After the end of WW1, the UK government sold off the Maresfield Park estate which had been confiscated from Prince Münster.
On 18th September 1924, the Public Trustee sold the 2,643 acres of the Maresfield Park estate to William Abbey of Uckfield House for £61,714 (£3.4M in 2026).
Just one week later, on 25th September 1924, William Abbey sells just under half of the land (1,327 acres, including most of the land around Maresfield), to Thomas Place for £37,600 (£2M in 2026).
Thomas Place was a timber merchant from Yorkshire who purchased several landed estates in addition to Maresfield Park, and broke them up to sell on.
On 25th November 1924, Thomas Place auctioned most of the land and buildings (1,138 acres) in 90 lots, covering most of Maresfield and some plots in Chelwood Gate.
Several copies of the substantial auction catalogue survive, and are a fascinating description of what the village was like in 1924.
Some parts of the estate were still occupied by the military until 1925, when the Royal Corps of Signals moved to the newly built Catterick facility.
A letter in the East Sussex Record Office lists the purchasers for each of the 90 lots, with several handwritten annotations – it’s understood that 80 of the lots had been sold privately before the day of the auction.
| Lot number | Buyer |
|---|---|
| 1 to 7 (Chelwood Gate) | G T Martin of Forest Row, Alfred Wm Turner and Arthur Janes Turner, Chelwood Gate, Danehill, Sussex |
| 8 to 15, 15a,15b,15c,15d (Nutley) 16, 18 | |
| 10 (Nutley) | George Turner, Stone Hill Farm, Nutley |
| 12 (Marlpits, Nutley) | W H Stevenson, Lion Cottage Nutley (1 acre), Stephen Stevenson, Little Shelf, Nutley (9.2.13 acres) |
| 16 (Streetfield Farm) | Wm Hy Cottingham, Lampool Farm, Maresfield |
| 17 (Fords Green) | Herbert Isaac Appleby, Streetfield Farm, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 18 (Fords Green) | Major Francis Barker Steel, Prickets Hatch, Nutley |
| 19 (Fords Green) | Ernest Frederick Kirby, Fords Green, Nutley (Tenant) |
| 20 (Fords Green) | Herbert Kirby, Fords Green, Nutley |
| 21 (Dodds Hill) | Mrs Jessie Avis, North Lodge Laundry, Horney Common, Maresfield |
| 22, 25 (Courtland Farm) | Nelson Kenward, Waldron, Sussex |
| 24 (Courtland Wood) | (Revised : W H Abbey, Uckfield House, Uckfield and Mr M Penfold, Wisbourne Farm, Nutley) |
| 26, 28, 29 (Boringwheel Lake, Hole Farm) | Philip E B Fookes, St Medden’s, Chislehurst, Kent |
| 27 (Boringwheel Mill Farm) | Alfred Allitt, Boringwheel Mill Farm, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 30 (Spring Gardens Farm) | R G Waters, Spanden, Forest Row |
| 31 | Thomas Marchant, Cackle Street, Maresfield |
| 32, 45 (Lampool Farm) | William H Cottingham, Lampoolm Farm, Maresfield and Charles J Parris, Crowborough |
| 33, 35, 36 (Cophall Farm) | William T Watkin, Bell Street, Reigate |
| 34, 34a (Fairholme) | Elias Pilcher, 28 Mount Pleasant, Tunbridge Wells |
| 37 (Quarry) | Ina V Morris, Charringworth Court, Winchcombe, Glos. |
| 38, 40, 41 (Reedings Farm) | George Cottingham, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 39 (Goldsmith’s Cottage) | Herbert Sprott, Crowborough and G E Hart, Uckfield |
| 38a, 38b, 44a, 46b, 46c, 52a (Woodlands) | W H Abbey, Uckfield House, Sussex |
| 43 (Dairy Farm) | Robert L Waller, The Dairy House, Uckfield (Tenant) |
| 46 (North Lodge) | Alfred J Jenkins, Maresfield |
| 47, 48 (Mill Farm) | Samuel Pankhurst |
| 49, 50 (opposite Mill Farm) | Edmund Horgan, 29 Shelley Cottages, Maresfield |
| 51, 52, 54, 55, 81 (Gate House Farm) | Henry S Steele, Gate House Farm, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 53 (Tanyard Farm) | Alfred J Brown, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 56 (Maresfield Stores) | Charles Wickham, Maresfield |
| 57, 59 (30 and 32 High St) | T G A Brown, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 58 (31 High St) | Edward Upton, 31 Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 60, 61 (1-2 Shelley Villas) | Thomas Hemsley, Shelley Villas (Tenant) |
| 62, 63 (3-4 Shelley Villas) | Edward Brown, 22 Maresfield |
| 64, 65 (The Barracks / Mount Pleasant 38-42) | Joseph Miller, The Barracks, Maresfield |
| 66, 67, 68, 74, 74a (Garage, Tearooms, Old Post Office & Cottage) | Frederick Tester, Maresfield (Tenant) |
| 69 (Cottage 18 – Bix?) | Miss Florence Young, Bise Cottage, Maresfield (T) |
| 70 (Tudor Cottage) | Joseph Penfold, 17 Church Street, Maresfield (T) |
| 71 (Tumber Cottage) | Edward F Maynard M.D. 14 Salisbury Road, Hove |
| 72 (Reading Room) | Algernon Chas D Ryder (Rev), Maresfield |
| 73 (High St Cottages) | Fred Tester, Maresfield |
| 75, 76 (Sandrock) | Charles A Wickham, Maresfield |
| 77 | Leslie Skipworth, Maresfield |
| 78 (Underhill Bakery) | Elias Pilcher, 28 Mount Pleasant, Tunbridge Wells |
| 80 (Blacksmiths + 2 Underhill Cottages) | William Rch Grees, 40 Sussex Road, Haywards Heath |
| 81 (Underhill Cottages) | Charles Wenham, 63 Denmark Road, South Norwood |
| 83, 84, 85 (Fields E of SHM) | George E Hart of Uckfield and Herbert Sprott of Crowborough |
| 86 (Field E of SHM) | Alfred Chilton, 144 High Street, Uckfield |
| 88, 90 | Frank Walter Sprott, Mayfield, Sussex |
| 89 | Thomas Nield, Breezy Mount, Uckfield |