Stone Cottage

The Stone Cottage

 

The Stone Cottage is situated in the parish of Tandridge, on the southern side of Kennel Lane at its junction with the London Road (A22) in Felbridge.  This document sets out to investigate the history of the site on which The Stone Cottage stands and the development of the house, along with the people associated with the property.


Early Records

The site of The Stone Cottage was once part of a freehold property known as Boxers, held of the manor of Byshe Court.  There are few surviving records or documents associated with the manor of Byshe Court but in a rental dating to 1686 Boxers, along with a property known as Tanners, was recorded as owned by Ann Filkes (deceased) in the occupation of Widow Worger.  At that date Boxers was described as ‘a messuage and land’, however, the message referred to was not The Stone Cottage but the dwelling house (now demolished) that went with what later became known as Wards Farm.  Sadly with no surviving court books for the manor of Byshe  Court for this period there is nothing to help identify the origin of the name Boxers (possibly referring to the name of a former owner of the property) or who Widow Worger was. Ann Filkes could be the widow of Robert Filkes of Godstone who died in 1660 and was buried at East Grinstead Church or Ann Filkes their daughter who was born in 1626 and for whom no marriage has been identified.  It is not until the 18th century that further evidence is found that refers to the site of The Stone Cottage.

 

18th Century

The next reference to the site of The Stone Cottage can be found on the Magnus Deo map dating to sometime about 1720 which shows the land abutting the main London road (now the A22) through Felbridge as ‘Thomas Ward’s land’.   However, there is no reference to the site on the Bourd map dating to 1748 which was commissioned by Edward Evelyn to depict his newly formed estate of Felbridge incorporating the manor of Hedgecourt, which he had purchased from the Gage family, together with the house and lands in Felbridge that he had purchased from his brother William in 1719 [for further information see Handout, The Commonplace Book of Colonel Edward Evelyn, JIC/SJC 09/07].   One reason for the lack of depiction or a named landholder is because the site fell outside the Felbridge estate in 1748, although the site of The Stone Cottage would eventually be incorporated within the estate by the late 1700’s (see below).

 

The next reference to the site of The Stone Cottage is found on the Shaws and Hodgehorne map dating to 1760’s.  This map has no depiction of a building in the vicinity of the property but does have ‘Land belonging to Mr Geo. Ward’ written along the south side of the track leading to Hodgehorne (now the line of Kennel Lane), but, like the Magnus Deo and Bourd maps, the site of The Stone Cottage falls outside of the Shaws and Hodgehorne holding and therefore there was little interest in recording great detail.  However, it is evident from these maps that the site of The Stone Cottage was held by the Ward family and that sometime between 1720 and the 1760’s passed from Thomas to George Ward.

 

Ward family

The Ward family was a prominent family that originated from West Grinstead, Sussex, whose pedigree can be traced back to the early 16th century.  Thomas Ward, who gave his name to the area on which The Stone Cottage stands, was born in 1663 in Cuckfield, Sussex, the son of George Ward and his second wife, Mary.  George Ward had previously married Elizabeth Lintott and they had had two sons, John born about 1648 and George born in 1650.  Sadly Elizabeth died shortly after the birth of their second son and George married Mary (surname not established) and they had at least six children including; Richard born in 1653, Edward born in 1654, Mary born in 1656, Susan (date of birth not established) and Jane born in 1661.

 

Thomas Ward married Elizabeth Baker and they had at least four children, James, Richard, Edward and George.  There is no surviving baptism record for James or Edward, Richard was baptised in Horne in 1692, but unfortunately the only baptismal record found for George shows him being baptised in Godstone on 21st April 1718 ‘as a young man’.  Based on the available records the assumption is that both George and James were born, probably in the Horne area, at the end of the 1600’s or the beginning of the 1700’s, a period where there is a gap in the surviving Horne records and that the Ward family had moved to the parish of Godstone area by 1718 when George was baptised.  However, Thomas Ward was recorded as the overseer for the poor of Godstone in 1710 which could also imply the Ward family were already living in the Godstone area before George’s baptism there.  Little is known about the lives of James or Richard other than James married Ann Anscomb in East Grinstead on 5th February 1731/32 and that he died from Champions, West Grinstead, between 1775 and 1777, and Richard married Mary (surname not known) and settled as a Husbandman [a tenant farmer who cultivates land] in Croydon, Surrey.

 

It has not been possible to establish when Thomas Ward died but in 1730 his son George was recorded as owning the freehold of ‘Boyers (Boxers) and Tanners’ in the Terrier and Quit Rental list for the manor of Byshe  Court, implying that Thomas may have died by this date and that George had succeeded to the property.

 

George Ward married Mary Muring in Edenbridge, Kent, on 15th June 1725 and they had a daughter Mary who was also baptised in Godstone on 18th December 1728, implying the family were in residence somewhere in the area.  George married for a second time in 1756, his second marriage was to a widow, Sarah Bonwick née Butcher, on 17th August 1756 in Godstone, but there are no records of any children from this marriage.

 

The 1756 marriage license records that George Ward was a widower and that he had abided in Nutfield for ‘6 months’, on that basis he must have moved from the Felbridge area in February 1756.  This would suggest that George Ward and his family may have been residing at the house associated with the land holding known as Boxers that eventually took the Ward family name and which today is known as Wards Farm before moving from the Felbridge area to Nutfield.  Sadly the house associated with Boxers no longer stands, lost sometime between 1855 and 1861 (based on map evidence and census records).  At the date of the license it also recorded George Ward as a ‘Gent. of Nutfield’ and in later in 1760, when he made his will, he was described as a ‘Yeoman [freeman owning his farm as opposed to a tenant farmer] of Nutfield and before that of Tandridge’.  At the time of George’s death in 1767, his will granted his messuage in Nutfield and his farm in Tandridge to his grandson Thomas Marshall. The farm in Tandridge, now known as Wards Farm, also included all associated appurtenances (including the site of The Stone Cottage) that at the time of his death was ‘in the occupation of James Evelyn, esquire’, the son and heir of Edward (see above) who had inherited the Felbridge estate on the death of his father in 1751.

 

Thomas Marshall was the son of George’s daughter Mary who had married William Marshall in Burstow, Surrey, on 11th June 1749.  Mary and William would appear to have had just one surviving child, Thomas, baptised in Tandridge on 29th April 1756.  Sadly Mary died either at child birth or very shortly after as William married a second time in 1758.  This marriage was to Ann Steadman in Cuckfield, Sussex, on 2nd February 1758.  Ann Steadman had been born in 1691/2, the daughter of Richard Steadman and his wife Jane née Ward (one of Mary’s father’s aunts). William Marshall seems to have been frowned upon in some way as the will of James Ward (brother of George) grants inheritances to William’s wife Ann née Steadman but specifically excludes William from having anything to do with the monies.

 

It is not known exactly when the Marshall family relinquished their interest in Wards Farm but there is evidence that by the late 1770’s Thomas Marshall, by then a Yeoman of Ashurst, Sussex, had accrued some fairly substantial debts.  One such debt amounted to the sum of £1400 and is mentioned in a sale of some of Thomas’ land in 1778 which was made to clear the debt, so it is possible that the Felbridge property was also sold about this time to clear mounting debts, although there are no surviving records to support this theory.

 

The only surviving record for the descent of the Marshall property in Tandridge (The Stone Cottage and Wards Farm) is the rental for the manor of Byshe Court, this records that in 1770 Thomas Marshall holds Tanners and Boyers and in a slightly later hand is written that he sells it to Mr Lowdell.  We can again pick up the trail of the property in 1780 when the land tax records that James Evelyn was still in the occupation of the Ward property in Felbridge and it was in the ownership of ‘Mr Loudell’ [Lowdell] paying £3 4/- tax.

Loudell/Lowdell family

The first member of the Loudell/Lowdell family to have connections with the Felbridge area was Isaac Lowdell who was a surgeon and originated from the Brighton area.  Isaac was born in New Shoreham, Sussex, on 23rd November 1750, the son of George Lowdell and his first wife Ann née Morcom/Malcom.  Isaac’s other siblings include: Ann born on 10th July 1744, George born on 20th February 1745, Elizabeth born on 11th May 1748 and Joseph Coventry born on 11th April 1753.  In about 1809 Isaac Lowdell increased his land holding in the area with the purchase of a plot of land now called Mutton Hill in Lingfield together with eighty-eight acres of land off Baldwins Hill where he built a large house called Baldwyns.  Isaac never married but adopted two children, of one nothing is known but the other was called Jessamine.  Isaac died on 18th February 1831 and his unsigned will was proved on 18th July 1831 leaving his estate to his adopted daughter Jessamine and her husband George Lowdell, one of Issac’s nephews.

 

Isaac Lowdell’s estate, including Baldwins, would travel down this line of the family to Sydney Poole Lowdell [for further information see Handout, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt. II, SJC 05/12] and the family would give its name to several roads in the East Grinstead area.  Eventually much of the Lowdell land holding in the area would be purchased by Charles Gatty and incorporated as part of the Felbridge estate.

 

Returning to Isaac Lowdell, the Rental records for the manor of Byshe  Court show that Mr Lowdell sold Boxers to James Evelyn in 1789.  The property was incorporated as part of the Felbridge estate and it is around this date that a building was built on the site of The Stone Cottage as it is depicted on the Carey map of 1790.  The most likely reason for its construction would be to house workers for the ever growing Felbridge estate.

 

Referring back to the Land Tax records the family that was in the occupation of Boxers during the late 18th and early 19th century (by then consisting of land, the old farmhouse and the building on the site of The Stone Cottage) was the Paine/Payne family, as James Paine is recorded in occupation between 1795 and 1798 and Samuel Payne between 1799 and 1802.  In this case being recorded in occupation is most likely to mean that they were working the landholding and it is not possible to determine if they actually lived in the old farmhouse or the new building.

 

Structure and development

It is fortunate that several photographs exist of the property taken between 1900 and 1911 showing a completely different building to the one we see today.  Based on the old photographs, details recorded in 1985 and a survey of the current structure it is possible to speculate on the development of the building since its construction.

 

The building is aligned roughly north south with the main road laying to the west of the property.  The façade is well cut henpecked Wealden freestone blocks which were quarried mainly from the south and south east of East Grinstead.  The blocks are laid in diminishing courses with lime mortar.  There are scars just about visible on the stonework and in particular at the foundation stones for two doorways with porches that were on the front face of the building in a photograph taken in 1911.

 

The lower windows in the front elevation are three lights wide and have a square arch hood drip moulding; the upper windows are the same size and are dormer style with a hipped roof above them.  The 1911 photograph shows that the upper windows were two lights wide and were located in gables with a square arch hood drip moulding.

 

There is a modern stone chimney on the north end, a central stack rising to the east of the ridge and a southern stack also rising east of the ridge.  An additional bay has been added to the south end which is brick built and then clad in stone to carefully match the original frontage, this bay has the main entrance in the southern elevation.

 

The rear elevation has a modern extension at the north end which abuts a two storey rear facewing that is stone built but only coursed with roughly shaped blocks.  This facewing is centred to the central stack. The windows in the facewing are all two lights wide with no hood moulding.  At the south east corner of the facewing is a well with a drawing pump.  South of the facewing is a brick single storey room which projects south of the original extent of the stone structure.  This room also has a small hearth and stack.

 

The roof is tiled, the tiles on the front elevation are held in place by nails in the peg holes whilst the tiles on the rear elevations have been replaced recently, however in 1985 it was recorded that they were held in place by wooden pegs.

 

The roof structure is iron king-rod with timber raking struts supporting side purlins.  The king-rod connects the centre of the tiebeam with the ridge which has a ridgeboard.  The raking struts have a wedge of wood on the upper face at the ends to provide additional support for the purlin.  There are a few principle rafters in situ, these are not diminished and have a notch for the purlin.  The position of the tiebeams and principle rafters is unrelated to the division of the building below the roof with one tiebeam to the north and south of the central stack.  The rear facewing has a single king-rod and tiebeam on the line of its junction with the rear wall of the main building.

 

The rear elevation purlin is cut off at the facewing with no support to the cut end. The front elevation purlin is in two pieces which abut level with the central stack and have a block of wood nailed to them which is then supported with a raking strut from the central stack.

 

The central stack was constructed in two phases with thin bricks (7⅜in x 3¼in x 1¾in) in the west part of the stack which is truncated at the height of the purlins and would have risen through the centre of the ridge.  A mixture of modern and thin bricks form the east half of the stack and continue to rise through the roof east of the ridge.  The stack rising through the ridge is visible in the 1911 photograph and is shown to have four flues.

 

There is a mixture of timber in the roof with the rear purlin and the tiebeams of the main building being a grey coloured close grained softwood.  The rear rafters have mostly been replaced but a few older timbers remain but these are orange coloured softwood similar in appearance to the rafters and purlins on the front elevation.  The two rafters to the west of the central stack which are similarly coloured are cut off where the central stack would originally have risen through the roof.  There are no grey coloured timbers in the rear facewing.  The timber associated with the dormer windows in the front elevation is also a different colour and size from all the other timbers in the roof.

 

The ground floor of the rear facewing is divided into two rooms with fireplaces positioned across the corners; these contain two identical hob plate cast iron hearths in a late 18th century design. The decorated backplate is partially obscured in the stack.  The central stack contains back to back hearths which have been covered over; this stack is positioned west of the centreline of the roof.  The wall between the main dwelling and the bay that has been added to the south also contains back to back fireplaces but the thickness of the wall implies that this is a later insertion on the north side.  The single storey room south of the rear facewing also contains a hearth on the north wall.  The rooms on the first floor of the facewing also contain hearths across the corners which are now in the passage that has been formed along the east side of the house.  The central stack has original hearths for both bedrooms.  There is an exterior window in the ground floor rear wall of the house that looks into the single storey room on the rear elevation.  Directly above this window on the first floor is another window that has been rotated but is still partially obscured by the roof of the single storey room.

 

Discussion

It would appear that the building was constructed as a pair of cottages with two rooms on the ground and first floor in each half of the property.  This is supported by the fact that the central chimney is located towards the front of the house, positioning the hearths central in the end walls of the ground floor rooms with the east side of the ground floor divided off to add space into the rooms within the facewing and also to provide a location for the staircases.  If the facewing had been a later addition to a single dwelling then the space east of the central stack could have contained a single staircase, but the facewing would have provided very small rooms (10ft x 6ft) without the rooms extending into the main building.

 

The facewing rooms would have been heated and the presence of two identical late 18th century hob grates indicates that they were probably installed in these rooms when they were first built.  They could have originally been positioned diagonally across the corners as this can be found in buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries.  They must have been repositioned as part of the backplate design has been obscured, they must have had their own stack as the central stack only had four flues in 1911 which served the fireplaces in the front rooms on the ground and first floors on both sides, leaving no spare flues for the four hearths in the rear facewing.  The 1911 photograph shows no chimney stack immediately east of the central stack, therefore the hearths must have been nearer the rear wall of the facewing for the stack not to be visible.

 

The ground floor rooms of the facewing probably contained the kitchen for each cottage with the well conveniently located just outside this room.

 

The use of an iron king-rod roof structure is consistent with an 18th century date and it seems unlikely that the roof would have been replaced within 100 years of construction.  The few grey coloured timbers being the only survival of the original roof timbers but they are parts of the king-rod principle frames which would be very difficult to remove and replace without removing the entire roof.  However most of the normal rafters were replaced during the retiling that has taken place recently on the rear elevation.

 

The use of gabled dormer windows dates from the second half of the 18th century.  The only inconsistent dating element is the size of the bricks used for the central chimney stack which are a 17th century thickness and could have come from a demolished earlier building or made locally in a size that would normally date to an earlier period.

 

The single storey room on the rear was added in the early 19th century causing the windows in the rear wall of the main building to be obscured.  Map evidence also shows that there was a separate building behind the rear facewing spanning the division between the cottages; this was probably an earth closet and washhouse block for each cottage.

 

The major remodelling of the property occurred in the early 20th century and was completed between 1911 and 1926.  This included the construction of the stone stack at the north of the property, truncating the central stack and repositioning the flues from the diagonal hearths to rise through the stack repositioned behind the central ridge.  A further stack was added at the southern end of the original building along with the construction of an additional bay at this end.  The pair of doorways on the front elevation into the cottages were removed and the main entrance was positioned into the newly added bay.  The front gables were also removed and the hipped dormers inserted.  The front elevation was also retiled as the whole elevation has one tile colour with no distinction where the front gables have been removed and the hipped dormers inserted or where the bay has been added to the southern end.  It would also appear that a brick single storey extension was added to the north end of the rear elevation, this was replaced after 1985 with a two storey extension on a similar footprint.

 

19th Century

Following on from Samuel Payne, Samuel Rutley is recorded in the Land Tax records as occupying the property between 1804 and 1815.  Samuel Rutley was succeeded as the occupier of the property in the Land Tax records in 1816 by James Woodman until 1832 when he was succeeded by William Stenning but like the Paine/Payne family it has not been possible to determine if they occupied the old farmhouse or the pair of stone cottages.  However, William Stenning occupied large swaths of the Felbridge estate and it is unlikely that he actually occupied the holding let alone the pair of stone cottages.  William Stenning continued to occupy the property until its sale (known as Wards Farm) as part of the Felbridge estate in 1855 (see below).  It is most likely that the pair of cottages that became The Stone Cottage was sub-let whilst in the tenure of the James and Samuel Paine/Payne, Samuel Rutley, James Woodman and William Stenning and it has not yet been possible to determine who actually resided in them. It is not until the census records of 1841 that any potential occupants can be identified.

 

The names associated with the Wards Farm area, and thus potential occupiers of The Stone Cottage appear in the 1841 census and include, Edward Turner, John Howard and William Mitchell, and their respective families.  However, all three are listed as living at ‘Wards’ and from map evidence The Stone Cottage (at this date a pair of cottages) was only one of two structures on the site, the other being the old farmhouse for Wards Farm, formerly Boxers.  All three men are listed as agricultural labourers implying they were all of equal status and probably working on Wards Farm.  The name ‘Wards’ had obviously been significantly strong to have replaced ‘Boxers’ and still be in use from the mid 1700’s when Thomas and then his son George Ward owned the property.  The fact that it was and is still known as ‘Wards’ also implies that George’s grandson Thomas Marshall had no impact upon the name, probably because he was not well known to the local inhabitants of Felbridge, and as already established, he probably did not reside there and had, shortly after inheriting it, sold the property to Mr Lowdell, who turn sold it to James Evelyn in 1789.

 

The sequence in which the census was enumerated may suggest that the farmhouse was visited first as it appears as the next property on from Hodgehorn Farm (now the site of the Old Surrey Burstow and West Kent Kennels), in which case Edward Turner and his family were in the occupation of the old farmhouse, with John Howard and William Mitchell occupying what became The Stone Cottage.  There is evidence to suggest that Edward Turner had connections with the Felbridge area as early as 1793 as he was granted an annuity in the will of James Evelyn on his death on 11th July 1793, implying that he had had connections with the Evelyn family and the estate of Felbridge prior to 1793 to even be considered eligible to receive an annuity.  He is also listed in 1801 as paying tithe to the Felbridge Estate.

 

John Howard

John Howard was born in Horne, Surrey, in about 1801, and married Philadelphia Payne on 2nd September 1822 in Horne (no connection yet made between Philadelphia and James or Samuel Paine/Payne of the late 1700’s) .  John and Philadelphia had at least nine children including, Hannah born in 1823, Ann born in 1828, James born in 1831, Edward born in 1834, William born in 1836, Ellen born in 1841, Thomas born in 1844, Sophia born in 1844, and Mary Ann born in 1847, all born in Surrey.

 

Between 1823 and 1828 John Howard was working as a labourer in Horne at the baptisms of his first two children.  By 1841 the Howard family had moved to Wards, where John was working as an agricultural labourer, and where at least four of his children were born.  However, by 1851 the Howard family had left Wards Farm and had moved to the Effingham area of Hedgecourt Common before moving to Cherry Tree Farm Cottage on Froggit Heath by 1861 [for further information see Handout, Clayton’s Ancient Enclosure of Froggit Heath, JIC/SJC 05/10]

 

William Mitchell

William Mitchell was born about 1806 in East Grinstead, and married Susannah Argent (known as Susan) on 3rd February 1811.  William and Susan had at least eight children including William born about 1833, Susan born about 1835, Henry born about 1837, Mary Ann born in 1840, Albert born in 1845, Emma born about 1849, Jane born in 1852 and Ann born about 1857.  The first six children are recorded variously as being born either in East Grinstead or Surrey, and the last two in Kent.

 

William Mitchell and his family were living at Wards by 1841 although he was living in the area from at least the time of his marriage in 1832.  William was working as an agricultural labourer in 1841, an occupation he kept for the rest of his working life.  However, the Mitchell family had moved from the area sometime between 1845 and 1849, and were living in Edenbridge by 1851.

 

Edward Turner

Edward Turner [2] was baptised in Lingfield, Surrey, on 9th June 1765 and was one of at least five children of Edward Turner [1] and his wife Charity née Clark.  Edward Turner [1] had married Charity in Fleet Prison, London, on 2nd October 1753.  It should be noted that neither were imprisoned at the time of their marriage but Fleet Prison had a long tradition of offering a venue for couples wishing to get married quickly and away from their home parish, although the Marriage Act of 1753, which came into force on 25th March 1754, put a stop to the ‘Fleet Marriage’ requiring that banns should be published or a license obtained and that the marriage should be solemnised in church by a recognised clergyman.  As a consequence the act had the effect of putting a stop to quick marriages in England, thereafter couples travelled to Gretna Green in Scotland, the village being the nearest point outside England for a quick ‘no questions asked marriage’.

 

The siblings of Edward Turner [2] include Elizabeth born in 1755, Mary born in 1757, Sarah born in 1759 and Anne born in 1762, all baptised in Lingfield.  It is Edward Turner [2] who is the most likely candidate to be paying the tithe in the Evelyn Felbridge estate records as he would have been aged about thirty-six in 1801.

 

On the 1st October 1792, Edward Turner [2] married Jane Humphrey in Godstone, and they had at least five children, Ann born in 1795, Jane born in 1796, Edward [3] born in 1798, Elizabeth born in 1799 and Sarah born in 1802, all baptised in East Grinstead.

 

As already established, in 1841 one of the properties in the vicinity of Wards was in the occupation of Edward Turner [2] and his son Edward [3] and his family.  Edward [2] was a widower, his wife Jane having died in 1832, and the family of Edward [3] consisted of his wife Eliza Isted whom he had married in Godstone in on 13th September 1830 and three of their eventual eight children.  Edward [3] and Eliza’s children include Hannah born in about 1830, Jane born in 1834, Edward [4] born in 1840, William born in 1842, Anne born in 1845, John born in 1848, Eliza born in 1850 and Caroline born in 1853, the census records their births to be all in Tandridge except Caroline who was born in Godstone, although recorded baptisms are to found in East Grinstead and Tandridge.

 

From the census records it is clear that by 1851, neither John Howard or William Mitchell were residing in the vicinity of Wards Farm, the only occupant being Edward Turner and his son Edward and his family living at what was described as ‘Felbridge’ in the census.  A theory, in the absence of documentation, is that Edward Turner had been living in the old farmhouse at Wards in 1841 but had moved to the pair of cottages by 1846 as he was recorded as ‘owner/occupier’ of the property in the Tandridge tithe (see below).  A possible reason for the move is that although the farmhouse is recorded in the sales particulars for the Felbridge estate in 1855 (see below) it does not obviously appear in the census records after 1861 or on any map after 1856, implying that at some point in time (date not yet established) the building was demolished.

 

The Tandridge tithe map and apportionment of 1846 confirm that the property on the site of The Stone Cottage, situated in plot 16 consisting of a house and garden set in 35perch (just short of a quarter of an acre), was in the ownership and occupation of Edward Turner.  This would imply that the cottage and surrounding garden were the freehold of Edward Turner and had been split off from the original ‘Wards land’ holding at some date prior to 1846 as the adjacent lands, farmhouse and offices of Wards Farm were recorded in the ownership of the Earl of Liverpool (a descendant of the Evelyn family) being in the occupation of William Stenning.  However, it is known that the freehold of site of The Stone Cottages was still held by descendants of the Evelyn family when it was put up for sale as part of Wards Farm in 1855 so it would appear that the tithe apportionment scribe may have got it wrong.  The tithe does however imply that if Edward Turner had been living in the old farmhouse at Wards Farm, he and his associated family must have moved to the pair of stone cottages between 1841 and 1846.

 

Edward Turner [2] died in 1856 and by 1861 his son Edward and family had moved to one of the cottages in the small hamlet that once existed on Hedgecourt Common in the vicinity of the current Sports and Recreation Ground in Felbridge (two properties on from Gulledge Cottage in the census records).  The Turner family’s move was probably associated with the fact that the cottage was actually still part of the Wards Farm complex and it appeared as plot 16, part of Wards Farm, in the Felbridge Park sale catalogue on 18th May 1855 when descendents of the Evelyn family put the Felbridge estate up for auction:

WARD’S FARM,

IN THE PARISH OF TANDRIDGE.

TITHE FREE.

 

It comprises a FARM COTTAGE, with Garden and Yard, a new Slated Cow house, Hop Oast, and a Stable (Stone and Slated) with Cooling Rom over; a small Barn and Cow Shed, Piggeries, Old Shed, and Chaff House,

 

In the occupation of Mr. Wm. Stenning,

 

And comprising about 38 ACRES,

Distinguished thus:-

No. on Plan

Description

State

Quantity

7

Sawpit Field

Arable

06. 02. 26

8

Long Mead

Pasture

05. 00. 35

9

Cherry Crop

Hops

09. 02. 34

10

Ward’s Wood

Wood

05. 02. 02

11

Four Acres

Arable

05. 00. 06

12

Hedge Horn

Hops

04. 00. 08

13

Stack Plat

Pasture

01. 00. 21

14

Orchard

Orchard

00. 01. 08

15

House and Buildings

ditto

00. 00. 20

16

Cottage

ditto

00. 00. 18

Total

 

 

37. 03 18

 

Wards Farm was put up for auction as part of Lot 1 which included; the mansion house and domain lands, the Star Inn, Park Farm (the Home Farm to Felbridge estate), Woodcock Mill and Farm, Hedgecourt Mill and lands, Newchapel and Raby’s Farm, Hedgecourt Manor Farm, Woodcock Forge, part of Smithfield Farm, the woodlands amounting to 486 acres and the waters of Felbridge including Furnace Pond, Hedgecourt Pond and the Wire Pond.  As can be seen from the sale particulars Wards Farm was in the occupation of William Stenning at the time of the auction, a name that appears in the Tandridge Land Tax records since 1783 and as Benjamin Stenning from the beginning of the records, although it is known that the Stenning family also held land further north in the Newchapel area[for further information see Handouts Harts Hall SJC 07/05, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. II JIC/SJC 03/08 and Pt. IV SJC 03/10, and North End School, SJC 11/10], and further south in Felbridge at Smithfields Farm off the Crawley Down Road, now part of the disused Felbridge Nurseries site [see Handouts, Little Gibbshaven SJC 07/08 and Professor Furneaux and the Penlees of Felbridge, SJC 03/09].

 

Lot 1, together with several other Lots, were purchased by George Gatty of Crowhurst, Sussex, and William Stenning appears to have continued to occupy Wards Farm.  However, the cottage formerly occupied by the Turner family was in the joint occupancy of Benjamin Jupp and his family and Allen Hobbs and his family by 1861, the property was known as Wards Cottages implying that the structure was operating as a pair of cottages in 1855.

 

Benjamin Jupp

Benjamin Jupp was born in 1826 in Oxted, Surrey, and was living in what was then called Felbridge Cottages, working as a gardener on the Felbridge estate around the time of the arrival of the Gatty family, although is has not yet been established whether he joined the Gatty workforce or was already working at the Felbridge estate before its purchase by George Gatty in 1856.  In 1861 Benjamin married Elizabeth Wood and they had at least one son, Ernest who was born 1863.

 

Benjamin was joined by his son Ernest at Felbridge Place, Ernest also working as a gardener.  It would appear that Ernest never married and sadly died at the age of thirty-three being buried at St John’s, Felbridge, on 29th December 1896, in plot D4.37.  He was joined by his father Benjamin less than three months later when he died at the age of seventy-one.  Elizabeth Jupp stayed on in ‘Felbridge Cottage’ and when Charles Henry Gatty died in 1903, she received an annuity of £40, suggesting that the Jupp family service to the Gatty family had been much appreciated over the years.

 

Elizabeth Jupp was still occupying one of the cottages at the time of the break up and sale of the Felbridge Place estate in May 1911 (see below) and remained in the cottage for a further six months until her death, at the age of eighty-three, being buried at St John’s, Felbridge [for further information see Handout, More Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC 11/03].  Elizabeth was succeeded at the cottage by Ernest Thomas Dearling (see below).

 

Allen Hobbs

Allen Hobbs was born in Acrise, Kent, in 1822, one of at least eight children of Richard and Mary Hobbs.  Richard was a shoemaker by trade but most of his male children appear to have become agricultural labourers.  Allen’s siblings include Mary born in 1802, William Weston born in 1808, Richard born in 1810, Franklyn and Thornbury born in 1812, Anne born in 1815 and John born in 1818, all in or close to Acrise.

 

In 1841 Allen was working, along with several of his brothers as an agricultural labourer, and was still living at home.  By 1851 he had moved home and occupation and was working as a groom for Charles Chapman, the Rector of Acrise, and living as part of the Chapman household at Acrise Rectory, and in 1854 Allen married Elizabeth Ann Hollett, also of Kent.  Allen and Elizabeth had five children, George Franklin born in 1855, Allen Richard born in 1857, Bertha Elizabeth born in 1859, Elizabeth Mary born in 1860 and Emily M born in 1866, the first two baptised in Godstone, the second two in Tandridge and the last in Elam, Kent.  Based on the places of baptism it would appear that the Hobbs family had moved to the Felbridge area by 1855.

 

In 1861 Allen Hobbs and his family were living at Wards Cottages (now The Stone Cottage), from where Allen was working as a coachman for the Gatty family at Felbridge Park.  However, within ten years the family had moved from the Felbridge area and were living in Swingfield, Kent, where Allen was working as a brewer’s agent, being succeeded at Wards Cottages, sometime between 1861 and 1871, by Thomas and Clara Bird.

 

Thomas Bird

Thomas Bird was born in 1832 in Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire, and he and his wife Clara Ann moved to the cottage next door to Benjamin and Elizabeth Jupp sometime between 1861 and 1871, succeeding Allen Hobbs and his family, the pair of cottages by then known as Felbridge Cottages.

 

Thomas worked for the Gatty family at Felbridge Park, initially recorded as a domestic servant, although this may have been as coachman replacing Allen Hobbs, because in 1881 Thomas was recorded as a coachman, domestic servant [for further information see Handout, More Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC 11/03].  Thomas Bird died in 1889, and was buried at St John’s, Felbridge, on 24th April, at the relatively young age of fifty-eight.  Clara would appear to have moved back to Essex from where she originated and died there in 1892, aged just fifty-eight, the Bird’s being succeeded at Felbridge Cottages by Frederick Rose and his family.

 

Frederick Rose

Frederick William Rose was born at Eaton Square, London, in about 1858, the son of Frederick Rose and his second wife Ann née Carr.  Frederick senior’s first wife Mary née Clark had died in 1846 three years after the birth of their daughter Mary.  Frederick re-married in Lewisham, Kent, on 28th September 1851.  Frederick William’s siblings include: Emily born about 1853, Ellen born about 1854, Arthur born in 1859, Anne born about 1862 and Alfred A born about 1865, not one child born or baptised in the same parish.

 

By 1851 Frederick senior was working as a drayman and living in Bexley but by the time of his marriage in September 1851 he was working as a drayman living in Lewisham.  In 1861 he had become a domestic coachman and he and his family were living in Northaw, Hertfordshire, and although still a domestic coachman in 1871 he and some of his family had moved to Stanton Fitzwarren, Wiltshire.  Finally Frederick senior becomes a cab proprietor in Hampstead.

 

As for son Frederick William, he too spent most of his working life in and around horses.  Having been born in 1858 in London, by 1861 Frederick was living with his half sister Mary and sister Ellen at North Mimms, Hertfordshire, where Mary was working as a housekeeper.  By 1871 Frederick was back with his parents and family, working as a groom.  By 1881 he had left the family and had moved to Pimlico, London, where he was working as a cab driver and boarding at 62, Carlisle Street.  On 15th November 1884 Frederick married Edith Jane Dunn at St Saviours, Paddington, the couple living at 45, Elgin Terrace, Paddington.

 

Frederick and Jane had at least seven children including Frederick A born about 1886, Harold Albert born in 1887, Herbert Reginald born in 1890, William Archibald (known as Archibald) born in 1892, Leslie Walter born in 1894, Leonard born in 1897 and Constance May born in 1900.  The first child was born in Shepherds Bush, the second and third in Paddington and the remaining four in Felbridge.  From the birth registrations of the children and census records it would imply that the Rose family moved to Felbridge in late 1890 or early 1891 as they are living in Wards Farm Cottage in the 1891 census, Frederick working as a domestic coachman for the Gatty family, owners of Felbridge Park.

 

Frederick continued to work for the Gatty family and live at Wards Farm Cottage with his family until sometime between 1901and 1911 when he had moved back to the London area living at 20, Hawthorn Road, Willesden Green, working as a bus driver, and where Herbert, Archibald and Leslie were respectively working as shop assistants in the local fish mongers or butchers.

 

20th Century

The beginning of the 20th century saw long term resident Elizabeth Jupp and the Rose family in occupation of the pair of cottages that in the 1901 census were simply called Felbridge.  However, by 1911 the Rose family had been succeeded by Ernest Willitt and his mother Harriet, the cottages known as Wards Farm Cottages.

 

Ernest Willett

Ernest Willitt was born in Hellinglye, Sussex, in 1886, on of two children of Edward William Willitt and his wife Harriett Eunice née Smith.  Ernest’s brother was Victor born in Croydon in 1887.  From the census records Harriett and her two sons spent little time with her husband Edward as in 1891 they were living with her parents at White Thorn, Waldron, Harriett recorded as married and an assistant at home.  By 1901 Harriett and her sons were living at Scallow Bridge Hill Cottage, East Hoathly, Harriett recorded as a widow and a plain needlewoman.  Ernest was recorded as a houseboy, domestic, and Victor as a farm boy.  In 1911 Ernest and Harriett were living at Wards Farm Cottage, Felbridge, and Victor was boarding in Merstham, Surrey, both Ernest and Victor working as cowmen.

 

By the census of 1911 the Felbridge Park estate had been sold by descendants of the Gatty family to Mrs Emma Harvey and was about to be put up for auction [for further information see Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11].  Ernest does not appear in the sale particulars which only refer to Mrs Jupp in the neighbouring cottage.  Ernest Willitt married Ellen E Irish in the Godstone registration district and they had their first child; Ernest also registered in Godstone in 1912.  Later the Willitt family settled in the Reigate area as their further three children were all registered there, Victor born in 1914, and after what was probably service in the First World War, twins Nellie and Vera in 1920.

 

As for the pair of cottages, then known as Ward’s Cottages, they were put up for auction on 25th May 1911 as part of Lot 23, Wards Farm, the cottages described thus:

 

PAIR of STONE-BUILT COTTAGES

with slate roofs, lying well back from the road.  Each containing 3 Bedrooms (two with fireplaces), Living Room, Small Kitchen with range.  One of the Cottages has a Wash-house or Laundry with copper.  Pair of timber and tiled Wood Lodges.  Two E.C.’s.

 

Good Gardens back and front             Well of water and Pump for joint use

Water is laid on to the Buildings.

 

SCHEDULE

No. on Plan

Description

Area
 

PARISH OF TANDRIDGE

  

469

Arable

06.360

470

Arable

04.985

471

Arable

08.618

472

Homestead, & c

01.962

473 (part)

Pasture

02.748

475

Arable

05.358
 

PARISH OF GODSTONE

  

229

Cottages, garden &c

00.063
   

30.094

One cottage is occupied by Widow Jupp, who is bedridden, and the Vendor has agreed to allow her to occupy the cottage for the remainder of her life provided the rent of 4/- per week is paid, and the remainder of the Lot is let to Mr. J. SPRULES, whose tenancy expires at Michaelmas next, when possession may be had.

 

This Lot occupied a very convenient situation with good frontage to the East Grinstead to Godstone Road, and should particularly appeal to anyone desirous of acquiring a Pleasure Farm or small Residential Property in a fine situation, within easy reach of town and station.

 

The commuted Tithes apportioned for the purpose of Sale to this Lot is £1.  Present value, 14/-

The Shooting Rights until February 1st, 1912, over this Lot are reserved.

 

As can be seen from the sales particulars, Elizabeth Jupp was still occupying one of the cottages in May 1911 with the remainder of the Lot, ie: the other cottage and the land that formed Wards Farm, in the tenancy of J Sprules until the end of September 1911.  However, at the time of the sale J [John] Sprules was living in a property off Woodcock Hill, Ernest Willitt was still occupying one of the cottages and Elizabeth Jupp did not live alone as living with her was Thomas Dearling and his family.  Elizabeth Jupp, died later in 1911 at the age of eight-three and was buried with his husband on 9th November, at St John’s, Felbridge, and Thomas Dearling took over her property and, according to the Electoral Roll, remained there until at least 1915.  As for Ernest Willitt, he continued to live in the other cottage until 1914, and Thomas Wheeler lived at 1, Stone Cottage with the Dearling family in 1913 and 1914, probably as a lodger.

 

Thomas Dearling

Thomas William Dearling was born in 1863 the son of William Dearling and his wife Catherine née Huggett.  Thomas’s siblings included: Mary Ann born in 1855, Katherine born in 1857, Fanny Matilda born in 1866 and Annie born in 1869.

 

The Dearling family had been living in the Felbridge area since at least the mid 1700’s and Thomas also continued in the family tradition of working as a farm labourer in the Felbridge area.  In fact the adjacent property on Woodcock Hill to the pair of stone cottages was known as ‘Dearling’s Cottage’ and was used as a marker in the beating of the bounds of Godstone and Tandridge in 1794.

 

Thomas Wheeler

Thomas Wheeler was born in 1857, one of at least eight children of George and Dinah Wheeler [for further information see Handout, Wiremill, SJC 03/06].  Thomas’s siblings included Michael George and William baptised in 1866, George born in 1848, Anna and Ellen born in 1850, Lucy born in 1855 and Emily Ada born in 1869, all baptised at Felbridge.   Thomas married Besty Susannah Baldwin on 2nd June 1889 and they had three children, Frederick George born in 1890 [for further information see Handout, War Memorials of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02v], Charles born in 1891 [for further information see Handouts The Pattenden family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01 and Shopping in Felbridge Pt. I, SJC 07/10] and Emily Ellen born in 1895.

 

Thomas Wheeler spent his life working on the land and died in 1938 at the age of seventy-two from 4, Rowplatt Lane, Felbridge, being buried at St John’s, Felbridge.

 

John Sprules

John Sprules was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, in 1860, the son of James Sprules and his wife Mary Ann née Waite.  James was an agricultural labourer and he and Mary Ann had at least four children, Hester born about 1851, Gilbert born about 1854, Sidney born about 1856 and John born in 1860.  In 1861 the Sprules family were living at West Overton, Wiltshire, and by 1871 John was working as a plough-boy.  However, James Sprules died in 1872 and by 1881 the Sprules family had moved to Rainscombe, Wiltshire, where John was working as an agricultural labourer.

 

John Sprules married Louisa Catherine Abert in Hungerford, in 1890 and they did not have a family.  By 1891 the couple had left Wiltshire and were living at the Keeper’s Cottage, Priory Park, Tandridge, John working as a game keeper, they were still there in 1901 but by 1911 had moved to a property off Woodcock Hill in Felbridge, John Sprules recorded as the tenant of Wards Farm.  In 1904 John was recorded as the licensee of the Star Inn [for further information see Handout, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. II JIC/SJC 03/08] so they must have moved to Felbridge sometime between 1901 and 1904.

 

John Sprules and his wife eventually moved into one of the stone cottages, remaining there until about 1915, before moving back to Hungerford where he died at the age of fifty-seven in 1917.  Louisa lived on till 1939 when she died at the age of eighty-six at Kingsclere, Hampshire.

 

By 1918, Wards Farm was in the occupation of William Henry Martin, although it has not yet be established as to whether he had purchased the property or was a tenant but from this date there is some evidence to suggest that more dwelling houses were appearing at the farm complex making it difficult to ascertain who was living in the pair of original stone cottages.

 

It has traditionally been believed by Felbridge local residents that Wards Farm was purchased by Henry Willis Rudd in 1916 when he bought a large portion of the Felbridge estate, [for further details see Handouts, Newchapel House, JIC/SJC 11/02, Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 011/02 and Lutyens’ Grand Design for Felbridge, SJC 07/03].  Also it was believed that the Rudd’s were responsible for the renovation work carried out on the farm together with the construction of several buildings in Felbridge designed by Edwin Lutyens and the renovation of several other properties on the estate.  There is a potential that Lutyens was involved in the remodelling of The Stone Cottage as he was working in Felbridge at the time but there is no hard evidence to prove this either way.

 

The problem with extensive rebuilding and remodelling at Wards Farm is that the dwellings were all given names including ‘Ward’ producing Wards Farm, Wards Cottage, Wards Farm Cottage etc, etc.  Thus in 1918 there is recorded the death of Winifred Mary Page, aged four, of Wards Cottage, who was buried at St John’s, Felbridge.  In 1920 William Henry Martin and Annie his wife are still listed at Wards Farm, but there is also a James and Sarah Ann Mills of Wards Farm, and in 1923 Frederick and Miriam Webb were recorded as occupying Wards Farm Cottage, with Miriam’s death recorded of ‘the Cottage, Wards Farm’, in 1936.

 

William Henry Martin

William Henry Martin was born about 1848 in Greenwich and married Annie and they had two sons Wilfred born in 1876 and Percy born in 1880.  In 1911 the family was living at London Road, Woodford, Essex, where William was a manager of an India Rubber Manufacturers, Wilfred was a professor of music and Percy was a mercantile clerk.  It is most likely that William Henry Martin purchased Wards Farm between 1911 and 1918, in which case it is less likely that he purchased it from the Rudd’s as they did not sell their estate until 1924, therefore he probably purchased it from the East Grinstead Estate Company.  A photograph taken in 1926 shows that the remodelling of the two cottages into one larger single property must have taken place several years earlier by the size of the plants in front of where the two entrance porches had previously stood.

 

In 1925 Cecil and Ida Bradley were recorded as living at Wards Farm Cottage whilst Wards Farm was in the ownership and occupation of Allen Strudwick and his family.  By this date it seems likely that The Stone Cottage was a separate property having been split off from Wards Farm; William Martin being the last person to own both properties.

 

Cecil Bradley

Cecil Frank Bradley was born in Waltham on Thames, Surrey, in 1875, the son of Frederick Bradley and his wife Anne. Frederick was a solicitor and Anne had four children Percy Robert born 1871, Anne E born about 1873, Cecil born in 1875 and Ernest born about 1880. In 1891 the family were living at 11, Arundel Gardens, Kensington.

 

Cecil Bradley married Ida Chasemore in Richmond in 1909.  In 1911 Cecil and Ida were living with her widowed mother Emma Louisa Chasemore at Orchard Mount, Cheam Road, Richmond.  Cecil is recorded as being a ‘Commercial Traveller (Whisky)’ which means that he was a salesman for a whisky producer or distributor.  Cecil and Ida are recorded in the 1925 Electoral Roll at Wards Farm Cottage and had left by 1930.

 

It is not until 1931 that the name ‘Stone Cottage’ appears in any records referring to the pair of old stone cottages, by then a single dwelling, in the occupation of Emma Temple Fox-Bourne.

 

Emma Temple Fox-Bourne

Emma Temple Fox-Bourne was born in 1863 the daughter of Henry Richard Fox Bourne and Emma Deane née Bleckley.  Emma’s siblings included Henry Beckley born in 1865 and Walter Fox born in 1868.

 

Emma’s father Henry was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1837 but was educated on his return to England in 1848 at London University later becoming an assistant clerk at the War Office.   Described as an author and campaigner for the rights of indigenous peoples he wrote for several periodicals and was the owner of the periodical - Examiner between 1870 and 1873 and editor of Weekly Dispatch between 1876 and 1887.  Thereafter he devoted his time to the work of the Aborigines Protection Society and wrote several articles and books bringing the cruel treatment of native races and slave traffic to the public’s attention as well as being the auditor/book keeper for the Philanthropic Society.  Other members of the Bourne family who worked for the abolition of slavery and the rights of indigenous peoples include Henry’s father Stephen who was the Special Magistrate to Jamaica and Rev. George Bourne (Stephen’s cousin) who was born in Wiltshire but who emigrated to New York where he campaigned against slavery until his death in 1845.

 

In 1881 the Bourne family were living at 8, Queen Anne’s Grove, Acton (London W4), Henry recorded as a journalist and his daughter Emma as an art student.  Emma must have been a reasonable artist as she was a member of the New English Art Club, an organisation founded in London in 1895 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy, and records show she exhibited at least one painting called Sunny Garden in 1899.

 

By 1891 the family had moved to 41, Priory Road, Chiswick, Middlesex, Henry listing himself as an author and journalist whilst sons Henry and Walter were respectively working as an electrical engineer and an electrician.  By 1901 both sons had left home and Henry, Emma and daughter Emma were living at Wilfords Road, St Albans. Hertfordshire, Henry working as auditor/ book keeper for the Philanthropic Society.

 

Henry died in 1909 in Newton Abbot, Devon, and by 1911 Emma and her daughter Emma were living at Albany House, Caterham Valley, Surrey, along with son Henry who was by then the director and secretary of an India Rubber company.  After the death of Henry Richard Fox Bourn, both Emma and her mother were politically active in the struggle for women’s rights being members of the Women’s Freedom League and Women’s Tax- Resistance League, protesting regularly between 1912 and 1913.

 

The Women’s Freedom League had been founded in 1907 by seventy members of the Women’s Social and Political Union after a disagreement with Christabel Pankhurst.  The League was opposed to violence opting for non-violent forms of protest such as non-payment of taxes, refusing to complete census returns forms and organising demonstrations including members chaining themselves to objects in the houses of Parliament.  Its voice was The Vote, a newspaper that campaigned for women’s suffrage and sexual equality, and both Emma and her mother appear in its pages referred to as ‘well known members of the League’.

 

Emma’s mother died in 1926 and three years later, on 2nd July 1929, Emma announced in The London Gazette:

Notice is hereby given that EMMA TEMPLE FOX-BOURNE, of North Lodge, Felbridge Park, East Grinstead, in the county of Sussex, a natural born British subject, lately called Emma Temple Bourne, has assumed and intends henceforth upon all occasions and at all times to sign and use and to be called and known by the surname of Fox-Bourne in lieu of and in substitution for her former surname of Bourne, and that such intended change of name formally declared and evidenced by a deed poll under her hand and seal dated 20th day of June 1929, duly executed and attested and enrolled in the Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature on the 28th day of June 1929.

 

From this article it is apparent that Emma had moved from Caterham Valley to Felbridge by 1929, possibly shortly after the death of her mother and from the Electoral Roll it is known that by 1930 she had moved to Stone Cottage.  It is from the son of new owner of Wards Farm that we get a short description of Miss Emma Fox-Bourne: ‘She was a real lady, a single lady, and had two staff.  Her butler used to come and buy eggs from my father at the farm.  When Miss Fox-Bourne went out she was ‘dressed up’ and wore a fur collar with a clasp’.

 

Emma Temple Fox-Bourne died on 24th December 1943 leaving an estate worth just short of £15,000 which she left to her cousin Wilfrid Augusta Ranulph Bourne, son of her uncle James Johnstone Bourne.

 

Recent owners of The Stone Cottage

After the death of Emma Fox-Bourne Stone Cottage was purchased by Charles G Gadd who lived at the property with his wife Jessie and son Gilbert.  The Gadd’s appear as residents of Stone Cottage until 1954 when they were succeeded by two elderly sisters, Alice Margaret and Emily Ethelwyn Flower (there was possibly a third sister but this has not yet been confirmed).

 

The two Flower sisters originated from Wangford, Suffolk; Alice born in 1880 and Emily in 1882.  In the 1911 census, Alice was living on private means in a seven-roomed house called Walpole in Halesworth, Suffolk, whilst Emily, known by the name Ethelwyn, was working as a governess and secretary for Major Beddington at Fox Hill, West Haddon, Rugby, Northampton.  By 1930 the two sisters had moved to the Felbridge area and were living at Strath Cottage off Copthorne Road in Felbridge (now part of the new development known Mulberry Close), before moving to The Stone Cottage around 1955.  They lived a reclusive life at The Stone Cottage until about 1959 when they were succeeded at the property to Anthony and Barbara Brown.

 

During the next thirty years The Stone Cottage saw a succession of owners and occupiers including, Derek and Hazel Hayward, John and Anne Edwards and Martin and Mrs Turner.

 

In 1987 The Stone Cottage was put on the market by the Turner’s described as:

Cottage in the

Lutyens-style

 

The Stone Cottage, a Lutyens-style house set in a secluded landscaped garden, is up for sale at Woodcock Hill, Felbridge.

 

Turner Rudge are asking for offers over £200,000 for the four-bedroomed home, standing on the fringe of Felbridge village in quarter of an acre of land.  The house was mostly built in the late 19th Century although part of it is believed to be from the 17th Century.

 

It is built of local sandstone with diamond leaded lights and stone mullions.  But it has been considerable improved and modernised.

 

A feature of the property is the large farmhouse-style kitchen, with its beamed ceiling contrasting with the latest in luxury kitchens.

 

The Stone Cottage was purchased by Anthony Paul and Pamela Stuart Marshall but the Marshalls did not remain long at the property which was back on the market in 1988 advertised as:

 

FELBRIDGE £285,000 FREEHOLD

Delightful Lutyens style period character house offering adaptable accommodation, reception hall, TV room, sitting room, study/bedroom 5, morning room, dining room, rear         hall, cloakroom, farmhouse style kitchen/breakfast room, 4/5 bedrooms, bathroom, car port, delightful secluded rear garden, gas central heating, double glazing.

 

The Stone Cottage was eventually purchased by Raymond Peter and Sarah Jane Ford in 1989 and remained in the Ford’s hands until 2011 when it was sold to Shirley and Simon Hubsch.

 

Today

Today The Stone Cottage is a family home and is being sympathetically decorated with the removal of the dark colour applied to the woodwork throughout the house that was so typical of the 1920’s and 30’s when the fashionable retro style was Jacobean.  Superficial beams once added to give the ‘wealth of old beams look’ have been removed and the structural ones have been brought back to their natural state, off set with light walls giving an airy spacious feel to the property.

 

Outside the old wash house/laundry with single stack chimney is still in situ on the east side of the house together with the old cast iron pump for pumping water from the well.  The surrounding grounds have been landscaped, providing a paved courtyard and split level garden to the rear of the property removing any evidence of the earth closet block and old farmhouse that would have cut across the southeast end of the plot.  The front face of the property has been recently cleared of vegetation to expose the hen-pecked dressed sand-stone façade, which, on close inspection, still reveals the scars that show the property was once a pair of cottages.

 

Bibliography

 

Byshe  Court rental, 1686, Ref: 181/19/16, SHC

Victoria History of Surrey

Rose family photographs, c1903, FHA

Wards’ Cottages photograph, 1911, FHA

The Stone Cottage photograph 1926, FHA

SDBRG Report, 1985, FHA

O/S map, 1895, FHA

Bourd map of the Felbridge estate, 1748, FHA

Handout, The Commonplace Book of Colonel Edward Evelyn, JIC/SJC 09/07, FHWS

Magnus Deo map, c1720, LL

Shaws and Hodgehorne map, 1760’s, FHA

A History of Lingfield by A B Hayward and S Hazell

Ho Chee, John Fullerton Elphinstone and the Lowdell family, by J Bateson of the RH7 History Group

Handout, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt. II, SJC 05/12, FHWS

Felbridge Estate Sale particulars, Box 3151, SHC

Ward of West Grinstead, Sussex Genealogies, HC

Parish Registers of St Nicholas, Godstone, FHA

Marriage Licenses 1673-1770, Eng. (Diocese) Commissary Court, Surrey

Terrier and Quit Rentals for Byshe Court manor, 1730 - 1853, Ref: 222/18-19, SHC

Will of George Ward, 1767, DW/PA/7/29 ff.240v-241r

Carey Strip map, 1790, FHA

Felbridge Park Sale catalogue and map, 1855/6, FHA

Godstone Land Tax, 1780 - 1820, P25/18/1, SHC

Tandridge Land Tax, 1780 - 1820, Ref: QS 6/7, SHC

Will of James Evelyn, 1793, Box 3151, SHC

Census records, 1841, 185, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, www.ancestry.co.uk

Lease and Release Marshall/Clement, Ref: 3983/4-5, SHC

The IGI index

Free BMD index

Tandridge tithe map and apportionment, 1846, FHA

Handout, Clayton’s Ancient Enclosure of Froggit Heath, JIC/SJC 05/10, FHWS

Beating Bounds of Godstone/Tandridge, 1794, 3924/11/61, SHC

Handout Harts Hall SJC 07/05, FHWS

Handout, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. II JIC/SJC 03/08, FHWS

Handout, Wiremill, SJC 03/06, FHWS

Handout, War Memorials of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02v, FHWS

Handout, The Pattenden family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01, FHWS

Handout, Shopping in Felbridge Pt. I, SJC 07/10, FHWS

Handout, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. IV SJC 03/10, FHWS

Handout, North End School, SJC 11/10, FHWS

Handout, Little Gibbshaven SJC 07/08, FHWS

Handout, Professor Furneaux and the Penlees of Felbridge, SJC 03/09, FHWS

Handout, More Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC 11/03, FHWS

Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11, FHWS

Felbridge Place Sale Catalogue, 1911, FHA

Electoral Rolls QS/7/4, CC802/27-48/2, CC802/50-71/9, SHC

Handout, Newchapel House, JIC/SJC 11/02, FHWS

Handout, Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 011/02, FHWS

Handout, Lutyens’ Grand Design for Felbridge, SJC 07/03, FHWS

Henry Richard Fox Bourne by Anne Lohrli

Register of Members of the New English Art Club, Tate Gallery archive

The New English Art Club archive

The Vote, 31st August 1912 & 25th July 1913

Women’s Freedom League, London Metropolitan University

The London Gazette, 2nd July 1929, FHA

The London Gazette, 2nd February 1945, FHA

Documented memories of D Barber, FHA

 

Texts of all Handouts referred to in this document can be found on FHG website: www.felbridge.org.uk

JIC/SJC 07/12