Shernden Grange/Christmas Mill Cottage

Shernden Grange 1907

Christmas Mill Cottage 2016

I was able to track down the location of William Fox Pinhey's 1907 home in Edenbridge thanks to the electoral rolls provided to me by Sue Richardon (keeper of the Pinhey family trees).  Prior to receiving the information,  I hadn't been able to translate the handwriting on the 1906 postcard that identifies the Pinhey home.  Additionally, my grandmother's notes only referenced the photos of the home as being located in Edenbridge.  I thought the name might be "Sheridan Grange" or "Sherden Grange", but these names did not match any names or locations in Kent.  Fortunately, the electoral rolls provided me with the name "Shernden Grange", so I could start a fresh search.

My initial search turned up Shernden Lane in Kent, which was promising, however, Google Earth and Street View, provided no immediately identifiable structures that resembled the photos of the Pinhey house. So, my next step was to check the British Ordnance Survey Maps (6 inch O.S. maps).  These are analogous to the USGS quad maps used in the U.S.A. and my hope was that they would provide the level of detail and place names to identify the location of the home and if it still exists. Bingo!  I immediately found a reference to "Shernden Grange" on the 1909 Kent map.   My next step was to check the older (1870's-1890's) maps. Here's the location on the 1896 map:

Interestingly, the original name of Shernden Grange was "Christmas's Mill" per the 1870's map.  The map also indicates that it was a corn milling operation.  As "corn" could mean wheat or rye in the U.K., it's not clear what the mill was actually processing, however, an oast house (hops kiln) is located near the old property. 

 Per Kent history,  in 1327, the  Christmas Mill land was owned William de Sherndan and called the "Screedlands".  According to the records, the mill was owned by a William Christemasse (Christmas) from 1773 to 1794. William Christmas excavated the 4 acre lake south of the mill.  Christmas owned the nearby Haxted Mill on the River Eden and wanted his own water supply for the dry summers.   By 1838, the miller was John Bassett and the Bassett family owned the property through 1851.  By 1881 the property is owned by Catherine Russell and the mill building was converted into the dwelling now known as Christmas Mill Cottage.   Here's an old parcel map as shown in "An Index to Places in Edenbridge" by Lionel Cole.  The Pinhey's house is on the "Homestead" parcel:

The Shernden Grange name shows up on the maps through 1936, when the name reverts to "Christmas Mill" (see below):

Through time, additional buildings are added adjacent to the Christmas Mill parcel (boat house, Christmas Place in 1907).  The 1936 map gave me the location information I needed to precisely locate the house to determine if it still exists.   By using Google Earth, I was able to determine that the house still exists, now known as "Christmas Mill Cottage".  Here's a photo of the rear of the house as viewed from from Shernden Lane:

The house has been "remodeled" and updated since 1907 and the property looks very nice.  The former single story section of the house was replaced with a two story section (the division in the roof line can been seen in the photos).

Finding the Pinhey house answered several questions I had:  First and foremost, the actual location of the house.  Second, I remembered my father and grandmother talking about an attempt to locate the house (by my grandmother) and that she believed it was torn down and turned into a quarry.  The O.S. maps show an old quarry behind the small lake - perhaps this is what threw them off?  The small lake or pond looks like it was an impoundment for the old corn mill.  This also answered the question of where Thomas Knevitt Pinhey and Clarence Stillwell had been swimming in the photo of them at Shernden Grange.

Current valuation of Christmas Mill Cottage, $890,000 U.S.