Development of Grange Road

Grange Road history>>Development of Grange Road

Grange Road lies to the west of Southover Grange and Gardens. The north side of the road consists of a mixture of houses and flats; some detached and some semi-detached. The south side is a series of terraced housing. It was and continues to be primarily a residential street.

The houses on the south side of the road were developed after 1865 from land sold by two estates – in the west the Acland Estate and in the east the Southover Priory Estate. At that time Grange Road was within two parishes; St Ann’s and St John the Baptist Southover.

A M Bliss Postcard of Grange Road, Lewes, 1906 – ESRO, AMS 6871/1/1/7 folio 26v

In August 1865 land at the western end of the road was sold at auction. This was the sale of John Fuller’s estate, described as ‘fine landed property in Sussex.’

 

Particulars & conditions of Sale of Acland Estate 1865 -ESRO, AMS 5807/1/8 (Click to enlarge)

 

Lot 7 was a ‘close of excellent building land called St Anne’s Church Bank adjoining St Pancras Road and Terrace’.

Plan from Acland Estate sale 1865 – ESRO, AMS 5807/1/8 (Click to enlarge)

 

Two years later in May 1867 freehold building land at the eastern end of the road was offered for sale at auction by Southover Priory Estate.

The 1867 sale particulars provided by the auctioneer Verrall & Son show that there were 42 lots on offer in what was described as ‘park-like undulating mead’.  According to the details all except one plot had a frontage on the partially formed new road.

Sale particulars of freehold building land, Southover Priory Estate 1867 – ESRO, ACC 5702/22/1 (above) (Click to enlarge)

Only four plots (1,8,9 and 10) were sold according to the report in the Sussex Express dated Saturday 18 May 1867.

The bidding began at £20 and lots sold for between £50 and £68. Apparently the remaining plots were unsold on account of issues concerning drainage for the proposed new homes.

 

Newspaper report from Sussex Express, Saturday 18 May 1867, page 5 (right) (Click to enlarge)

 

Henry Card and Benjamin Thorpe are named on a number of deeds as builders. As the road developed the house numbers changed. Holman’s 1882 Lewes Directory lists Grange Road as composed of houses 1-26, plus Wallington Villa, Ingleside and the Manse. The houses we now know as numbers 31 and 32 were originally numbered 25 and 26.
House deed, 16 Grange Road, Lewes (left) (Click to enlarge)

Census details reflect the fact that the road was in two parishes. The 1871 census has records for ten properties in the parish of St Ann’s and five in the parish of St John the Baptist, Southover.

Census pages for Grange Road in the parishes of St Ann’s (top) and St John the Baptist (bottom) (Click to enlarge)

By 1894 St Ann’s Church Bank (part of the 1865 sale of John Fuller’s estate) was in the possession of Henry Card. The map attached to the title document shows how Grange Road lay in two parishes.

 

 

Abstract of the title of Henry Card to a plot of land in Grange Road – ESRO, ACC 5177/2/58 (Click to enlarge)

 

By the beginning of the twentieth century the 1903 street directory lists houses 1-41 on the south side and Wallington Villa, Lincoln Villa, Grantham Villa, Ingleside, The Manse and Sunny Bank on the north side.

Acknowledgement

The images from ESRO are reproduced with the permission of the County Archivist of East Sussex. The originals are held at The Keep.