Tag Archives: 1928

Anstey

A house and market garden that was reached by a track on the west side of Cedars Avenue, and occupied by Mr Pinnock and family.

1955 OS map Anstey

The name ‘Anstey’ was discovered in this news article:

Source: Mitcham Advertiser, 26 January 1928, p. 1 (British Newspaper Archive; rights holder unknown).

Death of Miss Pinnock.

Mitcham Market Gardener Bereaved.

The funeral took place at Mitcham Cemetery on Wednesday of Miss Annie A. Pinnock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pinnock, of Anstey, Cedars-avenue, Mitcham.

Miss Pinnock, who was forty-three, had been in indifferent health for some time, but her death on Saturday was totally unexpected. She became seriously ill on the previous Wednesday. Her death is deeply regretted by a wide circle and especially by the Vicar and members of St. Mark’s Church, where she had been an active worker for many years.

Mr. and Mrs. Pinnock are among the best known and most respected inhabitants of Mitcham, where Mr. Pinnock has been in business as a market gardener for over twenty years. Previously he was in the employ of Messrs. Mizen Bros. Mr. and Mrs. Pinnock have resided in Mitcham over half a century.

The funeral service was conducted at St. Mark’s Church by the Rev. W. K. Roberts, who also officiated at the graveside.

The chief family mourners were Mr. and Mrs. Pinnock (father and mother), Mr. W. Pinnock (brother), Mr. W. Webb (uncle), Mrs. Gillingham and Miss Gibson.

The many beautiful floral tributes included wreaths from all members of the family, Ald. A. Mizen and the Misses Mizen, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Mizen, Mr. Edward Johnson Mizen, Mrs. Hicks and family, Mrs. Edwards, Messrs. T. and Charles Turner, Mrs. Huntingford and family, Mr. Pinnock (Hammersmith) and family, Mr. and Mrs. Cottis (cousins), Mr. and Mrs. A. Webb (cousins).

Sold around 1930 according to this news article:

Source: Mitcham Advertiser, 5 January 1950, p. 5
(British Newspaper Archive; rights holder unknown).

Mrs. M. Pinnock

At the age of 90, Mrs. Mary Pinnock, of 3, Mitcham Garden Village, died on New Year’s Eve.

The funeral service takes place to-day (Thursday) at St. Mark’s Church, at the opening of which, 50 years ago, Mrs. Pinnock was present. She rarely missed a service there. The service will be conducted by the Vicar, the Rev. A. E. Smart. Interment will be in the parish churchyard.

For most of her life Mrs. Pinnock and her late husband lived in St. Mark’s Parish, and had a flourishing market garden business off Cedars Avenue. The land was sold about twenty years ago, when the Pinnocks retired, and is now covered with houses. Mr. Pinnock, like his widow, died in the Garden Village. Mrs. Pinnock was a member of the Red Cross and the Darby and Joan Club, which meets in St. Mark’s Parish Hall. She was active in the district until a few weeks before Christmas.

Her brother, Mr. Thomas Turner, a retired Mitcham postman, who lives with her son in St. George’s Road, is 92.

Source: Mitcham Advertiser 2nd January 1930
Right margin torn; missing letters restored in the transcription below (notably “East Ward”).

Mr. Thomas Pinnock.

Mitcham Octogenarian Market Gardener Retires.

Mr. Thomas Pinnock, who has been a market gardener in Mitcham for over half a century, retired from business this Christmas at the age of eighty-three.

Mr. Pinnock is a Wiltshire man and came to Mitcham to work for the late Mr. Thomas Allen, of Sherborne Farm, Eastfields. Later he was employed by the late Mr. Edward Mizen, father of the three partners of the firm of Mizen Bros., for whom he worked twenty years. Since then Mr. Pinnock has been in business for himself at Cedars-avenue, where he did a great deal of the work himself. He has enjoyed excellent health. Few men are more respected, especially in the East Ward where all Mr. Pinnock’s days in Mitcham have been spent. He well remembers the lavender blooming in hundreds of acres in Mitcham, and helped to grow it himself.

Mrs. Pinnock, who is a Mitcham woman, is not so old as her husband by thirteen years. At present she and her husband are enjoying a long and well deserved holiday in Yorkshire.

5th November 1936 Mitcham Advertiser

Mr. Thomas Pinnock

Death of Mitcham’s Oldest Market Gardener.

Mitcham has lost its oldest nurseryman and market gardener by the death on Tuesday of Mr. Thomas Pinnock, aged ninety.

He was a market gardener in Mitcham for over half a century—until his retirement seven years ago. He died in Mitcham Garden Village.

Mr. Pinnock was a Wiltshire yeoman farmer’s son and he came to Mitcham to work for the late Mr. Thomas Allen, of Sherborne Farm, Eastfields. Later he was employed by the late Mr. Edward Mizen, father of Messrs. Mizen Brothers, for whom he worked twenty years. Afterwards he started in business as a market gardener and nurseryman in Cedars-avenue, Common-side East, where he remained till he retired.

Mr. Pinnock enjoyed excellent health throughout his long life. He enjoyed life itself and a joke as much as anything. Always cheery and ready to tell a good story, he was a very popular member of the Garden Village circle, and he was esteemed generally, especially in the East Ward, where all his working life in Mitcham was spent. He remembered when lavender bloomed in hundreds of acres of Mitcham, and he helped to grow it himself.

Mrs. Pinnock is a Mitcham woman and is younger than her husband by thirteen years. She has received many messages of sympathy.

The funeral will take place on Saturday. Mr. Donald S. Drewett, Upper Green, Mitcham, is carrying out the arrangements.

Eagles at Eagle House get new heads in 1928

Mitcham Advertiser – Thursday 26 July 1928

EAGLE HOUSE

Beheaded Birds Recover Their Heads.

Century Old Mitcham Mystery.

After being headless for longer than the oldest inhabitant can remember the twin stone eagles on the tops of the pillars of the famous wrought iron gateway to Eagle House, London-road, Mitcham have been furnished with new heads by a local tradesman.

As pieces of sculpture the eagles are not important, and the eagles at the Zoo might have some difficulty in recognising the birds; but for years they have been objects of great curiosity, especially to travellers on the tops of passing omnibuses who are in a position to notice such things. Nobody official, or unofficial, appears to know how the eagles lost their heads, or when. That they did have heads at some time, separate heads, is certain because plug holes in the base of the neck testify as much. The birds are poised with half-spread wings on lambs that might be rabbits!

Eagle House is the handsomest house in Mitcham architecturally, and one of the best built houses. The date on the moulded lead rain-water heads is 1705, There is a tradition. that Sir Christopher Wren designed it, but it is more likely that it was built to designs made fashionable by him, as most “Chippendale” chairs were made long after Chippendale was dead. The restoration of the house and gateway is being carried out at the instance of the Holborn Board of Guardians by Messrs. C. Sayers and Son, of Mitcham. “There are tons of lead on the roof, cupola, chimneys and other parts,” Mr. Sayers, senior, told the “ Advertiser,” “ and the basement walls are 30 inches thick.”

In a book published in 1789 Eagle House is thus described: “A large house built in red brick, pretty lofty, and has a cupola at the top. . . .”. On the piers of the entrance gates are the figures of two eagles in stone. (No mention of loss of heads). This seat is in the occupation of John Bond, Esq.”

Mr. Bond, whose name is perpetuated in Bond’s-rond, was a London banker, and the grounds of Eagle House extended from where Holborn Schools now stand to Holborn Workhouse (now factories) in Western-road. The late Mr. John R. Chart used to say that Dr. Pusey, the famous Tractarian, was educated at Eagle House when it was a school. A Dr. Roberts conducted a superior school there, in the early part of the Nineteenth Century and had a large number of pupils. The gateway has been painted by famous artists a number of times. The house is now a hostel for girls and is leased to the Surrey County Council.