built upon without grant on condition that Thomas ("Trewyer") Mann, pay £40; William Golden, £15; William Kirby, £25; Maria Rogers (on behalf of her brother, Thomas Davies), £20; William Brazier, £30; Edward Stevens, £25; and Thomas Thwaites (for 22 by 23 1/2 feet adjoining south side of the Royal Oak Hotel) £5. At the same time the Corporation gave notice to W. Lucas-Shadwall to remove an encroachment on the Beach terrace adjoining Mr. Camac's stables.
In the following year (1830) the Corporation demanded and obtained payment for other sites already built upon - namely £30 from Jesse Furner, a sawyer, for the stone-beach that his house was built upon at the west end of what is now Pelham street, £50 from Thomas James Breeds, for ground at the east end of Castle street on which he has built a coach-house and billiard-room; £20 from James Rock, for ground on which a work-shop was built and occupied by Thomas Beaney (afterwards by Joshua Huggett) between the Chalk road and the Priory water (now Pelham street), and £1 a year, as rent, from Samuel Nash, for a piece adjoining the Priory water which he had permission to enclose in 1822, but on which, without leave, he had since built upon. Also £5 from Samuel Satterley for a piece of formerly stone-beach at the back of a small dwelling at the north-west end of West street. Among the minor grants in the same year was one to Mr. George Clement to put down a paved footpath round his house, adjoining the Cutter, on payment of 1/- a year, and one to Thomas James Breeds to make two openings in the stade for getting casks into the cellars of the Queen’s Head, on payment of 2/- a year.
In 1831, the Corporation declined to grant Edmund Strickland a piece of sea-beach, 30 feet wide, adjoining the west side of Camac's stables. Mr. Strickland afterwards appropriated some waste ground near the same place, but in 1836, he was served with a notice to remove within seven days the coal which he had deposited on the stone-beach in front of Breeds place. At the same time all persons who had placed timber and other materials between Mr. Camac's stables and the Chalk Road were warned to remove the same within a month.
Then followed refusals and further contentions, whereupon it was ordered by the Corporation that the case then prepared by the Town Clerk relative to the title to the land called stone-beach opposite to Breeds place be laid before Counsel for an opinion thereon.
#This serves as a reminder that the parochial officers of St. Mary-in-the-Castle obtained Counsel's opinion as to what were their powers with respect to the workhouse and workhouse yard, and that opinion not being favorable to their views, the Corporation was approached for the proposal of ascertaining the purchasing terms of a conveyance to them of the ground as a freehold whereon to build. The price named was £200, which sum was agreed upon by the overseers and parishioners at a vestry meeting in 1832.
In 1833 the Corporation received from the Town-clerk a report that he had searched for entries relating to the three shops (presumably rope-shops) which Thomas James Breeds intended to convert into dwelling, but owing to the loose way in which the records were kept from 30 to 60 years ago, he was unable to find any. It was therefore decided to take Counsel's opinion on that matter also.
Having stated that the sum of £200 was paid to the Corporation for the freehold of the workhouse yard of St. Mary-in-the-Castle, it should be here added that at a vestry meeting on Sept. 7th, 1837, it was resolved that the workhouse and ground be sold, the site to be built upon to the height of two storeys only, the proceeds to be applied to paying a quota towards erecting the Union Workhouse at Cackle street, but the residue, if any, to be employed for the permanent benefit of the parish. The result of this resolution was the erection of the three houses, with shops, opposite York Buildings, dwarfed in appearance by the limitation of two storeys.
have thus traced the contentions re the rights to the ownership of the stone-beach waste ground from 1596 to 1837, without attempting to be umpire in the matter, preferring to leave that point of the dispute in the -
