Holt Family – WESTGATE CHICHESTER

History of the Holt family of Westgate

John Ogburn Holt, who at some point lived at nos. 7&9 Westgate, acquired a number of properties on Westgate, which he let.

The Chichester Walls and Gates

The Roman army, after landing at Fishbourne in AD 43, set up a camp on the site which is now modern Chichester and fortified it with a wooden wall. The town was laid out on a grid with the main streets North and South Street, East and West Street, which crossed in the centre of the town. Where they met the wall there was a gate.

History of 23-25 Westgate

Along with no 25, no 23 is one of a pair of workman’s cottages

Roy Morgan writes:

“The house is recorded as far back as 1379 and is also mentioned in 1570. The pair of cottages are recorded in land tax records from 1780 and are shown on Gardner’s map of 1797”.

No. 23 specifically occurs twice elsewhere in the story of this street:

History of 19 Westgate

The first half of this article is written by Richard Brownfield, with certain sections copied from ‘The Building of Georgian Chichester’, by local historian Alan Green and with his kind permission.

This Farmhouse was “damaged in the siege of Chichester 1642.”

The History of 7-9 Westgate

This article concerns Nos 7 and 9 Westgate, which was a whole house previously known as no.4 and then no. 11 Westgate from 1950 – 1987.

The numbering of the houses in Westgate started in about 1900 and it has been a confusing experience for anyone trying to identify which property is which. In the 1901 census, this house is confirmed as 4 Westgate, a numbering which continued until the 1939-45 war. After the war, the whole street was renumbered, with odd numbers to the south side, and the house became no.11 Westgate. It was then divided into two in 1988 and renumbered at the same time as the rest of “The Georgian Priory” development, to become numbers 7 and 9.

History of 38 Westgate

More on the Holts. See the entries for nos. 16, 20 and 36 Westgate to complete the picture

As previously described, John Ogburn Holt, who had lived at nos. 7&9 Westgate, acquired a number of properties on Westgate which he let, of which this was one. He signed a lease on 11th August 1896 for no 35 (old number) for £200, including:

History of 20 Westgate

More is currently known of the former occupiers of this property than of the building itself, with a strong connection to local family, the Holts.

John Ogburn Holt Snr. had been born in Chichester on 9th April 1846 at 36 Westgate. By 1891 he was living at number 20 (then 44). In the house with him were his wife Elizabeth also 45, and his children John Ogburn Jnr. (9), twins William George and Emma (3), and Lizzie Helen Mary (1). By 1901 he had moved to 9+11 Westgate over the road.

History of 16 Westgate

Another property in the possession of the Holt family.

John Ogburn Holt Snr, aged 25, had moved in by 1871. He had previously lived with his father and mother at no. 36, where he had been born. He had married Elizabeth Pile. By 1881 they had five children, Bernice (13), Charles John (12), Janice Mary (10), Emma (6), and William George (1).

The Brewery Field in 2017

The History

This field was part of the Westgate Brewery which produced beer for many inns and pubs across Sussex and East Hampshire from 1751 until it closed in 1954.

In 1827 it was taken over by the Henty family who went into partnership with George Constable in 1921. The brewery had been rebuilt in 1811 to become the largest in Chichester.

Continue reading The Brewery Field in 2017

Residents in 1950 at 1-65 Westgate

House numbering first appeared in the census of 1901. Before this. the identification of plots on Westgate was by reference to the neighbours on each side, which became obviously inexact as they frequently changed.

Continue reading Residents in 1950 at 1-65 Westgate