Home » My Articles » 57-63 Dulwich Village, SE21
57-63 Dulwich Village, SE21
In 1626 what was described as a house, barn & 6 acres, including two parcels (of an acre and a half acre, both part of Carter’s Garden), shown marked ‘16a’ on the plan below - the sites (according to my father’s notes) of Court Mount (57 Dulwich Village), Lonsdale Lodge (59 Dulwich Village) and 61 and 63 Dulwich Village -, were leased with another 4 or so acres (‘16b’, part of Little Brownings) to Henry Collins. In 1634 another part of Carter’s Garden (‘9d’ or at least about half of it – the rest of was added later) was added to his lease
Henry Collins was dead by 1650 and was succeeded by his widow Elizabeth until September 1666. She was succeeded by Widow Joan Jennings, she in March 1668 by Thomas Blechynden, he in March 1681 by Grevil Lewis, he in March 1690 by ‘Mr Downes’, and he a year later by Mr John Vanhattem.
After Vanhattem’s death in 1714 his son, also John Vanhattem, who had a separate lease of what became ‘Brightlands’ and land now part of ‘Belair’, succeeded to the premises. In June 1716 Francis Lynn moved there with his family, after a neighbour at Hall Place had made life too uncomfortable for them, and remained there until the end of 1722 when he moved to Stanmore, Middlesex, as a tenant of the Duke of Chandos (who, coincidentally or not, was married to John Vanhattem’s sister Lydia, formerly Lady Davall). After a period of non-occupation, Vanhattem’s next tenant (in 1725) was a Mr Peacock – probably Edward Peacock, a London Goldsmith with a young family.
Vanhattem junior was succeeded by Thomas Crutchley in September 1730, he by Jeremiah Crutchley in March 1744, he by John Wilkins, Paviour, in March 1752, and he by William Davis in March 1773. When Davis’ lease was renewed in March 1793 the holding was split:
(a) as to 57 & 59 Dulwich Village [0a.2r.11p. - "a neat brick house" occupied in 1789 by Mr Hopkins, according to Edwards’ ‘Companion’] & 4a.2r.20p. south of 61 & 63 Dulwich Village, leased to Richard Hopkins at £40 p.a.; succeeded by George Giles at 29/9/1798; succeeded by Mrs Mary Hassell Giles at 29/9/1805; succeeded by Charles Brent Barry at 29/9/1806, until at least 1808; and
(b) as to 61 & 63 Dulwich Village [0a.2r.1p.], leased to Rebecca Tawke at £20 p.a., until at least 1808. Edwards’ ‘Companion’ refers to “a boarding school for young ladies (Miss Talk)” on the same side as the “neat brick house”, which must mean 61/63 Dulwich Village.
In September 1808 a new lease was ordered to be granted to Rebecca Tawke, to include so much of the field between her garden and the rail fence across the field as her neighbour Rev. Charles Brent Barry shall agree to surrender to her, she in turn surrendering to him part of her garden as shall be agreed between them.
So much for the history of the site so far. Now for more on the Rev. Charles Brent Barry and Miss Rebecca Tawke.
C.B. Barry:
According to T. L. Ormiston’s ‘Dulwich College Register 1619-1926’, Barry was the son of Samuel Barry of Bristol, Gent., and was born in 1768. He was at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1787, and took his B.A. in 1791. He was elected Usher (i.e. Third Fellow) of Dulwich College on 7 May 1806, but resigned on 15 April 1806. Ormiston makes no mention of Barry’s later life, or death, but when he made his Will in March 1819 (probate of it was granted on 9 May 1821) he was living in Quarley, Southampton, and was married to ‘Mary Hassell Barry’, who must be the widow of George Giles referred to above. There’s a story there, I expect.
Rebecca Tawke:
I have found a record (Surrey Deeds, no. 846, Minet Library) of the Will of Charlotte Tawke Tuck, Dulwich spinster, bequeathing her personal chattels to her cousin Rebecca Tawke, and her residuary estate to her brother Christian Tuck, whom she appointed as her executor. According to ancestry.co.uk, the Will was dated 1788, and probate was granted of it on 14/11/1788 – [PCC PROB 11/1172/82]. Miss Rebecca Tawke was still a Dulwich resident in 1823, but was dead by 1825 (when she was succeeded to at least part if not all of her holdings by Mrs Prevost).
(File created 19 July 2015. Slightly amended, and re-formatted, 9 July 2024.)