Page 75 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

Land was cheap, and the many hundreds of acres of former farm land in Sidcup were
eagerly snapped up by the big building firms, especially Ideal Homes Ltd. who built over
10,000 houses, expanding Sidcup to many times its previous size. This brought hundreds
of newcomers into the district, many from south London, and the local people did not
altogether welcome them.

In Foots Cray and North Cray very little changed, except that it was generally considered
that Sidcup was now the principle town and their little corner of Kent was mostly
undeveloped and largely forgotten. The extensive watercress beds were gradually
abandoned and houses built in their place.

In 1937 a herd of Jersey cows grazed on land formerly part of the grounds of Twysdens in
Cray Road, but by 1940 the land was derelict. The many nursery gardens that had been
established since the First World War suffered extensive damage from bombing raids and
after the Second World War it was more profitable to sell-up to house builders.

Most of the big houses still survived.

North Cray Place - Capt. Robert Arnold Vansittart, born 1851, formerly lived at Foots
Cray Place. He was attached to the Lanarkshire Yeomanry until 1886 and then served with
the 7th Dragoon Guards in the Boer War. He had three sons and three daughters. Capt.
Vansittart died 1938. He used to organise boxing tournaments and cricket matches in
Stable Meadow, including matches between coachmen and gardeners. Practically anyone
from a garden boy to a colonel was invited and there would be a marquee for tea. Capt.
Vansittart's son, Robert Gilbert, made a name for himself in politics and the arts.

Robert Gilbert Vansittart (born 1881) was a senior British diplomat involved in intelligence
work before and during WW2. He was private secretary to the Prime Minister
Baldwin/Ramsay MacDonald) from 1928-1930. A fierce opponent of appeasement, he took a
hard-line stance towards Germany during and after the war. He was also a published poet,
novelist and playwright and a friend of Sir Alexander Korda, producer of London Films. He
died in 1957.

Foots Cray Place - In the late 1890's, the magnificent mansion of Foots Cray Place and
most of its original land was acquired by Samuel J. Waring Chairman of the firm Waring
and Gillow Ltd and a pioneer of household furnishing and decoration. Lord Waring was a
supporter of the scout movement and County Commissioner of Kent and he arranged
gatherings at Foots Cray Place one of which was attended by Lord Baden Powell.

(During WW2 the house and estate became HMS Worcester, a Naval Training
Establishment, and to prevent enemy bombers from being guided by moonlight reflecting
on the water, the canal was filled in).

Mount Mascal was still occupied by the Vesey Holt family. In 1934 Martin Drummond
Vesey Holt was re-elected unopposed as a Councillor for North Cray Ward. In his youth he
had been a fencing champion and represented England at the Olympic Games. Upon the
outbreak of WW2, Mount Mascal was requisitioned by the War Department.

Mrs. Adelaide North, widow of Captain North who was killed in 1918 just months before the
end of the First World War, still lived at Vale Mascal with two of her sons - John and
Richard.

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