a drawing of Encombe

"I cannot give any explanation of the name Encombe but I feel sure that in this case it had no reference to Lord Eldon's seat in Dorsetshire" (Lord Eldon was Viscount Encombe).  Letters dated September 1872

So there we have the choosing of the name, and no reason why it was chosen. The Miss Dawkins who wrote the letters was probably either Juliana Harriot or August Ann, as these two ladies are known to have retired to Sion Lodge.

Before 1812 the only building in the Encombe area was a washerwoman's cottage. In November 1821 Henry Dawkins, a Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, leased from the Crown about four acres known as Boy Hill on the Hyth-Dover road. This was to form the southern part of the estate. In January 1822 he bought the land lying behind extending almost to the cliff top for £900. These two areas make up the main part of the present estate. The deed of January 1822 shows what must be the washerwoman's cottage.

The house was completed before 1828 when it appears in John Adams' map of the Parish of Cheriton. It was built by Henry Ayres, carpenter and Wm Hall, bricklayer both of whom appear in Pigot's Directory of Sadgate for 1823/24. In 1845 the Rates on Encombe were £2.10/- per annum. In 1872 Dawkins' daughter wrote that she did not know why her father chose the name 'Encombe' and that it had no reference to Lord Elden's seat in Dorsetshire. Lord Eldon was Viscount Encombe.

Henry Dawkins, of the family of Dawkins of Over Norton, had 7 brothers and 4 sisters, 7 sons and 4 daughters, and 4 of his sons were in the army. Jenry married Augusta Clinton, daughter of Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, c.in c.  Land Forces, America and sister of Generals Williams Henry and Henry Cllinton. With Shorncliffe Camp above there must have been some sparkling parties. Henry Dawkins died at Encombe on 2nd November, 1852 at the age of 88. Encombe was sold for £7900.

About 1845 the land to the east on which the Undercliff houses were to be built was carefully drained under the advice of Samaul Morton Peto one of the greatest of Railway Contractors who had a major contract on the South Eastern Railway in 1844. circular brick culverts being congstructed. One of these can still be seen. An Indenture dates 14.8.1847 in Folkestone Reference Library relates that the water collected by these drains was in 1845 led down into Sandgate to feed a poped watr supply to a number of houses. The collecting tank mentioned in the Indenture can still be seen in the bank on the North side of the Undercliff road due north of No. 21, The Crescent (Grid Ref TR 2032 3526. End of Culvert about 20 m west inside gate below south side of road south of houses).

In 1862 Morris bought No. 1 The Undercliff and by 1872 the Ordnance Survey map shows No. 1 gone and a road constructed lining the Encombe carriage way with the west end of the Undercliff which Morris, as the owner of No. 2 had the right to use, No.1. may have been suffering from earth movement and Norris may have got it at a a low price. It had not been built more than a bare twenty year. He had a good reason for wanting this second approach for the southern part of Encombe, The Boy Hill area, was held subject to a proviso that the Army could at any time buy it back for £1000 and that would have left Encombe with no dignified means of access. This proviso was not discharged until 1883 after the 1882 attempt to sell had failed and before the successful 1883 sale. Morris laid out a rose garden on the site of No. 1. When 'Tree Tops' was built about 1956 many roses were cleared from the site and replanted in front of the new house. These may be Morris's roses.

In 1866 the ship 'Great Eastern' passed Sandgate and in the same year Morris's wife died. There is a tablet to her memory in Sndgate Church. But several of the John porter water colours of Encombe are titled "Mr. & Mrs. Jas. Morris - 1868". The water colours were done in 1868.

In 1882 James Morris died. His estate amounted to over £162,000.

In 1883, at the second attempt, Encombe was sold for £14,400 to the Reilly aunts shown in Stac's Directory for 1874 as living at No. 3., The Undercliffe. It looks as if they then knocked down No. 2 and added the Encombe estate to theie garden. The 1903 Directory gives No. 3, The Undercliffe as 'Encombe, Undercliffe'. The price they paid was high especially as the house was in poor shape and soon to be demolished but in a paper relating to Rating there is the statement that they wanted it for sentimental reasons because of old associat3ion with Morris and to prevent development near their own house.

In 1884 they held a sale of the materials of Encombe House, the successful bidder J.J. Jeal of Seabrook at £225, to demolish and remove. But the old verandah on which they had always erected the stalls for their fetes was spared for further use. The hole in the roof where the Great Bow window had been can be seen to have been filled in in the 1893 photographs. They also kept the old stables and in the period 1883-1893 built a coachman's cottage to the rear of the site of the old main house.

In 1903 Electricity came to Sandgate - and the surviving Aunt gave Encombe to her nieces. In 1904 she died, and in 1906 Mrs. Bell, one of the nieces, took Encombe over in her own name. In 1907 she offered parts of it along the shore road for sale but only the land on which 'The Clintons' stands was sold. In 1908 Mrs. Bell built the second Encombe, the ramains of which still stand, retaining the coachman's cottage.

In 1911 Mrs Bell died at Nice. A life interest in the property was left to her daughter, Lady Sackville West. After her death in 1920 it was sold. There is no record of the Sackville Wests using Encombe but they may have let it or loaned it. This might explain the oft repeated stories of George Ariliss and others having stayed there.

In 1922 Ralph Hilton Philipson and his 2nd wife Maya, of Hungarian origin, took the house and she added to and altered it with the aid of the Architect Basil Ionides, very much changing its apprearance. "Country Life" of 20th and 27th December 1924  gives a splendid picture of the house as it was after she had finished.

Unabbreviated copies of 'Encombe 1821-1924' containing maps and photographs have been lodged with Folkestone Reference Library, with Sandgate Library for borroweing and with the Sandgate Society. A collection of these and other maps and photographs relating to Encombe has also been made in colour slide form, with written commentary. 

Alex Todd 26 June 1980

Boy Hill
11 Encombe
Sandgate