Category: Industry
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An interesting 1994 article by Barbara Abbs, published in Sussex Archaeological Collections, traces the remarkable history of Woodlands Nursery at Maresfield in East Sussex, from its foundation in 1826 to its closure in 1922. The Founder – William Wood William Wood was born in 1781, the son of a Horsted Keynes butcher. After leaving home…
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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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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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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…