How did the road get its name?
Binyon Close is named after Charles Arthur Binyon, OBE (1874-1963), who devoted his adult life to the welfare of Badsey. He was a founder member of Littleton & Badsey Growers, a member of the Parish Council for around 50 years (22 of them as Chairman), a Manager of Badsey School for over 60 years (Chairman for 30 years), a member of the Board of Guardians and represented Badsey on the Evesham District Council and a magistrate for 33 years. The area of land on which Binyon Close was built was the plot of land which he owned for many years; it was some of the best market garden land in the village. A plan of his land was drawn by schoolboy, Berwick Baylis, in 1933.
When did housing development begin?
A year or two after Charles Binyon’s death in 1963, the land was sold to Oswald Properties Ltd, enabling the site to be developed for housing. On 5th April 1967, the owners of Summerfield Cottage, Badsey Fields Lane, sold 1640 square yards of land at the rear of their property. A private development of 16 bungalows in a cul-de-sac (six detached and ten semi-detached) was built in the late 1960s. In 1985, five more detached bungalows (numbers 20, 21, 22, 23 & 24) were built at the northern end of the cul-de-sac.
Numbering system
The numbers are 1-24 with no number 13. The even numbers are on the east side and the odd numbers on the west side.
19th and early 20th century auctions
In 1812, at the time of the Badsey Enclosure Act, this plot of land was an old enclosure which belonged to Joseph Jones. It was called Sand Close and amounted to 3a 3r 22p. Joseph Jones sold this at some stage during the 19th century to siblings Sarah, William and Mary Byrd. The land passed by inheritance to their nephew, William Byrd (1841-1902). William Byrd got into financial difficulties and appeared in a debtors’ court in 1880; an Abstract of Title dated 1890 shows that William Smith, the Trustee, was entitled to all William Byrd’s land-holdings, and began to sell off the land. This field, together with land to the east, now comprised a field of 16a 1r 20p called Sands and Harper’s Close. It was sold off as garden land and continued to be used as such until the 1960s. Charles Binyon bought a piece of this land in 1916 from Jesse Knight, whose father had owned the land until his death the previous year.
