THE GRANGE
Learn the history
The Grange occupies a triangular piece of land on the west side of the park between the Wandle and London Road. It was not part of the Carew’s deer park and in the 18th century it seems to have been wet meadow land which was used for textile bleaching.
The area was acquired by Alfred Smee (1818-77) who was the surgeon to the Bank of England and had wide scientific interests. Smee developed this into an elaborate garden described in his book My Garden published in 1872.
HISTORY
Alfred Smee did not build a house on the site. This was left to his son Alfred Hutchison Smee who erected The Grange about 1880. He was the Chief Medical Officer and a director of Gresham Life Assurance as well as being a justice of the peace and a member of Surrey County Council. He passed to George Smee Odling.
BACKGROUND
He sold the house in 1908 and it was bought by an Indian princess Zuluka Langrana Cavalier who was a faith healer married to a Frenchman Monsieur F.H. Cavalier. In 1915 the house was bought by William James Mallinson, a timber merchant, who became a baronet when his father died in 1936.
PAST
In 1935 he sold The Grange to Beddington and Wallington Urban District Council for £57,500 and moved to Reigate. The Council turned the grounds into a park and used the house for wedding receptions, a clinic and a library. The house was destroyed by fire in January 1960. Rebuilt in the 70’s then rebuilt to how it stands today in the early 90’s to look like the original House.
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