3-085-909 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Hermitage," club-house of the Surrey Golf Club, destroyed by fire, 1898. 'By one of life's ironies which north Surrey golfers are very far from considering "little," the charming old house at Norbury, known as "The Hermitage," has been completely destroyed by fire, just as it was assuming the transformed character of Club-House. Formerly known to fame as the rural retreat of the late Jenny Hill, the famous music-hall artist who elected to be endeared to her public as "The Vital Spark," this curious old property was lately acquired by the North Surrey Golf Club, whose work of elaborate renovation had all but completed a delightful club-house within the wooden walls of The Hermitage. The fire broke out in a new building erected for club purposes against the original structure, and by the time the fire-engines arrived from Croydon and other neighbouring stations the inflammable woodwork of the older structure was past saving'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.