Deeds of 57 The Avenue, Lewes

The property was built on part of the Paddock as shown on the maps below. Left: land sold to John Every and partners, 1 Aug 1905, (AMS6336/1). Right: house sold to Grace Vinall, 27 Apr 1910 (AMS6336/4)

The Paddock (27a 1r 10p, plan) in Lewes St Ann and St John sub Castro was sold on 9 May 1877 by Anne D'Albiac of Putney, widow, and George Charles D'Albiac of Putney esq to John Latter Parsons of the Wallands, Lewes, esq for £3000. Mrs D'Albiac had sold the land to GCD some years earlier but no conveyance had been executed. The part of the Paddock in the parish of St Ann was subject to a right of pasturage for the Houndean Farm Flock belonging to the Marquess of Abergavenny

Parsons died on 11 Nov 1885 and his will, dated 12 Jun, was proved on 24 Feb 1886. His wife, whom he had married at Neufchatel in Switzerland on 27 Jul 1878, was given the right to occupy his residence on the Wallands for life. He made a 'suggestive sketch' should the Paddock be set out for building and stated that 1½ acres SW of the house should be left open to ensure the view. The estate was bequeathed to his sons Latter, John and Thomas Parsons as tenants in common

On 20 Feb 1894 the Parsons brothers granted the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of Lewes Borough, acting as an Urban Sanitary Authority, the right to lay a drain across the Paddock (plan) and on 10 Oct 1902 the right of pasturage for the Houndean Flock was purchased from William [Nevill] Marquess of Abergavenny for £2600

Latter Parsons died on 17 Sep 1903 and on 1 Aug 1905 his widow, executors and brothers to sell part of the Paddock (25a 2r, plan) to John Henry Every of Lewes, ironfounder, William Gates of Lewes, lt col 1st Sussex RE volunteers, Reginald Henry Powell, Hubert John Powell and Walter Lintott all of Lewes, land agents, for £6600. 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 interest (1)

On 14 Sep 1909 Every, his partners and their mortgagees sold the site of 51-57 The Avenue, described as a piece of land with a frontage of 135 ft on a road formerly known as Dalbiac Avenue, to William Russell Davey of Lewes, builder, for £573 15s. Davey borrowed £450 from Joseph Edward Cockburn of Brighton gent on 15 Sep 1909 and a further £250 on 5 Nov 1909. During this time 55-59 The Avenue were in the process of erection. On 26 Apr 1910 Every and his partners granted to Davey the right of way along that part of The Avenue not yet adopted by the local authority (7). The mortgage was discharged on 27 Apr 1910 and on the same day Davey conveyed 57 The Avenue, then known as Ivors, to Grace Adah Vinall of Lewes, wife of James Vinall, solicitor's clerk, for £530 (4, plan). Grace Vinall sold the property, by then called Pevenhill, to Leonard Tickner of 53 Cliffe High Street Lewes, draper and milliner, on 29 Sep 1922 for £750 (8). On 25 Jun 1923 Tickner conveyed it to Ralph Gordon Wheeler of 56 Montague Street, Worthing, acting as the trustee for Cecilia Isted, wife of Edward Henry Isted of the same address, for £1250 (10). On 1 Jan 1926 the property became vested in Cecilia Isted under the Law of Property Act 1925 and confirmed in a deed of 24 Apr 1931 (12). On 5 Nov 1934 Cecilia Isted sold it to Alice Ruth Marriott of South Malling Vicarage, spinster, for £1060 (14). Alice Marriott died on 12 Nov 1951 and under the terms of her will of 17 Aug 1943, proved on 13 Dec 1951, her residence at the time of her death was bequeathed to her niece, Irene Agatha Firth (16)

On 9 Jan 1952 Irene Firth sold the property to Helen Gladys Frost of 33 South Way, Lewes, widow, for £3400 (17). Following the deaths of Helen Frost and her daughter Joyce Archer at the property on 17 Nov 1953, letters of administration were granted to Jack Howard Archer of Oakwood Lodge, Oak Hill Road Sevenoaks, Kent, bank manager, and Cicely Gibbins Uridge of 11 Southdown Avenue, Lewes, spinster, on 17 Mar 1954 (18). [For the inquest papers see 1953/164, 165]

The administrators sold the property to Peter Guy Laker of the Pelham Arms Hotel, High Street, Lewes, journalist, on 29 Oct 1954 for £2300 (20) and he conveyed it to Peter Bernard Smythe of Flat 2 Kilrae Elmwood Avenue, Feltham, Middlesex, a major in H M Army, on 18 Nov 1964 for £3900 (23)

Plans for an extension to the kitchen were submitted to Lewes District Council and passed on 2 Jul 1991 (26, 27)

<p>For the building plans and application submitted to Lewes Borough Council on 27 Aug 1909 and passed on 6 Oct see DL/A1/48/359. For the records of William Davey and Son, plumbers, painters and glaziers, Lewes, 1855-1964, including references to work done at 57 The Avenue see AMS5743 and AMS6321. For the deeds of 53 The Avenue, [1877]-1970 see AMS5992</p>

Documents deposited 4 Jul 1994 (A6365)