Pitchers Hill, Wickhamford

How did the road get its name?

Pitchers Hill is named after the ancient field name, Pitchers Hill, which was part of Pitchers Hill Farm (now known as Wickham Farm). Further information may be found in the article, Pitchers Hill - over a thousand years of history.

When did housing development begin?

With the exception of The Sandys Arms, which was built in the 1820s, and the old farmhouse at Whitfurrows Farm, housing development did not start along Pitchers Hill until the last decade of the 19th century.  Two pairs of semi-detached houses and two detached houses were built in about 1896.  In the first decade of the 20th century, a further four pairs of semi-detached houses and two detached houses were built.

Numbering system

The numbers are 1-103 on the north side (with No 41A as infill) and 2-52 on the south side (with Nos 16A, 18A, 28A, 34A, 36A & 42A built as infill).  Until the current numbering system was adopted in the 1950s, the pre-WW1 houses were known as Wickhamford 3-21.  The council houses which were built between the wars on the north side of the road (Nos 1-39 and Nos 53-67) were known as Council Houses 1-26.

19th and early 20th century auctions

Land to the north of Pitchers Hill was once part of the Elms Farm and land to the south was once part of Pitchers Hill Farm, two of four farms 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.

Captain Lord died in 1877.  In the years following his death, his trustees began to sell off some of his land in smaller parcels.  On 15th September 1930 the land to the north of the road was put up for auction; the land to the south had already been sold.