Holmwood memories
Here are memories of Holmwood and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Holmwood or a Holmwood photo.
Holmwood Cottage
Picture of Holmwood Cottage on the right, with what was then the coach house, now Coachman's Cottage, on the left. Holmwood Cottage was originally part of the Holmwood Park estate.
Mid Holmwood
Foreground the Norfolk Arms, distance The Bell Holm Hotel.
Four Ways Pond
The name of the pond is Four Ways Pond. My family have lived around Holmewood for centuries. There are indeed four ways leading from the pond, hence the name, simple really.
We Knew This as Four Wents Pond!
We lived at Henfold a couple of miles from here, I used to be a pain in the neck to my older brother who used to come & fish at this pond. I caught my first "Red throat minnow" here. In the winter when it iced over we skated, played ice hockey & someone even drove a mini on the ice!
I rode my pony often around the pond to access the Common & head off towards Leith Hill via Holmwood. I remember it being dredged & cleaned but not the year. It became a local beauty spot for all sorts of activities!!!
My Local Pond
I loved going fishing with my father there, real fun times.
Wounded World War One Soldiers?
I'm pretty sure my great grandfather Hubert John Cavell, was brought here after becoming wounded in Ypres, in Belgium. He died on 22/04/1917. Does anybody have any information? I know that the Queen Alexandra nurses trained there.
My Birthplace
I was born in the master bedroom on the main floor to the existing owners of Anstie.
During our 3 years there we converted it to suites and modernised it considerably.
On the day that I was born there were construction workers in the house and one of them cried when he heard the sound of a newborn baby, I was told many times.
My parents split in 1956 and my mother sold it and moved to Canada. She regretted the move all her life as it was a special place for her.
She trimmed the yew hedge diligently and was delighted to see how it had been maintained 30 years later when she visited it.
I have a few pictures of it then inside and out.
Memories of Surrey
Mid Holmwood
This is categorically Mid Holmwood. An old pond just up from Bonds Pond that is now filled in.
Ted Turner Was Landlord Here
Ted Turner was landlord here, and his father before him, then Ted went to the Holly & Laurel at Holmwood where my family lived, they had a cottage behind the pub, I think the cottage is still there, there were about 8 cottages there. My dad was good mates with John Barrett who had the Duke's Head in Beare Green as with Ted Turner, John's dad had the Fuke's Head before him, My father was in the army same time as John, my farther had to come home on leave the same time as John, both their fathers were taken ill at the same time. That's when John took over the Duke's Head.
My Childhood in Coldharbour - Rosemary Mashford Nee Shields
In July 1959, I was born at home, to Eric and Ann Shields in Coldharbour village. My father was the village policeman; we lived in what was then the police house, which was situated next to the village shop opposite the schoolhouse. All of these properties have now been turned into private homes, but in the scheme of things, the wonder of Coldharbour is how little has changed in almost 50 years.
I have two older sisters Julia and Lynette. I think a third girl may have been something of a disappointment to my Dad who was secretly hoping for a boy to follow in his footsteps. In the fullness of time he was not disappointed; in 1972 he became a proud Dad for a fourth time, when my brother Barry was born and in 1980 just after Dad retired, I joined the Surrey Constabulary and served for 7 years.
Due to my Dad’s promotion, we moved from Coldharbour, it just happened that we moved out on... Read more
Location
The Bell Holm Hotel was in Mid Homlwood on the A24 nearly opposite the Norfolk Arms, on the south bound side and was finally demolished in the mid to late 1970s. I played around it as a kid but never went in though. It was haunted, so we thought.
Doodlebug Exploding in Village, WW2
I was just 3 yrs. old staying in my aunt and uncle's bungalow in Newdigate, (they were working in a local munitions factory). My mother and baby sister were there from Sth. London with me.
It was a lovely sunny day, I was in the garden playing when the Doodlebug engines cut out and it came down in the field next to the bungalow. The lady(Emily) in the next bungalow gathered me up from the garden and took me into her home and we hid beneath the table, whilst all the soil thrown up from the exploding bomb settled.
My mother and sister were trapped beneath a large porcelain sink they had hidden beneath as the roof was blown off the Wood's bungalow by the explosion.
My legs were cut by flying glass otherwise I was excited by the event, but mother refused to settle and insisted my father collected us and so we spent the war years, particularly the Battle of Britain period, in the safety of our... Read more
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