Widewater Bungalows
Bungalow Town properties were known by name, not the street numbering system used across the river in Shoreham Town and it was first necessary to identify the location and names of the bungalows at Widewater beach. This has been carried out using photographs, Ordnance Survey maps of the period, Street Directories and the 1911 Census Returns – all have inexactitudes to a greater or lesser extent. Furthermore, the majority of these bungalows were lost to storms and it wasn’t just one storm that caused the bungalows to be
destroyed and damaged but a number in the space of a few years (1910 to 1913). In between times new bungalows were built or extended and existing ones had their names changed. Some were split into two properties making it appear from the directories that a new bungalow had been built but was in fact still one building sometimes conveniently retitled with the original name plus ‘and annexe’ for example but sometimes with totally different names!
All this made it an almost impossible task with which to achieve total accuracy and the findings should be viewed with some reservation. Nevertheless, the explanation of how the names and locations were identified should provide reassurance as to the accuracy of most if not all of the findings (see 4. ‘Reliability of Records Used’).
1 History
For many years this area has been susceptible to inroads from the sea. When the Norfolk Suspension Bridge at Shoreham was built (1833) the road from there to Lancing was protected by raising a bank – over time the earth dug out for this filled with water to create Widewater.
This was largely successful but there was also another bank of shingle and earth between the beach and Widewater on which bungalows were subsequently built during the late 19th and early part of the 20th centuries.
2 The Gap
This heavily edited photo was taken across Widewater from the Shops Dam Road – The Gap can be seen at the space between the bungalows in the distance to the left.
Storms continued to threaten the area and photos of the 1910 storm show it breaking through the beach bank at a point one third of the length of Widewater east of Shopsdam. Most of the later 1912 storm damage photos were taken around the same spot. At one time there was a gap in the line of bungalows on the beach there perhaps because earlier buildings were destroyed in the 1910 storm or because the narrowing of the shingle bank made it difficult and risky to build bungalows any further – nevertheless, this did not stop more buildings being constructed again later in the same vulnerable spot.
Consequently, the line of buildings from Shopsdam once ended here but began again with more bungalows about 300 yards further eastwards.
3 East of The Gap
The stretch east of The Gap had a fairly continuous line of buildings that makes the application of the sequential order of bungalow names from the 1911 Census less difficult. The Bungalow Town Property Map provides confirmation of the location of no less than 19 bungalow names from 1911 that were still being used in the 1930’s. These range intermittently from La Morna down to Belvedere – the significance of this will become evident later. Once these ‘anchors’ (already identified locations of bungalows) are placed on to their map footprint many of the remaining 1911 names fall neatly into place.
After 1914 there are no surviving 1911 names from Belvedere down to the Gap but the remaining 22 footprints on the map exactly match the number of names after Belvedere for the same stretch of beach. Photographs and postcards also help to cement the findings above including the following:-
The first few properties are confirmed in this low quality but informative photo that shows the publisher’s added names for the well known La Morna and its neighbours Sea Shell and Isora. The large centre gable end bungalow later became Shingle Shack
The pre 1912 and circa 1915 photos and 1912 map with names added.
Two views from La Morna south-westwards can now be used together with the 1912 map to illustrate the likely names for each of the buildings at the eastern end of Widewater. The top photo may be somewhat younger than 1912, the second about 1915, and because of extensions and alterations some of the bungalows may not appear to quite match their likely footprints.
Top: Detail of a section of bungalows from the earliest of the previous photos (before Inglenook’s tower was added) Below: the same bungalows captured in two later views with Inglenook’s tower now added.
Further west, if you had stood on the beach halfway between La Morna and the Gap these would have been the views along the beach either side of you
Looking east and applying the census names along to these bunglows tells us the nearest is Bohemia with Sur La Mer beyond it. Notice how the beach side edge of Bohemia matches the footprint on the map as does the shed and rear of Sur La Mer. You can also see two parallel fences bordering an access way between the two properties that is also shown on the map. Inglenook was just beyond but before the later addition of its tower. In the far distance is the spire of La Morna and even beyond that can just be made out the castle-like tower of ‘Rhodesia’ that stood near the later Church of the Good Shepherd.
Looking west the Ocean Wave photo sports a sign showing its name. The right hand postcard is only noted with the name Belvedere on the reverse but the distinctive, matching finials in both images have not been recognised on any other building in Bungalow Town.
In this view looking south-eastward from Widewater the postcard manufacturer (William Winton) has helpfully included the bungalow names along the bottom of the card. These become slightly out of alignment towards the left but they enable the same names and subsequent names from the sequential census listings to be applied and the bungalows identified on another (top) photo.
4 The Gap.
The numbers 1 to 4 on the map relate to the same spots in both photos. Numbers 5 to 11 are for the identification of the properties below
The Gap is where much of the uncertainty occurs. These two photos show views from Widewater at different times. The lower one looks southwest after the gardens had been created – the top photo was taken from a point a little further west and looks southeast but at an earlier time. What is evident is the fact that bungalows have been built on the area of The Gap itself, something of a risk bearing in mind the narrow bank of shingle there, its close proximity to the sea and site of the point where the sea broke through during the storm of 1910. The properties numbered 8 to 11 match in both photos albeit with minor variations due to the time lapse.
Less certain are the buildings within the area marked 5 to 7 – are these the last of the bungalows mentioned in the east of The Gap? Comparing them with the Winton postcard shows a marked similarity between The Hermitage and surrounding bungalows before Homeleigh was buil
Further to the right at 6 could be Wild Wave, perhaps under construction before its ‘tower ‘ was added (see ‘The Storms’ in section 6). What looks like an extension or shed with the main roof behind it seems to match the reconstructed plan and elevation shown later in the storm damage section.
The building numbered 7 is a mystery – it could be Tweedledee’s companion Tweedledum that was located in that area but, perhaps due to earlier storms (e.g., the one in 1910), did not survive to be included in the 1911 census.
The buildings 9 to 11 match the spacing and size of the map footprints for White Heather, Will o’ the Wisp and Splash Point.
The evidence for identifying each one of the bungalows individually within The Gap from the earlier photo is perhaps tenuous but when all are considered collectively it does become more convincing.
5 West of the Gap
Precise identification of bungalow locations at The Gap and extreme west end of this part of Widewater is not possible as the 1912 OS map does not show all the bungalows that we know existed at that time.
Other sources though can confirm the accuracy of the continued sequential census listing as shown here by an extract from 1909 deeds giving the location of Geisha (the original name of Andover), Dar Es Salaam, Sea Breeze and Esparanza. Note the narrowing of the beach top sites on the deeds three positions on from Esparanza (the location of Splash Point) and the inlet at Widewater to the right – the vulnerable area of the Gap!Three views that provide key points for the identification of other photos:- The well known Dil Khusha bungalow at Shops Dam by the west end of Widewater – this can be seen in other higher resolution photos and local history books with its name clearly showing on the lifebelt; Mon Repos and Sun Glow with their names added by the publisher/photographer; the unmistakeable and distinctive Dar Es Salaam long since identified as such by local historians.
These, with the 1911 census listings, are used as the anchor points with which to identify intervening bungalow names as shown in the next illustrations.
In the same way as the properties east of the Gap were identified, adding the 1911 names to the anchor points on further photos showing them and their surrounding bungalows enables a continuous identification to be built up from The Gap up to and including Dil Khusha.
Again, the 1912 OS map excludes a number of properties that we know existed at the time. A separate survey also in 1911 by The Lancing Development Syndicate largely confirms the number and order of properties listed in the 1911 Census but there are a few differences. For the purposes of this work the census is still used and continuing westwards after Dilkusha were Quay Cottage, Roy, Royal 1, Royal 2, Victoria, Valhalla, Lancing Point, Ocean Wave, Gipsyland (some of these names were also used for other properties east of The Gap perhaps indicating rebuilding by the same owners), Vigo (despite its order here it may possibly have been sited in Shops Dam just above above Quay Cottage).
Top: Victoria bungalow with Roy looking from Widewater Below: Roy bungalow from the beach. The orientation of the Roy buildings are east/west in the second photo that tells us the photo was taken before they were rebuilt. The later Victoria photo shows the rebuilt neighbouring buildings now orientated north/south.
Sea Defences
In the early years protection from the sea was nothing more than brushwood banks. Later, more substantial, recycled railway sleepers were used to support the shingle and create a sufficently wide, level-topped bank on which to build the bungalows. The 1912 OS map showing the groynes also shows bungalow boundaries indicating on the sea-side where the bank walls were, as much as six feet high in places stretching almost continually from Shopsdam along to the east side of the Gap and then intermittently eastwards.
Sea Blossom, Silver Sea and Sorrento showing one of the brushwood banks
Top: One of the tallest parts of the wooden banking at Framnaes just east of The Gap Below: A long stretch of wooden banking behind Shops Dam
Further attempts had been made to protect the shingle bank in places, initially with timber and when this failed, concrete shuttering. The three different types of banking or protection can often be identified in photos that also helps in providing another indication of when photos were taken.
An example of stepped concrete banking – even this wasn’t enough to save the bungalows.
After the 1910 flooding Arthur Maple, from the Shoreham fishing family who had also built bungalows on the Beach, was appointed superintendent of the sea defence works, a position succeeded to later by his son Sam. Even the concrete retaining work was destroyed in parts by the storms of 1912 and 1913 but their subsequent work in the years since was ultimately successful and their wall still exists alongside the path on top of the beach bank.
The Storms – Which Storm?
The1905 (top) and 1931 maps illustrate how the shingle breaching increased over the years.
Obviously there were many over the years but we are only concerned with the effect of storms on Bungalow Town properties. From a national viewpoint, no especially bad storms appear to have been recorded in the UK during the second decade or so of the 20th century. Locally though, storms for the period are mentioned in newspapers and photos from 1910 to 1914 ranging in description from ‘storm’ to ‘the great storm’ etc., However, as Lancing historian Philip Fry points out, perched as they were on a narrow, loose shingle bank and being that close to the sea any storm would seem severe!
Photos of storm damage that have been dated by the photographers (at least three different photographers were involved) are of the 1912 storms (photos suggest there were two storms that year, one in January and the worse one in March) but directories and census returns suggest that in terms of bungalows lost the worst were 5th March 1912 and 23rd March 1913.
The sea appears to have broken through The Gap in 1910 and again in 1912 sweeping shingle into Widewater from about its western-most point eastwards as far as today’s footbridge opposite The Broadway.
Damage East of The Gap
The 1917 Site-Map of Bungalow Town states that the first five (unnamed) bungalows from the west were destroyed in a gale which suggests the gale was recent as the major damage of 1912 and 1913 is not mentioned. This in turn suggests destructive gales were more common than just those of 1910 to 1914. The first bungalow included on the 1917 Site-Map list from west to east is Tokio, then Kioto and Ocean Wave before Belvedere and San Remo. The 1914 Lancing and BT directory, also west to east, (1) starts on the east side of the Gap with Happy Land, Beach Bank, Happy Thought, Silver Strand, Gipsyland, Tokio, Kioto, Ocean Wave, Belvedere, San Remo etc., so we can assume from this that the 14 other bungalows listed in 1911 west of Happy Land were destroyed in 1913 and by 1917 only Tokio, Kioto and Ocean Wave of all the bungalows west of Belvedere were left.
Even large bungalows such as Sea Blossom, Silver Sea and Sorrento were moved by the waves
Damaged but still standing Cosynook, Beachholme and Fairhaven
The 1917 directory (as opposed to the 1917 Site-Map) agrees with the east gap map except that Belvedere is the first property mentioned probably because they relate to different times of the year. Tokio, Kioto, Ocean Wave and even San Remo on the east side of Belvedere are missing suggesting these four were damaged and finally destroyed or demolished that year. Obviously Tokio and Kioto survived the 1913 storm but Ocean Wave looks to be a new build, a duplication that was repeated for a handful of bungalows.
Framnaes before and after showing how much shingle was swept from beneath it
Even the concrete slabs outside The Hermitage were not enough to save the building from partial damage at the time of this photo and complete destruction by subsequent storms.
Other bungalows further east in the main survived but many were undoubtedly damaged. For example, from the Bungalow Town property map it would appear that San Remo was damaged badly enough to be considerably reduced in size and probably even replaced after the storm.
Damage at The Gap and West Widewater
The Gap
The bungalow most photographed to record the effects of storm damage was Wild Wave of which a series of iconic images taken during the March 1912 storm shows its gradual, if not complete, destruction.
Wild Wave during its destruction by storms
Using photos and maps to identify Wild Wave’s location, photo A shows the sea breaking through at The Gap looking east in December 1910. Note the suspended sewer pipe in the top two photos. The timber ‘wall’ on right (not just upright groin timbers with spaces between) looks to have previously held back a bank of shingle like similar other banks along Lancing’s stretch of beach – a year or so later the wood began to be replaced with concrete.
The Gap 1910 – Top left, looking east – Top right, looking west. Below, wreckage showing the complete destruction of some bungalows.
Photo B also shows the suspended sewer pipe held up by three supports, at the same point where the sea broke through but this time looking west. Through the wave spray you can make out the distinctive roof of Wild Wave, to the left of it more of the timber wall still standing and to the right in the distance what must be Shopsdam. The previous photo A must have been taken from the east side of Wild Wave.
Looking west shows Wild Wave still standing on the edge of the beach bank and with the rest of the bungalows behind it stretching back to Shopsdam.
At the time of the two photos A & B Wild Wave looks to have been the last of the group of bungalows stretching from Shopsdam along to the Gap but other photos appear to show the remains of bungalows destroyed just east of Wild Wave. These were most likely to have been Channel Hut, Mignonette and Maryland that the 1911 census shows between Homeleigh on the east of the Gap and Wild Wave on the west. They do not appear on the 1912 map so we can assume that by then they were destroyed by the storms.
Photos of the 1912 and 1913 storms show carriages stripped of their wooden walls and roofs and blown into Widewater
WEST OF THE GAP
The 1912 map shows 20 properties from Dil Khusha. The first 20 properties in 1911 census from Del Khusha takes us to Tweedledee with Wild Wave the 21st. Those missing from the 1911 list, about 12, were apparently destroyed.
According to the 1914 Lancing and BT directory the following were still standing: Vigo, Lancing Point, Valhalla, Bella Vista, Hearts Delight, Sanducha, Andover. – this reveals an almost selective or intermittent destruction process as a number of properties between, and either side of, Hearts Delight, Sanducha and Andover were destroyed yet those three survived. Eventually though all the bungalows west of the Gap were either destroyed or damaged by storms and later removed.
Dil Khusha and its neighbours in a neat row before the storms and the same bungalows after.
Victoria bungalow was largely built of brick but this was still not enough to save it.
Overview
Was Wild Wave and its neighbours west of the Gap lost in the 1912 storm but Framnaes and its neighbours on the east side not until 1913? Could the ‘Framnaes after the gale’ photo of 1912 shown earlier and other similar images suggest the bungalow could have been saved when the wooden beach bank walls were added and the shingle refilled beneath the building? When were the concrete bank walls added?
Note the extension and different roof above the door on the right of Framnaes that is claimed to have been taken during the 1912 storm (but without any notations to this effect on the original photo itself). The extension is missing on another photo marked by the publisher ‘Framnaes after the gale – March 1912’ but there is no sign of broken wood/the end of the building is intact so the extension looks to have been a later addition and the former photo perhaps more correctly should be dated 1913.
Property footprints compared with photos, particularly of the 1913 storm, show that the range of bungalows from Sanducha to Dar Es Salaam, then Homeleigh, Hermitage (a particularly long property made up of a number of smaller buildings or extensions), St. Nicholas, Franmaes and Waveney were all protected on the sea side by 6 foot (approx) wooden walls shown on the map. The 1912 photos show the likes of Framnaes heavily undermined but surprisingly it seems that it and some of its neighbours actually survived or were repaired when the wooden bank walls were replaced with concrete and the shingle infilled beneath the building. However, most of these buildings were soon after totally destroyed in 1913 when the storm photos seem to have almost contemptuously tossed the concrete about like matchwood. The 1913 Catty Norman photos shows the aftermath of the destruction of Waveney and Framnaes and although all bungalows from St. Nicholas westwards were just about still standing during the 1912 storm they were all certainly destroyed by the 1913 storm.
Continuing the list eastwards – Casita, Cosynook, Beachholme, Fairhaven, Summerholme, Sea Blossom, Silver Sea, Sorrento. The map footprints certainly seem to match most of these and particularly Sea Blossom and Beachholme. Up to Sorrento the map and Census agree. After Sorrento the 1911 census gives Lockerbie, Happy Land, Beach Bank, Happy Thought, Silver Strand, Tokio, Kioto, and Belvedere = 8 properties wheras the 1912 map shows 10 – apparently two new builds but where? – there are one or two possible gaps/sites, particularly between what may be Happy Thought and Silver Strand as well as one two doors eastwards.
A check of the 1931 map revealed that the majority east of Belvedere had been altered to varying degrees but in 19 years that could simply have been extensions etc., as bungalows were being altered all the time.
Confusingly, after the storms the names of some of the bungalows that were destroyed turned up again elsewhere in Bungalow Town. There were seven of these, Kioto just one property west of Belvedere then later at Lower Road; Silver Strand next to Tokio and later next to Lamorna; Lockerbie next to Sorrento and afterwards next to the church; Sorrento (see photo) next to Silver Sea and Shingle Rise next to Hearts Delight were both later together side by side between Lower Road and Ferry Road; Fairhaven next to Summerholme then later near Ferry Road; Beach House west of Shops Dam and later Old Fort Road; enough to suggest perhaps that they were more than just coincidence and may have been the same owners rebuilding elsewhere. However, not all of the 1911 census records for the seven bungalows showed owners’ names and of those that did none matched the owners in the subsequent records.
Another, Ocean Wave, is also shown in 1911 west of Shops Dam then in 1914 on the west side of Belvedere shortly before everything west of the latter disappeared altogether.
How many bungalows damaged or destroyed?
We don’t know for sure. Clearly there was more than one storm. As already stated, if we are to believe the Framnaes pencilled notations though it looks as though it may have survived the 1912 storm despite the undermining of its fundations but succumbed to the 1913 one.
During the course of the worst storms some bungalows were totally destroyed, some partially and others badly enough to require their eventual removal. Apart from a few, we can’t be sure which bungalows went in what storm but we have a good idea which ones were lost by 1913 as well as those that survived only to be removed or lost by the time of the 1914 and 1917 directories.
Directories before 1911 are sparse and perhaps not wholly accurate but the 1911 census shows 58 properties from west of Widewater/Shopsdam area to Belvedere, the first surviving bungalow to the east and only 15 by the 1914 directory suggesting a loss for those few years of over 40 bungalows. Another source mentions that 80 were badly damaged in the 1912 storm. Despite all that damage, a postcard of the destruction in January 1912 states just two were actually destroyed. This must surely be another storm as photos show the damage that year to be extensive. Newspapers say the March 1913 storm alone destroyed 15 and ‘quite as many more’ were irretrievably damaged.
Ultimately, none of the bungalows west of the Gap survived. East of the Gap bungalows from Happy Land to Ocean Wave survived the 1912/13 storms but had succumbed by 1917, possibly damage leading to eventual dismantling. All properties from Belvedere eastwards survived (albeit some eventually with different names) but many were damaged to a greater or lesser degree – San Remo for example, stood next to Belvedere (which survived) is shown on subsequent maps as a much smaller property.
The statistics suggested by this exercise show that 44 bungalows were lost by 1914 and a further 15 up to 1917 – 59 bungalows in all, quite a casualty list.
Roger Bateman
Shoreham January 2020
With thanks to Philip Fry and Howard Porter. Photograph and postcard images from the collections of Doris Steers, Peggy McCullough, Howard Porter, Neil De Ville, Marlipins Museum, Mary Gibbs, Catty Norman, Philip Fry, Bartlett Family, Shorehambysea.com and Roger Bateman.
Records Used
Photographs – Photographs and postcards of individual bungalows sometimes show the property name in the photo on an external sign fixed to the building. Some have the names included by the publisher and very occasionally the view of a line of say six or so conveniently show all their names. Comparison with the directories confirms the accuracy of the name notations and their sequence. There are plenty of views showing a number of bungalows without names but sometimes one of the buildings in them can be matched to a photo of an already identified building providing ‘anchors’ from which to establish the identity of the unknown buildings using the sequence of the directories.
Alterations and extensions to the bungalows were carried out fairly often though so that photos of the same view one year may be considerably different a few short years later – add to this the fact that most photos did not include dates that again made identification very difficult
Photographers’/Publishers’ dates and Pencilled Notes on photos (i.e., scratched/written into the negative itself, not just written on the reverse) of damaged and destroyed bungalows have been taken as correct and there is nothing to suggest otherwise. Notes written in pencil on the reverse on the other hand have to be more suspect e.g., who wrote them, how many years after the event were they written, how sure was the person writing it? An example of this are the notes written on the reverse of the Catty Norman photo collection (see Shorehambysea.com website) that date them January 1913 – was this another storm besides the one in March of that year or was it a mistake and should have read January 1912 or even March 1913?
Maps, especially detailed Ordnance Survey maps, can help to identify individual buildings. Many bungalows were a mundane box-like shape, one very much like the next. Occasionally though, bungalows of particularly ornate character shown in photos such as those of the castle-like ‘Rhodesia’ near the Church of the Good Shepherd and Bohemia with Sur La Mer at Widewater Beach provide distinctive footprints enabling the location to be matched. Of course with bungalows being extended and altered fairly often the photos inevitably need to be of a similar date to the map.
Maps though, even the universally accepted accuracy of Ordnance Survey maps are not always as precise as they seem. Explanations of survey and revision dates using the 1912 OS LXV.09 3rd edition map margin dates as an example, show that it was surveyed in 1872, revised in 1909 then printed and published in 1912. That may seem to indicate it was only updated in 1909 but the explanatory notes (see 1) suggest that the 1912 publishing date does include new buildings even though the surrounding topography may not have been updated. This seems doubtful though as in one example (bungalows after Splash Point west of the Gap) a comparison of the map with the 1911 census and directories for the period show it to omit include the two latest buildings, Tweedledee and Wild Wave.
Without much doubt the updating was made prior to the the major storms of that year (1912) as photographic evidence proves the destruction of many of the buildings shown on it. However, as always it pays to be cautious when considering the absolute accuracy and timing, even of OS maps. The next Ordnance Survey map of the area in that detail was not published until 1931.
Bungalow Town Property Map
The 1930’s Bungalow Town property map (in Shoreham Library and on the Shorehambysea.com website) is unclear in places as regards the rather indistinct way some of the bungalow names are noted against the property footprints although the property numbers do clarify this. Nevertheless the map remains a good indication of where most of the bungalows were, in fact many have been proved correct through old photographs (e.g., name signs on the walls of the buildings etc.,) For those bungalows that existed in the early 1900’s and remained unchanged in name and footprint up to the 1930’s it has helped in identifying some of the names and locations.
Directories, Census and other records – for the period in question and at the time of writing we only have information from directories for 1908, 1911 (Census), 1912/13 (part), 1914 and 1917.
The 1911 Census was taken on the 2nd of April that year and the summary section for the Widewater beach lists all the bungalows.
Page 9 of the 1911 census summary pages with the easternmost end of Widewater taken as starting with La Morna and progressing westwards
The pages are split into five sections of five lines each, each line having a bungalow name. The sections though have no obvious purpose and the schedule numbering only refers to the properties that were inhabited on the day of the census. A check of the pages east of Widewater for the rest of Bungalow Town includes bungalows known to have been located behind the sea front but there is no indication at all of where one road finishes and another begins. The same problem occurs at the Gap where there is no indication of where the Gap begins and ends. Maps show the Gap as having been long enough at the time to have taken around twelve bungalows but the census only records three without showing their exact location.
From photographs and the Property Map of Bungalow Town on the Shorehambysea.com website the location of bungalows in the 1930’s (many of which were the original 1911 properties) at the east end of Widewater and the sequential order of subsequent properties using the directories was identified. It could be seen that initially the census taker recorded the properties starting from the east working westwards. The census summary schedule numbers normally follow on in correct sequence but at schedule number 192 at the end of the summary on page 10 it suddenly jumps from bungalows on the east side of the Gap to Sanducha etc., on page 11 much further west near Shopsdam. The latter continues with other bungalow names west of Shopsdam but at schedule 201 on page 12 it jumps back to Cosynook etc., bungalows that were known to have been east of the Gap! There is no apparent reason for this – maps show there were only a handful of bungalows west of Shopsdam, not enough to account for all these besides which the postcard seen earlier showing the bungalow names of some of them (Casita to Homeleigh) is obviously at Widewater. Many of the bungalows in the out of order schedule were destroyed in the 1912 storm but some of them survived as evidenced by the 1912/13 and 1914 directories showing them in the correct sequence/position east of The Gap. The census also clearly includes occupiers’ names as you would have expected to see in 1911. The discrepancy in sequence has therefore been taken as simply being out of order.
Other Sources Very rarely does other documentary evidence come to light to confirm the location of individual bungalows but we are lucky enough to have the 1909 plan shown earlier from a conveyance showing the exact location of neighbouring bungalows Geisha, Dar Es Salaam, Sea Breeze and Esperanza in the western half of Widewater. The number of unnamed plots to the right of these up to the point where the plot sizes decrease matches the number of buildings shown on the 1912 OS map.