A description of the history of Walpole Avenue and the houses on it

---

WALPOLE AVENUE

In 1900 the area now comprising Walpole Avenue was a narrow wood (Pitfield Shaw) set amidst farmland, most probably used for grazing dairy cattle. The southern part of the land was part of Doggett’s Farm; the northern part of this land was in Latchford’s Farm.  Doggett’s Farm had a farmhouse and barns located on the track (now Doghurst Lane) just opposite another farm - Hazlewood Farm. Doggetts Farm was later known as Doghouse Farm and subsequently Dog Hurst Farm.

Doggett’s Farm was in the Parish of Chipstead; Latchford’s Farm was in the Parish of Woodmansterne. The Parish boundary runs between Latchfords and Middleshaws and down to Hazlewood Lane between Forbes Field and The Grey Cottage. Both Doggett’s and Latchford’s Farms were owned by the wealthy Walpole family – distant relatives of Sir Robert Walpole, who is considered to by Britain’s first Prime Minister. The land is shown as farmland in the 1896 Ordinance Survey map and the development can be traced in the 1913 and 1933 maps in Banstead Library (irritatingly Walpole Avenue is split between two maps – Surrey XIX 12 and Surrey XIX 16 ).

 

Map of Walpole land before development

In the late eighteenth-century Thomas Walpole moved to Chipstead and built Stagbury on what is now Outwood Lane. At some stage Thomas and his wife, Lady Margaret (sister of Spencer Percival, the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated), acquired Doggett’s Farm and Latchford’s Farm. In total the Walpoles owned about 80 acres of land.

Thomas Walpole is likely to have been very wealthy as his father had been an influential politician, a director of the East India Company and a nephew of Sir Robert Walpole.

Thomas Walpole died in 1840 and his wife, Lady Margaret, in 1854, both are buried at St. Margaret’s Church.  After Lady Margaret’s death their eldest son, another Thomas, probably did not use Stagbury (as he was a rector in Hampshire) but from about 1870 his son, Henry Spencer Walpole (1837 -1913) and his wife Frances Selina (nee Bourke), lived there and their two sons were possibly born there. On 29 August 1892 Henry assumed by Royal License the surname of ‘Vade’ before that of Walpole and since that date until his death he was known as Henry Spencer Vade-Walpole.  Around 1896, the Walpoles, along with their neighbours, sold some of their land to allow the new Tattenham Corner railway line to be constructed.

The advent of the railway led to a building boom in the area. Henry Walpole began selling off his farmland for residential development and, after his death in 1913, this was continued by his wife Lady Frances Selina.  The Rookery, on Hazelwood Lane, was built around 1905. The first houses to be built in Walpole Avenue were Garth Steading (1906) and The Dial House (1907) as these sites would have been most easily accessible from Doghurst Lane. Development then progressed northwards along the east side of what is today Walpole Avenue with Playden (1909), Middleshaws (1906) and Tepestede (1910) being among the next houses to be built.

A 1906 conveyance provides for the Walpoles to build the road that was to become Walpole Avenue but required the owner of The Dial House to pay 50% of the maintenance costs for that part of the road that was adjacent to the property until the road was adopted by the Local Authority. 

DEVELOPMENT

The manner of the development of Walpole Avenue involved relatively large plots of land being sold by the Walpole estate over an extended period to individuals who then commissioned their own architects and builders to construct bespoke house of their choice. The exception to this model seems to be at the north end of Walpole Avenue where the owner of Surrey Cottage, who was an estate agent, seems to have built a number of houses for sale to the public.

Marketing of the sites was facilitated by their proximity to Chipstead Golf Club which had been laid out in 1906. In 1907.the 80 acres of Chipstead Golf Club’s land was purchased by Matilda Pine-Coffin (probably the sister in law of a WG Pine-Coffin surveyor who worked with Blair Imrie) from Edward Martin of Nonsuch Park Farm, Ewell (not as many believe from the Walpole family). A right of way was established across Southern Railway land so that the club house could be accessed from Outwood Lane. In 1914 Mrs Pine-Coffin leased the land to the management committee of the club and that year the course was extended in the south by the management committee leasing an additional five acres of land (known as ‘The Paddock’). To this day these five acres continue to be rented from the Walpole family.

It also seems that Lady Walpole was not averse to providing mortgages to help fund the building costs.

Marketing was also aided by publication of articles in magazines such as Country Life and Homes and Gardens.  R. Randal Phillips wrote an article in Homes and Gardens in May 1943 in which he waxed lyrical about Surrey Cottage and the Spinneys - he clearly liked Walpole Avenue. There is also a book called ‘The Book of Bungalows’ which was written by R. Randal Phillips and published by Country Life in 1920 (a copy is held by the owner of Homefield).This features both Homefield and The Thatched Cottage.

Tight control was maintained by the Walpole estate over the nature of the development to ensure that it was exclusive. The contracts of sale had numerous stipulations (ie covenants) which were common to all the land sales in what was called The Doghurst Estate. These covenants included:

• The prohibition of the excavation or removal of gravel, chalk, stone, clay, stone and earth.
• The limitation of construction to private dwellings.
• The prohibition of building within 30 feet of Walpole Avenue.
• The need for building plans to be approved by the Walpoles’ surveyor
• The requirement for the Walpoles to approve the felling of timber or timber trees
• The establishment of a minimum cost for building a property. It is not known whether this minimum varied by the size of the plot. For the land where Homefield was built the building material and labour costs had to exceed £800.

Development of Walpole Avenue straddled World War One, Following the war Britain faced a severe housing shortage. In response, the government launched a major initiative to improve housing conditions and subsidies were offered for new homes through the 1919 Housing Act, known as the ‘Addison Act’. Some houses in Walpole Avenue built between 1919 and 1921, such as Homefield, may have benefited from grants of up to £260.

Most of land within the Doghurst Estate seems to have been used directly for the construction of a property for the buyer’s own use. The Coulsdon estate agents, HP Bond & Sherwill, seemed to be actively involved in marketing the plots and, around 1920, had an estate office at Chipstead Station. Harold Bond, a partner in Bond and Sherwill, had Surrey Cottage built in 1921 and lived there until his death in 1976.

There also seems to have been some speculative development. The wife of Harold Bond had the bungalow that is now Homefield built in 1920 and later the houses of The Spinneys and Foley Edge were built by Bond & Sherwill. In addition, some of the land was probably acquired and then sold on one or more times before a property was constructed. Examples of such land are those sites where Forbes Field and Whytethorne now are.

Walpole Avenue in 1931 (Britain from the air)

ARCHITECTS

Many of the houses are thought to have been designed by George Blair Imrie (1885-1952), or rather a firm of architects with which he was associated. In 1905, at the age of twenty, Blair Imrie started working for EH Stodart & Co of 231 The Strand, London. The Reigate building plan registers in the Surrey History Centre name EH Stodart & Co as the architects of several of the houses in Walpole Avenue constructed before WW1 and it is assumed that Blair Imrie was the individual who performed the work.

As partners came and went the name of EH Stodart & Co evolved into, in 1910, Stodart, Pine-Coffin & Imrie (WG Pine-Coffin and EH Stodart were both surveyors and relied on Blair Imrie for the architectural design work). The firm which was dissolved in 1913 was based in Thanet House, The Strand but had an office in Chipstead, indeed The Kelly’s Guide for 1918 shows Pine-Coffin living in Crossways, Chipstead. From 1912 Blair Imrie practiced as Imrie & Angell based at 2 Mitre Court Chambers. Imrie & Angell, and most notably George Blair Imrie, are best known for designing The Laboratory at Wisley in 1915 and later for the development of the St. George’s Hill and the Burhill estates in Weybridge.

For parts of his career Hugh Scott Willey was based at the Imrie & Angell premises at Mitre Court (Scott Willey was to become a prominent resident of Chipstead and lived in a house he designed – Homewood (now Hylton Baron) in Coulsdon Lane). 

Other architects were also used. Latchfords was designed by 'someone in the Office of Sir Edwin Lutyens’ and The Dial House and Dail Cottage were designed by Oswald Milne another of Lutyens’ students (indeed it seems eminently conceivable that Milne designed Latchfords). Milne went on to become a renowned architect in his own right designing Coleton Fishacre for the D'Oyly Carte family and Nuffield Place for William Morris. Another notable architect was W. Curtis Green who designed Middleshaws in 1906.

HOUSES ON THE EAST SIDE OF WALPOLE AVENUE

The Dial House (once Dial Cottage). The Dial House was built in 1907, on the site of a barn of old Doggetts Farm.  Some of the barn’s timbers were used in the house mainly as half timbering. It was designed by Oswald Milne to be used as a weekend cottage for his father, William Oswald Milne (also an architect). The Dial House was owned by JH Oldham during the 1930s and it was probably at this time that was extended. Oldham was a major figure in the Christian ecumenical movement and many prominent Christians, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, visited.

Dial House

The Dial Cottage. The Dial Cottage was built in The Dial House’s grounds in 1909 for William Milne’s chauffer and housekeeper. The architect was again his son, Oswald Milne. The Dial House and The Dial Cottage remained one property until the 1970s.

Woodbury Place (once Woodbury). The land was sold in 1910 by Henry Spencer Vade-Walpole to a Mrs Mary Row who lived in Court Hill, Woodmansterne. The house, built in 1913, was designed by EH Stodart & Co (probably Blair Imrie). Woodbury was said to have been built for a local doctor and a dispensary was still in evidence in the house in 2010. (Mary Row’s husband Charles Martin-Row, was a medic in WW1 and who later worked at Epsom Hospital). In 1967 the house was occupied by a Mrs Goodliffe and she had the Spanish style cottage (now known as Norbury) built in her garden. Another house, Oakwood, was built in the garden around 2000.

Playden (once Playden Copse). Built in 1909 and designed by EH Stodart & Co (probably Blair Imrie) for the first owner, CW Hingston. Probably in 1919 the house was acquired by E Nisbet who also acquired the land opposite (Whytethorne see below). This is confirmed by the 1936 sale particulars which still exist.  Brice and Susan Alexander lived in the house for many years.

Maple House (once Norton). HW Kirk is recorded as living in Norton in the 1913 Kelly’s Guide. The house was acquired by John Bishop (founder of the furniture removal business Bishop’s Move) in 1967.

Latchfords. The land was acquired by Sidonie Chapman of Croydon but there is no evidence of her, or her husband Henry, living there. The house was probably built in 1909 as there is a mortgage of that date and the house is shown on the 1913 OS map. The architect is described as being ‘of the Office of Lutyens’.

Middleshaws.Built in 1906 and designed by W Curtis Green, Middleshaws was owned by the solicitor Frederick Raikes and his wife Harriet in 1911. Frederick Raikes was killed in 1917 and his widow sold the house to Thomas and Caroline Rhys-Davids. Thomas William Rhys-Davids, after a period in the civil service in what is now Sri Lanka, became an academic at both the universities of Manchester and London. He founded the Pali Text Society in 1881 (Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved).  Caroline Rhys-Davids was also a renowned scholar of Buddhism, translating many texts and attaining lectureships at Manchester University and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Caroline had the garage at Middleshaws built in 1937 which was designed by Cooke and Harrison – Gillian Cooke was the first female to become a FRIBA. Vivian Rhys-Davids, their daughter, lived there until 1967.

Tepestede.Built in 1910 and shown on the 1913 OS map. The house was designed by EH Stodart & Co (probably Blair Imrie). The first owner was EH Stodart himself but the Kelly's Guide shows  HB Foulger living there between 1913 and 1930.

Innisfree.Built in 1923, the first owner was an Australin who sold it in 1929.  It was later occupied by David Nixon the famous television conjuror.

Innisfree

West Ridge.Built in 1923 and designed by the architects Imrie & Angell. West Ridge is a good example of a large middle-class family house of the interwar period which has survived with little external alteration and much of its interior plan and fittings and finishes are still intact. On this basis, in 2019, the house and garden terraces were granted Grade II listed status. In 1928 the house featured in Country Life magazine. The house was built for Alexander Stewart, a founding partner of a managing agency for Lloyds of London syndicates. The Stewarts moved to Amersham for the duration of WW2 and the house was occupied by Canadian officers. After Alexander’s death in 1977 his son, Brian, lived there until 2019.

West Ridge

Adderley (once The Thatched Cottage). Designed by Imrie & Angell and built in 1920 this unusual thatched building featues in a 1925 edition of Country Life is described in the 1920 ‘The Book of Bungalows’. While most of the rooms were on the ground floor there were two rooms in the roof.

Adderley

HOUSES ON THE WEST SIDE OF WALPOLE AVENUE

Garth Steading. The land on which Garth Steading sits was acquired by Harold Sharp from Henry Vade-Walpole in 1908. It is not known precisely when the house was built. It is not shown on the 1913 Ordinance Survey map (this may be a mistake as the 1913 Kelly’s Guide shows an HG Granville living there). The house is thought to have been designed by Blair Imrie. It was bought by Vivian Rhys-Davids in 1967 when she sold Middleshaws. In 1969 she had Under Garth built in her garden and was living there at the time of her death in 1978. 

Sunset House (once Pitfield, Mavis Croft). The land was bought by Charles Mordaunt, a wine merchant, in 1906 for £200 from Henry Spencer Vade Walpole and a small cottage was built (and is shown on the 1913 OS map). The cost of its construction needed to exceed £600. Mordant lived there a number of years according to the 1911 and 1921 censuses. The house was extended in 1921 with Pine-Coffin & Co the architect. At some stage the house was renamed Pitfield (which was the name of the land when it was part of Doggetts Farm) and in 1996 to Sunset House.

Walpole Cottage. Charles Mordaunt bought the land in 1919 for £280 from Frances Selina Henry Vade Walpole.

Whytethorne . Whytethorne and Woodlands were built in about 2010 on the site of the demolished Art Deco style house called Whytethorne. Originally the land was bought from Frances Salina Walpole in June 1919 by Ernest Nisbet. The land seems to have been unused for a long period and in 1937 Robert Trist then got permission from the Walpole’s to lift various restrictive covenants thus enabling the building of a rather unusual modern house built over four floors to resemble a ship. This house was built in 1938 for Donald McGregor Newton (a South African with naval connections). Curiously Newton lived in a house also called Whytethorne in Caldy on the Wirral which was almost identical in design to his new Chipstead home.

 

Whytethorne (demolished in  about 2009)

Homefield (once Surrey Cottage, Jokai, Conway, Bagatelle). Designed by Imrie & Angell and built in 1920 this building is described in the 1920 ‘The Book of Bungalows’ with a floorplan and several photographs. It is described as ‘a most complete example of a house on one floor planned and equipped to save labour and give the greatest facility in service’. The bungalow was built for Mrs HG Bond and called Surrey Cottage. She was probably living in the current Surrey Cottage at the end of Walpole Avenue and swapped names. In 1934 the name was changed to La Bagatelle after a chateau north of Paris where the German owners Mr and Mrs Neumann (later changed to Ney) met. In 1936 an early loft conversion added two extra bedrooms and it seems there was some bomb damage to it in WW2 (possibly when the railway bridge in Hazelwood Lane was hit by a V1 bomb).

The newly built Homefield from the Book of Bungalows in 1920

Forbes Field. The land was first acquired from the Walpoles in 1919 by the owner of Latchfords. It was then sold on several times before a house was constructed - possibly as late as the 1950s. In 1923 part of the land was sold to what is now Homefield.

The Grey Cottage..Built for FP Carrington in 1922 and designed by Imrie & Angell. The owner has the original architect’s drawings.

Copper Field.Built in 1923 and designed by Imrie & Angell.

Athall Cottage. Built in 1923 and designed by Imrie.& Angell

Half Acres. The house is shown on the 1913 OS map. 

Pinehanger. Built in 1924 and designed by Imrie & Angell The original house has been extensively modified.

Uplands. Built in 1923 and designed by Imrie & Angell

Foley Edge. Built in 1924 for Bond Sherwill the estate agents. Designed by Imrie & Angell

Spinneys.Built in 1936 for Bond Sherwill the estate agents. Designed by Imrie & Angell

Surrey Cottage. Thought to be built in 1923 but Mr and Mrs Bond recorded as living there in the 1921 census. The land was acquired from Lady Walpole and the building, designed by Imrie & Angell, using some recycled materials. Its first owner was Mr Bond of Bond Sherwill the Coulsdon estate agents (established in 1908). Originally the garden extended down the hill to what is now Hazel Way but the plot was split in 1987.

 

Surrey Cottage

WALPOLE AVENUE AND STARROCK GREEN CONSERVATION AREA

The Conservation Area (Chipstead’s third) was created by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council on 6 March 2024 despite vocal opposition from some local residents.  RBBC concluded that much of the area had valuable Arts and Crafts style buildings that warranted protection. 

The new Conservation Area is centred on an area of early 20th century houses mostly designed by George Blair Imrie. RBBC concluded that It was not only the houses that contributed to the character but also their associated gardens with their trees, shrubs and hedges. They asserted that the interest lay, not only in the Arts and Crafts style houses, but also other styles of this period including the Old English and Victorian styles.

The proposed Conservation Area, much of which was previously classified as a RASC (or a Residential Area of Special Character).  31 of the buildings in the Conservation Area are considered by RBBC to have been designed by Blair Imrie or his firm of architects (of these 27 are claimed to be based on SHC records but it has not proved possible to confirm this). 

BOURKE HILL

Bourke Hill is the track down to Hazel Way between Pine Hanger and Half Acres (Bourke was Lady Selina Walpole’s maiden name). The land was once owned by the railway who had a gate at the bottom that they closed one day a year so as to claim it was a private bridleway although it is not described as such on the 1913 OS map. Later however it was tarmacked and it is shown as a road and named as Bourke Hill on the 1933 OS map. It was still being used, at least by the postman, in the 1990s.

SURREY STYLE ARTS AND CRAFT

George Blair Imrie is considered a proponent of the ’Surrey Style’ also now known as "Tudorbethan", along with architects suchNorman Shaw(who worked on the restoration of St Margaret’s Chipstead in the 1880s),George Devey,Baillie Scott,Edwin Lutyensand the designerWilliam Morris. George Blair Imrie was a keen follower of Lutyens. In an interview with one of Blair Imrie’s partners it was noted that “Imrie was influenced by Lutyens adaptation of an Arts and Crafts style.” 

Blair Imrie’s houses are renowned for their use of quality materials such as hand-made tiles and leaded lights, steep roof pitches, substantial chimney, oak window frames and doors with wrought iron fittings yet often remain relatively modestly proportioned and low-key rather than showy and grand.

Features of the Walpole Avenue and Starrock Lane Conservation Area are:

• Steep Roof Pitches 49 to 54 degrees. Traditional Roof Forms including catslides and gables. 
• Handmade clay tiles and bricks, Tawny brown colours of the local tiles and bricks.
• Use of local flint, 
• Wall tile hanging (avoiding slate). 
• Cottage style window openings. 
• Tall chimney stacks key part of composition balancing the horizontal.  Chimneystacks decreasing in alternating stages. 
• Pegged Timber Frame, avoidance of mock timber. 
• Vertical emphasis of casements. 
• Axial symmetry within bays or sections. Hedgerows and specimen trees and native shaws. 
• Landscape gardens with ponds, rockeries, walks, rose gardens, dry stone walls. 
• Spacious landscape dominated plots. Houses sunk into the landscape orientated towards distance views. 

 

Jon Grant,                                      April, 2026

The author would appreciate any additional information the owners of houses in Walpole Avenue may possess.