|
Site Contents |
Derek Phillips makes every effort to ensure that the information on this website is accurate and up-to-date. However, he cannot accept responsibility for any loss or inconvenience caused by reliance on inaccurate material contained in this site. Links to other sites are provided for your convenience, Derek cannot give endorsement of them. He cannot be responsible for any information contained on other websites.
All material on this site (including text and images) is copyright. Every effort is being made to ensure that all sources are credited. Where no credit is given then it should be assumed that the copyright in any particular item resides with Derek Phillips or that Derek should be contacted to ascertain who owns the copyright before text or photographs are reproduced elsewhere. Educational use is permitted provided that no changes are made to the material and Derek Phillips is acknowledged as the source.
Commercial usage is prohibited unless formal written permission is obtained beforehand.
|
Other West Ewell Stuff: Wartime memories |
|
West Ewell was known at the end of the 19th Century as Upper and Lower Marsh. The area consisted mainly of the farmland of Park Farm, Fitznell's Farm Poplar Farm and Scott’s Farm. There were a few dwellings, which were mostly the homes formerly occupied by workers at the nearby Gunpowder mills on the Hogsmill. Much of the land alongside the river was owned by Alexander Bridges, whose family had lived in the Manor House (now Ewell Court House) for many generations. |
|
In 1878 Alexander Bridges sold some of the land to the south of the Hogsmill River to a Mr Gadesden, resident of Ewell Castle. Maybe this was to finance the building of Ewell Court House, which was completed in 1879. This map is reproduced from the deeds drawn up at the time
and shows how the land was divided up. Alexander Bridges went on to build All Saints Church in 1894.
|
 |
| The parcel of land sold to
Mr Gadesden by Mr Bridges in 1878; this land contained a number of
weather-boarded cottages known locally as the “Black Cottages” presumably
because they were painted with tar or bitumen. They stood on a track known
in the 1870's as the Ewell and Ruxley path. These cottages were originally built for the
mill workers or “powder monkeys” or "powder monks" and stood until the early 1930’s when they
were replaced by the semi-detached homes that now stand in Northcroft Road.
|
|
| My particular interest the area stems
from the fact that I was born and bought up in one of these semi’s with the
Hogsmill open space and the roads of West Ewell as my playground. It
turns out, in fact, that I was born on the site where a certain James
Baker and his family lived in the 1860’s. The unfortunate Mr Baker was
a victim of an explosion at the gunpowder mills in 1863 and a memorial
stone for him can be found in St Mary’s Churchyard in Ewell village.
Whether this stone marks his final resting place is doubtful as little
of his remains were ever found. Read the newspaper reports about the Gunpowder mill explosions. Explosion 1863
Inquest 1863 |
 |
|
|