Thursley memories
Here are memories of Thursley and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Thursley or a Thursley photo.
Landlord
My uncle, Frank Millard, was landlord and lived there in the 40's with his wife, Linda and their adopted daughter.
Frank had an artificial leg owing to a motor bike accident when he was 18 years of age and living in Ash with his parents and siblings. He was born around the turn of the century.
Maybe some-one remembers him?
Family Tree
Whilst researching my family tree I found that my Great Great Aunt Louisa Shorland and her husband Edwin Shorland were the licencees at the Red Lion, Thursley in the early 1880's
Thursley
I grew up in Hindhead near Thursley in the 1960s and this story was extremely well known locally. On the walk which we did often up to Gibbet Hill above the Devil's Punch Bowl you would pass the Sailor's Stone memorial which told the story of the crime. The Sailor's Stone is still there, as is the unknown sailor's gravestone in Thursley churchyard which, having moved back to the area, I saw just the other day. The perpetrators met their victim in the Red Lion Inn, where they told him that they would keep him company on the road to Portsmouth. At Hindhead, then a bleak and almost uninhabited heath, they killed him and stripped him of all his possessions, rolling the body down into the Punch Bowl, where it was discovered the next morning by a local broom squire. The murderers were apprehended when they tried to sell the young sailor's clothes in a village further down the Portsmouth Road, and were tried, convicted and hanged in chains on... Read more
The Red Lion Inn Thursley
I lived in The Red Lion Inn, Thursley (Bridle Cottage) from the day I was born for approximately 22 years. I was born in June 1961 and I am the oldest child of four. I lived with my parents and grandparents. My grandfather, Tom Briscoe, bought the old pub in 1959 (after it had been closed down, I do not know why the pub stopped trading?) - and he converted the place to a private house. I have such happy memories of an idyllic childhood spent in the big old rambling house with several gardens and surrounded by beautiful fields, trees and common land. The story (in postcards) surrounding the Red Lion Inn about the unknown sailor's death in the Punch Bowl is absolutely true and he is buried at Thursley Church - apparently his murderers were last seen in what became our lounge! We had many visitors over the years - ex-Canadian soldiers came back to show their families where they had stayed and drunk beer during the Second... Read more
The Unknown Sailor Postcard
Whilst going through my mother's things I came across a postcard of a gravestone 'In Memory of' then goes on to show the poem that was written which at the end says it was given by the generous public, on the back where you would put your stamp it says 'please affix halfpenny stamp'. It appears that a love engraving of the villains fighting the sailor at the top of the gravestone then the verse. I wondered if the gravestone was still there today and if the inscription was still readable.
The Murder of A Young Sailor
I've come across a set of 6 postcards that tell the tale of a young sailor who was murdered by 3 other sailors that he met up with in the, 'Red Lion' at Thursley. Apparently the other 3 sailors accompanied him up to 'the Hindhead Hills' and murdered him and dumped his body in the Punch Bowl. Is this a well known story in local folklore?
Memories of Surrey
James Christopher Poyle
While undertaking Family Research, during 2011, I discovered that James Christopher Poyle, previously unknown to us as a member of my wife's extended family, passed away at Marchants Hill Camp, on 9th April 1955.
I would apprecate hearing from anyone who might have known anything about James and/or his life while he was a resident there.
Many thanks in anticipation of a reply!
Sandhills
This is where I was born in 1950. I remember being pushed in my pram into Witley to the Post Office. Although I was only a baby I remember the peace of the area. It was a wonderful place to be born.
1950 Year of my Birth in Witley
I was born in Sandhills, Witley in 1950. Witley is still a very picturesque village.
Jasmine Cottage, Petworth Road
In 1956, my family moved into Jasmine Cottage which stands behind the wall on the left of this picture. It was (is) the centre cottage of 3 in one old building. There was a family that lived in the house on the right, where I got my first sight of a television. The program that was on TV when I first saw it was a Test Match, (cricket). The White Heart pub was just up the road on the right and if you turned left, opposite the White Heart, the church was on the right and the village school was on the left. I went to that village school before becoming a boarder at KES. I now live in Kentucky, USA
One Very Good Pub in England
One of My Employments of Yesteryear: Did you know that this public house has a corner where George Elliot used to write some of her famous books? Situated right opposite the War Memorial and next door to where Harry Swallow, who I believe was the head master of Witley School. I used to work there as a waitress in the 1950s and loved being part of Arthur Newland's team...a great boss to work for.
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