Arlington, Church c1955 (ref. A347034) | From the churchyard The
Street, a cul-de-sac, leads
to the crossroads and the
popular Yew Tree Inn, the
building with the porch
on the left, its Victorian
brickwork now painted
white. On the right we can
see the timber-framed
Tudor walls of The Corner
House. In the distance
is Tudor Cottage with its
central chimney stack
and steeply-pitched tiled
roof, an early 16th-century
timber-framed house now
cased in brick.
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Arlington, the Cuckmere c1955 (ref. A347003) | Two miles south-west of
Michelham Priory, further
downstream along the
Cuckmere River, we reach
Arlington, another scattered
village of farmsteads bisected
by the meandering river. The
Cuckmere River rises six or so
miles north-east of Hailsham
and meanders past it to the
west. Then it flows through
the South Downs to reach the
English Channel at Cuckmere
Haven, where there is no port
or settlement, unlike at Sussex's
other river mouths such as the
Arun, the Adur and the Ouse.
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Berwick, Drusilla's Park, the Cottage c1955 (ref. B563009) | Fronting the road, beyond
the outbuildings in the
two previous views, is
the 17th-century cottage
where the zoo park started
some seventy years ago; its
outbuildings became the
gift shop and tea rooms. The
lane leads to Alfriston further
down the Cuckmere River, a
popular tourist village with
its Clergy House. The ground
floor of the cottage was used
for tea rooms, but nowadays
serves as the zoo offices.
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Berwick, Drusilla's Park, the Miniature Railway c1955 (ref. B563014) | The miniature railway was one of the major attractions of
Drusilla's and still is, though the engines are somehow less
utilitarian and more convincingly based on steam locomotives
- the best one is 'Ruston' The train now hauls visitors around
within the high-fenced zoo park.
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Berwick, Drusilla's Park, the Shops c1965 (ref. B563049) | From peaceful Arlington
our route passes Arlington
Reservoir before heading
south to cross the A27
to Drusilla's Park, one of
Sussex's major tourist
attractions. These 1950s and
1960s views capture it as
it was before more recent
expansion. For several
decades before this it had
consisted of a cottage and
converted outbuildings,
with its principal attractions
wallabies and a miniature
railway. On the left is the Gift
Shop, which still thrives.
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Boreham Street, White Friars Hotel c1955 (ref. B645011) | Wartling is another parish like
Herstmonceux, with its parish
church and part of the village over
a mile south of the main road and
on the edge of the Pevensey Levels.
The main settlement along the main
road is called Boreham Street. It
is an attractive village, and at the
west end, on the corner of Wood
Lane, is the White Friars Hotel; we
see it here from Wood Lane, with
the main road passing between
the creeper-clad hotel and the
rendered house. Currently (January
2004) under restoration and hidden
behind scaffolding and sheeting, the
building has 16th-century origins.
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Chiddingly, Muddles Green c1955 (ref. C534011) | Moving south to the
Cuckmere River valley,
our tour reaches
Upper Dicker, about
two and a half miles
west of Hailsham.
This curious name
apparently comes
from the Latin for
a tenth or ten, the
ten being iron rods
or 'dickers' which a
medieval ironmaster
paid as his rent for the
land hereabouts. This
view looks south from
the Michelham road
towards the South
Downs in the distance.
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Chiddingly, the Village c1955 (ref. C534005) | South-east of East Hoathly lies
the large scattered parish of
Chiddingly, a typical rolling
Wealden-edge village composed
of scattered hamlets, farmsteads
and woodland. The church is
in one such hamlet with a pub,
the Six Bells, nearby; this view
looks uphill towards Church
Lane at the crest. Beyond the
building on the right, Yew Tree
House with its yew tree, is the
pub and church, the latter with
its fine 130ft-high 15th-century
spire and the Sir John Jefferay
monument to the builder of
Chiddingly Place (view C534004
on pages 72-73).
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Chiddingly, Muddles Green c1955 (ref. C534008) | Half a mile south of the hamlet with the parish church and Chiddingly Place is another
small hamlet, Muddles Green, where cottages fringe a small green. All four buildings in this
view are Victorian: the one on the left, Birch Cottage, is of the 1860s, and the one behind the
telephone pole, Jubilee Cottage, is dated 1887, while the others are of about 1900. Behind the
photographer is the 1906 village school, and on the right the green has been enlarged with
new houses built in the 1990s, Willetts Field.
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Crowborough, All Saints Church 1900 (ref. 44931) | At the northernmost point away from Hailsham we reach Crowborough, a village that became a health resort
in the 1870s when Lord Abergavenny followed the advice of a Dr Prince. On the eastern edge of the beautiful
Ashdown Forest, the town is now a commuter settlement. On the north side of the village green, the church
dates from 1744, including the tower and spire, with additions for Lord Abergavenny made in the 1880s.
Beyond the Victorian lych gate is the vicarage, also of 1744.
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East Hoathly, the Church c1960 (ref. E177021) | Hoathly is an Anglo-Saxon place name meaning 'heather-covered clearing'. It has a medieval parish
church in the western part of the village, but all is not as it seems in this view from the east. Only
the squat, battlemented tower is medieval, a 15th-century one paid for by the Pelham family of
Halland. The rest is mostly an 1856 rebuild, with the flat-roofed vestry at the right added in 1901
and a lychgate (out of view to the left) in 1883. The churchyard is now trimmer, and much heather
has been planted, possibly in honour of the village name.
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East Hoathly, High Street c1965 (ref. E177042) | From Crowborough
the route heads back
nearer to Hailsham's
environs and to the
village of East Hoathly,
a village now much
more peaceful than a
few years ago. The road
sign (left) at the junction
of the High Street and
London Road gives the
clue. Fortunately for
the village, it is now by-
passed by the busy A22,
but until then traffic had
to negotiate this very
sharp bend, and the
London to Eastbourne
traffic made the centre
of the village a less
than pleasant fume-
filled place, I recall,
particularly at weekends.
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East Hoathly, High Street c1955 (ref. E177008r) | The second view looks along
Waldron Road into the High
Street, with the London road
turning beyond the houses on
the right; the nearest of these,
Warnham Cottage, is no longer
a shop but a house. Beyond
the Kings Head pub on the left,
the white-painted shop has
become a gift shop and café,
and the large bay window to
its far end is now demolished.
The church-like brick building
dates from 1900; it was built as
a Sunday School, but has now
lost its belfry turret.
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Hailsham, the Church 1900 (ref. 44963) | One of the earliest
references to the
church in Hailsham
is in 1229, some
thirty years before
Henry II granted the
already existing town
a market charter.
However, the town
was served originally
by a chapel-of-ease
from Hellingly parish,
which may explain
why Hailsham's
church is built behind
the High Street rather
than within it. This
view, from the south
east near Vicarage
Road, shows a
heavily Victorianised
medieval church; it
further suffered in
1943 when a bomb
blast destroyed all its
stained glass.
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Hailsham, Ersham Road c1960 (ref. H6065) | This pond with its island
is a most attractive feature
in the outer part of the
town. While it is somewhat
municipalised nowadays, it
is very ancient. The earliest
reference to it is a sad
one in 1263, in the Sussex
Assize Roll for that year. It
is reported to the coroner
that one Gilbert, son of
Gilbert Godseb, drowned
in the pond while bathing.
The walled enclosure on
the far bank is inscribed
'This Sheltered Corner
was Endowed by Harold
and Winifred Morgan in
Memory of their Father,
James Henry Morgan'.
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Hailsham, Old Thatched Cottage , Hempstead Lane c1960 (ref. H6066) | The last two views in Hailsham itself are of a timber-framed cottage
on Hempstead Lane, once in the countryside but now firmly
within the town's 20th-century expansion - this sweeps past the
lane northward for a further half mile to Upper Horsebridge and
the A271. Along Hempstead Lane were scattered farmhouses and
cottages, each with its own well; at the east end, at Leap Cross, were
grazing commons. What is now Numbers 1 and 2 is the easternmost
of these cottages, a survivor from those times.
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Hailsham, Bell Banks Road, the Pond c1955 (ref. H6056) | This pond with its island
is a most attractive feature
in the outer part of the
town. While it is somewhat
municipalised nowadays, it
is very ancient. The earliest
reference to it is a sad
one in 1263, in the Sussex
Assize Roll for that year. It
is reported to the coroner
that one Gilbert, son of
Gilbert Godseb, drowned
in the pond while bathing.
The walled enclosure on
the far bank is inscribed
'This Sheltered Corner
was Endowed by Harold
and Winifred Morgan in
Memory of their Father,
James Henry Morgan'.
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Hailsham, the Common Pond c1965 (ref. H6097) | The commons were largely
enclosed in 1855, but the
pond area was retained
by the lord of the manor,
Lord Sackville. It was finally
bought by the council in 1922
for £3,000, and became a
public open space. A popular
location, it is somewhat
surrounded by uninspiring
housing estates and housing,
such as the 1950s Bell Banks
bungalows opposite, but
it and Bell Banks Road are
living links with the town's
distant past.
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Hailsham, Recreation Ground c1965 (ref. H6088) | On the south side of Western
Road is the Recreation
Ground; it was enclosed in
1885, having formerly been
part of Hailsham common.
In this view the road is off
to the right out of shot. The
verandahed building is the
pavilion, which opened in
1909 and cost £300 to build.
It has since been refurbished
with a coated metal roof
resembling pantiles.
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Hailsham, George Street, Courtlandts c1955 (ref. H6028b) | The centre part of the house is Georgian. The bay-
windowed wings were added by William Strickland,
who had bought the house in 1881 (the left-hand
one after 1902, as it does not appear in the 1902
photograph, No 48221s, above). A rear wing is dated
1875. In 1932 the house was bought by Hailsham Rural
District Council for its own use, but it was sold in 1982
and is now offices.
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