No.117 High Street
Alton House
House History
Alton House - |
|
1997 - |
Lushington House, Lushington House Stables, Clifton House and Alton House
owned by |
1986 |
Taylors, solicitors - Alton House - Domesday Survey |
1974 |
Alton House surgery moved to the Rookery |
June 1972 |
Dr. Gilbert Clement Gray died |
1971 |
Dr. Norman Gray died |
12th June 1953 |
Alton House |
16th January 1943 |
Dr. Clement Frederick Gray died |
1936 |
Alton House - Gray, Dr. Norman - Nkt.8 |
31st Dec 1930 |
Partnership with Harold James Hendley dissolved |
1926 |
Alton House - Nkt.8 - |
1925 |
Gray, Norman, Alton House, High Street |
March 1924 |
Plans for Alton House submitted |
Notes
-
Up until about 1911 the family of the Doctors Gray - Frederick Clement Gray
(who died in 1888), son Clement Frederick Gray and grandsons Norman Gray
and Gilbert Clement Gray had all lived at Lushington
House - No.119 High Street.
- Alton House was built in 1924 for Dr. Norman Gray, it was allegedly the first
purpose built GP surgery in the country.
-
By 1925 Gilbert Clement Gray had moved into Grasmere - No.13 The
Avenue (for more details about Grasmere see the page for 'The
Glen' - the house that used to stand where the Avenue is now) .
Grasmere - No.13 The Avenue - Just prior to this, details from the 1916 Kelly's Directory show the family were
located as follows:-
- Gray & Sons, surgeons, Lushington House, High Street
Gray, Clement Frederick, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.S.A. surgeon, Lushington House
Gray, Gilbert Clement, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P. Lond. surgeon, Brackley House
Gray, Norman, M.A., M.B., B.C.Camb., M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P. Lond. surgeon, Brackley House
- Gray & Sons, surgeons, Lushington House, High Street
- Norman Gray's first wife; Catherine Mary (nee Ogden), died in 1917 while
they were living at Brackley House:-
Brackley House is located at the end of Rous Road near Old Station Road - now known as just No.46 Rous Road.
In the 1891 census the famous jockey Frederick Webb lived in Brackley House. He won the 1873 Derby on 'Doncaster' - retiring from riding in 1895 he took up training for patrons such as Lord Shrewsbury and the Victorian socialite Lillie Langtry, training a string of 20 horses for her at Etheldreda House, Exning (now Brickfield Stud).
Brackley House - No.46 Rous Road
Jockey Frederick (Fred) Webb -
Moving in after Fred Webb, between about 1897 and
1906 another doctor, Dr. John Hamly Maund lived in Brackley
House, making the Gray's not the first doctors to have lived there.
Dr. Maund subsequently moved to Grosvenor House in the High Street and then later to Heath Cottage, Bury Road (located at what is now the rear entrance into Majestic Wine Warehouses Ltd.).
Heath Cottage c.1960's
Heath Cottage 2009 - Following on from Dr. Maund, sometime before 1911 and before the
Grays moved in, Brackley House was occupied by the photographer Frank Griggs - who's shop was
later located where the present Post Office is - further details about him
can be found here No.103 High
Street. Frank seems to have had quite a strong association with the
medical practitioners in Newmarket for reasons not yet known.
Alton House Surgery - gateway to the dispensary
[Note from webmaster - familial memory seems to recall that the
passage-way in the above photo was the way-in to the dispensary, also the room
where you left samples for the 'Path Lab'. One notable difference in
the way medicines were dispensed in those days is that the memory of
the dispensary is rows of brown bottles on the shelves just inside the
door, each with the patient's name on them, ready for collection - not
something that could be done these days!]
- Gray's Alton House practice eventually evolved into the present-day Rookery Medical
Centre, moving there in 1974.
For further details on the history behind The Rookery Medical Centre see:-
http://www.rookerymedicalcentre.co.uk/pdfs/History_Poster.pdf
-
Building Changes
- Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds Branch
Newmarket Urban District Council Records
Reference EF 506 -
House, The Terrace, High St, for Dr C.F. Gray (L.E. Cole) EF 506/6/1/19/666 Mar 1924
- Many thanks to 'Old
Newmarket' for the photos 'The Terrace lower-part c. 1930s', 'The Terrace lower-part
c.1900'
and 'The Terrace middle-part c. 1900'.
In the two earlier 1900 photos the location of Alton House is just a tall brick wall fronted by a row of trees. The 1930s photo shows the recently built House, still with a row of now heavily pruned trees - its not known when these trees were removed, but numerous comments about these photos on 'Old Newmarket' on Facebook suggest that the area would look much better with them.
- Many thanks to Roger Newman for the 'Simpson's Series' postcard
'The Terrace lower c. 1920'.
- Many thanks to Dr Paul Saban for help with information regarding
the medical history of Newmarket.