Description

Summary: book, 53 pp pbk guide listing people and houses in Milford, together with map advertisements, and reproductions of watercolours of the area by Colonel Cornwallis-West, Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, 1938

Identification note: In the 1880s William Cornwallis-West of Newlands Manor decided to try to develop Milford into a high-class seaside resort in order to exploit the property he owned on the cliff top with its magnificent views. He wanted to emulate what his friend, the Duke of Westminster, had done at Eastbourne and thereby get himself out of financial difficulties. Plans were made for houses, a hotel, gardens, and a hydropathic establishment, and in preparation roads were laid out and named after the family (Whitby, West, De la Warr, Pless). He placed restrictions on the development to ensure its quality – each plot was ½ - 1 acre and each house should cost at least £1,200. However, the plan never attracted the finance it needed and his vision was never realised. The roads remain though, paying homage to the Cornwallis-West family.