How did the road get its name?
Road is so-called because of Wickhamford’s distant connections with the Washington family of America. 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 , 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?
In the 1960s, 13 houses were built on land which had once formed part of the Wickhamford Estate: two pairs of semi-detached bungalows, one pair of semi-detached chalet bungalows, a terrace of five houses, a detached bungalow and a detached house. A further development occurred in the 1970s on land to the north when 13 more houses were built: a terrace of three houses, a pair of semi-detached houses and four pairs of semi-detached bungalows.
Numbering system
The numbers are 1-28, with no numbers 25 or 27; the odd numbers are on the west side and the even numbers are on the east 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 15th September 1930 the land was put up for auction again, by the trustees of the late Captain Lord. Now, over sixty years since the former sale, the land was sold off in small parcels rather than as one vast estate. Not all of the parcels of land were sold; that which was remaining was sold in 1950 to Christ Church, which paved the way for housing development.
