Deeds of 35 (formerly 4) Sun Street, Lewes

The property was built in about 1810 on part of a field which had been sold off for development; for a recital of the earlier title from 1711 in the deeds of 36-42 Sun Street, see BLE/C2/19. For a trust deed executed by the owner in 1816, see AMS5659. The property formed a freehold of the manor of Southover, and was subject to a quitrent of ¼d by apportionment. It is described in detail in particulars of 1864 (7 below). The numbering of Sun Street was changed in the 1890s

On 10 Oct 1810 Thomas Kemp esq sold a piece of land to William Hother of Lewes, carpenter, and his trustee William Cruttenden, grocer, together with a house which Hoather had recently built. The property was described as follows

Part of a meadow formerly Kemp's, before Friend's (E: road; W (12' 6"): another part of the meadow sold to Thomas Norman; N (60'): messuage of James Walter; S: messuage of Charles Boore), with the use of a well behind the house in common with a house occupied by John Potter

Hother sold the house for £185 to Henry Crunden of Cliffe, carpenter (and his trustee George Gwynne of Lewes, esq), in Nov 1815 (2, 3)

By a settlement of 14 Sep 1816 [which survives as AMS5659], Crunden appointed John Chapman [of Lewes, linendraper] and Richard Lambe [of Lewes, upholsterer] as trustees of his house, his furniture, working tools and other assets, for the benefit of himself, his wife Mary and their children. The deed was executed at Mary's instigation; Crunden was 'a hard-drinking man', and she wished to preserve some of his assets for the benefit of their family. By 1817 Crunden had contracted debts, credit having been advanced to him 'on the supposition of his being a person of substance', the creditors having no knowledge of the trust deed. With Crunden's creditors threatening to imprison him, an opinion was sought from G Heald of Lincolns Inn, who on 6 Sep and 12 Oct stated that the trust deed was void against the creditors, who could take execution on the house and furniture; Crunden could sell the house to discharge the debts, but that the trustees should not hand over the deeds to a purchaser without a Chancery decree (1)

Crunden sold the house for £160 to Charles Boore of Lewes, cabinetmaker (and his trustee Edward Boore of Lewes, cabinetmaker); in order to strengthen the title Hother joined the conveyance, which was executed on 30 & 31 Oct 1817 (2, 3)

Boore threatened to sue Crunden's trustees for delivery of the deeds, and Heald's opinion was sent to Thomas Lee of The Temple, who on 29 Jan 1818 agreed that delivery could not be enforced; a copy was sent by King & Gell of Lewes to Crunden's trustee George Gwynne on 31 Jan 1818 (4)

On 18 Sep 1826 Boore sold the house for £160 to George Gwynne and his trustee Thomas Gwynne, solicitor of the New Legacy Department Somerset House (5)

The house in Sun Street, a house, stables, coach-house, granary and land on the corner of Lewes High Street and Market Street (details) and copyhold of Laughton manor were conveyed to William Fuller of Lewes, draper and Francis Harding Gell of Lewes, gent as trustees of the settlement on the marriage of George Gwynne and Sarah Tourle of Lewes widow on 7 & 8 Aug 1829

George Gwynne died on 20 Dec 1838 and his widow Sarah on 24 Jul 1863. By 1854 a cause had been commenced in Chancery as Gwynne v Gell, concerning the administration of George Gwynne's estate. Following the death of Iltid Gwynne intestate, a decree of 8 Nov 1854 ordered that enquiry be made, and on 18 Mar 1859 George Whiting, chief clerk to the Master of the Rolls, certified the details and the extent of the estate in Chiddingly, South Malling, Brighton and Lewes (details), differentiating those parts of the estate which had been acquired after the 1829 settlement and those which had already been sold

On 10 Mar 1860 the Master of the Rolls ordered the sale of the estate, and on 26 Nov 1860 the cause was revived on the death of Samuel Gwynne (6)

The estate was auctioned in 16 lots at Lewes on 10 May 1864, the Sun Street house forming lot 13. The particulars (7), illustrated with a map and stating the root of title and the manorial liabilities for each lot, includes the following

1 Millard's, otherwise Mill House Farm, occupied by John Guy, in Chiddingly

2 A brick cottage opposite Mill House in Chiddingly

3 Well Field, a piece of building land in Chiddingly

4 A brick cottage with a brick-kiln near Limekilns Farm in Chiddingly

5 Owdens Field in Chiddingly

6 Carpenters Field in Chiddingly

7 198 High Street, occupied by John Verrall, in Lewes

8 6 Lansdown Place, occupied by Richard Towner, in Lewes

9 7 Lansdown Place, occupied by Thomas Heathfield, in Lewes

10 7 Dolphin Lane, occupied by William Alexander Goldsmith, in Lewes

11 1 & 2 on the west side of Dolphin Lane, occupied by Mary Anne Eager and Joseph Clark, in Lewes

12 A warehouse occupied by Benjamin Flint and a blacksmith's shop and yard occupied by Poole Collingham on the west side of Dolphin Lane, Lewes

13 4 Sun Street, occupied by Thomas Beale, in Lewes

14 A house opposite the Britannia beer shop, occupied by James Holder, in Keere Street, Lewes

15 11 & 12 South Street, Cliffe, occupied by John Verrall and Mary Biddle

16 Two houses situated at the rear of 11 & 12 South Street, Cliffe, occupied by William Davey and William Osborne

The Sun Street house was purchased for £120 by Thomas Marten of Lewes, miller, the money credited to the Chancery cause on 18 Aug 1864 and the conveyance executed by Inigo Gell, the son of the surviving trustee, on 14 Mar 1865. John Guy the younger of Laughton, brickmaker, who had purchased the bulk of the estate, agreed to produce the earlier deeds, and executed a covenant to that effect on 23 Jan 1866 (9 & 11)

On 29 Sep 1868 Thomas Marten agreed with John Norman of Cliffe, bricklayer (the owner of 3 Sun Street) to stop up and arch over the well which was shared by their houses, occupied by Henry Crowhurst and Henry Pelling respectively; the houses were supplied by the Lewes Water Works (12)

Marten died on 28 Jan 1895 and bequeathed his property to his nephew Lewis Whiteman, who died 4 Mar 1895. His widow Sarah Humphrey Whiteman proved his will on 2 May 1895 and his estate was auctioned on 28 May 1895. The house, now numbered 35 Sun Street and occupied by W Stevens, was bought by Soloman Savage of Fisher Street, Lewes, for £155

The printed particulars (13) also include the estate of Thomas Roswell deceased consisting of

1 a cottage at Spithurst in Barcombe, occupied by William Diplock

2 6 Western Road, Lewes, occupied by Cornelius Timbrell

3 19 Sun Street, Lewes, occupied by Ernest Brown

4 32 & 34 Sun Street, Lewes, occupied by Mary Palmer and James Curd

5 37 Sun Street, Lewes, occupied by Amos Phillips

6 44 & 46 Sun Street, Lewes, occupied by William Martin and Charles Green

7 11 Market Street, Lewes, occupied by T Higham

The property was conveyed by Mrs Whiteman of Lewes High Street to Eliza Savage of 33 Upper North Street, Brighton, spinster on 27 Jun 1895 (16). Eliza Savage died on 29 Nov 1921, her will was proved 3 Jan 1922 by her nephew Ernest Lewis Tappin of 3 Milton Terrace, Lewes, electrical engineer, and the estate was auctioned on 30 May 1922. The particulars (17) include the remainder of Mrs Savage's property (4, 7 & 9 St Johns Street, 28 St Pancras Gardens and 13 Waterloo Place, Lewes), the estate of Louisa Hother deceased (1-7 Fellmongers Yard and 1-11 Lansdown Place), the trustees of John Hillman deceased (8a in Malling Brooks), C W Atkey (land in Ringmer) and Maria Cheesman (mortgagee of 2 & 3 Meeching Rise, Newhaven)

The house, occupied by Mrs Satcher, was sold to Reuben Moore of 18 Sun Street, Lewes, market gardener for £130, to whom it was conveyed on 19 Jun 1922; Moore also purchased 4 St Johns Street, which he sold to Lewes Corporation on 31 Dec 1936 (18-20)

Reuben Moore died in Jun 1944 and his grandson Charles Smith sold 35 Sun Street to Agnes Eleanor Ward for £350 in Mar 1950. Miss Ward married Charles Edward Stepney in 1959. The property was owned by David Hardiman between 1970 and 1990 (21)

Documents given 5 August 1994 (ACC 6395)