SDRA South Drive Residents Association

South Drive and South Close have a fascinating history, having been developed by a Victorian/Edwardian company led by Joseph Morris, Berkshire County Surveyor, who inspired the “Morris Houses” in Wokingham, Reading and elsewhere. 

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Batty's Barn Farm

 

Until 1898, most of the area to the South of Wokingham town centre bordered by Easthampstead Road, Gipsy lane, Langborough Recreation Ground, Cockpit Path and Peach Street was a 56-acre pasture holding known as Batty's Barn Farm (which also included fields that are now Goodchild Road and Wescott Road). The farmstead and outbuildings were on Easthampstead Road (where Batty's Barn Close is now).

 

Although this had been prime development throughout the Victorian period, its owner, James Skerritt the Younger, declined offers to buy the farm, often referred to as Skerritt's Meadows, for housing. In his Will in 1844, he left the farm to his wife, and after her death to be divided by their children. James Skerritt died in 1875, and his wife in 1895. Only one of their five children lived in Wokingham, and they decided to sell the estate.

 

On May 19, 1898 Batty's Barn Farm was put to auction in the Rose Hotel (now Café Rouge) in the Market Place. Most of the holding, comprising 45 acres, was bought by The People's Investment Company Limited. The entire sale realised £9,935.

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The People's Investment Company Limited

 

The People's Investment Company Limited (PICL) had been formed in May 1888. The Chairman of the company was Joseph Morris, a distinguished architect and Agapemonite who, in addition to running an architectural practice together with his son Frank and daughter Violet, held the position of Berkshire County Surveyor for Bridges and Buildings. Violet Morris was one of the first women to practice as an architect.

 

The architects firm designed many distinctive buildings, including Wokingham Police Station in Rectory Road. The PICL was basically a mutual society - run on similar principles to building societies. The Investment Prospectus for the PICL published in 1888 indicated that the PICL would build houses and "let the property to purchasing tenants, preference being given to members and depositors...to encourage the purchase of dwelling houses by members or depositors for their own occupation".

 

Soon after the purchase of Batty's Barn Estate, Joseph, Frank and Violet Morris planned its development and road layout. They applied for permission to Wokingham Borough Council to construct the new roads and for approval of the road names. At the time they were private, unadopted roads. PICL divided the estate into building lots and imposed restrictions on the number, value and use of the houses to be built on each lot. There were also stipulations on building lines and fences. All these conditions were converted into a network of restrictive covenants that would remain with each plot whenever it was sold on; these have been significant to this day in restricting and influencing development. The first houses to be constructed are believed to have been on Murdoch Road between 1899-1905. 15 Murdoch Road was built in1899 and occupied by Frank Morris, and on his death from typhoid in 1908, Violet moved in.

 

A 1996 monograph by local historian Roger Hosking entitled "Sturges Road and its Neighbours - A History of the Batty's Barn Estate" suggests that Joseph, Frank and Violet Morris designed all the houses on the south side of Murdoch Road and all had been built by 1905. Joseph Morris retired in 1905 and Violet took over the architectural practice.

 

The first house in South Drive was 9SD (demolished in the 1960s along with 10SD), followed by 8SD, both built in 1902/03. An OS map in 1911 indicated that only 5 houses fronted onto South Drive, at 7,8, 9, 10 and 12, of which three remain as originally built (7,8 and 12). 7SD is believed to have been designed by Violet Morris.

 

The People's Investment Company went into liquidation in 1914, following the death in 1913 of Joseph Morris and much of its freehold property, including the South Drive road, verges and roundabout automatically transferred into the ownership of the Crown Estate.

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Subsequent Development

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In 1923, 13SD was built by builder Edwin Hughes, followed soon after by 14SD. In the late 1920s, developers bought vacant plots in South Drive from the administrator and gradually built houses on all of them. A builder named Daniel Sharp, who had built most of Crescent Road before 1914, built the houses at 1-6SD. In 1930 11SD was built, later to become the home of the Rev John Wicksteed and his family (his daughters continued to live in the house until the late 1990s - it eventually burnt down in 2004). 15SD was built in 1932.

 

All the roads on the estate, including South Drive, had informal Road Funds to which residents contributed for the maintenance and upkeep of the surfaces. In 1969, Wokingham Borough Council announced it would adopt Murdoch, Crescent and Sturges Roads, and that the cost of bringing them up to adopted standards would be charged to residents. The costs were substantial - for example, the cost of bringing Sturges Road to adopted standards was estimated in 1969 at £8,000 cost (equivalent to £127,000 in present day value). One Murdoch Road resident wrote to the Wokingham Times calling it "the most daring highway robbery since Dick Turpin".

 

Eventually, in 1970, following an appeal to the Department of the Environment, residents were given a 15% discount from the costs. The allocation of costs was based on the length of their road frontage. Wokingham Borough Council did not seek to adopt South Drive as it was not deemed to be a public thoroughfare, despite usage by residents of the adopted South Close, and South Drive is no longer considered at risk of being adopted by the Council, provided it continues to be well-maintained.

 

South Close

 

South Close was constructed in three phases from the early 1960s to 1971.

 

As the first phase the owners of 9SD (Rookswood) sold off the bottom of their garden running parallel with Gipsy Lane for development. The intention at the time was that five bungalows would be built, all with access gained from Gipsy Lane. However, this was not permitted so an alternative access was needed. The only option was to construct a new road to access the five bungalows. This new road became South Close. The five bungalows were built in 1961-62 and South Close was adopted by Wokingham Borough Council, making it one of the few adopted highways in the UK that is only accessible via a private road.

 

There was a gap of several years before the second phase of the South Close development began. In 1965-66, 9SD was demolished and replaced by 2 houses at 9a and 9b SD as well as 3 houses in South Close opposite the five bungalows – namely 2, 3 and 4SC - all built by Adams. The corner site, no 2SC, was bought off plan by Bill and Eve Scott, with Eve continuing to live there until 2012. Thus, the original Rookswood, which had latterly been a nursing home, was replaced over a period of years by five bungalows, an access road and five houses, making it the largest single development undertaken off South Drive.

 

The third phase was several years later again, involving Luff Builders, who bought and demolished 10SD known as Fairoak, which had been owned by the Dent glove-making family for over 60 years, but not latterly occupied by them. From 1970 to 1971 Luff built four properties, namely 10, 11 and 12SC plus a new 10SD closer to the roundabout. Access to nos 10 and 11 SC was provided off the adopted South Close by a short spur, which the Council has not adopted and has no highway status. Luff retained this spur for over 20 years, probably as a ransom strip with a view to further development in the future, as it potentially provided access to the large site at 11SD. When Luff realised that Joan Wicksteed at 11SD would never deal with him, he agreed to sell the unadopted spur to the owners of 11SC, who continue to own the spur to this day. In fact, that was not quite the end of Luff’s interest, as he continued to own a small strip of land next to the pavement to the West of 10SD. This was finally acquired by the owners of 10SD from Luff’s estate in 2016.

South Drive Road Fund and the South Drive Residents Association

 

The South Drive Road Fund was converted into a company limited by guarantee in 2001 and changed its name to the South Drive Residents Association Limited (SDRA) to serve the interests of the residents of South Drive and South Close who use the road. The SDRA acquired the freehold of South Drive from the Crown Estate, to whom the freehold had defaulted in 1914 when the People's Investment Company went into liquidation. The SDRA is funded by those who use the road to keep it maintained, for social activities and, if necessary, to represent the views of the SDRA's membership on matters such as property development.