OPIC (1930's) houses

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Blackmole 1995
The new Vicarage

[PICTURE GALLERY]

The estate was acquired by Joseph Wyatt in 1932 but he immediately sold much of it to the Ottershaw Park Investment Company (OPIC) who had plans to develop the rim of the estate along the Guildford and Chobham Roads and the central part into a "St Georges Hill" type of estate. They employed a speculative builder from Harrow, Mr. H. Pickrill, to build six show houses along the Guildford Road. The first to be build was Hillcrest which was occupied by 1936. Further South, Bramshill was probably built later and was first occupied in 1939. Four other houses were completed in 1937 just North of the Woking Lodge entrance to Ottershaw Park. From North to South these were Ballater, Heron's Hill (originally called Beechcroft), Lingmell and Woodlode. Only Woodlode and Beechcroft were sold before the war started. Occupants recall that the houses were built using unseasoned wood from the estate and were not well constructed.

Mr Pickrill also built the new vicarage here in 1935 and Blackmole in 1935-36 (??for a Mr Davidson). During WWII Blackmole was occupied by Mr & Mrs Arthur Pope.

OPIC commissioned S.P.B. Mais to write a booklet to advertise the estate but sales of the first houses built did not reach expectations and the project failed. The road which now leads to The Wey Farm was to have been the main entrance to the proposed estate.

Bramshill was requisitioned during World War II. The house was demolished in 2001 and replaced by a larger dwelling called Bramshill Manor.