52

Near the northern edge of the graveyard is the tomb of Louisa Martha Mead - unusual for specifying her home: 'The Granary Dean Court Road' - only metres away.

Later known to her family as 'Aunt Loo', she was born in Hertfordshire but spent most of her adult life in London. However in early 1924 Louisa, one of four daughters of successful flour miller Edward Mead and his wife Martha, heard of the redevelopment of Rottingdean Court Farm by Charles Neville (see Grave [47]) - the developer of the town of Peacehaven a few years earlier. She paid an initial deposit of £95 for an old stable building that was being converted into a semi-detached cottage by one of Neville's companies. She intended to use it as a holiday home, which was already named 'The Granary' in receipt of a second instalment in March of 1924. The final cost of the property was the grand sum of £950 (around £45,000 in today's money) - the final conveyance of June 1924 being signed by Neville's wife Dorothy as the named vendor.

_{An early photo of The Granary in Dean Court Road}

Even though she continued to live most of her life in Kensington, London (including during WWII) her family would often spend holidays with her in Rottingdean from the 1920s to her death - while at The Granary - in 1946.

In the picture below you can see the 1939 England & Wales register which shows Louisa resident at The Granary, with a listed occupation of 'Unpaid domestic duties'- along with an Eliza Dawson who is recorded as being a housekeeper.