Celebrating 50 years of dental care

21 February 2012

The History of East End Lodge

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, East Street was the rich residential area of Havant. Built on higher ground and therefore safe from flooding, houses were large and very grand. A few still remain, but most have been divided into smaller apartments and flats, or turned into commercial properties such as shops and dentists.

Havant, circa 1910

Most of Havant Town is a conservation area, and many archaeological artefacts have been discovered here. Mesolithic flints, Neolithic instruments and the remains of ancient dwelling all indicate Havant has been inhabited for thousands of years. It is thought that the ideal location, combined with the excellent source of water from the spring, attracted the Romans to the area.

East End Lodge’s building was originally built in 1898 for Lady Jessie Brickwood, who was born in 1864 and was the second wife of John Brickwood, whom she married on 30^th September, 1893. Together with his brother Arthur, John had inherited his father’s Brewery business, Brickwoods of Portsmouth in 1874, which grew to become one of the largest brewery businesses in the area.

In the 1940’s, the house was converted into a single-handed dental surgery, and would later on become a family home to Dr. Peter Cole in 1962, and was renamed East End Lodge. Eventually, the family moved out and the house was converted into a larger dental practice. Today, East End Lodge has five surgeries and over twelve staff running the practice.

 Close by to East End Lodge, you can walk along the `Billy Line’ which was once a railway opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway for goods in 1865, and for passengers in 1867. It ran from Havant to Hayling Island station. The line was taken over by the Southern Railway in 1923 and by British Railways in 1948. The final train to run from Hayling Island was in 1963.

Today, the East End Lodge building looks just as impressive and majestic as it did over 100 years ago. If you look closely on the window seals, you can still see faint traces of brown staining. These are the visible remains of iron particles from the time trains used to pass by the building. Where the tracks once stood on the Havant side of the line, this has since been transformed into a public footpath. This enables people to walk from Havant station all the way to where the bridge and level crossing were once located, by Langstone station.