Deeds of 6 St Nicholas Lane, Lewes

(ESX 14262)

This house, shown in red on the plan and its two neighbours to the south, were built in 1828 by Henry Alderton, a Newhaven bargemaster, on land owned by William Balcombe Langridge, the clerk of the peace; the site had formed part of a carpenter's yard owned by his father William Langridge. The three houses remained in single ownership until 1937, when numbers 8 and 10 were sold off

The carpenter's yard had been held as a freehold tenement of the manor of Southover by a quitrent of 1s 7½d. In 1647 Thomas Matthew of Lewes purchased from Richard Read of Lewes a garden adjoining the garden of Thomas Oliver, gent, belonging to the White Lion, and from Eleanor Feilder, widow, a garden formerly Harman's and late in the tenure of Robert Stapeley. The two gardens each formed separate freehold tenements of the manor of Southover, held by quitrents of 7d and 1s 0½ respectively (ACC 2327/3/1/1 p62). In 1745 and 1753 the gardens, treated as one tenement, were owned by Thomas Sergison, esq (ACC 2327/3/1/2). The probable extent of the tenement is shown by a red line on the plan

In March 1758 Langridge bought the whole property, consisting of a cottage and ¾a, with the exception of a piece of land with a well, which had already been sold to Henry Humphrey on behalf of the parish of Lewes All Saints; on 18 January 1758 Humphrey had vested the land, with a house in five tenements built on it and used as a workhouse, in feoffees for the use of the poor (HIL/6/28B/46). The area of the retained land is shown in green on the plan overleaf. In 1797 Langridge sold more land to the parish (T W Horsfield The History and Antiquities of Lewes (1824) 285). The houses were sold by the Lewes Poor Law Union in 1869 (HIL/6/28B/46-53), and the plan accompanying the particulars enables their site to be plotted; it is outlined in green on the plan

These sales reduced the size of the Langridge tenement, the quitrent of which was reduced from 1s 7½d to 1s 0d in 1807; the liability for that sum was apportioned among the owners of the twelve houses built on the site on 16 March 1829 (ACC 2327/3/1/2 pp177-8)

Before 1758, Philippa Pellatt of West Grinstead, spinster, had owned four messuages, barns, stables and land in Lewes All Saints, occupied by Robert Walter. On 24 and 25 March 1758 her executor Henry Woodward of East Grinstead, clerk, sold part of the property, consisting of a cottage and ¾a to William Langridge of Lewes All Saints, carpenter (1). It was described as

Small messuage or cottage with the yard, garden and orchard (¾a), occupied by [blank] Morris and [blank] Howell (E: St Nicholas Lane; S: road from Southover to Lewes Bridge; W: St Marys Lane and land belonging to the parsonage of St John sub Castro; N: St John parsonage land, land used with the house of Samuel Howell); except a piece of land (82' 6" E-W, 24' 9" N-S) with a well in it

By his will of 22 July 1794 William Langridge gave his wife Mary a life interest in his estate and left the remainder to his three children William Balcombe Langridge, Mary Langridge and Sarah Langridge in equal shares. William Langridge died on 24 September 1801 and his son proved the will in PCC on 7 April 1802. Sarah Langridge died on 5 March 1801 and her mother on 16 November 1802 (1)

By 1804 part of the property was used as a garden, timber-yard, carpenter's shop and saw-house. On 29 and 30 June 1804 W B Langridge and his sister Mary partitioned their father's estate, but retained equal shares of the yard and buildings; Philadelphia Frewen of Northiam, spinster, and Henry Brooker of Brighton, gent, acted as trustees (1)

[On 30 May 1828 the Langridges contracted will Henry Alderton of Newhaven, bargemaster, and William Goodjer of Lewes, painter, permitting them to build three houses on a frontage of 36 feet on St Nicholas Lane, which would subsequently be let to them for 50 years. The contact contains a plan, identifying the plot as the site of the future 6, 8 and 10 St Nicholas Lane. A similar contract for the land immediately to the west was prepared but not executed (LAN 295)]

By 1829 the whole property was described as five houses and the carpenter's yard

Alderton and Googier built three houses, but no lease was executed, and on 23 January 1829 Langridge and his sister conveyed the two northerly houses to Edmund Isted of Southover, servant, and his trustee John Boxall of Lewes, builder, for £315, of which £201 12s was paid to Alderton. A plan appears in the margin of the deed (1-2)

The third house, subsequently 6 St Nicholas Lane, built by William Goodjer, was let to him by the Langridges for 90 years for £76 and a rent of £4 13s 0d, with an option to purchase after six years, on 18 February 1829; other property sold to Goodjer, on which he had built numbers 2 and 4 St Nicholas Lane, lay to the south. Goodjer exercised his option under the lease in favour of Edmund Isted, owner of numbers 8 and 10, to whom number 6 was conveyed for £160 (of which £82 was paid to Goodjer) on 13 April 1829. Isted was given a right of way to St Nicholas Lane through the yard of numbers 2 and 4, which was not to extend 'to the riding, leading or driving of any horse, cow, hog or any other animal' (3-4)

On 27 February 1846 Edmund Isted mortgaged all three houses for £210 at 5% to Robert Newman of Brighton, esq. Newman, acting under a power of sale, had the properties auctioned at the Star Inn on 12 May 1856 but they failed to sell

On 23 December 1856 Newman sold them to Edmund Pullinger of Lewes, cooper and builder, for £275, which Pullinger borrowed from him by mortgage (5-8)

Newman the mortgagee died on 31 July 1864 and his executors William Lambe of East Blatchington, yeoman, and Thomas King the younger of Brighton, gent (who had proved his will of 24 November 1855 on 9 September 1864) served Pullinger with notice of repayment on 27 February 1865 and on 19 July, acting under a power of sale, they sold the houses for £290 to Thomas Venus of 6 North Row, Park Lane, London, gent (9-12)

Venus died on 14 February 1868 and his daughter Jane Elizabeth (born 23 December 1837), wife of Ambrose Lockett of New Malden, Surrey, obtained letters of administration on 16 March and paid succession duty on his estate (including 1 Pleasant Place and a house in Wellington Street, Lewes, and a third of a house at Chapel Hill, Cliffe) on 17 June 1869. Ambrose Lockett died on 30 May 1896 and his widow on 20 May 1903. By her will of 26 September 1902, proved by Harry Albert Venus of Lewes, secretary to a public company, on 3 July 1903, she left the houses to her son Henry Lockett of 132 Lavender Hill, New Wandsworth, glass-cutter and glazier, who sold the houses for £400 to Alfred Wycherley of Lewes, house-agent, on 24 February 1903 (13-16)

On 18 May 1906 Wycherley sold the houses for £585 to Sarah Beach of 32 Newfield Road, Newhaven, wife of James Beach, engine-driver; the conveyance is annotated with the rooms in the houses, their rents and the name of one of the tenants. An undated memorandum with the deeds incorporates a draft condition of sale requiring no further evidence that Jane Elizabeth Lockett was the daughter and only next of kin of Thomas Venus (17-19)

On 10 April 1929 Sarah Beach sold the houses for £500 to Ann Pollard, wife of Alfred Edwin Pollard of 65 Priory Street, Lewes, retired labourer. Mrs Pollard died on 9 November 1936 and her will of 15 October was proved by Catherine Florence Parrish of The Manse, Grange Road, Lewes, widow, on 6 December 1936. On 12 May 1937 Mrs Parrish paid two guineas to Frank Verrall of Piccards Cottage, Sandy Lane, Guildford, lord of the manor of Southover, to redeem the manorial liability on number 6, 8 and 10 St Nicholas Lane. On 13 May 1937 Mrs Parrish sold numbers 8 and 10 St Nicholas Lane to Frank Washer of Church Lane, Ringmer, builder (20-25)

Mrs Pollard had left 6 St Nicholas Lane to the occupier, her brother Harry Jordan, and her executrix executed an assent on 29 September 1939. He died on 31 August 1941 and his will of 30 March 1938, leaving his estate to his wife Mary Ann Jordan, was proved on 8 October 1941 by his executrix Catherine Florence Parrish, who assented to the bequest to Mrs Jordan, the occupier, on 20 November 1941. Mrs Jordan died on 24 December 1950 and her will of 4 November 1941 was proved on 8 February 1951. The beneficiary and executrix, her sister Emily Louisa Taylor of 73 Highdown Road, Lewes, wife of David William Taylor, sold the house for £550 to Florence Dorothy Ryan of Beaumont, Dittons Road, Eastbourne, wife of Harold Ryan, on 19 February 1951 (26-29)

On 30 November 1960 Mrs Ryan, the occupier, sold the house for £1650 to Cynthia Mary Methuen of Southover Manor School, spinster, who on 5 December granted a tenancy agreement at £40 a year to Mabel Jane Harries, married woman, her tenant at 2 Garden Cottages, Castle Banks, Lewes, which Miss Methuen required for her own occupation

On 4 May 1976 Miss Methuen, then of 2 Garden Cottages, sold 6 St Nicholas Lane, which had been 'vacant for some considerable time', to Marguerite Douglas Thompson of 29 Lansdowne Street, Hove, spinster, for £6000 (30-36)

Miss Thompson, an artist in stained glass who undertook work at the house, sold the property to Lesley Gorski in April 1994 (personal comment)

Documents given 20 July 2001 (ACC 8392)