Bright spot: estate agent John Blake was so well-regarded by his peers in Croydon that they paid for a stained glass window in the re-built Parish Church, now Croydon Minster
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Property auctions are nothing new. There have been businesses wheeling and dealing over house sales and land disposals for hundreds of years.
DAVID MORGAN pores over the property ads placed by auctioneer John Blake to discover more about the two 200 years ago
If the BBC’s Escape To The Country had been aired in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries (yes, I know, John Logie Baird was just a couple of hundred years too late), then Croydon must surely have been one of their top locations to search for property.
A comfortable carriage ride from London, you could make the journey into the Surrey hills from Gracechurch Street in little more than an hour, and find yourself in a town with a sparkling trout river, the Wandle, little countryside hamlets nearby, larger houses built in attractive parkland or common land, thriving markets… it even had its very own palace!
Such attractions would have proven irresistible for the upwardly mobile of Georgian England, who might have a business or trade in London, but who preferred to move out to the fresh air, away from where theft and robbery were daily occurrences and where the unsavoury side of overcrowded city life seemed to be on the increase.
For those who in Regency England had money, Croydon and its surrounding villages could provide that rural idyll which was much sought after by the sort of folk whose fortunes were on the rise.
The town could have also provided a star presenter for the programme: John Blake.
Setting up his business as an estate agent and auctioneer in 1798, he became one of the well-known local characters, respected by all. He had a work ethic second to none. and he endeared himself to a wide group of people.
Advertisements for houses for sale or to let by Blake appeared regularly in the local papers.
“Residence, near Croydon, to be let. A good family house called Bensham House, situated in Broad Green in the Parish of Croydon, with coach house, stables, garden and about 22 acres of land. The house is separated from the road by a paddock of about 7 acres, through which is the approach to the house by a lodge. Immediate possession may be had.
Particulars may be had on application to either Mr Drummond, solicitor or Blakes, Auctioneers, Croydon”
This marvellous-sounding ad was from September 1822.
Gatwick Express: a coach journey into London from Croydon in the 1820s would have taken a little more than an hour
It makes no mention of how much rent might be charged. Money only came into the equation once an application had been received.
This desirable residence came up for let in May 1826:
“Croydon, a detached family residence to let. In the centre of about 26 acres of land in the vicinity of Croydon, containing four sitting rooms, eight bedrooms and convenient domestic offices; double coach house, stabling for four horses, large pleasure and kitchen gardens, fish pond etc, a gardener’s cottage and an entrance lodge.”
Another house became available to rent on Croydon High Street in 1826, for three guineas a week – equivalent to about £405 today.
This was a furnished let, for a one- or two-year period. Advertised as a “genteel family” residence with immediate possession, there were several lines of description before the prospective client would come across this rather telling phrase: “A family with young children will be objectionable.” What kind of “genteel family” did not include children?
Property pages: Blake’s advertisements were a regular feature of local newspapers in the early 1800s
The description of the house said it had “four airy best bedrooms, three servants’ bedrooms, a neat entrance hall, two parlours, one about 18×14, the other about 14×12, and other conveniences, stabling for three horses, harness room and chaise house and a moderate-sized garden”.
It was situated, the advert concluded, in a preferable part of the High Street. No number or name was given in the advert other than the house was one of a pair.
Blake’s business empire extended as far as Caterham. An 1825 advert showed that Manor Cottage was up for a five- or seven-year letting.
Described as a “Gentleman’s Residence”, this nine-bedroomed property had all mod cons, by 19th Century standards, including a water closet, its own water supply, an orchard with the choicest fruit trees, and coaches passing daily to and from London. It was five miles from Croydon and “within easy ride of four packs of hounds”. Hunting was another attraction for the 19th Century man about town…
Georgian Escape To The Country would have had a field day with those properties. I wonder which buyers might have correctly guessed the value of what was on offer?
“Potential” and “value for money” were probably terms which weren’t used back then.
Land for sale: the coming of the railways saw big changes across the country
As well as selling and letting residential homes, Blake also sold land which was suitable for building. An ad from July 1840 said: “Two plots of excellent building ground, situated at the end of Cherry Orchard Lane and in a neighbourhood increasing in importance, where nearly 50 tenements have been swept away by the line of the Brighton railroad and where there is a great demand for houses on a moderate scale.”
Problems of housing supply and demand were still in existence 160 years ago. Railway expansion in 1840 probably equates to new motorways or airport runways being built today. As is often the case today, the optimism about money being brought into the area seemed to trump all local concerns about the loss of housing.
An advertisement in the Morning Herald from July 1825 showed the other side of Blake’s business.
“Mitcham Surrey, Miscellaneous property of the late John Shaw Esq, by Messrs Blake Croydon, at the premises, Sherwood House, on the East Side of Mitcham Common on Tuesday August 9th and on the following day, at 11 o’clock for 12.
“All the neat household furniture and domestic articles, a collection of paintings and prints, principally sporting subjects, about 700 volumes of books embracing a variety of English Literature, the most expensive works on sporting, agriculture etc, a capital assortment of saddlery and horse appointments, various instruments of husbandry, two young draft horses, two sporting mares and foals, five handsome cows and calves, 40 sheep, about 30 head of a peculiarly fine breed of pigs, numerous ducks, geese and high bred poultry, a staunch pointer and puppies, two stacks of wheat, four stacks of meadow and clover hay, and many other useful effects. May be viewed two days before the auction, catalogue price one shilling.”
Blake must have been rubbing his hands at the prospect of such a sale. In addition, he was asked to auction Shaw’s wine collection, which included “several dozens of curious old sherry and very rich East India Madeira”.
Inscription: Blake’s handwriting is to be found at the front of his copy of History of Croydon, in the Minster archive
History was of interest to Blake. In 1831, he bought a second-hand copy of Ducarel’s History of Croydon for a guinea. This book is now in the Croydon Minster archive. Inside the flysheet Blake wrote:“April 22nd 1831 – I purchased this book at the late Mr Draper’s sale and gave £1 1s 0d for it.” A guinea, one pound and a shilling, was commonly used at the time. An equivalent purchase in today’s money might have cost £140.
It is wonderful that we have a specimen of Blake’s handwriting and his signature almost 200 years later, still in pristine condition.
Ducarel’s book contains many interesting facts about Croydon Church, perhaps the most interesting being the lists of chantry priests employed until the dissolution of the chapels in the late 1530s.
In 1830, Blake was joined in his business by his nephew William. William had begun life as a cabinet maker. His father ran a builder’s firm in Croydon. William Blake acted as Receiver to the Whitgift Hospital, (the Almshouses).
Several stories emerged about Blake’s life and his business which were reported in the local paper. As a young man he once skated the length of the Croydon Canal to London and back.
Blake worked almost continuously until his death in 1852, when he was 71.
Blake was buried in the Parish Church graveyard in a vault on the side of the cemetery where the old vicarage formerly stood. His coffin was quite plain, with just a small metal nameplate attached to it which read “John Blake of Croydon.” Almost every house in Church Street, High Street and George Street were closed for the funeral, their curtains drawn as a mark of respect. A very large crowd gathered in the church yard to witness the interment.
Much-admired: the report of Blake’s funeral in 1852
The hearse was followed by three mourning coaches, with nephew William leading the group which consisted largely of business associates. The funeral service was taken by Mr H Bance, a former business associate of Blake’s.
Blake had lived at 65 Park Lane, where according to the 1851 census he was attended by three servants – Rebecca Standing and her daughter Sarah, together with Amelia Skinner.
Material lodged at the Museum of Croydon showed Blake as a benevolent gentleman, caring for people in need and generous in his support of local charities. He was a trustee of the Archbishop Tenison School situated in North End in 1835.
The stained glass window in the St Nicholas Chapel in Croydon Minster today is dedicated to John Blake, the costs paid for after the 1867 fire by his nephew William.
Nine members of the extended Blake family were buried in the churchyard.
Housing inequality was just as prevalent in Blake’s day as it is today. His customers would have needed some serious capital.
Perhaps an historically-based Escape To The Country might prove interesting. I know where they could start.
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for more than a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- How Houdini made Croydon churn with his staged escape act
- Nightwatch’s volunteers remember Jamie Keating every night
- ‘Chinese’ magician who died on stage, shot by his own gun
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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Soon after John Blake set up his property business in Croydon in 1798, the Archibshop of Canterbury (the incumbent was Charles Manners-Sutton at the time, who also baptised Queen Victoria in 1819) decided to sell Croydon Palace in 1807. This was because Croydon was expanding and the River Wandle was then an open sewer which flowed close to the Palace in the Old Town*, so it wasn’t much better than being in Lambeth Palace next to a larger sewer (the River Thames). The Archbishop bought Addington Palace (not far away but in a far less populated and polluted area) as a replacement residence. Did John Blake handle either or both of those property transactions?
* = The unhealthy air near Croydon Palace was not a new problem. More than 250 years earlier, King Henry VIII did not like visiting the Archibshop at Croydon Palace becaiuse he complained that the low-lying, damp location made him ill.