Herstmonceux  Re. Hailsham Rd 1965 Photo

A Memory of Herstmonceux.

Good to see the photo of Herstmonceux in 1965 along Hailsham Rd.

I was born outside the village in 1957, my father being the local Reverend from 1956 till 1973/4. The old car in the foreground was right outside the large village school and the tin building on the left was part of the village hall.  Further along on the right was the local garage with showroom, owned by the big "Caffyns" group selling BMC and subsequently BL cars.  The little, low white building was a further showroom, which could just about hold two cars!  How I remember as a 12 year old, longing for my mother to buy a brand new white MG Midget that sat waiting in that showroom.   My father could then afford two new cars every 18 months!  That road went up to a little village called Cowbeach where father had a third "tin tabernacle" church with hand - pumped organ.  Services were held there once a month, whilst most services were in Herstmonceux in a larger corrugated iron church up a path by the garage.   The main church of All Saint's is some 5 miles from the village (right opposite the entrance to the castle), so services were not held there every Sunday.

However, the village is most famous for being the home of the proper Sussex trug baskets and the Royal Observatory at the castle.  It was from the castle that the "pips" came for the speaking clock and time checks.  The village also boasted a sweet manufacturer in the middle of Gardner Street.  Angers was their name and they made all sorts of boiled sweets.  They had big cream and red lorries that went all over the region.  
Richard Horne