1815,
Part of this site is granted by Southwold Corporation to a sail maker, Philip Child who builds a sail loft on it. Previously Child was renting space in the old Guidhall on Bartholomew Green. which is about to be demolished. An adjacent parcel of land is occupied by a tailor's shop known as Julians and another by a butcher's shop calld Roots

1828
Reverend Henry Uhtoff (70-year-old rector of Huntingfield & Cookley) has acquired the tailor's shop together with a further parcel of land in front of the shop, purchased from Southwold Corporation for £25. He sets about having a substantial house built here which he calls 'South Green House'. It is completed in about 1839.

1841
Reverend Henry Uhtoff purchases the sail loft from the widow of Philip Child for £35 and converts it into a cottage adjacent to South Green House. Although now in his 80s, Uhtoff continues as a clergyman, dividing his time between Southwold and his substantial rectory in Huntingfield where he is recorded in the 1841 census living with his wife, Mary, daughter Frances and eight servants. He also owns another property - a stable and coach house - in Park Lane.

1848
Reverend Henry Uhtoff dies this year. His daughter, Frances, continues to live here until 1865.

1867
John Eustace Grubbe - purchases the house. He becomes Mayor of Southwold this year for the first time. He will be the Corporation's longest-serving mayor whose tenures will add up to 20 years.

1873
? Gaussen - buys South Green House for £1,600. He has the third floor added.

1897
Letitia Maria Gaussen - now widowed, sells South Green House to...

...Joseph John Mayhew for £2,500. It becomes a hotel named "Golf Links House". This is probably a lease arrangement. Joseph himself is the local agent of the Lacons, Youell & Kemp Bank at No 17 Market Place and is also Mayor of Southwold. The hotel venture lasts barely a year, however, and J J Mayhew seeks a new tenant...

1898
Saint Felix Girls' School - rents the building for use as classrooms and dormitories. It is one of several Southwold buildings used by the school at this time.

1926
Lenny Septimus Harrisson - Solicitor and commissioner for oaths, rents a part of the building as his home, paying £75 pa. His office is at No 1 Market Place where he also conducts his business as the Secretary of the Southwold Water Works, the Secretary of the Town Farm Syndicate, Clerk to the Borough Magistrates and Solicitor to the Southwold Borough Council. (K1924)

To read a recollection of Septimus Harrisson by the late J B Harris, click here. Reproduced from an unpublished memoir entitled "Memories of Southwold 1920-1939" by kind permission of his widow, Mary Harris.

1932
Joseph John Mayhew dies on 14 February. His wife inherits the freehold of the house but dies only nine days after him.

c1940
The house is requisitioned by the Army.

1950
Edward James Goddard and Theodore Abner Goddard purchase the freehold and split the property into three residences which are then sold separately. The two wings are named 'North' and 'South Greyfriars' and the central portion 'Regency House'. For more about the Goddard family's extensive business interests in the town, see Nos 60 - 62 High Street, 63 High Street, 44 Church Street and 4 Victoria Street..

Note: Most of the above is taken from research conducted by Mike Medland, a recent owner of Regency House. This and other documents relating to the history of the building, including title deeds, have been donated by Mr Medland to Southwold Museum. To read his summary of the history of the building, click here.