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Five Ash Down

Five Ash Down maps

Historic maps of Five Ash Down and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Five Ash Down maps

Five Ash Down area books

Displaying 1 of 24 books about Five Ash Down and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Five Ash Down

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East Sussex memories

Convent

I attended the St Michael's Convent when it was a boarding school run by the nuns. I remember Sister Anastasia who was very kind. Also the prayers and the lovely church next door. I saw that they have bulldozed the convent and I think it's so sad. I was there in 1963 and it was to be my last school before I entered the world. When I was there the BBC came and did a Christmas broadcast. I was Victoria Redman then.

Great-Granny Worked Here?

I do not have a specific memory myself but I think my great-granny worked here. On the 1901 census she is listed as a kitchen domestic. At the time Lady Ashburton and her children Alexander and Lilian Baring and many other servants are listed as living here. I am tracing my family tree and I am looking for any books or photographes taken around 1900 or any local historian that may have some more infomation about Buxted Park and the people that lived and worked there.                     
Anything at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Herons Ghyll R.C.Primary School

My memories are of Herons Ghyll R.C. Primary School, as I attended between 1949 and 1956,w hen Mrs Mary White was the headmistress, and Miss Duval was the teacher of the juniors. I shall remember also, Mrs Goody who was the lady in charge of meals that used to arrive from Uckfield. She lived near the school and I was able to visit her in the early 1970s before she passed on. Mrs White lived, as I remember, not far from Tonbridge. The days at this school were a joy, and I still have programmes of some of the plays we performed, including "Boots and the North Wind"! We as a family lived in Alderbrook Close in Crowborough, before moving to Mid Wales in 1956.

Horney Common as A Child

I was born in London in 1938. When war broke out the following year my father sent my mother and myself down to Devon but soon after that he, and many of his regimental colleagues in the Army, rented a large country house in Horney Common and put the mothers and children there for the duration of the war. It was pure bliss as a child - there was the company and fun of other children in the house and every time one of the fathers came home on leave another little one turned up nine months later! The cottage was Woodstock just down the hill from the Common itself. What a treasure that was - wonderful garden, fruit growing lushly in all seasons falling from the trees, the meadow in front with the garage at the end of it and the spoiling of a dear couple, Mr and Mrs Furst, who lived in the cottage next door. My favourite flower is still the polyanthus which grew each spring in... Read more

Horney Common

I have just read Juliet Baxter's memories about Woodstock. My mother bought Woodstock in 1946 for her mother to live in. She lived there and bred dogs until the 1960s. I have many happy memories of staying there as a child.
I have lots of photographs of Woodstock, including a postcard from, I think, the 1930s. I went to see the house 6 months ago, but no one was in. It hasn't changed a lot.

During Www2 - Were You Called ''Blackie''

We had many summer holidays in this lovely village. My aunt and Uncle had moved here from Danehill, and lived firstly in the Reading Room. Jimmy Edwards lived in the village and he often opened the gymkanas in the summer. My brothers used to stay with the Auntie and Uncle, while I stayed one year with the Griffiths. Who owned the Farm machinery place at the fork in the road just on the edge of the village. A lovely young couple. I remember they had a little girl younger than me. Also alovely lady who came in and helped with the house, who was very kind. I peeked into the office one day and watched the secretary typing, I was fasinated and when I grew up also became a secretary! For three children who lived in London Fletching to us was Heaven! Now in our 60's we all three have very vivid happy memories of that time. A very tall blond chap who had the nickname 'Blackie' was a friend... Read more

Blackboys Post Office

This was the year that I and my family moved into the Post Office where we lived for the next 9 years. During this time I saw lots of changes to the buildings accross the Framfield Road. My father changed the inside of the Post Office. The old wooden counters were removed and replaced with open shelving and self service shopping.
There was a sorting room inside the Post Office which was busy each morning as the post and parcels were sorted into different rounds for Nora who delivered everything on her red bike, except at Christmastime because of the amount of parcels and post. This was deliverd by car with lots of help.
The Post Office is no longer there and the trees have all been cut down but the photos that were taken of the people and the place are still with me today and bring back the happy times we all had.

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