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Westham
Westham maps
Historic maps of Westham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Westham maps
Westham area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Westham and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Westham
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East Sussex memories
When My Children Were Young.
We lived in Eastbourne at this time and would always come out to Pevensey Bay on summer days and spend time on the beach. It was so peacefull and there was very little traffic. There were many privately owned small shops and Pevensey Bay had a wonderfull village atmoshere. There was the Butchers shop, Greengrocers,Hairdressers,Do-It Yourself shop, who also sold wood e.t.c
Coast Road was rarely used by traffic, except to go to Normans Bay. The children used to love calling in to the Pet shop, who stocked Chinchilla, Rabbits, birds and other animals. We now live in the Bay and after all these years still loveit, although it has sadly changed,--- like most lovely villages.One shop I forgot to mention was Gilberts Grocery, We could buy everything we wanted and were always made to feel so welcome.
Proposal
This is where Alan asked me to marry him on a beautiful moonlit evening in January. The weather was mild and the moonlight was shining on the sea making it all silvery. There weren't many people around, just the odd jogger and dog walker as it was a Monday night.
I guessed what was happening as he was so nervous, but due to some advice from my friend Simone I kept quiet for once. He took my hands in his and gave a lovely speech about the year we have spent together and then got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.. and of course I said yes. The mischievous side of me was dying to mess around though and pretend otherwise, but I decided that would be too naughty.
Afterwards we walked home, which is close to the seafront and shared a bottle of champagne whilst we called and texted our family and friends with our news. Everyone was very happy... Read more
Our First Home Together.
In September 2007 my partner Alan and I moved into a first floor flat on Tideswell Road directly opposite the church. The fact that the lounge windows overlook the church was the clincher for me when I was viewing the flat for rental. I love the fact that we are not overlooked by other properties which is very unusual for a town centre property. The church itself is a very attractive building and a great piece of architecture. The gardens are smart and well maintained, although small boys sometimes get told off for playing football on the grass. There are now some trees on the pavement around the church which were really pretty when we moved in, dark green and covered in berries (a bit bare at the mo though as its March).
As I am typing this I can see the church out of my window and it hardly looks any different to the photo. Although the picture doesn't relay the size of the building, it is huge!... Read more
Glyndley Manor Hankham
We had many a happy holiday in Eastbourne, staying at Glyndley Manor, an old Elizabethan Manor house, between the years of 1961 and 1970. It had a mounting block in front of the entrance that me and my three sisters used to love climbing on. In the hallway there was a lovely old cabinet with mother-of-pearl inlay. We used to love playing in the grounds. The gong used to be banged when it was time for breakfast or dinner. There was a herony and a dove cote. Our Mum & Dad didn't have a car in the earlier years and we used to walk into Eastbourne along the country lanes with hardly a car passing us.
Eastbourne Flower Gardens
My Grandad was foreman of the Carpet Gardens on Eastbourne seafront. He took over from his elder brother who had taken over from their father. They had, as a family, looked after the Carpet Gardens for over a century.
The family name was Cottington. Grampy always told us that when digging over the flower beds they uncovered Roman mosaics. As a tribute to them they copied the design in the flowers.
Just a simple family memory from long ago.
Birbeck Engineering Co.
Does anybody remember Birbecks Engineering? and 6" Shell Fuse Bases? If anybody reads this would love to hear from you. Names I recall are :- Nancy, Rose, Rita, Fred Laker, Bert Irvrin, Ted Colley, Ernie Lidyard, Mr Bodkin, Miss Birbeck.
Old Eastbourne
This memory is about the 1960s. Eastbourne was always my favourite seaside resort and I never wanted to go home to Croydon at the end of the day. I told my mum that I lived there a long time ago. Of course I got told "Don't be silly". It was only when I was doing my family history in the 1990s that I found that my ancestors came from the old town in Eastbourne. In fact I had a famous one, the artist John Hamilton Mortimer (my grandad also had this name) through Mr Wtevens (local historian) talking about JHM on Sussex Radio. My mum was also listening to him and suggested that I write to Mr Stevens to see if there was a connection, and wow, did he open up a lot of news about the Mortimers. Through him we traced my Mortimer line back to 1650, and he also put me in touch with my great- grandfather's first marriage descendants in Australia. My Australian relatives visited here in... Read more
