Plots 16, 17, 18
House numbers
On 17 August 1857; William Pitt bought out the two-thirds shares of Shone and Wood for plots 15,16 & 17 totalling 6722 sq yds for the sum of £336/2/-d. It appears that this was funded by railway clerk Evan Reece Evans who may have been Pitt's father-in-law who then died before 1861. Early records suggest that William Pitt then built Millside (no:84) in the northern corner of plot 16 and lived there with his family and mother-in-law. They are recorded in the 1861 census but simply with an Upton Park location and no house name. On 1 October 1869; Pitt then sold the property on a 775 sq yd sub-plot retaining the remaining larger sub-plot of plot 16. The original covenant allowed only one property , double or single, on each plot and so his remaining part of plot 16 had no development potential. On 12 January 1870; Pitt had the agreement of Shone and Wood and certain other plot owners, to release the restriction on building and allow one double or two singles per plot. Six days later; this enabled Pitt to sell the remaining 1613 sq yds of plot 16 to William Beswick to build WestView (no:80). It appears that Pitt also sold plot 17 in 1870; selling to Bell & Evans. (Whether this Evans was a relative of Pitt's wife has not been established). Whether Bell & Evans built the double property (nos:74 & 76) is not known but it appears that the first owner of the double property was William Smith of Westview following its building c1890. On 25 January 1873; Pitt sold plot 15 - some 2219 sq yds - to widow Margaret Anne Higginson. Plot 15 lay undeveloped for many decades.
Plot 18 is included in this cluster of houses because although initially it was part of the Shone estate (along with plots 19,20 & 21); its history has been more associated with plots 16 & 17. The 1872 OS survey shows a greenhouse on plot 18 and a 1912 mortgage deed refers to a vinery and as well as an orchard. When the owner of WestView built the double property (nos:74 & 76) their boundary was such that WestView retained back access to plot 18 probably renting it as allotment from the Shone estate. After the former Shone estate was acquired by the Furleys they sold plot 18 to R W Gardner of Grange House (no:76) who also acquired the interconnecting piece of land from Cecelia Pearson of WestView. Plot 18 with the back strip then stayed under the ownership of Grange House for about 10 years until it was sold by the new owner, Mrs Iva Williams, to Elsie Lotitia Roberts on 19 September 1936. The plot stayed undeveloped until after the death of Miss Roberts in 1955. Inherited by her cousins, bookbinder Frank Sconce and retired Policeman Samuel Jones, they sold the land in March 1958 for building by Dr John Cameron Doran. The 1950s OS is the first survey showing the greenhouse as a ruin. |
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