Researching its history
I am researching this area and am specifically interested in the top right hand corner, above Payne Terrace. Looking at Historical Directories I have established that the 20 ish houses were built between 1924 and 1925. They initially existed only under house names as follows:
Starting at what is now number 78
Etheldene – 78 – not showing until 1925 so the last one to be built
Kingsley – 80
Homeleigh – 82
St Lawrence – 84
Thornbury – 86
St Keyne – 88
St Helier – 90
Valleta – 92
Iris – 94
Hazelmere – 96
Winthorpe – 98
Camdenville – 100
Amberley – 102
Rockrose – 104
Markeva – 106
Preston Cottage – 108
Rosehatch – 110
The Haven – 112
Rosemead – 114
Lancaster House – 116
According to a very experienced historian – m Mother – it was very common for a house to initially be given a name based on the name of a holiday destination. From 1938 – The houses were then referred to by numbers
Previous use of the land?
My main query is that I want to know what was on the land that preceeded these houses. The majority of them have fruit trees in the back gardens indicating an orchard or some sort of farm house. I am aware of the farm further up Hertford Road, referred to as Roedale Farm and the flint cottages that now stand in place of the flint barn, but what stood on this site before these houses were built in 1924/25. ?
I walked up the road recently and only ‘ Thornbury’ and ‘The Haven’ have name plates outside the houses. They have kept those names for 84 years to date 25/10/09. The rest just read as numbers.
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Hi Jo, Your assessment of the numbering has gone awry towards the end. You have missed a property called ‘Downe’, at 108, occupied by Charles Bright through the 1930’s and 40’s. Preston Cottage was at 110 and so on, with Lancaster House at 118. Roedale Road (or as it was originally named, Roedean Road) was developed along the line of a trackway leading to Harrington Farm, with little more than fields on either side of it. Regards Andy
Have you checked out the old photos on the James Gray website http://www.regencysociety-jamesgray.com/
Andy thank you for the correction, we must have missed one when we were writing them down. Tracey, thank you so much for the James Gray recommendation. The photo in particular of Payne Terrace showing the farm tracks above and below particularly fascinated me as I could see the row of fence posts – one of which I uncovered when I dug a pond in my garden. I knew it was a very old post, to actually see it in a picture was amazing.
Hi Jo-Blaise – I have often wondered about the origins of house names which still remain on many of the older houses around Hollingdean, if you search for them. My own house (built 1926) in Hollingbury Place was called ‘Veronica’ and is still just visible on the porch. We printed the picture of Payne’s Terrace (courtesy of the Regency Society) in Hollingdean News recently and it always strikes me as odd that the Roedale Rd housing development started halfway down the road. The land around Harrington Farmhouse was earmarked for housing and purchased by the Council for some years before it was actually built on. I am sure that some fruit trees may originate from the farm; we certainly have some very old ones in our garden. There are still trees in Hertford Infant & Nursery school grounds which were already quite mature when the school was built in 1931, and definitely survived from Harrington farm. If you look at the page on Harrington farm on MyB&H, Marjory Hamblett describes how quickly people ‘removed’ plants & trees from the garden of the farm when her family moved out! Do get in touch via hollingdeannews@hotmail.com – regards Joy
I don’t know much about the houses on Roedale road but I used to work at The Talbot Tool Co that was on the left side of the road going towards “the dip” as it was known. I started as a trainee inspector and later went onto the grinding machines. The company made precision jig bushes. In about 1967 all the equipment and personnel moved to Crowhurst Road at Hollingbury. I left in 1968.
I lived across the road at 85 Roedale Road which was called Runnymeade. Regarding fruit trees – we had a huge purple leaf plum tree which was as tall as the backside of the house.
The house number 114 is known as the Haven and 118 which is my house is known as Lancaster House. Just for the records.
I ended up here researching family history. I noted in the 1901 census that I had grandparents living in Roedean Road, but in a 1909 death certificate they’re in Roedale Road. Thank you Andy for adding that info in your post. Until reading this, I thought it a possible error somewhere down the line. I have since traced the census back a few pages, which leads through Upper Hollingdean Road to a Hollingbury Inn. Would anyone know why the subtle name change?
Lovely to see Talbot Tool mentioned. My uncle was one of their directors, Wilfred Beach . A lovely man, from Birmingham, and even after living in Brighton from 1945/46, he never lost his accent.
Believe my grandfather may have been the first owner of “Kingsley” no. 80, name Dyer.
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