Tom Gilbert

(4th May 1929 – 9th December 2019)

Trustee, Copthorne Residents Society

memories of Copthorne Road

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In 1969/1970 there was not yet an M25, Scots Hill was single carriageway and when lorries got stuck on the steep bit, the heavy traffic from the South West making for the M1 North came up Copthorne Road. That was until the Society formed, for this purpose and got permission from Caius Cambridge and Highways to close the road at the bottom.

But we still manned work parties most Saturdays to fill in the worst of the pot holes in what was an unmade road, until 1979 when we first got Tav Macadam to surface it.

When the council stopped lighting the gas lamps we eventually took them down - again work parties mustered also to clear drains and we trimmed the Copthorne House yew hedge back to expose the tarmac footpath.  We didn’t need to resurface the road again until 2006. Meanwhile we had acquired ownership of the road and verges in 1980/81 from Caius and of course Chess Vale Rise in 2008 from Mrs Toller. She owned a significant part of it and wanted the society to have it and protect it from undesirable development. 

I do have memories of involvement in all these activities.  The gating of drives has all happened since the 1970’s. The membership successfully resisted replacing the street lighting, adoption of the road by the Council, speed bumps and stopped proposed undesirable development latterly in the knowledge that as a last resort we all have covenants in our deeds with which we can fight in court.   It took protracted legal work to make this a realistic weapon.

Mostly one remembers the many people from all parts of the road, many alas no longer here, who became good friends too many to mention here by name.

In the old days a few ladies volunteered to prepare hot food for the AGM.  Instead we are now often treated to interesting talks and/or slide shows.

 

Additional Residents memories:

In the late 1950’s there were gas lights in the road and a man would come and turn them on in the evening and off in the morning. The gas lights were removed when the road got natural gas in 1967, the road had a vote about having electric lights at that point and the vote was "no".

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Most of the women in the road didn't work and would get around by foot or by bicycle so it was a lot more sociable and everyone knew everyone else.

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Scots Bridge Hill was at that time a single carriage way in each direction and buses and lorries regularly got stuck on the hill causing traffic jams and when this happened Copthorne Road was used as a cut through, which made it a very busy road at times.

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One of the ladies on the road recalls losing a lot of cats because it was so busy. Another recalls all her china in the cabinet rattling when buses passed and the passengers on the upper deck looking into the dining room where she would be sitting having tea.

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The road was made up in the 1960s.

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In 1955 the lower end of Copthorne Road, where new houses are now and windmill estate area is, was farmland and was grazed by friesian cows and free-range chickens.

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One resident recalls she would ring the butcher in New Road in the morning and ordering a couple of lamb chops for lunch that day. The chops would be delivered by the delivery boy who would come straight into the kitchen and leave them on the kitchen table when she was upstairs making the beds.

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Copthorne Residents society AGM used to be a grand affair. There was a proper sit-down meal with hot food and a large number of people were involved in helping.  Almost all of the road would attend. Barbara Owen would organise the teams of ladies who cooked for these events.