Maze Hill Terrace, an attractive row of four houses, is numbered 1 to 4 from left to right. The two end houses are slightly grander in style and have their own front porches, unlike the pair in the middle. They also have, as end houses, two extra windows on each floor. There are four floors including a basement. They have small gardens at the rear, except for no. 4, which has one extending to the right. They are grander in style if not in size to nearby Stanhope Place, while simpler than The Lawn or The Uplands, also close by. Maze Hill Terrace was partly trade and partly gentry.
How big were they inside ? The 1911 census tells us that no. 1 had ten rooms (and was being run as a small boarding school, with 13 inhabitants). Only no. 2 was also occupied, also with ten rooms (and four residents). They are each about 1700 square feet in size, or 160 square metres.
The houses are Grade II listed. The Historic England website describes them as follows:
Numbers 1-4 consec
II Terrace. C1850, a late work of Decimus Burton. Stuccoed with slate roof and stuccoed chimneystacks. Symmetrical composition of 3 storeys and basement, 10 windows. Moulded eaves cornice and end quoins. Numbers 2 & 3 are slightly recessed with 3 windows each. Second floor windows have sashes with verticals horns and stops. First floor windows have cornices in addition. Ground floor rusticated with paired porches with pilasters, round-headed arches with keystones and impost blocks. Numbers 1 & 4 project slightly with 2 windows each, similar to the others but the end bays are tripartite and the ground floor windows have panels with central circular motif. Round-headed porches with keystones and pilasters. Steps to street and cast iron spear railings. Rear elevation has canted bays. Interior retains original staircases, ceiling roses and cornices.
The actual date is 1862. It has been suggested that the architect was actually Decimus Burton’s nephew Henry Marley Burton, as by this date Decimus was delegating much of the work to him. Only checking the actual planning application would verify this. This is DH/C/6/1/530, at The Keep, Falmer, which is dated 4 July 1862. The land itself had been bought by Decimus from the Eversfield Estate in 1847.
It is possible that the builder was Henry Hughes the younger. The Keep’s HMU 3/2/4/150 is a summary of his title to no. 1, dated 1863. Normally plots were sold to builders who would be their own developers, rather than builders being hired by developers (the Crakes were a notable local exception). It was common for builder-developers, if they could afford it, to keep one or two houses in a development rather than sell all of them to recoup their costs. Hughes also owned, or least lived in, no. 3.
This paragraph was added in October 2024 when a newspaper mention was found. The 9 April 1867 issue of the Sussex Advertiser, in giving the results of an auction, mentioned that 2 Maze Hill Terrace, with a leasehold of 500 years from the 25 March 1862, had been “brought in” at £900, meaning that it was withdrawn as the reserve price had not been reached.
The first directory to list householders is Mathieson’s directory for 1867/1868:
No. 1. Miss St Quentin
No. 2. Maleski, lodging house
No. 3. Henry Hughes, lodging house
No. 4. Miss Jackson
Maleski was John Maleski, who in the 1871 census, at 11 Magdalen Road, was a 42-year-old professor of languages, born Russia, a naturalised citizen. His wife was Mary Sankey, who he had married in 1860 in Southwark, as a surgeon from Folkestone. In the 1881 census in Folkestone the couple were living with the wife’s sister, a boarding house keeper, he with “share in property of boarding house.”
The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 19 February 1867, says that J.P. Maleski of Maze Hill Terrace ‘has kindly volunteered to superintend the French class, which is now pursuing its studies weekly’, at the St Leonards Mechanics’ Institute. This was on Norman Road.
Besides nos. 2 and 3 being lodging houses, no. 1 either was a boarding house or was available for short lets as newspaper notices show both nos. 1 and 3 having frequent visitors moving in, though this was not true for no. 2.
These notices were after the death of Miss St Quentin of no. 1. This was announced in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 22 February 1868:
Death on the 12th, at Maze Hill Terrace, of Cecil, third dau of the late William Thomas St Quentin, of Seampston Hall, Malton, Yorkshire, in the 68th year of her age.
She had local connections. For her estate of £10000, her executors were brothers Matthew Chitty St Quentin of Scampston [sic] Hall, Colonel, HMS, and the Rev. George Darby St Quentin of St Leonards on Sea.
In the 1861 census Cecil was living at 38 Marina with sister Catherine Ricardo, as a fundholder, both born Speen, Berkshire, with five servants. Catherine died in 1871 at Binfield, Berkshire, formerly of 38 Marina but late of 69 Marina. Their brother the George Darby St Quintin, late of 3 Warrior Square Terrace, clerk, died on the 22 December 1872. In 1846 he had been appointed perpetual curate of St Leonard with St Mary Magdalen.
In April 1871 we have the first census for the terrace. Here are the full details for the 15 occupants, although no. 2 was empty.
No. 1 William J. Lewns, M[arried], 39, lodging house keeper, born Rye
Elizabeth Lewns, wife, 28, born Balcombe
Emily Lewn, dau, 8, scholar, born St Leonards
Julia Bromlam [?], serv, S[ingle], 18, general serv, born Kent, Woodchurch
Harriett Wheeler, serv, S, 15, kitchen maid, born Winchelsea
Harriet Rokeby, lodger, W[idow, should be M], 60, clergyman’s wife, born Surrey, Lambeth
Charlotte M. Rokeby, lodger, S, 25, born Northamptonshire, Arthurworth
No. 2 Nil
No. 3 Henry Hughes, M, 37, builder employing 44 m[en], 2 B[oys], born St Leonards
Mary Ann Hughes, wife, 38, born Surrey, Lambeth
Sarah M. Hughes, niece, S, 16, born St Leonards
No. 4 Hannah Jackson, S, 53, income from houses etc., born Surrey, Walworth
Anne Jackson, sister, S, 58, born Surrey, Lambeth
Elizabeth Jackson, sister, S, 60, born Middlesex, Southwark [sic]
Jane Pain, niece, S, 27, born Surrey, Camberwell
Sarah Shoesmith, serv, S, 20, general serv, born Bexhill
Several months after the census Mr Lewns had a narrow escape. The Hastings Observer, 7 October 1871:
GAS EXPLOSION. – On Tuesday Mr T. Lewns, of 1, Maze-hill terrace, perceiving a strong smell of gas in his house, entered the room in which it apparently came from, with a lighted candle. A loud explosion which alarmed the neighbourhood immediately followed; Mr Lewns was thrown down and burned about the head.
Despite Mr Lewns’ efforts to prematurely cut short his existence he lived on until 1905. Although the 1871 census lists him as a lodging house keeper, he was a joiner when he married in 1865 at St Leonards church. Perhaps he combined the two occupations.
With 46 employees Henry Hughes of no. 3 was clearly in a substantial way of business. He was also elected as a town councillor, in 1873.
The 1876 Pike’s Directory:
No. 1. T.W. Lewns
No. 2. Miss Stoneman
No. 3. Henry Hughes, builder
No. 4. Miss Jackson
In 1877 there was an interesting court case involving Hughes, as reported in The Builder, 24 November 1877, and in the Hastings Observer, 10 November 1877. Birkett v Hughes was about James Birkett, a retired solicitor living at 12 Maze Hill who bought its freehold in June 1877. His garden was overlooked by a window in 1 Maze Hill Terrace. He employed an architect to put up a fence three feet from the windows. In the middle of the night a police officer came across Hughes cutting down the fence. The implication was that Hughes still owned no. 1. Birkett argued that he had a right to light in his garden as his house was put up before Maze Hill Terrace. Hughes was ordered to pay £1 as a fine plus £2 4s in costs. One can only speculate why Birkett needed to employ an architect to put up a fence.
Hughes died on the 1 April 1878, aged only 44, leaving an estate of £7000. His executors were James Chapman, dairyman, and Philip Henry Tree, architect, both living nearby.
The households in the 1881 census:
No. 1. John S. Lister, M[arried], 69, landed proprietor magistrate, born Lincolnshire, Burwell
Elizabeth Lister, wife, 69, born Yorkshire, Halifax
Sophia Lister, dau, S[ingle], 33, born Lincolnshire, Saleby Grange
Rebecca S. Woodland, serv, W, 45, lady’s maid, born Middlesex, Sudbury
Mary Burton, serv, S, 26, cook, born Hampshire, Waltham
Anne Hudnills [?], serv, S, 21, housemaid, born Kent, Greenwich
No. 2. Maria H. Clanmorris, W[idow], 72, peeress, annuitant, born Ireland
Anna M. Spiller, dau, W, 45, annuitant, born Brighton
Elizabeth C. Bingham, granddau, S, 20, born Scotland
Emmeline Brooks, serv, S, 23, housemaid & cook, born Kent, Lamberhurst
Sarah A. Bridgewell, serv, S, 25, housemaid, born Essex, Fairsted
No. 3. Emily R. Whittuck, S, 61, born Lancashire, Shelby Hill
Ellen Huggin, serv, S, 18, domestic serv, born Kent, Boughton Malherbe
Mary A. Noakes, serv, S, 20, housemaid, born Brede
No. 4. Anna Jackson, S, 67, born Surrey, Walworth
Hannah Jackson, sister, S, 70, born Surrey, Walworth
Sarah Shoesmith, serv, S, 30, domestic servant, born Bexhill
Regarding no. 2, Debrett’s Peerage, 1881, has, as relations of John George Barry Bingham (born 1852), 5th Baron Clanmorris, an Irish title, living at 3 Maze Hill Terrace his aunt the Hon. Anna Maria, daughter of the 3rd Baron, widow of the Rev. Ferdinand George Cotter Spiller; her sister the Hon. Isabella Catherine Sarah (born 1843); and their mother Maria Helena, Baroness Clanmorris. The daughter Isabella was, in the 1881 census, visiting the Cunliffe family in Paddington.