Hoblands Cottage
Hoblands Cottage was originally the stables to Woodheath.
While it was in use as stables it had living accommodation and in 1881 Henry Holden (57), a coachman from Kingston, Surrey, was living there with his wife, Anne, two years older than him, from Middlesex. Ten years later, 36 year old Harry Fisher was living here with his wife Emma, then aged 39. He was from Essex, and she was from Wisbeach in Cambridgeshire. They had two sons, Harry, born in 1878, and Major, born in 1881 (10), both described as scholars. In the 1901 census the same property was described as a lodge. It was a gardener and not a coachman who then lived here. Ernest Heald, born in 1878, was the head of the small three-roomed household, with his wife of the same age. He was from Nottinghamshire, and she was from Kent.
We have no further information about the occupants until 1934, when Frederick Warner is identified in Kelly’s Directory as the head of the household. He was still there in 1940, but it is not clear if at this stage the Cottage was separated from the main house, or whether Frederick was an employee. By 1945 he had left, and Ernest and Hilda Howard had moved in. They stayed there for four years. James and Lilian Binfield also stayed there for a short time, leaving by 1951.
Photographs taken in 1953, of which one is reproduced here, show a rather dilapidated building. This has since been extended on the west side, though retaining enough features, for example the stone bower, to make it instantly recognisable.
After 1956, the property was developed into a comfortable home, and named Hoblands Cottage. Charles Dunn had moved in with his wife Elsie (Nita) in 1956. When the Foxbury estate later sold land to Peter Harding , a strip of land between Hoblands and the sunken garden were sold to Charles Dunn. These are still part of its grounds. Charles was well known in the local community. He was one of the founding members of the Kemnal Residents’ Association, and a Trustee of the Amenity Strip, and was active in the Chislehurst Society. Charles died in 1995.