Grayshott Village Archive

Grayshott Conservation Area

Study and Character Appraisal – East Hampshire
District Council’s Consultation Document, Issued September 2009

Grayshott Village Archive Management Committee’s Response

A copy of the EHDC Consultative Draft for the Grayshott Conservation Area can be downloaded HERE from the EHDC website. The document is in PDF format and therefore you will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded free from HERE.

Summary & Recommendations

Members of the Archive Management Committee welcome the proposed extension to the present Conservation Area, the minor adjustments to the boundaries to address anomalies and that active consideration should be given to the use of tighter planning restrictions through the use of Article 4 (2) Direction.

However, the Committee would also like to see a number of very important additional buildings added to the proposed Conservation Area. These buildings are to be found in the Avenue, Headley Road, Crossways Road, Whitmore Vale and School Road, Grayshott and are specified property by property in its report.

Should these properties become an integral and designated part of the Conservation Area within Grayshott, then this enlarged ‘Area’ will include virtually all the buildings surviving from the original development of the Village and they will help to preserve the Village’s unique and much valued character.

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Introduction

Grayshott Village Archive was set up in 2002 to commemorate the centenaries of the Grayshott Parish Council and the Grayshott Village Hall with the purpose of:-

‘Identifying records relating to the activities of Grayshott residents and Grayshott organisations covering the period from the middle of the 19th century to the present day, and to devise and implement measures whereby these records are preserved and catalogued so that they are available to present residents, future residents, and others for purposes of interest, reflection and study.’

As such, the Management Committee and Friends of the Archive are keenly interested in the preservation of the character of the village by a designated conservation area and welcome the Consultation Document issued by the District Council in September 2009.

The report given below sets out the Archive Management Committee’s comments and recommendations on the District Council’s consultation document issued in September 2009.

Friends or members of the Archive (i.e. individuals and families contributing financially to the Archive) currently number 40 and the Archive is managed by four individuals elected annually by Friends and two appointed individuals, one from the Parish Council and one from The Village Hall. Further details of our work may be obtained from the Archive’s web site at www.grayshott-archive.org.uk

Background to the development of the village and reasons to extend the present conservation area

The earliest dwellings in the valleys of Whitmore Vale (leading to Barford) and Stoney Bottom (leading to Waggoners Wells) were mainly ‘squatters’ making a meagre existence from poor quality land, smallholdings and woodland industries.

Land now forming the ‘new’ central part of Grayshott was offered for sale by auction in September 1879 but nothing was built on until 1885 when Henry Robinson developed the three plots that he had bought at the 1879 auction for the grand total of £19 – 10s -0d. This became the first shop/ post office with living accommodation attached, now known as Crossways House. Further development took place from 1890 onwards and coincided with the rapid expansion of nearby Hindhead, whose popularity came from the notable Victorian, Professor Tyndall, who declared that the air on Hindhead was as pure as that in the Swiss Alps. This attracted a large influx of tourists to the area, since it is in easy reach of London via the railway to Haslemere.

Crossways House c.1927, Crossways Road, Grayshott. ‘Granny’ Robinson
can be seen with her family outside the first shop and house built in ‘new Grayshott’ in 1885.

Rapid development of Grayshott followed. The new village became an active trading centre supplying all the needs of the tourist trade at Hindhead. As such, there was a large and disproportionate number of shops relative to the population of Grayshott. Expansion continued throughout the 20th century, and then two world wars brought vast numbers of troops to the area. Following World War 2 tourism never returned but the former Canadian army camps were turned over to social housing, again bringing prosperity. By the 1960s the area had become a prime residential site for commuters working in London, and more recently with the convenience of travel via the motorway network to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Fortunately, virtually all of the original development has survived making this unique in East Hampshire. Examples of the architecture are very well illustrated in the Consultation Draft.

In Appendix A to our report there can be found early images of properties and streets in Grayshott. These photographs provide a splendid record of the ‘new’ i.e. late Victorian/Edwardian commercial development with its associated residential accommodation and the good amenities provided by local benefactors.

Members of the Archive Management Committee welcome the proposed extension to the present Conservation Area and the minor adjustments to the boundaries to address anomalies and with active consideration to be given to the use of tighter planning restrictions through the use of Article 4 (2) Direction. However, the Committee would also like to see a number of important additional buildings added to the proposed Conservation Area. These buildings are to be found in the Avenue, Headley Road, Crossways Road, Whitmore Vale and School Road, Grayshott as shown below in Table 1.

Table 1

Properties which in the opinion of the Management Committee should be
included in the Grayshott Village Conservation Area

Headley Road:
	‘Aumara’	built c1897
	‘Ash Villa’	built c1902
	Village Hall	built c1902
	‘Old Cycle Shop / Helens’	built c1899
	‘Oak Cottage’	built c1899
	‘Homeside’/‘Avenue House’	built c1900
Glen Road:
	Aberdeen Terrace	built c1905
The Avenue:
	All below	built c1900
	‘Little Garth’
	‘The Laurels’
	‘Odessa’/’Corona Cottage’
	‘Fairview’/’Maidstone Villa’
	‘Avenue Cottage’
	‘Hindhead View’
	‘Woolmer View’
	‘Fircroft’
	‘Gorsemount’
	‘Granville Cottages/Hazelhurst/The Ferns/The Villas’
Crossways Road:
	‘Firlands/Rake House/Hindhead Chase’	built c1897
	‘Ensleigh’	built c1897
	‘Western Lodge’	built c1898
Whitmore Vale Road:
	Whitmore Hill Cottages	built c1899
	Whitmore Vale Cottages	built c1901
School Road:
	The Pottery (formerly The Laundry)	built c1895
	Grayshott School	built 1871
	‘Fir Croft’ headmaster’s house	built 1900

Captioned photographs of many of these properties may be found in Appendix B to this Archive report.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Should the properties set out in Table 1 our report become an integral and designated part of the Conservation Area within Grayshott then this ‘Area’ will include virtually all the buildings surviving from the original development of the Village. As such these properties will help to preserve the Village’s unique and much valued character.

Therefore, the Management Committee of the Grayshott Village Archive strongly recommends that all these buildings are included, designated and formally added to the Conservation Area set out in the Rural District’s Consultative Paper entitled, ‘Status of Grayshott Village Conservation Area, Character Appraisal’.

Footnote

Finally, may we draw the District’s attention to the following minor additions/amendments that should be made to its Consultation Paper.

1. Much of the brick and tile materials used emanated from the Hammer Brick and Tile Works and nearby Hammer Vale, Haslemere.
2. p.5. The railway from London to Haslemere was not directly instrumental in the development of the Grayshott.
3. p.6. View 7 is of Crossways Road only.
4. p.7 ‘Jubilee Terrace and Victoria Terrace’ should read ‘Grayshott Terrace and Victoria Terrace’.
5. p.2 The Church spire was added in 1910 not 1920. The materials used were locally quarried Bargate stone.

References

Grayshott Village Archive central records
Grayshott Village Archive photographic collection
Grayshott Village Archive web site: www.grayshott-archive.org.uk
Ordinance survey maps 1895
Do. 1913, Hants revisions 1909

The Management Committee
Grayshott Village Archive
October 2009

Appendix A : early images of properties and streets in Grayshott

Crossways Road / Headley Road junction c.1926 The ‘Grayshott Library’ premises were previously the first bank in Grayshott.

‘The Fox and the Pelican’ public house 1900. Sign painted by Walter Crane.

Headley Road towards Hindhead c.1906 (upper end of village)

Crossways Road. Grayshott and Victoria Terraces. c.1905

Headley Road c.1905

View from church spire 1910. Headley Road and Crossways Road. Already considerable development had taken place by 1910

Appendix B : Properties which in the opinion of the Management Committee should be included in the Grayshott Village Conservation Area

Please note present day photographs of many of the properties in Grayshott that we believe need to be conserved, i.e. those listed in Table 1 of this report were given to East Hampshire District Council. These photographs were provided (a) for the exclusive use of member of East Hampshire District Council and its employees and (b) to illustrate the external architectural features of the properties that we believe must be conserved for future generations. We emphasised these photographs must not be shared in any circumstances, or in any shape, manner or form with any third party.