Merland Rise

A Memory of Tattenham Corner.

I lived with my parents and sister in Merland Rise between 1950 and 1959. We were just a few doors away from the school that my sister and I attended. I remember privet hedges and green garden gates, there was an air of 'respectability' about the whole place.
Before I started school I went shopping with my mum on most days. Hookhams was usually the first stop for the groceries and we would work our way along. It was some years later that the shops were built on the other side of the road. The bus terminus was just around the corner by the station. The bus went to Banstead where my grandmother lived. We would get on the bus when the crew were having their break and a cup of tea in a little shack.
We played in the station for hours climbing on ticket barriers, nobody seemed to mind. If we could find an empty Tizer bottle there was threepence to be claimed and sweets to be bought.
Fishing in Burgh Heath was a constant activity; not that we ever caught much. We heard the stories about a well and I once saw an adult fisherman wade over slowly towards the willow trees prodding the ground in front of him. He caught an enormous fish, over 2lb I think. Well, it seemed big to us!
We lived next door to a small copse where the remains of a medieval chapel were excavated prior to the building of houses. We played there for hours making camps and having fires. It was a shame about the builders moving in. After they had set up their own camp I remember walking over there and finding some tomato plants with green tomatoes, I picked them all and carried them home proudly. On reflection I realise that someone had planted them in the hope of fresh tomatoes with their lunch. I grow tomatoes myself now and still feel guilty when I see them green and full of promise.
They were happy days and there seemed little to be concerned about, it was all very predictable.
We moved to Epsom when I was about eleven, I discovered the parish church which had eluded me at Tattenham Corner, I fell in love with the dear old C of E and was ordained in my 50's.