Tennis Court to Hambe Close

Photo of tennis court building taken later when used by Austen Hoy (Click to enlarge)

Research by Joan West to 1946, continued by Miles Marshall. Also a report by Winnie Wood (Mrs Stan Rixon) and a letter from Liz Lewin of Hambe Close in 2021

THE INDOOR TENNIS COURT  was a unique building to find in a small rural village

THE SITE. The land upon which the Reverend William Robson’s indoor tennis court was built had been allotted in the Enclosures of Princes Risborough in 1823 to Joseph Floyd.   It was already an old freehold enclosure

NOT ON A PUBLIC COMMON. Later the word got around that it had been built on Lacey Green Common.   This was definitely not so.   Lacey Green never had a Common.   There had been a common not far from this site, but it belonged to the parish of Princes Risborough not Lacey Green.   In 1823 the part of the Common not far from this site was allotted to Lord George Henry Cavendish and became farmland.

31^st December 1901.   Conveyance. The Reverend William Robson purchased from Mary Grace, an orchard, previously part of the land belonging to Joseph Floyd.

INDOOR TENNIS COURT. William Robson cleared the land and erected an indoor tennis court, for the personal use of him and his wife.   Measuring 35.5 metres by 61 metres, it was constructed in brick with skylights in the roof.   The wooden floor was ‘sprung’ made of narrow boards to a very high standard and painted green with a special non-slip surface.   Due to their poor health it became unused and fell into disrepair.

HAROLD CARTER had purchased ‘Grymsdyke’ in 1922, the same year that William Robson retired to Cheltenham.   The Tennis Court was purchased from William Robson by Harold Carter.

The Carters lavishly restored the tennis court. They entertained the current Wimbledon stars, many playing on the court.

CONVERTED in WW2

During WW2 Harold Carter transferred his business, Carters Merchants Ltd, an import and export company, from the City of London to the tennis court in Lacey Green.

REPORT by WINNIE WOOD, later Mrs STAN RIXON                                                                                                                                                    My sister had worked for Carters Merchants Ltd, in the City of London, an import and export company.   The Carter family had bought Grymsdyke House in 1922. They also owned the indoor tennis court built by ex-vicar William Robson in Church Lane.   Mr Carter, the chairman of the company, decided to transfer the business to Lacey Green for the duration of the war.   He converted the tennis court into staff accommodation and offices.

Dormitories either end for single men and single women, and offices in the middle, also a kitchen and dining room.  It was the end of the building’s prestigious life as a tennis court.

JOB ACCEPTED. Phyllis Adams also worked there and when I came to visit my sister, accommodation was found for me with Phyllis`s parents, Fred and Minnie Adams, who was a very friendly person and made me very welcome.  I stayed there several weeks.   At this time it was difficult for companies to get staff and I was offered a job with Carters.   I decided to accept, never thinking that I would still be in Bucks 70 years later.

A FALSE CEILING. As you can imagine the tennis court had a very high roof.   The source of heat was mainly electric and paraffin oil heaters so most of that rose and went out through the roof.   A false ceiling was eventually put in and things improved a great deal.

OTHER ACCOMODATION. The few married couples rented houses in the village or rooms in peoples’ houses and the rest of us shared a cottage at the end of the drive.   Every room was a bedroom and we still had our food cooked in the tennis court kitchen.  Being the junior I was allocated the last room left which was originally a walk-in pantry, just room for a camp bed and it was quite damp.   One of the older girls left soon after and I was able to share a room with my sister

1939 CENSUS

The Tennis Court, c/o H E Carter, 26 employees

Garden Cottage 2, later 5 employees.   (This was not Court Cottage)

MILES MARSHALL TAKES UP THE STORY

PRE WW2 TENNIS

Eric Boorman, whose father Charles Boorman was Head Gardener to Carter at Grymsdyke and lived in the gardener’s cottage, remembers the court well as a splendid place to play tennis.   It was very well appointed with both ladies’ and gentlemen’s washing and changing facilities, but had a tiresome echo.   He was allowed to play himself when the family were not using the court.   Mrs Church, who until her marriage lived with her parents, the Brown’s, at The Crown, clearly remembers this echo which could be heard inside the Inn.   She has helped me with much detail in this story… The Carters often held tennis parties and would entertain the current Wimbledon stars such as Hellen Jacobs.

WORLD WAR 2

It was of course the last war that put a stop to all the tennis when Mr Carter evacuated his staff from the City of London to Lacey Green.    He built an air raid shelter for the staff near Court Cottage.   Mrs Winnie Rixon, wife of Stan Rixon, writes about working there very clearly (see above).

TELEGRAM DELIVERY

It was some time before Mr Carter could get the telephone laid on to the Court and old Mr Ridgley, the Post Master from Speen, with his long white beard, could be seen daily walking to Lacey Green with the firm’s telegrams.

AUSTIN HOY’S £50 REWARD

After the war Carters Merchants returned to the City and once again the Court fell silent.

JOHN’s THE BAKERS

The old Tennis Court was purchased by John’s the bakers in High Wycombe, but still lay vacant.

PREMISES WANTED.   £50 REWARD

Austin Hoy Ltd, a Canadian mining company, seeking a small factory in Buckinghamshire, advertised a reward of £50 to anyone who could put them on to a suitable premises.   A Wycombe butcher claimed the reward for suggesting the Lacey Green Covered Tennis Court.

AUSTIN HOY’S ENGINEERING BUSINESS

Austin Hoy had urgent Government contracts to make coal – cutting ‘jibs, chains and sprockets’ for the mines.   It was a time when Britain was striving for economic recovery and coal was a number one priority.

STAFF

Mr W. A. Syme, now in 1986, a sprightly 84 year old, living in Princes Risborough, was employed to lay out the works, install the machinery and engage the staff.   He told me that he went from house to house in the village and took on many well - known local men.   A large canteen was built for the staff. When Austin Hoy’s business outgrew the Tennis Court they moved to Saunderton where they are now under the Anderson Strathclyde banner.

GYPROC of ROCHESTER

The old ‘Court’ was next taken over by Gyproc, manufacturers of plasterboard, though it was only their Contracts Department that came to Lacey Green, supplying and erecting partitions and suspended ceilings, so only stores and offices came here.

MEETING MICHAEL KNOTT

By a curious coincidence it was my daughter-in-law, at TRADA in Naphill, who put me in touch with Michael Knott, then working at Gyproc, who I later discovered to have been the first editor of Hallmark.

PALMER & HARVEY

In 1965 Gyproc sold to J. K. Taylors of High Wycombe, a much respected manufacturer of old fashioned boiled sweets.   Several members of the Taylor family had been Mayors of Wycombe in their time.   Like many businesses it became part of a much larger concern, Palmer and Harvey Ltd, whose speeding red vans are a daily reminder of the industrial heart of our once rural village.

Research Note

The building was used as a distribution centre and provided welcome employment, particularly for women with children, who could work flexible hours to fit in with their family life.

THE ROAD to PLANNING PERMISSION   research by Joan West click Palmer and Harvey site for details of this

The Planning application for the Palmer and Harvey site was fraught with village comment, as Hallmark was to bear witness.

Tennis Court to Hambe Close
Construction Era	1823 Enclosures Record, 1900-1949
Type of Property	Land
Use of Property
Locations	Lacey Green