User talk:RoyPenfold

Any issues with the wiki that you are unable to fix, please use any of the contact details on my 'User Page' or leave me a message here. --RoyPenfold (talk) 12:26, 1 September 2020 (BST)

Ashbrooke Lodge (spelt with an "e")

Hi Roy,

I have seen your entry of Ashbrooke Lodge in St Leonards on Sea - I am the current owner of the building.

I have a lot of information on the history of the building. I spent a week at "The Keep" in Brighton researching the historic records when I bought the building in 2018.

To give you a quick summary..

The building was originally built around 1870 and was built by The Reverend Daniel Ledsam (links below): http://wyndhammarsh.co.uk/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I14729&tree=CledwynMarsh https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NU1pAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

From what I have found he moved from Birmingham and built St Johns Church in Hollington and Ashbrooke Lodge at the same time (They are both made from the same stone), you can see the church quite clearly when the leaves are off the trees from the rear windows.

Ashbrooke Lodge and Clyde house (Claremont schools current boarding home) were the first buildings to be built off of Sedlescombe Road North, which was constructed originally as a Toll Road that would make the journey to London quicker by by-passing Battle.

Ashbrooke Lodge used to own all of the surrounding land, the roads opposite the building Ledsham Avenue, Ledsham Way and Ledsham Park I believe are in reference to the Reverend but have been spelt differently. The building was extended in 1927, after the son of Daniel Ledsam died - he had no children and the house was sold to a sugar broker. It was then sold and converted to flats and owned by the Mayor of Hastings since the 1950's (Cllr. Richard Henry Bryant) he lived on the ground floor with his wife and they bought the top floor flats as they became available over the years. I purchased the building from the wife's estate in 2018.

When I bought the house it hadn't been properly maintained since the 1970's and although the building was structurally sound the house was in much need of repair, no heating upstairs at all. It had terrible leaks and old pipe work and electrics needed updating everywhere. I was the only buyer who wanted to keep the house, my main competitor wanted to knock it down and build an estate on the land. I have kept as many original features as possible and plan to be custodian of the building for many years to come. If you want pictures more information etc, I would be happy to provide that for you, the building has been hidden behind overgrown trees for many years and people walking past have stopped to talk about how they never noticed it before.

Thanks

Robbie

Thank you for the update on the property Robbie - I've corrected the spelling and you should be able to update the page - now moved to Ashbrooke Lodge - no account on the wiki is needed, although you may need to create an account to upload images. You can of course email any images you feel appropriate over to me at royp [at] roypenfold.co.uk

--RoyPenfold (talk) 23:24, 28 June 2021 (BST)