Mount Pleasant House
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Originally the farm house to Mount Pleasant Farm owned by a Mr. Tutt, the house was described by Powell (most likely an earlier building) as a 'good farm house, occupied by Mr Tutt. This building was estimated by Brett to have been built around 1787. It has commanding views of the surrounding valleys, the castle, priory and sea. The accommodations consist of two sitting rooms and five beds'[1] The site is between the Hughenden Road and Quarry Road junctions on today's Mount Pleasant Road. By 1828, the house was occupied by Mr. Henry Wyatt's (a former London Brewer) Family[2], who rebuilt it slightly closer to the track through the farm's property - it then being described as a white house with bow-fronted windows[3].
Mr. Wyatt was involved in a boundary dispute, when, after relocating the track that led past his house from the front to the rear, he gated off access to the track leading from the 'Four Ways' (Langham) to the Fighting Cocks in Halton entirely. His right to do this was tested in court by Mr. Murdock, then a farmer at Blacklands who had historically utilised the original route. The gate was repeatedly removed and re-erected (Brett claims up to 130 times!). By 1854, the farmers had enough of the inconvenience and issued proceedings against Wyatt; the case coming to trial in 1856. Arbitration was suggested, however Mr. Wyatt refused to concede to this, eventually being brought in front of the court again - this time under threat of imprisonment and he reluctantly agreed to permit access. In spite of this, the obstructions continued - no fewer than five separate actions were ultimately brought against Wyatt. After a lengthy hearing where all five actions were rolled-up with many witnesses being brought for both sides, the jury returned the case for the plaintiffs - the road clearly was a right-of-way and, as such, Mr. Wyatt had no right to block it.
Mr. Wyatt obviously realised that his house encompassed some valuable building lands within the property boundaries, for in 1874 we find advertisements for sale of land to the rear - this now being Hughenden Road[4]. He is also on record as negotiating the sale of packets of land to the Borough for development.
The contents of the property went up for sale by auction in 1897[5] following the death of Mrs. Wyatt - her husband having died on the 30th of March 1874[6], with the property itself being put up for sale in 1897, described as a commodious detached residence with a frontage onto Mount Pleasant Road of 61 feet and a total depth of 153 feet[7] - this revealing that the property boundary at that time extended as far as Hughenden Road - roughly where numbers 64 through to 76. Soon after 1901, the house no longer exists, having become incorporated into the properties on the north side of Mount Pleasant Road, the house having originally stood in the vicinity of numbers 45 to 55 (although the house was numbered 45 on the 1901 plans with a gap in numbering to the next house to the east).[8]
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References & Notes
- ↑ Powell's Hastings Guide (5th ed.) P. M. Powell (-1850) pg.43 ESCC Library
- ↑ 1867 Post Office Directory
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 27 June 1931 Pg. 0007
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 19 September 1874 Pg. 0004
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 21 August 1897 Pg. 0003
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 4 April 1874 Pg. 0008
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 30 October 1897 Pg. 0004
- ↑ Side by side georeferenced maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland, accessdate: 21 May 2020
