Norman road. The site was the unoccupied part of the burial ground in the rear of the Chapel. The building was to be forty feet long and 30 feet wide, and to have accommodation for 200 children. Mr. Pocock, of Knightsbridge was the architect, and about £300 was to be the cost. The building was planned for an entrance from Shepherd street as well as from the chapel. The ceremony of stone-laying was supplemented by a tea-meeting. About £14 was collected on that occasion, which made something like £40 already in hand towards the £300. As time went on other amounts were collected and at the end of the year there remained to be obtained £50 to clear off the debt. On New Year’s Day, 1861, nearly 150 persons partook of tea for the first time in the new rooom(sic) which was gaily decorated, and a very pleasant evening was spent, during which there was some excellent singing.
A Norman-Road Difficulty.
In the month of April, whilst the Directors of the South-Coast Railway had consented to throw open a path at Bopeep to which they imagined the public had no legal right, the executors of the late John Wellsted, conjointly with his surviving partner, so far closed a portion of Norman road as to render it impossible for two vehicles to pass each other. Abutting the top of that road was a plot of ground of sufficient dimensions for a moderate size house, and which extended more than half way across the main thoroughfare. Ths piece of ground had been offered for sale, and it was thought the Local Board of Health would purchase it for the purpose of keeping the road open to the public. As, however, the estimated value of the ground by the opposite party exhibited a disparity of figures in the proportion of about one to three, the negotiations were not successful. It was intimated that if the Local Board did not have the ground for what they considered to be a reasonable price, they would obtain it by other legal means. As if to try this question and bring it to an early issue, the pickaxe, saw and hammer were put into requisition at an early hour on the morning of the 27th of April, and in a few hours the ground was completely enclosed with strong posts and rails, much to the annoyance of several drivers of vehicles and to the astonishment of passers-by. All sorts of questions were naturally asked as to the purpose of such erection and as great a variety of replies were given by the “Knowing ones”, but the most generally accepted intimation was that of “a cattle pound”. Later in the day the spot was visited by some members of the Town Council and the Inspector of Nuisances. It was judged that the old combatants, “Right” and “Might” would soon be again pitted against each other, with a result unsatisfactory to at least -
