Deeds of 33 West Street, Lewes

The property was built on the site of a mortar-pit which had formed part of Townsend's Field in Lewes All Saints and St John, part of which was sold for £300 by John Pelham of Laughton, bt, to William Spence of South Malling, esq, on 21 & 22 May 1673 (1)

Details of the descent of Townsend's Field in the Spence family, its sale by Luke Spence and his son Henry Spence to Samuel Durrant in 1782 and its eventual sale by Samuel, William, Mary Mercer and Elizabeth Durrant to Thomas Harben of Lewes, esq, and his trustee Thomas Dicker of Lewes, gent, for £500 on 13 & 14 Aug 1789 can be gathered from the deeds of the former House of Correction at HF 1

On 20 & 21 Oct 1789 Harben and Dicker sold part of the field [marked A on the plan], to Jonathan Standley and his trustee William Bennett of Lewes, tailor. It was described as: a piece of land (N-S 220½', E-W 195'; area 3r 37p 247') in All Saints and St John sub Castro, Lewes, occupied by Standley and lately taken out of the south side of Townsends Field (S: road from Castle Banks to the weigh scale; E: piece of land taken out of Townsends Field occupied by George Wille; N: Townsends Field and the site of the House of Correction)

With right to use the road at the west end of the land and a covenant to produce the earlier deeds relating to the whole of Townsends Field (1)

On 12 May 1792 Standley mortgaged the property for £650 to Francis Whitfeld, Benjamin Comber, Joseph Molineux and Richard King all of Lewes, bankers (1)

In his will dated 31 May 1792 Standley, described as a bricklayer, bequeathed the property to his father, Thomas Standley, in trust for sale for the benefit of his wife Sarah until the youngest of her children came of age. Thomas proved his son's will at Lewes on 9 Aug 1794 (2)

For the site of 11 West Street, sold off by Thomas Standley in 1797, see AMS5733

By his will of 28 Jan 1813 Thomas Standley, described as a bricklayer, bequeathed land in Lewes All Saints, used as a mortar-yard and occupied by Messrs Kent and Tanner, to Mr [William] Smart of Lewes, cornchandler, and Richard Crunden of Ringmer, yeoman, as trustees for sale, to pay off the mortgage of his two houses in Lewes St Michael, occupied by himself and Joseph Breeds; any remainder was to be held for the benefit of his grandson Thomas Standley of Oxford Street, Mx, linendraper, the executor. The will also included three freehold messuages in The Cliffe occupier by Hooker, Thomas Solomon and William Gasson, a messuage and garden in Kingston occupied by his son-in-law James Read, labourer, three acres in Kingston occupied by Thomas Rogers and three copyhold messuages in Lewes All Saints occupied by Dale, Brown and Greenwood. The will was proved at Lewes on 5 Sep 1814 (3)

Jonathan Standley's trustee William Bennett was buried at Lewes St Michael in 1810. Joseph Molineux survived his partners and was buried at Lewes in Jan 1813; his will was proved in PCC by his wife Elizabeth, Richard Hurly and Thomas Beard in 1813. Thomas Standley's trustee Richard Crunden was buried at Ringmer in Oct 1814 (1)

An abstract of title of part of the property [marked B on the plan] was prepared on behalf of the vendor by Thomas Cooper and examined for the purchaser William Watts of Lewes, bricklayer, by William Balcombe Langridge, the clerk of the peace. Langridge corrected a statement that he held the early deeds of Townsends Field (now HF 1) as the site of the new house of correction, making clear that they were in the hands of Mr Harben's representatives. He objected that the two parts of the property were subject to different trusts, both having been bequeathed by Jonathan Standley to his father but only the mortar-plot by Thomas to his grandson. He also doubted the sufficiency of the description in Cooper's draft conveyance to convey the land which Watts had agreed to purchase. Some of the requisitions were answered by Cooper with details of the Standley family

The matter was passed to Thomas Partington of Offham for an opinion, and to settle the draft conveyance. He reported on 20 Jan 1815, stating that Thomas the grandson was heir to both his father and grandfather and could convey the title, and suggesting that a plan be drawn on the margin of the deed to resolve the difficulties of description (1). The paper draft of the plan, reproduced in the introduction above, must originate from that suggestion. As well as naming neighbouring owners and occupiers, it shows the site of an old riding school on the south side of West Street and John Blaker's hearse-house to the east of the property (4)

The conveyance was executed on 30 & 31 Jan 1815. Thomas Standley of King Street, Covent Garden, linendraper, was joined by his grandfather's survivng trustee William Smart and Joseph Molineux's executors to convey to William Watts of Lewes, bricklayer, and his trustee Charles Wille of Lewes, builder, for £125. The term created by the mortgage of 1792, which had been discharged by Thomas Standley in his lifetime, was assigned to George Stanford of Lewes, builder, in trust for Watts. Standley's signature was witnessed by Robert Thomas Ovenden of 20 Old Boswell Court and Joseph Septimus Ovenden of Newcastle Court, London, engravers (5, 6)

By his will of 4 Apr 1831, Watts bequeathed the corner house of St Johns Street, occupied by William Corner, with the use of the well in the yard of his messuage occupied by Nathaniel Pickett, to his wife Dinah Watts for life, with remainder to his daughter Lydia, [wife of Stephen] Duplock [of Lewes, painter]. Watts died on 12 Feb and the will was proved at Lewes by William Smart, Charles Wille the elder, Samuel Hide Smart and Charles Wille the younger on 21 Aug 1835 (7)

A memorandum of a £500 mortgage of three houses built by her father in St Johns Street (N: Frederick Martin, late William Martin; S: messuage bequeathed by Watts to William Cook), by Watts's daughter Mary wife of William Cox of Lewes, tailor, to John Willis of Essex Street, Westminster, glazier, witnessed by John Webb Woollgar and John S Auckland, was endorsed on the conveyance on 14 Apr 1835. Another of Watts's messuages, bequeathed to his daughter Jane Cooke and to her husband William Cooke of Lewes, tailor, in reversion, was conveyed to George Cooke of Lewes, gent, in trust for William Cooke absolutely, on 16 Feb 1839 (5, 6)

Dinah Watts died on 27 Apr 1852. The will of her daughter Lydia Duplock of Lewes, widow, was proved by her sons William and Henry Duplock of Lewes, plumbers and painters, and Alfred Duplock of Lewes, printer's foreman, on 13 Nov 1874. An abstract was drawn by Blaker & Son of Lewes and the property, a beershop occupied by John Reed (formerly separately occupied as a messuage and workshop), was conveyed to Edward Monk of Lewes, brewer, and his trustee Thomas James Monk of Lewes, brewer, for £410 on 29 Dec 1874 (8, 9)

A further abstract of the title of the late Edward Monk was drawn by Blaker & Son in 1897, [previous to the sale of his Bear Brewery to the Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries in 1898 -see TAM 4/1/1/6, which includes the property, described as an off-licence]

The Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries leased their business to Tamplin & Sons Brewery Brighton Ltd, with an option to purchase, on 7 Dec 1920; the option was exercised at a price of £274,075, and the schedule described the property as an off-licence (11). The brewery leased 33 West Street, still described as an off-licence, to the occupier Hettie Gertrude Goldsmith from year to year at £32 10s on 2 Oct 1945 (10). The brewery, incorporated on 13 May 1889, changed its name to Tamplin's Brewery Ltd on 13 Feb 1962 and the property was conveyed, with covenants prohibiting its use as an off-licence, to the occupiers Frederick William George Goldsmith, retired railway employee, and Hettie Gertrude Goldsmith for £1100 on 28 Sep 1962 (11-15)

Mr Goldsmith died at Lewes on 21 Nov 1973. In 1983 the property was bought by G Christopher and Susan Cowen (16-18)

Also present with the documents is a memorandum of the admission of William Watts of Lewes, bricklayer, on the surrender of Thomas Johnston, to a piece of land (100' x 25'), copyhold of the Borough of Lewes, on 27 Sep 1811. Two houses and other buildings had lately been erected on the land which was part of a copyhold paying 2s 6d quitrent to which Johnston had been admitted on 6 Oct 1806. Watts was the owner of 33 West Street from 1815 to his death in 1835. From the bounds (N, NE, NW: the Lewes - Offham Road, the road from White Lion Lane to St John's church; SW: Sarah Mantell's garden; SE: Thomas Johnston's messuage and ground) it is possible that the document relates to the copyhold property in Mount Pleasant referred to in the will of William Watts in 1835 [W/A 78.827] (19)

Documents deposited 17 June 1994 (A 6358)