Glanfield Road

[ianl]

Does anyone have any information on the building of Beckenham? My house is in Glanfield Road and I believe it was built in 1929. I also understand that it is called Glanfield Road after the architects Riley & Glanfield. But I do not know who the developers were or original prices or other interesting information. Can anyone help?

[chrisdoran]

An application for "New Roads -- Eden Park Estate" was approved by the Beckenham Planning Committee on 10th June 1929 (1929/30 Council Minutes p110). The applicant and specific area are not given, but subsequent minutes mention Riley & Glanfield of the Eden Park Estate Co, in particular, approval of road names, including Glanfield, on 13th January 1930 (ibid. p546).

The 5th June 1959 issue of the Beckenham Journal, in one of a series of articles on roads and their names in issues throughout that year says the road was named after a field, but I think that can be dismissed as conjecture, as I cannot see a field of that name on 18th century maps.

Pat Manning's recent book "The Road Names of Beckenham Tell Their Tales" agrees that it was named after Riley & Glanfield.

Beckenham Journal issues in the first few months of 1930 contain an advert by estate agents J W Saunders of 307 Beckenham Road for houses "now building" on the "Oak Field Mansion Estate" which may, or may not include Glanfield, as it says they're "2 minutes from Eden Park Station" (but this is estate-agent-speak . The advert has a sketch that looks like the Glanfield Road houses and begins: "Intending house purchasers should view the above houses for quality. These are shut out from all inferior houses..." No price is given.