From the Archives
From the Archives
As a well known and established building company we are often asked for information about the history of the buildings in the local area.
We do have an interest in this as we often advise on historic buildings. Part of this work is to compile reports on the history of the buildings. For this we need background material and above all we need to know where to find it.
We have put these pages together to share some of the knowledge that we have accumulated, over the decades, as well as some of the documents and where you can find more information if you want it.
Our intention is to guide users to interesting and good quality primary source materials in well run archives.
The main local archives are:-
Northamptonshire Archives and Heritage Service
Some of the pages are works in progress and contain notes as to future avenues of research. We have outlined future pages that we are working on.
If you want to be notified of updates to these pages then please sign up by send us an email and we will add you to the mailing list. This is a sign up for the archives pages ONLY.
For schools access to password protected areas or other enquiries please email us.
We have also used:-
Staffordshire County Archives – for material relating to the Duke of Sutherland
Magdalen College, Oxford Archives – for materials relating to Sophia Sheppard and Magdalen College’s stewardship of the lands of Old Farthing Manor.
Buckinghamshire Archives – Lord Carrington’s letters to Thomas Cubitt and their pivotal financial dealings.
ING / Barings, Lloyds Group, NatWest, Hoares and Coutts Archives for Cubitt related banking data.
[Wolverhampton Archives – Thomas Cubitt material]
[Westminster Archives – Thomas Cubitt material]
Wimbledon
The Wimbledon Park Estate and The West Hill Estate
The West Hill Estate and The Wimbledon Park Estates – Part I – John Augustus Beaumont
The District Line Crossing Wimbledon Park – Part III – John Augustus Beaumont
The Creation of Wimbldeon Park Road – Part IV – John Augustus Beaumont
Epilogue – Part VI – John Augustus Beaumont
Wimbledon Park – Through Early Photographs – From Before the Start of the AELTC Era
Other Wimbledon Estate Developments
Wandsworth
Wandsworth Common, The Toast Rack and Magdalen Estates
This section is in the process of being reorganised as we have discovered considerable new materials which made the previous presentation quite jumbled.
The Manors of All Farthing, Wandsworth and Battersea: Wandsworth Common
Sophia Sheppard’s ownership of All Farthing Lands
Wandsworth Common: from the manor to the people
The planning by l’Anson and building of The Toast Rack with Mr Kynock
The planning and building of The Magdalen Estate with Holloway Bros
Wandsworth Common from WWII to the present
Deeds records in Magdalen College Archives
Deeds records in Wandsworth Heritage Service
The Heaver Estates
The Fulham Park Estate – we are researching this – coming soon
The Lavender Sweep Estate – we are researching this – coming soon
Alfred Heaver – a shrewd businessman – we are researching and expanding this – coming soon
King George’s Park and the aqueduct
King George’s Park, nearly was, The Down Estate
A Riddle in a Puzzle of Ownerships – How to Decipher Who Owned What Land?
Hyde Park
The Porchester Estate – Porchester Terrace
The Campden Charities: Butts Fields – Kensington Gate and Hyde Park Gate
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt’s early history
The Curious Story of the Surviving Records of Thomas Cubitt
Overview of Thomas Cubitt’s Finances
Thomas Cubitt’s Banking Information [under construction]
Letters between Thomas Cubitt and 1st Lord Carrington [awaiting rights clearances]
Thomas Cubitt and The London Institution [awaiting rights clearances]
Queen Victoria’s Diary Entries Referencing Thomas Cubitt
Lands
Agreements with Freeholders
Leases
Cubits Lease Books
Our volume numbering is arbitrary as the total number of volumes is uncertain as there is no accurate catalogue of them. There are likely 11 or 13 Lease Book / Plan Books in total. Being three in London Metropolitan Archives, two that are of unknown location and eight that were in the catalogue of the 2012 auction of Cubitt related materials.
Volume 1 – Containing: Grosvenor Estate, Pimlico, north of the Grosvenor Canal, Belgrave Estate, Sir H Taylor house and grounds, Cadogan Estate, Lowndes Estate & Albert Gate
Volume 2 – Containing: Euston Estate, Bedford Estate, Southampton Estate, Calthorpe Estate & Newington Estate
Woburn Walk
Rosie Caley’s publications on Thomas Cubitt’s Woburn Walk
Our Design Director Rosie Caley wrote a well received thesis for the Architectural Association on Woburn Walk. We will shortly have a full PDF version with the illustrations.
Rosie Caley also published in The Georgian Group Journal.
Thomas Cubitt’s Lease Book on Woburn Walk
Volume 3 – Containing: Wise Estate, Battersea Lands, Stanley Estate, The Millbank Estate & Crown Estate
Letter Books
It is not known if there are earlier letter books – there likely were but they are probably not extant – there is no complete catalogue of the relevant volumes but they are not mentioned in in the catalogue of the 2012 auction of Cubitt related materials.
- Letter Book A – 1850 Sep 20 – 1851 Nov 12
- Letter Book B – 1851 Nov 12 – 1852 Oct 25
- Letter Book C – 1852 Oct 6 – 1853 Jul 18
- Letter Book D – 1853 Jul 23 – 1855 Apr 27 [~Thomas Cubitt’s death]
- Letter Book E- 1855 Apr 28 – 1859 Mar 12 [The Administration ofThomas Cubitt’s Estate]
- Letter Book F – 1859 Mar 21 – 1864 Aug 30 [The Administration ofThomas Cubitt’s Estate]
Searchable database of The Minutes of Proceedings if the Metropolitan Board of Works
We are in the process of building a fully searchable database of most of the minutes for 1855 to 1889.
We have 43 of the [we think] 52 volumes fully digitised. The reason that this is not 100% clear is that in the early years there was one volume per year and then it went to two volumes per year in about 1864 also there is probably only be one 1889 volume as this was the final year before MBW became LCC.
This section will be password protected as there are rights issues with giving open access. However, schools will be given a password simply by emailing us.
Researchers can find 23 volumes of the minutes freely downloadable from Google Books as searchable PDF’s.
Copyright
You should assume that all of the images and text on these pages are copyrighted so they should not be reproduced for commercial use.
However, it is fine for school children and students to use the images for their personal study, homework and projects.
If you need to use images for commercial use please ask us and we will do our best to put you in touch with the original rights holders. Alternatively follow the links provided to contact the rights holders yourselves.
Some of the images and documents have been provided to us, by our former clients, for this project and we are very grateful for their allowing them to be used here.
If you see an image in here that you believe is copyright and that you hold the copyright for: please do get in contact with us so that we can resolve this promptly. We do not intend to breach copyright and can in most cases simply swap the image out for another image without issue.