Author: admin
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About 1900 James Deadman (born 1856) from Chiddingly, who had married Rose Mary Thompson at Bodle St. Green in 1891 at the end of an army career of nine years in the Royal Sussex Regiment, brought his family to ‘Powder Mill Cottages’ and became neighbours of the Chatfield family and worked at Park Farm. Despite…
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Blackhouse Farm and Budlett’s Corner Sussex has four moated buildings, Herstmonceux Castle, Bodiam Castle, Michelham Priory and the lesser known Plumpton Place. Some two hundred years ago it was traditionally thought that there had in the past been a moated house on farmland at Blackhouse Farm, Budletts Common. The vanished house could perhaps have been…
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Originally published by John Wrake in June 1999, as “Maresfield HISTORICAL SOCIETY : OCCASIONAL PAPERS 2” GUNFOUNDING IN SUSSEX. To the modern eye, Sussex and heavy industry seem unlikely companions, but it has not always been so.Though we might associate smoke, noise and glare with Port Talbot in Wales, or Sheffield or Glasgow, two hundred…
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No, it’s not a dog! A property terrier is a detailed register or survey of land in an estate, recording ownership, boundaries, acreage, tenants, and rents. Maresfield Historical Society acquired this magnificent-looking leather-bound terrier book, which records the extent of the Maresfield Park Estate in 1906 in beautiful copperplate handwriting, with occasional pencil notes. To…
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The Powder Mills were erected on the site of one of Maresfield’s larger ironworks – The Forge, about 1830. The company of Drayon and Hervey was formed and gunpowder production commenced. Year Key events 1543 First English cannon cast at Buxted by Ralph Hogge, who also owned Marshalls Manor at that time 1608 James 1…
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One of the larger houses south of the church is ‘Park House’. It is not known when the residence was built but the Parish Registers record it as the Rootes’ family home from about 1585 to 1720. It was apparently a small well-wooded estate when purchased by Sir John Villiers Shelley about 1850 to form…
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Large scale (1:2500 / 25 inch to the mile) Ordnance Survey map of Maresfield (Sussex Sheet XXVII.12) published in 1899 based on original survey data from 1873, revised in 1897. A printed copy of this map is in the Village Hall. It’s noticeable how few buildings there were at that time, with a compact village…
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by Gordon Marsh. First published in 2003 by Maresfield Conservation Group. IN JULY 1928 the Marsh family — Dad, Mum, Marjorie and I — moved from a tied cottage on a farm in Laughton to the then growing village of Maresfield. It was a good move so far as I was concerned. It had been…
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The Rev’d Richard Bonner, Rector of Maresfield, was buried in the church chancel in 1692. The slab marking his resting-place was found during church repairs in 1837. He was a substantial benefactor for the parish. He left money for educational purposes and also for a Bible, to the value of 8/-, to be given annually…
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Picture circa 1935 shows the wedding breakfast to celebrate the marriage of Emily Holmes and Albert Miller. Albert Miller was one of the sons of Joseph Miller the local builder. J. Miller & Sons still traded in the village in the 1990s, the business carried on by Bill and Robin, grandsons of the founder. Mr…