Miss James


Marian Julia James, also known as Miss James, was an English philanthropist. She inherited money from a friend and built a house in Hindhead, Surrey. Land she gave to the National Trust is crossed by Miss James' Walk and in 2009, the Miss James footbridge was constructed across the A3 road.

Life

Marian Julia James was born on 7 August 1830. She lived in London, boarding in a house with her mother and Miss Emily Coates. In 1888, James became wealthy when her friend Coates died, leaving her an inheritance of around £80,000. She then moved to Hindhead in Surrey, buying wooded land and building a house called West Down where she lived with the Bulley family. Between 1892 and 1896, architect George Faulkner Armitage constructed the home along with a coach house and stable, dove cots and some cottages for the gardeners. James gave some of the land she had bought to the National Trust, which continues to manage it.

Death and legacy

Miss James died on 10 November 1910. She left an estate of £92,240. Among her bequests, she gave West Down to Margaret Hattersley Bulley. She also gave money to churches, hospitals and the Bramshott Chase Hostel, a place set up for single people to have respite care.
On the land she donated to the National Trust, there is a path called Miss James' Walk through Nutcombe Valley. The Hindhead Tunnel was a project intended to take the regularly congested A3 road away from the edge of the Devil's Punch Bowl, which is a site of Site of Special Scientific Interest. The diverted road ran through the woods close to West Down and cut the Miss James trail in half. From the beginning of the planning process, the National Trust asked for a bridge, a spokesperson saying "We know how important this access between Tyndall's Wood and the rest of Nutcombe Valley will be". The Miss James footbridge was completed in 2009. It is earthed over and intended to provide a crossing point for animals as well as pedestrians and horse riders.