How did the road get its name?
Penelope Gardens is named after Penelope Washington who was a distant relative of George Washington, first President of the USA. Penelope (c1643-1697) came with her mother, Elizabeth, to live at Wickhamford Manor in the 1680s, following her mother’s second marriage to Samuel Sandys. She was the daughter of Colonel Henry Washington, who had fought at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
Penelope died at Wickhamford in 1697. There is a floor slab monument to Penelope in the chancel of St John the Baptist Church, Wickhamford. The Washington Arms are a prototype for the Stars and Stripes of the USA (Penelope’s father, Henry Washington, was first cousin of John Washington who emigrated to America in 1657; John’s great-grandson was George Washington – thus making him Penelope’s second-cousin-twice-removed).
When did housing development begin?
Penelope Gardens is a private housing development of just six detached houses off Manor Road, built in about the 1990s.
Numbering system
Odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9 are on the north side; even number 2 is on the south side.
19th and early 20th century auctions
The land on which Washington Road is situated was once part of the Elms Farm on the Wickhamford estate which had been owned by the Sandys family for several centuries. The estate was sold at auction on 10th July 1869 and bought by Captain John Pickup Lord, a Lancastrian landowner who had recently bought a large amount of land in Badsey.
On 19th September 1919, George Lees-Milne of Wickhamford Manor bought 66½ acres of land in Wickhamford from the trustees of Captain Lord. One of the pieces of land was pasture land called Town Leasow. This was sold at some point in the latter half of the 20th century following the death of George Lees-Milne.
