Kirsty Warren
Lindfield history pages
Lindfield history pages

Lindfield History

Lindfield history pages

We launched a Lindfield History book in June 2024! Life in Lindfield is written and compiled by Lindfield History Project Group and published by us (Kipper Life/Lindfield Life). You can buy copies of the book here, via our online store. Otherwise, please read on…

Articles published in:

2023

  • Lindfield History Project Group received a parcel containing hundreds of invoices dated between 1834 and 1835, for shopping and services supplied to the Tuppen household. Click here to learn about shopping in Lindfield’s history.

  • What is the connection between a car company, the theory of flight, an English university, the laws of combat, the concept of quality management and Walstead Burial Ground? The answer is Frederick William Lanchester. Click here to read more.

  • On Lindfield High Street in 1914, there were five public houses all selling beer obtained from commercial breweries, mostly in Brighton and Lewes. But one hundred years earlier, the village’s pubs were either brewing their own beer or being supplied by The Lindfield Brewery. Click here to read more.

  • The 3rd June 1953 was declared Coronation Day. To organise the celebrations in Lindfield, an Executive Committee with eight members was established. Click here to read all about the celebrations around Lindfield.

  • How much has the High Street changed in 100 years? This article compares the High Street in 1923 with today.

  • The previous article compared the west side of the High Street in 1923 with 2023; in this article we journey down the eastern side. Click here to read on.

  • Read here, all about the WWII submarine that disappeared without a trace and its connection to Lindfield.


2022

  • Click here to find out all about when, In 1899, the Lindfield Parish Council decided to form a volunteer fire brigade to provide fire cover for the parish.

  • To help the poor, between 1563 and 1601 the Government enacted legislation that provided a framework for the provision of poor relief by parishes. Click here to find out how Lindfield helped its poorer residents.

  • How has Lindfield celebrated royal events in the past? Click here to learn all about them.

  • Click here to read a continuation of the history of Lindfield’s royal celebrations.

  • In late 1921, an enterprising woman, Gladys Van Weede established - as sole proprietor - The Rainbow Pottery Company, trading from an outbuilding behind Abbotts Pharmacy on the High Street. Click here to read all about it.

  • From 1680 or earlier, three generations of the Neale family were innkeepers of the White Lion inn in Lindfield; later renamed the Bent Arms. Click here to read more.

  • Click here to find out all about Lindfield’s almost railway station.

  • If you or a family member have lived in Lindfield for many years, it would not be surprising if tucked away at the bottom of a drawer, or in an old album, there is a photograph by William Marchant. Click here to learn all about him.


2021

  • Ever wondered what Lindfield pond looked like in 1865? Click here to see and learn a little about the photo.

  • Click here to find out all about when the censuses started and what can they tell us about our village in years past.

  • Click here to find out all about the piano factory that was thriving in Victorian Lindfield.

  • This article looks at Lindfield fair through history.

  • Where have the Lindfield clergy resided in centuries past? Click here to find out.

  • Click here to find out all about Lindfield’s connection to Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame and how John Bent gave his name to The Bent Arms.

  • This article explores another of Lindfield’s black history connections. The story begins with Francis Smith senior in Nevis, an island in the Eastern Caribbean. Click here to read more.

2020

  • The war had a dramatic effect on every aspect of life on the Home Front, to learn about Lindfield during this time, click here.

  • It is said that a village pub is the heart of the community. Click here to learn all about the pubs of Lindfield.

  • Here is part two of an in depth look at the pubs of Lindfield and their history.

  • Lindfield has often been described as possessing an ‘historic High Street’, due to the attractive and varied architectural styles of buildings lining the road, but what is the history of the road itself? Find out more here.

  • In the first days of May 1945, there was great expectation that the war would soon be over. Click here to find out more.

  • Although Lindfield School was established in 1881, its lineage can be traced back to William Allen in 1825. Click here to read all about it.

  • This article looks at Lindfield School between 1900 and 2000.

  • Residents have shared their memories with us from their time at Lindfield Primary School. Click here to read all about them.

  • The meeting place is stated as, ‘Society shall meet at the House of Thomas Finch, at the sign of the Tiger in Lindfield Town’. To learn all about the society and The Tiger click here.

2019

  • Did you know Lindfield had a castle? This was surrounded by a broad moat which joined to the river through gaps in the outer earthworks. Outside a ditch linked to a stream entirely surrounded the castle. Click here to read more.

  • In common with much of Lindfield, its origins can be traced back to Saxon times, when the lands are first mentioned in the copy charter dated 765. Learn more here.

  • All Saints Church at the top of the High Street was built in the 1300s in the Perpendicular style. Click here to learn all about it.

  • Lindfield was once little more than a high street with a few roads. Read here, the amazing transformation over the years.

  • A grand house with its origins in Elizabethan times, is perhaps an unlikely location for the founding of a revolution in education. Read Bedales history here.

  • During the first three quarters of the last century horticultural businesses thrived in and around Lindfield providing much employment. Read all about it here.

  • Until the early part of the 19th century, burial facilities were mainly provided by the Church of England in parish churchyards. Click here to find out why Walstead has its own burial ground.

  • It could be said that Lindfield is defined by the Common and Pond. To learn about their history, click here.

  • In 1938, Cuckfield Urban District Council, the local authority responsible for Lindfield, commenced planning for an evacuation. Click here to learn all about the children and the local families that took them in.

  • Does any other community have a bakery that traded continuously from the same premises for 223 years? Click here to learn all about the history of Lindfield’s oldest bakery.

  • Learn all about the history of Christmas traditions and how they’ve changed by clicking here.

2018

  • For eight hundred years much of the land in and around Lindfield formed the Manor of South Malling. Read more to find out how King Henry VIII changed all this.

  • Today nothing exists of the West Common and you would be forgiven for thinking the area completely lacks historical interest. However, there is always more to the story…

  • The land east of the High Street demonstrates the change and growth over 120 years which has helped to create today’s thriving community. Click here for more information.

  • Gravelye Lane for centuries was merely a track providing access to a couple of farmsteads and Northlands Wood. Find out what changed here.

  • At the top of the village, stands the grandiose and private Old Place that is largely obscured from view. Perhaps in a strange way, the property goes almost unnoticed when passing by. Learn here what it’s all about.

  • From the mid 1800s until about 60 years ago Lindfield was virtually encircled by big houses and their grounds. This article looks at two of these houses.

  • Mention ‘The Bent’ in Lindfield and one immediately thinks of The Bent Arms, but who was Bent and where did he live? Find out more here.

  • Lindfield’s The Old Forge is today, the home of Happy Feet Boutique children’s shoe shop, but how old is old? Click here to find out.

  • Lindfield Women’s Institute was established in June 1917. Activities included instruction in cooking, food economy, growing food crops, sewing and renovating old clothes. All that and more made these lovely ladies a beacon in struggling times. Read on to remember them.

  • News of the Armistice, bringing to an end the fighting, took time to spread and was not widely received until the following day. People needed to read it to believe it was true. Read here to see how locals celebrated.

  • Initial thoughts on a memorial for the village, as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by local men, were first expressed in early 1919. Click here to learn more.

  • When did you last stand on Lindfield Bridge and look at the river? The dark, slow flowing water passes through private land with no public access, perhaps making it Lindfield’s hidden and forgotten river. Click here for more.

2017

  • Long before our smooth roads, horses had the hard job of pulling heavy carriages over all sorts of surfaces. Julius Guy, a Lindfield carriage builder, set about finding a way to improve the suspension and so much more. Read about this local hero today.

  • Worcester Sauce became popular in the 1840/50s and is still widely used. Today, instead of asking for Worcester sauce, you could have been asking for Lindfield Sauce had its makers had the business acumen of Mr Lea and Mr Perrin. Click here for more.

  • In the Mid Sussex Times in 1913 was: ‘As the result of a public reading at the Haywards Heath Corn Exchange, Dickens was able to hand £100 to the then Vicar of Lindfield ‘. But who wrote to the Times and why was Dickens handing over so much cash? Click here to find out.

  • Lindfield parish church had been in a poor state of repair for years. The problems stemmed from the church receiving very little money. Find out how Reverend Francis Hill Sewell saved the church.

  • A newspaper report in August 1861 commented that the school was ‘among the finest educational structures in Sussex.’ To find out more click here.

  • There were very few days during The Great War that determined how future land battles across the world would be fought; a son of Lindfield played a leading role in one such day. Please read on to find out more about our local hero.

  • Mention The Welkin to Lindfield residents today and it conjures up images of the houses with their neat gardens and well maintained grounds in the area behind the High Street and north of Hickmans Lane. Find out more here.

  • The name Finches does not derive from a Victorian country mansion. It is much older in origin dating back to a farm that existed in medieval times, with perhaps the land being farmed a thousand years ago. Click here for more.

  • This article explores the early history of the area and how Lindfield as we know it today came about. The first recorded reference to Lindfield is in a Saxon charter dated 765! Click here for more.

Lindfield's old sauce to rival Lee and Perrins

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Lea & Perrin’s Worcester Sauce is perhaps one of the world’s best known sauces. First marketed in 1837, it became popular in the 1840/50s and is now widely used in cooking, as a condiment and, of course, an essential part of a Bloody Mary. Today, instead of asking for Worcester sauce you could have been asking for Lindfield Sauce had its makers had the business acumen of Mr Lea and Mr Perrin.

According to a Lindfield Sauce bottle label dated about 1880, it was:

  • Prepared by the late Charles Mills

  • Used at the Coronation Banquet of George IV held on 19th July 1821

  • Currently being made by Mrs Mills of Lindfield

  • A flavouring for chops, steak, poultry, fish cold meat, etc.

  • ‘Pronounced by Savans and Epicures to be the Best English Sauce extant’

These claims warrant further investigation. The recipe for Lindfield Sauce still exists and is held by a descendant of the Mills family. The main ingredients included are vinegar, onions, sugar, soy sauce, cayenne pepper and spices. It has to be matured in casks for at least two years before being usable, and is said to be similar in character to Worcestershire sauce.

Who were the Mills family and what was their connection with Lindfield? In the latter part of the 1700s, George Mills, a blacksmith and cooper in Lindfield, had a son named Simon. It appears Simon Mills joined the army as a young man, serving in the Peninsular War, being present at the battle of Oporto in May 1809, as a sergeant in the 24th Regiment of Foot Guards. He is next found in 1815 in Pembroke, with his wife Ann where she gave birth to a son, Charles, and later a second son, Simon.

The first identified record of Simon Mills, Senior, returning to Lindfield is an entry in the 30th April 1831 Poor Tax return. The entry identifies Simon Mills as the owner of the Red Lion, which at that time was located in the house today called ‘Porters’. However, in 1833, Simon Mills moved the Red Lion next door to the newly built and current Red Lion building. Following his death in 1839, the property passed to his widow Ann Mills and on her death to their sons, Charles and Simon, inherited the inn. During the early years of the 1850s, Charles Mills took over as the innkeeper, a role he held until selling the Red Lion in 1869. He then moved with his second wife, Mary, and their children down the High Street, to the middle cottage of what are today known as Bank Cottages (near the junction with Lewes Road).
The 1880 label refers to it being prepared by ‘the late Charles Mills’ so presumably during the 1850s and 1860s he was making Lindfield Sauce at the Red Lion and storing it in the cellar until matured. However, other than the label, no written evidence has been found specifically linking Charles Mills or the Red Lion with the manufacture of the sauce. It is reasonable to believe Charles Mills was making the sauce at the cottage prior to his death in 1873, when ownership of the ‘brand’ and preparation passed to his widow. Mrs Mary Mills is listed in the 1881 Census as a widow aged 49 years; with the occupation ‘Sauce Proprietor’. She continued living at the cottage until her death.

Looking at the claim regarding its use, as a matured sauce it would have been suitable to add to meats and fish for extra flavour. The statement being ‘Pronounced by Savans and Epicures to be the Best English Sauce extant’, sounds flowery and extravagant but it is reflective of the advertising language used in Victorian times. Adverts for a similar rich matured sauce, Thorn’s Tally Ho Sauce, likewise proclaimed ‘So long patronised by Epicures .... pronounced it exquisite’. However the Lindfield Sauce pronouncement is not without foundation, as the sauce was not merely sold in the village but supplied to fashionable addresses in London and presumably elsewhere in the country.

One eminent regular purchaser, between 1882 and 1888, was Wilkie Collins, the famous Victorian author. He was well known for his fondness of food and good living. A letter written under his own hand from Portman Square, London, in November 1882, acknowledging safe delivery of a supply, says ‘we will do all we can to recommend it’. In another letter that year, Wilkie Collins asks Mrs Mills to send a very old friend ‘at your convenience - with account, half a dozen bottles, of your sauce, which he likes very much’. In placing an order for six bottles in June 1888, Wilkie Collins refers to it as ‘her excellent sauce’.

Similarly, there are orders for 6 and 18 bottles at a time from a purchaser, with an unreadable signature, living at Cavendish Square, London. Certainly during the 1880s, Mrs Mills had a thriving mail order business for Lindfield Sauce and her claim for it being regarded by ‘Epicures’ does not seem farfetched.

The reference to Lindfield Sauce being used at the Coronation Banquet of George IV is more problematic. An enquiry to the Royal Archive elicited the response that hundreds of dishes were served at the vast banquet and it is possible Lindfield Sauce was used as an ingredient in one of the hot or cold dishes, but they do not have the recipes. They further said, ‘sauce boats were used at the banquet but unfortunately it does not say what the sauces were – perhaps one of them was Lindfield Sauce’.

So was the claim that the sauce was used at the royal banquet true or just a clever piece of Victorian marketing for a sauce invented by Charles Mills after selling the Red Lion? If it is indeed true, then Lindfield Sauce predates the similar Worcestershire sauce by many years. It also raises the questions, what are its origins, who was making it in 1821 and where? Could it have been Simon Mills, Senior, but he was not known to have been in Lindfield in the 1820s. Perhaps we will never know the truth.

What we do know is that the production of Lindfield Sauce in the village had ceased by the early 1890s and Mary Mills died in March 1895.

If readers have any information that will help solve this mystery please get in touch.

First published in May 2017 Lindfield Life.

Humphrey's Bakery

Richard Humphrey standing outside the shop

By Richard Bryant with Janet Bishop and John Mills, Lindfield History Project Group

The August (2019) local history article in Lindfield Life explained that the Common and Pond uniquely defined Lindfield and challenged that similar features could not be identified elsewhere in the country. It would be remiss not to pay tribute to another Lindfield icon, Humphrey’s Bakery, about which a similar claim could be made. Namely, does any other community have a bakery that traded continuously from the same premises for 223 years?

At 65 High Street, Humphrey’s shop front proudly proclaims the bakery was ‘Established 1796’. Perhaps equally remarkable, it has been run by only three families since that date. Having regard to the bakery’s history, it is appropriately located in one of Lindfield’s oldest medieval buildings; Humphrey’s, Bower House and Carriers were all constructed between 1300 and 1343. Its age is evidenced by the massive arched timber framing on the building’s northern side, into which, rather quirkily, three tiny windows have been cut. When viewed from the street it will be seen that Humphrey’s shop is the cross wing of No 63 High Street, known as Wyncote. This is also of medieval date, although its age is not apparent having been re-fronted.

The early history of the building is yet to be fully discovered. However, a receipt document dated 1453, found during redecoration in the late 1940s, states the property was then occupied by ‘Thomas atte Ree’, probably a farmer. He was paying rent of seven marks per quarter to his Lord of the Manor, the Dean of the College of Canons, South Malling. A mark was a unit of currency with a value of about 67p.

Returning to the bakery business, John Meads (1759–1826), a baker, first appeared in Lindfield parish records in December 1791, when with his wife, Ann, their daughter, Mary Ann, was baptised at the parish church. In 1793, he took on a William Murrell as his apprentice. John Meads appears again in the Poor Rate records as a ratepayer from 1797 at Humphrey’s, which he rented from Thomas Blaker, a cordwainer. Accordingly, the claim that the bakery business at 65 High Street was established in 1796 is fully justified.

By the time of John Meads’ death in November 1826 he owned both Humphrey’s and Wyncote, having bought them from Thomas Blaker. Under the terms of John Meads’ will, his wife Ann inherited all his property and goods. She continued to run the business until about 1838, when control passed to her daughter Sarah Smith and husband Edward Smith, also a baker. Ann Meads lived with Edward and Sarah Smith in the house until her death. In 1844 Edward Smith bought the business and property from her executors for £500. During their marriage John and Ann Meads had nine children. Together with some of their children, they are buried in All Saints’ northern church yard. His headstone forlornly reads:

Afflictions sore long time I bore
Physicians were in vain
Till death did cease and God
Did to please to ease my pain

Their extended family became involved in many businesses up and down Lindfield High Street. Edward and Sarah Smith and other family members ran the bakery business for some 40 years. The property was sold around 1883 to Henry Gasston, a local miller. It is at this time the eponymous Richard Humphrey appears. Richard Humphrey senior was born Brighton in 1855. The Mid Sussex Times noted ‘as a boy he was employed on the same premises by the late Mr Smith, who was widely known for his gingerbreads and brandy snaps. Mr Humphrey assisted in making vast quantities for the Lindfield Fairs’. Subsequently, as a Master Baker, he worked as a bread and biscuit maker in Haywards Heath. On returning to Lindfield, in October 1883, Richard Humphrey senior entered into an agreement with Henry Gasston to rent the shop and dwelling (65 High Street) for £45 per year. Likewise his son Richard, also working in the business, rented the adjoining Wyncote, which at that time housed the bakery.

An advertisement in Clarke’s 1884 Directory announced ‘R Humphrey, fancy bread and biscuit maker, pastry cook and confectioner, High Street, Lindfield. Brown and home-made bread. Families waited on daily at Haywards Heath’. Henry Gasston, as owner of both properties, in 1896 built the first detached bakehouse replacing the bakery in Wyncote. When Henry Gasston sold the properties to Richard Humphrey, senior, in 1912, this facility was described in the sale particulars as ‘Bakehouse and Flour Room, fitted with Webber’s 8-bushel Iron Oven, and Truck Shed, Stable for three horses, Van and Cart Shed, W.C., and Manure Pit. Well of Water.’.
Richard Humphrey senior and junior were still listed as running the business in early 1940. Following his father’s death in March that year, Richard junior took control but sadly died less than two years later.

Richard Humphrey senior had been well respected and active in Lindfield, having served on many local committees and as a Parish Councillor. Like his father, Richard junior was a keen cricketer playing regularly for Lindfield Cricket Club. Consequent upon the Humphreys’ death, Clayton Wiles took over the bakery, having previously been a Master Baker and Confectioner in Guildford. He ran the business throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. Following his passing in 1968, his son, David Wiles, took over the running of the bakery, having worked with his father for many years.

The name Humphrey’s has continued and the beautiful old style shop front retained, but one major change was made. The modern bakehouse we see today replaced the old 1896 building. Unfortunately the bakery closed this summer, it is understood, due to ill health. The Wiles family having provided excellent service to Lindfield for the past 77 years. There cannot be a resident, of any age, in Lindfield who has not enjoyed bread, cakes, pastries or a snack baked by David Wiles, our Master Baker. His doughnuts are legendary – thank you. The community can only hope a bakery of similar quality will continue the 223 years of tradition established by the Meads/Smith, Humphrey and Wiles families.

Contact Lindfield History Project Group on 01444 482136 or visit https://lindfieldhistoryproject.group/

Lindfield’s hidden horticultural industry

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

During the first three quarters of the last century horticultural businesses thrived in and around Lindfield providing much employment. The demand for house building land, the rise of garden centres, large scale commercial growing and other local employment opportunities contributed to their demise. Before it became Linden Grove, the land had been used as a nursery. First in about 1906, it became home to the Orchid Nursery run by Andreas Jensen, who imported and grew orchids in a range of heated glasshouses. After the Great War he sold his entire stock of 16,000 orchids by auction. The nursery was then taken over by Christopher Jupp and traded as Phurah Nurseries growing summer bedding plants, pot plants and vegetable plants for over four decades.
Another nursery that began early in the 1900s was located behind the houses in Compton Road, in what today is the Tollgate car park. Like Phurah Nurseries it had a range of glasshouses and cold frames. According to Ordnance Survey maps it had disappeared by around 1950. The owner or what was grown is not known and if you have any information about this nursery please do get in touch. The name Appledore Gardens suggests the road and houses were built on what might previously have been a market garden or an orchard, but again information has not been found. However it is known that nearby French Gardens took its name from a small market garden business of that name established on the land by the French brothers in the early decades of the twentieth century. It specialised in growing salad crops under glass, for sale at market and by greengrocers until the mid 1960s.

The largest nursery in Lindfield was Box’s, a name perhaps better known in recent decades for the butchers and greengrocers in the High Street. Their land stretched from behind the High Street, Lewes Road, and Luxford Road up to the line of Brushes Lane, north of today’s Dukes Road. Originally this land comprised four fields, Great Tainter, Upper Tainter, Lower Tainter and Farm Mead. It is said the Tainter names were derived from tenter, as in tenterhooks, being the frames used in processing flax to become cloth that stood in the fields in centuries past. Like the other nurseries, it opened around 1900 and continued until the land was sold for the expansion of Lindfield. At its peak up to 50 men were employed in growing trees, shrubs and perennial plants. The Box Nursery regularly won prestigious awards at major horticultural shows.

In 1935, Frederick Smith, an employee at Box’s, acquired an adjoining field, off Luxford Road, and established his own nursery. His speciality was roses and he had a stock of over 4,000 bushes. With the advent of the blackout in World War II everyone needed a torch. To meet the demand for batteries Frederick Smith established a small factory employing 12 women in a shed on his nursery to make ‘No 8 batteries’. Smith’s Nursery (Lindfield) Ltd closed in 1976 and the land became Harvest Close.

Nearby, also in the mid 1930s, a Mr Slack purchased the land to the east of Eastern Road, behind Noahs Ark Cottage in Lewes Road, with plans to develop the site to primarily grow mushrooms. Lindfield Nurseries Ltd came into existence although locally it was better known as the ‘Mushroom Factory’. It was a major undertaking, with eight 90 feet long windowless growing sheds, a packing shed and a covered yard plus ancillary buildings. Each growing shed comprised three rows of growing beds that ran the length of the building, with the beds having four tiers. Manure was delivered from farms and stables, but had to be well rotted before it could be used. On becoming rotted it was transferred to the covered yard, known as the turning shed, where it was constantly turned until ready for use as the base for the growing beds, and topped with compost or soil.
To ensure a constant supply of mushrooms the sheds were used in rotation. The filled beds when sown with mushroom spores did not take long to germinate in the dark, humid conditions maintained in the shed. In a matter of weeks the mushrooms could be harvested and sent to the packing shed for grading and packing. At peak times, up to three tons a week were despatched to market. When each crop had finished the beds had to be emptied and refilled ready for the next crop cycle. The spent mushroom compost was transferred to the market garden section of the nursery, adjacent to the sheds, where it was used to grow rhubarb and salad crops. After a few years Mr Slack sold the business and shortly after it changed hands again when it was bought by the Filmer brothers. The business continued to trade successfully until the late 1960s and following closure, the land became the Noahs Ark Lane housing development.

Towards Lindfield parish’s eastern boundary in Sluts Lane, latterly renamed Snowdrop Lane, and close to the Inn was Snowdrop Gardens, a nursery specialising in summer bedding plants, fruit and vegetables, run for many years by Mr H Cross and his son. On nearby Lyoth Common was the site of Charlesworth & Company’s renowned orchid nursery. Joseph Charlesworth while involved with the Yorkshire wool trade had pursued the cultivation of orchids as a hobby. In 1886, he decided to convert his hobby into a business opening an orchid nursery in Bradford. His passion was to create hybrid orchids and to obtain new varieties, he toured South America collecting new species and studied how they grew naturally. The nursery quickly prospered and Joseph Charlesworth decided to open a small nursery at Valebridge, Burgess Hill, to compare how growing orchids in the milder climate of Sussex compared with Yorkshire.
The results were very favourable and Joseph Charlesworth, in the early years of the 1900s, moved his entire orchid business to a new site at Lyoth Common. This nursery became a major and renowned grower of a large range of hybrid orchids which were exhibited at major horticultural shows, winning many awards. Examples of ‘Charlesworth’ varieties found their way into all major collections and continue to feature to this day.

A significant number of young Lindfield men found employment at the nursery. At the outbreak of the Great War, Joseph Charlesworth, as a proud patriot, offered his young employees a bounty of five pounds and guaranteed re-employment if they volunteered to join the Army. Sadly, not all who served ‘King and Country’ returned. Following Joseph Charlesworth’s death in 1920, aged 68, the company continued for a further 50 years.

In 1971, McBean’s Nursery at Cooksbridge, near Lewes acquired the stock and business of Charlesworth & Co. Resulting from the acquired collection, McBean’s produced two new hybrid orchids, Royal Wedding and Royal Occasion, which were proudly supplied for the wedding bouquet of HRH Diana, Princess of Wales. Like most of the other nurseries, on its demise growing gave way to housing although its past usage is recognised in the names Charlesworth Park and Orchid Park in nearby Northlands Wood development.

Contact Lindfield History Project Group on 01444 482136 or visit https://lindfieldhistoryproject.group/

Along Gravelye Lane, Lindfield to America

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group 

Cottages at The Colony

Gravelye Lane for centuries was merely a track providing access to a couple of farmsteads and Northlands Wood; then in the nineteenth century it became the route from Lindfield to America! There are more points of historic interest along the lane than you might think. 

Almost immediately after turning from Lewes Road into Gravelye Lane, on land now Grey Alders and Kidbrook, the Dowager Countess of Tankerville, while living at The Welkin, opened a laundry in 1902. It was run on charitable lines to provide work and a home for women in difficult circumstances struggling to regain their character through honest labour. The laundry home called ‘Quinta’ provided accommodation for thirty female workers. The laundry was taken over by the Salvation Army in 1912 until 1922 when it became a business trading as the Mid Sussex Steam Laundry. A particular feature of the laundry was its 74ft high chimney. Not only was this a local landmark it also housed the ‘start and stop work’ hooter. Many villagers used to set their watches by the hooter such was the accuracy of the time signal. On closing in 1972 the buildings were demolished and the houses built. 

Mid Sussex Laundry

Further up Gravelye Lane on the left-hand side is a small property sign bearing the name Criplands. The first identified mention of the name is in the Will of William Neale, dated 1625, in which he leaves lands and a house called Cripses, later known as Cripland, to his brother, John Neale. On his death the land is inherited by his second son Nycholas Neale. The Neale family had a lengthy connection with Lindfield as butchers and farmers. Cripland farm passed through several generations before eventually leaving the family. 

In 1742 it was purchased by Nicholas Tanner, a mariner from Brighton, and his wife. At this time the farm comprised a house, two barns, two gardens, an orchard and 30 acres of land and was rented by a Ralph Comber. A series of complex transactions followed until October 1744, when Cripland was purchased by John Dutton and his wife. At this point the Cripland story takes a twist. 

In the eighteenth century there was no effective treatment for smallpox which often resulted in death. At best an outbreak could be contained through isolating sufferers in a pest house. In 1716 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, recently recovered from smallpox, accompanied her husband to Constantinople where she discovered that in Turkey healthy people were deliberately being infected with smallpox. They were inoculated with a small amount of pus and then kept in isolation to avoid the risk of spreading the disease. She introduced the concept of inoculation as protection against smallpox to Britain. Gradually the procedure was adopted by a number of pioneering doctors.
One such doctor was John Dutton who practiced in Lindfield in the late 1730s and is thought to have lived at Bower House. He may have been using part of the premises as a Pest House. In Easter1741‘John Dutton, Churgeon’ (surgeon) had agreed with the Parish Overseers to ‘supply the Poor (of Lindfield) with physic and Chyrurgery’ for a year and in May 1742 entered into a longer-term agreement to do the same for £4 4s per year, and £1 1s extra ‘in case small pox should happen to break out’. 

In March 1744, John Dutton and his wife Elizabeth purchased Cripland and established it as a Pest House. Around this time he started to inoculate people in the village with smallpox pus. This caused great consternation to the inhabitants of Lindfield. As a consequence, Dr Dutton was required to stop this practice and enter into a £600 bond with a term of 60 years payable should he recommence inoculations. 

It is understood that Dr Dutton complied with the undertaking and subsequently sold the Pest House and accompanying land to John Verrall in February 1767. However, the property continued to be known as Pest House Farm until the late 1880s when it reverted to Cripland Farm when sold by John Verrall. 

In 1898, Henry and Ellen Howorth purchased part of the farm’s land on which they built Cripland Court in 1905, a spacious 12 bedroomed country house with colonial style balconies to the rear together with staff accommodation, a range of stables and outbuildings. 

Following the death of her husband in 1907 the property was put up for sale. A tenancy agreement with option to purchase dated 15th November 1911 was entered into with Alexander Howden, a Ship Broker in the City of London. The purchase was completed in 1913. Following Alexander Howden’s death in 1914 and his widow eight years later, the property was sold in 1922 to Granville Bevan. It remained in the ownership of Mr & Mrs Bevan for some thirty years. 

Granville Bevan died in November 1950 and Cripland Court was placed on the market in 1952, being sold to Bishop & Sons Depositories Ltd in December 1953 who used it as a furniture store until the main house was demolished in the 1960s. 

Cripland Court

Almost opposite Cripland Court stood Gravelye Farm, continuing up the lane and shortly before the junction with Lyoth Lane stands Gravelye House.
In the early decades of the 1800s across the country there was much poverty amongst agricultural labourers, many were in fact paupers, placing great demand on a parish’s poor relief. William Allen, an eminent chemist, Quaker philanthropist and social reformer, thought
it would be possible to reduce poverty by providing them with an independent means of support, thus reducing their reliance on the parish. His solution was to establish colonies of cottages with allotments. In the late 1820s, Lindfield was chosen as a parish worthy for this experiment, as poverty was rife. William Allen was helped by his friend John Smith MP of Madehurst who purchased 100 acres in the Gravelye area and placed some of this land at Allen’s disposal for creation of a trial colony. Smith also built Gravelye House for William Allen’s use when visiting Lindfield. At around the same time Allen established the School of Industry on Blackhill to educate boys and girls from poor families. 

The land selected by William Allen was down a track beside Gravelye House, close to today’s Hanbury Stadium, where he built 12 dwellings, six modest single storey thatched cottages each with an acre and a quarter of land, rented at 2s weekly, and adjacent were six larger cottages with the same amount of land at 2s 6d weekly. Additionally in Gravelye Lane he built three pairs of semi-detached two storey houses with supporting land at 3s a week. 

The cottages immediately became known by some as The Colony and by others as America, thought to have derived from the idea of a land of promise for settlers, and later as Gravelye Cottages. The America name endured for the area and appears on old Ordnance Survey maps and the track beside Gravelye House to the cottages took the name America Lane. America is reflected in other road names today. Hanbury Stadium is named after William Allen’s business partner, the business growing into the pharmaceutical manufacturer Allen & Hanbury Ltd now absorbed with GlaxoSmithKline. 

William Allen required tenants to be industrious men with large families. Additional land could be rented if needed, and guidance and small loans were provided for the purchase of seeds, fertiliser and a pig or cow. The expectation was that the labourer would cultivate his allotment in addition to working for a local farmer. Locally in the short term it was a success, as no family went on parish relief after moving to The Colony. However, the colony concept did not provide a feasible national solution. After William Allen’s death in 1843 the Gravelye estate was sold and the colony concept ceased. All the dwellings were condemned and demolished in the 1940s and 1950s. 

Lindfield houses - Bentswood

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Oathall Place

Mention ‘The Bent’ in Lindfield and one immediately, thinks of The Bent Arms, but who was Bent and where did he live?

When John Bent arrived in Lindfield in 1815 the parish boundary went way beyond its present limits. In December that year he made his first purchase in the area when he bought Oat Hall from Warden Sergison’s estate. He subsequently increased Oat Hall’s land by buying a neighbouring cottage and a few acres of newly enclosed land on West Common to create parkland. He resided in Oat Hall until around 1830 when he demolished it and built a new house, Oathall Place, which stands to this day at the bottom of Oathall Road, Haywards Heath.

How did John Bent acquire the money to buy Oat Hall and build such a grand house? His maternal family were tradesmen at Ashburton, Devon, where he was born on 27th March 1776. He became the MP for Sligo from 1818 to 1820. When being put forward for this seat. John Bent was described as being ‘a commissioner in Demerara’, A British Colony since 1814 on the north coast of South America, famous for its sugar. From 1820 until 1826 he was the MP for Totnes, Devon. According to the ‘History of Parliament’, John Bent ‘certainly had money, was known in the City and invested substantially in landed property in the Lindfield and Cuckfield areas of Sussex’.

The 1817 Slaves Register of the Slave Compensation Commission, a government body set up to pay compensation to slave owners consequent upon the abolition of slavery, shows John Bent as the proprietor of Plantation Vrouw Anna in British Guiana which he sold and mortgaged back to the new owner. He put in a claim for £14,000 for slaves on the plantation but did not receive compensation as they were regarded part of the new owner’s mortgage security. Clearly, John Bent had been involved with and profited from the slave trade. He was involved in a scandal in 1825 relating to a mining company in Ireland and was found not to have been fraudulent but imprudent. However, the other directors were found to have acted fraudulently.

Without doubt money made from slavery helped fund his purchase of property and land in Lindfield. He bought Manor House in the High Street in August 1824, together with fields in Denmans Lane and elsewhere. The White Lion Inn was purchased in 1827, and shortly afterwards he changed its name to The Bent Arms. Around the same time he acquired a house then called ‘Taylors or Cheater’, today South Malling Priory, 88 High Street. John Bent also owned properties in London.

He died on 6th October 1848, aged 73, and was buried at All Souls, Kensal Green, London. He and his wife had four children; three daughters and a son, Gibbs Francis Bent. Upon John Bent’s death his properties passed to Gibbs Francis Bent, who then moved into Oathall Place, and land that he owned gave rise to the name Bentswood.

Years later the Bent family connection with the house ended and its ownership changed several times. The Lindfield Parish boundary also changed placing Oathall in Haywards Heath. It was converted to flats in the 1960s before being restored in the character of an English country house and used as offices.

To the north of Oathall, towards the Common, stood Beckworth, with its entrance drive which is now School Lane. Today all that remains of the estate is Beckworth Lodge, on the approach to Lindfield Primary Academy. Taking its name from a medieval field of that name, Beckworth House was built in 1872 for its first owner Mr William Blaber, a retired merchant. It was built by Parker Anscombe, the well-known Lindfield builder. From around 1900 it was occupied by Mr Mellor Brown, described as ‘living on own means’, and his wife; looking after them were five live-in servants and a gardener.

In 1924 Major George Churcher T.D. and his wife Aida purchased the property. A member of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Major Churcher was a respected and well-known amateur cultivator of gladioli creating new hybrid varieties and author of an RHS paper The Modern Gladiolus. An exhibitor at many major shows, he was also a keen grower of daffodils and peonies in the extensive gardens. George Churcher died in 1938 and in his memory Aida Churcher gave All Saints Church the carved oak eagle lectern.

In September 1939 at the outbreak of World War II, the Hostel of God, a Catholic Hospice from Clapham, was evacuated to the house for the duration of the hostilities. After the war it became the dormitory house for 24 boys with troubled backgrounds attending a special agricultural course at Haywards Heath Secondary School (Oathall Community College) on the recently established school farm. The house was then used by East Sussex County Council as their education and youth careers office for the area.

A purpose built nursery was constructed in the grounds and opened in January 1966. St Nicholas Nursery provided a home for babies and young children taken into East Sussex County Council care. The nursery closed in 1976 and was demolished, and replaced with St. Nicholas Court. Beckworth House was demolished in March 2000 to make way for the redevelopment of Lindfield Primary School.

A short distance east of today’s Lindfield urban parish boundary stands Walstead Place on land that a couple of hundred years ago was quaintly called Slatfields, Comin and Bridlate.

At the time of the Tithe Survey in the 1840s, the land was owned by a Captain Graham and subsequently sold to Thomas Rook Davis. In about 1851, Thomas Rooke Davis built the house, then called Walstead House, as his country residence and to provide a home for his two unmarried sisters, Ann aged 35 and Caroline aged 30. They had previously lived with their mother at the Manor House in the High Street which they had rented since 1839 from John Bent. Following their mother’s death in 1846, Thomas Davis wished to provide his sisters with their own home. He and his wife, Lois, lived mainly at their London house in Regent’s Park, London.

In January 1883, Thomas Rooke Davis died aged 86, and is notable for being the last person buried in the Lindfield churchyard. This was 28 years after its closure as the family had a vaulted chest tomb. The sisters continued to live at the house with Ann Harriet Davis as head of the household. An entry in the Mid Sussex Directory describes Walstead House as ‘the walled-in domain of Miss Davis’. Her death a couple of years later was marked in 1888 by the installation of a stained glass window in the South (Massets) Chapel of All Saints, Lindfield. The window by Warrington & Co of London cost £63. During her time in Walstead, she had been a good supporter of Scaynes Hill, especially the school, and left the village £200.

The property was then acquired by Henry Mordaunt Cumberlege and his wife Blanche. They had three sons, and in gratitude for their safe return from the Great War they commission a window, designed by C. E. Kempe & Co, for the South Chapel of All Saints.

The Cumberleges were prominent members of Lindfield society. During the Great War, Blanche Cumberlege played a leading role supporting the home front in the village. Henry Cumberlege was the Vicar’s Warden at All Saints for nearly 40 years. In 1935, following his death, a three light memorial window was installed in the east wall of the North Chapel of the parish church. The stained glass window designed by Geoffrey Webb has his mark of a spider and web in the lower right hand corner. A further panel was added in 1939 in memory of Blanche Cumberlege.

In recognition of service to the village, Blanche Cumberlege was given the honour of unveiling the Lindfield sign erected to commemorate George V’s and Queen Mary’s Silver Jubilee on 6th May 1935.

In common with many large houses, Walstead Place was requisitioned by the military during World War II. After the war, it was acquired by the County Council and converted into a residential school for 21 ‘educationally sub-normal’ boys. Subsequently the property became a privately owned retirement home.

From horseshoes to shoes - The Old Forge

By Paul Schofield, Lindfield History Project Group

John Sharman outside the forge

The building at 2 Denmans Lane, known to many as the Old Forge, is today the home of Happy Feet Boutique children’s shoe shop. It was built in 1854 and is listed by Historic England as a Grade 2 building because of its architectural interest. The building is a classic example of a mid-Victorian village forge, hence its listing. It also reflects changes in the commercial life of Lindfield as it has been used by at least 11 trades in its 164 year old history. For most of that time it was used as a blacksmith forge.

The Batchelor family were the first to operate a blacksmith’s business from the building. Edward Batchelor, Senior, was originally from Bolney, where he was baptised in 1783. He was the head of the family and had previously lived and worked in the 1830s at the site of the present day Red Lion. He later moved and lived at a small smithy at the corner of the High Street and Denmans Lane, prior to the building where Bliss is today, before the business was relocated in 1854 to the newly built forge at 2 Denmans Lane. Sadly Edward Batchelor Snr died that year and probably did not live to see his new forge in operation. His second wife, Lucy Batchelor, with whom he had five sons, continued the business with support from Edward’s son from his first marriage, also called Edward. Edward Batchelor Snr with his first wife, Ann Stephens, had six children, three boys and three girls. She died in 1822, possibly in childbirth, aged 35 and is buried in Lindfield churchyard.

John Sharman outside the forge Maintaining the family tradition, all five sons from his second marriage also became blacksmiths working in Lindfield, Cuckfield and Chailey, with William the eldest son joining the family business. So for 27 years the forge was very much the home of the Batchelor family business. During this period Denmans Lane was known as Batchelors Lane, this name remained in use for many decades.

After Edward Batchelor’s death in 1881, the last Batchelor to work the forge, it was acquired by John Trevatt. Upon his death in 1890, the business was taken on by his wife Mary Trevatt, who is described in business directories of the time as a ‘supervisor of a blacksmith business’. This must have been quite unusual at that time. She was helped by Daniel Dovey, employed six years earlier by her husband, who continued working at the forge until 1924 and was a well known character in the village.

In 1892, Charles W. Wood took over the forge and whilst continuing as a blacksmith wheelwright and farrier, he expanded the business and occupied the shop (in the terrace that contains the Stand Up Inn) at the corner of Denmans Lane as his cycle dealership. He also sold and repaired mowing machinery, garden tools and stoves; and later advertised himself as a motor agent. Charles Wood served as a Cuckfield Rural District councillor and became quite an entrepreneur. He also had a shop on the Broadway in Haywards Heath selling motor cycles and cars. In 1905 he was running a Motor Omnibus service around Haywards Heath, Lindfield and Cuckfield as well as a service to connect the railway station to Sussex Road. His business empire further expanded in 1908 with the acquisition of another cycle business in Hurstpierpoint. Charles Wood also entered the world of property development around 1905 and with a partner built West View, although only 17 of the planned 30 houses were built.

It would seem that by 1911, Charles Wood had overstretched himself financially and following a meeting with creditors his assets were assigned or sold. The Lindfield business was sold in 1912 to his half- brother, Thomas Wood, who had previously been the manager of the Lindfield site, and continued to operate from the premises as a shoeing, general smith and cycle dealer until at least 1918. Charles Wood’s Haywards Heath and Hurstpierpoint businesses were sold to J T Hampton who had been an employee for 14 years.

By 1922 the forge was in the hands of John Sharman, who started there as an apprentice in around 1892 and remained for 60 years. For part of that time his business partner was George Fox. In 1922 they placed an advert in the Mid Sussex Times listing a range of services, giving the address as Batchelor’s Lane. As the number of horses requiring shoeing declined there was still much need for a blacksmith. John Sharman was responsible for numerous examples of wrought iron work which still exist today in Lindfield, such as the gates at a number

of properties including Old Place and at Porters on the High Street. He also fashioned the Lindfield village sign that stands on the corner of the Common, by the High Street, Backwoods Lane and Blackhill junction. This commemorates King George V’s and Queen Mary’s Silver Jubilee. It bears a shield of six Martlets for Sussex and a lime tree for Lindfield. It was unveiled with much ceremony by Blanche Cumberlege of Walstead Place on 6th May 1935; a day of great celebration in the village. Other examples of iron work probably fashioned by John Sharman include the sign stands for the Tiger, Bent Arms, Red Lion and a smaller one for Humphrey’s Bakery. Also John Sharman for many years served as Captain of the Lindfield Fire Brigade operated by the Parish Council from the fire station in Lewes Road.

In 1900, the blacksmiths from the forge revived the old custom of firing the anvil in celebration following the relief of Ladysmith and Mafeking in the Second Boer War. It has since been fired as part of all Royal Coronation and Bill Bartley shoeing a horse at the forge Jubilee celebrations in the village. Previously, the anvil had been fired on St Clements Day to frighten off evil spirits. Today the anvil is fired on Village Day. It involves the anvil being put upside down on the ground and the hole at the bottom being filled with gun powder. A plug is added and when the powder is lit there is a large bang!

John Sharman died in 1954 and on his retirement a couple of years earlier, the forge was taken over by George Brown, his one-time apprentice, and afterwards to Bill Bartley. George Brown continued the tradition of firing the anvil. After almost 120 years the smithy at the forge ceased trading in about 1970.

The premises’ connection with metal working continued in 1978 when it was used by Lindfield Engineering Ltd, who advertised themselves as precision engineers. It is believed they traded from the old forge until 1984, by this time the forge was very dilapidated. The adjacent wheelwright’s shop was demolished but thankfully the old forge was saved and renovated, following a campaign by the Lindfield Preservation Society.

It was next used as a TV repair workshop by Bob Lambert, as an extension of his shop on the High Street. Between 1987 and 1991, it was a children’s clothes shop called Scallywags run by Vivienne Clark. Over the next 12 years there were five different traders operated from the Old Forge at 2 Denmans Lane. Firstly a dress, hat and bridal hire shop called Beauty Salon, run by Valerie Holt. Then Green, Elliot and Crowe, opened their opticians practice before moving onto the High Street, now Lindfield Eyecare. A picture framing business followed, called Leave it to Jeeves run by Terry Jeeve, and next a florist, the Conservatory, again prior to their move to the High Street. The last trader to operate from this location prior to the current shoe shop was Lindfield Gifts and Interiors, a gift shop, which opened in 2003.

Happy Feet opened at the Old Forge in 2007 and is busy providing shoes for the children of Lindfield and beyond.

The original blacksmiths who worked at the forge could not have imagined that the building would still be standing 164 years later and that it has seen such a varied usage during that period. From shoeing horses to shoes for children!

Lindfield Women and the Great War

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

During the nation’s four year centennial of remembrance of the Great War, much attention has rightly focused on the men who served and especially those who died for their country. As this period of reflection draws to a close it would be timely to look at the contribution
of women to the victory. The role played by Lindfield women was typical of those in rural communities across the country.

In addition to raising their children alone, the country’s future lifeblood, many women undertook vital voluntary duties, charitable works, fundraising and employment replacing men. Most importantly women played an invisible role in providing social cohesion and the moral backbone resulting in the avoidance of civil unrest despite the difficult circumstances that prevailed.

The most visible contribution by Lindfield women to the war effort was their role at the Lindfield Auxiliary Hospital located in the King Edward Hall; one of some 3,000 administered by the Red Cross. The hospital opened its doors on 3rd November 1914 and received an initial intake of 20 Belgian wounded soldiers. Under the leadership of Mrs Florence Hooper, of Firs Cottage, local women volunteers undertook much of the nursing. For example, Faith Humphrey clocked up 3,592 hours between 3rd November 1914 and 16th December 1918, giving up all her recreation and spare time to nurse in the evenings after working all day in her parent’s bakery shop. They also filled the support roles necessary to ensure the efficient running of a hospital from Statistics Clerk to cook, a role fulfilled two or three times a week by Mrs Frances Lee of Beckworth Cottages in addition to her work as a dairy woman.
As the war progressed the nationality of wounded soldiers changed from Belgian to British, and with the coming of peace the hospital closed after having treated 877 patients. With so many hospitals being established at the outbreak of war there was a shortage of pillows, and a countrywide appeal to poultry keepers for feathers was made. Mrs Prideaux of Spring Cottage volunteered as the local collector and received over three hundredweight (about 150 kilos) by the end of September 1914.

Also hospitals across the country and overseas were in desperate need of surgical supplies such as bandages and slings plus clothing for the wounded. In August 1914, the Red Cross appealed for women to help meet this need. Mrs Dudley Sampson of Buxshalls rallied the women of Lindfield and arranged for work to be given out twice a week and established a productive working centre. In October 1915 this became the Lindfield War Hospital Sub-Supply Depot.
The Depot, under the chairmanship of Mrs Blanche Cumberlege of Walstead Place, had a work room at Old Place. During the first six months over 400 items were produced, ranging from vests, pyjamas and limb pillows to casualty bags. The materials for these items were purchased with money given by the women themselves and residents or from fundraising events.

As voluntary work became increasingly important, in late 1915 a national network of organisations approved by the War Office was set up to coordinate the making of supplies, enabling women to make a structured contribution to the war effort. The Mid Sussex Volunteer Work Association was formed, with 12 depots in local towns and villages, resulting in the Lindfield Voluntary Work Organisation (LVWO) being formed as a registered charity. Its depot was opened at the Bent Arms on 12th January 1916, with Mrs Cumberlege in charge and Miss Masters as secretary. Shortly after, the Hospital Supply Depot amalgamated with the new organisation and Mrs Sturdy provided this enlarged operation with a base and workrooms at Fardels in the High Street. Local women undertook work there three days a week; it was also the hub for homeworkers.

Items were made to order using specifications and patterns provided by the national organisation. Later in the war, LVWO specialised in surgical dressings. Some included sphagnum moss collected from local woods. The moss was mildly antiseptic and could help dry a wound. Over 2,000 dressings and many garments were made each month until February 1919. Many Lindfield women undertook this vital work and received the Government’s Voluntary Works Badge. Despite the importance of such work, funds for the purchase of materials had to be raised by the women either through requesting donations or organising fundraising events. They became one of the largest fundraisers in the village. Events organised ranged from musical and dramatic entertainments and grand fetes held at the major houses to whist drives in the Reading Room and jumble sales at the Bent Arms.

Britain’s unpreparedness to support a lengthy major war can also be seen in the constant need for charitable assistance to provide money and goods for the war effort. Socially active ladies rallied to the calls and ‘did their bit’. Hardly a week passed without an appeal, ranging from flag days to cricket bats for soldiers on the Western Front or funds for Christmas puddings and presents. A few specific examples are:

In September 1914, Mrs Lambert and Mrs Knowles responded to a call from the Royal Sussex Regiment at Shoreham and collected 150 blankets from Lindfield residents in a matter of days.

Mrs Eycott-Martin, the Misses Catt and Mrs Twiss sought subscriptions and help in making sand bags for the front in June 1915. After seven weeks £14 19s 6d and 500 sand bags were dispatched.

Mrs Prideaux organised a collection of cut throat razors for soldiers, with 427 being collected in six months during 1915.

A whist drive in August 1916 organised by Mrs Howden at Criplands Court on behalf of the British Prisoners of War Fund raised £111.

Throughout the war, Mrs Strachan Davidson was involved in collecting money for the RSPCA to assist the Army Veterinary Corps provide care for wounded and sick horses and mules in France. Perhaps the highlight of the ladies’ fundraising was their involvement in the annual Red Cross ‘Our Day’ which comprised a week long programme of social and community events raising considerable sums of money.

Lindfield Women’s Institute was established in June 1917 and quickly gained a large membership. Activities included instruction in cooking, food economy, growing food crops, sewing and renovating old clothes, cobbling, health issues and making soft toys to replace previously imported toys.

The Mid Sussex Times in fulfilling its patriotic duty, and mindful of censorship, regularly reported the good news of women’s contribution. For example in November 1917 it reported ‘no matter to which social class they belong they (Lindfield women) readily give according to their means whenever an appeal goes forth for a worthy cause’. Rarely was any comment made regarding the most important contribution by all women across the country, especially the poor. Their stoic acceptance of hardship with fortitude and resourcefulness helped maintain the social cohesion so essential to the nation’s ability to continue the fight. Widespread civil unrest could have resulted in our surrender.

Lindfield women, with their menfolk away fighting, had to endure the constant fear of receiving bad news. Holding the family together and caring for their children added to this anxiety, especially for those women in the lower classes living in poor housing and being solely reliant on the Government’s Separation Allowance. This Allowance often did not cover family needs. Rising prices and shortages of food and coal made life difficult. During a Parish Council debate on food shortages and the need for restraint by villagers, a Councillor commented that ‘many of them existed on bread and a scrape of margarine and a dab of jam’.

Their continuing patriotic support received little recognition. However, at the Lindfield Welcome Home dinner Major Willett in his speech paying tribute to their ‘womenfolk at home’ said: ‘There was a saying: Keep the home fires burning. The women had done that and more than that. It had been simply splendid the way women had carried on throughout the war’.

Tributes should also be paid to the few Lindfield women who signed up with the military or undertook duties abroad. Particularly worthy of mention are Minnie Anscombe who served with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service in Mesopotamia and India. Likewise, Ruby Wearn undertook arduous and courageous nursing duties abroad with the French Flag Nursing Corps and the Scottish Women’s Hospital. Perhaps a separate article is required!

After The Great War in Lindfield

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Welcome Home parade arriving at Kind Edward Hall

Today we have grown used to receiving news as it happens 24 hours a day, whereas one hundred years ago newspapers were the almost universal means for the public to receive news.

News of the Armistice on 11th November 1918 bringing to an end the fighting took time to spread and was not widely received until the following day. People needed to read it to believe it was true. There was a joyous but muted reaction in Lindfield and across Mid Sussex, with no organised public celebratory events.

The Mid Sussex Times reported that ‘During the past week the inhabitants of Mid Sussex have been in high spirits because of the cessation of hostilities. Joyous peals have been rung upon the church bells. Cottagers have displayed from their humble homes such flags as they could get hold of, bonfires have been lighted, and rich and poor have mingled together in the Services of Thanksgiving.’

Some took high spirits further than others. Ellen Baxter, from Horsted Keynes whose husband was serving in France, was brought before Haywards Heath magistrates. She had been celebrating with friends in Lindfield, and was found drunk and incapable beside the road at Town Hill, Lindfield on 12th November. Police enquiries failed to find out where in Lindfield she had been served her drinks. Mrs Baxter was fined five shillings.

Within weeks of the Armistice, thought was being given to a memorial for the fallen and welcome celebrations for the returning service men. Lindfield received praise from the Mid Sussex Times for being first to start planning a welcome home event. Following a well-attended meeting in the Reading Room, a committee of twenty was formed and a fund for donations opened in early January 1919; this received a Welcome Home parade arriving at King Edward Hall generous response. The date set for the Welcome Home Day was 28th May 1919, as it had been expected most servicemen would have returned by then. However, many were still to be demobilised which continued into 1920.

Shops and houses were decorated with flags, bunting and banners in readiness for the celebrations. These started at 5pm with a Service of Thanksgiving in All Saints Church. Afterwards, the men formed up behind the Ardingly Band and to the tune ‘Sons of the Brave’ marched down the High Street accompanied by their families and watched by a large crowd. Outside King Edward Hall, the crowd cheered the men into the Hall.

Following a warm welcome by the committee, about 140 men sat down in King Edward Hall to a ‘capital spread’.

The menu was:

Roast Beef
Hams
Tongues
Steak & Kidney Pies
Veal & Ham Pies
Braised Beef
French Salads, Tomato Salads, Potatoes

************

Blancmanges
Strawberry Creams
Lemon Jellies
Fruit Salad

************
Cheese & Oliver Biscuits

************

Ale, Lemonade, Ginger Beer, Coffee
Cigars & Cigarettes

The meal was followed by speeches of thanks and toasts from the top table. After the formalities, the men were treated to musical entertainments and a ‘sleight of hand’ show. The evening closed with the National Anthem and Auld Lang Syne.
The Welcome Home Committee also arranged for demobilised men to receive complimentary membership of the Lindfield Club for 1919. From the funds donated there was a surplus of £55 and this was used to start the War Memorial Fund.

The Great War did not officially end until the Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28th June 1919. The government decreed Saturday 19th July 1919 as Peace Day and called for towns and villages across the country to organise events to celebrate the war’s end. Again generously funded by voluntary subscriptions, the Lindfield Peace Day featured a full programme of events:

10am Service at All Saints Church
10.30am Decorated cycle parade in fancy dress down the High Street
11am Cricket match on the Common; Cricket Club Captain’s Team v Wednesday Captain’s Team. Tennis and bowls matches were also played.
2pm Children’s sports on the Common followed by tea in the Reading Room
4pm Adults’ tea buffet in King Edward Hall 5pm Adult sports on the Common and aquatic events on the Pond
7pm A dance in King Edward Hall
9.30pm Illuminations around the Pond
10pm Fireworks and bonfire on the Common

A Victory Ball was also held in the King Edward Hall on Wednesday 23rd July 1919 with some 90 people attending, many in fancy dress. The dancing continued into the early hours.

After four years of sacrifice and hardship, the coming of peace brought many social issues, including an expectation throughout the country that returning servicemen should live in a land fit for heroes. In January 1919, with men starting to return, the Cuckfield Rural District Council asked Parish Councils about additional housing requirements for the working classes. The need for new low rent houses was discussed at length by Lindfield Parish Council. It was also considered Welcome Home parade in the High Street by the Lindfield Women’s Institute, whose members were concerned by the lack of workers’ houses and the insanitary conditions prevailing in many existing properties. This was emphasised by some ex- servicemen’s call for the village war memorial to take the form of public bath facilities.

The Women’s Institute advised the Lindfield Parish Council that many modern cottages were needed in the village. However, after much deliberation, regarding rents and costs, the Parish Council advised the District Council that only 10 or 12 new worker’s houses were needed. Less than half these numbers were built.

On a lighter note, the Parish Council asked the War Office about the availability of war trophies and was told to contact the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex. At the September 1919 Council meeting, the Chairman reported the Lord Lieutenant had advised twelve rifles would be available. ‘It is not what we hoped to receive’, commented the Chairman, with another Councillor suggesting ‘the centre of Bents Wood would be a good place to put them or they might dispose of them at a jumble sale’. However, it was resolved to accept the rifles. Clearly, the Parish Council were disappointed, as it is thought they were hoping to receive an artillery gun! What happened to the rifles is not known.

Lindfield’s River Ouse, Deans Mill - Part 2

Part 1 can be found here

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Last month’s article (found in Lindfield History Articles December 2018) looked at the River Ouse and Deans Mill, this month’s explores more nearby features along the river.

Did you know Lindfield has a castle? If Historic England’s Monuments Schedule is to be believed, on the northern bank some 500m downstream from Lindfield Bridge, on strictly private land, stand the remains of earth works described as a motte and bailey, dating to Norman times. Named Lindfield Castle it is also marked on Ordnance Survey maps as a motte and bailey, although all that remains today are a series of bumps covered by bushes and trees. Historic England’s record says the motte at the centre measures about 40m across and stands some 1.5m high. This was surrounded by a broad moat which joined to the river through gaps in the outer earthworks. North-west of the motte is a crescent shaped bailey 45m long. Outside a ditch linked to a stream entirely surrounded the castle. Such defensive structures were constructed in towns and on open land. The listing describes its position as ‘strong yet strategic location for policing of traffic crossing the Ouse’. However their papers do indicate an element of doubt as to its origin and suggest it might have been a system of fish ponds. This is plausible as in 1175 a nunnery was established somewhere close to the castle site. Fish ponds were a feature of religious houses in medieval times. Another suggestion is the remains of a moated farmhouse.

Interestingly, on the 1845 Tithe Map, the earthworks are labelled ‘site of a priory’. The adjoining two fields carried the names Nunnery Pond and Nunnery Plot, while standing close by is a wood which to this day is called Nunnery Wood. This small nunnery was no doubt closed on the orders of Henry VIII and quickly became a ruin. Since that time all traces of the stonework have disappeared.

As an aside, hanging on the wall in the Library Room, King Edward Hall is a copy 1840s map. Although difficult to see, in the top right hand corner is a small drawing that purports to show ‘The Ruins of Lindfield Nunnery as they appeared in 1601’ with a pond in the foreground. Without an archaeological survey the precise location of the nunnery and the true origin of the earthworks will remain undiscovered, but it is pleasing to think Lindfield might have had a Norman castle. A fact beyond doubt is that the Ouse did have an important strategic defensive role during World War Two. Early in the war, in the event of a German invasion breaching the Sussex coastal defences, ‘stop lines’ were created along natural features to halt or at least slow any advance. One of the most important lines ran west to east along the Rivers Arun and Ouse with an anti-tank ditch joining them between Handcross and Slaugham.

The northern riverbank at Lindfield was revetted with vertical tree trunks making it difficult for tanks to mount the bank, so forcing them towards Lindfield Bridge which was heavily defended with anti-tank blocks, barbed wire and a pillbox. It was the responsibility of the Lindfield Home Guard to man this Type 28 pillbox, which still exists today just north of the bridge. There were similar defensive positions at the other local bridges. Home Guard member Sid Cross recounted several years ago being equipped with a Lee Enfield rifle and ten rounds of ammunition and told ‘that was enough to kill 12 of the enemy – ten with bullets, one with the bayonet and the last with the rifle butt’. An anti-tank gun was not received until later in the war. Thankfully, the invasion threat soon receded! A short distance along the road is the southern entrance to Paxhill, which during the war was a Canadian Army camp.

There were similar invasion fears in the mid-19th century arising from the French, resulting in the Sussex Rifle Volunteer Corps being formed to defend the county. It was essential for these part-time soldiers to be able to shoot accurately. For 25 years, the men of the Lindfield unit had ‘been subjected to the inconvenience of having to walk to Cuckfield for target practice’. To correct this unsatisfactory situation, Colonel Dudley Sampson, the owner of Buxshalls, made land available upstream of Lindfield Bridge for use as a firing range. In August 1886, the 300 yard range was opened with much ceremony and a mock battle defending a nearby foot bridge. Two years later the range was extended to 600 yards and it was hoped this facility would encourage more Lindfield men to join the volunteers.

A more peaceful pursuit, also on Buxshalls Estate’s land, was established about 200m upstream from Lindfield Bridge, when in May 1906 the Lindfield Swimming Club was formed. Colonel Dudley Sampson agreed to grant the club permission to use a section of his riverbank, provided everything was conducted in a proper manner and all non-costumed bathers treated as trespassers. Accordingly, club rules were established, and approved by the Colonel, prohibiting card playing, gambling and other improper conduct and requiring all bathers to wear full ‘University costumes’ in the club’s colour of navy blue. From the annual subscription rates it would appear membership was initially only open to men and boys.

The bathing place, as it was known, was soon set up with a changing hut and the land fenced off. Arrangements were made with the miller at Dean’s Mill to shut the sluice gates during Friday evenings to allow water to build up for the weekend. This allowed members to dive from low boards.

The club thrived, women were permitted to join and facilities constantly improved including men’s and women’s changing huts; a newspaper report also mentions a ‘clubhouse’. In 1924 the club had 229 members made up of 156 gentlemen and 73 ladies. It was decided to construct a new diving stage spanning the river, with platforms at 6ft, 10ft, 14ft and 18ft, and room ‘for ten persons to dive off the stage at once’. Permission was given to deepen the centre of the river to allow safe diving from the new higher top platform. Arrangements to blast the riverbed were duly made!

Swimming galas and diving competitions were regularly arranged for members and matches against other local clubs, with cups and medals duly awarded. The bathing place provided much enjoyment for villagers and many children learnt to swim and dive in the river. Sadly the facility was closed in 1938 due to a polio scare in Lindfield.

On this section of the Ouse, historic records for the 1500s and 1600s suggest a fulling mill stood, unfortunately little information is available, although its one time existence appears to be reflected in the names of the nearby farm and derelict river lock. Finally, adjacent to Lindfield Bridge, for many years during the 19th century, was a wharf, mainly for coal carried up the river from Lewes. The facility to transport coal in bulk by barge allowed Lindfield residents to enjoy cheaper coal and increased its usage in the village.

All Saints Church through the ages

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Early sketch of All Saints Church

All Saints Church, standing at the top of the High Street, was built in the 1300s in the Perpendicular style, as characterised by large windows with upright lines. Over the centuries the building and interior has changed and evolved to reflect changing needs.
The interior in medieval times featured a rood loft separating the Nave from the Chancel. A rood is a large crucifix, usually accompanied by the figures of the Blessed Virgin and St John placed one each side of the cross. The English Reformation and the actions of Henry VIII led to the dissolution of religious houses. The College of Canons of South Malling, who had controlled the parish for centuries, was dissolved in 1545 and their manorial lands passed into lay ownership, as did the tithes which was to be particularly detrimental in the centuries ahead.

Commissioners were appointed to ensure all traces of idolatry were removed from churches across the country. Around the 1560s the Commissioners reported the parishioners of Lindfield were ‘very blind and superstitious’, indicating some reluctance in Lindfield to acknowledge the new Protestant religion. Eventually the idolatry was removed, walls whitewashed to cover murals and the rood loft demolished in 1583 with the timbers being sold. The stairs leading from the south Transept to the rood loft were filled in: A few steps were uncovered during the 1930s. The spire was also re-shingled at the cost of 50 shillings, and this has occurred many times since but at ever increasing cost.

Steps once led to Rood Loft

In 1617 William Newton of East Mascalls arranged the repair of the exterior ‘without battlements’, and this work is recognised by the inscription of ‘1617’ on the Chancel gable and can still be seen today. This was to be the last major work for 250 years during which times, without the tithes, the building gradually fell into disrepair. The church was in a poor state when Reverend Francis Sewell arrived c1840. Having recently been ordained and in possession of a moderate fortune, he soon set about re-establishing and restoring the church. At that time the Cambridge Camden Society was influential in ecclesiastical style and architecture, and their dictates were embraced by Francis Sewell.

During the 1840s Francis Sewell instigated two restorations, firstly in 1845 for the building and three years later for the interior and new pews. The churchwardens appealed for subscriptions, with a separate fund each restoration. The works were put in hand, before funding had been fully secured, with the interior fund taking precedent. This resulted in much acrimony over several years, and even a court case between the churchwardens.

The interior restoration reflected the Cambridge Camden Society’s doctrines resulting in the destruction or removal of many historic features, including an altar tomb, brass memorials and three wall paintings. Francis Sewell had lengthy correspondence with the Incorporated Church Building Society regarding new pews designed to accommodate 567 people and whether upper-class members of the congregation should be provided with hat boards on which to place their top hats. Eventually the Society provided £200 towards the cost.

Nave with Chancel Screen in Chancel Arch

Rev Francis Sewell before leaving Lindfield in 1849, the year work was completed, made a contribution towards the total costs. However, as donations from parishioners did not reach the required amount it took the parish several years to clear the deficit. Following Rev Francis Sewell’s return to Lindfield in 1857 he installed gas lighting in the church, supplied from his private gas manufacturing plant which also lit The Welkin and his St John’s School. A striking addition to the church in 1859 was the installation of the clock on the tower’s south face. Previously the clock movement had been in a building at Cawnpore that was demolished following the Indian Mutiny. Charles Kempe, the renowned stained glass artist and church furnisher, having recently moved to Lindfield following his purchase of Old Place, turned his attention to the church in the late 1870s. He promoted the need for a further restoration, with an ambition to reorder the interior with new pews, replace the old chancel screen, increase the bells and improve the heating. However, relations between Charles Kempe, the church authorities and residents on his aims were not always harmonious. His gift of a new chancel screen, after it had been made, was rejected and not accepted until long after his death.

Nave with Chancel Screen in Chancel Arch However, the need for improvements was soon generally recognised and in 1879, to accommodate heating pipes, a new wood block floor was laid. The churchwardens, in 1882, established a fund for £2500; indicating that much work, especially to the building, was still needed following Sewell’s restorations some 33 years earlier. Donations were received and many fundraising events organised, including Charles Kempe opening the grounds of Old Place for a two day Elizabethan Fiesta.

Massets (South) Chapel pre 1945

Somers Clarke Junior, a respected ecclesiastical architect, was appointed to undertake the work. His reports indicate the roof was in a dangerous condition at the time of the earlier 1840s restorations, as the walls had parted from the rafters and only temporarily secured by nails. Also that the tower and parts of the church building exposed to the south-west needed repair. Accordingly much structural work was undertaken. The Sewell renovations were more concerned with style rather than structure.

The box pews installed in 1848 were replaced, the Nave received new oak benches funded by a bazaar held at Sunte House in July 1885. Two years later similar benches were provided in the Transepts thanks to a bequest. The choir stalls were also replaced. All the seating was made by Norman and Burt of Burgess Hill. At this time the decision was taken that all seats would be free and open to all.

The increased prosperity of Lindfield during the late Victorian period is evidenced by the gifts of memorial stained glass windows and church furnishings. Collectively these enhanced the interior. The church was little changed during the first two decades of the twentieth century other than the addition of the choir vestry in 1911 and five stained glass memorial windows. Kempe’s Chancel screen, rejected by the church authorities in 1885, was accepted in 1926 when Old Place was sold by his cousin, Walter Tower. This beautiful piece of woodwork was installed in the Chancel arch.

To ensure the building was maintained in good condition a major repair programme, mainly focused on the roof, was undertaken in 1930 at the cost of £2,000. The most visible elements of this restoration were the complete reconstruction of the Chancel roof, together with the replacement of the old gas lamps with electric lights. To help pay for the reroofing an enormous fete was held on 2nd July 1930 in the gardens of Old Place. Two years later the Clergy Vestry was built.

The position of the organ installed in 1897, replacing the original 1839 organ, blocked the entry to St John’s Chapel. A generous donation by Blanche Cumberlege of Walstead Place in 1937 funded the repositioning of the organ to a new gallery at the rear of the Nave. Immediately after the Second World War, the seats in the south (Massets) Chapel were removed and it was considerably altered to provide a memorial to the village men who died during the war. The church remained largely unchanged for the next four decades.

In 1987 a comprehensive reordering of All Saints was proposed, the principle features being new and increased seating and the repositioning of the Holy Table. The proposals created considerable debate resulting in a much reduced plan being implemented in 1991. The most visible change being Kempe’s Chancel screen was moved from the Chancel arch to the rear of the Nave. The latest phase of the Aspire project, launched in 2013, to keep the building in good repair and meeting modern requirements, has recently been completed.

The growth of Lindfield

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Two residents on meeting in the High Street were overheard discussing all the new housing being built in Lindfield and whether facilities could cope and the character change. The conversation didn’t take place recently but in 1901. For many centuries Lindfield village comprised little more than the High Street. Through roads such as today’s Lewes Road, Denmans Lane, Hickmans Lane, Sunte Avenue, West Common and Summerhill Lane existed as little more than tracks with the occasional isolated cottage and all bordered by fields. The prosperity of the Victorian era and the coming of the London to Brighton railway line created the need for new housing, especially for working class families. Lindfield started to grow with short rows of cottages appearing around the village. The more affluent built villas on Black Hill. By the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign and the early Edwardian years, new roads were being constructed, most notably Eastern Road, Luxford Road (originally called Western Road) and Compton Road. Leading local businessmen, and those with money to invest, either commissioned houses to be built on these roads or purchased houses constructed speculatively by builders. All were participating in ‘Buy to Rent’, as most people could not afford to buy. The tradesmen and shopkeepers recognised that an increased population meant more business. It was at this time the Haywards Heath and District Building Society, established in 1890, started to prosper (merging with the Yorkshire in 1992). Housing commenced along Lewes Road, and in 1906 local businessmen Charles Wood and Frederick Beeny (the great-grandfather of TV property developer Sarah Beeny) started the West View development. Originally planned for 30 houses but, beset by problems mainly relating to drainage, only 17 were built, including a corner shop. On completion it was nicknamed White City. In little more than half a century the number of dwellings in Lindfield village more than doubled. However this growth came to an abrupt stop with the Great War. The coming of peace brought a mood to create a ‘Land fit for Heroes’. Lindfield Women’s Institute made representations to the local authority that many new houses were needed for working families, but disappointingly only six were subsequently built.

The country being impoverished by the war, together with the economic depression, resulted in few new houses during the 1920s. The next decade saw housebuilding start again, with the 1937 Ordnance Survey map showing ‘infill’ housing in Luxford Road, Eastern Road and elsewhere. Most new properties were developed plot by plot along existing roads, on the Haywards Heath side of the village, such as Backwoods Lane, West Common, Summerhill Lane, Sunte Avenue plus the new Denmans Close and Oak Bank, Brook Lane and Roundwood Lane. These roads comprised mainly detached houses, with many designed by the respected architect Harold Turner. He undertook a wide range of commercial commissions across Britain and abroad but is best known locally for his high quality domestic architecture with ‘arts and crafts’ period features. The late 1930s saw the infrastructure put in place ready for housebuilding in Chestnuts Close, Summerhill Drive and Meadow Lane. However, the Second World War delayed completion of these schemes. The building during this pre-war period added around 270 houses.

Again war impoverished the country and building was slow to recommence apart from a few houses. Most notably in Hickmans Lane were the 12 semi-detached St Johns Cottages on land given by Maud Savill to the District Council for demobbed servicemen and their families. It was in the early 1950s that the local authority acquired the land of Box’s Nursery and erected housing in Chaloner Road and the first sections of Newton Road. The next ten years saw larger scale private housing developments start on new roads such as Dukes Road (also built on Box’s Nursery land), West Common Drive, Appledore Gardens, Pelham Road, Beckworth Lane and Close, Oakfield Close, Finches Park Road and the first section of Savill Road. Collectively, in the 20 years up to 1965, some 400 houses were built in the village In Lindfield’s rural area to the west of the village, a few houses existed along Gravelye Lane. However, during this period significant housebuilding commenced in this area, with the construction of William Allen Lane and adjacent roads south of Gravelye Lane. These residential schemes, all completed by the mid-1960s added a further 100 houses. The map of Lindfield had changed dramatically and more growth and change was on its way. During the next ten years much needed building land became available through the demolition of the Mid Sussex Steam Laundry, the County Hotel (previously Finches) and The Welkin, following closure of the preparatory school. The most controversial proposal was for the Welkin site, with a plan to construct a large high-rise apartment block comprising nine storeys. Residents were horrified and following much protesting, that ultimately led to the formation of the Preservation Society, the scheme was scrapped and the dwellings as seen today built. The land previously occupied by the other demolished buildings, and land that became available, resulted in the completion by the mid-1970s of the Meadow Drive development, second parts of Savill and Finches Park roads, By Sunte, Finches Gardens, Blackthorns, Shenstone, Brookway, Fieldway, Pickers Green plus others totalling well over 650 houses.

Around this time national house-builders such as CALA Homes were looking covetously at the farmland between Gravelye Lane, Scamps Hill and Lyoth Lane. Following the earlier successful Welkin protests, campaigning started again. Local newspaper articles liberally used the word ‘battle’ and the campaign took the style of ‘The Battle to Save Lindfield’. Victory was again achieved and development plans were put on hold for another day. Effectively, a ‘red line’ drawn down Gravelye Lane made land to the south and other pockets of land the only possible potential developments. Developers were quick to acquire and build on the land south of Gravelye Lane resulting in Westlands Road, The Hollow and nearby roads with about 150 houses being completed by the beginning of the 1980s.

The demise of Lindfield Nursery, better known locally as ‘the mushroom factory’, provided land for the Noahs Ark Lane development. Two more nurseries went the same way, resulting in Harvest Close and Linden Grove. These totalled 150 new homes. During the 1980s and 1990s, the scarcity of available land resulted in a reduction in housebuilding, the main developments being Summerhill Grange, on land that had been part of Tavistock and Summerhill School, and Portsmouth Wood Close. These totalled nearly 60 new detached houses. An ever increasing demand for housing in the new century encouraged the national house-builders to again set their sights on Lindfield and encroachment on to agricultural land. The fields once part of Luxford Farm, behind Newton Road, became the target. Archaeological evidence showed the fields had been farmland for over 1,300 years. Despite some opposition, it was not long before 125 dwellings at The Limes were being lived in. Attention then turned once more to the Gravelye Lane, Scamps Hill and Lyoth Lane triangle that had been vociferously fought over in the 1970s. This time planning permission was granted for the Heathwood Park development, with construction continuing today towards 230 dwellings on completion. Last year saw ground being broken, further down Gravelye Lane, for 130 homes at the ironically named Lindfield Meadows. There will no doubt be more building in the future. But it certainly isn’t new phenomenon!

Lindfield Primary School memories

by Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Circa 1956

This month’s article reflects the memories of pupils attending this school in the wartime 1940s and following decades. Interestingly, many similar aspects of school life were remembered, but details varied with attendance years. The school had two air raid shelters: a boys’ shelter and a separate one for the girls, built in the playground. The entrances were about three feet apart, opposite each other, and were disliked by children and teachers alike. From the middle of the war they were not normally used during air raid warnings, although practices continued. Shelter was taken under desks when a flying bomb was imminent. Each Monday morning, the teachers sold National Savings stamps to support the war effort, collected dinner money and administered doses of cod liver oil. Life across Britain started to return to normal with the arrival of the 1950s. One cherished memory from 1951 was a school trip by senior girls to London for the Festival of Britain, a showcase of modernity and a bright future, with the futuristic Skylon Tower and Dome of Discovery exhibition. The Festival was in stark contrast to life in rural Lindfield and its Victorian school buildings with their high windows and wooden floors; one classroom still retained tiered desking.

Cricket Team 1959

Assembly started each day with classical music playing while children filed in and out, and, of course, the hymn singing. Some of the hymns were written on huge sheets of paper hung at the front. Jerusalem was among the most popular. Another ritual was morning milk with an individual small bottle for each child. It was not unusual on very cold days for the top of the milk to be frozen, and if stood for too long in front of a radiator it became tepid and unpleasant. One feature universally and adversely recalled across the decades were the outside toilets, described as dark and freezing during the winter months. Maintenance was sometimes poor and several girls mention having to put a foot under the door for a friend as often the locks were broken. The boy’s facilities were equally unpleasant.

Another feature remembered with a shudder from the late 1960s onwards was the outdoor swimming pool, donated by the Parent Teacher Association. The shallow water was extremely cold and the bottom very slippery. Having to step into a horribly dirty footbath before climbing the ladder to get into the “ice bath” was also well-remembered. Perhaps a thought should have been spared for the 1930s pupils who walked to the Ouse for their swimming practice! In the years prior to the school having its own pool, selected senior pupils were taken to the Birch Hotel for swimming lessons. This was regarded as a real treat, their names having been ‘drawn out of a hat’. School dinners are much remembered; while some are good memories, others are less favourable. From 1948, lunch was taken in the then new canteen in the girls’ playground. Children queued at a hatch for food, to be eaten seated at long tables with benches. The lunches were widely regarded as lovely and the dinner ladies held in special affection. Favourite dishes included spam and baked bean pie, banana custard, crumble, gypsy tart (evaporated milk, sugar and pastry), rice pudding with jam and Sussex Pond pudding. Less popular were semolina, chocolate sponge with chocolate custard, tapioca and, served in the 1950s, reconstituted peas and butter beans. There was always fish on Fridays. In the early 1970s, if sprouts weren’t eaten, rubbish had to be picked up from the playground. Prior to comprehensive schools progression to secondary education was selective, requiring sitting the dreaded 11 plus examinations, held in the Social Centre (aka Reading Room) and sternly invigilated by the vicar and school governors. Equally nerve-wracking was results day: the headmaster read out the names of those who had passed to attend grammar school, with each name being greeted with clapping and cheers. Becoming a grammar school pupil was a proud achievement. Originally there were three playgrounds, mixed infants, boys and girls. It was many years before segregation in the playground ended. All the usual childhood games were played, including kick-about football, hopscotch, skipping and ‘conkers’ in autumn. There was also a netball court and, in earlier years dancing around the maypole. In summer, breaks could be spent playing on the Common, much fun being had in the new mown long grass. The Common was also used for football, cricket, stoolball, running and sometimes gym, as well as the obligatory annual sport day. Teams have always proudly represented the school in district schools competitions and leagues, with admirable results being achieved.

Netball Team 1963

The curriculum included gardening classes teaching the basics - sowing, planting and tending plants - and pupils were allowed to stay after school to spend extra time with their plants. There were the ever-popular after-school clubs; the perennial choir and, in the 1950s, the much-enjoyed country dancing on a Friday afternoon. Another stalwart, proudly watched by parents, were the school plays. Over the years a wide range have been performed from Ali Baba in 1957 to the Nativity plays, at King Edward Hall or the Social Club building, latterly part of the school. Throughout the decades, major village events and royal celebrations have been supported with singing, dancing and gym displays; perhaps most notable were the Coronation Pageant in 1953 and everyone dressing up for the school centenary.

During the 20th century’s less enlightened years some teaching methods and punishment harked back to Dickensian times. The school cane hung prominently in the headmaster’s office as a visual deterrent against misbehaviour. Teachers applied their ruler for a purpose other than measuring and drawing straight lines. In the infant classes, any child that had the temerity to attempt to write with their left hand had a wooden ruler come down with some force on the back of the hand. Misbehaving children would be stood on their chair and smacked on the back of the legs with the ruler. One female teacher in the early 1960s, it is recalled, had her own unbelievable punishment for misbehaviour. The miscreant received her ‘black hole punishment’ and was shut in a small confined black space. What would Ofsted have said?! Everyone remembered their headteacher and teachers, many as caring, kind, lovely and very sweet and a few disliked, being described as nasty, scary, fearsome and horrid. Nevertheless, overall the school was warmly acclaimed with good memories, perhaps best summed up in the phrases ‘fortunate to have attended such a lovely school’ and ‘gave me a good start in life’. One could ask no more from a school. No reminisces would be complete without mention of the old school bell. With thanks to Lindfield Memories Facebook group, Lindfield Life readers and all contributors.

School play

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