c. 1910
Possibly built around the 1870s, there were six pairs of semi-detached houses along the west side of London Road. They were numbered northwards from 1 to 8, and 11 to 12. The gap between 8 and 11 was filled by a pair of semi-detached houses called Thrushcross and Hayworth which were built later by Athel Russell Harwood. He lived in Thrushcross and sold the other. They were destroyed by a V1 bomb in 1944. The names Thrushcross and Hayworth are taken from street directories and the 1911 census. Eric Montague, in his book Mitcham Histories : 12 Church Street and Whitford Lane, page 108, referred to these houses as Thrushcroft and Athelstan.
In this amended OS map of 1910, the house called Raydon is now number 326 London Road, which was later renamed Kellaway House.
1910 OS map
A letter published in the Mitcham Advertiser said that the builder of Glebe Villas was George Hills:-
Mitcham Advertiser – Thursday 18 December 1952
Greelings CHRISTMAS greetings from dis- tinguished exiles are balanced by greetings that go out to exiles of ail grades at this gracious season. And “The Advertiser” figures prominently in the exchanges. Canada, Ausiralia, America, South Africa, New Zeadand, Korea, Germany, and the Continent generally—in all these places are Mitcham folk reading of home and the beloved with gladness, and perhaps with tears. A copy of this paper carrying a photograph of the last of Glebe Villa: in London Road will be among the Christmas messages received by Mrs. E. Eady, who lives in a suburb of Toronto. She is a daughter of Mr. George Hills, son of the last of the parish beadles, who lived in the Elizabethan house on the Lower Green. Her father built Glebe Villas.
Occupants from Street Directories
1878
2, James CLARKE
3, John WALLIS
4, Henry HAYNES
5, Henry HILL
6, Thomas YOUNG
8, Charles COLLINS11, Gustave MEINHARD
12, William PIPER
13, George BROMAGE
14, William WILLIAMS
1891
2, Edward LITTLE
3, Henry LOVE (surgeon)
4, Miss CHART (private school)
5, Mrs PALMER
6, Samuel William READING
7, Other Windsor BERRY
8, Oscar Berridge SHELSWELL12, Mrs GOULDEN
13, Miss BIGGS
14, Mrs WILLIAMS
1896
1, Walter THOMAS
3, Henry LOVE (surgeon)
4, Miss CHART (private school)
5, Mrs PALMER
6, Samuel William READING
7, Other Windsor BERRY
8, Oscar Berridge SHELSWELL12, Henry M MARTYN
13, Samuel LOVE (assistant overseer and rate collector)
14, Mrs WILLIAMS
1911
2, Cyril CHARLES
3, Francis Albert COLLBRAN
4, Mrs HOLDEN
5, Percy IVISON
6, Charles Harold READING (surveyor)
7, John GAFFNEY
8, William Austin WEBBThrushcross, Athel Russell HARWOOD
Haworth, Harold BENTLEY (surgeon)
11, William REYNOLDS
12, John COLLINS
13, Charles PROCTOR
1925
This directory shows numbers 9 and 10 instead of their names
1, Mrs SMITH
2, William ELLIOTT
3, Frederick Allan MANSBRIDGE
4, Miss Nora HOLDEN, school
5, Percy A. EVISON
6, Charles Harold READING
7, Jack GAFFNEY
8, William Austin WEBB
9, Athel Russell HARWOOD
10, Mrs TUCKER
11, John Herbert HAWKINS
12, John William MOORE
14, Mrs G. LECLERQ
From The Builder, Jan to Jun 1902, no. 7 Glebe Villas was sold for £315, with an unexpired term of 68 years and £9 ground rent.
An article in the Mitcham Advertiser, 16th October, 1952, on page 1, lamented the loss of village relics, including the Glebe Villas, which were cleared away for the Glebe Court housing estate.
A row of three-storey, roomy and dignified semi-detached houses of the Victorian type, with bay windows, were built by George Hills, who was born in the Elizabethan house that once stood opposite Hall Place. Bricks used in Glebe Villas were made in Mitcham.
George Hills was the father of the last of the beadles of the parish and Parish Church.
Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Mitcham History Notes 