8 Horseshoe Lane

Marylands

The photograph on the left above shows the two houses which were located in what became the building yard of P. G. Hawkins.  The photo on the right shows their location on the right hand side of the road looking towards St Mary Street.

We understand that they were called 'Marylands' although we have not yet seen that name written in any documents.  Locals recall that there was a large nameplate showing that name on the houses.  We have been told by Norman King who lived nearby that the house was given the name of Marylands by a family who were 'strict Roman Catholics', but he thought it may have been the Collett family who lived there after WW2, but he wasn't sure.

In the early 1950's, the two houses were converted into a single house.  After street numbering was introduced in the early 1950's the house became 8 Horseshoe Lane.

We know very little about the history of these houses.  They were built by Daniel Burchell at some time before 1840 as they appear on the Tithe Survey map as Plot 222.  At that time they were owned by Daniel Burchell and occupied by William Goff and John Shield.  Click here to read more about Daniel Burchell

Daniel died in 1866 and after a period where it was administered by his Trustees.  On 2nd June 1883 Frederick Burchell chose to take up the option of purchasing some of the property left by his father Daniel Burchell.  He paid £380 for the two properties in St Mary Street (later known as 21 and 23 St Mary Street) and two properties in Horseshoe Lane later known as 'Marylands' and the coachouse which lay between the four properties.

Frederick died in 1905 and the houses were put up for sale at auction in 1907.  The two houses were split into two lots - the one adjacent to Horseshoe Lane was described as 'Lot 5 a cottage and garden occupied by Henry Harvey at two shillings and six pence per week.  The other house was part of Lot 2 described a cottage (now used as a store house).  The 1910 Rate Book shows that the property (possibly only what had been Lot 5) had been acquired by 'T. Anstey', who was most likely Frederick's nephew, Thomas Anstey, the son of Frederick's sister, Ann.  An inland revenue document for the purposes of estate duty shows that the properry was sold for £55 in 1907.

Norman King said that his father, Charles King owned the two houses for a period in the 1940's.  He sold them to P. G. Hawkins who initially rented them out, including for a period of about 12 years to one of his employees, Ray Roberts.  When Ray and his wife, Dorothy moved out in the early 60's, the building was used for storing building supplies.  Then in the early 1970's, the buildings were demolished as part of the town's re-development.

We do not have a complete record of the occupants of the houses, but we do not about several of the families who lived here.  Click here to read about the occupants

This page was last updated: 23/07/2010