First occupied: 1890 and still known as "Highfield House"
Planning applications:
18 King Henrys Road, Lewes for Henry Long Woodroffe, [High Street], Lewes, wine merchant by Alfred A Oakden, 43 High Street, Lewes, architect and surveyor, and Benjamin Stevens, 6 Hillside Villas, Eastbourne, builders
DL/A/25/59 · 5 Jun 1889 · East Sussex Record Office
Stable and coach house, 18 De Warrenne Road (sic), Lewes for Henry Long Woodroffe, High Street, Lewes, wine merchant by Samuel Denman, 26 Queens Road, Brighton, architect
DL/A/25/95 · 4 Apr 1894 East Sussex Record Office.
For 18 De Warrenne Road read 18 King Henry's Road. No.18's original boundary extended fully half the length of De Warrenne Road.
Owners & Occupiers:
1891 Census: Henry L[ong] Woodroffe (35) Wine & Spirit Merchant; his wife Clara E[liza] A[lice] Woodroffe (29); their two sons: Hugh C[layton] (6) & Leslie (5); Henry's brother Herbert H Woodroffe (36) Wine & Spirit Merchant; two visitors, and two servants: Martha Eames (22) a cook, from Hampshire, and Hetty Alderton (18) a housemaid from Lewes.
Henry and Clara were married in 1883. Clara's maiden surname was Clayton.
Wills: Henry Long Woodroffe of "Rothesay", Bath Road, Bournemouth died 21.05.1927 [aged 71] at the White Lodge Nursing Home, Bournemouth. Probate to Clara Eliza Alice Woodroffe, widow & Hugh Clayton Woodroffe merchant. Effects £27,057 17s 5d
Clara Eliza Alice Woodroffe of Possingworth Park Hotel, Cross in Hand, Sussex, widow died 13.01.1951 [aged 89]. Probate to Hugh Clayton Woodroffe wine merchant. Effects £2,628 8s 5d
1901 Census: James C[utcliffe] Blenkarne (65) Church of England Clergyman and his wife Fanny Blenkarne (65); two servants: Martha Wilson (25) cook from Essex, and Annie Staines (23) housemaid, also from Essex.
1911 Census: James Cutcliffe Blenkarne (75) Church of England Clergyman and his wife Fanny Blenkarne (75); they have been married for 49 years (Fanny's maiden surname was Barrett); there were no children of this marriage; two servants: Kate Florrence Barrow (35) cook, from Cuckfield and Selina King (58) sick nurse.
Rev'd Blenkarne died in 1912 aged 77 in Lewes. His wife died in 1920 aged 84, also in Lewes.
Will: Rev'd James Cutcliffe Blenkarne of "Highfield" King Henry's Road, Lewes, clerk [in Holy Orders] died 02.09.1912. Probate to Fanny Blenkarne widow and Rev'd Herbert Deedes Barrett, clerk [in Holy Orders]. Effects £18,732 15s 10d
Will: Fanny Blenkarne, of "Highfield" The Wallands, Lewes, widow, died 06.03.1920. Probate to Rev'd Herbert Deedes Barrett, clerk [in Holy orders]. Effects £5,703 6s 8d
Electoral Roll & Kelly's Directory:
1915-1920: Mrs Blenkarne.
1922-1936 Kelly's Directory: Lt. Colonel Ormerod
1921 Census: George Milner Ormerod (42) Chief Constable of Police [Sussex]; his wife Mildred Grace Ormerod (33); their sons: Patrick Johnson Ormerod (7) and John Gifford Ormerod (5) both at school; four servants: Eleanor Louisa Hardy (32) a nurse from Derbyshire; Ruth Dilly Hall (33) a parlourmaid from Wiltshire; Nellie Johnson (39) a cook from Nottingham; Annie Mackenzie Nairne (15) a kitchenmaid from Invernesshire.
George Milner Ormerod b.1879 [RGO 1879/1 Marylebone 1a 547] d. 1936 aged 56 [RGO 1936/2 Lewes 2b 244]
Mildred Grace Ormerod b. 30.03.1888 Co. Leitrim d. 1973 aged 85 [RGO 1973/4 Maidstone 5F 1431]
Wills: George Milner Ormerod DSO of Highfield, Wallands, Lewes, died 18.05.1936. Probate Manchester to Barclays Bank Ltd & Mildred Grace Ormerod widow. Effects £57,518 0s 6d
Mildred Grace Ormerod of 76 Bower Mount Road, Maidstone, died 22.12.1973. Probate Manchester. Effects £3,419.00
1936-1938: possibly empty following the death of George Milner Ormerod.
1939 Register: Three records all 'officially closed'
In 1938 "Highfield" was divided into three flats, and later into five; the ground floor flat being further divided into three one bedroom flats in 1991.
1939-1951 occupants unknown. No street directories were available after 1974, when this list was compiled.
Flat 1:
1951-1952: Sydney Collard
1960-1974: Mrs E Lloyd
Flat 2:
1951-1952: Eric Russell
1957: Rev B Rees
1960-1972: Gordon W Dunnett
1973-1974: J F Ball
Flat 3:
1951-1955: Major John Bullock
1955-1964: Mrs Bullock
1966: no-one listed
1968-1974: W M Hurnall
In 1960 a planning application for a block of 3 garages was approved.
In 1964 September an outline application for redevelopment as 21 flats & garages (on the site of no.18 and nos.9 & 11 De Warenne Road) was refused. Thank goodness!
A further outline application was then made for redevelopment as a terrace of eight houses & garages: again refused.
In July of the same year an outline application for the erection of two detached Regency [style] houses with separate garage court was withdrawn.
In 1965 an outline application for one detached and one pair of semi-detached houses was refused. In the same year an outline application for the erection of two detached 3-bedroom houses was approved after various amendments to the original plan were agreed. These houses became nos. 9 & 11 De Warrenne Road.