Burgh Heath

A Memory of Burgh Heath.

My grandparents always considered that Burgh Heath was the best village to live in. At one time, it had two swimming pools, two tea rooms and pubs for locals to meet. One pub had a projection room and offered children a free Saturday morning silent film to watch. My great grandfather was Joseph Ward who was the manager of Surrey Tennis on the Reigate Road, Burgh Heath. He provided a mobile racket string service at weekends and hand made wood tennis rackets. The business was owned by the Craven family. I believe that the Reigate Road is now the Brighton Road (A217) and Burgh Heath was pronounced "Borough Heath".

Joseph Ward used to make the bow of the tennis rackets at the village blacksmiths also on the Reigate Road and afterwards finish the racket in his workshop. Later Surrey Tennis moved to a workshop in The Green (about 1910) and the business was combined with a cobbler. The Green also had my favorite shop, The Corn Stores where I purchased several pets. My grandparents considered Burgh Heath one of the friendliest places. In the early hours of the morning there were always fishermen round the Burgh Heath ponds to talk to and in the evenings many villagers met up in the pubs. The Sheep Shearer pub on The Green produced the best lemonade. There were several ponds on the Heath and most locals let their live stock graze loose.

My grandparents enjoyed day trips to London. In the early days there was a regular stage coach stop by The Green for the horses to drink water. Later the Burgh Heath station (now called Kingswood station) opened for even faster journeys to London by train.

I went to Greenacres school in Banstead and my brother went to The Priory School was run by two headmasters, one called Mr Skinner. I remember that when the Burgh Heath War Memorial Hall was opened it became the central meeting place in the village. Always many clubs and societies activities both day time and evenings. One of the tea rooms that opened up by The Green had direct frontage to one of the ponds. In the Summer you could sit out in the garden watching the wildlife on the pond. They had attractive tables with parasols and delicious cakes.

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