Website Site Plan
Below is a site plan of all the pages on this website. Any page can be accessed through the Menu running across the top of every page. At the moment the pages are best viewed on a desk-top computer or tablet (iPad, etc) rather than a mobile phone, but I am working to correct this and make the mobile phone more user friendly.
Home
Fairfield Avenue
Hilbert Road
Lipscombe Road
Pinewood Road
Ravenswood Avenue
House Building History
People
People – Fairfield Avenue
People – Hilbert Road
People – Lipscombe Road
People – Pinewood Road
People – 1-29 Ravenswood Avenue
People – 30-40 Ravenswood Avenue
People – 42-55 Ravenswood Avenue
People – 55-76 Ravenswood Avenue
People – 78-110 Ravenswood Avenue
Memories
Memories – 83 Bus
Memories – Hilbert Rec
Memories – Local Shops
Memories – Pig’s Hill
Soap Boxes
Contact and Subscribe
I started this website in September 2015 after wondering what happened to the children I knew and played with when I lived on the Ferndale Park Estate (Fairfield Avenue, Hilbert Road, Lipscombe Road, Pinewood Road and Ravenswood Avenue) between 1944 and 1963, and with the intention of showing my research into the history of the estate, including Charity Farm that owned the land the estate was built on. Please use the menu options across the top of the page: a page for each of the five roads on the estate, plus pages about the history of the house building, information about the people who lived on the estate and some of their memories, the 83 bus, local shops, Hilbert Rec, Pig’s Hill and soapboxes (see the Website Site Plan below left). A future page will contain the history of Charity Farm. It is hoped the website will be of interest to children who lived on the estate from when it was first built (who will now be in their 70s, 80s and 90s), to later generations who wondered how their parents and grandparents lived, to genealogists whose families lived there, to social history researchers and to people living there now who may wonder who lived in their houses before they did, and perhaps to people thinking of moving there.
I lived at 40 Ravenswood Avenue for the first 19 years of my life between 1944 and 1963 with my mum Rene and dad Nick Page, younger sister Gillian and younger brother Timothy. Dad died in 1984 and Mum in 1998, and Gillian still lives at ‘number 40’, as we used to refer to the house. As a child, I can remember the cycle races we organised around the estate, the soapboxes we built to run down the hill in front of our house (see the ‘Soapboxes’ page menu option at the top), playing in the field opposite our house and opposite the houses in Pinewood Road, and at the bottom of Pinewood Road before the newer houses were built there in the 1950s. I used to try and catch butterflies there after one of the older boys, Clive Stace, who also lived in Ravenswood Avenue, got me interested in them (and started a life-long interest in butterflies and moths). I also remember a beggar who used to walk around the estate every Christmas Day singing and holding his cap out for donations, a rag and bone man who regularly called with his horse and cart, the Brighton Co-op delivery man and the large bonfire we built in the field at the bottom of Pinewood Road for every Guy Fawkes night (5 November).
If you lived on the Ferndale Park Estate as a child between when it was built and the early 1960s, have you, like me, ever wondered what happened to the children you used to know and play with? The ‘People’ pages might tell you because they contain information, and some pictures, about many of them and their families. They have been compiled from information and memories from persons who lived on the estate, and from my own memories and research. Since 1998, I have been interested in genealogy, researching my own Page family extensively throughout East Sussex, and my mother’s Harris family in the East-End of London. I have used the various genealogy websites, especially the General Record Office (GRO), Ancestry and Find my Past, to help find information about the children and their families who lived on the estate when I was a child. All my research on the ‘People’ pages is information that is in the public domain. You can access the ‘People’ pages from the dropdown menu at the top of this page or by the quick link buttons below.
What childhood memories do you have? I am very grateful to those people who have shared their memories (and photographs) with me because without them, this website would not be as interesting as I hope it is now. I hope to make it more interesting, but to do that I need your help, please. If you, or a member of your family, lived on the estate, especially between when it was built and the early 1960s, then please get in touch with me (via the Contact and Subscribe page). Also, if you know someone who lived there, please tell them about this website. In any case, please look back here from time to time as I add more information – thanks, Christopher J Page, 28 Ellerslie Lane, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex TN39 4LJ. Email: chris@g4bue.com
THE Ferndale Park Estate, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
This research project has the support of the Local History Group of the Tunbridge Wells Civic Society.
This research project has the support of the Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery. Dr Ian Beavis, Research Curator of the Museum said, “Inter and post-war housing developments are still very ill-researched here, so this would be a valuable piece of work from a wider local history perspective.”
Right: A map (about 1900) of the northeast part of Tunbridge Wells showing Charity Farm (at the top) that occupied the land prior to the Ferndale Park Estate being built in the 1930s. On the left is Albion Road that then ended at Auckland Road (before the houses in Dorking Road were built about 1930) at the bottom of what is now King George V Hill, and continued as a track to Charity Farm. The main entrance to the farm was from Ferndale Road, along what is now Hilbert Road.
The farmhouse is still in existence located on the west side of Hilbert Road just before the entrance to the Hilbert Recreation Ground, and when I was a child was occupied by Sam Holt, one of the two park-keepers in the recreation ground (the other was Wally Baldock). The farmhouse is ‘listed’ and is now owned privately and is called ‘Packs in the Wood’, which is what it was called prior to 1718 when John Beane, a Church of England Minister, bought the farm and ran it as a charity for dissenting ministers from Dorking and Guildford (hence the names Charity Farm and Dorking Road). The oast house, used for drying the hops grown on the farm, also still exists close to the farmhouse, and when I was a child was used as changing rooms for the football teams playing on the pitches in the recreation ground.
An advertisement from the Kent and Sussex Courier of 1936, courtesy of Edward Gilbert, Thunder Bay, Canada, who maintained the All About Tunbridge Wells website. Similar advertisements in 1934 editions of the Kent and Sussex Courier describe the houses for sale as, “Labour saving houses, 2 receptions, 3 beds, bath, kitchen, electric light, gas, gardens sit for garage in Ferndale Park”, “Ferndale Park Estate homes 450 pounds freehold, new houses sitting room, 3 beds, bath, kitchen garden suitable for investment”, and “Buy your house on the Ferndale Park Estate. Choice situation, 360 feet above sea level and only 5 minutes walk from bus services 13 and 16. Prices £670 to £685. Law charges. Tiled bathrooms. Constant hot water. Large or small gardens. Sites for garages.” It is interesting that the 360 feet height above sea level quoted in the 1934 advertisements had dropped to 350 feet in the 1936 advertisement!
Street Directories and the 1939 Register
I have copies of the entries in the Kelly’s Tunbridge Wells Street Directory for 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1948, 1950, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963 and 1965 for each of the Ferndale Park Estate roads (Ravenswood Avenue, Fairfield Avenue, Hilbert Road, Lipscombe Road and Pinewood Road). This is every edition of the directory published between 1935, when the first entries for the Ferndale Park Estate roads appear, and 1965. The directory was not published between 1940 and 1948, no doubt due to World War II.
Although houses on the estate were being advertised for sale as early as 1934, it is not until the 1935 edition of the directory that the first entries for roads on the estate appear. The data for the 1935 directory was obviously collected sometime prior to the actual publication date, probably in 1934. If anyone can tell me definitely when the first houses on the estate were built and occupied, I would be very grateful.
I have made a spreadsheet for each of the five roads on the estate of the names in the directory entry for each house in every year. The spreadsheet information can be viewed by clicking on the relevant button below (or on the relevant road name in the menu across the top of this page), and will open in a new page. Each spreadsheet (in xlsx format) can be downloaded by clicking the relevant button.
My thanks to Richard Mason, Fred Scales and Tunbridge Wells Library for giving me copies of the relevant entries in the directories.
I have made a text file of the entries from the 1939 Register for every house in each of the five roads of the estate. They can be accessed by clicking the relevant road button below (or on the relevant road name in the menu across the top of this page), and will open in a new page. Each file (in doc format) can be downloaded by clicking the relevant button. The Register was taken on 29 September 1939. Once war became inevitable, the British Government knew they had to issue National Identity cards, which were issued immediately afterwards (and used until 1952). Unlike street directories, the Register lists the name of all the occupiers of a house, their date of birth, marital status and occupation. The Government constantly updated and changed the 1939 Register over time to take account of changes of address, marriages and deaths.
Updates
September 2016: added Kellys Street Directory spreadsheets.
October 2016: added the 1939 Register.
January 2017: added ‘Recent Contacts’ on Home page.
March 2021: updated ‘Recent Contacts’ and my new address.
January 2022: updated ‘Recent Contacts’.
January 2023: major redesign of website, added pages for each of the five roads, repaired broken links to street directory spreadsheets and added 1939 Register.
February 2023: added ‘Soapboxes’ and ‘House Building History’ pages.
March 2023: added ‘House Building History’.
April 2023: added ‘People’ pages and started ‘Memories’ pages. ‘Memories 83 Bus’ and ‘Memories Pig’s Hill’ pages completed.
June 2023: ‘Memories Local Shops’ page completed and ‘Contact and Subscribe’ page added.
July 2023: ‘Memories Hilbert Rec’ page completed and 79, 106 and 108 Ravenswood Avenue sections added on People page.
August 2023: 98 and 100 Ravenswood Avenue added to ‘People 78-110 Ravenswood Avenue’ page, and update to 11 Lipscombe Road, ‘Shangri La’.
October 2023: ‘People 1-40 Ravenswood Avenue’ page divided to ‘People 1-29 Ravenswood Avenue’ and ‘People 30-40 Ravenswood Avenue’ pages, and 17 Ravenswood Avenue added to ‘People 1-29 Ravenswood Avenue’ page. ‘People’ pages headings redesigned. Updates to 12, 17, 68 and 89 Ravenswood Avenue and 48 Hilbert Road added to ‘People Hilbert Road’ page.
December 2024: Update ‘Recent Contacts’. Corrections and minor improvements to layout of some pages..
A picture from Google Earth of the Ferndale Park Estate.
The yellow dot (bottom right) indicates the location of Tunbridge Wells
A present day map (above) showing Ferndale Park Estate in the top right and below it, a map of 1900 of exactly the same area showing how it was then.
A recent picture of my home at 40 Ravenswood Avenue, with 2 Pinewood Road next door (left). My parents paid £775 for the house on 4 July 1939!
Welcome to ravenswoodavenue.co.uk
Fairfield Avenue, TN2 3SD; Hilbert Road, TN2 3SA & TN2 3SB; Lipscombe Road, TN2 3SL; Pinewood Road, TN2 3SH; Ravenswood Avenue, TN2 3SG, TN2 3SJ & TN2 3SQ and ‘Packs in the Wood’ (Charity Farm) TN2 3SE
A history and some of its people
A wonderful aerial photograph, taken in April 1953, of the Ferndale Park Estate in the distance behind the Charity Farm and Hilbert allotments each side of Pigs Hill (King George V Hill), with the large houses in Ferndale behind it, taken before the second phase of building in the gaps left by the pre-war building. Note the number 83 bus at the top of Pigs Hill in Hilbert Road where it used to turn round ready to drive back to town, leaving the estate every 15 minutes (on the hour, quarter-past, half-past and quarter-to the hour), and always on time. What a wonderful service that was compared with modern day bus services. St James’ School is in the front centre and the tall chimney stack of the power station in Quarry Road left centre. Note the general absence of cars on the roads – photo thanks Mick White, Facebook OTWPS
This picture, which those of us who lived on the estate in the 1950s and early 1960s will bring back memories, was posted on the Facebook Old Tunbridge Wells Photos (OTWPS) website in 2017. See the ‘Memories Pig’s Hill’ page and the ‘Memories 83 Bus’ page for more information about Pig’s Hill and the number 83 bus. The chimney stack on the horizon is the power station in Quarry Road almost opposite St Barnabas School – photo thanks John Tippey, Facebook OTWPS
A more recent aerial photograph of the Ferndale Park Estate taken in 2019. Notice how the trees have grown since 1953 and the number of cars now parked on the roads – photo thanks Roddy Paine Facebook OTWPS
Recent Contacts
I am constantly trying to trace and make contact with anyone who lived on the estate in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, or their descendants, and at the moment (October 2023) I have been in contact with the following:
Carol Smith, 3 Fairfield Ave & 78 Ravenswood Ave
Christine Skewis, 6 Fairfield Ave (died 2023)
Patricia Tayler, 20 Hilbert Rd
Sheila Still, 40 Hilbert Rd
Valerie and Pauline Watson, 2 Pinewood Rd
Kate Mummery, 11 Ravenswood Ave
Claudius Guest, 17 Ravenswood Ave
(died 1995 via son-in-law)
Susan Muffett, 18 Ravenswood Ave
Gerald Larkin, 29 Ravenswood Ave
John Heasman, 42 Ravenswood Ave
Mary Delves, 44 Ravenswood Ave
Malcolm Foy, 45 Ravenswood Ave (died 2008, via son)
Marion Oakley, 46 Ravenswood Ave
Cedric Novis, 54 Ravenswood Ave (died 2011, via son)
Gregory Novis, 54 Ravenswood Ave
Julia Mantz, 65 Ravenswood Ave
David Joy, 68 Ravenswood Avenue (died 2019 via son)
Alan Dane, 70 Ravenswood Ave
Brian Dane, 70 Ravenswood Ave
Carol Smith, 78 Ravenswood Ave & 3 Fairfield Ave
Douglas Pearch, 79 Ravenswood Ave
Mark Adamson, 89 Ravenswood Ave
Clive Stace, 104 Ravenswood Ave
Christopher Stace, 104 Ravenswood Ave
If you, or you know someone, who lived on the estate between when it was built and the early 1960s, please tell them about this website and ask them to get in touch with me. Email: chris@g4bue.com or use the Contact and Subscribe page.
A picture from Google Earth of the Ferndale Park Estate.
This website is best viewed on a desk-top or tablet computer. On a mobile device, use the menu in the top-right corner to navigate and select pages.