East & West Molesey

A Dictionary of Local History

Rowland G. M. Baker, 1972

THE GRANGE (WM)

A large Georgian house, probably built for Sir Richard Sutton, M.P., Under Secretary of State in Pitt's government, who bought up several pieces of land around 1772. The estate of some 15 acres extended from Walton Road to Beauchamp Road on either side of the present Grange Road. The house was originally called Elm Lodge but in 1843 bought by a barrister named Edmund Lionel Wells who renamed it The Grange. In 1903 the estate was purchased by the building firm of A. & F. Jury of Tooting who commenced building in Walton Road, Priory Lane (then known as Back Lane), and in a new road which they made and called Grange Road. The development was halted by the First World War. In 1928 five plots totalling some three acres were transferred to the Molesey Urban District Council for the erection of municipal housing. The old house itself was turned into flats, and a large ornamental lake which stood by its side and which covered about an acre was filled in. At the end of the Second World War the rest of the estate was bought by the council. The old house was demolished and the process of development continued. The site of the house is now occupied by Brende Gardens.