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Dormansland
Dormansland photos
Displaying the first of 13 old photos of Dormansland. View all Dormansland photos
Dormansland maps
Historic maps of Dormansland and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Dormansland maps
Dormansland area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Dormansland and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Dormansland
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Dormansland.
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or of a photo of Dormansland.
Frank Skinner
My grandfather was the blacksmith in Dormansland so I have happy memories, such as watching him in the Forge, him taking me for a walk and picking primroses from the railway bank, also walking to Dormans Park. I also remember having to use a candle to go to bed as there was no electrity in the house and only gas lights downstairs. And I remember my grandmother, Maggie Skinner, ironing with a gas iron. I could go on...
World Famous Dormansland
I livedn and was bonn at 123 Hollowlane,D ormansland. Brother Andrew, mother Margaret, who was school teacher of Maths and Physics. My dad died when I was 10. His name was Arthur and he worked in East Grinstead and was also a Special Constable in Surrey. Mum emigrated with Andrew and I to New Zealand in 1971. I was in Dormansland with my ex-wife of 20 years and my two children in 2005/2006 on holiday. I am at present with a new partner who has 2 kids. Planning to visit Dormansland again within 10 years. Dormansland IS the most FAMOUS place in the whole World.
Dormansland Railway Station, Around 1940
My name is Don Davies, my sister Pam and I were evacuated to Dormansland, early in the war, to escape the anticipated bombing of Croydon, Surrey. We stayed with my uncle and aunt in the railway house at the station. My uncle was the general factotum of the station,from porter, ticket collector etc etc.
Unfortunately I cannot remember his name. I have been completing some family history,and have unearthed surnames of Creasey, Skinner, Underwood and Betts.
If any reader can shed some light on my plight, please email me.
Regards,
Don Davies
Surrey memories
Falling in The Pond
Rod Swift remarked about falling in the pond - well I was one of these. Rod must be my cousin's son, as my aunt and uncle lived in the house referred to. Around 1953 on an icy cold day in winter, a crowd of us were going home after school. On passing the pond we knew there was thick ice so decided to skate on the ice. We did not take into account that it was beginning to thaw and around the outside you could see ice had melted. Quite a number of us went on the ice and most were fine, but I was in the rear and suddenly the ice caved in. I don't remember how many were actually in the water but I was very lucky as a bus inspector waded in and pulled me out from under ther ice. Fortunately no-one was injured, and I only had hurt pride as my mother made me undress outside in the cold. I wish we could have thanked the... Read more
Just Lingfield
If you hadn't fallen in the pond, you were not from Lingfield! So says my dad. The building to the right of the cage in this photo was a shop. My memory of this shop only goes back to the mid 1970s. My grandparents' house was behind the shop (the hedge to the right on this photo is the edge of their property), and whilst on holiday visiting them, my brother and I would play cards with Grandad for 5p a hand. He always claimed that he 'was the best pontoon player in the world', although he would always twist on 18+! We always managed to win and when we both got up to 50p we would always run down the garden path and go to the shop and buy a Cornetto. (They were banned from sale on the Isle of Man back then.) My dad was born in the house and we would go back every 2 or 3 years but now my grandparents are both gone and these... Read more
Lingfield
Jean Chambers mentioned the bomb dropping on the school in 1943 - my parents shop (John Banks Outfitters) was almost opposite the school and I was born at the end of 1943 being given my second name of "Heather" after Heather Lumsden who was killed in the school and was a good friend of my parents.
Jean also mentioned the bomb that was found in 2002 at the bottom of what had been their garden. I wonder whether we lived next door to her. We lived for a time (about 1948/50 I should think) in Mount Pleasant Road - just before the corner next to a large house in big grounds and I understand this is where the bomb was found.
I see from looking at google maps that there is now a house in the grounds between that house and ours.
We left Lingfield in about 1960/61 and I now live in New Zealand but I have great memories of... Read more
The Village I Knew
I used to live at Raymead which was a complex of 24 prefabs, they have been replaced now by a new estate. I come back to Lingfield every year to see the village I grew up in. When I got married to a local lad in 1963 we moved to Tandridge, unfortunately it didn't last due to me but we used to walk to the village pond at night and there was at Christmas one night when it was snowing and they had put fairy lights round the tree by the prison, it looked so lovely I will always remember it as long as I live. I lived ther from 1942 - 1965.
