Some residents of Jacobs Well may be unaware of this residence which lies hidden in the woodland between the Woking Road and Burdenshott Road, only a hundred yards or so North of Willow Grange.

    Its history has two interesting features. In Census returns from 1841 to 1891 it was variously described as Whitmore, Whitmore Heath, Mount Pleasant, Whitmoor Common, Whitmore Cottage and Neweys Cottage. And, while it is judged to have been built around 1800, its title deeds were only created in 1904 when the family who had always occupied it wanted to sell it and had to make declarations of ownership.

    The earliest documents which mention the building are the Tithe Apportionment of 18th May 1838 (confirmed 22nd March 1841) and the accompanying Tithe map. The property is described as "Cottages and Garden" in a plot of 1 rood 35 poles (i.e. almost half an acre) with Joseph Newery (sic) as both Owner and Occupier of this single plot.

    The somewhat cursory entries in the census of 8th June 1841 include 3 households and one uninhabited building at Whitmore (sic). One family consists of Richard (60) and Ann (60) Newey while another comprises Joseph (50), Sarah (45) and Mary (15) Newey. Between the two Newey households are listed James and Mary Chuter and their four children, George, Emmer (sic), John and Mary. From the sequence of these entries together with some information in the following census it seems possible that all three families were sharing the cottage. (Note: in this census ages were given to the nearest 5 years and Joseph was actually 60 while Sarah was 37)

    In the 1851 census four households are recorded under Whitmore Heath (sic) and these returns are more explicit. Joseph Newey (70), is head of a family comprising his wife Sarah (47) and son Frederick (19), as well a lodger George Faulkner (29), his wife Mary (26) and their son Frederick (1). Since Mary Faulkner is 11 years older than Mary Newey was in 1841 we may perhaps reasonably assume that she married and her husband came to live in her parent's household. All three men were farm labourers.

    A second household comprises Mary Ann Newey (71) and her niece Mary Chuter (10). Mary's brother John Chuter (11) is in a third household, described as the son of Elizabeth Saunders . All three households are therefore related.

    From the documents included in the deeds of this building we learn that Frederick Newey married Jane Cook on 9th May 1857 and they had one child, a daughter Fanny. Her baptismal certificate, dated 30th May 1858, gives her parents as Frederick and Sarah so perhaps her mother had died (possibly in child-birth) and her grand-mother was nurturing her. This appears to be borne out by the census of 1861 which lists only two households (as Mount Pleasant). Four of the five adults worked in Paper Mills. Bowers Mill is said to have changed from a paper mill to a flour mill in the late 18th or early 19th century so perhaps they worked at Stoke Mill?

    In 1871 three households are described as Whitmore Cottage, one headed by Mary Faulkner (55) an "Annuitant" and including Frederick Newey and his daughter Fanny. To confuse the issue another household is listed under Mount Pleasant, Whitmore Common.

    Fanny Newey married Job Chalk in 1879 and they moved to Hurst Farm cottages (now Burpham Court House), while the 1881 census shows them living at Crabtree Cottage, Jacobs Well. In April 1891 her father's property was at last described in the census returns as "Neweys Cottages", somewhat ironically since her father died in December of the same year. She let her cousin remain in the cottages but when he died in 1892 she and her husband took possession. In 1904 she sold the cottages (described as "a four roomed cottage", in a declaration by William Burt as to ownership) to Percy Horton, an auctioneer from Godalming.

    Fanny's declaration stated "I have always understood and verily believe that my father the said Frederick Newey was born in the said cottage and lived there all his life." Wiiliam Burt's supporting declaration stated that "When I first knew the property it was occupied by Richard Newey.........(who)....had only one son namely Frederick Newey. (He) took possession of the said premises on the death of his father and continued to reside there until his death." While Frederick's marriage certificate states that his father was actually Joseph, Richard Newey may have been Joseph's elder brother, born around 1770.

    The D.B.R.G. (Surrey) describe the building as originally two semi-detached cottages, built around 1800, or soon after, so Richard Newey conceivably built the cottage to house his family. Further rooms, chimneys, a bread oven, etc were added later. Fanny Chalk's declaration of 1904 includes the statement that "the cottages have always been supplied with water from the spring" (shown on an attached plan) while a conveyance dated 7th May 1930 mentions an agreement between Fanny Chalk and the Earl of Onslow "relating to laying down and maintaining a pipe across the Common known as Whitmoor Common into the road leading to Guildford...". We do not know whether this was intended for mains water or sewage.

    From 1907 to 1927 Reginald C. Lampson, Esq was described in Kelly's Directories as residing at The Old Cottage but it seems that he was renting it, because he and his wife, Rose only purchased it in May 1930 when Percy Horton had moved to Cornwall.