Vale Road

H I N C H L E Y   W O O D
E								C
S								H
H								E
E								S
R								S
								N
O X S H O T T

2025 Planning Applications

Horringdon Farm

ADDRESS: Horringdon Farm, Vale Road APPLICATION NUMBER: 2025/0740 PROPOSAL: Telecommunications Notification: intent to install 5 new poles located at WP1 new pole Vale Road 515328, 162752, WP2 new pole Vale Road 515337, 162700, WP3 new pole Vale Road 515335, 162651 WP4 new pole Vale Road 515303, 162650 and WP5 new pole Vale Road 515294, 162639 to facilitate fixed line broadband electronic communications apparatus. CPC VERDICT: [NB: We have had no sight of this] EBC VERDICT: [Application Type- Prior Notification Telecom] Notification - Insufficient Information. I can confirm that insufficient information has been submitted to carry out an assessment. The notification should be submitted again with the following information: - The heights and precise siting of the poles has not been confirmed. Please provide details of the height and siting of the poles in the form of scale plans. If you have any further queries regarding this matter, please do not hesitate tocontact me directly.

VIEW DETAILS

2024 Planning Applications

№ 5

ADDRESS: Mallard Cottage 5 Vale Road APPLICATION NUMBER: 2024/1958 PROPOSAL: Roof extension incorporating dormer window, first-floor rear extension, new pitched roof over side projection, rooflights and alterations to fenestration. CPC VERDICT: No Objections. With Comments: Can we please draw attention to the 1.2 metre increase in the roof line, though this was decreased from the previous application? EBC VERDICT: Grant Planning Permission. 3 x standard conditions. 1 x Obscure glazing. Extract from Officer’s Report: 12.The proposed roof extension would include large catslide style roof and increased ridgeline by approx. 1.2m from the existing ridge. This is approx. 1.2m lower than the previously refused scheme. It is considered that the proposed catslide above the garage helps the additions to integrate with the host dwelling and is an improvement from the previously refused scheme. In review of the local vernacular there is some variety present with single storey and two storey dwellings present as well as examples of double dormers on the north side of Vale Road. It is noted in representations there is concern the proposals would result in the appearance of a block of flats. As noted above as there is some variety in the building styles the overall design is considered unlikely to harm the character of the area. It is also noted that proposed materials of brick to ground floor and render above draws inspiration from neighbouring properties. The proposed slate has been revised to tiles to match existing to further aid the integration with the host dwelling.

VIEW DETAILS

№ 47

ADDRESS: 47 Vale Road APPLICATION NUMBER: 2025/0382 PROPOSAL: Hip-to-gable roof extension incorporating L-shaped rear dormer window, front and side rooflights, removal of first floor side window and replacement front porch with new entrance door. CPC VERDICT: No Objections, No Comments EBC VERDICT: Grant Lawful Development Cert - Proposed.

VIEW DETAILS

Historical Notes

Housing built from 1885 to the outbreak of World War I was located mainly along the northern ends of Vale Road and Coverts Road, along parts of Red Lane, Common Road, in particular the brickfield workers' cottages near 'The Griffin', and towards the southern end of Oaken Lane. Half a dozen houses were also built on the south side of the western end of Red Lane which was then renamed St Leonards Road (not St. Leonard's Road, as is sometimes incorrectly stated) after Lord St Leonards; he became Lord High Chancellor of England in 1852 and lived at Boyle Farm, Thames Ditton.

Claygate had several farms in centuries past. There was Beazley Farm by Littleworth Common which ceased milk production in the 1950s in favour of horses; Slough Farm had a dairy herd of Red Poll Cattle and later pigs but later had horses; Manor Farm had a dairy herd of prize-winning jersey cows but later had horses; Elm Farm had dairy cows and chickens and sold delicious cream, but later had a plant nursery business and horse-feed shop; Barwell Court had a big herd of Friesian milking cows and grew cereals, but later kept horses; Horringdon Farm had one of the last big dairy herds of Red Poll cattle and grew cereals and potatoes, but but later horses and grazes young cattle for Loseberry Farm; Loseberry Farm no longer keeps a dairy herd; it later kept a house cow and young stock for the dairy herd at Stoke D'Abernon.

Horringdon Farm

Horringdon Farm is one of Claygate's oldest farms — there are references dating back to 1489 when it was known as Horeriden Farm, derived from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning a 'muddy vale'. Over the years it became known as Horridon Farm, and this is how it is spelt on an Ordnance Survey map of 1866. However, when the Blake family took on the tenancy in 1920, they renamed it 'Horringdon Farm', the name it bears today.

In 1838 (and in 1843), Horringdon Farm was farmed by Thomas Williams and was part of the Claremont Estate, then owned by the King of the Belgians. In that year the rateable value of the farm was £64.10s.0d. On 6th July 1867, the farm was purchased by a conveyance made between the trustees of the late King of the Belgians, who died in December 1865 — as Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg he had owned and lived at nearby Claremont on and off for many years — and the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests and Land Revenues. The latter were the predecessors of the Crown Estate Commissioners who are the present owners of this farm and of Loseberry and Arbrook Farms. In 1874, William Blenkiron is recorded as being the tenant.

Three generations of the Blake family, father, son and grandson, farmed Horringdon Farm, and the adjoining Stokes Heath Farm in the parish of Oxshott, together with a small part of Vale Farm, as one unit since 1920 under tenancies let in succession to them by the Crown Estate Commissioners. John Blake, took over the farm when his father, Frederick, died in 1955. In 1983 Horringdon Farm was recorded as comprising of just over 218 acres, concentrating on the raising of beef cattle, and the growing of corn and potatoes.

The main farmhouse for these two units — Horringdon and Stokes Heath — used to be at Stokes Heath, but when this burnt down circa 1850, the two farm labourers' semi-detached cottages at Horringdon were converted into one farmhouse where the Blake family lived.

Legend has it that bare-fist fighting took place illegally on the border of Horringdon Farm in the early 19th century. The merit of this location, from the fighters' and spectators' points of view, was that this was also the boundary of the Metropolitan Police area, who, like the neighbouring Surrey County constabulary, had no jurisdiction beyond their area. Thus fighters and spectators alike were able to hop from one side of the boundary to the other to avoid arrest if either police force arrived unexpectedly on the scene.

During the early part of the 20th century, Horringdon Farm was the supplier of dairy products to Roberts & Son's Dairy at 23 The Parade, which was also known as Horringdon Creamery.

Vale Farm

This farm is now a shadow of its former self if, as old maps suggest, it was once known as Reeds Farm. The first mention of Vale Farm is to be found in the Thames Ditton rate book of 1838 which records that Mrs. Pinner was the part-owner and John Elworthy the tenant; it is likely that the farm also extended over land owned by William Machell.

In the latter part of the 19th century it was owned in part, or perhaps as to its totality, by the Foley family. In any event they sold a portion of the farmland to John Peter Robinson, owner of the Loseberry estate, in 1884, and after his death parts of this land were resold by the trustees of the Robinson estate to various local people and builders. For example, five acres were sold to Frederick Napper, Claygate's postmaster and coal merchant, for £700 on 10 May 1905 for housing development.

Bit by bit most of Vale Farm was sold off and built on. All the old names of Vale Farm's original fields as recorded in 1843, such as 'Crooked Field', 'The Pickle', 'Walker's Orchard', 'Little Hurst', 'Brookwell Hill', 'Gastons', 'Gatwick' and 'Dinyers'.

Some of the known tenant farmers include John Elworthy (1838), Mary Scott (1841), Stephen Kavanagh (1884), John Crees (1899) and Charles Moon (1926). Reginald Prescott was recorded owner of Vale Farm in 1983 with its remaining five acres or so which were used for horse grazing. Although a new farmhouse has been built in Vale Road, the old farmhouse building still stands.

In the Second World War, 17 high-explosive bombs fell on the combined lands of Horringdon and Stokes Heath Farms. It would seem from some of the broadcasts made by Lord Haw-Haw that the Germans regarded the NAAFI headquarters at Ruxley Towers as one of many targets deserving of particular attention. These farmlands also received the unwelcome visits of both a V-1 flying bomb, and a time bomb. The latter was defused safely by Major AB Hartley MBE RE, whose exploits in this hazardous occupation were dramatised in the TV series Danger UXB.

Sources

• Peebles, Malcolm (1983). The Claygate Book. (Millennium edition). Stockbridge: by BAS Printers Ltd. ISBN 0-9508978-0-9.

  

• Many thanks also for the photos, many supplied by Terry Gale, from the Claygate Local History Facebook group.
• Claygate Life — 2004 issue 4

Further Information

• Vale Road in previous years