“Pittville Places” is the hub for information about houses, other structures, and places in Pittville. As the site develops, we will include here details of individual houses on the estate, as a counterpoint to “Pittville Lives”, which documents the lives of the people who lived in Pittville’s houses in the past. See also Cheltenham Borough Council’s comprehensive Cheltenham Local Development Framework (Pittville Character Area Appraisal and Management Plan) (July 2008), with special reference to the area map (p. 7) and the historical commentary from p. 16.
Maps: see the Pittville section of the Old Town Survey of 1855-7 on this site or click any of the map icons.

Clarence Road

Clarence Road runs from the top of Winchcombe Street along to Clarence Square at the south of the Pittville estate. It was developed in the early 1830s, generally following the line of an old through route, Sandy Lane, and acquired its present name in 1890. It includes the former Pittville Terrace (in which the Holst family lived for a decade from the mid 1870s) and the three Sussex Villas, both on the south side of the road. See the Holst Victorian House web site for more information on the Holst family at 4 Clarence Road.


Browse through the 1861 census return for Robert Chapman (“dealer in horses”), who lived at no. 6 Pittville Terrace (now no. 6 Clarence Road) with his family and three servants.


Clarendon Villas [now even nos. 6-14 Pittville Lawn]

The five houses which constituted Clarendon Villas were located just inside Pittville Gates, on the western side opposite Segrave Place. Building started in 1848, and the houses were first listed in the Cheltenham Annuaire directory of 1849.



Read about the poet, writer, and composer Charlotte Price, who lived at no. 4 Clarendon Villas for many years in the nineteenth century.


Evesham Road

The construction of a new road to Birmingham, through Evesham and Alcester, was enabled by an Act of Parliament in 1810; the new route via Bishop’s Cleeve was appreciably shorter than the older route through Prestbury. The road name is found from 1820. Later it had the alternative name Cleeve Road (both names were used until at least 1884). The residential part of the Pittville section of the road was first developed between 1825 and 1844 (Blake). Nos 2 to 34 (even numbers) were originally named Pittville Parade; nos 3 to 11 (odd numbers) were originally Caledonia Terrace and then (by 1841) Blenheim Terrace or Blenheim Parade. The larger houses to the left of the road heading north towards the West Lake were mostly built later in the nineteenth century, except for Saxham Villas (now 108 and 110 Evesham Road), which were first occupied in the later 1840s.
House details and stories: Evesham House, The Grange (formerly Marle Hill House).


Pittville Lawn

Today Pittville Lawn is the central road running up the spine of the Pittville estate from the Gates in the south up to the lake. Its original name was Central Carriage Drive, though the name Pittville Lawn was in use from 1834. Development of the road continued until 1849.

The present Pittville Lawn has three sections:

• The first runs from Pittville Gates to Wellington Road and has houses built on both sides, including the terraces formerly known as Segrave Place and Clarendon Villas, along with several detached properties. After renumbering in the twentieth century this section became nos. 1 to 25 Pittville Lawn.The second runs from Wellington Road up to Central Cross Drive: the name Pittville Lawn originally applied to the three large terraces in this section; each terraced block was separated by a large detached house. The first of these terraces was built by the architect John Forbes in 1826-7.The final section consisted of large detached houses leading up to the lake and round towards Albert Road.

The second and third sections are developed only on the eastern side; the occupants therefore looked out over private managed parkland and walks.



Read about several residents of Pittville Lawn in the past: George Schreiber, one of the last surviving soldiers who fought at Waterloo; author and poet William Jones, and his role in the escape of the French king in 1848; Rupert Dent, an artist remembered best for his sentimental images of pet dogs and cats.


Pittville Terrace [now nos. 1-7 Clarence Road]

This was the original name for the terrace of houses on the south side of what is now Clarence Road, between Bilbrook House at the top of Winchcombe Street and Portland Street. The (von) Holst family, including a young “Gustavus”, are recorded as living at no. 4 (now the Holst Victorian House) in the 1881 census. The name Pittville Terrace appears on building certificates from 1825 and on a map of 1834, and continues in use throughout the nineteenth century.




Portland Square

For a comprehensive picture of Portland Square and its neighbourhood, see Mike Grindley’s The Portland Square and Albert Place District: Land, Houses and Early Occupants, reproduced by kind permission of the Cheltenham Local History Society.


Segrave Place [now even nos. 1-15 Pittville Lawn]

Segrave Place, just inside the Pittville Gates on the eastern side of the first section of Pittville Lawn, was named after Col. William Berkeley, one of the leading figures in Cheltenham society in the early 19th century. He was created Lord Segrave in 1831.



This was the original name of the first seven properties on the eastern side of Pittville Lawn (nos. 1-15 – house no. 13 was omitted). The name occurs as early as 1827 and continues in use throughout the nineteenth century.


Sussex Villas [now nos. 8-10 Clarence Road]

Sussex Villas was the original name of the three villas currently numbered 8-10 Clarence Road, situated on the south side of the road between Portland Street and North Place. The name is found from 1839, though a “Sussex Villa” was ‘lately built but still unfurnished’ in 1835. The three houses had been built by 1844.




Wellington Road

Wellington Road runs east-west across the south of the Pittville estate site just north of Clarence Road. Both roads lead to squares, though for a short space – between Pittville Lawn and Evesham Road – Wellington Road looks north directly on to the parkland of Pittville. It was developed from 1826-32, and was first known as First Central Cross Drive, though this name seems to have fallen out of use. In 1897 the Borough approved a suggestion from Mr N. W. Olive that the road should have a new name, and should be called Wellington Road.
House details and stories: Evesham House.



Much of the information here has been taken from James Hodsdon’s An Historical Gazetteer of Cheltenham, published as Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Record Series volume 9 (1997), by permission. For fuller references in the original text see the online version here. Further streets will be added to the gazetteer as they are transcribed for the searchable database on this site.