WOKING'S HERITAGE IN DETAIL
The Hockering
The Hockering Estate was originally laid out by the Smallpiece family who lived at Aldridge House in Pembroke Road (later the St Mary’s Providence Convent), now the site of Pembroke Gardens. The family apparently originated in the 17th century from a small village in Norfolk by the name of Hockering, not far from Norwich.
George Smallpiece was a prominent local businessman, an estate agent as well as director of the Woking Gas Company and a member of the local School Board and parish Vestry The family also owned land in the Kingfield area and had been farmers in Woking for many years.
It was the Smallpiece family who laid out the first part of Hockering Road in 1904-05, but realising that they needed the skills of a ‘Master Builder’ they contacted Mr W.G. Tarrant, the well known builder of Byfleet, with a view to developing the estate with him. Negotiations began in 1909, but in 1910 Tarrant bought the neighbouring ‘Roundhill’ estate from the Earl and Dowager Countess of Lovelace and in 1911 the Smallpiece family agreed to sell him The Hockering - so enabling him so develop the two tracts of land together.
In all the estate covered 130 acres, with 107 plots originally being laid out - none of less than half-an-acre in size. The low density was one of the stipulations of the Lovelace’s, who also insisted on various other covenants restricting the use of the land. Tarrant didn’t build all the houses on the estate (only twenty were Tarrant built), but he was careful to keep his control over the area. He was a very astute businessman, retaining the road verges, wastes and footpaths for himself and only granting access to residents on payment of a special rate!
Tarrant’s special rate was set at 6d in the £ on the rateable value of the property and was originally to enable the roads on the estate to be ‘made-up’ and transferred to the local council. However in 1913 the residents decided to try to keep the estate private and on the 8th November 1913 The Hockering Residents Committee was formed. In 1914 Tarrant apparently promised to erect gates at the entrances to the estate. These were finally installed in 1925.
The Committee not only arranged for the estate to be ‘gated’, but also saw that the roads were made up and lit. At first they asked the local council to take over the lighting of the estate, but eventually they decided to maintain them themselves. It was not until 1947 that the council agreed to take on the estates lighting, although even then the residents insisted that the quaint wooden lampstands were retained!
The 6d ‘special rate’ originally paid for a full-time ‘road man’, who in 1920 was paid the equivalent of £2.25 a week, but as the costs increased (whilst the rate remained the same), his services were eventually dispensed with. Even in the 1980s the rate had only increased to 5p in the £, although with more properties and higher rateable values the income in 1980 was estimated at about £3,000 p.a.
By then there was pressure from some house owners to convert their properties into non-residential use. In 1947 the owners of Combe End, and in 1958 Trevarno, applied to convert their properties into private schools - both were unsuccessful (thanks mainly to the Lovelace covenants).
In January 1990 the estate was designated a Conservation Area, with a blanket Tree Preservation Order already being imposed on the estate.
