Searching for Little St Cross, Weydown Road

A few weeks ago I thought that I might have stumbled across the building of Little St Cross which was in the garden of St Cross, Godfrey Blount's old house on Weydown Road, Haslemere.  I wrote about this unique church in my Haslemere Cranks - Part 2 post.

Little St Cross,
reproduced courtesy of The Dartford Warbler

From looking at a plan of that part of Weydown Road, you can see that the houses of Greville MacDonald, Wildwood, and Godfrey Blount, St Cross, would have been next door to each other in the early 1900s.  Now there are three houses 'infilled' between them.  These are all quite recently built.  It would appear that two were built in the garden of Wildwood and the other in St Cross' garden.

One of those three houses is currently for sale, and can found here on Zoopla.   The owners told me that they built the house about 10 years ago.  In stark contrast to the rest of the estate agent's photographs of the house is the 'studio' right next to it.   This is a very unusual outbuilding that is clearly a relic from an older time.  I thought it might be Little St Cross, it is certainly an intriguing building which looks like a chapel, but it clearly is not Little St Cross.  The land that the house is on, was part of Wildwood's garden, and is represented on the map below in the garden of the most furthest bottom house.  The entrance faces the road, and is situated before the main house of Wildwood, suggesting that the building was for visitors.

map of part of Weydown Road, Haslemere

The studio on Weydown Road,
from Zoopla

The studio on Weydown Road

The inside of Little St Cross differs from the inside of this studio also.  The owner kindly invited me to look at the studio, and you can see from the photograph taken through the glass that there is wooden panelling halfway up the walls, the ceiling is boxed in towards the top and intriguingly the far end is raised like it would in a church or theatre.  There is no record of Greville MacDonald being a craftsman, so if the building dates from his time at Wildwood (c.1919-1944), I do not think it would have been used as a workshop by him.  Any ideas?

Inside Little St Cross,
reproduced courtesy of The Dartford Warbler

The view inside the studio, Weydown Road
taken from the door

From the map it would appear that the only other outbuildings on the original site of St Cross are probably just the garages.  The map came from a Surrey County Council objection in 2010 to St Cross building a house in their front garden.  It says "Wildwood Cottage was an exception and was a new build replacing an earlier demolished bungalow".  I think that this new building could have built on the site of Little St Cross.

Francis William Troup by Francis Ernest Jackson

This painting of F.W. Troup (the architect of the Peasant Arts houses on Kings Road, Haslemere and Longdene Road, and also Sandhouse at Witley) is on the BBC Your Paintings website, and brings a bit of colour to the previous portraits of the architect.

Francis William Troup
by Francis Ernest Jackson c.1930
RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collection

Wikipedia says that the artist Francis Ernest Jackson was in charge of propaganda lithography at the Ministry of Information during WW1 and designed London Underground posters.  From the information on the BBC Your Painting website, it is clear that Jackson also taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in the 1920s (now part of Central St Martins) and the Byham Shaw School (now part of Central St Martins) in the late 1930s.

Further plans to demolish Kings Road's heritage

This is slightly off-piste, but just to highlight the continual threat to the heritage of Kings Road, Haslemere.  It is the deadline tomorrow, 4th January 2013, for comments on a planning application that has been submitted countless times: to demolish a Victorian house, no.34 Kings Road, and to replace it and it's large garden bordering the stream by the railway line with a block of 9 flats and car park.  Planning proposal WA/2012/1917

This is an application by a development company.  The Victorian house is currently lived in by a family.  Next door to the house is the large Doyle Court flats (built c. 7 years ago), and next to Doyle Court is the Weaving House, and then the Old Studio.  Both of these lovely old buildings are somewhat dwarfed by the large modern flats.  To have another set of flats dominating the road would be shame for all the residents I think.

34 Kings Road,
Haslemere
proposed for demolition

34 Kings Road, Haslemere
existing building map

Proposed flats at 34 Kings Road, Haslemere

34 Kings Road, Haslemere
proposed flat & car park plan

G.W. Rhodes and Joseph King, 30 December 1930

The houses that now stand on the old Foundry Meadow in Kings Road had their plans submitted at the end of 1930.  This land, effectively in the middle of Peasant Arts buildings, must certainly have been owned by Joseph King who owned the surrounding land.  The bulk of the Haslemere Peasant Industries activities had closed down in 1927 after the death of Maude Egerton King, but weaving continued in the Dye House, called the Weaving House in 1933 by Joseph King when he communicated the disbanding of the Peasant Arts Society.  So sometime, perhaps after 1927, Joseph King decided to sell the Foundry Meadow land.

Original envelope holding the house plan by G.W.Rhodes
to my house on Kings Road, Haslemere
in the old Foundry Meadow

Six houses, including mine, were built on the old meadow.  Given his seemingly considerable wealth, it does not seem likely that King was motivated by money to sell the land, perhaps the funds were needed by the dwindling Peasant Arts movement, or maybe King was consciously supporting the architect G.W.Rhodes who designed the houses that were built?

extract of the original plan for my house
on Kings Road, Haslemere
by G.W. Rhodes

G.W.Rhodes designed many houses in Haslemere.  That he designed six houses on Kings Road is not widely recognised as his other houses are on more highly regarded streets, and due to the proximity of the railway line, PVC windows have now been favoured over the traditional leaded windows, which gives the houses a different appearance.

When I revisited our original house plans a few days ago, the first time since I started looking into the Peasant Arts movement, I was struck by the mention of "J. King".  The small map drawn on the plans shows the triangle of Foundry Meadow, bounded by Kings Road at the bottom, and Foundry Lane going from the left hand corner to the top right.  The meadow contains the words "Block Plan", and then next to that, the house with "P. House" written inside, standing for "Proposed House" is my house.  Next to which is the old Dye House, drawn on the map, and then next to that, a building at an angle which must be the now demolished (and replaced by St George's Flats) St George's Hall, also the site of the Country Church.  From the boundary of the "Proposed House" is written "J. King Eq." presumably denoting Joseph King's ownership of the land from that boundary.

Small map on the G.W.Rhodes plan of our house,
Kings Road, Haslemere

Shadow and Substance by James A. Campbell

The Vineyard (December 1910, p.223) printed this article, consisting of a poem and (10 pages of) writing, tagged as "a paper read before a gathering of friends".  Given the links that I have researched between James Archibald Campbell and Godfrey Blount, and Greville MacDonald, it is highly likely that they were among the "friends" who heard James A. Campbell read this.

"Far in the Fields is the Baby born,

Who comes to the world on Christmas morn,

In golden straw of the cattle shed:

For his Father's house is the House of Bread.

He breathes the breath of the toiling beast,

He shares the life of the last and least.

Four great archangels his Advent greet.

Kneeling two at His head and two at His feet:

Like gleaming jasper, the radiant one,

St. Michael, gladdener, King of the Sun;

Like heavenly sapphire, azure, fair,

St. Gabriel, comforter, King of the Air;

Like the emerald hope of new worlds to be,

St. Raphael, healer, King of the Sea;

Like a russet furrow of untold worth,

St. Uriel, harvester, King of the Earth.

Can He be born, where no little one

Touches earth, or water, or air, or sun?

Can He be born, where the fraud-fed soul

Seeks moral roads to life's glacial pole?

Can He be born, where poor city slaves

Pass through iron teeth into nameless graves?

There is a way, to the bird unknown,

From the cloudy pit to the Rainbow Throne.

Through this lovely world, Thou hast made a way,

By field and garden, by hearth and home,

Where the simple and loving can never stray,

Where the ravenous wolf shall never come.

They have closed it with ashes, and blight, and pain,

They have closed it with greed, and the curse of Cain -

Saviour, open it wide again!"

Wise Men and Simple Men by Ethel Blount

Noel by Arthur Hughes,
The Vineyard, December 1910

The Wise Men and the Simple Men

Were bound to run a race:

The Simple Men were first to come 

Within the holy place.

The Wise Men three full valiantly

Pushed on the farther way,

And found, though late, the Manger Bed

In which their Saviour lay.

By this we see Simplicity

Will reach its goal full fast;

And Science too, by harder way,

Will find its own at last.

(from The Vineyard, December 1910, p.262; from the section 'For the Children')

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

The Lost Star by Maude Egerton King

From The Vineyard December 1910 (p.182).

Noel by Arthur Hughes
from The Vineyard, December 1910

"I was a shepherd, one of the three

Who first had news of the joy to be,

When all the silent night was riven

With glory out of the inmost heaven.

I too beheld the angelic choir

Leap forth like flames of altar fire:

I saw the vision, heard the song,

And vowed I'd follow the star along.

But homeward first I turned me back

To fill with meat and clothes my sack;

And when again I sought the star

It and my fellows both were afar.

I met another following late-

An old man, lagging 'neath the weight

Of learning won from every age,

And heavy wealth - half king, half sage.

Wisdom was frozen in his breath,

It turned my heart as cold as death:

It crowned with cares my simple head

And turned my flying feet to lead.

The Bright Midnight by Arthur Hughes
from The Vineyard, December 1910

Thro' all the hours I went with him

Our guiding stars looked far and dim,

Till, dull and faithless as a stone,

I bade him keep his path along.

The little wineshop, bright and loud,

Cried welcome as I wandered by.

I warmed my cold heart 'mid its crowd

And lost my pilot in the sky.

Once, thro' a window foul as sin

The Saviour-Star looked searching in;

I cried, "One moment's pleasure yet!"

And when I left my star had set.

And now, alas! in every street

Great praising, feasts crowds I meet;

They praise the Child, the simple Herds,

And e'en the King of the cold, wise word;

They tell me that my simple friends

Came first, there where the long road ends

In the World's Desire-ere one of all

Those wise crowned heads majestical!

They praise the Peace for which I pray,

And yet they cannot point the way-

O for some star in me or them

To guide me to my Bethlehem!"

The Vineyard,
December 1910