Paddock Farm on the Tunbridge Wells road near Fairwarp Crossroads (on the left, just after the turning to Old Forge Lane) was the old parish workhouse. The property was a stone-faced building with 17 rooms, some with bars to the windows. There were old ships’ beams in the kitchen.

The old Roman road ran through the fields behind. The soil was very rich and walnut and cherry trees flourished there. The inmates were allocated a special box pew in Maresfield Church.

The building ceased to be a workhouse in the middle of the nineteenth century and became a farmhouse.

According to Mrs Marjorie Walters (née Taylor), her Grandfather, Mr G.E. Taylor, Snr. rented the Old Workhouse Farm, as it was then known, from his uncles, the Messrs. Page, who left it to him in 1910. Mr G.E. Taylor, Jnr. (Marjorie’s Father) followed in his Father’s footsteps until his death when his widow sold up and moved to Uckfield. The farm then was greatly changed along with its name!

The date of the first picture is unknown but it is interesting to see the sign for ‘Roberts Mineral Waters’

The second picture (circa 1910) shows Mr G.E. Taylor Snr. after he had acquired the property and had made some changes.

Documents relating to Old Workhouse Farm. It is interesting to note the handwritten letter from local solicitors, Dawson and Hart, in 1910 and see their ‘P.O. Telephone No. 5’ and in the document of 1937 note the references to the Manor of Duddleswell