Banstead Village

HEATH HOUSE, SUTTON LANE,

HEATH HOUSE, SUTTON LANE, BANSTEAD, OCTOBER 1888

Sketch & plan dated October 27th 1888 for the new Heath House (RHS), vinery, stables and adjoining cottage by architect Herbert D. Appleton.
Its location was on 3 acres of land, shown as Rose Cottages on 1850's maps.

The land was once owned by William Lambert of nearby Oaks Park. His family used to be substantial landowners and long established in the Banstead area.

To the right of this view is the footpath which once led to Hundred Acres on Banstead Downs and its corn windmill.

Daniel Maynard Taylor and his family would move into Heath House and stay for many years.

Miss Sabine Paisley and Miss Wagstaffe bought Heath House and founded Greenacre School for Girls in April 1933 as an independent day school. Both women had previously taught at Boume Hall, Ewell.
The school opened with 17 pupils, quickly expanding to 67 by the autumn.

By 1934 the adjacent properties Heath Side and Holmlea were rented to create a boarding house then White Cottage purchased for junior pupils in 1939.

During WWII, girls and staff were evacuated, first to Turnworth House, near Blandford in Dorset, and then to North Cheriton House, Wincanton in Somerset.
The school returned to Sutton Lane after the war.

Greenacre School for Girls celebrated its 81st birthday during 2014.

At the end of the 2017 academic year the senior section of Greenacre School for Girls closed, and its relocated elsewhere.

It became Banstead Preparatory School for boys and girls in September 2017, merging Priory Preparatory and Greenacre Juniors, both in Banstead, and Bramley School, Walton-on-the-Hill.

Today, this view represents 26 - 18 Sutton Lane

Apart from the abundance of tree growth over the last 138 years, when viewed across Sutton Lane from the vicinity of No. 21, these buildings still look much the same !

Then & Now maps courtesy NLS Maps:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17.0&lat=51.32972&lon=-0.19382&layers=168&right=osm

Sketch reproduced courtesy of The Builder, October 27th 1888