Category:Ponswood Industrial Estate

Development and preparation of the area for the Ponswood industrial estate, the first of the town's industrial estates, started in the 1950s in part, due to the post-war need for employment opportunities, although large-scale development only really occurred during the 1960s. An inquiry was held in 1961 relating to the development and as a result of this, plans were submitted to build the first 10 units.

History

"By a Private Act of Parliament in 1827 (7 and 8 Geo 4 c22), the trustees of the Eversfield Estate were given power to grant building leases and make sales of the land devised by the will of Charles Eversfield, esq. The copy of the act which survives with these papers includes a detailed plan by Thomas Budgen showing Gensing Farm, Hulls or Yeilding Farm and part of Smiths Farm in Hastings St Mary Magdalen, Hastings St Mary in the Castle and St Leonards, occupied by Charles Deudney, and Ashdown Farm in Hollington, occupied by Thomas Standen; the act includes schedules of fieldnames and acreages"^[1] Prior to this it was part of the Eversfield Estate and occupied by smallholdings, such as Smiths Farm which was a piggery and allotments. Theaklen Drive was constructed circa 1953, the naming of which comes from a conjunction of the two councillors who pushed the plans through - D.B Theaker and A.W Lennard. There was a bakery at the junction of Theaklen Drive and Sedlescombe Road South run by C.M. Bedwell Ltd until the late 1960s, with a Builders store with associated office for Eldridge and Cruttenden shown in 1953.

In 1961, plans appeared submitted by the ‘Ronald Lyon Estate Co Ltd’, the trustee of the land, to develop the area into the woodland from which the estate gained its name. The initial plans were for 10 units which were quickly filled by companies;

• L.G. Hawkins (may be the property agent)
• Langney Motors
• Messrs Dyer and Fowle
• Kolster-Brandes Ltd
• Hammond Bros
• MacMiller Motors Ltd
• Stow Electronics Ltd

Later Rediffusion moved into the estate to develop cable television for the whole of the UK and other companies such as Phillips. VOX, Buss Foods and many other well-known brands.

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