119 High Street, The Laurels

 

No 119 High St 2015

Griffin

 

No 119 High St The Laurels Feb 2015

Roadley

 

119 High Street 1987 Deed of Gift

Ford

The earliest document we have discovered is a ‘Conveyance of a piece of Freehold Land with a messuage situate in Harston in the County of Cambridge’ dated 14 Oct 1864 by which Charles Cromwell Hockley of 10 Bell Yard, Doctors Commons, London sold to Henry Hurrell, Harston for £330:

  All that piece and parcel of land or ground situate and being in the parish of Harston in the county of Cambridge containing two roods and twenty eight poles or thereabouts being an allotment on the Green awarded in the enclosure of the said Parish to one Daniel Whitby and also all that messuage or dwelling house and buildings erected and built thereon by Swan Wallis the elder as the said premises were late in the occupation of the said Horatio James Lepipre and are now in the occupation of Ann Tunwell together with all and singular houses outhouses buildings fixtures yards gardens fences cellars area courtyards pumps cisterns sewers gutters drains updraughts backslides ways paths passages lights watercourses profits privileges easements advantages and appurtenances whatsoever to the said land.

Henry Hurrell doth declare that no widow of his shall be entitled to Dower out of the said piece of land and hereditaments.

Swan Wallis mentioned above lived his whole life (1764-1832) in Harston. He is buried with his wife in the Baptist graveyard (link). He provided land for the building of this graveyard and the church itself in 1799. This would put the date of The Laurels around 1785-1832. However would not be referred to as ‘senior’ until after his son Swan was born in 1826 so this would date the house to 1826-1832

Horatio James Lepipre mentioned above was from Middlesex but came to Harston about 1855. His first 3 children were all born in Harston but by 1862 they had departed to Kent.

Ann Tunwell – no records found

In1896 Henry Hurrell sells some of his estate to his son Arthur for £10,500 which included this property. From the  Abstract of Title dated  9 March 1896 Henry Hurrell of Madingley Hall conveys to Arthur Hurrell of Harston:

  All that piece of freehold land in Harston containing 2 roods and 28 poles or thereabouts on the Green and all the messuage erected thereon by Swan W allis the elder and all other hereditaments and premises comprise in and conveyed to Henry Hurrell by an Indenture of 14^th October 1864 made between Charles Cromwell Hockley of the one part and Henry Hurrell of the other part

The property changed hands again in 1904 when the name The Laurels appears for the first time.

From the Contract of Sale dated 26 February 1904 and the Conveyance dated 25 March 1904 Henry Hurrell of Harston sold to James Simpson Wilson, bookbinder, of 5 Benet Street Cambridge for £375:

That piece of freehold land situate in Harston aforesaid containing two roods and twenty eight poles or thereabouts on the Green and also the messuage and outbuildings thereon erected thereon known as The Laurels as now in the occupation of the Misses Carlton

James Simpson Wilson mentioned above died on 28 July 1913 and his widow Elizabeth  died on 2 April 1914. The Laurels passed to their daughter Adeline Mary Sanderson who was living at De Freville Ave, Cambridge and moved to The Laurels with her husband, bookseller & stationer, and 2 children. She died on 8 January 1929 without leaving a will. Administration of the estate was granted to her husband and son on 4 April 1929.

Misses Carlton – no records found

From 29 March 1935 auction leaflet:

The property stands in a well stocked garden of just over half an acre. The house is about 148ft back from the road and screened therefrom by a belt of ornamental trees & is approached by a gravel drive. The residence is built of brick with slated roof and the accommodation which is on two floors comprises:

Entrance Hall with cupboard under stairs

Dining room 15’ 1’’ x 13’ 3’’ with tiled canopy fireplace. Recess cupboard with shelves over

Rest missing

The outbuildings include:

A substantially built brick and slate detached building containing garages13’ 4’’ x 7’ and 13’ 4’’ x 6’ 4’’ both with concrete floors

Workshop with concrete floor and loft over

Outside E C

Timber and galvanised iron timber store

Timber and galvanised iron fruit store 13’ x 15’ 9’’ withy concrete floor

A range of poultry houses 74’ 9’’ x 5’ 6’’

A span-roof greenhouse 19’ 9’’ x 12’ with boiler and heating apparatus and outside pump

The gardens in front are attractively laid out flower beds and ornamental trees and a tennis lawn. At the rear of the house is a well stocked kitchen garden with asparagus bed and planted with good varieties of fruit trees

Companies electric light laid in and electric lights and power points in principal rooms

Drainage in modern principle to cesspool

Vacant possession

From Search of Land Charges Register dated 18 April 1935 and the Conveyance dated 15 April 1935 William Sanderson of 1 Highworth Avenue, Cambridge, retired bookseller and stationer, and Leonard William Sanderson of 49 Oxford Road, Cambridge, photographer, sold to Horace White of 7 Brookside Terrace, Cambridge, builder, for £625:

Land in Harston with frontage to the Cambridge Road of 71 feet and 6 inches and containing in the whole area of 2 roods and 28 poles and the dwellinghouse known as The Laurels erected thereon

The property was sold with vacant possession in 1935 and in the 1939 Register the Whites were still in Brookside Terrace so it is not known whether there were any occupants during this period

Horace White died in1979 and the property passed to his widow Sarah Rose Ellen Ethel White. She died in March 1983 and the property passed to Winifred Hope Smith, her niece. She passed a plot containing old piggeries at the rear of the property (see map) by a Deed of Gift dated 29 December 1987 to her son Peter Stuart Smith of 27 Woodstock Drive, Uxbridge. It appears that this plot was gifted back to Winifred Hope Smith on 6 June 1994.

This plot, with outline permission already granted for a bungalow situated in the centre, was sold in1996 for £39,000 to Duncan Willis. It subsequently became No 1, Sheepshead Row. SeeThe Old Piggery, No 1 Sheepshead Lane

On 10 February 1988 Winifred Hope Smith sold the property to Stephen James Burton of 17 Wakelin Avenue, Sawston, for £160,000  minus the part of the plot to the rear which was to be fenced off from the rest of the property by a fence provided by the purchaser.

In January 1990 a planning application to change the property into offices was refused. One of the reasons being that, if approved, it would set a precedence for further large houses on the High Street to be similarly converted

Pre-1995 external refurbishment including treatment of right hand side gable – see photo

Peter & Sylvia Thompson moved from The Limes into this property sometime after 1992 and sold it in 2000s

27 March 2013 the main property was sold for £640,000 and in 2014 planning permission was granted to Mr Roger Marsh to convert outbuildings into a Granny annexe