In May 2015, PVA was contacted by the Pains family who, until 1995, lived at 17 Sixty Acres.
During that time a house diagonally opposite was demolished to make way for two new homes.
They rescued the foundation stone from the demolition rubble which reads “This land was given for the nurse’s home in memory of Allan Cameron Gardner of The Chestnuts Prestwood 1935”
PVA put up a news item on 2 May 2015 asking for information on the history of the Nurse’s Home and who Allan Cameron Gardner was and the following feedback was received:
- Lance Free – I didn’t know Mr Gardner but knew Aggie Gardner who lived at the Chestnuts. Think she could have been a daughter of the original family. Got caught once scrumping apples in her garden and she herded us all inside the house but we ran off when she was not looking
- Jacque Free -The original nurse’s house was used for the district nurse and she also had a little Ford Popular car. I don’t know the name of the first nurse but when our children were born it was Sister Coulson who attended the births at our house. A wonderful lady. She eventually retired and moved away but the houses in Coulson Court off Nairdwood Lane were named after her.
- Pat – When we first came to Prestwood in 1969 the local midwife was Sister Coulson. She lived on Sixty Acres. This is all I know, but there must be others of my generation and older who might remember more.
- Patrick Wixon– I remember a Mrs Gardner living at the Chestnuts. Some of us local lads used to “help” her tidy up in the garden about 65 years ago. She claimed that there was a hidey-hole in the house that was used by one side or the other during the Civil War, but I have never been able to corroborate this story. The district nurse’s house was in Sixty Acres Road, but I do not remember reading the foundation stone, or being aware of the connection with the Gardners.
- Tony Marshall– Quite a mystery! I can only offer frugal information. Allan Cameron Gardner lived at Chestnuts in 1901 with his wife, no children, and two servants. He was a man of leisure with a private income. He was born at Portsea, Hampshire 1868 and went to a small private school there. He married in London in 1899 and then came to live in Prestwood. By 1911, however, he was living at Rochford, Essex. Then the trail goes cold. An “Allan Gardner” died during WWI in 1916, but this may not be the same person. Your memorial stone is dated 1935. Perhaps the family continued to own Chestnuts after they went to live elsewhere. Hopefully someone will have local memories going back to about that time, either of the family at Chestnuts or the “Nurse’s home”.
PVA has kept the foundation stone safely since 2015 and feels that it should be given pride of place somewhere in the public arena in Prestwood. If you’re interested in owning it on behalf of the village please contact us. The PVA team envisages passing the foundation stone over in exchange for a donation to a charity of the purchaser’s own choice. Silent auction to the highest bidder please? If you’re interested please contact info@prestwoodva.org.uk
From property documents in my possession I can confirm that Alan Gardner purchased ‘The Chestnuts’ in 1897 (for £2,100 !) and lived there with his wife, Agnes.
Alan died at sea in October 1934 and Agnes continued to live at ‘The Chestnuts’, since named ‘Chestnut Farm’, until her death in May 1951.
I think it was Nurse Fincham before Sister Coulson.