From the date William Budd inherited Twickenham Park from his father in 1862, he had drawn up plans to develope much of the park land for residential use. By 1865 several houses had been built within the park. The overall plan for the new housing development was for a layout of new roads sited between Budd’s mansion and the main St Margarets Road.
The first road constructed was simply known as Twickenham Park and ran parallel to the St Margarets Road between the two gate lodges. This road was later renamed Rosslyn Road.
A basic grid layout was then planned between Rosslyn Road and The Mansion with three new roads running at right angles to Rosslyn Road. The western of these roads was named Arlington Road, and the eastern one being named Riverdale Road.
The middle road was not developed and was used as the main carriage access to the mansion. This road became Ellesmere Road when Developed in the 1930s.
The 1865 article above mentions 3 properties being sold. Elm House was renamed The Elms and was later called Gowrie House. The other two properties were 5 and 6 Riverdale Road which were semi-detached and pictured below.
Originally Riverdale Road was only numbered on this side, the eastern side. These houses were numbered from 2 to 8 inclusive. The houses on the otherside were built about 10 years later and not numbered but individuallynamed. This changed around 1910 when all properties in Riverdale Roadwere renumbered using the odds and evens method in common usage.
Information on the initial construction is scarce but one of the main builders of the estate was William Backhurst of Eastbourne. Unfortunately he filed for bankruptcy in 1866 which must have delayed building of many of the properties. Other contractors employed at this time were George Needham and John Ebbs & Sons.
The above electoral register from 1869 lists the owners and occupiers in Twickenham Park. These were mainly the houses in what is now known as Rosslyn Road. William Budd is owner of the mansion.
The document above is the
heading of the Lease agreement between William Budd and Builder George Needham dated 12th Dec 1870. This was for Needham’s company to build the property Penrhyn House in Riverdale Road.
The property called Riverdale at the end of Riverdale Road is mentioned above in 1870 and photographed below in 1970. This single house has now been converted into two properties.
No. 8 Riverdale Road was auctioned in 1876 (see above) The property is now 14 Riverdale Road and is pictured below.
In 1878 a number of houses on the newly built estate were auctioned. They were all,properties in Rosslyn road. Stanley house was soon to be renamed Balbedie. Rosslyn House was not the present house of that name which was then called Park House.
The property named Ellesmere was one of the few properties owned by the householder.The house in later years became The Tower Hotel and is pictured below in the 1970’s Shortly after a fire totally destroyed the building.
A postcard from around 1910 looking down Rosslyn Road from roughly outside Arlington House. Ellesmere House can be seen with just the corner of Balbedie showing on the extreme left. Note the original railings and street lighting.
Continues in Part 2