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West Hoathly
West Hoathly photos
Displaying the first of 17 old photos of West Hoathly. View all West Hoathly photos
West Hoathly maps
Historic maps of West Hoathly and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all West Hoathly maps
West Hoathly area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about West Hoathly and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of West Hoathly
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West Sussex memories
The High Street - Sayer's Store - 'Nim' And Phyl Alen
My name is Barbara Tester and I live in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
My beloved (late) husband, Brian Tester, was born on 26th July, 1930 at No. 1 Station Cottages, 1 Station Road, Ardingly. His parents were Bartley William Charles Tester and Gladys Evelyn Tester. His father was a stonemason who carried out a number of pieces of restoration work in Sussex throughout his long working life.
The family lived for some years in Eastbourne before moving to Hailsham in the mid 1950s. Brian migrated to Australia in 1952, and we were married in 1955. His brothers, Michael and Richard, and two sisters Anne (Pomroy) and Ethne (Ansfield) all still live in Sussex. Both Brian and Mike were members of St Peter's Church Choir.
During the war, while Dad was in the army, the family was evacuated from Eastbourne (where, like many others, their home was bombed) to Ardingly, where they lived with Aunty Phyl and Uncle 'Nim' who were, at that time, living in 'Cobb Cottage'. Cobb... Read more
The Village Green
I lived in Turners Hill from 1941 on Tulleys Farm just down the road from the village. On a Sunday evening my family would first go to St Leonard's church then we all went and sat on the wall over looking the village green to watch and listen to Copthorne Brass Band. Some weeks my grandfather Charlie Covey would play in the band, other weeks he would be on point duty directing the small amount of traffic that trundled up North Street (to the right of the photo). He also went around with a wooden collection box for the band. Another bit of excitement were the coaches that stopped (Timpsons I think) on the way back to London from Brighton. I live about 5 miles away now but I still go to Turners Hill a lot as my oldest brother still lives there, and I go to Tulleys Farm as an old friend of mine still lives there.
Grove Farm, Paddockhurst Road
I used to live at Grove Farm Cottages, Paddockhurst Road, Turners Hill. My father was Noel Sargent and worked as a farm employee for Grove Farm which was either managed or owned by a Mr. Hocken.
My father's name was Noel, married to Dorothy (daughter to Charles and Elsie Clark of Ardingly). I had 2 brothers, Michael the eldest and Colin the youngest of the trio. My brother Michael also worked as a farm employee on Hocken's farm. I can remember sitting on the mud-guard of the tractor my brother was driving when ploughing one of Hocken's fields.
I can remember attending Turners Hill School in the very early 1960's. I then changed schools and remember catching a double-decker bus to Ardingly. I used to travel with my older brother Michael. We can both remember two other males around the same age as us who used to get off the bus at a row of houses just south of The White Hart along Selsfield Road. All four of... Read more
Happy Times
As children we were very priviliged to be part of the village community. We spent many carefree hours playing and making camps in the woods and fields, sometimes we would venture further but had to keep a watchful eye for the keepers. I'm sure they knew we were about but most of the time they turned a blind eye. I was fascinated by their traps, they may seem cruel to some these days but they had a duty to look after the birds ready for the forthcoming shooting season and to provide a good show for their employers, their employment and housing for their families depended on it. On the whole the estate were excellent employers and looked after their workers, many of whom came from previous generations of estate employees. The estate owned much of the village then and this led to a fairly stable and contented way of life for most. Carpenters, woodsmen, decorators were all needed to maintain the many properties that the estate owned, not including... Read more
Straining The Memory!
I attended primary school at Horstead Keynes briefly until it changed location a few miles away. (I went there as well but can't for the life of me recall the name of the place.) The head mistress was the tall and formidable Mrs. Czerniak, (probably spelt wrongly!), a lady who gave me a good grounding in elementary arithmetic and reading, the latter standing me in good stead ever since. Her husband I think was a Russian emigre, a kind gentleman and a classical violinist of some quality. Their chidren also attended lessons.
Pupils I recall included Lizzie Downward, who sometimes was delivered/collected by her dad in a magnificent open topped Bentley with running boards and hand brake fitted outside the driver's door, and one Edward Greengrass (yes really), who ''didn't know his five times table'', as I once informed my mum. She took this phrase up as some kind of mantra and was fond of repeating it endlessly as a joke and to remind me there was someone else... Read more
HAPPY MEMORIES OF SCHOOL HOUSE
I was born at School House, Crawley Down in 1941. My Gran and Grandad (Reg & Florrie ... known as Ducky ...Fry) lived there for many years. My elder sister Jean and I (Jacki) lived there with my Mum, Marjorie and Dad Jack Hilton, until we moved to Crowborough. My sister and I spent the long school summer holidays with our lovely grandparents. Gran was caretaker and cook at the school and Grandad was verger at the church. His Mum Elizabeth, known as Granny Fry or Lizzie, was a wonderful lady who lived to be a few weeks short of 100yrs, her grave is on the corner, as you go to the side door of the church. She and her husband Job looked after the church for many years too, before Grandad took over! Mr Guy Blaikie was the Vicar as I grew up.
I now live in Seaford, but do go back to see the changes, to the place that holds so many happy memories for me.... Read more
School
I was at the village school from June '54 when we moved to a new house in Grange Road, until '59 when I and 3 others went to the Grammar school in EG. I remember Mrs Fry the school cook, (mentioned in another memory) from when I was a dinner monitor. There were only 4 classrooms. Miss Drew was the head and the next class was Mr Mills. It was a friendly school and we had some church services - it was a C of E school - and I remember reading one of the lessons in church I continued living in the village (Sandy Lane from '61) until 1968 when I was married and moved to Bristol.
