Mount Pleasant Road

Mount Pleasant Road
	Circa 1905
Junctions
Junctions	Mount Pleasant Road; Quarry Road;
Construction
Completion	1897 (approx)

Most of Mount Pleasant Road was completed between 1873^[1] and 1897, with the portion adjacent to the 1970s flats (odd nos 27-43) being constructed in 1881 by builder Peter Friar featuring terracotta mouldings^[2]. The road is named after Mount Pleasant House which stood to the north of the current road. Due to new houses being constructed on the north side of Mount Pleasant Road between Hughenden Road and Priory Road circa 1896, it became necessary to carry out a partial re-numbering of houses in that section of the road.^[3], with a further renumbering taking place in 1901. Please note that prior to the 1896 renumbering the numbering used to run in the opposite direction to the current scheme; number 1 was at the Priory Road end as opposed to the Elphinstone Road end.

Disputed Right of Way

The road was originally a hedge-lined track past the house named Mount Pleasant which was built on the site of Mount Pleasant farmhouse. During Mr. Wyatt's occupation of the house, he regularly gated or obstructed the road (possibly more than 130 times), preventing various farmers from utilising the route between Blacklands and Halton - the farmers removing the impediments. In 1857 a court case (Murdock vs Wyatt) arose whereby the aforementioned farmers who utilised the road past the house sought to have the obstructions removed and the road declared as a right of way. Numerous witnesses were called on behalf of the farmers, whose testimony raised laughter on multiple occasions during the hearing. The jury found that there was indeed a right of way past Mount Pleasant and awarded 40s. in damages. The Judge in the case remarked that it was the clearest case of a right of way existing that he had ever heard and he hoped that it would dissuade gentlemen not to accept any diversion of road unless under the seal of a written document. The jury then went on to find in favour of the other applicants with similar terms to the plaintiff. Brett, in writing about the case, remarked that without this case, Mr. Wyatt would never have entered into consultation with the town council and the whole area would likely have not been built upon as it is today^[4].

It would appear that this was not the end of the matter, for whilst constructing St. Mary's Terrace in 1860, some spoil had been left in order the corner with Milward Road could be constructed. Wyatt complained to the council about this. In addition, on the 27th of October, 1860 he wrote the following letter to the council^[5]:-

“Dear Sir, - In reply to yours, conveying the views given at a meeting of the Hastings Local Board of Health, that they cannot legally make a road from St. Mary’s terrace, but are willing to take the present road running Pg. 43 through my freehold property – namely, from Halton to Ore Lane, also to the railway station and to St, Leonards, as a free communication has been so long wanted; therefore in accordance with your letter, I will agree to give up the privacy of the road through my freehold property, and to withdraw that part of my former proposition for the making of a new road; and to facilitate the great requirement, I have given my several tenants notice to quit at Christmas next; so that your Surveyor should not be impeded in his duties to widen the road, &c., as will be required for the benefit of residents and visitors, as a public highway.”
— Yours most respectfully,
Henry Earley Wyatt”

^[5]

After this letter had been read to the Council, the Town Clerk stated that Mr. Wyatt gave up three gates in the road; that he intended to take down the wall on the west side of his house, and put it back in line with his house. The road would then be made 35 feet wide throughout except at the entrance from Ore lane, where it would be 30 feet. The offer was accepted, with the understanding that the Board would fence off an open part of the road, but that Mr. Wyatt must keep the fence in repair.^[5]

At the next meeting, (Dec. 7th) a tender of seventeen guineas was accepted from Mr. Welfare for fencing a portion of the new road given up by Mr. Wyatt^[5].

Renumbering

During both the 1896 and 1901 renumberings, plans were drawn up to show the new house numbers

Images & Features

N.B. The 'features' tab, whilst returning buildings and business premises in this road is not operating correctly, therefore a 'Dev.Use' tab is in place to explore alternative ways of retrieving this data.

ImagesFeaturesDev.Use

Images

Images
1883 Mapping of area around The Langham
This-shop-stood-on-the-corner-of-Hughenden-Road-and-Mount-Pleasant-Road.-1900.
Mount-Pleasant-Road-1905
Laying Tram Tracks Hughenden Place c1905
Mount Pleasant Rd 1905
Mount Pleasant Road 1905
Mount-Pleasant-Rd-1907
G-Coleman-Mount-Pleasant.-1908.
Henry-Croucher-stands-outside-his-butcher’s-shop-at-70-Mount-Pleasant-Road.-1912.
Mount Pleasant Church c1914
Belisha Crossing Mount Pleasant Road 1937
Mount-Pleasant-Public-House-on-the-corner-of-Calvert-Road.-1950.
Mount-Pleasant-Road.-1959.
Mount Pleasant Road Trolleybuses 1959
E. G. Wilson Mount Pleasant Rd
Halton Post Office and a tram