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The Secrets of 179 Burnt Ash Hill

Saturday December 13th will be the last opportunity to see inside the amazing house at 179 Burnt Ash Hill – a former GP surgery and – for the last few Saturdays – a shrine to a bygone age and the doctors’ Irish heritage. The house is in the process of being sold.

Below are some photos of the exhibition which has been mounted by the doctor’s grand-daughter Charlotte Mann. The house was also the family home, with an enormous garden.

It’s been sold for around £1,5 million but will require a lot of work and investment to modernise it.

The waiting room

The Consulting Room

A lawyer’s collection of Irish death certificates

Nothing was ever thrown away!

A family home, full of books

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Frozen in time – a piece of Lee history on show, but hurry!

This house at 179 Burnt Ash Hill was the home and surgery of Dr Carey, a well known figure in Lee. It has been opened to the public on Saturdays through November, and will remain open for two more Saturdays ( December 6th and 13th) from 11 AM to 4 PM.

Charlotte Mann has mounted an exhibition in the house, which is due to be sold soon. It commemorates her grand-father and two of his brothers – all doctors – who came to Britain from Ireland. The practice ran from until the 1980s. Another brother, Charlie, was a lawyer and a huge collector of books, which are also on show. Charlotte is compiling an oral history and is keen to hear from anyone who remembers the practice.

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The Church Wall – MORE progress

This article has been updated

The rebuilding of the Good Shepherd Church wall is making good progress. Mohammed and Stephen (main picture) have begun laying the reclaimed bricks from the Wantage Road end.

They have used the bricks recovered when the old wall was demolished for the bottom courses. The bricks visible above ground are part of a horde of 7000 old bricks of the same vintage as the originals.

Lintels have been put in place to bridge over the tree roots (middle photo).

It doesn’t seem likely the wall will be finished in time for Christmas, but should be complete in the first month or two of 2026.

Many local people contributed to the crowd-funding appeal which is partly paying for the rebuild.

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Leegate Public Meeting

The scaffolding is going up at Leegate as the demolition team prepares to start work on pulling it down. Details of the planned work can be found here.

Meanwhile the London Square Site Director and Site Manager have agreed to come to a public meeting in January when residents will be able to ask questions about the timetable and processes they are following. The event will be at 7 pm on January 21st, at Lochaber Hall.

All local residents are welcome. Full details can be found here. Please follow the link to let us know if you intend to be there.