In February 2023’s issue of Hassocks Life we asked if anyone knew any information about ‘Keymer Lodge’ indicated by a remaining pair of gate piers off Keymer Road. Reader Jonathan Taylor has kindly provided the following insight, which we’ve tried to illustrate for you to see clearer.

By Jonathan Taylor

Keymer Lodge was easternmost of a pair of large semi-detached houses on Keymer Road. It must have been built before 1874 and demolished after 1955, judging from its appearance on the large scale maps held by the National Library of Scotland (www.maps.nls.uk).
To the east of Keymer Lodge was a large, detached house – Highlands – on the site now occupied by The Poplars. Highlands Close presumably got its name from the house. A trace of the driveway to Highlands survives as a depression in the ground just to the east of the Keymer Lodge gateway.
The other semi-detached house, to the west of Keymer Lodge, appears to have been accessed from Willowbrook Way, and its original gate piers survive as the entrance to 12 Willowbrook Way.

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