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Billingshurst
Billingshurst photos
Displaying the first of 43 old photos of Billingshurst. View all Billingshurst photos
Billingshurst maps
Historic maps of Billingshurst and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Billingshurst maps
Billingshurst area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Billingshurst and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Billingshurst
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Billingshurst.
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Childhood
I remember Higgings toy shop, I had many a good look round there, also Bernard Bakers men's outfitters, and many more. Good days.
Sweet Shop
We used to go into a sweet shop in the High Street and buy Wagon Wheels. I am sure they were bigger then than they are now! One of the children whose parents owned the sweet shop had a snake! We were fascinated. Snakes as pets were quite rare in those days. Diana Dors used to live in Billingshurst, and we often used to see her in the Post Office, wearing a fur coat. She would emerge from a huge white car! My mother would say "Good Morning Miss Dors", but never ever got a reply from her! I wonder if the girl who had the snake still lives in Billingshurst? She would be in her 60s now.
Church Slopes
My mother used to walk us home this way, after I finished school. I got off the bus by the station. I used to go to the Immaculate Heart of Mary School somewhere near Billingshurst. I remember walking past the graveyard, and always feeling scared. There was a stile at the bottom of the hill, Mum had to climb over, but my sister and I could scramble underneath it. We lived in Daux Avenue, in the new bungalows. It was my parents' first house that they owned. I remember watching the man doing the artexing on the kitchen ceiling. There was a terrific storm, and the sky was as black as night. There were hailstones as large as golf balls, and we saved one to show my father when he got home. He used to catch the train from London, where he worked for the Civil Service. On another occasion the cows escaped from a local farm, and they ran amok through all the gardens, pulling people's washing off the... Read more
West Sussex memories
The Post Office
I was born in 1933 and went to live in Broadford Bridge in 1937. There were two village shops, ours incorporated the Post Office. No electricity and when butter was required for the shop it was down in the well to keep it cool. The Bacon was in a metal box hanging in the tree.
When the war started my father was called up in 1939 leaving my mother to run the shop. The helpful postman delivered all the papers whilst doing his rounds. I cycled around on Sundays. No buses, it was cycle everywhere. I bred rabbits for food, taking them on my cycle to Steyning market for sale to earn pocket money.
Just before the outbreak of war my father installed a small engine which drove a generator giving 50volt lighting to our home, but still no power. The large accumulator batteries for this were installed on the first floor of the barn and needed regularly to be topped up with distilled water. I soon realised... Read more
Moved to Barns Green in 1958
My family moved to Barns Green in 1958 purchasing Cootes Farm and then Bachelor's Farm shortly after (hardly large enough to be called farms, but that was their names). I was 15 at the time and had many friends and fond memories of growing up in and around Barns Green.
If anyone that can remember me would like to swap memories I would be happy to hear from them. I was a little young when we moved there to take a very active part in the local pub, but this soon changed! I spent many happy days there with the great crowd of people my age in and around the Horsham area. My brother Alan who was eight years older than I played cricket for the local team as did I but not so much.
We moved to the Isle of Wight in 1963 where we purchased another couple of proper farms and stayed there until 1986 when I moved to the Caribbean.
Feel free to email... Read more
Childhood at Wisborough Green School
I lived at Hawkhurst Court a few miles from Wisborough Green. I was at school in Wisborough Green in 1939 till my family moved in 1946. My younger sisters and brother also attended the same school. I remember names such as Rosalind Woods, Alice Avis, Joan Luckford, Michael Puttock and several others. I also remember dancing round the maypole on the green, attending church and having meals in the hall near the church. Awful wartime food! One memory that stands out was sometime during the war the pilot of a German plane decided to machine gun the school. Very scary as there was no shelter. I also remember my first teacher in 1939 was a Miss East. She had a gammy leg and wore high button black boots.
Wisborough Green 1951-1976
I was just 9 years old when my family moved to Wisborough Green in December 1951, where my father - John Edward Penney MA, LTh - was vicar until his retirement in 1976. I went to Wisborough Green Primary school and can recall these names of other villagers: Pullen (I danced round the Maypole with Joyce Pullen at Primary School in 1952!!) Cooper, Cheeseman, Gent, Enticknap, Balchin (the builder) James (Jeff in the Handy Shop/ Maurice his brother, whose widow Pansy now lives in Slinfold) Puttick, Clark (the nurseryman, whose son Eric was still in WG, the last time I heard of him). There were 2 Butchers' shops - Knights and Peacocks - and 2 Grocery shops - Forest Stores and Grinsteads (now Wisborough Stores) plus a Bakery on the former site of the windmill, a Post Office and the Handy Shop (see above). In September 1953 I went on to Collyer's Grammar School in Horsham, travelling daily on the lumbering Southdown route 63! My summer holiday work from... Read more
