The Old Pheasantry in Mogador was built in 1912 and is set in five acres of countryside adjoining the North Downs Way, just the other side of the M25. The property houses a small special needs school as well as offering overnight accommodation for groups of up to 26 children and young people. Approached by footpaths and a small road, Merrywood Grove, it is a unique building with an interesting and rich history.
It was built on land bought from one of the local landowners, by Miss Mary Van Leck Lidgerwood, a spinster and descendant of one of the Pilgrim Fathers, for her summer home. She returned from America in 1911, having received a large inheritance, and wanted her home to be special with ‘all mod cons’ – which at the time, it was. She lived there for almost 40 years with her companion, who inherited the house and land following her death in 1950. The house was later sold on through several families with almost no change in the interior or gardens, until 1976.
Throughout that time, the gardens covered some distance towards Lower Kingswood along the original Margery Lane, which at that time stretched from the village to Colley Hill. The gardens were typical of a large country house of that era and contained flower beds, large vegetable plots and a huge greenhouse which helped the residents become almost self-sufficient in terms of fresh food throughout the year.
There were staff on site, living in servants’ quarters in the north wing, comprised of housemaids, personal maid, cook, butler, chauffeur and a team of gardeners. The gardeners lived nearby in the village and the chauffeur and his family lived above the garage where the cars were kept, along Margery Lane.
Despite different families moving in over the next couple of decades, the house and gardens changed little, but things were to change, dramatically.
In 1976, the property was compulsorily purchased by the Department of Transport to build the new M25 and was empty for a period whilst the motorway was completed. In 1983, with a much-reduced footprint, and the chauffeur’s cottage now beneath the motorway, Margery Lane was cut off, and a small paddock area now separated the house from the country’s busiest motorway.
The house was eventually bought for the princely sum of £183,000 by a group of charities. The Land and City Families Trust (LCFT), a charity which ‘aims to take disadvantaged young people from deprived areas for educational holidays in the Surrey countryside, eventually took sole ownership. The deeds show it as a ‘Rural Education Centre with accommodation’
In 2024, the house was signed over to local charity YMCA East Surrey who have similar aims to the LCFT – helping children and young people facing disadvantage and deprivation to develop their potential and go on to become independent and successful adults. We are aiming to sustain and enhance services and enable more local children and young people to belong, contribute and thrive.
Find out more
To find out more about The Old Pheasantry and what’s on offer, please get in touch.
E oldpheasantry@ymcaeastsurrey.org.uk
