Does anyone have knowledge of 'The Dene' in Heathfield

[kellogs]

Just out of curiousity, my aunt lived in this house for a short while in the early 1990s and i was trying to be nosy and find out who lived in such a grand house,(it had about 20 rooms)on the recent census but nothing came up.

It was on Ghyll road but although i believe its not there anymore would that have been the road name back then or has it changed?

Hoping someone might know.

[kerryb]

Hi Kellogs

I imagine that has always been the name for Ghyll road.  In actual fact Ghyll is a misspelling adopted by the Victorians for the word Gill (streams that appear in abundance in the area) 

I have an old photo book of Heathfield and will have a look but certain a photo dated 1902 is of Ghyll Road.

Kerry

[OneBigFamily]

Google books search:
Results -
Country life, Volume 175
Country Life, Ltd., 1984

Small snippet of text is available regarding the entry about the property. It includes reference that the reader could write to "The Dene, Ghyll Road" in Heathfield for more information.
Snippet view only, no photos, but it seemed to be an advert for the property at the time and I wouldnt know how much editorial was included.

It might be worth you contacting Country Life Magazine and enquiring if they have any archived material.

[Kim1980]

Don't know the Dene specifically but there are still some pretty big old houses on Ghyll Road and Old Ghyll Road.

Kim

[Kim1980]

Found it - It is/ or was in what is now called Wayside Walk. I remember last time I was there they were building a set of about 5 massive houses and there is a large old house there (the dene?). I'm guessing the current owner must have sold some land. If you go to Google maps and use street view you can see it. Head down the road, a few clicks past the orange lorry and it's on the right. I think the house you can see is The Dene, the newer houses are behind it and to the right.

Kim

[kellogs]

Thanks to everyone for there replies.

Kim - I had a look on street view, but it wouldn,t let me up Wayside Walk so i had a look on the satellite view and i think from the position right in the corner and that the roof is so much bigger than the houses round it, that it may be the one!
Lovely that it is still standing, it was a beautiful house, a dream house for children to explore and get lost in, and i always remember in the room next to the kitchen, on the wall was a large wooden box, with bells and names of a lot of the rooms in the house, i presume, to call down to the servants that they were needed by someone in the household.

Its a shame it didn,t come up on my address search on the 1911 census, maybe it isn,t as old as that. Would have been good to have a snapshot of that household in its heyday.

[Kim1980]

Glad to help. The houses in that area from the same period are lovely and as you say, perfect for childhood games. I grew up and went to school just up the road - but my house definitely didn't have 20 rooms!

Happy searching

Kim

[Andy Pierson]

Hi. How far did you get with this?
My grandparents owned The Dene from the early 50s to the early 80s and ran it as a guest house. The bell board you mentioned was so that residents could ring for service. I also have great childhood memories of staying there as a child and playing in the 3 acres or so of gardens, woodland and orchard.

[claire68]

Hello,

We bought The Dene a couple of years ago, and am very curious to find out more about its history.  Sadly there is no longer the acres of gardens which I assume was sacrificed in the 1990s to build Wayside Walk, but its certainly still a beautiful house 

Kellogs/Andy - I'd love to know more about your aunt's/parents' time here! Names and approx ownership dates too if that's ok.  I'd really love to build out the life story of this house. And I'm happy to share whatever I can dig up.