The building of St Oswald’s was originally called Petersfield House. While the exact age of building is unknown, its documented history extends to the mid-19th century.
James Wheatley and his wife Charlotte (née Gates) ran a school from the premises soon after getting married locally in 1839. Their lives were not without challenges, with James reportedly spending time in jail and not paying rent as necessary. The Title Deeds were purportedly destroyed in a fire within Petersfield House, shortly before James was admitted to Sussex County Lunatic Asylum. Miraculously this fire was contained to the rear of the building, signs of which can be seen today. James died in care on the 3rd May 1878. His wife Charlotte who had acted as head mistress died less than one year after him. The estate passed in its entirety to his only living child, who was also called James Wheatly (Jr). Thus, ending the use of Petersfield House as a school.
It is unclear whether James Wheatly (Jr) resided in the property himself. Records reveal that he entered a 7-year lease agreement with an Isabella D Meiklam in 1905, with the property being leased to a Miss Emily Challen before that. James Wheatly (Jr) passed on the 23rd Feb 1906. He left the property to Midhurst Church School, who placed the property up for auction at the Angel. It was sold for £450 to John Mudge Furneaux, a solicitor for Midhurst Council. It appears that John chose not to sell the property until the protected lease period had expired, as this is exactly what he did in 1912 for a sum of £600.
The new owner of Petersfield House was John Charles Holland (born 1866), a registered dentist who completed his training in 1894 at the University of Edinburgh. Mortgage records show in 1911 he was practising out of York House, just across the road. His grandson tells us the move to Petersfield House was to accommodate his family and the practise within one building. Holland and his wife Kate Elizabeth (née Hayward), renamed their new home “St Oswald’s” after St Oswald’s Church in Owestry, Shropshire, where the pair had married on the 20th August 1895. Their fifth (and final) child was born here in February 1915.
In 1931, John Holland suffered a stroke and decided to retire, he sold the property to Charles Pearce Crodacott Sargent for £1000. Little is known of Charles Sargent, except that he sold St Oswald’s to John Gilbert Richards (known as Gil) in 1959. On an unknown date Gil sold the practice goodwill while retaining ownership of the property. Mark Thomas Coppen purchased the practice goodwill from a dentist called Rex Pitt in 1982, before purchasing the property from Gil in 1987.
Mark since expanded the dental practice so that it fills all 3 floors, providing 4 modern surgeries and 2 waiting rooms to our patients.
In 2020 Mark went into partnership with his son, Edward Coppen. The practice has expanded further thanks to the conversion of an out-house into a modern dental hygiene suite. St Oswald’s is now very fortunate to be a 5-surgery dental practice with an ideal centre of town location.
