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Burwash Common
Burwash Common maps
Historic maps of Burwash Common and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Burwash Common maps
Burwash Common photos
We have no photos of Burwash Common, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Punnetts Town| Burwash| Dallington| Brightling| Stonegate| Heathfield| Mayfield| Etchingham| Shovers Green| Five Ashes| Ticehurst| Wadhurst| Horam| Durgates| Three Legged Cross| Sparrows Green| Robertsbridge| Pell Green| Hurst Green| Rotherfield| Flimwell| Catsfield| Chiddingly
Burwash Common area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about Burwash Common and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Burwash Common
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East Sussex memories
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
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.
Shopping With my Mum in Heathfield...
I remember in the 1960s going to Heathfield with Mum on the bus (we lived at Corner Farm, Swife Lane). We would go shopping and often would go into the Bluebird. Seeing that name in this picture brought all those memories back. I remember once saving up for a blue linen dress from a shop at one end of Heathfield High Street, but I'm unable to remember the name of the shop. I saved for weeks and weeks. It cost me 5 pounds back then! We would buy cream cakes from the bakery to take home to Dad and my brother and sisters. I remember Caffyns at the end of the road. I remember going to the Youth Club on Friday nights. Although it wasn't in Heathfield, I also remember going to the Young Farmers Club in Burwash. I was not that keen on going if I remember. I do however remember one of the members called Richard Lambert-Gorwyn. I think he lived on the same lane as our family.... Read more
The Crown Pub
I wonder if anyone else remembers the Crown pub, which had a television so I used to watch the showjumping while the grown-ups had a drink. The landland was a large jolly man. The garden was very well tended with lots of dahlias, I think.
Heathfield And Punnetts Town
My first memory of Heathfield was when I was about 2 and a half and my mother taking me to the pictures there. I cannot remember the film but I can remember a lady sitting near us giving me a bar of chocolate, I guess I was being a fidget. I also used to go to Erreys furniture store and printers which was owned by my great uncle and aunt and when they passed on Tommy Sands used to run it. My uncle and aunt used to run a market garden opposite Donkey Row, I think it was called Jack and Nellie Kenward. My first school was in Punnetts Town and I lived in the mill cottage up North Street. I left there in 1941. We are hoping to go back there shortly to look into the history of the Errey family. I was known as Jean Thorpe in those days.
