Feeding the horses

'Ghost', a horse near Jacob's Ladder, Bevendean
Photo taken by Sam Carroll

“I like to climb to the top of Jacob’s Ladder and look down at Bevendean. There are these horses at the stables who we like to feed grass. We don’t know their real names but we have named them ourselves. One we have called ‘Ghost’ because it is white and the other ‘Greedyguts’ because it eats a lot. They are very friendly and very big. I like to play army games when we run back down the steps. At home we can sometimes see them in the distance.”

Comments about this page

  • It would appear that ‘your’ Jacobs Ladder are the steps from the Hyde Industrial Estate to Wilson Ave. When I lived in Hornby Road between 1950 and 1977, Jacobs Ladder was the steps from the Avenue up to the old Bevendean Hospital.

    By Geoff Fitch (14/07/2005)
  • Izzy is my friend from the self build as well. I love Jacobs Ladder, it has a stunning view, lovely horses and it’s a breathtaking walk. Highly recomended.

    By Poppy (17/09/2005)
  • I have lived in Jevington Drive since 1987 and we and all our neighbours call the steps that lead down from Jevington Drive to the Avenue, ‘Jacobs ladder’.

    By Sally Shann (16/02/2006)
  • I am a local resident near the ‘Jacobs ladder’ leading to the avenue from Jevington Drive. I am a countryside Management student and about to embark on a project involving the woodland and grassland adjacent to the steps. I would be most interested in any local knowledge/ history of this area. This area is neglected and I would like to see it cleaned up and restored. I would welcome any comments: g.rant@hotmail.com

    By grant riley (22/02/2007)
  • I can also confirm Geoff Fitch’s assertion that Jacon’s Ladder were the steps that ran from The Avenue to Bevendean Hospital. My brother and I would regularly descend from Bevendean Crescent to the Tha Avenue to go and play on these seemingly endless steps! Does anyone remember me from that time?

    By Vernon Page (22/09/2007)
  • The real and only Jacobs Ladder is that which led from Jevington Drive down to Bevendean Ave. It was a great place to play and at night it was really spooky too!
    At the weekends we sometimes helped those that were building their own houses. Weren’t the self-build houses in Jevington Drive? It is so long ago now.

    By Alan Noakes (10/10/2007)
  • My memories of Jacobs Ladder are not quite so good as some. So far back as I can remember, that was the name of those steps. Every Sunday for a long time, I accompanied my mum, dad and the rest of the family via Jacobs Ladder to first, our Johnny’s grave in the cemetery, then about five years later to Stanley’s grave as well. We could ill afford to travel by bus or taxi and it was always a walk along the main road and up The Avenue, up those steps to our destination. The graves gradually deteriorated due to permission having to be given for any type of addition or alteration. Even flowers were observed for their worthwhileness on a grave. I was about nearly 8 by then. I’m writing of the mid 30s.

    By Ron Spicer (03/07/2008)
  • I lived in Lower Bevendean Avenue from 1956 until 1982 and we often climbed Jacob’s Ladder from The Avenue up to the top of Baden Road to catch the number 38 bus. This was before Jevington Drive was built. The other steps from the Hyde to the Race Course were known in my family as ‘The Piggeries’ because there was a pig farm, with its associated odour, near the top.

    By John Goddard (20/04/2009)
  • I was born at 19, Bevendean Crescent in 1939. Jacob’s Ladder was definitely from the Avenue to Bevendean Hospital. When small at Christmas (and many other times) our family, Mum and Dad, Anne, Joan, John and me used to walk from Higher Bevendean, across the Avenue and up the 109 steps, past the Hospital, either through the Cemetery if it was open, or along Tenantry Down past the Allotments to our Cousin’s house in Sandown Road in Elm Grove. Such a long walk for young kids, specially if it was snowing. So I support anyone, as well as me, who knows that it is the true Jacob’s Ladder. The steps up from the Hyde to the Racehill were built so much later in the 1950s. Does anyone remember the Fuszard family?

    By Valerie Woodward (nee Fuszard) (28/12/2009)
  • I lived two houses in from Jacobs Ladder – the Bonner family. It was a great place to live. I am now 55 and when I was 18 I had a girlfriend who lived in Whitehawk. I would walk up Jacobs Ladder through the hospital grounds through the cemetery along Tenantry Down Road over the race course and into Whitehawk to pick her up go back to Bevendean and repeat the same route every evening and on the way back when it was dark I would climb the cemetery wall, run through the cemetry and down the lonely Jacobs Ladder.

    By Carly Bonner (20/09/2012)
  • My sister Bet, with her husband George (Hayes) was part of the self build families which created the bungalows along Heathill Avenue and during that period, with my wife Joy, we visited periodically to witness the progress.   Damned hard going after a full day’s work in all their various occupations by the many who took part but a very proud group. Such a creative exercise often involved serious argument as well as showing the particular choice of numerous minor deviations from the usual design of each bungalow. For instance, George being a builder chose to use black bricks on the bay area of his bungalow and the interior was differently laid out from most of the others.  He also had built a conservatory at the rear. Each time we visited them, usually at a weekend, we chose to also go up Jacob’s Ladder and visit the cemetery area. I couldn’t find a trace of my brother’s graves which had obviously long been disregarded.   

    By Ron Spicer (20/12/2014)
  • The horse pictured above was actually my horse Seabird.

    By Amanda (11/05/2020)
  • Have just discovered this site and am responding to Valerie Fuszard’s comment and question of 28/12/2009.

    Yes Valerie, I went to Moulsecoomb Senior Girls school with your sister Joan….we were in the same senior class of 4A and although we were never ‘close’ (the class had over 40 pupils!) I always admired her for her total devotion to being an incredible swimmer…I believe…. if I remember correctly, she swam for the school team!. Fond memories of school ….we had excellent teachers ….although at the time most of us did not fully appreciate them!.
    I’m hoping Valerie, that you are able to receive this comment, being that it is almost eleven years since you made yours!.

    Ann(nee Maryan).

    By annlittleton(neemaryan) (15/06/2020)

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