Thames Tributary –Pipp Brook - Milton Court

Thames Tributary –Pipp Brook
The Pipp Brook joined by the Milton Brook flows east towards the River Mole


Post to the west Westcott
Post to the east Dorking
Post to the south Nower

Milton Court Lane
Milton Court. The Milton estate was mentioned in the Domesday Book and from the 14th to the reformation was owned by Kilburn priory. It was later given to George Evelyn by Elizabeth I . Built in 1611 by the Evelyn family as the dower house to their main seat at Wotton House. It had many occupants and was used as the poor house and became very damaged. In the 1860s it was restored by lawyer Lachan Mackintosh who employed William Burges as architect highlighting Jacobean staircase, original wall paintings, ancient beams In the early 20th the garden became well known. In the late 1930s it was bought by the Henley Telegraph company who added an office block and in 1965 it was bought by National Employers Life Assurance Company Ltd who covered over many of the decorative features. The building is currently owned by the Unum Group who carried out extensive restoration c1993 and added a late C20 wing.
Milton Court Chalkpit and Limekiln. This pit was reached from the bridleway from Milton Court via Milton level crossing. Remains of a brick-built limekiln still exist within the disused chalk pit.
Milton Court Mill. This mill was by the entrance to Milton Court but was demolished in the late 1940s. The mill cottage and mill pond remain either side of the entrance road.  This was an  unusual wooden mill on what was probably an ancient site.  The last mill here dated from the 1860s replacing an earlier, smaller mill. It worked until about 1900 and was derelict thereafter. 
Milton Heath. Red brick house built 1870. Part of the Evelyn family estate it was leased in 1894 to James Carr Saunders director of the Commercial Union Insurance Company, founding their marine business. The house is now offices.

Westcott Road
Sondes Place Farm. Model farm built in the 19th as the home farm of the Denbies estate. the buildings last used by the farm in 1921. Brick and flint buildings in a rectangle with an arched gatehouse with cupola and weathervane. Stables, cattle pens, barn and house were converted to sheltered housing units in the 1980s.
Sondes Place Farm, Tom Walwin Broom came from Devon in 1897 and took up the tenancy here renting from Lord Ashcombe. He built up a dairy and beef herd but fresh milk supply was his main business. He bought the farm from Cubitt Estates in 1921 and opened a dairy shop at 38 South Street but after the Second World War focused on the wholesale milk market. The farm is still run by family members.

Sources
Stidder. Watermills of Surrey.
Pevsner. Surrey

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