M25 Coombelands Addlestone

Post to the north Addlestone


Caxton Avenue
The houses at the north end this road date at least from the early 1930s and were adjacent to Coombelands Printers – some houses are described as ‘printers cottages’ and thus this was probably company housing.

Coombelands Lane
Company houses – some houses in the lane were built for employees at The Press at Coombelands in 1926,
Coombelands Farm. The farm was, or is, owned by DEFRA and used in conjunction with the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

M25

Milton Rise
Ongar Place Infant School

Ongar Hill
Holy Family Primary School. This is part of some Brighton and Arundel Catholic ‘multi academy trust’.

Redwoods
Printing works. This was The Press at Coombelands which covered the area now Redwoods and was set up around 1926. It is described as “a two acre mock Tudor facaded printing factory with 41,000 sq ft of space” surrounded by company housing.
(see comment below about ownership of the press)
In 1987 it was taken over by United Newspapers.  Coombelands was eventually bought by Ian Allen the railway enthusiast publisher.  The site was sold for housing in 1998.

The Bourne
Also called Windle Brook and Hale Bourne.

Sources
Hansard
Holy Family Primary School. Web site
Sparticus. Web site. 
Variuous transport enthusiast forums on line.
Wikipedia. Web site

Comments

Patricia Kach said…
The Press at Coombelands and Coombelands Estate Ltd. were established in 1926 by my grandfather, Percival F. Jones. The original printing business was founded by his grandfather in Birmingham in 1836 and carried on through to successive generations. He was Chairman and Managing Director of both operation at Coombelands and it was he who developed the original property into a picturesque housing estate with cottages for his workers and the actual printing works. He first entertained this idea of a garden printing village in Birmingham but due to a clashwith the town's planning scheme it was delayed until Addlestone proved a sitable location. After Percival's death in 1929 his son, George continued the business. My grandmother still lived on the property in the 1950s when I visited her.

Perhaps some historian has the Benns and Redwoods mixed up with Coombelands.
M said…
Patricia - thanks very much for that. I think if anyone is mixed up it is Edith. I had a lot of trouble sorting all that out - and clearly got it very wrong. Need to start again! I was very impressed with the size of the works - what sort of print work did your grandfather do?
M said…
Patricia - as a result of your comment I have taken out the stuff about Benn Brothers. However I feel certain that your grandfather must have done work for Benn because the imprint on some Benn publications says that the material was printed at Coombelands.
LZNPDE said…
Patricia, I would love to know more about the history of the the housing estate and printing press in particular. Do you have any photographs from the time?

There are some interesting photographs on the Chertsey Museum's website. It also looks like they hold the original plans for the housing estate.

http://chertseymuseum.org/?location_id=22&previous_filter=coombeland&filter=coombelands
Andy said…
I live in one of the former print workers cottages in Caxton Avenue. In fact Percival Jones' son, George, lived in the cottage for a while in the 1940s. They were built in 1926 although the Press at Coombelands was established in 1921 there was a delay due to the period of time it took to obtain an Housing Act subsidy. All the properties in Caxton Avenue, 7 of the properties on Coombelands Lane and 5 on Farm Lane were originally built for the print workers in 1926. George Jones writing in 1984 said that, "after 1957 when the Benn Brothers bought the business the Press went into final decline and was liquidated in about 1978", and in another letter that 12 years after the war "the business changed hands and the family of Jones were no longer connected with it". Hope this helps.
martynottaway@hotmail.com said…
My father - William Frederick Ottaway worked at Coombelands from near the time it opened (I think but maybe wrong) - 1927 - as an apprentice and then for all his working life - with the exception of the war years where he was drafted for essential war activity at the Vickers factory in Brooklands, he survived bombings there. He was in the Linotype department. As a small child I went with him on occasions to the noisy printing environment. There were 4 linotype / hot metal machines.

He met my mother there - she worked in the offices. They were married in 1942. My father continued to work there after the war and retired in 1978 (at 65). I remember (I think it was) Percival's wife whose flowery name I forget - begins with a 'B'. Just prior to his retirement the factory was closing and people were being made redundant. Though in some weeks he would have been retired in 2-3 months the union negotiated settlements - of 2 weeks pay etc for each year --- in stead of nothing he got £50,000 - a lot in 1978! The manager then was Mr Fisher - I remember him and I have a photo of him presenting my father with a B&W TV for 50 years service - I suppose 1977.... It was of course Benn Brothers at that time.

My father played cricket for Coombelands and ran in races on their sprts days!

He retired then at 65 but got another local job as a 'reader' - forget now the company

My brother was not sure of what to do on leaving school and my parents said apprenticeship -and in print would be good. However he could not get one at Coombelands - but did in Burrells - at Clay Corner --- we lived in Fordwater Road. My brother moved on when Burrells stopped to The Surrey Herald - and from there to Ian Allen. Of course that was in Coombelands --- what goes around some around. Times changed in Print. Origination was then being done by Mac computer - and my brother work at this for several printing companies - but it was not 'long term'. He retired 10 years ago now - and still lives in Addlestone.

Could say a lot more - martynottaway@hotmail.com 07972 918316

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