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Burwash
Burwash maps
Historic maps of Burwash and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Burwash maps
Burwash area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about Burwash and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Burwash
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Burwash.
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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!
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
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!!
East Sussex memories
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.
Childhood Memories
This view brings back many childhood memories, I was born in the cottage on the right hand edge of the picture, in 1947, growing up on the farm there, and have lived within three miles of the area for the majority of my life.
Ticehurst
My name is David Effer and we lived in Ticehurst from 1954 to 1968 when we left for Australia. We lived in Springfields and I had 4 brothers and two sisters. My father worked at Ticehurst House as a chef. Mum and dad have passed on now and one sister lives in Sicily.
Singehurst Pond
Singehurst pond was the place for both girls and boys to go fishing with their bags of dampened bread and makeshift fishing rods. Throughout the season we caught loads and then returned our catch at the end of an outing, sometimes staying out all day. It was an excuse to meet up with friends and other village children with the same idea.
This was memorable, but more so were the occasional winters when the water froze over to several inches thick, and all the village children (and some adults) made their way there to slide on the ice. My friend, Julia, and I did whenever we could. The ice creaked continuously and ominously, but we were ever ready to drop to our knees and crawl to safer places.
Skating with only our shoes was one of the few unusual and fun winter memories, along with sliding down the nearby steep field on a straw-stuffed plastic bag!
