Smallfield memories
Here are memories of Smallfield and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Smallfield or a Smallfield photo.
Small Boys''toys And Other Pastimes. 1930s
bill.haylor@btinternet.com Resident in and around Smallfield for 81 yrs
A large number of our toys were made from wood, dependant on what tools were available in fathers shed, if it was unlocked! The only tools needed were a saw, a hammer and some nails. There were two basic things a home made wooden toy was required to do: (1) Be able to be pulled along by a string, provided it had wheels; (2) To float in a pond or stream. The shape was unimportant, imagination made it realistic.
Our play area was usually the road surface itself, footpaths for pedestrians were only just becoming necessary, car movements were reasonably slow which gave plenty of time to move out of the way. Few footpaths meant more ditches with running water so floating boats along them was popular. A boat consisted of any shaped object that would float from the smallest twig to a chunky piece of wood; penknives were popular in order to shape the wood so that... Read more
Smallfield Prepares For War 1939-45
bill.haylor@btinternet.com Resident in and around Smallfield for 81 yrs.
One of the first indications in the village relating to war was the erection of a telegraph pole, on the top of which was a platform and a circular metal object about the size of two buckets, called a siren, at each end was a circular slotted opening out of which came the creepy but familiar wailing sound. This siren was placed opposite the (old) school in School Road (Redehall Road) and just within the entrance to Gonville Laundry. During use the indication of an imminent air raid was a warbling sound, when all danger had passed a single tone was sounded. During the war all church bells were silent, the sound that everyone most feared were the church bells ringing again for this meant England was being invaded.
During 1940 and to counter enemy movements across Southern England deep gullies were excavated and referred to as Tank Traps. Smallfield had its own section; they crossed Chapel Road... Read more
Shops And Services in Smallfield During The 1930s
bill.haylor@btinternet.com Resident in and around Smallfield for 81 yrs.
Shops and services were limited but adequate. Village hierarchy although unwritten was arranged in a manner that suited most people; the traders held most sway by the nature of their businesses, builders and farmers controlled most of the land.
Starting from the centre of the village. The first shop in Smallfield was on the corner of Wheelers Lane, in the 1930s it was owned by McKenzie the Grocer, the Post Office was first located here. Outside the shop on the wall were machines for Nestles Chocolate and Woodbine cigarettes in thin green packets of fives. The next shop going upwards and south was Warnett the Butcher, the daughter was cashier in the small office to the rear, the men would select a carcase of meat from a large walk in fridge which they sawed, chopped and cut on a large wooden bench. During the summer there were flies!
The Church Hall was next, then across the drive... Read more
Kings Builders
I started school in Smallfield in 1934. In those days there were bucket lavatories. The sewer was laid in 1938 and then most of Smallfield was able to do away with the buckets. There were 3 teachers, Miss Kempshall who came from Betchworth on a 250cc Panther, Miss Cottle who had attended the school and became a teacher (she ran the Cubs as well) and Miss Power. There were only about eighty children untill 1939 when lots of evacuees came from London. We were then crowded out and some had to sit on the floor. In 1940 I moved to Horley School. We were taken in a coach, and I remember having to get into the ditch with an air raid going on above. Alfred King & Son were fairly large building firm in Plough Road, established in 1856 and finished in 1952. Most families had someone who did or had worked for Kings. My grandfather worked as a bricklayer, my father and myself as plumbers. I started there in 1945,... Read more
Smallfield
Does anyone remember the mobile library that was parked near the parade of shops? I think there is a house on the land where it used to park. I have memories of hanging my beret up on my named peg; my double-breasted dark blue rain coat two times bigger then me; the boys trying to pull me over the yellow line to the boys playground; the huge black spider webs in the outside toilets; the hopscotch on the floor of the girls' playground; walking two by two down to the village hall for dinner; being made to eat roast potatoes and ending up in tears; being in a play at the school dressed in pyjamas? Mr Johnson, ahhh, he looks like my dad now. I remember my dad taking me across to the playing fields for the swing and the slide, and me with my friends, sitting on the wall of Orchard Road. Would we allow 6 year olds to do that now? Ialso remember playing in New Road around the... Read more
Canadian Hospital
My husband and I moved to Smallfield nearly two years ago. The noise on Redehall Road is quite a change from the peace and quiet of Cumbria!
I am presently writing a book about Veteran's Memoirs' of the Italy Campaign (the Forgotton Campaign) 1943-46 and as Canadians entered the War with us in 1939, several have now contacted me and are telling me about the Canadian Hospital in Smallfield.
Is there anyone in the village who that might be able to give me any details of this hospital.
Many thanks
Ann Hamlet
Redehall Road.
Days Gone by
We moved to Smallfield in the late 1960s. I remember my little brother Gary Biddles putting his best suit on and knocking at the door of Smallfield Place asking if he could have a look around as he found it very interesting. The lady thought he was so sweet that she invited him for a tour. At a latter date, I was also a regular visitor. I used to do my brother Glenn's milkround so he could go to football so I got to go there every week.
My grandchildren live in Smallfield these days, how hectic the roads are compared to 40 years ago.
Sandra Biddles
Undertakers in Smallfield?
Please can anyone tell me about the history and location of the undertakers in Smallfield? Also does anyone know what used to be where Churchill Rd (off Chapel Rd) was, Careys Wood and Gorse Drive, a relatively new housing estate?
Kingsmead
Hello Bill, my mum went a very fetching shade of red when I read her the mesage about you calling your daughter after her and that you 'liked' her... All of the things you have added to this site have brought back lots of memories for my parents and I am trying to get Dad (Peter) to write some of them down for me to add to the site. Thanks to everyone who is contributing. Anne Waller
Keepers Corner
I lived in No. 8 Council Cottages (now Firbank), several children in the cottages, Potters No 4, Arnolds No 1, Apps No 2, Burtenshaw No 3, this was before the war. I was born 1929. Mr Harris of Redeham Hall Farm let us have the run of all his fields to play in, we would go away for hours and our mothers would never worry where we were. About 1937 they were training pilots in Tiger Moths and Miles Magisters, they practiced landing and taking off coming from Gatwick and using Mr Harris's 49 acre field, we watched them. We also had the bank with all the fir trees around the houses, this was made in 1931 by then owner of Rede Hall, Mr Fisher, so that he would not be able to see the council houses from Rede Hall. The soil came from the lake dug in the gardens of Rede Hall, this bank was lovely to play in. The army took over Rede Hall in 1940 from the... Read more
WW2
When I was about 5 years old I remember my mum picking me up from Smallfield school on her bike, I was in the back on a little seat when a doodlebug roared overhead, and the engine switched off ... My mum panicked, and pushed me off the bike behind a wall, we heard the bang towards Gatwick airport. We then continued the journey home. My dad later said the doodlebug went over our farm - Triddles Farm - and it went over Redehall Road and crashed into the ground beyond. I also remember the bombs being dropped on Gatwick, a series of them. The bombs went around the village, the holes were all over the farmland. From Horne to Smallfield, and north to south just missing Smallfield, just missing the farm, leaving huge holes. Around that time a landmine landed near Horley church.
The Smallfield Brickyard
I was born at 1 Kings Cottages in April 1931. I have two brothers, and as young boys we were close friends of the late Gerald Mitchel. Gerald's mum, nee Doris King, lived with her husband (Syd, who served with the RAF) in what was then called Brickyard Cottages. Their next door neighbours were the Gunn family. I have so many fond memories of our days spent playing, climbing on the brick kilns, swimming in the ponds (which must have been filled in in order to build houses), and adventures in the woods. The woods at that time were across the field from the brickworks. I recall the names of some of the brickmakers, there was one job, which had the title of 'OMICA', I think that's how it would have been spelled. The brickmaking work ceased, I believe, at the onset of war in 1939. There was a well-worn path past the brickmaking sheds and on through the woods which lead to the Ebenezer Chapel. I have so many... Read more
Kingsmead
I was born in Horne but we moved into Smallfield when I was about 10 years old. The first two bungalows we lived in were built by my dad - Peter Pocock. They were called 'Pandora' and 'Saran'.
In Smallfield we lived at 10 Kingsmead. I remember that the shops shut at 5 o'clock and on Wednesday afternoons and that the paper shop only opened for a few hours on a Sunday for the papers. If you wanted chocolate or cigarettes after they closed there were a couple of machines on the shop wall. I do not remember them ever being vandalised for their contents. My dad would always fancy a bar of Dairy Milk after Sunday lunch and we would go down the shops on our bikes to get him a bar from the machine.
A group of us from Kingsmead used to spend hours on our bikes, riding around the lanes and going down the 'rec' to play 'The Man from Uncle', as I recall I was always... Read more
Brickmakers Factory - New Road?
I don't suppose anybody knows anything of the Brickmakers Factory and the brickmakers' cottages in New Rd c1930, the cottages were built around 1929 I believe? I was told this about 10 years ago and I have not yet met anyone that can confirm this info. I was told that there was a factory at the end of the road and the brickmakers lived in the cottages...
Childhood Bliss
I lived at Triddles Farm and rode my bicycle all the way to school at Redhall Road. At lunchtime we all had to walk all the way back to the village hall for lunch and all the way back again after. We played marbles in the drains in the playground and slides on the snow in the winter (all against Health & Safety nowadays). I remember a Mr Joss, one of the teachers, who would rap you over the knuckles if we got anything wrong. I remember learning to knit, and writing with a pen which you dipped into the ink, maypole dancing and school sports day. We cycled for miles around the lanes and must have been away from home for hours. I can't remember any rainy days although there must have been plenty.
Later on I can remember the youth club in the late 1950s in the hall where we would all get together, and catching the bus to the cinema in Horley. The last bus... Read more
Boyhood Memories
I lived here, Woodside Crescent, from 1958 when I was 2 yrs old to 1967 when our family wanted to see more of the world...so we moved to Horley...oh yes, we got around! Went to school near the village centre and further down Redehall Road. We had walk down to the church hall to have our school dinner. Hartnell's the sweet shop (8 fruit salads for an old penny). The woods seemed vast...gone now. Collecting conkers, hundreds of them, from the trees in Smallfield Place. Walking down to the duckpond with my mum and a slice of bread. She wouldn't stop eating.
The bus-stop near the hospital where there was always mountains of gravel to play in. The ditch where our cat always used to catch the water voles and bring them home. The Cafe opposite the bus stop. My parents always used to send me there to get their fags...Players untipped....was it allowed? No motorway then. The recreation ground. Just a couple of swings, a slide and a roundabout... Read more
Memories of Surrey
Burstow Cubs
I was in the cubs at Smallfield and I remember carrying a flag in a Saint George's Day parade to the Burstow Parish Church. Cubs met in the village hall at Smallfield, the same hall we ate our school lunches in, half a mile from the Smallfield County Primary School. The school was half a mile out Redehall Road towards Burstow, and we lived another half mile past the school, on Red Road. I would do Bob A Job week around Burstow, calling at the Hall and at the few other houses in the area.
Burstow Barracks & Westlands Farm
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has photos and any info on Burstow Barracks during 1881 - 1911. My ancestors William & Sarah Carman lived here during these times and were buried at Burstow Church.
Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Amelia Creasey (nee Stone)
My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Amelia Creasey (nee Stone) was born in this little hamlet around 1788 yet somehow she was married in Southwark in 1813 to my Great-Great-Great-Grandad Edward Creasey who was a local man from East Grinstead. I am very interested in my family history and have been greatly helped by research published by the Felbridge & District History Group who discovered that my Creasey family farmed at Gibbshaven Farm. It is a beautiful part of the country.
The Bell Inn
I moved to Outwood 10 years ago to work at the Bell Inn. With its own unique charm I was taken with it from the moment I entered. Originally run by a Mr. John Lane the pub was sold a few years later to a private investor and was sold again to the brewery Fullers who have it now. The pub is a wonderful place to work in and the diversity of the clientele make it so from families with children to business people on their lunch breaks. From the 4 o'clock crowd to Premiership Football Managers and Oscar winning actress. The Bell has it all and of course the regulars and locals. I have made many friends during my time here and the pub is situated on National Trust land. The area around here is some of the most stunning scenery I have seen in the south and during the better weather is perfect for long walks. Within the pub hang a variety of old pictures and with the... Read more
Scott And Jupp Families
I was brought up in Bletchingley in the 1960s and my father Clyde Howard Willats was born near Redhill. He knew Outwood well and used to tell me the story about the two families who owned the two windmills, they were the Jupps and the Scotts. Apparently they were always at loggerheads and decided to settle their differences by fighting it out on two rafts moored in the centre of the pond!! History[and memory!] do not convey the name of the winners, however the road by the pond is Scotts Hill, any comments on this anybody?
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