TUBBENDEN LANE
Tubbenden Lane is an ancient route leading from Orpington to Farnborough, and today partly forms the boundary between these two parishes.
It is seen here at its junction with Woodhead Drive.
The line of trees on the left marks the front boundary of a row of large houses built in the 1870s - Sunnyside, Fernbank, The Alchornes, Northolme and Sherlies, of which Sunnyside was notable as the home of George Allen, publisher to John Ruskin, see the menu item to the right.
These houses are shown within the coloured box on this map which dates from 1935. opposite Tubbendence. Note the virtual absence of other housing in the Lane at that time.
The area was subsequently redeveloped in stages from the 1960s onwards, with Sherlies (the largest plot) being demolished first.
Today the only open space left is the recreation ground adjoining the road where it meets Farnborough bypass. The paths going uphill from the recreation ground lead into Darrick Wood.
Before access from the Farnborough end of the road to Farnborough bypass was blocked in the 1960s it was known as Tubbenden Lane throughout, but now the Farnborough end is known as Tubbenden Lane South. The original house numbers have been retained.
The name Tubbenden may derive from Tubbendence, a large house that stood at the Orpington end of the road until the 1960s. It is known that there was an earlier house on the same site, so it is likely the house gave its name to the road, rather than the reverse.
All of the former large houses along Tubbenden Lane have now gone, with the exception of Farnborough Hall, today hidden away behind recent housing in Farnborough Village.