Brooklands through the Ages Insights through to modern times about the Brooklands area covering its origins, history, people and other interesting facts. Steve McCarthy www.walton-weybridgehistory.org.uk
• The Early History of Brooklands, Weybridge, by M. E. Blackman.1987 - Monograph 41
• The Locke Kings of Brooklands, Weybridge, by J.S.L.Pulford. 1996 - Publication 31
What & Where is Brooklands?
• Retail Park - M&S and Tesco, etc • Brooklands old race track • Brooklands Museum and Mercedes Benz World • Brooklands College
But what was Brooklands before the motor track was built in 1907? What & Where was Brooklands in 1815?
• Maybe answers like...... – ‘Go down the lane where the Heath begins and you’ll find the farm....’ – The Duke of York knocked down the fancy house a few years ago....
Conclusion: ‘Brooklands’ has moved south... Brooklands River Wey • Historical area
– East of River Wey Brooklands College – West of Heath Road & Byfleet Road (now Early settlement Brooklands Road)
• Modern area – After 1933 – Includes motor track
Weybridge Today
The largest part of Brooklands track became part of Weybridge in 1933
1930 OS Map
River Wey Brooklands – the name ‘theories’
1. View of first Curator of Elmbridge Museum - Dr. Eric Gardner – Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Caen, died 1097 – Half brother of William the Conqueror, made Earl of Kent – Largest land holder in England after William, including Brooklands – Probably the commissioner of the Bayeux Tapestry
– Suggestion that Odo gave Brooklands to his mistress, Eva de Broc
Brooklands – the name ‘theories’
2. Took name from land – ‘broc’ = ‘marshy land’ Broc’s land, Brokeland Only records for: 1196 Eva del Broc & 1294 William de la Brok 3. ‘Brooklands took its name from Robert del Brok, who, in the 12th century, was Lord of the local Manor’ – however no references found
Archaeological Finds
• 1907 – Building the track – Bronze Bucket, in British Museum • 5/6th Cent. B.C, from Eastern Alps – Roman remains, coins & pottery
• 1964/5 and 1970/1 – Excavations – Single site covering Iron Age & Medieval periods Iron Age & Medieval excavation site Discovered by Dr Gardner
• On 50ft contour, highest area near river • Iron smelting • 600BC to 100AD • Ore from St Georges Hill • Iron Age house plus later Medieval house • Bronze bucket
1970/1 Excavations Medieval house – 1150 to 1325
Brooklands Farm/Estate
• 1538 – bought as part of the Oatlands estate by Henry VIII – Crown Estate property to 1804 - leased out in parcels • Centred on a farmhouse at end of Brooklands Lane • 1650, Parliamentary Survey • c. 1764 - Great Brooklands House constructed on existing Members Hill site • 1803/4 – Oatlands estate freeholds granted to the Duke of York - demolished new house soon after • 1824 – Oatlands estate sold to Edward Ball-Hughes • 1830 – Brooklands Farm bought by Peter King, 7th Baron of Oxshott • 1861/2 new Brooklands House built Survey 1650 • Parliamentary Survey
• ‘Tymber house covered with tyles’ plus barns
• 26 fields or areas
• 268 acres total
George Payne 1729 – 1800
• Leased Brooklands estate • Built a ‘country villa’ in the 1760s – Commissioned John Crunden, well known architect • Cousin of Rev. George Austen – Jane Austen’s father • Barrister • Ambassador to Morocco 1784 • Patentee of the Lion Office in the Tower ( keeper of the royal menagerie, Tower of London) • Died heavily in debt
Great Brooklands House
Brooklands plan 1803 Original in Brooklands Museum
Sale details after death of George Payne – 145 acres park like grounds – 150 acres of mainly meadow – Lease until 1834
Survey done for the Duke of York • List of features on the plan • Little Brooklands House – Garden – Coach House/Stables – Granary – Rick Yard – Dairy – (Semi-moated) • Great Brooklands House – Farm Yard & Office – Summerhouse – Kitchen garden – Bailiff’s Cottage – Hermitage OS Map 1816
1804 estate • Brooklands Farm • Site of demolished Great Brooklands House • Farmyard
Modern OS Map 1804 Estate
• Farmhouse
• Great Brooklands House
• Southern edge, the Urban district boundary of Weybridge
• Railway bisected estate in 1838 & 1848
Brooklands Farm – recent past
• Farmhouse – at the end of Brooklands Lane – a Listed building standing in green belt land • Late 1990’s - planning applications to knock down house and build on the site - all refused • Mysterious fire in late 1990’s - remains demolished 2001/2 • Next planning application approved • Archaeological survey in 2003 on remains of farmhouse – nothing found from 16/17th century, just 18/19th • 2003 - Swan Hill Homes built the Lockestone estate of 21 large houses with a communal 30 acre private meadowland
Brooklands House & Farm 1930 Farmhouse 1960 Brooklands Farmhouse 1992 The Locke Kings – Origins
• The 1st Baron King – related by marriage to the great philosopher, John Locke • Peter, 7th Baron King of Ockham, 1776–1833 – major Surrey landowner – bought Brooklands Farm in 1830 plus Byfleet Park Farm • Possibly Childs Farm as well – Mayfield/March Road area – elder son William inherited title & many landholdings • married Augusta Ada (daughter of Lord Byron) • made Viscount Ockham and Earl of Lovelace • Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey
– 2nd son, Peter John Locke King, 1811-1885 • inherited many landholdings (4600 acres) including Brooklands Farm and farms in Byfleet Peter John Locke King
• Used Locke as part of surname • Moved to Woburn Park (St Georges College) in 1834 (bought by his mother) • Married Louisa in 1836, had 9 children • Liberal MP for East Surrey, 1847-1874 • Bought more landholdings adjacent to his Brooklands estate – Portmore Park Estate; other land in Weybridge; Vanners Farm & Wintersells Farm, Byfleet; Hollick Farm, Chertsey; • Built the brand new Brooklands House in 1861/2 – Family occupied until 1936 (Brooklands College from 1948/9) • Estate on death in 1885 - £500,000 ( £45 million today) Brooklands House 1930 OS Map 1897
Hollick Farm
Wintersells Farm
District Boundary
The nine children’s lives
1. Hester, 1837-1915 – never married, lived in Weybridge 2. Peter, 1839-40 – died of croup as a baby 3. Peter John Locke, 1840-85 – never lived at Woburn Park, died in Erdington, Birmingham (where there was an asylum) 4. Louisa, 1842-90 – as an adult lived in a residential home 5. (Anna) Clementina, 1846-1931 – never married, lived in Shere with Eleanor, aged 50 went to China as a missionary for 27 years 6. Hugh Fortescue Locke, 1848-1926 – poor health, the only one to marry, had no children, built the race track 7. Eleanor, 1850-1933 – never married, little known about 8. Robert Henry Locke, 1852-55 – died after all the family had scarlet fever 9. Blanche, 1856-63 – died of scarlet fever Conclusion: tragic family circumstances - how did this affect Hugh’s outlook on life? Weybridge Cemetery
Parents - Peter & Louisa
• Hester • Robert Henry + Blanche • Peter John Locke • Louisa
Hugh & Ethel Locke King
Hugh Locke King • Aged 37 inherited in 1885 - £441,000 including 4600 acres of land • Weak heart, wintered abroad a lot, non driver • Called ‘Nunkey’ or ‘Nunc’ by younger family members – small child trying to say ‘uncle’? • Spent lots of money, estate progressively sold off • Aged 57 when started building the Brooklands track • Died in 1926 leaving £54,000 + share of track company Ethel Gore-Browne • 16 years younger than Hugh, born 1864, married 1884 • A ‘daughter of the Empire’ – father was a Governor General • Made a Dame for her war efforts running 14 hospitals in Surrey • Interested in cars and speed • Died in 1956 leaving estate of £110,000 including 12 ½ acres
The Young Ethel
From Mena House Hotel From her nephew, Stewart Hugh & Ethel
In Vienna Hospital work At Brooklands House Hugh & Ethel’s Graves Motives for building the track?
Supportive wife who also Had suitable likes cars Visit to Coppia land and the Florio. money No English cars
A new interest Egged on by & make money rich friends
No children to Build a inherit. Itala cars Leave a race interest legacy? track
Made him ill & nearly bankrupt ! Itala Cars • Early Italian supercars – like a modern Ferrari... • Turin based from 1904-1934 • Successful racing cars - 1905 onwards • This 1908 car lapped Brooklands at 93mph. 12L engine - sold at Goodwood in 2012 for £1.74m The Lock Kings and Itala
Went to the Coppa Florio in Italy in Sept 1905 with a driver friend, Henry Pope - director of Itala UK
Hugh probably helped Itala setup the UK motor works before the track was started
They had three Itala cars in the 1900s
Ethel had her own Itala – Bambo She drove it leading the procession of cars at the Brooklands opening Itala Works • Behind a row of houses on Byfleet Road (now Brooklands Road) Vickers Factory 1938 • Land sold before 1906 • Bought by Vickers in 1915
1910 Track opening 1907
Bambo Local opposition
• Dining with the Locke Kings on 13 July 1907, Lady Monkswell found them depressed: ‘They have been building this awful motor track and are so hated by their neighbours, many of whose houses they have simply ruined, that hardly anyone will speak to them’
1907 statistics Britain 30m people 60,000 cars Weybridge 6000 people 20 cars? Motor Circuit 1921 Motor Circuit 1921 Entrances
5 1 - Original 1907 entrance – now 1 Caenshill Road – High Court injunction 4 to stop its use, 1908 2 - Moved in 1908 to Boxall’s Lodge 3 - Totally new entrance 3 in 1933 – Shell Way 2 (by Spenser Avenue area) 4 – Pedestrian tunnels Now in back gardens of 1 & 3 Locke King Road 5 – Competitors car tunnel
The Heath 1929
Hand & Spear
Station Pedestrian Tunnel Slope
• Three tunnels
• Bricked up entrances
• One led to Member’s enclosure
• Two led to public enclosures
• Metal railings between
Shell Way - New Entrance 1933
Some students stole the ‘S’
Entrance near today’s Spenser Avenue Holidaymakers on the Wey - 1936 Flying & Aircraft Manufacture
Hawker Hurricane Vickers Wellington Aviation
• Birthplace of British aviation from 1909 • Hawkers had ‘sheds’ in Byfleet ‘flying village’ – Built Hurricanes before and during WW2 till 1942 • Vickers took over the Brooklands site – WW2 – bought it in 1946 – built Wisley airfield 1943 to 1972 • First hard runway built in 1951 Brooklands – c. 1938
BAC site - 1964
British Aerospace - Mid 1980’s Brooklands Today
Vickers Factory & Sandpits – 1938
Factory air raid shelter - 1940
• For 5000 workers • 17 entrances • Nearly a 1 mile of tunnels Air Raid Shelter • David Lloyd car park area • Closed for about 30 years • Explored in 1999 Wine Storage – Locke-King Vaults • “The UK's largest surviving World War II air raid shelter, leased from the Ministry of Defence” • Converted in 2009 • Holds 268,000 cases