Woodcote Green House
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WOODCOTE GREEN HOUSE and OTHER WOODCOTE HOUSES ii iii 1. Woodcote Green House, 31st July 1991. iv WOODCOTE GREEN HOUSE and OTHER WOODCOTE HOUSES JOHN PARSLOE Epsom 2007 Revised 2021 v vi CONTENTS Page ILLUSTRATIONS ix PREFACE xiii ABBREVIATIONS xv PART ONE WOODCOTE GREEN HOUSE 1 1. Owners and Occupiers after 1846 3 Auction Particulars – The Northey Family – Guerin – Macdonald – Trevelyan – Fuller – Jones – Bischoff – The Buller Family – Deaths – Nina and Dorothy Buller at Woodcote Green House – John Dashwood Buller and Dorothy’s Will – Mr. Philip Marshall – Addenda 2. After the Northeys 37 Division and Conversion – Recent owners 3. The Bevans 41 4. The Smiths 47 George Anthony Smith – George Smith – The Smith Family – The Smiths in Epsom – Samuel Smith II – The Watsons – Samuel Smith III – Addendum 5. Before 1780 61 Evidence – Woodcote in 1792 – The 1680 Survey – The Green – John Maund’s Will – Sale and Further Descent of Woodcote Green House (Milton) – The 1755 Survey – Richard Peters and Mary Sparks - The 1762 Deeds of Exchange – Addenda 6. The House 95 Descriptions – The Original Building – Hayters and Wallpaper – Samuel Smith’s Reconstruction – George Smith’s Changes – The Nineteenth Century – The Twentieth Century – The Garden and Outbuildings – Addenda vii PART TWO OTHER WOODCOTE HOUSES 121 7. Lost and Found – Other Woodcote Green houses 123 The Maund Estate – Location of Hilman properties – Ellicar – Fencing – Seven Hilman Properties on or near Woodcote Green – William Betts acquires Ellicar I and Ellicar II – Hilman and Ellicar Properties reunited – Sales – The 1755 Survey and Mrs. Stephens’ Will – Two Exchanges – Location and ownership of the lost Hilman properties – Conclusion – Addenda 8. Woodcote Place and the White House 155 Summary – Acquisition of Woodcote Place by Anthony Stephens – Acquisition of the White House by Anthony Stevens – The Stephens’ ownership – Samuel Smith’s purchase – Road diversion – The Elmslies and later history of the house – Addenda 9. Woodcote House 173 Summary – Building History – Edward Wenyeve and the Doghouse – The Berkeleys acquire the Doghouse – The ‘newly erected messuage’ – Northey’s purchase of the Doghouse – Origins of Woodcote House – Northey’s Will – The Doghouse in the Deed of 17th April, 1708 – The 1755 Survey – The two Woodcote Greens and Clay Lane – Addenda 10. Maidstone House, its customary lands, and the Amato 17 Summary – Berkeley ownership – Northey purchase – The 1727 Maidstone House Deed – The Amato – Later references to Maidstone House – Addenda 11. The Durdans 197 The Berkeley family – The Durdans – Lord Berkeley inherits – Sales – Addenda APPENDICES: I. Woodcote Green House Descent in Northey Family – Registration of Title – Land Cerificates 205 II. Marriage of Caroline Buller and Edward Giberne 211 III. The Fire: Wednesday , 17th December 1986 215 INDEX 219 viii ILLUSTRATIONS Page 1. Woodcote Green House, 31st July, 1991. frontispiece 2. Woodcote Green House: top page of 1846 Auction Particulars. 4 3. Woodcote Green House: page 3 of 1846 Auction Particulars. 5 4. E.R. Northey’s account for the purchase of Woodcote Green House 7 5. (a) Edward Richard Northey 1795 – 1858. 8 (b) The Reverend Edward William Northey 1832 – 1914. “ 6. (a) Major General Sir Edward Northey 1868 – 1953. 9 (b) The Major General with his sons, Edward George Vernon Northey and Rudolf William Anson Northey. “ 7. Studio portraits of Charles Bischoff junior. 19 8. The Sandelsons’ picture of the House 38 9. Smith Pedigree. 46 10. 1866 Ordnance Survey Map (features in Woodcote area). 60 11. John Maund and his relations. 67 12. The Peters Family. 68 13. The Lish and Sparks Families. 69 14. 1821 Map of diversion of footpath. Woodcote Green Road and Chalk Lane section enlarged. 76 15. (a) The alcove uncovered with the original plaster. 89 (b) The trompe l’oeil window covering the newly bricked up alcove. “ (c) A piece of the George 1st wall paper in the main bedroom. “ (d) George 1st tax stamp on back of wallpaper. “ ix 16. (a) Staircase from downstairs hall. 90 (b) Looking down from the top of the staircase. “ 17. (a) Downstairs arch. 91 (b) Upstairs arch from the staircase. “ 18. (a) Papier maché ceiling over staircase. 92 (b) Details of the ceiling and its central boss. “ 19. (a) The fitted bookcase in the study. 93 (b) Detail of applied moulding on bookcase. “ 20. (a) “Coade” sitting room fireplace. 94 (b) Close-up of garlands, fruit baskets, and marriage of Cupid and Psyche. “ (c) Duck nest fireplace in back bedroom. “ 21. (a) Dining room fireplace. 95 (b) Chair-rail in hall passageway showing zigzag pattern. “ 22. (a) The back of the house with Woodcote Place (now Westgate House) in the background. 96 (b) Detail of the back door and the pillars at the back of the house. “ 23. (a) 1838 Guardians Map – enlargement showing Woodcote area. 100 (b) Enlargement of above showing Woodcote Green House. “ 24. (a) 1843 Tithe Map showing Woodcote area. 101 (b) Enlargement of above showing Woodcote Green House. “ 25. 1850 Cholera Map showing close-up of Woodcote Green House. 102 26. 1852 Map: enlargements showing the Woodcote area and Woodcote Green House. 103 27. 1866 Ordnance Survey Map: enlargements showing the Woodcote area and Woodcote Green House. 104 28. (a) 1896 Ordnance Survey Map: enlargement showing Woodcote Green House. 105 (b) 1913 Ordnance Survey Map: enlargement showing Woodcote Green House. “ (c) 1952 Ordnance Survey Map: enlargement showing Woodcote Green House. “ (d) 1961 Ordnance Survey Map: enlargement showing Woodcote Green House. “ 29. (a) Plan for new bathroom and lavatory: side elevation. 115 (b) Plan for new bathroom and lavatory: front elevation. “ (c) Plan for new bathroom and lavatory: ground floor. “ (d) Plan for new bathroom and lavatory: 1st floor. “ x 30. Plan for Mrs. Buller’s Motor Shed. 116 31. 1954 Conversion Plans (1): Ground Floor. 117 32. 1954 Conversion Plans (2): First Floor. 118 33. 1954 Conversion Plans (3): Boundaries. 119 34. 1954 Conversion Plans (4): Bungalow and Garage. 120 35. 1866 Ordnance Survey map with old Woodcote Green house 124 and other features superimposed. 36. 124(a) Garden of Woodcote Green House looking west to site of old stables. 142 (b)Foundations of the old stables in the garden of Woodcote Green House “ 37. (a) John Senex’s 1729 Map of Surrey: enlargement of Epsom area. 146 (b) Enlargement showing Woodcote House and probably six other houses. “ 38. (a) John Rocque’s map of Surrey: enlargement of Epsom area. 147 (b) Enlargement of above with Woodcote House and Woodcote Green House. “ 39. (a) 1789-90 Wardley and Crosley Map: enlargement of Woodcote area. 148 (b) Map from Companion from London to Brighthelmston. “ (c) 1816 Old Series Ordnance Survey, Enlargement showing Epsom and Woodcote area. “ (d) 1823 Greenwood Map: enlargement showing Woodcote area. “ 40. (a) Map of Epsom probably dated between 1800 and 1804. 149 (b) Enlargement of map showing Woodcote Green and Woodcote Park. “ 41. (a) Woodcote Place (now Westgate House) 1910. 152 (b) Woodcote Place from the back (showing later Venetian window). “ 42. 1804 Map showing proposed diversion of Worple Road. 153 43. Page 1 of 1889 Auction Particulars of Woodcote Place. 154 44. Part of plan attached to 1889 Auction Particulars of Woodcote Place. 155 45. Woodcote House 1823. 172 46. Woodcote House 1830. 173 47. Outline Northey Pedigree. 174 xi 48. (a) Woodcote House refurbishment 2005. View of two of the ocular basement windows. 179 (b) Woodcote House refurbishment 2005. Enlarged view of the ocular basement window. “ 49. (a) Sir Edward Northey 1652 – 1723. 180 (b) Lady Anne Northey, wife of Sir Edward, with her daughter Anne. “ 50. Edward Northey 1691 – 1774 by Charles Phillips. 181 51. 1829 Map showing stopping up of Clay Lane. 187 52. Maidstone House (formerly York House). 188 53. (a) The Durdans (Jacob Knyff). 198 (b) Close up of top right of Knyff’s picture of the Durdans. “ 54. (a) George 1st Earl Berkeley. 200 (b) The Durdans – painting by Jacob Scmits. “ 55. (a) Woodcote Green looking east. 206 (b) Woodcote Green looking west. “ xii PREFACE When I retired in 1999, I decided to write an account of our house – something I had attempted some twenty years before and had had to abandon for lack of time. I imagined it would be quite a simple and short task but it has proved complicated and involved research into a number of neighbouring properties. First, to establish the occupiers of the house during the census years, I had to set up a database of all the householders in the Woodcote area for each of the census years. Next a stroke of luck led me to the Smiths who owned the property before the censuses. However the period before 1780 proved more difficult and involved recourse to the voluminous Northey records in the Surrey History Centre. From these it became apparent that there were a number of houses on Woodcote Green in the eighteenth century of which no published record existed. These had to be researched to establish the history of Woodcote Green House I felt the records of other Woodcote houses could be of interest and therefore have divided the book into two parts. The first traces the history of Woodcote Green House and the second that of other Woodcote houses. Part One describes in some detail the owners and occupiers of Woodcote Green House from its origin in the last quarter of the seventeenth century to the present day. It also gives details of the house and its principal features. Part Two records the history of six previously unknown houses on Woodcote Green and is followed by chapters on Westgate House, Maidstone House, the origins of Woodcote House, and the Durdans. Each chapter has a number of footnotes indicated by superscribed numbers in the text. Longer notes are in the Addenda to each chapter and are indicated in the text by a superscribed capital letter These are such items as the Latin descriptions of parcels of land, notes on Wills, census returns, etc.