Merryfields Close (Merton Avenue)

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About the Road

Merton Avenue is a road in two parts in the north part of Hartley. The major part is off Ash Road (Hoselands Hill), but 6 houses are accessed from Hawthorns. It has a mixture of houses and bungalows of differing dates and styles.

Merton Avenue looking east

The road was created in about 1905, following the acquisition of the land by a firm of London estate agents called Payne Trapps & Co. No-one is really sure where the name came from. Originally the road was much longer as it ran across what is now the Wellfield Estate to Woodland Avenue. Very few houses were built after the plots were sold and most of the land became derilict, in 1939 only three houses existed here - Nil Desperandum (1921, rebuilt 1934), Crawden Bank (1927), Somerleyton (1932-2005), and View Point (1935-1984). In both wars the other land was requisitioned to be ploughed up for food production.

Payne and Trapps estate plan overlaid on modern map

The first recorded inhabitant was Mr W E Barlow (1869-1952) and his family in 1921. They had been made homeless from their house in south-east London, but were the owners of a plot of land here. The council found he, his wife and 4 children aged 4 months to 7 years were living in a single tent. Mr Barlow had erected a rough earth closet for sewage and was getting water from nearby premises. Faced with council orders to evict him, Mr Barlow started building a chalk and flint house himself in 1922. The council said (1924) it was totally unfit for human habitation, as 2 adults and 5 children had only 2 rooms between them and they had to go 200 yards to get water. However Mr Barlow clung on. He was still there in 1928 when the council got a court order for him to leave his house. Mr Barlow ostensibly moved into a caravan next to the house but the council was convinced he was really still living in the house. In 1930 the Council's inspector visited to investigate a new shed on the land but was driven off by Mrs Barlow who was brandishing a pitchfork. Finally he completed a house the council approved of in 1934. Not for nothing did he call it 'Nil Desperandum' (='Don't despair')!

Hartley Kent: Nil Deperandum, Merton Avenue

Nil Deperandum, Merton Avenue (taken in 2007 before extension in 2014)

A couple of caravans appeared at Merton Avenue in 1941, but the council quickly got them removed under the Public Health Act.

After the war Merton Avenue was nominated by the parish council as a site for Hartley's first council houses and Dartford Rural District Council compulsorily purchased the land in 1947. They built six semi-detached pre-fabricated Airey Houses in about 1948 - 1&3, 7&9 and 11&13. Numbers 11 and 13 still have their original look but 7 and 9 were demolished and replaced in 2001. I think 1 and 3 may have been refaced.

Airey Houses at 11-13 Merton Avenue

Merton Avenue is now divided in two by an earth bund. This came about because of the development of the Wellfield Estate, which meant extra traffic along Merton Avenue. As an unadopted road this meant that the extra costs of maintenance fell upon the people who lived there. During 1970s there were plans for either Kent County Council or Sevenoaks Council to pay for it to be made up and adopted. The residents association objected to the £27,000 price tag that KCC were threatening to charge them . However according to newspaper reports, as soon as KCC realised that Sevenoaks would be the main beneficary, they said the council should pay, Sevenoaks didn't want to so the plans fell through in 1978. The following year Sevenoaks Council said they had no plans to stop through traffic. Shortly after the residents took matters into their own hands by building an earth bund across the road, apparently Sevenoaks council removed it only for the residents to put it back again with a mechanical digger. And that's the situation today; presumably the council discovered that there was little they could do legally, as the road was never a public right of way.

Earth Bund and 25-35 Merton Avenue

On the south side are two cul-de-sac roads. Fortuna Close was built on the former house of that name. While adjoining it, Wild Barfield made way for Merryfields Close in 1995. Fortuna Close must be a nice place to live; as of 2025 no house there has changed hands for over 20 years.

(L) Fortuna Close (R) Merryfields Close

Statistics about the Roads

Item	Details
KCC Ref Length of Road	Merton Avenue P6198 (Private Street - Ash Road to bund) - 0.11 miles / 175m U23366 (Bund to Northfield) - 0.01 miles / 24m Fortuna Close P14139 (Private Street - 0.03 miles / 47m) Merryfields Close P14216 (Private Street - 0.03 miles / 47m)
Area (measured using MagicMap)	Merton Avenue - 3.9 acres / 1.6 hectares Fortuna Close - 0.7 acres / 0.3 hectares Merryfields Close - 0.8 acres / 0.3 hectares
Houses	Merton Avenue - 31 (7 detached houses, 1 detached chalet bungalow, 1 detached bungalow, 8 semi-detached houses, 2 semi-detached chalet bungalows, 2 semi-detached bungalows, 6 terraced houses, 4 flats) Fortuna Close - 5 (all detached houses) Merryfields Close - 5 (all detached houses)
Housing Density	Merton Avenue - 7.9 units per acre / 19.4 units per hectare Fortuna Close - 7.1 units per acre / 16.7 units per hectare Merryfields Close - 6.3 units per acre / 16.7 units per hectare
Population (2021)	Merton Avenue - 59 (2011 - 61) Fortuna Close - 11 (2011 - 17) Merryfields Close - 18 (2011 - 14)
Average Energy Consumption 2023	Merton Avenue Electricity 3,410 KWh (55th out of 99 Hartley postcodes) Gas 14,173 KWh (57th out of 81 Hartley postcodes) Fortuna Close Electricity 3,986 KWh (37th out of 99 Hartley postcodes) Gas 14,756 KWh (62nd out of 81 Hartley postcodes) Merryfields Close Electricity 4,263 KWh (30th out of 99 Hartley postcodes) Gas 19,247 KWh (30th out of 81 Hartley postcodes) Figures are median KWh per household per annum

Information about the houses

Last updated 28.6.2025

Explanation:

This is information collected from various sources about the houses, divided as follows:

(1) Description - this has mostly been drawn from sale adverts and observation from the road. Names of properties are included if the road is not numbered or the name appears as well as the number in the offical Royal Mail address. Changes of name and the date, where known, are also included here. Area measurements can be done in a number of ways, so may get differing results.

(2) Building History - the date of construction is sometimes approximate as it is based on the property appearing in the electoral register or the subject of a planning permission etc.

(3) Rates and Council Tax - the rates registers for 1956, 1963 and 1972 are held by Sevenoaks Council. I have included the gross rateable value, that is the amount it was thought the property could be rented out for. For some reason the 1956 valuation is actually what the rental would have been in 1939. The rateable value was then subject to certain statutory deductions and this figure is what people paid rates upon. Council tax was introduced in 1993, the value was (and still is) what it was believed the property would have sold for on 1 April 1991. However significant building works means it can be increased when the property is next sold and this is shown by "improvement indicator".

(4) Sales and Rents - mostly from property adverts and Land Registry records. Of course those based on adverts may not be the price it actually sold for. There are some cases of property valuations for mortgages from Dartford Rural District Council. House price data 1995 to date produced by Land Registry © Crown copyright 2023. To report an error, go to <a href="https://help.landregistry.gov.uk/app/contactus_changesales">Change a sales record form</a>.

(5) Site history - this contains a selection of records which demonstrate which farm and field the property stands upon.

I have tried to make sure the information is accurate, but no responsibility can be taken for any errors. If you plan to rely on the information, you should check the source data to be sure. If you spot an error, please let me know via the <a href="http://www.hartley-kent.org.uk/feedback.htm">contact form</a>.

Merrryfields Close

1 Merryfields Close DA3 7HW

Detached House

Building History

1995 First Built

1972 Planning Application: (REFUSED) 1972/414 Demolish Wild Barfield, build 8 houses

1984 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1984/1054 Erect 8 houses and garages

1988 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1988/1180 Laying of foul drain across site

1991 Planning Application: (REFUSED) 1991/291 Erection of 12 no semi-detached dwellings with garages andassociated works

1991 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1991/1781 Demolish Wild Barfield, replace with 5 detached houses

1991 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1991/1781 Erection of 5 no detached houses with garages and estate road,as amended by letters and revised drawings received13.1.92,29.1.92,27.2.92.

1994 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1994/197 Change house types on plots 1-4

1994 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1994/197 Change of house types on plots 1 to 5 relative to planningpermission SE/91/1781 as amended by drawings accompanyingletter received 10/3/94.E`

1994 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1994/749 Details of external finishes, landscaping and road constructions pursuant to conditions 2,3,5 and 6 of planning permission SE/94/0197.

1995 Planning Application: (REFUSED) 1995/1883 Retention of fence.

1996 Planning Application: (GRANTED) 1996/572 Revised application for retention of fence.

Rates and Council Tax

1995 Council Tax: G (£160-320K)

Sales and Rents

Site History

1604 Blue House Farm - Care Hill

1908 Plots 152-155 Fawkham Park Estate

2 Merryfields Close DA3 7HW

2019 Detached House (4 bedrooms, 154 sq m including garage)