Long standing residents of Chipperfield will recall that Croft Lane used to be called Pest House Lane. More recent residents may wish to know more. I am only able to throw light on this by quoting from Miss Liddle’s book, Notes On Old Chipperfield, which is no longer in print: “Close to Chapel Croft in the fields, is the Old Pest House, used in the plague 1665, shown in an old hunting map of 1881. In 1838, there is the record of the sale of the copyhold cottage and garden, called Pest House, to John Parsley (Lord of the Manor). Previously, there is a record of it being in use as a cottage in 1804, by Sarah Dell and her son William.”
Nobody seems able to pinpoint exactly where the cottage was situated but I assume it was not far from the ends of Croft Lane and Alexandra Road. On the Tithe map, dated 1839, a cart track, now known as Croft Lane, is clearly shown as leading into two fields. At the far end, on the left, was Pest House Field and on the right was Pest House Meadow. This suggests that the Pest House had quite a lot of land attached to it. Although there is documentary evidence of the sale of the Pest House in 1838, there is no indication of its position on the map of the following year.
The 1877 Ordnance Survey Map shows the same road and it is very clearly named as Pesthouse Lane and leads between the same fields. There is a large pond, on the right, just a short distance from the start of the lane. The only isolated building is shown to be in the far right hand corner of a wooded area, which is now known as Alexandra Road.
On the 1898 Ordnance Survey Map, Pesthouse Lane is again clearly named and the only houses have appeared, just before the pond, on the right. Alexandra Road has been established and named and a few houses have been built, mainly on the right. The previously isolated building in the far right hand corner is marked, but no longer inhabited.
The need for a place to isolate people suffering from the plague was very necessary. For hundreds of years, outbreaks of the plague were not uncommon, and that is one of the reasons for royalty building their palace, at the top of Langley Hill, so that when things were bad in London, they could take refuge in the country. One local farmer, who died from the plague in 1594, was Thomas Carter of the Mills, who lived at Pale Farm. Two of his children also died, at the same time.
Although one can appreciate modern residents being unhappy with the original name, its loss led former councillor, John Nichols, to say that he regretted the change from Pest House Lane to Croft Lane because an historical link had been lost.
Mary Nobbs