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Faygate
Faygate maps
Historic maps of Faygate and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Faygate maps
Faygate area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about Faygate and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Faygate
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Faygate.
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The Forge, Faygate
My grandfather, John Mitchell, owned the village blacksmiths, it had been in the Mitchell family for three generations. Granddad ran the forge with his sons Frank and John jnr, later John jnr left to do other things. Uncle Frank and Granddad continued and as shoeing became less needed they branched out into other forms of metalwork, designing and making ornamental gates that won John many an award. Granddad was also a lay Methodist preacher who cycled to surrounding villages to deliver the Sunday sermon. He was also a renowned judge at Shire horse shows. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on the horses while they were being shoed. I would spend my holidays staying with my grandparents, John and Fanny Mitchell, at 5 Cottages, Faygate. Wendy Soall, nee Mitchell.
Faygate Village Hall - 1964
I remember attending cubs in Faygate Village Hall back in around 1964-66. I think the building had some corrugated iron sheets on the roof or on the walls and I think there was a petrol station next to it. We lived at Clyst Hayes, Brook Lane, a house about two miles from Faygate on the way to Horsham. The surname 'Jobson' rings a bell, possibly Peter Jobson, not quite sure, it was a long time ago. - Kevin Mann, k.mann@tesco.net
Faygate Station
My Grandfather was station master at Faygate station for quite a number of years. He and my grandma lived in the house right on the platform and they had a garden opposite where he grew vegetables and kept chickens. His name was Frank Allen. I have many memories of playing on the little bridge that used to be over the railway lines as well as on the sidings and buffers nearby. It was all very daring and exciting for a little girl with lots of imagination. Apparently my mum lost her engagement ring somewhere in his garden and I've often wondered if anyone ever found it!
Contribution by Carol Uren, Dorset.
West Sussex memories
VISITS TO RUSPER
My grand parents lived in Rusper for many years and their house was next to the butchers' shop on the same side of the road as the church. I can remember visiting my grandparents, as a school boy and my grandfather was a local builder and decorator and he had worked on both public houses, the Star and the Plough Inn. My father was one of thirteen children that they had raised and he was also involved in the buisness. We used to live in Horsham and often took the only bus to Rusper, they were Mitchells Coaches from the Carfax. I can remember that when we visited Gran and Granpa we had to sit very quietly and certainly make no noise when Granpa was listening to the results for Littlewoods Pools. When Granpa was working on the Star Inn he found on a wall a entire family tree dating back to the 1500s. I can also remember the bucket toilets and Gran doing the washing in a boiler. We often walked in the woods,... Read more
Strathmore
My parents bought Strathmore which was a large house with 4 1/2 acres of garden just opposite the village shop on the road to Charlwood. We lived there as a family until about 1965, Peter Butterworth was a neighbour. Both my sisters Anne & Carolyn were married in Ifield Church. Friends who also lived in the village were John Reynolds and George Dutton. The Laker family were our gardeners. Strathmore is now a development of 54 Georgian style houses.
Flower Sellers at The Black Swan.
My father was one of the "flower sellers".
Together with our neighbour - Mr. George Lee - the pair of them would bunch flowers from their respective gardens and take them up to The Black Swan on a Sunday evening to sell to trippers homeward bound from a day by the seaside. The flowers were kept fresh in stone jars. I can remember a van being there on the green from which I used to get a packet of Smiths crisps containing that little screwed blue bag of salt.
Flower Sellers at The Black Swan
My Dad, Sid Sargent also sold flowers at the Black Swan - he grew Dahlias and Golden Rod in our garden at Truggers in Handcross, bunched them up on Sunday afternoon and biked up to Pease Pottage to sell them to the Londoners going home after a day in Brighton. Dad was born at 11 Horsham Road, Pease Pottage in 1920.
