A significant number of the older houses in Chaldon have been through a number of names over the years, and some of the roads too have had name changes.
On the 1914 edition of the Ordnance Survey Map of Chaldon, what is now Church Lane is named Chaldon Lane and Roffes Lane is called Holliday’s Bottom. At one time Rook Lane was Peace Road.
Some road names show the previous land use, such as The Heath, Heathway and Chaldon Common Road, also Fryern Wood.
The Heath and Birchwood Lane are both on the line of an ancient east / west route across the common land of Willey Heath / Chaldon Common. At the west end of Birchwood Lane there is a long line of birch trees edging the last field. Is this just coincidence, or were they planted because of the road name, or vice versa, was the road named after the trees? When was the road named? How old are the trees? Does anyone know the answers or have any views on this?
On house names: in Church Lane, The Rookery was previously called The Firs, and before that The Braziers. Almost next door to it, Wood House was given that name at the end of the twentieth century, having previously been Chimawan, and Greenshaw, and The Nest. Glebe House had been The Rectory.
Chaldon Mead has been variously known as Lettices, Daisy Farm, New House Farm, Hopefield Lodge and Richmond Lodge.
The reason a house name was chosen is often fascinating and tells a story in itself. We are hoping to collect and share some of the stories of the naming of houses in the village. Do please get in touch if you have information to share.
Some names are descriptive of the place or the person who lived there, and examples in Chaldon include Keeper’s Cottage in Doctors Lane where the game keeper lived, and Elmbank, also in Doctors Lane, where elm trees grew. Longlands in Church Lane is named after the field it was built in.
On Pilgrim’s Lane, there is a house called The Allt and another called Rest Harrow. Both reference their setting. Allt is Welsh for wooded slope or hillside. Restharrow is a low growing creeping plant with small pink flowers, found on chalk grasslands, including nearby Quarry Hangers. “Common restharrow has extremely tough, thick roots that spread in a dense network and, during the days of horse-drawn cultivation, could stop (‘arrest’) a harrow in its tracks.” www.wildlifetrusts.org
The story and the person behind the naming of Plava Shuma (now Moon Point) in Church Lane
The house that was on the site was built in 1926 for Sidney Gausden, who was an artist and also a theatrical and film set designer, having previously lived in Chelsea. One room was built as an artist’s studio with a tall window. Sidney Gausden lived at Plava Shuma for the rest of his life.
Plava Shuma is Serbian for ‘blue forest’. Sidney decided on this name for his house because of his links with Serbia. After army service in the First World War, he had spent time there assisting in humanitarian relief work and later in 1921 adopted a Serbian orphan boy whom he brought back to England. After Sidney’s death in 1947, his adopted son and family resided at Plava Shuma for several years before moving to the west of England.
Googling for Sidney Gausden – http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f05cbff is BFI Filmography which gives a list of films that he worked on as director, designer, settings etc. Some of the films are animations, and some with a strong religious theme.
Also V&A Collections shows Sidney Gausden prints in their collection, including two posters for exhibitions in London, one of Jugoslav peasant industries, and one of Balkan Men and Ways. Woodcuts, one of Old Trees, three woodcuts of Bergamo c.1920, and a theatre set design c. 1935 of Paganini, at the Comedy Theatre. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?slug=gausden-sidney-h-e&name=58267
Another source of information on his films is http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0310189/ one film is dated 1946.
http://www.articlesandtexticles.co.uk/2010/07/24/art-design-in-the-british-film-the-last-chapter/ is a piece about him in the context of British film art directors up to 1948.
(With thanks to the Gausden family for information on Sidney Gausden and Plava Shuma).
(c) Madeline Hutchins 2017 and 2020