Memory of Clayton

Jack And Jill Windmills c1955
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My parents, Alan & Jennifer Ross, moved to Clayton in 1954 when I was one year old and lived there for the next twenty five years. For most of that period Jack & Jill were owned by Henry Longhurst, a celebrated golf journalist of his time and, since my father was writing about cricket in those days, they knew each other as fellow sports journalists. I remember visiting the windmills as a child and, later in life, when I drove down to Clayton for the weekend, the sight of Jack and Jill on top of the Downs always made my heart lift as I approached the end of the journey. The Longhursts lived in Jack, the black mill and in an attached cottage, as far as I remember, while Jill was pretty much in its original working condition. As you can see from the photograph, Jack did not have sails in those days but in the 1970s a movie called The Black Windmill, starring Michael Caine, was filmed there and the film company paid for sails to be added. My father died in 2000 and is buried in Clayton Churchyard, but I intend to have my ashes scattered on the Downs below Jack and Jill as I always loved the view from there. When I was about six or seven my father wrote a children's book called The Onion Man for which the setting was Clayton. The story featured a little boy called Jonathan and his best friend Percy Boyd (in reality based on my childhood friend Jon Lloyd) and was illustrated by an artist who lived down the lane - Raymond Briggs - who later became famous as the author of The Snowman, Fungus the Bogeyman etc. His drawings are very evocative of the area though sadly the book has long been out of print.