 1911.  However, sometime around 1914 the ‘SmallBuilding’ was demolished to make way for The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises. 

The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises (TQ 3756 3937)

(now part of BridgePark)

As established above, the site of The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises was once the site of a ‘Small Building’ associated with Rose Cottage and, based on the documented memories of members of the Meppem family, a bungalow known as The Hawthorns, together with a Butcher’s Premises, were built for Ormond Edwin Meppem junior at the beginning of World War I. 

Ormond Edwin Meppem junior

In 1914, Ormond Edwin Meppem junior, the eldest child of Ormond Edwin Meppem of Rose Cottage (see above), was aged 32 and working as a butcher.  At the beginning of World War I there was little thought that conscription for all men between the ages of 18 and 41 would be introduced in January 1916.  Thus, a bungalow called The Hawthorns, together with a Butcher’s Premises in which Ormond junior could ply his trade as a butcher, were built, which according to family members, was within the grounds of Rose Cottage.  It has not yet been established when the construction of the bungalow and adjoining butcher’s premises was competed, but on 17^th February 1917, Ormond junior married Lillian Annie Creasey, the daughter of Fred and Salome Creasey, making the bungalow their probable first home.  By 1917, Ormond junior would have been conscripted into war service but it is as yet unclear as to whether he married Lillian before being deployed or whether they married when Ormond was on leave.  What is clear is that Lillian was a widow after only four months of married life, as Ormond was reported missing in action, presumed dead in Belgium, on 15^th June 1917, aged 35 (for further information see Handout, War Memorials of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02v).  As a consequence the Butcher’s Premises did not open as a butcher’s as planned and eventually a succession of different proprietors plied their trade from the premises, from hairdressers to cobblers (for further information see Handout, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt. 2, SJC 05/12).  However, by 1939, Albert Edward Pitt, the son-in-law of Ormond Meppem senior, and his family were residing at The Hawthorns. 

Albert Edward Pitt

Albert Edward Pitt had been born on 18^th June 1896, the son of Albert Edward Pitt, a coach driver (later a chauffeur) and his wife, Sarah Ann née Davis, at Meon-Stoke, Hampshire.  Albert was one of seven children that also included, Edwin born in 1885, Emily born in 1886, Ellen born in 1888, William born in 1891, Edith Lillian Bertha born in 1899 and Bessie Primrose born in 1901.  By 1927 Albert Edward Pitt junior had moved to the Felbridge area where he was working as a chauffeur and on 30^th April 1927 he married Serena Mahalath Meppem, daughter of Ormond and Isabella Meppem (see above), at St John’s church, Felbridge.  Albert and Serena had two children, Edwina J born in 1928 and Edward T (known as Eddie) born in 1930. 

By 1939, the Pitt family were living at The Hawthorns and in 1945 Serena’s father Ormond Meppem died from The Hawthorns.  Albert was still living at The Hawthorns when he died, aged 64, in 1962, and shortly after his death, the Pitt family sold The Hawthorns, at the same time that Mr and Mrs Parker sold Rose Cottage, for re-development. 

By 1965, The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises, together with Rose Cottage, had been demolished and replaced by a factory unit occupied initially by Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. Felbridge Laboratories (for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 10/21).  However, by the mid 1970’s the unit had been taken over by Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd. 

Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd (TQ 3758 3935)

(now part of BridgePark)

Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd, a medical equipment manufacturers, operated from the former site of Rose Cottage and The Hawthorns until they moved the Birches Industrial Estate in 2010/11 at which time the factory unit was demolished.  The plot remained empty until the beginning of 2012 when construction work was begun on BridgePark, an out-of-town retail development.    

Today the site of Trek Diagnostics Systems Ltd, formerly the site of Rose Cottage, The Hawthorns and the Butcher’s Premises built for Ormond Meppem junior, together with the former site of Sargeants Workshops (see below) form the site of Bridge Park, home to Wickes DIY and Pets at Home with associated parking, unloading/storage area and roadway into the out-of-town retail development. 

Thus, 6 properties have been lost on the site that was formerly associated with Rose Cottage, a ‘cottage on the Common’, Rose Cottage its self, a ‘Small Building’ associated with Rose Cottage, The Hawthorns and Butcher’s Premises, and the industrial unit that was home to Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd (formerly occupied by Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. Felbridge Laboratories). 

Sargents Engineering Workshop (TQ 3754 3937)

(now part of the site known as BridgePark)

The later site of Sargents Engineering Workshop was within plot 13 when it was sold by the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd  in 1911 to Talbot Hugh Palmer (see above).  In 1919 the site was leased to Fraser George Baddeley who operated Stream Place Market Gardens (see above).  On 9^th June 1925, Talbot Hugh Palmer sold plots 27 and part of plot 13, an area amounting to about 5 acres, to Catherine Emma Caroline Lovell and on 6^th September 1926, it would appear that Catherine Lovell sold the land to Dorothy Booth of 221, Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale, London. 

In 1931, Dorothy Booth, then of 38, Shoot-up-Hill, Cricklewood, London, paid the sum of £25 to have covenants removed from plots 13 and 27 that would enable her to build shops and business premises fronting the London Road and to allow the easterly portion of the land, having a frontage of 150 feet, to be used for the business of a manufacturer of portable buildings and woodworking.  Thus by 1935 a row of shops known as Felbridge Parade had been constructed (for further information see Handout, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt.2, SJC 05/12).  It would appear that no building was constructed for a manufacturer of portable buildings and woodworking as the 1936 OS map shows that the site of Sargents Engineering Workshop, by then plot 27a1, amounting to .83 of an acre, at the rear of the shops on Felbridge Parade, remained undeveloped. 

Unfortunately it has not yet been possible to determine the history of the site between 1936 and the late 1940’s but it is known that in 1951, after the sale of their successful coach business, the company known as Sargents of East Grinstead, founded by Henry James Sargent (see below), moved to the site off London Road, behind Felbridge Parade, the new site offering them larger premises than those at 32, Cantelupe Road, East Grinstead, from where they had been operating.  The site at the rear of Felbridge Parade offered them enough room to expand their existing motor repair and engine reconditioning businesses whereby they would collect worn engines from garages throughout Sussex and Kent, put them through their machine shop and return them as reconditioned units.  

Henry James Sargent

Henry James Sargent, known as Harry, was born in Tonbridge, Kent, on 20^th October 1872, the son of Alfred William Sargent and his wife Hannah née Budgen.  In 1895 Henry married Janet McCubbin Currie, born in 1871, at all Souls, Hampstead.  Henry and Janet had seven children including; Winifred Jane (Winnie) born in 1895 who sadly died in 1900, Alfred Henry James (Fred) born on 26^th February 1897, Isabella Constance (Belle) born in 1899, Eleanor Victoria (Nellie) born on 11^th April 1901, Arthur Neal (Neil) born on 22^nd December 1903, Percy McKenzie (Kenzie) on 22^nd May 1906 and Janet Marjorie Currie (Marnie) born on 6^th March. 

In 1919, Henry James Sargent, a mechanic by trade, his wife Janet and their eldest son Alfred, who had just returned from World War I, started a car hire service known as Ye Dorset Hotel Garage, operating from the Dorset Hotel in the High Street, East Grinstead.  By about 1925, the business had expanded to include repairs, car sales (being a main dealer for Trojan Cars), car hire and taxi-cabs, before moving into motor coach hire.  In 1929, the Sargent family established the East Grinstead Motor Coaches with a two-bus service operating between East Grinstead and Brighton.  This must have grown quite substantially as in July 1937, the Sargent family, operating as East Grinstead Motor Coaches, sold off their business of Stage Carriage Service of East Grinstead - West Hoathly - Sharpthorne to Southdown Motor Services Ltd and in February and April 1938 sold off more of the business to them. 

In 1939, because the company had increased in size and scope, it changed its name from East Grinstead Motor Coaches to Sargents of East Grinstead and by 1945 had established new premises at 32, Cantelupe Road, East Grinstead.  In the early post war years the company became one of the major coach operators in Sussex and their distinctive red and green livery was well known throughout the area.  By the early 1950’s Sargents of East Grinstead were operating numerous coach tours and bus services, but with ever increasing competition from the big nationals, they decided to sell the coach business and remaining bus routes and on 22^nd February 1951, they reluctantly sold the bus and coach side of the business to Southdown Motor Services Ltd. 

Around 1951, Sargents moved to a new site behind Felbridge Parade.  It is known that in 1951 they sold their premises at 32, Cantelupe Road, East Grinstead to Southdown Motor Services Ltd but it is as yet unclear whether they had already invested in the Felbridge site before the sale or whether the sale of the Cantelupe Road premises prompted the move to Felbridge. 

In 1951, Sargents also moved into car sales with an Austin main dealership and in 1954 they started a long association with Simca, becoming one of the first British dealers for the French made car, as Distributors for Sussex.  By 1955, Sargents of East Grinstead Ltd, having established the large Engineering Workshop at Felbridge Parade, where coach and bus engines were reconditioned, expanded into car and bodywork repairs.  The remainder of the freehold site was developed to include a car show-room (now the site of Day Lewis Pharmacy) and petrol pumps (now the site of the BP Garage).  

Sargents Engineering Workshop, on the new premises, initially consisted of a large rectangular building aligned northeast-southwest, which, from an early photograph, would have been large enough to accommodate four coaches in two rows of two.  It had a gabled roof with a large board affixed to the north eastern gable sign written with ‘Sargents of East Grinstead’.  A later photograph shows that the building was brick built with two large double doors on the northeast end of the building under the sign and six large windows along the northwest wall.  It had at least one window and a large roller shutter door in the southeast wall.  In 1977, a steel framed building was erected to the northeast of the main workshop, ‘described as a pre-fabricated waiting bay’.  This appears to be a rectangular in shape with walls of corrugated steel under a gabled roof of corrugated steel panels alternating with translucent plastic panels to allow light into the building.  A contemporary photograph also shows a small single storey building had also been constructed adjacent to the ‘waiting bay’.  

Sargents operated from their site at Felbridge Parade for 28 years but within a year of celebrating the company’s Diamond Jubilee in 1979, they sold the site to West Kent Motors, who operated as Felbridge Motors Company (Parade Works).   In 1982, Sargents Engineering Workshop and waiting bay was demolished and two new units, orientated northwest-southeast, were erected in their place.  Also, sometime during this period, the petrol pumps had become the BP Garage, which is still operating.  

By 2004, the site at the Felbridge Parade was later taken over by Sidlow Garages (East Grinstead) Ltd who retained it until they ceased trading in 2007.  When Sidlow Garages (East Grinstead) Ltd moved out, the car show-room became a retail unit that now houses Day Lewis Pharmacy. 

The site on which Sargents Engineering Workshop and the later replacement buildings of Felbridge Motors Company (Parade Works) was re-developed as the loading bay/storage area for Wickes DIY Store, at Bridge Park in 2013.  Thus this plot lost a total of 5 buildings during its ownership by Sargents of East Grinstead Ltd in 1951 and Sidlow Garages (East Grinstead) Ltd in 2007. 

Blue House (TQ 3746 3944)

(now part of the site of occupied by Felwater Court)

In 1841/3, Blue House was sited in plot 2311, against the northern boundary of plot 2312 on the East Grinstead Tithe map, being part of a holding, including plots 2310 and 2312, in the ownership of George Lowdell (see above) held of Earl de la Warr as part of the Borough of East Grinstead.  The East Grinstead tithe of 1842 lists the holding in the occupation of William Payne, although the census records of 1841 lists the occupants as either Edmund Coomber and/or William Heasman (see below).  On 16^th November 1886, the plot was sold by Syndey Poole Lowdell (son of George Lowdell) to Charles Henry Gatty of Felbridge Place.  In 1911, the site of Blue House was put up for auction as part of Lot 7 - Stream Farm (see above), being purchased by Talbot Hugh Palmer, who in turn sold the plot to Catherine Emma Caroline Lovell in 1926 (see above), who in turn sold it to Major Thomas Stewart Inglis (see above and below) on 5^th September 1927 after which it became the site of the Olde Felbridge Kitchen Garden, Glasshouses and Stables (see below). 

With regards to the dwelling known as Blue House, the cottage only appears in the census records between 1841 and 1881, gone by 1891.  It is generally described as being on ‘East Grinstead Common’ or ‘Felbridge’, except for 1871 when it is named as Blue House.  However, between 1841 and 1881, the dwelling always falls between the sites referred to in this document as ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’ Rose Cottage plot (see above) and Stream Farm plot (see below).  During these years, two households are recorded in the vicinity.  In 1841, it is Edmund Coomber and William Heasman (for further information see Woods Cottages in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, SJC 07/18).  In 1851, Edmund Coomber and George Creasey (for further information see Handout, Oak Farm, SJC/SJC 01/13 and 18, Imberhorne Lane in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.3, JIC/SJC 10/21).  In 1861, Edmund Coomber and one ‘un-occupied house’.  In 1871, Edmund Coomber and widow, Fanny Elphick (for further information see Handout, Ann’s Orchard, SJC 05/01) and 1881, Mary Coomber (Edmund’s widow) and one dwelling left blank, implying it was un-occupied.  It would therefore seem that the Coomber family lived at Blue House from at least 1841 until 1881. 

Edmund Coomber

Edmund Coomber had been born in East Grinstead in about 1805, the son of Edward Coomber and his wife Sarah née Brooker.  Edmund was one of at least three children of Edward and Sarah, the other two being Edward Hayward born about 1827 and William born about 1837.  On 12^th November 1831, Edmund married Mary Pilbeam at St Nicholas church, Godstone.  Mary had been born in Vauxhall, Middlesex, in about 1812, the daughter of James Pilbeam and his wife Anne née Turner.  Edmund and Mary had at least seven children, including: Anna born about 1832 who married James Hunt (for further information see Thatched Cottage in Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.3, JIC/SJC 10/21), Harriet born about 1834, William born about 1836, Edmund born in 1837, Sarah born in 1845, Charles born in 1850 and Thomas born in 1853.  

It would appear that Edmund senior worked as an agricultural labourer for the duration of his working life and died in 1874, aged 69, being buried at St John’s church, Felbridge on 26^th June 1874.  Mary continued to live at Blue House and is recorded as still living the in 1881 with her youngest son Thomas.  However, she died from North End, in 1884, aged 72, and was buried at St John’s church, on 26^th April 1884.  

Although there would appear to be two dwellings in the vicinity of Blue House for the two households that appear in the census records, map evidence shows that there was only one structure on the site from 1795, which in 1841/3 was depicted as being an ‘L’ shape, with no other structures between it and Rose Cottage if heading south or Stream Farmhouse (later known as The Stream and now as Old Felbridge House) if heading north.  For the building, which has a substantial footprint from map evidence, to have dual occupancy would imply that the dwelling had once held a higher status and that by 1841 it had fallen in status, which may borne out by the occupations of the heads of households being given as agricultural labourers or, in Mary’s case, a laundress.  Also for the property to disappear from the records and maps by 1891, it would suggest that it had probably been demolished between 1881 and 1891, also indicative of an older property that was potentially in a poor state of repair.  Sadly with no established date of construction or known descriptions or images of the house, we will never know. 

Olde Felbridge Kitchen Garden, Glasshouses and Stables (centred on TQ 3746 3944)

(now the site of Felwater Court)

The site of the Olde Felbridge Kitchen Garden, Glasshouses and Stables encompassed plots 2310, 2311 and 2312 of the East Grinstead Tithe map of 1841/3.  The holding incorporated the site of Blue House (see above) and as such was originally part of East Grinstead Common, held of the Borough of East Grinstead, therefore following the same course of ownership as that of the Blue House until 1937/8 when Major Thomas Stewart Inglis sold the plot (now the site of Felwater Court and the bungalow called Touchwood) to Douglas Stern (see above and below).  The piece of land was adjacent to Stern’s property The Stream (formerly Stream Farmhouse, now Old Felbridge House and the site of The Feld).  The purchase of the land gave Douglas Stern access to the rear of his grounds at The Stream (now Old Felbridge House) from the recently constructed roadway of StreamPark (Handout, Felbridge Scouting Review, 1^st Felbridge Scouts, SJC 01/18). 

From documented memories of one of the Stern’s gardeners, Major Inglis (for further information see Handouts, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. 1, SJC 05/07 and Felbridge Remembers their WWI Heroes, Pt. 3, JIC/SJC 07/17) had the Glasshouse built on the plot, which was used for growing flowers for the rooms of the Olde Felbridge Hotel (now the Crowne Plaza, Felbridge); the hotel being under the ownership Major Thomas Stewart Inglis at the time.   The gardener also thought that Major Inglis had the Stables built but it has not yet been possible to determine why they were built.  A possible theory is that they may have been used to stable horses for recreational use by guests staying at the hotel.  However, from map evidence the Stables do not appear until sometime between 1936 and 1955, during Douglas Stern’s ownership. 

After the purchase of the 2 acre plot, which included the Kitchen Garden, Glasshouse and possible Stables, the gardener recalls that Douglas Stern continued to use the Kitchen Garden and Glasshouse for growing produce, whilst the Stables were used as a potting shed.  However, as World War II arrived, most of the Stern’s workforce disappeared and the Kitchen Garden, Glasshouse and Stables were neglected.  After the war, Len Emblem, who would have become the Head Gardener, returned to find the Glasshouse and Stables derelict.  Needless to say he declined the post, saying, in his own words, ‘They could not afford to pay me what I wanted’ to return the Kitchen Garden, Glasshouse and Stables back to their former glory.  Shortly after this, the Olde Felbridge Hotel acquired the plot back, as well as Old Felbridge House, which was used as an annexe to the hotel; a new access was created to it through the wall, now the roadway into The Feld (prior to that access to Stern’s property had been from an entrance further north, now the roadway into Standen Close). 

It has not yet been possible to determine when the Olde Felbridge Hotel released their interest in the site of the Kitchen Garden, Glasshouse and Stables but from the early 1960’s the plot returned to a state of dereliction.  However, this allowed for several ‘site visits’ by local residents, together with descriptions of the structures.  The Glasshouse was a large structure, not a mere greenhouse, although it had very little glass left by the 1960’s.  It was set a short distance back from the London Road (A22) in a fairly central position on the plot on a northeast/northwest alignment.  The Stables-come-Potting Shed were set further back on the plot on a northwest/southeast alignment, lying parallel to the 1^st Felbridge Scout Hut (see below).  The positioning of the Stables would suggest that they were actually built after the Scout Hut had been erected and therefore not before 1947, but by 1955.  The Stables were made of wood, double skinned and consisted of four stalls.  A fascinating observation was that between the double skin walls were secreted numerous small animal bones! 

The site lay empty and un-used for many years before the Glasshouse and Stables were eventually demolished and the plot re-developed as Felwater Court in 1984/85. 

1^st Felbridge Scout Hut (TQ3744 3940)

(now the site of the bungalow called Touchwood, StreamPark)

At the end of World War II, the Felbridge Scout Troop was looking for a new Headquarters and in 1947, aided by a generous committee member, Helen Elizabeth Stollery of St Aubyns, Baldwins Hill, East Grinstead, the Troop purchased an ex-searchlight hut from the army camp at Baldwins Hill in East Grinstead.  Douglas Stern (see above and below) leased, for a ‘peppercorn rent’, a plot of land on what had formerly been the site of the Olde Felbridge Kitchen Garden, Glasshouse and Stables (see above) and the Troop and its Leaders erected the hut under the guidance of local builder, Bert Pope; access being off the Stream Park roadway.  The wooden building was elevated above the ground surface on short brick-built pillars and was approximately 60ft/18.3m long, aligned north/south and 20ft/6.1m wide.  

The large black wooden hut was to remain the 1^st Felbridge Scout Headquarters until 1989, by which time it had become quite dilapidated and the decision was taken to demolish it (for further information see Handout, Felbridge Scouting Review, 1^st Felbridge Scouts, SJC 01/18, FHWS).  Today, the house called Touchwood sits on the footprint of the old Scout Hut. 

Little Stream later The Stream (TQ 3733 3057)

(now the site of 9 & 10 Standen Close)

The Stream, formerly known as Little Stream, was built in 1938, as a small bungalow by Douglas Carter Stern (see above) of The Stream (now Old Felbridge House), for his chauffeur.  It stood on the southern side of the stream at the county boundary on land that had once been part of a freehold property owned by Miss Lucy Farmer until she sold it to William Southy on 21^st September 1811.  The property then passed down the Southy family until it was sold by John Southy to Charles Henry Gatty of Felbridge place on 29^th September 1879, at the time consisting of a ‘freehold messuage [later called Stream Farmhouse] and land’.  The sale plan shows the farmhouse in the same position as now occupied by Old Felbridge House and a building to its north (described as a ‘shed’ in the 1842 tithe apportionment), roughly on the site of Stable Cottage today.  The site of the bungalow known as The Stream is to the north of the ‘shed’ and is an open field in 1879. 

The site of bungalow known as The Stream was still open land, amounting to 1.377 acres of pasture (part of plot 11), when it was put up for auction as part of Lot 6 – Harts Hall (for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt.3, SJC/JIC 03/08) by the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd in 1911.  Lot 6 appears not to have sold in 1911 and a second attempt was made in 1914.  Unfortunately it has not yet been possible to determine when the field on which the bungalow called The Stream was eventually built was initially sold, but in 1928 it was purchased, along with land to its west, on the western side of the stream and therefore part of Mercers (see above), Stream Farmhouse and land its south, by Douglas Carter Stern. 

As established above, the small bungalow was initially built to house the chauffeur and was called Little Stream.  However, during World War II, Douglas Stern and his wife Elsie, moved out of the ‘big house’ (The Stream, now Old Felbridge House) into the bungalow.  At the end of the war the Sterns decided to remain in the bungalow in preference to moving back to the ‘big house’, by then known as Old Felbridge House.  They renamed Little Stream as The Stream and had the bungalow extended to suit their needs. 

In 1990/91 the bungalow known as The Stream was demolished and the site, along with land including an assortment of small structures dotted over it, was developed by Scandia Hus as Standen Close, a cul-de-sac of large detached family houses with gardens. 

Summary of the Lost Property from the extended part of Holding B

With regards to this extended part of Holding B that encompasses the structures of ‘Cottage on East Grinstead Common’, Rose Cottage, ‘Barn associated with Rose Cottage’, The Hawthorns & Butcher’s Premises,Treck Diagnostics Systems Ltd, Sargents Engineering Workshops and replacement workshops, Blue House, Old Felbridge Kitchen Garden, Glasshouse and Stables, 1^st Felbridge Scout Hut and Little Stream later The Stream, with an assortment of sheds dotted over the grounds, a grand total of 15 structures have been lost from these properties.  

Summary of the Lost Property from extended Holdings A and B

In all a total of at least 32 structures have been lost. 

Bibliography

Structure on a parcel of Mercers

Barn and Buildings on Mercers

1^st Felbridge Scout Hut

Handout, Felbridge Scouting Review, 1^st Felbridge Scouts, SJC 01/18, FHWS

Little Stream later The Stream