Monument MPM1904 - East Court, Cosham

Site of East Court mansion house built c1835 and demolished post-1952. Activitiy is recorded on the site from the mid-1600s. The house appears to have been built on the site of a 17th century messuage/dwelling house and early-19th century buildings.

The East Court site was an area of land situated off the north eastern side of Court Lane, Cosham. There appears to have been activity on the site from at least the mid-1600s, which is recorded in a collection of deeds and papers held by the City Archive. The name East Court appears to have been used in connection with a mansion house erected on the site c1835, and does not appear in earlier documents. East Court house, its outbuildings and grounds occupied the site from the mid-19th century until the area was redeveloped for housing during the post-war period.

17th and early-18th century documents refer to a messuage or dwelling house on the site, which burnt down during the 1740s. This was replaced by new buildings constructed during the early-19th century mentioned in a lease of 1825. These buildings are marked on the 1810 Ordnance Survey map and 1815 Wymering and Widley Enclosure Award.

A mansion house known as East Court was built between 1825 and 1835. The house had a number of outbuildings to the north and south. These included stables, and a lodge located approximately 50m to the northwest beside the main entrance from Havant Road. By the 20th century the estate also included land and a cottage on the west side of Court Lane.

The 1870 Ordnance Survey map marks the site as 'Eastcourt Farm'. The only other reference to a farm appears to be an advert in the Hampshire Telegraph for the sale of farming stock at East Court Farm published 23rd October 1847.

A sale catalogue of 1922 describes the house as 'Picturesque and creeper clad, standing in well timber Grounds, with Stabling, Orchard, Two Kitchen Gardens, full size Tennis and Croquet Lawns, and Two Sound Meadows of Old Pasture, the whole comprising an area of about 12 stature acres.' The house was approached via a 'Long Carriage Drive with Lodge of Four Rooms at entrance gates'.

East Court house was demolished at some point after 1952 and the site was redeveloped for housing.

Ordnance Survey, 1810, Ordnance Survey Map 1810 (Map). SPM506.

1815, Wymering and Widley Enlosure Award (Cartographic materials). SPM504.

Macey, J, 2018, East Court, Cosham (Unpublished document). SPM515.