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Brightling
Brightling maps
Historic maps of Brightling and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Brightling maps
Brightling area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about Brightling and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Brightling
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Brightling.
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FULLERS ARMS
I used to visit the Fullers Arms in Brightling on my motor cycle, starting at the Banks Cottages and making the circle around the reservoir to Brightling, then to Dallington, and then Netherfield and finally to Johns Cross. It made a nice evening's ride and I had a few beers, happy days.
East Sussex memories
Going to School
I remember walking to school (the old school) through the woods at the back of the church 1958ish,we then moved to the 'new' school at Darvel Down, I myself lived at 49 Darvel Down up until about 1963 when we moved to Crowhurst. I also remember making camps on the 'waste' and playing down in the 'gorse', if by any chance anybody remembers me you can conact me via e-mail: goatbasher@ymail.com
A Forgotten Piece of Netherfield History
On 4th October, 1940, a Hienkel HE 111 h-2 bomber crashed nr the Mountfield Gypsum mines. Only one crew member survived, his parachute was caught in a tree. He was rescued unhurt.
I was only five years old and still remember the event vividly.
Due to the threat of Invasion, my Mum and I went to live with my Gran and Grandad -Charles and Sara Crouch on Netherfield Hill.
Late at night, we heard the bomber crash over by the Gypsum mines, the plance came down close to the miners path that leads from the "shooting box" nr Netherfield Church close to the mines, only 700 metres, as the crow flies, from the church.
We got up very early next day so we could look at the crash. there was the parachute still hanging from the tree. Gypsum mine workers, including my Uncles, were stripping what useful items they could from the wreck. They thought it... Read more
Batemans - My Grandfather
My grandfather, A J Hurd, was, for a time, Rudyard Kipling's head gardener at Batemans. He, my grandmother and my mother (now Joyce Richardson) and her sister (now Barbara Wainwright) lived in one of the cottages (which still exists) near the mill adjacent to Batemans. In addition to his responsibilities in the gardens, Grandpa also worked with the private hydro-electric turbine generator (which also still exists) which provided electricity to the house. That work is referred to in a letter of reference Mrs Kipling wrote for Grandpa when he moved on, which my mother still has. She also still has the letter Rudyard Kipling wrote to the local education authorities explaining to them that my mother was too young to have to walk the considerable distance to the local school, and was so bright that waiting another year wouldn't hurt!
School Memories at St.Josephs
I went to school at st.Josephs Salesian school a mile outside Burwash from 1939-1946
I recall there were about 10 pubs in the village and I stayed one summer with the Davies family who lived just before the church in a smugglers house where we went to bed through a hole in the wall .I remember the Hollamby's,Miles'and the Woodalls who were day boys.we all had some exciting and sometimes harrowing times during the war.I have been writing my autobiography with pictures for my family and recall a great deal of the eight years spent at the school.I was a Londoner I went there when I was 5 and my job was feeding the chickens helping hand milk the cows and using the shire horse to hay rake etc I spent 50 years farming through my work at Burwash.Of course it was a real village in those days,Last time I visited it was a vacant place with commuter jobs. and few real locals!!
Growing up
I have some very happy memories of growing up in and around Burwash. Both sets of my grandparents lived in Swife Lane. Mr and Mrs Frederick owned Corner Farm, where my mum grew up, and Mr and Mrs Smith lived in Byeways. I remember as a small child, we would go and visit my grandparents. If we stayed at Byeways, we would all go to the "The Bear", owned by Carol and Norman back in the 1970s. I remember I used to run down the bottom of the garden and stand on the wooden fence and look out over the fields. It was wonderful. I remember some of the regulars too that used to drink in The Bear. Mrs Todd, who was a tiny little lady who had a little Jack Russel dog, and a wonderful man my grandmother and every one else used to call Pip. I always remember being fascinated with a painting that hung in The Bear. It was a painting of all the regulars back in... Read more
GYPSUM MINES
I was born in Netherfield and worked at the Gypsum Mines, as did my father. When I was eighteen I joined up and served for the duration, when I came home I eventualy went back to the mines. My father was killed in an accident at the min es, on the surface while I was under ground, around 1950. I was married to a Mountfield girl in 1949and lived at the Banks Cottages. I played football for Mountfield, the football field at that time was just past Johns Cross on the left on the way to Robertsbridge. I also played for Battle Rangers prior to emigrating to Canada in 1953. I now live in Wasaga Beach, Ontario. I am retired since 1988. I born in Netherfield Jan 1923.
