No 18 South Green - Acton Lodge
 
 

The left hand part of the site (looking from the front) which now houses Acton Lodge and Eastbury House was once a public house called 'The Nor' Sea Boat'. The building had become the Customs House by the mid-19th century. The site was redeveloped in 1872 by William Hotson, a retired clothier and named 'Acton Lodge' after Caroline Acton, a well known benefactress who had lived close by at No 16 South Green.

1908
David Thomas MacLeod - Physician and Surgeon (K1908)
 
1911
Dr Humphry Morshead Hart-Smith - Physician. In 1911 he is aged 37, married to Fannie Esther and with three daughters. The Hart-Smiths let out part of the house as a holiday home.(C1911, K1916)
 
1924
Dr Humphry Morshead Hart-Smith (K1924)
 

1937
Dr Edward Cawdron Cordeau (K1937)

1940
Badly damaged by enemy action at 9.45 am on 8th November.

1946
Dr John C Leedham-Green and Dr G Mary S Leedham-Green - Physicians and Surgeons. Dr John, as he is popularly known, is a GP and General Surgeon - one of the last such to practise in the UK. He is a consultant at Lowestoft Hospital and Southwold Hospital in Field Stile Road. In addition to sharing a his wife's consulting room here at No 18, he is also a partner in the GP practice at Wymering House (No 47 High Street) where Dr Mary will later join him. The latter is also doctor to the girls at Saint Felix School

Click here to read Kathleen Leedham-Green's memories of her grandparents.
 

Dr John C Leedham-Green and Dr G Mary S Leedham-Green - Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr John C Leedham-Green and Dr G Mary S Leedham-Green - Physicians and Surgeons.

 

1977
Dr John C Leedham-Green and Dr G Mary S Leedham-Green - Physicians and Surgeons. Dr John retires this year.
 

Dr John Charles Leedham-Green and Dr G Mary S Leedham-Green - Physicians and Surgeons. Dr John dies in 1984 at the age of 81.

1989 approx
Brenda Smith - Bed and Breakfast guesthouse
 

Brenda Smith - Bed and Breakfast guesthouse
 
 

2009
Private residence, Owner: Mrs Sian Slater
   

Do you have any memories or records about this address? Can you correct any of our information or fill in any of our blanks? If so, please email Barry Tolfree
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SOURCES:
BSD - Bernard Segrave-Daly
BCS = Bygones & Characters of Southwold by Barrett Jenkins
C = Census
CP = Cinema Programme 1958
CSP = Coronation Souvenir Programme 1953
G = Gales Trade Directory
GRO = General Register Office
K = Kelly's Directory
LM = Local memory
M = James Maggs' Southwold Diary 1818-1876
MCG = Methodist Church Guide 1930
NA = National Archives
PP = Pantomime Programme 1933
PLR = Petrol Licence Records
POD = Post Office Directory
PPP = Pier Pavilion Programme 1924, 1926
RCE = Rotary Club Exhibition 1969
SCM = Southwold Catholic Magazine 1923
SCTG = Southwold Corporation Tourist Guide
SER = Southwold Electoral Register
SFP = Southwold Scouts Fete Programme 1947
SG = Southwold Guide
SGCH = Southwold Golf Club Handbook
SLHR = Southwold Local History Recorder 1980s 1990s (Mrs R. McDermot)
SMHS = Southwold Museum & Historical Society
SN = Southwold & Neighbourhood 1903
SPM = Southwold Parish Magazine 1895 -1954
SR = Southwold Recorder 1927, 1932, 1934, 1935
SRB = Southwold Rate Book
SRT = Southwold Railway Timetable 1915
SSAS = Southwold Sea Angling Society Handbook 1909
SST = Southwold Summer Theatre Programmes
SSW = Southwold Shopping Week Programme, June/July 1922
STG = Southwold Town Guide 1930
SVL = Southwold Visitors List 1907, 1930
SVCP = Southwold Victory Celebration Programme 1946
SWCG = Southwold Wesleyan Church Guide
TTR = 'The Town Revisited' - Portraits of Southwold by Stephen Wolfenden 2000
TTT = ''To The Town' - Portraits of Southwold by Stephen Wolfenden 1988
W = White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk 1874
 
Note on dates
Unless otherwise stated, dates given do not indicate the years in which the business started or finished but those for which there is firm evidence that it was trading at this address. Sources in brackets; key at bottom of page.


No 18 originally encompassed what is now known as Acton Lodge on the left and the two units on the right, now a separate house and a garage. The ground floor of the middle unit incorporated the Leedham-Green's dining room while the consulting room was located where the double garage now is.

Before Acton Lodge was built in 1872. The building on the right is the Customs House - formerly the Nor' Sea Boat.
Reproduced from Barrett Jenkins' book 'A Visit to Southwold' by kind permission of the author's daughter, Ann Thornton.

Click the picture to enlarge

Acton Lodge before the building of the adjacent Eastbury House. Photo is undated but probably from the early years of the 20th Century. Reproduced courtesy of present owner, Sian Slater.

Click the image to enlarge

Photographed at a roughly similar date during a lifeboat procession.
Reproduced from a postcard in the late Ronnie Waters' collection.

Click image to enlarge

Extensive bomb damage to Acton Lodge was sustained on November 8th 1940. The same bomb destroyed the Constitutional Club at No 16 South Green.
Reproduced courtesy of present owner, Sian Slater.

Click the image to enlarge



'Dr John's tree' (below) was donated to the people of Southwold by Dr John Leedham-Green himself and planted opposite the Cottage Hospital on St Edmund's Green.
Click the picture to read the inscription.