If you like watching Shire horses do a task that is better done by a tractor, then this clip is for you. In addition to the two horses, there are eight people shown. If you recognize any of them, please let us know.
Category Archives: Local History
Subterranean Sussex
A talk by Stewart Angell (author of Tottington Manor: Sussex WWII Auxiliary Units HQ and The Secret Sussex Resistance) to Beeding & Bramber Local History Society at 7:45pm on Wednesday 3rd October in the Village Hall, Upper Beeding. There is a hard-to-detect car park immediately opposite.
Sussex in WWI — the Home Front
in The Guide Hall, Trinity Road Car Park, Hurstpierpoint
Rocky Clump Stanmer
A site dating from the Late Iron Age to the later Roman period. The small farmstead and possible shrine is focused around a small copse of trees called Rocky Clump. The excavations have revealed numerous features including post holes, pits and some very large ditches which form a rectangular enclosure. Tours starting at Upper Lodge Car Park, Ditching Road, from 12:00–12:45 on both Saturdays, 8th and 15th September. Free admission, but you will need to book by 4:00pm on 5th September.
Saddlescombe Farm Heritage Open Day
Tours of the 17th century Threshing Barn, Tudor Scullery and Donkey Wheel. You can also venture further afield for tours on surrounding Newtimber Hill. Refreshments at the new Wild Flour cafe. Children and dogs welcome. Parking £2 — follow signposts near Devil’s Dyke on the day. Sunday 9th September 2017, 10:30am–3:30pm, free admission.
Wolstonbury Hill Rifle Range
Margaret Maillardet’s U3A Local History Group is interested in the history of the Wolstonbury Hill Rifle Range. For example, they know it was used in WWII but not when it was originally built.
Any readers with relevant information can contact Margaret at fjm@gotadsl.co.uk.
Arcadia
Arcadia is a nineteenth century cottage on the Poynings Road. Thomas Hills purchased it, along with various other cottages, for £215 at auction in 1922, probably to house workers for his adjacent market garden.
For a long time Victor (Vic) Burse, a well-known village character, lived in Arcadia with his three, successive wives. The first was Mary, the second was Kathleen (Kath) and some years later, in 1983, Vic, who by now was 74, married an 18-year-old, a local girl called Debbie Jarvis. They continued to live together in Arcadia until Vic died in 1998. Debbie later moved away from the village. Vic was known in the village as a storyteller and used to enjoy sitting with the locals at night, in the Shepherd and Dog, keeping the younger villagers entertained with tales of the war and things that he had done in his younger days.
The cottage was extensively refurbished in 2006, which included updating the interior, carrying out extensive repairs to the roof and redecorating inside and out. However, externally it remains unaltered. It remained the property of the Hills family, who let it out, until 2010. The new owners improved the property further with ambitious landscaping that included a drive that made off-road parking possible for the first time.
Tony Brooks
[Copyright © 2018, Anthony R. Brooks. Adapted from Anthony R. Brooks (2008) The Changing Times of Fulking & Edburton. Chichester: RPM Print & Design, pages 145 and 147.]