WELCOME to our Heritage page. The purpose of this section of the website is to provide an evolving picture of the history and heritage of the roads in which we live, the houses we own and the people – past and present – who have helped to create the character of our very special community here on the Kingswood North Estate.
The estate forms one of the best-preserved parts of our village, being officially designated as both a Residential Area of Special Character (RASC) and occupying part of the Kingswood Conservation Area (CA). It’s also home to a rare piece of architectural heritage – a Grade 2 listed electricity transformer pillar that once supplied power to the earliest houses on the estate. The transformer pillar, nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant because of its size and colour, is situated on the small green diagonally opposite the tennis club. It is over 100 years old and believed to be one of only about a dozen still in existence in the country. Although this cast iron structure with a double light on top has fallen into disrepair over recent years, it is currently the subject of a major project being organised by KNECL to restore it to its original condition. To find out more just click on the link here.
It’s just one example of the importance KNECL places on the history of our wonderful estate and the efforts it makes to preserve that unique heritage. And that’s where you can help. We’d like to hear from you about anything you think will add to the historical picture we are building up of the area bounded by Forest Drive, The Glade and Waterhouse Lane which makes up the Kingswood North Estate.
It could be some fascinating old photographs, documents that give an insight into the past of the property you now live in, or maybe a story about someone famous who lived here. Believe us, all this will be vital as we build up a detailed picture of the heritage of this part of Kingswood.
You’ll see below just a handful of such photos, but we need much more, along with your stories, reminiscences, indeed, anything that might be of interest to other residents of these uniquely characterful roads.
By clicking on the links below, for example, you can find out much more about the birth of modern-day Kingswood in the Edwardian era. And there’s an intriguing look at the relationship between the village and the Costain family, who owned the roads where we live until they were acquired by us from their company in November 2020.
With your help, we hope to build up a detailed written ‘map’ of this area through the architectural story of the many unique period houses – as well as all the other homes including modern ones, of course – which make up the beautiful, varied and unique landscape we enjoy. We’ve already made a start on this major project, which we’ve called Perambulations – a stroll round the history of our roads. You can read it simply by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.
We’d like to build on this with more of your fascinating stories about the houses on the estate, but also about some of the fascinating people who have lived here over the decades and contributed so much to its character.
So please start looking in your attics and cupboards for old photos and documents or, indeed, anything you think may be of interest to us.
Do be aware, however, that this is specifically about the history of our estate roads, and not the village as a whole. The Kingswood Residents’ Association tells the complete history of Kingswood on its section of the village website, www.kingswoodvillage.org, which is well worth looking at if you can. We are also deeply indebted to Pia Chamberlain for providing us with some of the historical material in these pages.
In the meantime, click here to read about how the Edwardians shaped Kingswood
If you want to find out about the Costains and Kingswood, click here.
And if you want to start reading Perambulations with its fascinating glimpse at some of the houses and people who have lived on our estate, just click here.
Finally, if you have any stories, documents or photographs that you think might be of interest, you can contact any of the following:
Alistair Sinclair: ajdsinclair@knecl.com or 077651 202646
– Robert Crawley: Robert.crawley@knecl.com or 07455 916071
– Justus van der Spuy: jvds@knecl.com or 07785 290651
We look forward to hearing from you . . .
An early picture of Kingswood station with the village pub the only other building standing on Waterhouse Lane
Taken around 1911, this photograph shows the view from the top of The Glade looking back towards what is now the Legal and General site
By 1933, the village was popular enough for Costain to start advertising homes there in The Times
The caption says Waterhouse Lane circa 1916, but can you recognise where this picture was taken?
To bring us up to date, here is an article which appeared in Kennedy’s Local Estate Agent magazine “Signature” in early 2020. Reproduced here with kind permission of Peter Kennedy.
