Deeds of 53 The Avenue, Lewes [1877]-1970 SX 129085

The Paddock (27a 1r 10p, plan) in Lewes St Ann and St John sub Castro was sold on 9 May 1877 by Ann D'Albiac of Putney widow and George Charles D'Albiac of Putney esq to John Latter Parsons of Lewes esq for £3,000; Mrs D'Albiac had sold the land to GCD some years earlier but no conveyance had been executed

Parsons died on 11 Nov 1885 and his will of 12 June made detailed provision for his estate. His wife (whom he had married at Neufchatel, Switzerland on 27 Jul 1878) was given the right to occupy his residence on the Wallands for life and should the Paddock be set out for building (he had made 'a suggestive sketch'), one and a half acres SW of the house was to be left open to ensure the view. The estate was bequeathed to his sons Latter, John and Thomas Parsons as tenants in common and the will was proved 24 Feb 1886

On 20 Feb 1894 the Parsons brothers granted the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of Lewes Borough (acting as the Urban Sanitary Authority) the right to lay a drain across the Paddock (plan) and on 10 Oct 1902 a righturage for the Houndean Sheep Flock over the land in St Ann's parish (plan) was purchased from William [Nevill] Marquess of Abergavenny for £2,600

Latter Parsons died 17 Sep 1903 and on 1 Aug 1905 his widow and executors joined his brothers to sell The Paddock and other land (detailed plan) to John Henry Every of Lewes, iron founder, William Gates of Lewes (lieut-col 1st Sussex RE volunteers), Reginald Henry Powell, Hubert John Powell and Walter Lintott all of Lewes, land agents, for £6,600. The purchasers covenanted to lay out a road and the land protected by the will of Parsons was shown in yellow on the plan. The following day a declaration of trust specified the terms of the syndicate which had been joined between the purchasers to develop the land. On 23 Apr 1906 Charlotte Ann Gates of Southover, widow of William Gates who had died at Rodmell on 21 Sep 1905, released her interest to his partners for £600 and £17 8s 6d (1)

On 14 Sep 1909 Every, his partners and their mortgagees sold the sites of 51-59 The Avenue (plan, annotated with the names of subsequent purchasers) to William Russell Davey of Lewes, builder, for £573 15s (2). Davey borrowed £450 from Joseph Edward Cockburn of Brighton gent on 15 Sep and a further £250 on 5 Nov 1909, by which time three houses were in the course of erection; the mortgagee reconveyed on 27 Apr 1910 but on 3 Nov 1910 advanced a further £900 on the security of two houses, Kingscote and St Helens (53 and 51 The Avenue), which had been built at the E end of the plot (3-7)

On 19 Nov 1914 Cockburn, of The Flyfishers Club, Piccadilly, executed a power of attorney in favour of Augustus Charles Woolley of Brighton, solicitor, who on 1 Jan 1915 assigned the mortgage to William Dancy of Preston, gent; Cockburn was described as 'now travelling abroad' (8-10). On 21 Oct 1918 St Helens (51 The Avenue) was sold to the occupier Henry John Barrett for £450 (7)

On 5 Feb 1919 Davey, now of Zion Parsonage, Morley, Yorks, dissenting minister, sold Kingscote to Arthur William Vine of the Police Station, Cantelupe Road, Bexhill, superintendent of police, for £670 of which £320 was borrowed from the Lewes Co-operative Benefit Building Society and repaid on 5 Jun 1919 (8-15)

Vine sold the property to Catherine Maria Brigstocke of 14 Shelley Terrace, spinster, on 5 Nov 1923 for £1,450. She died 12 Jul 1938 and on 15 Apr 1939 her personal representatives sold to Louis Francis Salzman of 10 Mecklenburgh Square, London, author, for £900. On 21 Dec 1970 Salzman, of 12 Houndean Rise, sold the property to Colin Edward and Judith Ann Brent of 44 South Way for £6,700 (16-22)

Documents deposited 28 Feb 1986 (A4592)