Work in Progress
Sole Street House - with thanks to Helen Rowe, daughter of current owners (2014) Sue & Alan Rowe.
Sole Street House was constructed in 1750 for George Savage of Luddesdown. The 12 roomed house reflected his wealth, earned by farming 1,000 acres of land. It has been owned by three families. In the 1950s was practically derelict caused by flood water damage as a result of the lead being stolen from the roof, yet the rich character has now been restored to complement the glorious structure.
The second owner of Sole Street House has the community of today still talking about her, as it is said that her spirit still lives on in the old house.
Grandpa's Story by Dr. J.L. Jenman (1)
"On the old lady's death the contents of the house were auctioned prior to the sale of the house. Contrary to the first appearances there were a lot of valuable items.... but great difficulty was experienced in making a catalogue, because items vanish only to reappear in another room on another day or date. Finally the catalogues were prepared but these all vanished four days before the sale, only to reappear in a locked empty room after the sale.“
The third owner Mr and Mrs Rowe still say that it is a happy house, yet when they go on holiday they return to find every picture pushed askew.
Chapter One
About Sole Street House
This house is a 40ft cube and;
“Proportion is the first Principle, and proper Appropriation of the parts constitute Symmetry and Harmony," (2)
Wrote Robert Morris English Palladianism theorist.
George Savage and his architect would have had a comprehensives election of pattern books as a guide to measurement and style. Building materials advanced during the Industrial Revolution of
the 18th century. Brick kilns being fired by coal instead of wood and so giving a greater variety of colour at this higher temperature. Advances in glass technology resulted in larger panes being made for windows. After the great fire of London in 1666 new laws were introduced to encourage fire safety. External wooden decoration was banned.
The brick work was typical of this era and was used with 5 contrasting coloured bricks at quoins and jambs. Brick work in the eighteenth century had become the most usual construction material and many timber and cob houses were re—faced in brick. The effect of the fire of London was to ensure that the buildings were constructed with brick and stone rather than wood. Each brick of Sole Street House was made by hand using materialsfrom the land.
Illustration 1 Lathe and Plaster
http://www.tsib.org/pdf/plaster-assemblies-chapter-01-history-of-lath-and-plaster.pdf
The partition walls are lathes and plaster, walls on the outside of the house are 3ft thick in the cellar and 14in at the top of the house.
The drawing room, placed near the grand entrance doorway, housed all the most lavish furnishings and was the best lit room, in Sole Street House it is the room on the ground floor with two windows, one facing south west and one facing north west.
The principal bedrooms would have been towards the front of the house on the first floor, with children's or lodgers rooms being towards the rear of the house. It is unlikely that the bedrooms had carpets; they were cold and drafty with modest fire grates. Four poster beds were hung with heavy curtains to keep the occupants warm. Bed bugs and fleas were rife.
Decorations were elaborate in the main entertaining rooms, becoming plainer and more modest where functions were humble.
In the kitchen there would be a range, a combined oven and grate, fuelled by wood or coal, with a spit to turn the meat. Hot water for washing would be heated in a boiler and brought up to the bedrooms in jugs for use in wash stands. Part of the kitchen would have been partitioned off to create a scullery. There was a shallow stone sink, filled by cold water carried in buckets and pumped from the well outside. Candles and soap would be home made, ham and bacon salted and hung in the kitchen, butter, bottled fruit and vegetables and jams would be made too.
This would have been the province of the cook/housekeeper and a scullery maid/kitchen maid. The cook would be responsible for cooking breakfast, luncheon and dinner, ordering the household requirements from the estate game keeper, gardener and trades people calling at the door. She would be assisted by a kitchen/scullery maid who would prepare vegetables, make the pastry and scour the kitchen, scullery, larders and all the kitchen utensils and saucepans.
A housemaid would be responsible for the household mending and sending the linen to the laundry, making sure that the chintzes, curtains and chair covers were clean, that the beds were made and turned down in the evening, she would sweep and dust and keep the grates polished. She would act as maid to her mistress and help her with dressing.
The windows have double hung sashes with 6 over 6 panes with 2 over 2 at the sides. The glass has a faint blue/green tinge with many imperfections.
Internal shutters recessed in boxes are in the drawing room and dining room. When closed they still allow some light into the room through the top but preventing direct light harming furnishings and artefacts. They prevented prying eyes, kept out the winter elements and added security.
Georgian panelled doors are designed with the Palladian principal of proportion. The top two being smaller than the middle and lower panels. They are decorated with reed mouldings in the main rooms. The heavy front door has the original iron and brass rim dead lock. Above the door is a semi—circular fanlight to light the hallway. Outside there is a classical pediment with the door frame flanked by carved wooden columns. There is a short flight of three steps to the doorway. It was the fashion for the ‘M’ shaped roofs to be hidden from view. They have valley gullies which can easily become blocked causing water damage to the rooms below. Clay tiles, slate and lead are used in the construction of our roof. During the 18th century wrought iron was extensively used for external gates, railings, fire grates, gutters and rain pipes.
Illustration 2
Photograph of hallway to be inserted
Mouldings of wood and plaster were used to cover joins or provide a transition between different surfaces. Patterns of bead, egg and dart, Grecian, anthemion, the parmette and the vitravian scroll were popular for chimney pieces, cornices, door surroundings, dados, skirting and arches.
The staircase is an impressive feature of a middle/upper class home visible when guests enter the front door, Wooden balusters support the handrail, carved in a single length from the newel post to the turn at the first floor. As you climb to the top of the house the baluster design becomes plainer. The staircase to the cellar is brick with wooden edges.
Illustration 3
Photograph of chimney piece in dining room
The chimney piece in the dining room is in the design of Robert Adam being finer than the Palladian style of the drawing room.
Most Georgian houses were dark and gloomy and the only additional lighting was by oil lamp or candle positioned on walls or side tables, often in front of mirrors to reflect the light.
Candlesticks became more elaborate during the Georgian period being made of glass, silver, pewter and porcelain. Chandeliers and glass lustres became more widely available. Furniture was the fashionable dark mahogany.
Sole Street House probably had a privy sometimes referred to as the Jericho or necessary house. It would have had a wooden seat built over the cesspit. The privy in the backyard would usually be hidden from view of the house by decorative planting or maybe an elaborate brick or wooden structure. At night there were commodes in the bedrooms.
The butlery leads directly to the cellar stairs and there is still today a wine order pencilled on the wall. Each item of silver would be checked against an inventory when the butler started work with the family. This would be his responsibility. Each item was stowed away safely every night and cleaned the next day. The butler's duties would be to bottle the wine and brew the beer. He may also act as valet and waiter and announce the arrival of visitors. He would ensure everything is in order; fires tended, curtains drawn.
Illustration 4
Photograph of former coach house to be inserted
The family coach was kept in the nearby coach house. The coachman or groom would be responsible for the horses being properly fed, groomed, and exercised and the carriages, harness and stables cleaned. They would live in the rooms over the stables and eat in the main house with the servants.
The Owners of Sole Street House
George Savage was succeeded by William Henry Savage, born 1799 and died December 1831. He was succeeded by another William Henry Savage born July 1831 and died 26.8.1896.
In 1840 a two storey extension was added to the rear of Sole Street House giving a further five small rooms and storage space. Through walkways on the ground and first floor levels linked the halls.
William Henry Savage was in dreadful debt owing a total of £5,300 and on the 8th October, 1894 Sole Street House was claimed by his creditors Francis Stevens, Arthur Huggins, Henry
Pye, and the sisters Suzannah, Emma and Catherine Stevens.
This did not stop him from being a founder member of Cobham Parish Council. The first meeting took place on 4th December, 1894. See copy of minutes.
(Copy to be obtained)
ILLUSTRATION 5
Photograph of The Mansion House ?????
William Savage agreed to build himself another house on his land nearby and promised to keep an orchard opposite Sole Street House, now referred to as "The Mansion House", free from all buildings neither to commit any nuisance to the occupiers or owners. Subsequently this land was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence during the 1939/1945 world war and used to store barrage balloons. Three bombs were said to have landed on the site. Villagers say one remains un-exploded. The house was let in 1894 to John Scratton who eventually purchased the property on 2-2-1921 for £2,125. It was taken over by his son, also called John. Again he father and son were members of the Parish Council. The son was dapper. He wore a top hat and carried a cane when he was seen about the village. It was not until she died and was taken out of the house that anyone knew that he was married.
When he died on the 20th February, 1928, his spinster sister Ellen carried on living here with a companion. Still remembered by local residents, Mrs Russell from Henhurst Road, Cobham, took her for a walk around the garden each day to read from a stone "The kiss of the sun for pardon. The song of the birds for mirth. One is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth"
She had a parrot which screeched and terrified visitors by sitting on their shoulders. She rode a three wheeler tricycle through the village.
Dr. J.L. Jenman wrote in "Grandpa's Story" (3):
"I was called one evening at dusk to Sole Street House, a large old house in Sole Street. I went round to the back door, into the kitchen were there was an old black range. I was quite startled when a cat jumped out of the oven, and then out of the gloom came an old lady with a candle lamp in her hand. She was the maid of the lady I had come to see, a Miss Scratton. I was taken into the house which reminded me of Great Expectations. All the windows had shutters and the remains of curtains with cobwebs everywhere. My patient was in a traditional four-poster bed with thread bare tapestry hanging and when I tried to listen to Miss Scratton's chest I found she had the remains of three vests under her nightgown. It was obvious that she had pneumonia and could not be looked after in these circumstances and so I went away to arrange for hospital admission and an ambulance. When I got back to the house it was virtually dark, but for some reason I did not switch on my torch. I was going round to the kitchen door when my foot kicked a large stone. I heard tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, splash, and as I switched on my torch I found I was standing on the edge of an open well with no parapet and no cover. It looked about forty feet deep and had water in the bottom. If I had fallen in and survived the fall nobody knew I had gone back there and I might have been down the well for a long long time. Miss Scratton went to hospital where she died and I arranged for the maid to go to the home at Hodsall Street. She had swarthy skin and jet black hair, until she was bathed and her hair was washed several times, when it was found that she had snow white hair and rosy cheeks, so that she was always called Fairy after the Fairy Snow detergent."
Chapter 3
What Happened Next?
Ellen Scratton died on the l8th February, 1953. The contents of the house were sold in a 2 day auction on the front lawn, referred to in the introduction. The house was put up for sale.
After 4 years, with it still unsold, a local builder Bill Smith, another parish councillor, from Sole Street, converted the main house into 2 flats and the extension into a cottage.
He put up partition walls in the dining room and kitchen to make a bathroom and an entrance at the side of the house. He turned the staircase round to provide independent access to the first and second floor flat. He put in a partition where the staircase had been. He bricked up the walkways joining the extension to the main house to make a self-contained cottage.
He added Raeburn cookers to the kitchens in the cottage, main house and flat. A bedroom in the second floor was partitioned to provide a kitchen and bathroom.
There was then a succession of very bad tenants. They were evicted and the house put on the market with Woods of Rochester. This company was taken over by Porter, Putt and Flatcher. During the time the house was vacant, a further 4 years, the lead from the roof valleys was stolen and hundreds of Kent peg roof tiles and slates were broken. Eventually it was sold to the present owner Alan Rowe on 6.12.1965
Chapter 4
Conclusion
When my father bought the property he said that it was shielded from view from the road by a row of contorted dead trees. Flint and brick garden walls had fallen over and it was a fight to reach the front door through the brambles. You could stand in the drawing room, look up and see the sky through the holes in the roof. Wall paper hung from the walls in shreds. A cupboard door had swung open and showed the remains of food covered in mould. It was gloomy and damp.
It was necessary to sell the Coach House and some of the land away from the house to pay for the purchase of Sole Street House.
He set to work to make the house habitable. Builders replaced the stolen lead with zinc and the tiles and slates were renewed. The main house was divided into a ground floor flat and a first and second floor flat. The cottage and the main house were redecorated. A block of six garages was built.
He let the three separate parts of the house which now became known as "the flats“.
My parents were married on the 2nd October, 1968 and they occupied the ground floor flat. They had three children, my sister Wendy, brother Martin and me. As they could afford it, my parents restored and renovated the house at the same time adapting it to today's needs and life style.
Eventually they took over the whole of the main house and blocked up the secondary entrance and replaced the staircase at its former position using the original handrail. They kept the convenience of the smaller rooms and added a brick built summer house and porch.
We use the "butlery" as an everyday living room and still have open fires. We use an AGA for cooking.
Most evenings as we sit in the "butlery" we hear sounds like the thud of footsteps crossing floorboards in the bedroom above, even though it is carpeted and nobody is there. When we decorated the room recently, we explored the joists, floorboards and walls for a fault which may be the reason for these noises. There was nothing wrong. When visitors look to the ceiling as they hear the sounds, we just say it is the ghost; perhaps the ghost of John Scratton's wife who lived here as a recluse.
The once overgrown garden is now lawns and flower beds planted with a wide variety of plants suitable for a flower arranger's garden.
My father, like all the previous owners of the house, is the chairman of Cobham Parish Council. He is also on the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Committee responsible for the welfare of the Meadow Room. The village hall donated by the Misses Stevens. The sisters who were owed money by William Savage and who took the house away from him in payment for his debts.
It is our duty to maintain the house for future generations to enjoy the skills left by the Georgian craftsmen.
It must have been a hard life for everyone except the master and mistress of the house. Even then William Savage owed such a fortune that he had to sell the house. (I wonder why Mrs Scratton did not leave the house.)
Today we need to plan to take exercise to keep fit unlike times past when servants must have been exhausted by their duties. Without radios and televisons, gossip about the masters must have been very entertaining. Tradesman calling would be welcomed unlike today when telephone sales are an intrusion.
I expect they would have all been able to play a musical instrument and sing to amuse themselves and the men would play cards and gamble.
Because the roads were poor it would take an age to travel beyond the nearest town and anyone from abroad would be treated with interest and suspicion. what we are doing. Our homes are so warm in winter that we wear light summer cloths all the year round. Non bio-degradable
packaging accumulates in huge tips and waste is piped out to sea killing our fish. Fumes from cars, energy plants and factories are reducing the ozone layer.
New roads plough through our countryside. Speed at everything is paramount. STOP. Please can we preserve our heritage.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lucinda Lambton — Vanishing Victoriana
Deeds of Sole Street House
Steven Parissien - The Georgian House
Coffes Beech Publishing - The Duties of Servants
Dr.J.L.Jenman — Grandpa s Story
Pamela Cunnington — How Old Is Your House
Margaret and Alexander Potter — Houses
Richard Reid‘; The Georgian House and its details
INTERVIEWS
Mr & Mrs A Rowe
Dr.J.L.Jenman
TELEPHONE CALLS
Mrs West
Dr.J.L.Jenman
Miss Butchard
QUOTES
Dr.J.L.Jenman Grandpa's Story
Robert Morris — English Palladianism Theorist
Dr.J.L.Jenman - Grandpa's Story
Illustrations
Partition wall Plaster works
The Coach House
Cobham Parish Council Minutes
Sole Street House - with thanks to Helen Rowe, daughter of current owners (2014) Sue & Alan Rowe.
Sole Street House was constructed in 1750 for George Savage of Luddesdown. The 12 roomed house reflected his wealth, earned by farming 1,000 acres of land. It has been owned by three families. In the 1950s was practically derelict caused by flood water damage as a result of the lead being stolen from the roof, yet the rich character has now been restored to complement the glorious structure.
The second owner of Sole Street House has the community of today still talking about her, as it is said that her spirit still lives on in the old house.
Grandpa's Story by Dr. J.L. Jenman (1)
"On the old lady's death the contents of the house were auctioned prior to the sale of the house. Contrary to the first appearances there were a lot of valuable items.... but great difficulty was experienced in making a catalogue, because items vanish only to reappear in another room on another day or date. Finally the catalogues were prepared but these all vanished four days before the sale, only to reappear in a locked empty room after the sale.“
The third owner Mr and Mrs Rowe still say that it is a happy house, yet when they go on holiday they return to find every picture pushed askew.
Chapter One
About Sole Street House
This house is a 40ft cube and;
“Proportion is the first Principle, and proper Appropriation of the parts constitute Symmetry and Harmony," (2)
Wrote Robert Morris English Palladianism theorist.
George Savage and his architect would have had a comprehensives election of pattern books as a guide to measurement and style. Building materials advanced during the Industrial Revolution of
the 18th century. Brick kilns being fired by coal instead of wood and so giving a greater variety of colour at this higher temperature. Advances in glass technology resulted in larger panes being made for windows. After the great fire of London in 1666 new laws were introduced to encourage fire safety. External wooden decoration was banned.
The brick work was typical of this era and was used with 5 contrasting coloured bricks at quoins and jambs. Brick work in the eighteenth century had become the most usual construction material and many timber and cob houses were re—faced in brick. The effect of the fire of London was to ensure that the buildings were constructed with brick and stone rather than wood. Each brick of Sole Street House was made by hand using materialsfrom the land.
Illustration 1 Lathe and Plaster
http://www.tsib.org/pdf/plaster-assemblies-chapter-01-history-of-lath-and-plaster.pdf
The partition walls are lathes and plaster, walls on the outside of the house are 3ft thick in the cellar and 14in at the top of the house.
The drawing room, placed near the grand entrance doorway, housed all the most lavish furnishings and was the best lit room, in Sole Street House it is the room on the ground floor with two windows, one facing south west and one facing north west.
The principal bedrooms would have been towards the front of the house on the first floor, with children's or lodgers rooms being towards the rear of the house. It is unlikely that the bedrooms had carpets; they were cold and drafty with modest fire grates. Four poster beds were hung with heavy curtains to keep the occupants warm. Bed bugs and fleas were rife.
Decorations were elaborate in the main entertaining rooms, becoming plainer and more modest where functions were humble.
In the kitchen there would be a range, a combined oven and grate, fuelled by wood or coal, with a spit to turn the meat. Hot water for washing would be heated in a boiler and brought up to the bedrooms in jugs for use in wash stands. Part of the kitchen would have been partitioned off to create a scullery. There was a shallow stone sink, filled by cold water carried in buckets and pumped from the well outside. Candles and soap would be home made, ham and bacon salted and hung in the kitchen, butter, bottled fruit and vegetables and jams would be made too.
This would have been the province of the cook/housekeeper and a scullery maid/kitchen maid. The cook would be responsible for cooking breakfast, luncheon and dinner, ordering the household requirements from the estate game keeper, gardener and trades people calling at the door. She would be assisted by a kitchen/scullery maid who would prepare vegetables, make the pastry and scour the kitchen, scullery, larders and all the kitchen utensils and saucepans.
A housemaid would be responsible for the household mending and sending the linen to the laundry, making sure that the chintzes, curtains and chair covers were clean, that the beds were made and turned down in the evening, she would sweep and dust and keep the grates polished. She would act as maid to her mistress and help her with dressing.
The windows have double hung sashes with 6 over 6 panes with 2 over 2 at the sides. The glass has a faint blue/green tinge with many imperfections.
Internal shutters recessed in boxes are in the drawing room and dining room. When closed they still allow some light into the room through the top but preventing direct light harming furnishings and artefacts. They prevented prying eyes, kept out the winter elements and added security.
Georgian panelled doors are designed with the Palladian principal of proportion. The top two being smaller than the middle and lower panels. They are decorated with reed mouldings in the main rooms. The heavy front door has the original iron and brass rim dead lock. Above the door is a semi—circular fanlight to light the hallway. Outside there is a classical pediment with the door frame flanked by carved wooden columns. There is a short flight of three steps to the doorway. It was the fashion for the ‘M’ shaped roofs to be hidden from view. They have valley gullies which can easily become blocked causing water damage to the rooms below. Clay tiles, slate and lead are used in the construction of our roof. During the 18th century wrought iron was extensively used for external gates, railings, fire grates, gutters and rain pipes.
Illustration 2
Photograph of hallway to be inserted
Mouldings of wood and plaster were used to cover joins or provide a transition between different surfaces. Patterns of bead, egg and dart, Grecian, anthemion, the parmette and the vitravian scroll were popular for chimney pieces, cornices, door surroundings, dados, skirting and arches.
The staircase is an impressive feature of a middle/upper class home visible when guests enter the front door, Wooden balusters support the handrail, carved in a single length from the newel post to the turn at the first floor. As you climb to the top of the house the baluster design becomes plainer. The staircase to the cellar is brick with wooden edges.
Illustration 3
Photograph of chimney piece in dining room
The chimney piece in the dining room is in the design of Robert Adam being finer than the Palladian style of the drawing room.
Most Georgian houses were dark and gloomy and the only additional lighting was by oil lamp or candle positioned on walls or side tables, often in front of mirrors to reflect the light.
Candlesticks became more elaborate during the Georgian period being made of glass, silver, pewter and porcelain. Chandeliers and glass lustres became more widely available. Furniture was the fashionable dark mahogany.
Sole Street House probably had a privy sometimes referred to as the Jericho or necessary house. It would have had a wooden seat built over the cesspit. The privy in the backyard would usually be hidden from view of the house by decorative planting or maybe an elaborate brick or wooden structure. At night there were commodes in the bedrooms.
The butlery leads directly to the cellar stairs and there is still today a wine order pencilled on the wall. Each item of silver would be checked against an inventory when the butler started work with the family. This would be his responsibility. Each item was stowed away safely every night and cleaned the next day. The butler's duties would be to bottle the wine and brew the beer. He may also act as valet and waiter and announce the arrival of visitors. He would ensure everything is in order; fires tended, curtains drawn.
Illustration 4
Photograph of former coach house to be inserted
The family coach was kept in the nearby coach house. The coachman or groom would be responsible for the horses being properly fed, groomed, and exercised and the carriages, harness and stables cleaned. They would live in the rooms over the stables and eat in the main house with the servants.
The Owners of Sole Street House
George Savage was succeeded by William Henry Savage, born 1799 and died December 1831. He was succeeded by another William Henry Savage born July 1831 and died 26.8.1896.
In 1840 a two storey extension was added to the rear of Sole Street House giving a further five small rooms and storage space. Through walkways on the ground and first floor levels linked the halls.
William Henry Savage was in dreadful debt owing a total of £5,300 and on the 8th October, 1894 Sole Street House was claimed by his creditors Francis Stevens, Arthur Huggins, Henry
Pye, and the sisters Suzannah, Emma and Catherine Stevens.
This did not stop him from being a founder member of Cobham Parish Council. The first meeting took place on 4th December, 1894. See copy of minutes.
(Copy to be obtained)
ILLUSTRATION 5
Photograph of The Mansion House ?????
William Savage agreed to build himself another house on his land nearby and promised to keep an orchard opposite Sole Street House, now referred to as "The Mansion House", free from all buildings neither to commit any nuisance to the occupiers or owners. Subsequently this land was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence during the 1939/1945 world war and used to store barrage balloons. Three bombs were said to have landed on the site. Villagers say one remains un-exploded. The house was let in 1894 to John Scratton who eventually purchased the property on 2-2-1921 for £2,125. It was taken over by his son, also called John. Again he father and son were members of the Parish Council. The son was dapper. He wore a top hat and carried a cane when he was seen about the village. It was not until she died and was taken out of the house that anyone knew that he was married.
When he died on the 20th February, 1928, his spinster sister Ellen carried on living here with a companion. Still remembered by local residents, Mrs Russell from Henhurst Road, Cobham, took her for a walk around the garden each day to read from a stone "The kiss of the sun for pardon. The song of the birds for mirth. One is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth"
She had a parrot which screeched and terrified visitors by sitting on their shoulders. She rode a three wheeler tricycle through the village.
Dr. J.L. Jenman wrote in "Grandpa's Story" (3):
"I was called one evening at dusk to Sole Street House, a large old house in Sole Street. I went round to the back door, into the kitchen were there was an old black range. I was quite startled when a cat jumped out of the oven, and then out of the gloom came an old lady with a candle lamp in her hand. She was the maid of the lady I had come to see, a Miss Scratton. I was taken into the house which reminded me of Great Expectations. All the windows had shutters and the remains of curtains with cobwebs everywhere. My patient was in a traditional four-poster bed with thread bare tapestry hanging and when I tried to listen to Miss Scratton's chest I found she had the remains of three vests under her nightgown. It was obvious that she had pneumonia and could not be looked after in these circumstances and so I went away to arrange for hospital admission and an ambulance. When I got back to the house it was virtually dark, but for some reason I did not switch on my torch. I was going round to the kitchen door when my foot kicked a large stone. I heard tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, splash, and as I switched on my torch I found I was standing on the edge of an open well with no parapet and no cover. It looked about forty feet deep and had water in the bottom. If I had fallen in and survived the fall nobody knew I had gone back there and I might have been down the well for a long long time. Miss Scratton went to hospital where she died and I arranged for the maid to go to the home at Hodsall Street. She had swarthy skin and jet black hair, until she was bathed and her hair was washed several times, when it was found that she had snow white hair and rosy cheeks, so that she was always called Fairy after the Fairy Snow detergent."
Chapter 3
What Happened Next?
Ellen Scratton died on the l8th February, 1953. The contents of the house were sold in a 2 day auction on the front lawn, referred to in the introduction. The house was put up for sale.
After 4 years, with it still unsold, a local builder Bill Smith, another parish councillor, from Sole Street, converted the main house into 2 flats and the extension into a cottage.
He put up partition walls in the dining room and kitchen to make a bathroom and an entrance at the side of the house. He turned the staircase round to provide independent access to the first and second floor flat. He put in a partition where the staircase had been. He bricked up the walkways joining the extension to the main house to make a self-contained cottage.
He added Raeburn cookers to the kitchens in the cottage, main house and flat. A bedroom in the second floor was partitioned to provide a kitchen and bathroom.
There was then a succession of very bad tenants. They were evicted and the house put on the market with Woods of Rochester. This company was taken over by Porter, Putt and Flatcher. During the time the house was vacant, a further 4 years, the lead from the roof valleys was stolen and hundreds of Kent peg roof tiles and slates were broken. Eventually it was sold to the present owner Alan Rowe on 6.12.1965
Chapter 4
Conclusion
When my father bought the property he said that it was shielded from view from the road by a row of contorted dead trees. Flint and brick garden walls had fallen over and it was a fight to reach the front door through the brambles. You could stand in the drawing room, look up and see the sky through the holes in the roof. Wall paper hung from the walls in shreds. A cupboard door had swung open and showed the remains of food covered in mould. It was gloomy and damp.
It was necessary to sell the Coach House and some of the land away from the house to pay for the purchase of Sole Street House.
He set to work to make the house habitable. Builders replaced the stolen lead with zinc and the tiles and slates were renewed. The main house was divided into a ground floor flat and a first and second floor flat. The cottage and the main house were redecorated. A block of six garages was built.
He let the three separate parts of the house which now became known as "the flats“.
My parents were married on the 2nd October, 1968 and they occupied the ground floor flat. They had three children, my sister Wendy, brother Martin and me. As they could afford it, my parents restored and renovated the house at the same time adapting it to today's needs and life style.
Eventually they took over the whole of the main house and blocked up the secondary entrance and replaced the staircase at its former position using the original handrail. They kept the convenience of the smaller rooms and added a brick built summer house and porch.
We use the "butlery" as an everyday living room and still have open fires. We use an AGA for cooking.
Most evenings as we sit in the "butlery" we hear sounds like the thud of footsteps crossing floorboards in the bedroom above, even though it is carpeted and nobody is there. When we decorated the room recently, we explored the joists, floorboards and walls for a fault which may be the reason for these noises. There was nothing wrong. When visitors look to the ceiling as they hear the sounds, we just say it is the ghost; perhaps the ghost of John Scratton's wife who lived here as a recluse.
The once overgrown garden is now lawns and flower beds planted with a wide variety of plants suitable for a flower arranger's garden.
My father, like all the previous owners of the house, is the chairman of Cobham Parish Council. He is also on the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Committee responsible for the welfare of the Meadow Room. The village hall donated by the Misses Stevens. The sisters who were owed money by William Savage and who took the house away from him in payment for his debts.
It is our duty to maintain the house for future generations to enjoy the skills left by the Georgian craftsmen.
It must have been a hard life for everyone except the master and mistress of the house. Even then William Savage owed such a fortune that he had to sell the house. (I wonder why Mrs Scratton did not leave the house.)
Today we need to plan to take exercise to keep fit unlike times past when servants must have been exhausted by their duties. Without radios and televisons, gossip about the masters must have been very entertaining. Tradesman calling would be welcomed unlike today when telephone sales are an intrusion.
I expect they would have all been able to play a musical instrument and sing to amuse themselves and the men would play cards and gamble.
Because the roads were poor it would take an age to travel beyond the nearest town and anyone from abroad would be treated with interest and suspicion. what we are doing. Our homes are so warm in winter that we wear light summer cloths all the year round. Non bio-degradable
packaging accumulates in huge tips and waste is piped out to sea killing our fish. Fumes from cars, energy plants and factories are reducing the ozone layer.
New roads plough through our countryside. Speed at everything is paramount. STOP. Please can we preserve our heritage.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lucinda Lambton — Vanishing Victoriana
Deeds of Sole Street House
Steven Parissien - The Georgian House
Coffes Beech Publishing - The Duties of Servants
Dr.J.L.Jenman — Grandpa s Story
Pamela Cunnington — How Old Is Your House
Margaret and Alexander Potter — Houses
Richard Reid‘; The Georgian House and its details
INTERVIEWS
Mr & Mrs A Rowe
Dr.J.L.Jenman
TELEPHONE CALLS
Mrs West
Dr.J.L.Jenman
Miss Butchard
QUOTES
Dr.J.L.Jenman Grandpa's Story
Robert Morris — English Palladianism Theorist
Dr.J.L.Jenman - Grandpa's Story
Illustrations
Partition wall Plaster works
The Coach House
Cobham Parish Council Minutes