You are here:
Balcombe
Balcombe maps
Historic maps of Balcombe and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Balcombe maps
Balcombe area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about Balcombe and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Balcombe
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Balcombe.
Add your memory of Balcombe
or of a photo of Balcombe.
My Mother
My mother, Beatrice Constable, was born in a little cottage in Balcombe. The happy event took place in a small asbestos bungalow with lots of hydrangeas around the front door. Her parents were Joshua and Elizabeth Constable. Nan had seven boys and seven girls. Some were stillborn and buried in the churchyard under a tree. Does anyone remember this family?
Gladys From Cornwall With The Red Setter
Back in early 1977 I worked at Brantridge House, Balcombe of which I have very fond memories. Perhaps someone knows how I can make contact with either Gladys from Corwall, or her daughter, who would now (2011) be about 49. Perhaps someone knows how I can contact them or others who worked there at the time - the Spanish pair for example.
Searching Information For Ancestry Search
My father was born in 1927 in Maple Cottage, Balcombe. The Maple Cottage then was not the Maple Cottage now - does anybody know where it was situated in 1927? His mother was Marjorie Hunt but she did not live in Balcombe. I believe she had the baby, registered him and then moved on. Did anybody take in young women to help them with births?
Any info would be very welcome.
Searching Information For Ancestry Search HUNT
My father was born in 1927 in Maple Cottage, Balcombe. The Maple Cottage then was not the Maple Cottage now - does anybody know where it was situated in 1927? His mother was Marjorie Hunt but she did not live in Balcombe. I believe she had the baby, registered him and then moved on. Did anybody take in young women to help them with births?
Any info would be very welcome.
Evac
I was evacuated to Balcombe in 1940 along with the Stanley Technical College pupils from south London. At first, 3 of us were billited at Monks, a large and beautiful home some 3 km out of the village. At that time the Johnston family owned the house. This was a fantastic experience.
We were taught at the village school and the log-cabin scout hut was adapted for our engineering workshop practice. Later, I was billeted at a house adjacent to the railway station. I don't recall the owners' names, but the man of the family owned the only car-repair business in the village. We were resented and not made welcome in this home at all. A miserable experience.
I visited Balcombe from New Zealand in 1990 and found that Monks had become a protected property - owned by the National Trust - or whatever is its NZ equivalent. The log-cabin scout hut was still there, as was the school, and of... Read more
West Sussex memories
The High Street - Sayer's Store - 'Nim' And Phyl Alen
My name is Barbara Tester and I live in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
My beloved (late) husband, Brian Tester, was born on 26th July, 1930 at No. 1 Station Cottages, 1 Station Road, Ardingly. His parents were Bartley William Charles Tester and Gladys Evelyn Tester. His father was a stonemason who carried out a number of pieces of restoration work in Sussex throughout his long working life.
The family lived for some years in Eastbourne before moving to Hailsham in the mid 1950s. Brian migrated to Australia in 1952, and we were married in 1955. His brothers, Michael and Richard, and two sisters Anne (Pomroy) and Ethne (Ansfield) all still live in Sussex. Both Brian and Mike were members of St Peter's Church Choir.
During the war, while Dad was in the army, the family was evacuated from Eastbourne (where, like many others, their home was bombed) to Ardingly, where they lived with Aunty Phyl and Uncle 'Nim' who were, at that time, living in 'Cobb Cottage'. Cobb... Read more
The Bell
Several of the local lads and I took the bell from the chapel on the bridge and for a laugh we hung it over the bridge. When large trucks passed underneath, it rang so loud it could be heard all over the village!
