Gilbert Road is a short road to the west of London Road, with Tower Road West to its north and Brittany Road to its south. The houses are only on the west side, with at present six houses, numbered from the south. Its origins were explained in the Hastings Observer, 3 May 1884:
The Roads Committee reported that they had examined plans for new buildings. They had also received plans of a new road, proposed to be called Gilbert road, and an extension of Tower road, for the Eversfield Estate. Gilbert road was about 194 yards in length, 45 feet in width, with a 9 ft. footpath of either side, and a carriage road 27 feet wide, steepest gradient 1 in 14, and easiest gradient 1 in 38 ft 6 in.; the sewers are 9 in. and 12 in. stoneware pipes, and 11 gulleys and two catchpits are shows, and one ventilating shaft…
The committee recommend that the plans be approved.
Typically there would be a planning application for building a road and sewers, but I did not find one on this occasion. The ‘extension’ of Tower Road is presumably Tower Road West in its entirety. However, I did find applications for the existing houses.
It was not however until five years later that the first such planning application was made. At that time the approval date of an application was typically a day or two before brief details appeared in the newspaper. The Discovery catalogue for the National Archives and many local collections including The Keep simply gives 1889 as the date of approval for planning application DH/C/6/1/3764, 1 Gilbert Road, with that application being apparently that listed in the Hastings Observer, 6 April 1889, as
A villa, proposed to be built at Gilbert-road, for Mr A. Eldridge
I am confident that this was a mention of no. 1 as Albert Eldridge was living there in 1891.
The application for 2 Gilbert Road was approved on the 5 July 1889 as DH/C/6/1/3846. It was reported on the next day.
A detached villa in Gilbert-road, St Leonards, for Mr Walter Cruttenden
The planning application for 3 Gilbert Road was approved on the 1 August 1890 as DH/C/6/1/4063.
A villa in Gilbert-road, for Mr A.H. White
As is my custom I did not look at the planning applications at The Keep, Falmer, which would have named the architect as well as giving us floor plans and the like. All three men – Eldridge, Cruttenden and White – were builders. They had clearly purchased the plots and built on them. Individual builders with modest amounts of capital would typically only buy at one time land enough for a detached or a pair of semi-detached houses. Making a profit depended on a sale, as the costs of the land, labour and materials often drove builders bankrupt.
In the 1891 census, the householders were:
1 Albert Eldridge, married, 42, builder & contractor, born Sussex Sedlescombe (plus wife, daughter, servant)
2 Maria Chester, widow, 68, living on own means, born Kent Old Charlton (plus son, 2 daughters, 3 servants)
3 Uninhabited
More planning applications followed.
For an unnumbered house in Gilbert Road, approved 4 May 1894, there was DH/C/6/1/5563. The newspaper:
One dwelling-house, Gilbert-road; Mr A.H. White, owner; Mr F.H. Humphreys, architect
I am fairly sure that despite the approval it was never built, and instead the current pair of semi-detached houses were built on the same site as the catalogue’s ‘4, 5 Gilbert Road’, approved 1 January 1897, DH/C/6/1/5968.
One pair semi-detached villas, Gilbert-road; Mr A.H. White, owner, per Mr F.H. Humphreys, architect
Frank Humphreys mostly built semi-detached houses in St Leonards, often quite large and elaborate. Grosvenor Crescent and some houses in St Matthew’s Gardens are examples of his large houses, while Vale Road has many of his simpler houses.
The 1901 census only gave house names and I have added the actual house numbers in square brackets.
[1] Ivydene. Edith S. Mann, single, 43, living own means, born London City (plus sick nurse, visitor, servant) [2] Little Dene. Louisa G. Chester, single, 53, living on own means, born Sussex Washington (plus brother, 3 servants) [3 ] Thorndene. Mary J. Pordige, widow, 67, living on own means, born Sussex Rye (plus daughter) [4] Mapledene. Alice M. Ludlam, single, 56, living on own means, born London Kensington (plus sister, 2 servants) [5] New house, not in occupationStreet listings in the annual Pike’s directories at Hastings Library would give the householders for additional years – when, following extensive building work, the relevant floor becomes available again.
DH/C/6/1/7528, approved 18 January 1907, was for 6 Gilbert Road, away from the others and on the corner with Tower Road West.
Mr A. King, owner; Mr T.W. Elworthy, architect
It was apparently built for Arthur King as he was a dairyman and not a builder. He must have purchased the plot and commissioned Thomas William Elworthy as architect, who presumably contracted whoever was the builder (who would be named in the planning application).
I could not get the map extract below to be sharper. It is taken from the 1954 Ordnance Survey map of St Leonards on Sea (part of) on the National Library of Scotland website. This can be contrasted with the 1873 Ordnance Survey map of St Leonards on Sea (part of) showing emptyness, with London Road on the east and Markwick Gardens obvious at bottom left. Tower Road West was already there though not yet built on.
The 1911 census below included for the first time the number of rooms in each household. Apparently no. 3, Thorndene, was uninhabited as it was omitted. In earlier censuses all houses were listed together, but in 1911 there was a fresh page for each household. The disadvantage of this was that you lost the valuable ‘U’ [uninhabited] note for such houses that earlier censuses would have used. We also miss in this case how many rooms it had, although this would also be given in the 1921 census, the most recent available. As for 1901 I have added the house numbers in square brackets.
[1] Ivydene. 8 rooms. Albert Eldridge, 62, married, builder & house decorator, employer, born Sedlescombe Sussex (plus wife, 2 daughters, son, servant) [2] Littledene. 12 rooms. Louisa Grace Chester, 63, single, private means, born Sussex Washington (plus 3 servants) [3] [Thorndene] [4] Mapledene. 11 rooms. Alice Ludlam, 66, single, gentlewoman private means, born Notting Hill London (plus sister, 2 servants) [5] Rosedene. 10 rooms. William John Waymouth, 72, widower, retired “superintending clerk”, Admiralty, London, S.W., born London, Islington (plus niece, servant) [6] Tower Lodge. 8 rooms. Arthur King, 52, married, retired dairyman, born Herts Cottered (plus wife, son, boarder)Notice that except for no. 1, none of the householders so far noted were employed. Additional research could include checking for in the newspapers for auctions (Tower Lodge was for sale in both 1932 and 1949, for example) or for obituaries and notices, plus householders in the directories to see if they can be identified. Besides looking for events such as burglaries and the like.
There are also some extra planning applications on Discovery for alterations, garages etc., to 1960, when the collection stored at Falmer ends. However, a search for 4 Gilbert Road as a phrase would not work for the original house (it does work for a conservatory application in 1905) as it is disguised under 4, 5 Gilbert Road (the software does ignore the commas).
I have no idea why the suffix ‘dene’ was so popular !
Gilbert Rd is near me, I know several people who have lived there / still do so. It is named after the heir to the Eversfield Estate – Charles Gilbert Markwick, who added Eversfield as a condition to being the heir, hence Eversfield Place (about 1846 on), and the group of Charles, Gilbert and Markwick Rds / Terrace / Gardens in St. Leonards.
OHPS has a run of street directories, which are available for anyone to go along and have a look at every Thurs 11-4, and at other times by prior appointment with OHPS – tel 424744.
It is typical of Eversfield estate developments that the houses are all named – see Sherfield in Bygones 9 ?
Why this little road went for dene endings I don’t know, I wouldn’t call it a valley.