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Chelsham
Chelsham maps
Historic maps of Chelsham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Chelsham maps
Chelsham area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Chelsham and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Chelsham
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Surrey memories
Hamsey Green/Warlingham
This is indeed Hamsey Green. The view is from the Good Companions car park. The two shops with awnings to the right of the image no longer exist, as the Coop built a shop there. One used to be a bike shop (left) and the other (right) a place that sold head stones for graves. The tall trees in the background were a grove of Horse Chestnut trees that covered much of the land as it dropped towards Kingswood. Close to the Kingswood end of this plot of land was a large greenhouse (or more), that was a flower shop of some type. The area where the trees can be seen, is now near the top end of Kingswood Avenue where the newer shops are located.
Hamsey Green
The building being constructed next to the co-op was a small supermarket that would be first named Coopers then, Fine Fare. The Shop next to the co-op on the right was Bill Croft the bicycle shop. Out of view to the left of the car park bollard would be where Trevors the Newsagents was located and where I was a newspaper delivery boy for several years.
Catapults - Mid Fifties
This brings back when us local lads would venture into the bike shop where he also sold modelling bits and pieces. By far the best elastic for our catapaults (sprogs) was 1/4inch elastic, we had to convince the bloke that it was for model aircraft so that he would sell us a couple of feet.
I just remembered also, that he used to sell a 'Penny Farthing Bike' made of fairly heavy duty stiff wire and a heavy 'flywheel' on the front around which we'd wind a bit of string and pull sharply, thus spinning the wheel, we then placed it upright on the pavement and it would take off for a few feet.
Warlingham Park Hospital Harrow Road And The Bull at Chelsham
I was delighted to find these lovely photos of the Warlingham area , but surprised that, so far, there is no reference to the Warlingham Park hospital, the staff and patients of which were a source of financial income to the area for over 100 years. Many of the staff lived in the houses on Harrow Road which may even have been owned by the hospital, as often these large mental hospitals were surrounded by their own little cluster of dwellings/village for the staff. The hospital was linked with a farm, on which some of the inmates/patients originally worked, but later this was discontinued. Just by the site of the old Warlingham Park hospital, is a pub called the Bull. This pub is also pretty old and had hitching posts for horse-riders of earlier times. I wonder if anyone recalls working at the hospital, or living in Harrow Road at that time? Or - are any of you still living there?
The Bakery, Tatsfield
Hi
My family ( The Watsons) owned the bakery which was a substantial building in the village centre. It housed the bakery itself ( My Uncle Dick Watson was the baker in those days) It was also a hotel with six bedrooms, plus it had a shop on the front corner, shown in the above photo.
I was 12 years of age at the time and used to visit my Grandad Watson in the long, triangulated room above the shop. He was well into his 80's in those days.
I am now 63 and live in nearby Westerham.
My Dad owned "Tatsfield Garage", 150 yards down Paynesfield Road from where the photo was taken in fact. My only brother Tony still owns the garage which was started in the village in 1928.
Barry Watson. ( Web:- http://www.barrybwm.plus.com)
Riddlesdown in The 1950's
We lived in Dale Road, right near the bottom of Downscourt Road and we spent a lot of time on Riddlesdown because it was near to where we lived. When we got a bit older, we used to walk along the downs towards Kenley or maybe even further along where there was a railway crossing. We used to get pennies and put them on the rails and wait for a train to come along and squash them. That was in the days were children could go anywhere they liked. We used to go up to the downs by ourselves and so long as we were back for tea or supper, it didn't matter what we did.
Riddlesdown Shops
It was so good to see the photos, the memories came flooding back. When I was a child I too used to go for walks on the downs and into Kenley. I lived in Derwent Drive near what was then called Riddlesdown Secondary Modern School. The shops we used to go to at Riddlesdown. My mother would send us there every Saturday to buy 2 loaves of bread. Then when I was older I worked in the hairdressers called "Hazels". Thankyou Liz for your memories, I wonder if we know each other? Yvonne Slater.
