Monument MPM1904 - East Court, Cosham

The East Court site was situated within an area now occupied by modern housing off the north eastern side of Court Lane, Cosham. The land originally fell within the parish of Wymering, and is referred to as such in early leases. There appears to have been activity on the site from at least the mid-1600s, which is recorded in a collection of deeds and papers held by the Portsmouth History Centre. The name East Court was used in connection with the mansion house erected c1835, and does not appear in earlier documents. East Court House, its outbuildings and grounds occupied the site from the mid-19th century until the area was redeveloped for housing during the post-war period. 17th and early-18th century documents refer to a messuage or dwelling house on the site, which burnt down during the 1740s. This was replaced by new buildings constructed during the early-19th century mentioned in a lease of 1825. These buildings are marked on the 1810 Ordnance Survey map and 1815 Wymering and Widley Enclosure Award. An indenture for a lease dated 11th January 1717(1) refers to an earlier document of the 1st November 1658, in which a Richard Rikbell(?) granted a one thousand year lease for a cottage and curtilage of land within the parish of Wymering to an Alice Mitchell. The cottage and land were described as being situated between a highway from East Cosham to Nora (Noah) Marsh to the west, court field to the east, a common footpath leading from Havant to Portsbridge to the south, and lands belonging to John Hoar to the north. The highway to Noah Marsh, which formed the western border of the site, is the present day Court Lane. In 1680 John Mitchell, son of Alice Mitchell, bequeathed his house and garden and 'dwelling house in wimering aforesaid' to his wife Mary(2). The lands and cottage were then passed to Henry Mullins (son of Mary Mitchell by her second husband) who transferred the lease to Joseph Berkhill in 1717(1). An indenture for the same property dated 1727(3) refers to a messuage or tenement and dwelling house with an orchard and cartside(?) in Cosham known as 'Mullins' then or formerly in the possession of a William Bowman. The cottage is recorded in later leases as having been destroyed in a fire between 1746 and 1749(4). The same lease changed hands on numerous occasions during the 18th and early-19th centuries. The 1810 Ordnance Survey(5) map marks buildings on the site, although due to the scale of the map they are not shown in any detail. A building on the site of the later East Court House is marked on the Allotment Plan which accompanies the 1815 Wymering and Widley Enclosure Award(6), along with three other buildings to the southwest/west. A large rectangular building is shown to the south on an east-west alignment. The buildings and land are not included in the Enclosure Award, and therefore no description is given. An indenture dated 1825(7) stated that new buildings had been 'lately erected' on the site of the earlier cottage which had burnt down in the 1740s. These are presumably the buildings marked on the 1810 Ordnance Survey map and the Wymering and Widley Enclosure Award. East Court House was constructed between 1825 and 1835. It is first mentioned in a lease of 1835(8) as a Mansion House known by the name of East Court. The Wymering Tithe map of 1839(9) shows the house, marked as 'East Court', the building approximately 50m to the north marked on later maps as a lodge, and a large rectangular building on a north-south alignment to the south of the house. The apportionment records the owner as Admiral Frederick Warren and the occupier as Elizabeth King. However, it does not record a homestead or house, only a lawn plantation & Co, garden, and meadow. East Court Cosham was named as the address to send applications for interest in another property (Swiss Cottage) in an advertisement which appeared in the Hampshire Telegraph in 1835(10). An advertisement for an auction of household furniture at East Court by the executors of the late Mrs King appeared in the Hampshire Telegraph on the 22nd May 1847(11). An advert for the sale of farming stock at 'East Court Farm' was also published in the Hampshire Telegraph in 1847(12). This stated that a Mr Samuel Hill was 'quitting the farm'. The only other reference there appears to be in relation to a farm at East Court is the 1870 Ordnance Survey map(13) which marks the site as 'Eastcourt Farm'. However, there are no obvious farm buildings depicted on the map. The site was dominated by East Court House and its grounds from the 1830s until the house was demolished post-1952. A sale catalogue of 1922(14) described the house as picturesque and standing within 12 acres of grounds. The site included stables, an orchard, two kitchen gardens, tennis and croquet lawns, and meadows. There was a four roomed lodge by the entrance gates and the house was approached via a long driveway. By this date the estate also included park/meadow land and a five roomed thatched cottage with stabling and garden on the west side of Court Lane. East Court house was demolished at some point after 1952 and the site was redeveloped for housing. Sources 1. Indenture between Henry Mullins and Joseph Berkhill, 11th Jan 1717, 544A/5/L/1/2 Portsmouth History Centre 2. Copy of will of John Mitchell, 2nd Jan 1680, 544A/5/L/1/1 Portsmouth History Centre 3. Indenture between William Davies and Mary Strugnell, 19th Feb 1727, 544A/5/L/1/5 Portsmouth History Centre 4. Bundle of deeds and other documents re East Court House, Havant Road - originally described as Cottage with quarter of an acre of land in road from East Cosham to Noah Marsh (eventually belonged to Gammans family), 1680-1922, 544A/5/L/1 Portsmouth History Centre 5. Ordnance Survey Map of Hampshire, 1810, Portsmouth History Centre 6. Wymering and Widley Enclosure Award, 1815, 76A Portsmouth History Centre 7. Indenture between William Padwick and John Burrill, 15th October 1825, 544A/5/L/1/10 Portsmouth History Centre 8. Indenture between John Peyto Shrubb, John Burrill and George Potter, 2nd October 1835, 544A/5/L/1/12 Portsmouth History Centre 9. Wymering Tithe Map, 1839, CHU15/K/1/1/1 Portsmouth History Centre 10. Hampshire Telegraph, 1st June 6 1835 p.3, 11. Hampshire Telegraph, 22nd May 1847 p.1 12. Hampshire Telegraph, 23rd October 1847 p.1 13. Ordnance Survey Map, 1870, Portsmouth History Centre 14. Sale catalogue for East Court, 1922, 544A/5/L/1/41 Portsmouth History Centre [1]