Felbridge & District History Group

This document is the third in a series that aims to catalogue these lost properties and, where known, give a few details about the property and the cause of its loss.  Some of the lost properties we have covered before and have their own handout devoted solely to their history, in which case only a brief synopsis will be supplied here along with any additional information discovered since the publication of the original handout.  Research into other lost properties may produce enough information to create a future handout devoted solely to that property and other lost properties will inevitably prove to have very little surviving information on them, but at least they will have been identified and included in this series of catalogued lost property of Felbridge.  No doubt some lost property will escape our attention altogether or not yet have been revealed through our researches and there are many more recent properties that have been sacrificed for the numerous housing developments in Felbridge and the surrounding area of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries; this latter category of properties will not be covered in detail unless the lost property was of significant merit. 

The lost property covered will be presented by location within the Felbridge area made up of the land holdings of the Evelyn estate of the late 1700’s that incorporated the manor of Hedgecourt and their own Felbridge lands [for further information see Handout, The Early History of Hedgecourt, JIC/SJC 11/11] with additions made by the Gatty family after their purchase of the estate in 1856 [for further information see Handout, Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03]; the ecclesiastical parish of Felbridge created in 1865 out of parts of the ecclesiastical parishes of Godstone, Horne and Tandridge in Surrey and East Grinstead and Worth in Sussex [for further information see Handout, St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02i]; and the Civil Parish of Felbridge created in 1953 [for further information see Handout, Civil Parish of Felbridge, SJC 03/03]; together with the occasional lost property abutting these areas as part of manorial lands associated with Felbridge.  In all, an area stretching from the Newchapel area in the north across to the Snowhill and Crawleys Down area in the west, the north end of East Grinstead Common, North End and Imberhorne manor and its associated holdings in the south and Chartham and the Wiremill area in the east.

Part 1 of this series covered the area of Felbridge that encompassed the west side of the north end of East Grinstead Common, including Halsford and western side of North End, starting at Yaxley Cottages and finishing at 42, North End [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18].  Further family details relating to the properties in this document can be found in an additional appendix available on request or on line as Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, at www.felbridge.org.uk

Part 2 of this series covered the area of Felbridge that encompassed the east side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 07/19], starting at the northern tip of Imberhorne Lane heading south, up to 39, Imberhorne Lane, including the ‘Tin Shed’ and the North End Pumping Station.  Further family details relating to the properties in this document can be found in an additional appendix available on request or on line as Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 2, at www.felbridge.org.uk

This document covers the lost properties that once stood on the west side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane, heading north from Imberhorne School towards Grays Cottage and Toad House (formerly Aveley Cottage), 4 & 6, Imberhorne Lane, following on from the lost properties on the east side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane (see Part 2 above).  Further family details relating to the properties in this document can be found in an additional appendix available on request or on line as Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, at www.felbridge.org.uk

West side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane

This area extends north from Imberhorne School and covers the current site of the light industrial premises of Peter Jones Engineering Ltd, adjacent to the school, along the west side of Imberhorne Lane, up to Grays Cottage and Toad House (formerly Aveley Cottage), 6 & 4, Imberhorne Lane.  Eleven lost properties or structures have been identified as once being situated in this area.

Background history of the west side of Imberhorne Lane

The west side of Imberhorne Lane was historically made up of three distinct land holdings since at least 1557, which in turn have been sub-divided, built upon and re-built upon over the years.  This document will concentrate on the two southernmost of these three land holdings, the northern land holding, situated at the junction of Imberhorne Lane with the main London road (A22), will be covered in part 4 of the Lost Properties of Felbridge. 

It is best to look at the early history of each of the holdings individually, we have called the southern-most area Holding A this encompassed the sites of Clevecote [later renamed White Wings] and Market Garden [known as Clevecote Nursery], Felbridge & District Rifle Range, a Farm complex known as The Birches and 18-24 Imberhorne Lane (now the sites of Peter Jones Engineering Ltd, JDK Precision Ltd and the Independent Business Park and part of the Birches Industrial Estate);  The northern area we have called Holding B encompassing the sites of Long Cottage, Felstead, Thatched Cottage and the National Grid Emergency Reserve Depot, known locally asDas Bunker (now the road way into the Birches Industrial Estate and the sites of Rhopoint House, Leo House and ScrewFix). 

[Map in original] 1962/3 Ordnance Survey Map (some structures added) showing the land holdings

Holding A

This holding had, since at least the mid 16^th century, been a parcel of a 22 acre holding known as Mercer’s, a copyhold property held of the manor of Imberhorne in 1557 by James Mercer.  The Imberhorne Court Books record that in 1665, Holding A formed part of a 10 acre holding held by Thomas Squire suggesting that it had been split off from Mercers.  It has not yet been possible to determine when Thomas Squire acquired Holding A, but the holding split from Mercers sometime between 1649, when one Drew Peverell was admitted to the 22 acre Holding Called Mercers, and 1665 when the 10 acre property was passing from Thomas Squire to Edward Nicholls.  By 1735, the Nicholls holding, which included Holding A, had increased to 16 acres and was to remain in the hands of the Nicholls family until 1821 when William Muckamore, a timber merchant of Felbridge Water, succeeded George Nicholls.  Within a year, the holding had passed to John Cuthbert Joyner [for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. II, SJC/JIC 03/08].

In January 1830, John Cuthbert Joyner surrendered Holding A, consisting of three fields, containing, by then, about 6 acres of land, to William Pentecost, a coal merchant, of Cross Street, Parish of Christ Church, Surrey, for the sum of £120.  Thus by 1830, Holding A contained about 6 acres from original 22 acre holding known as Mercers.  During the time that William Pentecost held Holding A he had a ‘cottage in two tenements’ [nos.18 and 20, Imberhorne Lane (for further details see below)] built in a plot abutting Imberhorne Lane, at the northern-most end of the plot, bounded by a stream on the northern side at TQ3754 3921.  However, within two years, William Pentecost, by then a green grocer, of 10, Friar Street, Blackfriars Road, Surrey, had been declared an ‘insolvent debtor’ and was a prisoner in the ‘county gaol of Surrey’ and all his real estate and possessions, except his ‘wearing apparel and other such necessaries of the said insolvent debtor and family not exceeding in the whole value of £20, among other things’ were conveyed to Samuel Sturgis, William’s provisional assignee.  To clear William’s debt, Samuel Sturgis ‘conveyed and transferred’ William’s assets, including the ‘6 acres and the cottage in two tenements’, to Richard Garner, a coal merchant of Winchester Warf, Southwark, and William Todd, a coal merchant of Northumberland Warf, Holland Street, Blackfriars Road, Surrey, on 27^th September 1832.  On 24^th November 1832, James Hone, a corn chandler, of Brixton Hill, Streatham, Surrey, was admitted to William’s former holding of 6 acres and the ‘cottage in two tenements’ for the sum of £400, plus interest.  James Hone held the property for nearly eight years, then in 1840, it is recorded that he surrendered the 6 acres of land with the ‘cottage in 2 tenements’ to Robert Hawes, gentleman, of East Grinstead [for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 01/13], for the sum of £300.00.

By 1841, Robert Hawes had built a second cottage in two dwellings at TQ3758 3922 [22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane (for further details see below)], for whatever reason neither pair of cottages (nos. 18 & 20 and 22 & 24) appear on the East Grinstead Tithe map and the Apportionment of 1842 describes the plot (2326) as an arable field. 

In 1850, Holding A was subdivided, when Robert Hawes surrendered land amounting to about 5 acres [later Clevecote and Market Garden (see below)] to Thomas Goodwin for the sum of £130, together with an access trackway over the plot on which the ‘2 cottages in four dwellings’ [18 & 20, and 22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane (see below)] was situated.  This 5 acre field was valued at a quit rent of 4d and would later become the site of Clevecote and Market Garden (see below).  However, Robert Hawes retained the plot with the ‘2 cottages in four tenements’, at a quit rent of 8½d, until 22^nd May 1857 when he surrendered the property to John Penfold.  For the history and development of this plot after this date, see the relevant section below for 18 - 24, Imberhorne Lane.

As for 5 acres of land, Thomas Goodwin eventually enfranchised the plot on 6^th March 1873 for the sum of £54 7s 8d.  The enfranchisement is the purchase of the freehold of the property and the release from all manorial rights. In this case Thomas Goodwin had been, like all his predecessors, held the various portions of Holding A by copyhold from the manor of Imberhorne, thus in 1873 he was able to purchase his plot.  At the time of the enfranchisement the land amounted to 5a 1r 20p and went on to become known as Clevecote (later renamed as White Wings) and a Market Garden that would eventually be spilt in separate holdings, a house known as Clevecote (later called White Wings), the Market Garden (known as Clevecote Nursery, part of which later became part of a farm complex known as The Birches) and the site of the Felbridge & District Rifle Range.

On 25^th March 1873, Thomas Goodwin conveyed several holdings, including the freehold field that later became Clevecote (later renamed as White Wings) and a Market Garden to William Ramsden Price, esq. of Harts Hall [for further information see Handouts, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. II, SJC/JIC 03/08].  William Ramsden Price in turn sold the field, on 8^th July 1880, to Charles Henry Gatty, esq. of Felbridge Place [for further information see Handout, Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03].  On the death of Charles Henry Gatty in 1903, his estate passed to two male cousins, Alfred Leighton Sayer and Charles Laine Sayer who in turn sold the estate to Emma Harvey and the EG Estate Co. Ltd. in 1911.  Thus on 20^th October 1911, the freehold plot of land on the west side of Imberhorne Lane, part of Holding A was sold by the East Grinstead Estate Company to George Herbert Neighbour, of Albion Lodge, Cranford, Harlow, Middlesex, for the sum of £448 15/- who called the plot, Clevecote (see below for further details).

Holding B

This holding, extending to just over 2 acres, was originally part of East Grinstead Common, held by the Borough of East Grinstead.  Although some records survive for the Borough of East Grinstead they are scattered, the records are sparse from the early 1600’s and disappear at the end of the 1700’s, so it has been difficult to chart the complete history of Holding B, although it has been possible to chart some of the history and development of the Borough itself.  The main reason for the difficulty in tracking Holding B is that nearly all published research has been focused on the main area of the Borough, ie: East Grinstead High Street and the southern end of London Road, little or no research has been done on the outlying cottages of the Borough found on East Grinstead Common at the northern end of the town extending to Felbridge Water.

The extent of the Borough of East Grinstead in the early 1500’s, included 35 burgages with portlands, nearly all the medieval standard of 2r (10m/33ft) in width and up to 61m/200 feet in length, 23 running along the south side of the High Street, and 12 along the north side, together with the church and its lands and East Grinstead Common.  There were ‘4 shambles’ (stalls where meat, and sometimes fish, was displayed, butchered and sold) in the street that had been recorded in 1394 as four new rents, which probably refers to the origins of Middle Row.  There was a forge that had been built by 1478 on the site of what is now the Constitutional building, near today’s mini roundabout with London Road, this was on an isolated plot some distance from the burgages to protect the timber-framed buildings from the risk of fire.  By 1564, the number of burgages had risen to 48 with 47 portlands, several of the original portlands had been redistributed or amalgamated and one even lay a mile from the town on the edge of East Grinstead Common being associated with a windmill.  Also by 1564, the shambles and forge had been joined by a block of stables and there were 22 more dwellings/shops.  It has so far only been possible to determine the site of just three cottages on the west side of London Road in the vicinity of what is today W J Armstrongs and three more cottages on the east side of London Road, in the vicinity of what were Rock Cottages, now the site of the Whitehall Parade, built on land taken from the first three portlands on the north side of the High Street. 

As previously established, the Borough of East Grinstead also included East Grinstead Common that stretched from the site of the White Lion (now McDonalds) and The Maypole, originally the site of the first recorded windmill in East Grinstead (now the new development of Town Houses (even nos.2-16, Maypole Road), heading north on both sides of the main London road (A22) to Felbridge Water, the stream that passes under the A22 at the Star junction.  Apart from a windmill and its plot (and it’s later replacement on what is now Mill Field off Windmill Lane), building on East Grinstead Common appears to have gone unchallenged, and thus unrecorded, until 1662 when the Borough Court finally caught up on a number of unauthorised developments, mostly cottages, some with gardens and even an orchard, that had appeared.  Sadly the properties were only given a general description, with no crucial indentifying features apart from the occupant’s name and occasionally the size of the plot enclosed, other than ‘small’.

Gradually more cottages were constructed on East Grinstead Common, again with little information to be able to pinpoint exactly where on the common they had been built.  However, in the mid 1700’s a Pest House was constructed on the east side of the main London, now a dwelling on Dorset Avenue, but when built it stood isolated and surrounded by common.  In the mid/late 1800’s the narrow strip of East Grinstead Common between properties held of the manor of Imberhorne and the west side of the London road at North End was inclosed and sold; with the holders of the lands within the manor of Imberhorne purchasing relevant parcels to retain their access to the London road [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18]. 

Although records are scant, particularly for the area of East Grinstead Common at Felbridge Water, there is a map that details all the plots and plot holder’s names held on the Common in 1816.  The map shows that  Holding B, amounting 2a 0r 9p was a leasehold property, one of just two held as leasehold on East Grinstead Common; the other was in the vicinity of what is now Charlwoods Road/Green Hedges Avenue.  Being a leasehold property is always notoriously difficult to track in court records as there is very little need to enter any details about the property after granting the lease except for it appearing in a list of leaseholder’s (sadly not yet found).

Prior to 1816, there are few surviving documents that outline the complete history and development of the Borough of East Grinstead and there are no surviving documents that show when or by whom the Borough was founded.  However, it is believed that Gilbert de Aquila of Pevensey is a likely contender as sometime between 1217 and 1224 as he offered 30 shillings to be paid annually ‘from my town of Grenestede’ to a free chapel in Maresfield, Sussex.  Then in 1247, Peter of Savoy (overlord of Pevensey Rape), was granted a royal charter for a market in his ‘manor of Grenestede’ implying that he may then have held the Borough.  After the death of Peter of Savoy in 1332, his lands went to Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III.  The Borough seems then to have remained crown property, or in the hands of the Duchy of Lancaster until 1607, when it may have gone to Robert Bowyer, as ‘his book’ of 1608 for the Borough of East Grinstead, survives, in copy form, in the Sackville papers.  Alternatively, Robert Bowyer may have been the steward, acting on behalf of the Sackville’s as Richard Sackville, 3^rd Earl of Dorset, is recorded as holding the Borough in 1613.  As a point of interest, a John and Robert Bowyer appear in the rental list of 1657 for the manor of Imberhorne, also held by the Sackville family [for further information see Handout, The Farm at Imberhorne, SJC 05/03].

The Sackvilles had acquired a large holding in the local area between 1533 and 1560, including all the Chantry and Fraternity properties of East Grinstead, the manor of Imberhorne and the glebe lands of East Grinstead with tithe income of the rectory, along with other local manors and lands; all purchased at much reduced prices as a consequence of the Reformation.  The Borough then remained with the Sackville family and their heirs until some time between 1888 and the cessation of manorial tenure in 1927.

In 1842, Holding B is described as ‘part of East Grinstead Common’, held by Earl de la Warr and Earl of Amherst (son-in-law of Earl de la Warr), in the occupation of William Stenning.  However, it is known that William Stenning was living at Halsford House on London Road, East Grinstead, and Holding B was being sub-let to Henry Marden senior.  It has been established that the Stenning family have had associations with the Borough of East Grinstead and East Grinstead Common since the late 18^th century [for further information see Handouts, North End School, SJC 11/10 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18], and had enfranchised Holding B sometime between 1842 and 1911, although further research may produce a more accurate date.  By 1911, Holding B was listed as being held by ‘W Stenning’ [William Vicessimus Knox Stenning] on the sale map for the Felbridge Place Estate but he also died in 1911 and this date appears to be the catalyst for change for Holding B that would ultimately lead to the loss of the original property on the Holding – Thatched Cottage; later losses would include its replacement – Long Cottage, and two further properties – Felstead and a National Grid Emergency Reserve Depot, known locally as Das Bunker (for further details on all four lost properties see under their relevant sections below) plus the construction, sometime between 1891 and 1901, of a pair of cottages called Grays Cottage and Aveley Cottage that were built at the northern end of the plot (they are today known as Grays Cottage, 6, Imberhorne Lane and Toad House, 4, Imberhorne Lane and as both are still standing they will not be covered in this document).

Having discussed the history and development of the two separate land holdings, it is now time to turn our attention to the history and development of the eleven lost properties on the west side of Imberhorne Lane, starting at the southern-most property – Clevecote (later renamed White Wings), and then heading along Imberhorne Lane towards Grays Cottage and Toad House (formerly Aveley Cottage), 6 & 4, Imberhorne Lane.

Clevecote (renamed White Wings) (TQ3760 3915)

Clevecote, later renamed White Wings, was built as the dwelling house to a market garden known as Clevecote Nursery and was part of the second plot to be sold off from Holding A and the first plot to be sold off from the market garden site.

Clevecote was a detached house built for George Herbert Neighbour, a market gardener, of Albion Lodge, Cranford, Hounslow, after his purchase of Lot 9 of the Felbridge Place Estate from the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd. The sale was completed on 20^th October 1911 at a cost of £448 15/-.

ATTRACTIVE

FREEHOLD BUILDING SITE,

SITUATE IN THE PARISH OF EAST GRINSTEAD,

Adjoining Lot 7 and extending to about

5a.3r.16p.

Having a valuable frontage of about 184ft. to the road to Turner’s Hill

The land is all Pasture and is screened from the road by a belt of fir trees.  It affords a good site for Gentleman’s Residence on high round with South aspect, or is suitable for development, small Villas and Cottages being in great demand.

POSSESSION ON COMPLETION OF PURCHASE

The commuted Tithes for the purpose of Sale are apportioned at £1/3/3      Present value 16/3

George Herbert Neighbour

George Neighbour purchased Lot 9 with the intention of building a family home and establishing a market garden, later known as Clevecote Nursery.  It has been established that shortly after purchasing Lot 9, he had a house built at the southern-most side of the plot that he named Clevecote.

There are no known images that give a complete view of the property known as Clevecote, only photographs that give glimpses of the dwelling.  From early photographs, the house was originally built on an east-west alignment, gable-end on to Imberhorne Lane.  It had a tiled roof and the walls were white in colour so the brickwork had been painted or it may have been painted render.  By 1931, from deed map evidence, the house had been extended to the west, consisting of a north-south gable-ended cross range and, again from photographic evidence, was also white in colour under a tiled roof and by 1936 a large, detached structure had been built on the east-west alignment to the west of the extension within the grounds of the property.  Map evidence suggests that this detached structure had been joined to the back cross-wing by 1955.

George Herbert Neighbour had been born in Staines in Surrey, on 15^th January 1874, the son of John Neighbour, a market gardener and his wife Esther Miller.  George’s siblings included; John born in 1864, Esther Miller born in 1865, Walter born in 1867, Elizabeth born in 1868, Annie Matilda born in 1869, Ada Mary born in 1871 and Frank Miller born in 1875.  In 1881, the Neighbour family were living at Tentlow Lane, Cranford, where George’s father is recorded as a nurseryman employing ‘4 men and 5 women’.  By 1891, the Neighbours had moved to Albion Lodge, Heston, where George and his brother Walter, were working alongside their father as market gardeners.  In 1901, George and his brother Frank were still working alongside their father as market gardeners and George’s mother, together with his sisters, Annie and Ada who were recorded as florists.

In 1903, George married Susan Katherine Newman, in Battle in Sussex, who had been born on 10^th April 1874.  It is likely that George took over his father’s business on his death in 1905, as in 1911 George and Susan were the sole occupants of Albion Lodge; George working as a nurseryman.  1911 was also the year that George bought Lot 9, 5¾ acres of land from the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd., on the break-up and sale of the Felbridge Estate [for further information see Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11].  George Neighbour is listed of Clevecote from 1915, suggesting that he and Susan were living at Clevecote from about 1914.  However, currently, the last date that George Herbert Neighbour is listed at Clevecote is 1923, as by 1928 he was living at Wolding, a new house he’d had built in Yew Lane, East Grinstead and Clevecote, although listed as a property, had no-one listed as residing there and it is not until 1931 that someone appears in the Directories as living at Clevecote, although by this date the house had been renamed White Wings. 

When the Neighbours moved from the house called Clevecote, George retained the Market Garden until 1937 when it was sold to Mrs Lillian Amy Denely Craven of Dorhurst, DormansPark, East Grinstead, for the sum of £400.  At the time of sale, the Neighbours were living at Burzet, Furze Lane, East Grinstead and in 1941 they were at Burset, Pine Grove, East Grinstead, where George remained until his death, aged 71, on 10^th May 1945.  Susan outlived George by sixteen years, dying, aged 87, on 16^th August 1961, at HellinglyeHospital, Hailsham, Sussex.

Geraldine Berners de Brincken Matthews

As established above, the Neighbours had moved from the house called Clevecote by 1928 and the next resident that can be found listed for the property is not until 1931, when Frances Geraldine Berners de Brincken Matthews is recorded as living at White Wings, the re-named Clevecote.  Geraldine had been living at Somerby Cottage, Dorking, but had moved to Clevecote by the end of 1931. Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to establish who, if anyone, had been living at the house between 1928 and 1931.  However, it would appear that in 1931, Frances Geraldine Berners de Brincken Matthews had purchased the house and renamed it White Wings; this then became the third property to be separated from the original Holding A. 

Frances Geraldine Berners de Brincken Matthews, known as Geraldine, had been born Frances Geraldine Berners Wilson in Liverpool, on 31^st August 1887, the daughter of William Berners Wilson, a merchant, and his wife Frances Edith Toft née Hullett.  Geraldine had one sibling, Mary Winifred Berners Wilson, born in 1885.  Geraldine is quite an elusive person to trace, generally because of the many variants used for her name.  However, it is thought she married Arthur Brincken Matthews, who was born in Pimlico in 1865, the son of Franz Egon Van Den Brincken and his wife Clarrisa Ann Matthews.  Arthur was educated at Cambridge University and went on to have a career as a civil engineer.  In 1911, Geraldine and Arthur had a daughter called Geraldine Elizabeth De Brincken Matthews, known as Betty, born at 14, Badenhof Street, Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.  It has not yet been established when the Brincken Matthews family returned to England but in 1930, Arthur and Geraldine were living at Sombery Cottage, 3, Falkland Road, Dorking, Surrey, and by 1931, Geraldine, at least, had moved to Clevecote, renaming it White Wings. 

Geraldine continued to live at White Wings until her death on the 6^th November 1938, aged just 51.  Arthur had, by 1939, moved to 3, Buckingham Road, Brighton, and died in 1943, having been living at the White Horse Inn, Maplehurst near Horsham, Sussex.  As for White Wings, the next residents to move there were members of the Roberts family in 1939.

Roberts Family

After the death of Frances Geraldine Berners de Brincken Matthews, White Wings became home to several members of the Roberts family between about 1938 and about 1953.  With the outbreak of World War II, a National Register was commissioned to detail the entire population of Britain, thus on 29^th September 1939,  sisters Ellinor, Alice and Marian Roberts, together with their brother Robert, were recorded as residing at White Wings, and in the late 1940’s they were also joined by their sister Marguerite.

The Roberts siblings were born to Francis Roberts, a Lt. Colonel in the Royal Artillery, and his wife Ellen Beresford née Watson, and were just five of the eleven children they had.  The six other siblings included; Francis born in 1876 (no further information), Arthur born in 1877 (no further information), Dorothy Rose born in 1880 (became a nurse, never married and died, aged 76, in 1956), William Hamilton born in 1883 (no further information), Walter Hamilton born in 1884 (served as a Lieutenant with the 9^th Company Royal Garrison Artillery, stationed in Gibraltar in 1911, rising to the rank of Major, received an OBE, never married and died in Worthing, aged 82, in 1967) and Penelope Grace born in 1886 (trained as a SR nurse, never married, served as Sister/Matron in the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service between 1939 and  her death, aged just 57, in 1943).  

As for the four Roberts siblings who were living at White Wings in 1939, Ellinor Beresford had been born on 6^th August 1866 in Kiltinan Pipp, Ireland, and went on to become a Missionary.  Alice had been born on 13^th September 1868 in Bombay, East India, and also went on to become a Missionary.  Marian had been born on 30^th September 1870 in Frimley, Surrey.  Finally, Robert had been born on 26^th August 1872 in Woolwich, London, and went on to work for the Colonial Service.  None of the four siblings ever married and probably, due to the nature of their careers, did not have a home base on retirement, which is probably why, in 1939, they decided to share a house together.  Sometime around 1947 their sister Marguerite joined them at White Wings, most likely as a consequence of the death of her husband in late 1946.  Marguerite had been born on 22^nd May 1874 in Woolwich and had married Edgar Clapton Faithfull on 24^th March 1904, although they do not appear to have children.  The couple were Missionaries and made several trips to South Africa during the 1920’s and 30’s.  In 1939, Marguerite and Edgar were living in Wimbledon, Surrey, but moved to the Isle of Wight where Edgar died in 1946.  Shortly after his death Marguerite joined her four siblings at White Wings. 

Shortly after the arrival of Marguerite, Robert died, aged 75, on 20^th October 1947, and on 10^th March 1953, Marguerite died, aged 78, of White Wings, although she had been resident at The Gables Nursing Home in Horley, Surrey, at the time of her death.  Shortly after the death of Robert and Marguerite, the remaining sisters Ellinor, Alice and Marian moved to 25, Gratwick Road, Worthing, where they all lived for the remainder of their lives.  The sisters may have moved to Worthing to follow their brother (Walter) Hamilton who was living at 5, Mill Road, Worthing.  Alice died on 5^th March 1956, aged 87, in 1956, of Beechwood Hall Hotel, at 22, Mill Road, Worthing, followed by Ellinor who died on the 25^th November 1961, aged 95, of Fernbank, 25, Gratwick Road, Worthing, at Southlands Hospital, Shoreham-by-Sea, and finally, Marian who died on 6^th January 1964, aged 93, also at Fernbank, 25, Gratwick Road, Worthing.

As for White Wings, by 1959, E L Heath (no further information has yet established) had taken up residence and remained there until 1962 when he and his family moved to Tudor Cottage, Lewes Road, East Grinstead.  In 1962, White Wings, formerly Clevecote, having stood for less than 50 years, was demolished making it one of the eleven lost properties of the west side of Imberhorne Lane.  The site was re-developed as light industrial premises, being occupied by Tyrol Sale Ltd from 1963.  Tyrol later amalgamated with Alexander Turnbull Buchanan and, by the early 1980’s, had moved to Rainham in Essex, and the Imberhorne Lane site was taken over by Peter Jones Engineering Ltd., who currently occupy the premises.

Felbridge & District Rifle Range (TQ3753 3914)

The Felbridge & District Rifle Range was built on a plot of land sold off from the market garden known as Clevecote Nursery and the third plot to leave Holding A. 

The Felbridge & District Rifle Club had grown out of the Felbridge Home Guard Rifle Club.  During World War II, members of the local Home Guard, or to give them their full title, the Felbridge Platoon of F Company, 9^thSurrey (Lingfield) Battalion, Home Guard, had been afforded the use of the Training Ground and Rifle Range at Hobbs Barracks, using live 303 ammunition.  After the war, rather than give up the Home Guard completely, Jack Thomas of Brook Nook, Furnace Wood, the former Captain of the Felbridge Platoon, and second in command, Lieutenant Arnold Kelf of Perry Farm, West Park Road, Newchapel, decided to form the Felbridge Home Guard Rifle Club, along with several other Home Guard personnel including, Albert and Ernie Brackpool, Charles (Charlie) Beard, Harry Herd, Jess Heselden (jun.), Mr Heselden (snr.), Stuart Laws, Howell Gwynne Powell, Ernie Prevett, Sam Streeter, Lois Subtil and Sydney Walker  [for further information see Handout, Hobbs Barracks, DHW, 01/03].

For the first three years, the Felbridge Home Guard Rifle Club was still able to use the facilities at Hobbs Barracks but in 1948 a new unit was assigned to the barracks and the privileges for the Club were revoked.  Without a Clubhouse or Range of their own, members of the Felbridge Home Guard Rifle Club had to travel to Crawley to pursue their passion for shooting.  However, during this time, the Club sought a piece of land on which they could construct their own purpose-built Clubhouse and IndoorRange and were offered a piece of land off Imberhorne Lane being part of Clevecote Nursery.  The Clubhouse and IndoorRange was built with the aid of a loan of £1,000 and construction was completed in 1950.

However, it would appear that initially the plot of land may have been leased to the Club as it was not until 15^th April 1955, that the renamed Felbridge & District Rifle Club, purchased the ‘parcel of land abutting White Wings [formerly Clevecote], which had a frontage to Imberhorne Lane’, plus a right of way, from the owner of Clevecote Nursery, Ernest George Jones, an agricultural contractor of 94, Railway Approach, East Grinstead (see below), for the sum of £250.  The sale of the plot made it the third plot of land to be sold off and separated from Holding A.

Life for the Felbridge & District Rifle Club was not without incident at Imberhorne Lane as within a year of completion the IndoorRange was damaged by a severe storm, being rebuilt by the members themselves under the direction of club member Charlie Beard, a builder.  In a newspaper report published in 1978, founder member Arnold Kelf recalled that the Club ‘would meet in an old asbestos roofed building in Imberhorne Lane, which was on one occasion blown down during a storm’.  The rebuilt Clubhouse and Indoor Range consisted of a single storey block and brick building about 130 feet (39.6m) long and 20 feet (6m) wide, it had external brick buttresses and a large window on the south wall near the east end and was heated at this end as well.  The eastern half had a higher eave than the western half and was probably the Clubhouse and possible storage room, with the IndoorRange having the lower height roof.

In about 1963, the Clubhouse and IndoorRange caught fire, sending live ammunition firing out through the asbestos roof in all directions and the building had to be repaired for the second time.  However, by the early 1960’s the Club was struggling to cope with the growing needs of its members so in 1965, the Felbridge & District Rifle Club took the decision to sell the site for light industrial development.  With the funds received from the sale of the site, a new Clubhouse and 25-yard (22.9m) Range was built at East Court in East Grinstead, being opened in May 1968. 

As for the site of the Felbridge & District Rifle Club off Imberhorne Lane, the Clubhouse and IndoorRange was repurposed and extended in 1965.  The site had been redeveloped as an industrial unit by 1966, which was taken on by Eurogauge Company Ltd., relocating from Queens Road, East Grinstead.  When Eurogauge Company Ltd. moved to Reading, the Imberhorne Lane site was taken over by JDK Precision Ltd. who currently occupy the premises.

The IndoorRange building was still standing in 1970 but from map evidence it would appear that the Clubhouse had either been encompassed within the new build or demolished.  However, by 1979 both the Clubhouse and IndoorRange were lost, making it another of the eleven lost properties of the west side of Imberhorne Lane.

Clevecote Nursery Potting Shed (TQ3757 3918)

The Clevecote Nursery Potting Shed was built on the remaining plot of land of Holding A and although only a ‘potting shed’ it ended up being rather a substantial ‘potting shed’, which is why it has been included as a lost property.

From a planning application dated 7^th April 1931, it would appear that what may have started off as a fairly small potting shed, constructed to service George H Neighbour’s original Market Garden of the late 1910’s and early 1920’s, had already been extended prior to the application.  Although there are no surviving photographs of the Potting Shed, the plan submitted with the planning application shows a Potting Shed made up of two separate units, built adjacent to each other.  The unit closest to Clevecote (later White Wings), measured 16ft x 11ft (4.9m x 3.4m), whilst the northern-most, larger structure measured 18ft x 32ft (5.5m x 9.8m), a structure whose floor space already exceeded that of the dwelling house called Clevecote.  The purpose of the application was to seek approval to demolish the smaller, southern-most structure and replace it with a larger structure on the northern-side of the larger northern structure.  This would create a Potting Shed measuring 37ft by 32ft (11.2m by 9.8m).  From the plan, the Potting Shed was to have a pent roof and be clad in weatherboarding.  However, from map evidence of 1936, it would appear that the large northern-most extension was built but the smaller southern-most structure was never demolished, making a very substantial Potting Shed measuring 48ft by 11ft (14.6m by 3.4m) across the front half of the structure and 36ft by 16ft (11m by 4.9m) across the back half of the structure as the southern-most part was less than half the depth of the main central section of the shed complex.

In 1937, George H Neighbour sold the Market Garden, by then known as Clevecote Nursery, to Mrs Amy Denley Craven whose son Stanley James Craven continued to operate a nursery from the site.  Throughout all of this time the Potting Shed remained unchanged.  However, in 1949, the Craven’s sold Clevecote Nursery to Ernest George Jones of 94, Railway Approach, East Grinstead, and in 1950 planning consent was sought and approved for a change of use for the structure from Potting Shed to a structure more suited to agricultural and mechanical engineering as carried out by Ernest Jones and his son Tony, under the company name of Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers.  In addition, permission was also sought and granted for a 600-gallon (2,271lt), underground storage tank for diesel to be installed on site for company use.

Clevecote Potting Shed was still in use as a storage/workshop Depot until 25^th July 1957, when part of the Clevecote Nursery site was sold, for the sum of £6,500, for light industrial use to Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. for the construction of their Felbridge Laboratories.  Thus the Potting Shed that had stood for over 40 years was demolished, making it yet another of the eleven lost properties of the west side of Imberhorne Lane.  After the departure of Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd c1986, the site was redeveloped as The Independent Industrial Estate. 

Farm complex known as The Birches

The farm complex was developed on the remaining part of the Clevecote Nursery site not sold to Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd in 1957, together with a small area that had once been part of the demeanes of Imberhorne.  The area extends north from Imberhorne School, encompassing much of what is today the Birches Industrial Estate, which was sold for development by Antony John Willoughby Jones of Long Cottage, Imberhorne Lane (see below) and his mother Margery Jannett Jones of 19, Stream Park, Felbridge, to Lyon Group (Southern) Ltd. on 16^th February 1973.  Eleven lost structures have been identified as once being situated on the farm complex known as The Birches.

Birches Piggery (centred on TQ3745 3908)

Birches Piggery consisted of four distinct elements; 1) a large brick built structure, with associated corrugated iron-roofed open sheds, 2) two runs of pig sties, 3) a one-room, first floor, dwelling and 4) a Dutch barn.

1) The large brick structure had been built as a sewage tank, into which sewage was pumped by the North End Pumping Station (now a lost property at TQ3763 3927) that once stood in Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, Lost Property in Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 07/19].  Extending from the sewage tank was a series of sluices to disperse the sewage down the field.  Unfortunately this process had made the soil too sour to grow any form of crop so it was left to grow poor quality grass for grazing/hay [for further information see Handout, Memories of Stream Park & The Birches by Tony Jones, SJC 05/01].  After its purchase from the Blount family in 1955, the Jones’ roofed the brick-built sewage tank, took out the northeast gable wall and replaced it with a large double door and turned it into a ‘shed’ for storing hay, straw and fodder, and even three donkeys at one point.  The brick shed and the associated corrugated iron-roofed open sheds were lost when the site was sold for development in 1973.

2) The two runs of pig sties were built on the northwest side of the brick-built sewage tank (TQ37438 39083); one run either side of a set of brick and concrete steps that led up to the one-room dwelling (see below).  Each run of sties had a full height brick-built wall at the rear and a brick-built and corrugated iron wall at either end of each sty, with a brick-built wall that stood about 3 feet (0.9m) tall across the front, with the remaining structure open to the corrugated iron roof.  The pigs gained access to each run through a wooden gate set in each front wall.  The sties were eventually lost when the site was sold for development in 1973.

3) The one-room dwelling (TQ37431 39083) was accessed via the brick and concrete steps between the two runs of pig sties.  It was lived in, until it caught fire in 1962, by a man known by the nickname Crooked Elbow (due to a deformity he had with one arm).  The fire threatened to spread to the sties below but fortunately all the pigs were released unharmed.  The fire was eventually extinguished and the black-smutted pigs were able to return to their sties [for further information see Handout, Memories of Stream Park & The Birches by Tony Jones, SJC 05/01].  However, the one-room dwelling was never rebuilt.

4) A Dutch barn (TQ37423 39077) extended southwest of the pig sties and again had been used for the storage of hay, straw and fodder.  Dutch barns are a relatively recent agricultural building first appearing in the mid 19^th century, specifically for hay and straw storage.  The Dutch barn at The Birches was, like most British Dutch barns, constructed with a rounded or arched corrugated iron roof, supported by metal uprights set on brick/concrete piers.  This design of barn was cheap and easy to erect and kept the rain off the hay/straw, whilst the lack of walls allowed for good ventilation, thus preventing spoilage.  Again, like most British Dutch barns, the one at The Birches has been lost, being demolished when the site was sold for development in 1973.

Birches Poultry Shed (TQ37477 39197)

There was a poultry shed aligned roughly north-south about 200yds (183m) north of the Birches Piggery.  It was a large black wooden shed with a corrugated iron roof and a large enclosed chicken run extending (westward) at the rear.  Eggs were collected and sold locally from Long Cottage (see below) or to the Stonegate egg packing station.  Stonegate had been formed in 1926 by a small group of farmers from Stonegate in East Sussex, who pooled their eggs together, packing them and taking the finished product to market to sell.  This grew into egg collection from around the local area and then countywide and now to egg producers from around England and Wales [for further information see Handout, Poultry Keeping in Felbridge, SJC 05/11].  In about 1964, the Jones’ decided to stop keeping poultry for eggs and all the chicken were dispatched, crated up and loaded onto an open-deck lorry and taken to Buxted Chickens, a company that processed chicken for consumption [for further information see Handout, Poultry Keeping in Felbridge, SJC 05/11].  However, the chicken shed remained standing until 1973, when it was demolished.

Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers Yard (centred on TQ3749 3924)

Mid Sussex Tractor Engineers Yard consisted of six lost structures; a workshop (TQ 37477 39227), a lean-to feed store (TQ37474 39239), a large detached open shed (TQ37480 39251), two small sheds that straddled the stream (centred on TQ 37510 39242) on the east side of the yard and a slightly larger detached shed (TQ37534 39227) that stood parallel with/and at the end of the Long Cottage plot (see below). 

The workshop stood to the north of the chicken shed and was gable-end onto the yard.  It was made of timber under a gabled, corrugated iron roof.  The front had a very large pair of wooden doors, with an open space between the top of the doors and the gable.  To the north of the workshop was a lean-to feed store for the chicken.  This had three open sides supported on wooden poles, under a lean-to corrugated iron roof.  Metal bins of chicken feed were stored on top of pallets in an attempt to reduce vermin attack.  Adjacent to the feed store, but not attached, was an open fronted, wooden shed under a sloping corrugated iron roof, which was used to store vehicles.  On the opposite side of the yard there were two small wooden sheds that straddled the stream between the yard and the plot on which Felstead was built (see below).  The most northern shed had been a duck house although it was later used to store tools and the adjacent smaller shed to the south was used to rear and wean baby calves before turning them out onto the fields.  To the south of this shed, at the western end of the Long Cottage plot (see below), was a slightly larger shed running across the plot on a northwest-southeast alignment and parallel to the yard.  The workshop, feed store and all four sheds were lost when the site was sold for development in 1973.

18-24 Imberhorne Lane

The plot on which these ‘2 cottages in four dwellings’ was built had been acknowledged as a separate entity since 1832 but it was not until 1853 that it finally separated from Holding A, making it the first plot to split off from Holding A.

The history and development of Holding A has been outlined above, up to the point that John Penfold was admitted to the property in 1857.  This section concentrates on the history and development of these ‘2 cottages in four dwellings’ from 1857, together with the lives of the people who held the copyhold and eventual enfranchised freehold of the cottages, but who never resided at the dwellings, except for perhaps the Penfold family.  The story of the lives of some of the people who actually lived in the cottages follows later under the sections entitled, 22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane and Pixie & Lilac Cottages, 18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane (see below). 

John Penfold was admitted to the property on 22^nd May 1857, by then containing ‘2 cottages in four dwellings’ (two semi-detached cottages as they would today be called), set in a plot of about 2r 20p (just over half an acre).  John Penfold had been born in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, on the 8^th December 1792, the son of Thomas Penfold and his wife Elizabeth née Taylor.  On 10^th May 1814, John married Sarah Burtenshaw Cox at Lindfield, Surrey; Sarah had been born in Lindfield on 29^th January 1796, the daughter of Richard Burtenshaw Cox and his wife Sarah née Varnham.  John and Sarah had at least nine children including; Mary born in 1814, John born in 1817, Philip born in 1820, James born in 1821, Anne born in 1823, Susan born in 1825, Thomas born in 1828, Emma born in 1831 and Elizabeth born in 1834; all born in and around Chailey, Lindfield and Ardingly in Sussex.

In 1841, the Penfold family was living at Sauceland Farm in Ardingly, now part of the ArdinglyCollege complex, John being listed as a farmer.  By 1851, the Penfold’s had moved to Fairlight Farm in East Grinstead, where John was farming 250 acres, employing one labourer.  Six years later John had invested in the copyhold property at Imberhorne Lane and by 1861 had moved to a cottage described in the census as being on ‘London Road’, situated on East Grinstead Common; a near neighbour to the dwelling later known as Rose Cottage (to be covered in the up-coming Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.4).  John Penfold died aged 71, on 22^nd April 1864 and the 2 copyhold semi-detached cottages described as ‘Two double cottages with gardens’ were put up for sale by auction on 22^nd June, 1864, as directed by his will.  At the time of the sale, ‘Mrs Penfold’, possibly John’s widow Sarah, was living in one of the pair of cottages closest to Imberhorne Lane in either no. 22 or 24, but by 1871 Sarah had moved to Woodlands Cottage, off the London Road, East Grinstead at North End, what would later be known as Croft Cottages [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18], where she died aged 80, on 3^rd November 1877.

The 2 copyhold semi-detached cottages together with the 2r 20p plot were sold to Henry Kahärs (commonly known as Carr), a gentleman of Burstow, on 22^nd June 1864, for the sum of £300.  Although listed as a gentleman at the time of purchase, Henry Carr did in fact spend most of his working like as a cheesemonger or grocer and draper.  Henry retained the properties until his death aged 79, in 29^th November 1894, when the property passed to Benjamin White, a gentleman of The Dicker, Sussex, and Ebenezer Dunk, a grocer and draper of The Dicker, Sussex, as appointed executors of Henry’s will; Henry’s wife Elizabeth Carr having renounced her role as executor.  On 14^th August 1905, Benjamin White, by then a tobacconist, of Hailsham, Sussex, and the only surviving trustee of the will of Henry Kahärs (Henry Carr), surrendered the ‘parcel of land reputed to contain 2r 20p but recently measured as 2r 6p together with 2 cottages in 4 tenements’ to Henry Payne of Shamrock Cottage, Copthorne, Sussex, for the sum of £300.

Henry Payne only held the property for three years and on his death on 19^th November 1908, his will devised the property to his sons James Avard Payne, [game] keeper of Ashcombe, Lewes, and Fred Payne, a gardener.  Both sons were admitted to the property but Fred immediately surrendered it to James Avard Payne for the sum of £200.

James Avard Payne had been born in East Grinstead on 29^th March 1857, the son of the above mentioned Henry Payne, a mailman, later a gardener, and his wife Barbara née Avis.  In 1881, James had been living in Southwark, working as a carman.  In 1888, he married Mary Jane Holmden, who had been born in Tandridge in 1851, the daughter of Thomas Holmden and his wife Harriett Shoesmith.  By 1891, James and Mary Jane were living at Ashurst Wood Cottages, James working as a coachman and domestic groom, possibly for the Taylor family of Shovelstrode.  By 1901, James and Mary Jane had moved to Stream Farm, Felbridge, where James was recorded as a farmer.  The couple were still there in 1911 but sadly James died aged 55, in 1912, of Imberhorne Lane, and was buried at St John’s Church on 21^st June 1912.  Mary Jane died aged 63, on 14^th December 1914, from 56, Moat Road, East Grinstead, and was buried at St John’s Church on 19^th December 1914.  The couple did not have any children and the 2 semi-detached cottages were left to Emmie Brand Waters, Mary Jane’s niece (daughter of Frederick Homlden and his wife Naomi Brand), then wife of Edgar Isaac Water, a builder, of Stoneleigh, Forest Row, Sussex.

On the 19^th October 1915, Emmie Brand Waters obtained the enfranchisement of the property and on 6^th March 1931, sold it to Harold Warren Brooker, who in turn sold nos. 18 & 20, together with the right of way, to Ernest Jones, mechanical engineer, farmer and greengrocer, of 94, Railway Approach, East Grinstead, on 16^th December 1953.  Nos. 22 & 24, were purchased by Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. sometime between 1955 and 1959.

22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane (TQ3758 3922)

As established above, this cottage in two dwellings was built between 1840 and 1841 by Robert Hawes.  The 1864 sale particulars give a good description of the property detailing that it was copyhold, having a considerable frontage to the road leading from Imberhorne Lane and was of brick construction with a slate roof.  The cottage was in two tenements, each containing two rooms on the ground floor with a wash house and ovens and two bedrooms.  At the time of the sale it was recorded that it was in the occupation of ‘Mrs Penfold and another’, sadly the name of the ‘other’ was not given.  Attached to the dwelling were ‘capital gardens’ well stocked with fruit trees, with a pig sty and wood house.

Later photographs show the cottages were Flemish bond brickwork with dark headers giving a distinct diaper pattern to the walls.  There was a 4-flue chimney slightly forward of the centre of the pyramidal roof, and a shorter 2-flue stack at the rear of the building serving a narrower single storey service building at the rear.  The windows were 2-over-2 sashes with a gently arched soldier course of bricks for the lintel.

As copyhold cottages, 22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane, were rented out, and with the exception of perhaps Mrs Penfold (see above) the copyholders do not appear to have resided in either cottage.  Fortunately, it has been possible to determine a list of some of the tenants who lived in each cottage since 1841 and the following is the story of the lives of some of the residents.  As this document of lost properties is travelling towards the northern end of Imberhorne Lane, the next property on from the Clevecote Potting Shed is no.24.  [Further details for most of the following residents can also be found in the Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 3, available on request or downloadable at www.felbridge.org.uk].

No.24, Imberhorne Lane

The first residents to be found living at no.24 in 1841 are the Isted family, consisting of James (born about 1806), Susan his wife (born in 1810) with George (born 1840), one of their four known children.  At the time of the census the family had two visitors staying with them, George Brooks (born about 1807), possibly Susan’s brother, and Mary Bishop (born about 1781).  James was an agricultural labourer and by 1851, the Isted family had moved to Copthorne Cottage in Worth, Sussex, being succeeded at no.24 by the Cockrells family, including James Cockrells (born in 1816), his wife Hannah (born about 1816) and four of five of their known children.  The Cockrells also had a lodger, John Argent (born about 1826), a waggoner, and possibly Hannah’s brother.  Like James Isted, James Cockrells was also an agricultural labourer.  However by 1861, the Cockerels family had moved to Furnace Wood, Felbridge, where James was working as a game keeper, being succeeded at no.24 by Henry Marden and his wife Mary Ann who had moved from Thatched Cottage (see below), situated further north along the west side of Imberhorne Lane.

Henry Marden (born about 1788) and his wife Mary Ann (born about 1782) also had a visitor staying with them at no.24 at the time of the census, their grandson John W Peters (born about 1833) who was at school.  Henry Marden was working as an agricultural labourer and can later be found living in several of the lost properties along the west side of Imberhorne Lane between 1841 and his death in 1885.  Henry also had several other relatives living in Imberhorne Lane, including a daughter Eliza and a grandson Richard [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19].  In 1864, Henry Marden may have been the other person referred to on the sales poster for the ‘Two double cottages with gardens’ that states the no.22 & 24 were being occupied by ‘Mrs Penfold and another’ (see above).  What is known is that in 1871, Henry and Mary Ann Marden had moved to 20, Imberhorne Lane (see below) and had been succeeded at no.24 by Henry Nickalls and his family.

The Nickalls Family, who had taken up residence at no.24 by 1871 and potentially as early as 1864, would remain at 24, Imberhorne Lane for over 90 years. Head of the Nickalls family was Henry Thomas Nickalls who had been born at Selsfield Common, West Hoathly, Sussex, in 1840, the son of Henry Stanbridge Nickalls, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Jane née Farmer, being baptised on 12^th July 1840.  Established siblings include; Titus born about 1835 and Mary Jane born in 1844.  By 1851, Henry, along with his parents, was living at Bramble Hill, West Hoathly, before moving to 5, Turners Hill Road, Worth, by 1861.  Shortly after this date, Henry had taken a wife called Elizabeth, although no marriage has yet been established.  All that can be established about Elizabeth is that she had been born in East Grinstead, Sussex, in about 1840.  Henry and Elizabeth had at least six children including; Alice born about 1866, Louisa born in 1869, Mary Jane born in 1871, Henry Thomas born on 10^th June 1872, Fred born in 1875 and Elizabeth born in 1879.  Tracing the Nickalls family has been quite challenging with the numerous variants of the spelling of Nickalls. 

By 1871, Henry and Elizabeth had moved to 24, Imberhorne Lane, with their three daughters, Alice, Louisa and Mary Jane.  In 1871 and 1881, Henry was working as a labourer, by 1891, he was working as a general labourer and by 1901, a brick worker, even in 1911, at the age of 71, Henry was still working, listed as a general labourer.  However, despite a fairly hard working life, Henry also found time to raise a pig or two and frequently showed them at the East Grinstead Fat Stock Show, generally in the ‘Under One Year’ section.  In 1910, he won 2^nd place and was placed 3^rd in both the 1912 and 1913 shows, despite competing against wealthy land owners such as James S Beale of Standen and Alfred Hoare of Charlwood, East Grinstead, and Alfred Palmer of West Park, Newchapel, Surrey.

Sadly Elizabeth died, aged 69, and was buried in the churchyard at St John’s, Felbridge, on 19^th January 1909 and Henry followed six years later when he died aged 74 and was buried at St John’s on 3^rd March 1915.  Henry Thomas junior succeeded as the head of the household at no.24 on the death of his father in 1915, and in 1917 he married Kate Amelia Rapley in East Grinstead.  Kate had been born in Ardingly, Sussex, on 16^th December 1879, the daughter of Abraham Rapley, a general labourer, and his wife Harriett Ellen née Rootham.  Henry and Kate had at least two children; Arthur Fred born in 1921 and Alice I born in 1924, both born at 24, Imberhorne Lane.  Both Henry and Kate lived out their lives at no.24, Kate died there aged 74 and was buried at the churchyard of St John’s on 5^th December 1953 and Henry died there aged 81 and was buried at St John’s on 26^th February 1955.  The death of Henry brought an end the association the Nickalls family had had with 24, Imberhorne Lane that had lasted for just over 91 years.

Shortly after the death of Henry Nickalls, 24, Imberhorne Lane, along with no.22, was purchased by Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. and was converted as separate male and female shower/cloakrooms, a kitchen and staff canteen for the workers of Kolmar’s Felbridge Laboratories.  In August 1973, the ‘double cottage’ was demolished and Kolmar had a new office building built on the site of 22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane.

No. 22, Imberhorne Lane

The first residents to be found living at no.22 in 1841 are the Hollands family consisting of James (born in 1806) and his wife Sarah (born about 1812) and three of their known seven children, Elizabeth, John and Emma.  James Hollands worked as a sawyer, however, by 1851 had moved to a cottage on Hedgecourt Common, now known as The Shooting Box, within the grounds of Llanberis Farm off Crawley Down Road [for further information see Handout, Llanberis Farm, SJC 01/07].  The Hollands family were succeeded at no.22 by Edward Kingswood (born in 1807) and his family, consisting of his wife Sarah (born about 1815) and four of their known seven children, Stephen, Edward, Elizabeth Ann and Mary Jane.  The Kingswood family moved to Hartfield, Sussex, sometime between 1852 and 1855 and were succeeded at no.22 by Thomas Elphick (born about 1822), his wife Fanny (born about 1825) and their three children, Sarah, Ella and Fanny.

In 1861, Thomas Elphick was working as a coachman and had come from CharthamPark, Surrey, where his father William Elphick was bailiff and where Thomas had been working as a gardener.  In 1864, again like Henry Nickalls at no.24, Thomas Elphick, may have been the other person referred to on the sales poster for the ‘Two double cottages with gardens’ that states nos.22 & 24 were being occupied by ‘Mrs Penfold and another’ (see above).  What is known is that by 1871, Thomas Elphick and his family had moved from 22, Imberhorne Lane and had been succeeded by Edmund Berry and his family.

In 1871, Edmund Berry (born about 1817), a stone sawyer, was living at no.22, with his wife Mary (born about 1820) and their three children, William John, Louisa and Edwin John.  Sadly, within three years Edmund Berry had died and was buried in the churchyard of St John’s on 14^th August 1874, and sometime between 1874 and 1881, Thomas Gibb and his family had succeeded the Berry family at 22, Imberhorne Lane.

Thomas Gibb was potentially a member of the Gibb family that had associations with nos.18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane (see below).  Thomas was born in East Grinstead in 1836, the son of Henry Gibb (born in 1816) and wife Anne née Ashdown.  Thomas was baptised in East Grinstead on 1^st May 1836, and his siblings included; William born in 1834, John born about 1840, Lucy born about 1844 and Elizabeth born about 1847, the first two children were born in East Grinstead and the last two in Croydon.  Sadly Thomas’s mother Anne died in 1849 and he was sent out to work at the age of 14, as a servant in the Fincham household at Collier Waters Farm, Walkers Green, Croydon.  However in 1871, Thomas was living and working as a gardener in Headley, Surrey and by 1881, Thomas was living at no.22 with his wife called Mary Jane, although no marriage has yet been established.  All that can be established about Mary Jane is that she had been born in Ireland in about 1836.  Thomas and Mary Jane had at least four children; Thomas born in about 1857, Ann aka Annie born in 1863, Richard born in 1865 and John E born in 1871, the three boys born in Headley and Annie in East Grinstead. 

By 1891, the Gibbs family had moved to 24, North End, Felbridge and had been succeeded at 22, Imberhorne Lane by George Curtis and his family.  Two years after moving to North End, Thomas died but Mary Jane and her two sons, Richard and John, continued to live at 24, North End until sometime between 1901 and 1911 when they had moved to 3, Imberhorne Lane, one of the row of cottages on the eastern side at the northern end of Imberhorne Lane (now, 5, Imberhorne Lane, still standing).

In 1891, George Curtis (born in 1861), his wife Caroline (born about 1868) and their 2-month old daughter Evelyn were living at no.22.  George was a general labourer but the family had moved on by 1901, being succeeded by Benjamin Newnham (born in 1847), his wife Susan née Lucas (born in 1851) and their 7-year old daughter Mary Ann.  Like the Curtis family, the Newnham family stay was short and by 1911 (and potentially as early as 1908) Charley Page and his family had moved to 22, Imberhorne Lane.

Charley Page had been born in East Grinstead on 25^th August 1888, the son of James and Eliza Page.  In 1891, Charley had been living with his parents at Horseshoe Farm, Luxford Lane, East Grinstead, but by 1901, still living with his parents, they had moved to East Bysh Farm at Newchapel, Surrey.  On 16^th May 1908, Charley married Maud née Page.  Maud had been born in 1890, the daughter of George and Mary Anne Page of Baldwins Hill, East Grinstead.  Charley and Maud had two children, Lilian May born on 1^st October 1908 and Charles William born on 1^st July 1911 and it is likely that no.22 was their first family home, moving there potentially in 1908 after their marriage.  In 1911, Charley was working as a waggoner, and sadly in 1912, Maud died, aged just 22, being buried in the churchyard of St John’s on 16^th November 1912.  Charley and his family left 22, Imberhorne Lane, being succeeded by J Bonny and in 1915, at the time of his enlistment with the Military Foot Police Corps, Charley was living at Hophurst Villas, Crawley Down, Sussex.  J Bonny may potentially have been John Bonny whose family home was at 3 [21[*]], Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19].  During World War I, John Bonny served as a Sapper with the 56^th Field Company, Royal Engineers, Reg. No. 9261, and was killed in action in 1915 [for further details see Handout, War Memorials of St John the Divine, SJC 07/02v] so sadly, John’s tenancy was very short.  It is possible that his wife Grace stayed on at no. 22 after his death but by 1923, William Stanley Gibb and his wife were living at 22, Imberhorne Lane.

William Stanley Gibb had been born in East Grinstead on 26^th June 1895, the son of Henry and Sarah Gibb who lived at 20, Imberhorne Lane from sometime between 1881 and 1891 and their deaths in 1946 and 1954 respectively (see below for further details on the Gibb family).  In 1901 and 1911, William was living with his family at 20, Imberhorne Lane, and in 1911, was working as a house boy.  In 1915, William married Amy Ashdown who had been born in Withyham, Sussex, on 27^th November 1890, the daughter of John William Ashdown, a carpenter, and his wife Elizabeth née Page.  The Gibb’s were not long married before William was called up in World War I, serving as a Gunner in the Highland (Fifeshire), Royal Garrison Artillery; Reg. no. 306473.  On return to civilian life after the war, William worked as a general labourer and Amy took in laundry, as Olive Sharman née Hewitt, who lived on the opposite side of Imberhorne Lane at no.7 [29^*], wrote in her memoires ‘twice a week I took the little cart Dad mad me to fetch and return the laundry that Mrs Will Gibb did for a lady near The Star inn at Felbridge’.  William and Amy spent much of their married life at no.22, from at least 1923 until August 1959, although they appear not to have had a family. 

In August 1959, William and Amy Gibb left 22, Imberhorne Lane, after its purchase by Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. and moved to 18, Imberhorne Lane, when the Jones family, who had been living at no.18, moved next door to Long Cottage (see below).  William died from no.18, aged 69 and was buried on 16^th September 1964, in the churchyard of St John’s, Felbridge.  Shortly after the death of William, Amy moved to Brookview, Cooper’s Lane, Crowborough, where she died aged 81, being buried on 18^th December 1971, at St John’s.

As for 22, Imberhorne Lane, it followed the same fate as no.24.  After operating as separate male and female shower/cloakrooms, a kitchen and staff canteen for the workers of Kolmar’s Felbridge Laboratories, the ‘double cottage’, nos. 22 & 24 Imberhorne Lane, were demolished and Kolmar had a new office building built on the site.

Pixie & Lilac Cottages, 18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane (TQ3754 3921)

As established above, this cottage in two dwellings was built in 1830 by William Pentecost, the first pair of dwellings to be built on the first plot to split from Holding A and may well have contributed to William Pentecost becoming an ‘insolvent debtor’ and prisoner in the ‘county gaol of Surrey’ in 1832. The 1864 sale particulars give a good description of the property detailing that it was copyhold, being a brick, tiled and slated cottage in two tenements.  Each cottage contained four rooms, which at the time of sale were in the occupation of James Buckland [no.18] and William Godley [no.20].  This pair of cottages also had ‘capital gardens’ stocked with fruit trees.

Photographs show that by the early 20^th century the front of the cottages were two gabled ended ranges with a valley gutter between them, both had a chimney stack on the side wall very close to the front of the cottage.  The frontages were mirror-images of each other with the front doors near the centre alongside a ground floor window, the first floor windows being centrally positioned in each range.  To the rear was a cross-range with end stacks which was slightly narrower than the front part of the cottages.  The back of the cross range had the rear doors to each cottage.  It is possible that the front ranges of the cottages were a later addition to what would have been a small pair of 1-up-1-down cottages in the rear range, this is supported by the rear range having external stacks and the front range being wider with internal stacks when a single construction phase would be more likely to have a consistent width and matching stack constructions.  The 1864 sale description describes the roof as being tile and slate which also suggests two phases that both pre-dated the 1864 sale.

As copyhold cottages, 18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane, later known as Pixie Cottage and Lilac Cottage, were rented out, and the copyholders do not appear to have resided in either cottage until 1956 when Tony and Marion Jones took up residence at Pixie Cottage as owners.  Fortunately, it has been possible to determine a list of some of the tenants who lived in each cottage since 1841, and the following is the story of the lives of some of the residents.  [Further details for most of the following residents can be found in the Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 3, available on request or downloadable at www.felbridge.org.uk].

No.20, Imberhorne Lane (Lilac Cottage)

The first residents to be found living at no.20 in 1841 are Thomas Ferguson (born about 1816), a shoe maker, with his wife Hester née Groves (born about 1821) and two of their five children.  The Ferguson family had moved on by 1851 and were living with Hester’s mother, Elizabeth Groves, in the vicinity of Warren Farm, in Felbridge [for further information see Handouts, Felbridge Triangle and the Development of Warren Farm, SJC 03/05 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18].  The Ferguson family were succeeded at no.20 by Henry Marden and his family who had moved from no.24 (see above), and who by 1861, had moved to Thatched Cottage, further north along Imberhorne Lane (see below), being succeeded at no.20 by Thomas Theobald.

Thomas Theobald (born about 1831) was a sawyer, whose parents, Richard and Mary Theobald, were living on East Grinstead Common at North End in 1861 [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18].  In 1861, Thomas’s sister Caroline and brother-in-law James Buckland were living next door at no.18 (see below).  By 1864, Thomas Theobald had moved to GodstoneVillage and had been succeeded at no.20 by William Godley, as referred to on the sale poster for this ‘Double cottage with garden’.  The only William Godley in the East Grinstead area around the 1860’s who could have taken on a property had been born in 1831, the son of George Godley and his wife Elizabeth née Pattenden, who in 1861, had been living near The Hope Brewery on London Road, East Grinstead; William working as a ‘sawyer of wood’.  By 1871, the family had moved to MountNoddy and it is quite feasible that they had moved to no.20 by 1864 but had left after the sale of the property the same year.  William Godley was the uncle of William James Godly (the surname is written as both Godly and Godley) who was living at Long Cottage with his wife Florence around the turn of the 1900’s (see below) and was also the grandfather of Sidney Frank Godley VC who, in 1891, lived for a short time at no.2 [19^*], Imberhorne Lane [for further info ration see Handouts, Pte. Sidney Godley VC, SJC 03/00, Felbridge Remembers their War Heroes Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 01/15 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 07/19].

After the sale of nos.18 & 20, Susan Butcher (born about 1811), a widow, was recorded as living at no.20 by 1871.  Her son Ernest went on to live at 3 [21^*], Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19].  By 1881, Susan Butcher had moved from no.20 and had been succeeded at the property by Richard Marden (born in 1848), his wife Agnes Amy née Harbor and four of their children.  Richard was the grandson of Henry Marden (see under Thatched Cottage) and in 1886, had moved from no.20 and was living at 4 [23^*], Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19], being succeeded at no.20 by Elizabeth Gibb and her family.

Elizabeth Gibb had been born Elizabeth Blackstone in Forest Row, East Grinstead, in 1836, the daughter of Thomas Blackstone, a stone mason, and his wife Philadelphia.  By 1851, Elizabeth was in service as a nurse, working in the Wooler household in St George’s, Hanover Square, London, and in 1861, had a base born son called Thomas Charles Blackstone, who tended to go by the name Charles Thomas Blackstone.  On 12^th August 1865, Elizabeth married William Gibb, who had been born in Lingfield, Surrey, in about 1815, the son of James Gibb.  In 1851, William had been lodging with his brother and sister-in-law, John Gibb and his wife Elizabeth née Bist in Withyham, Sussex, working as an agricultural labourer and in 1860, had married Mary Ann Cole, who sadly died just three years later in 1863; they do not appear to have had children.

William and his second wife Elizabeth had at least five children, including;  William born in 1866, Mary Ann born in 1867, Henry born on 18^th February 1870, Eliza Maud born on 10^th February 1873 and Emma born in 1875, all born in East Grinstead.  In 1871, the Gibb family, including, Elizabeth’s son Thomas C Blackstone, were living at The Rocks, East Grinstead, and by 1881 had moved to no.11 [37^*], Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19], meaning that Eliza and Emma were both born in Imberhorne Lane.  Sometime between 1886 and 1891, Elizabeth Gibb and the family moved across the road to 20, Imberhorne Lane.  In 1891, William Gibb was not recorded at no.20 and died at the Union Workhouse, East Grinstead, in 1893, so it is possible that William had already taken up residence at the Workhouse before 1891.  It is also interesting to note that his age at death was given as 82, although he would have only been about 78.

Of Elizabeth’s children, Thomas C Blackstone married Ann Miles in East Grinstead in 1886 and they had at least 5 children, the Blackstone family lived in Forest Row, where Thomas worked as an agricultural labourer.  Thomas died aged 80, in 1941.  William spent most of his adult life living with his sister Eliza and brother-in-law William Fuller and their family, first in Orpington, Kent, and then at Driver’s Cottage, Lingfield.  William never married and died aged 70, in 1936.  There is no further information for Mary Ann.  Henry married Sarah Page who was a visitor to the Gibb household, along with her daughter Minnie, in 1891 (for further information see below).  Eliza Maud married Charles Adams in 1890, they had two daughters, Kate born in 1890 and Sophia Elizabeth born in 1893.  Sadly Eliza Maud died, aged just 25, in 1893 [for further information seen Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 2].  Finally, Emma, never married and on the death of her sister Eliza, moved into the Adams household as housekeeper, living at no.6 [27^*], Imberhorne Lane [for further info seen Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 2].  Emma died aged 62 in 1937.

As mentioned above, in 1891, Sarah Page and her daughter Minnie Elizabeth Gibb Page were visiting the Gibb household at no.20.  Sarah Page had been born on 16^th November 1869, the daughter of George Page and his wife Mary Ann Buckland of Baldwins Hill, East Grinstead, (regularly written as ‘of Lingfield’).  Minnie Elizabeth Gibb Page had been born in East Grinstead, in 1889, and to have a middle name of Gibb would suggest that her father was a Gibb and Henry Gibb did in fact marry her mother, Sarah Page, in 1891.

Also in 1891, Elizabeth Gibb died, aged 53, and was buried on 25^th June 1891, in the churchyard of St John’s, Felbridge, and her son Henry assumed the head of the household at 20, Imberhorne Lane.  Apart from Minnie, Henry and Sarah had three other children, including; Henry George Charles who was born in 1892, William Stanley who was born on 26^th June 1895 (moved to 22, Imberhorne Lane in 1923, for further information see above) and Frederick James born on 24^th September 1896.

As for the lives Henry and Sarah’s children, Minnie married James Nathanial Skinner, in 1912. James was a professional soldier and in 1911 was a Private in 1^st Royal Sussex Reg.  In 1939, the couple were living no.2 [19^*], Imberhorne Lane; James working as a private gardener.  He died aged 77 in 1963 of no.10 [35^*], Imberhorne Lane and was buried on 9^th March 1963 in the churchyard of St John’s, Felbridge.  Minnie died on 21^st September 1953, aged 63 at 20, Imberhorne Lane, and was buried on 25^th September 1953, at St John’s [for further info seen Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 2].  Henry George Charles served as a Private in Labour Corps, Reg. No. 258250, during World War I and married Ethel Kate Skinner in 1914, just before he left for the Front.  In 1930, the couple were living at 17, FrithPark, Lingfield.  Henry died aged 74, in 1966.  William Stanley has been covered above under no.22.  Finally, Frederick James married Nellie I Holcombe in 1919 and they had a son called Albert J in 1924.  In 1939, Frederick and his family were living at 8, FrithPark, Frederick listed as a gardener (heavy).  Frederick died aged 74 in 1971.

As for Henry Gibb, he spent most of his working life as a general or bricklayer’s labourer and died from no.20 aged 70, being buried at St John’s on 5^th December 1946.  Sarah stayed in the property and was the sitting tenant on 16^th December 1953 when the property, along with 18, Imberhorne Lane, was purchased by Ernest George Jones, mechanical engineer, farmer and greengrocer, of 94, Railway Approach, East Grinstead, from Harold Warren Brooker.  Sarah remained at no.20 until her death, aged 84, being buried at St John’s on 25^th August 1954.  The death of Sarah brought an end to the association of the Gibb family with 20, Imberhorne Lane which had lasted just over 60 years.

20, Imberhorne Lane continued to be rented out by Ernest Jones, although it has not yet been possible to determine to whom.  However, in June 1966, the property was sold to Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. who used it as one of their workshops and in August 1973 the ‘double cottage’ was demolished and Kolmar had a new office building built on the site of 18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane.

18, Imberhorne Lane

The first residents to be found living at no.18 in 1841 are James King (born about 1800) with his wife Salome (born about 1813) and their three children, Mary, William and James.  James senior, was an agricultural labourer and the King family remained at no.18 until sometime between 1851 and 1861.  By 1851, James had been joined by his father, widower, Richard King (born about 1762), who died later that year aged 89.  By 1861, the King family had moved from no.18 and been succeeded by James Buckland and his family.

James Buckland had been born in Horne, Surrey, in 1829, the son of Robert Buckland, a labourer, and his wife Sophia née Dearling.  James’ siblings include; William born about 1828, Stephen born about 1833, Robert born about 1836 and George born about 1838.  In 1861, James Buckland’s household at no.18, also included his wife Caroline, who had been born about 1837, the daughter of Richard Theobald, a butcher [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge Pt.1, JIC/SJC07/18] and his mother Sophia Buckland.  Living next door at no.20 was Caroline’s brother, Thomas Theobald (see above).  In 1841, James Buckland had been living with his parents in a cottage near Hedgecourt Farm, Felbridge, and had married Caroline Theobald on 30^th May 1857, Horne, Surrey.  As for James’ mother Sophia, she had been born about 1793, the daughter of John William Dearling and his wife Mary née Ledger, and had married Robert Buckland on 21^st May 1827 in Horne.  Robert Buckland had died in 1857, which is probably when Sophia joined her son’s household, and Sophia died aged 80, in 1863.

In 1861, when James Buckland was first recorded at no.18, he was working as a sawyer.  Three years later in 1864, as established above, no.18 was sold, along with no.20, 22 and 24, Imberhorne Lane, and it would appear that no.18 sold with James Buckland as the sitting tenant.  James and Caroline appear not to have had a family and remained at no.18 until sometime between 1871 and 1881 when they moved to 31, North End, Felbridge, from where Caroline died aged 62, on 27^th November 1899, being buried in the churchyard at St John’s, Felbridge on 5^th December 1899.  James continued to live at 31, North End until just before his death at the East Grinstead Union Infirmary (formerly the Union Workhouse), aged 80, on 6^th October 1908, being buried on 10^th October 1908 at St John’s.

When James Buckland moved from 18, Imberhorne Lane he was succeeded at the property by Charles Wood (born about 1812), who is recorded as living there in 1881 with his wife Mary (born about 1820) and four of their six children, John, Edward, Samuel and Sarah, the two other children absent from household were Harriett and Mary Ann.  In 1881, Charles, along with his sons John and Edward, were working as general labourers.  Mary died aged 64, and was buried in the churchyard of St John’s Felbridge on 22^nd March 1883 and Charles died aged 78, a few years later in 1891 and the Wood family had been succeeded at no.18 by William Baldwin and his family by 1891.

William Baldwin had been born in 1834, the son of Ann Baldwin.  Ann later married Thomas Heasman and William went by the name Baldwin or Heasman.  On 11^th December 1859, William married Caroline Geary Cromey in Croydon.  Caroline had been born in Aylesbury or Salisbury, Hampshire (depending on census entry), on 15^th July 1834, the daughter of George Geary Cromey, a tailor, and his wife Mary Ann.  William and Caroline had ten children including; Eliza Ann, born in 1860 and George William born in 1864, both born in Clapham, Besty Susannah born in 1866, John Edward born in 1868, Sarah Annie born in 1871, Charles Alfred born in 1872, Fanny born in 1874, Henry born in 1876 and Kate Naomi born in 1877, the remaining eight children were born at Wiremill Cottage, Newchapel.  Although William and Caroline began their married life in Clapham they had moved to Wiremill Cottage around 1866, where William worked as a miller’s loader.  By 1891, William and Caroline had left Wiremill Cottage and were living at no.18 with sons, John, James and Charles.  By this date Betsy had left home and in 1889 had married Thomas Wheeler [for further information see Handout, More Biographies of the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC 11/03].

William only lived at no.18 for four years as he died, aged 60, and was buried on 31^st January 1895, in the churchyard of St John’s, Felbridge.  Sadly within three years his son James, by then a Police Constable in the Metropolitan Police Force, was tragically killed whilst on duty on 2^nd October 1898, aged just 29.  His body was returned to Felbridge and he was buried on 8^th October 1898 at St John’s [for further information see Handout, Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02vi].  Despite her loses, Caroline continued to live at no.18 and in 1901 had been joined by her granddaughter, Daisy Baldwin, the base-born daughter of Caroline’s youngest daughter, Fanny.  Other members of Caroline’s family lived close by with son Charles, who had married Mary Ann Lucas in 1887, living at no.8 [31^*] Imberhorne Lane, moving to Aveley Cottage, 4, Imberhorne Lane by 1911.  Caroline died aged 74, and was buried in the churchyard at St John’s on 7^th November 1908, and was succeeded at 18, Imberhorne Lane by Thomas Creasey and his family.

Thomas Creaseyhad been born on 17^th January 1862, the son of George Creasey, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Amelia née Dearling.  In 1871 and 1881, Thomas was living with his parents in a cottage at Oak Farm, Crawley Down Road, Felbridge [for further information see Handout, Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 01/13].  In 1881, Thomas was working as a carter, but in 1891 he had left the Felbridge area and was lodging at The Crown Hotel, in Heathfield, Sussex, working as a carter.  On 7^th August 1892, Thomas married Mary Rebecca Kilner, daughter of Henry and Eliza Kilner and granddaughter of Henry Marden senior (see Thatched Cottage).  Thomas and Mary had moved to no.18 by 1911 from no.7 [29^*] Imberhorne Lane where they had been living in 1901 [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19].  Mary brought to the Creasey family two base born daughters, Alice Kate Kilner who had been born in 1886 and Helen Florence Kilner who had been born in 1887.

Thomas and Mary had six children including; Thomas born in 1890, Caroline Minnie born in 1892, George born in 1895, Isabel Mary born in 1897, Alec Owen born in 1899 and Edgar Percy born in 1905.  The stories of the lives of the children are as follows,  Thomas junior was living with his grandmother, Eliza Hewitt at no. 9 [33^*] Imberhorne Lane in 1891 [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19], but had returned home to live with his parents by 1911, working as a horseman.  Thomas junior would have done military service during World War I (no further information yet established) and married Alice Maude Miller in 1916.  Alice had been born about 1893 and sadly died aged just aged 46, being buried on 28^th Mar 1939, at the churchyard of St John’s, Felbridge.  At the time, Thomas junior was living at Gullege, East Grinstead, working as a farm carter.  Thomas junior died aged 71 in 1961 at Queen Victoria Hospital, of 17, Buckley Place, Crawley Down, Sussex, and was buried on 9^th February 1961 at St John’s.  George was working as a garden boy in 1911, but during World War I served with the Machine Gun Corps, Reg. No. 30313.  George married Minnie Florence A Stripp in 1922, and in 1939 the couple were living at Little Flanchford Farm Cottage, near Reigate, Surrey, where George was working as a cowman.  George died age 87 in 1983 and Minnie died aged 88, in 1988.  Isabel married Thomas W Stripp in 1922, who had been born in 1898.  In 1939 the couple were living at Keepers Cottage, Grange Road, Crawley Down, where Thomas was working as a gamekeeper.  Thomas died aged 64, on 12^th February 1963 at Keepers Cottage, and Isabel died aged 74, at Keepers Cottage on 20^th March 1972.  Alec married Hilda Ellen Bowditch on 29^th April 1926, who had been born in 1901.  In 1926, Alec was working as a carter at Imberhorne Farm, living at 1, Imberhorne Farm Cottages.  Alec died from 1, Imberhorne Farm Cottages, aged 69 and was buried on 17^th January 1969, in the churchyard at St John’s.  Hilda died from 1, Imberhorne Farm Cottages, aged 81 and her cremated remains were buried in 1982 at St John’s.  Finally, there was Edgar, who was still living with his parents at no.18 in 1939, working as a market gardener at Clevecote Nursery. 

In 1911, Thomas Creasey senior, was working as a carter for the East Grinstead Urban District Council, which later translated into being a ‘roadman for the UDC’.  Thomas died from no.18, aged 83 and was buried on 19^th January 1946 in the churchyard at St John’s, Felbridge.  Mary continued living at no.18 with her son Edgar until her death, aged 81, being buried on 20^th January 1947 at St John’s.  After the death of his parents, Edgar continued to live at no.18, working as a market gardener at Clevecote Nursery, even after its purchase by Ernest Jones in 1949 (see above).  However, in June 1956, Ernest Jones’ son Tony and his wife Marion née Pike moved into no.18 as their first married home, giving it the name Pixie Cottage.  Edgar had moved out in 1956, he never married and died aged 67, at St Leonards Hospital, East Grinstead (formerly the East Grinstead Union Infirmary) in 1973.

Tony and Marion remained at no.18 until August 1959, when they purchased and moved to the house next door, Long Cottage (see below) and William Stanley and Amy Gibb moved into no.18 from no.22.  As established above, William Stanley Gibb died in 1964 and after his death, Amy moved to Crowborough.  In June 1966, Tony Jones, who had inherited no.18 after the death of his father Ernest in 1964, sold the property, along with no.20, to Kolmar Cosmetics (England) Ltd. who used no.18 as their woodworking workshop until August 1973 when the ‘double cottage’ was demolished and Kolmar had a new office building built on the site of 18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane.

Long Cottage, 16, Imberhorne Lane (TQ3758 3924)

Long Cottage (16, Imberhorne Lane) was built sometime between 1881 and 1891, at the southern edge of Holding B (see above), replacing an older cottage that had stood on the plot known as Thatched Cottage (see below).  [Further details for most of the following residents can be found in the Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 3, available on request or downloadable at www.felbridge.org.uk].

Long Cottage, like the original Clevecote dwelling (see above), was gable-end on to Imberhorne Lane and was built of brick with a tiled roof.  The front door was located mid-way along the long southern side of the property and had a small tiled porch.  The original part of the house had white painted brickwork and there was a central chimney stack with four flues and a decorative barge board on the eastern gable end.  The front door opened into a very small hall with one room either side and a staircase directly in front, leading to two bedrooms on the first floor, one either side of the staircase.  Shortly after the property’s purchase by Thomas Lewis Jupp (see below) in 1911, the original house was extended to the west.  The extension had brick walls to first floor and was then tile hung under a tiled roof and consisted of; on the ground floor, a kitchen with a bathroom and larder off it through doors in its west wall and a WC accessed via an outside door in the south wall, and on the first floor a large bedroom.  In the early 1960’s, a wooden lean-to with leaded light windows was added to the south side of the extension, the lean-to being re-cycled from building works at Ye Olde Felbridge Hotel.

The first resident known to have lived at Long Cottage is Theron Stripp and his family.  Theron Stripp had been born in Lingfield, Surrey, in 1844, son of William Stripp, a wheelwright, and his wife Susannah née Illman, a dressmaker.  Theron’s siblings included; Felix born in 1837, Phillis born in 1840, Aspatis [Aspasio] born in 1842, Julius born in 1847, Mahala born in 1849, Orana born in 1854, and Newton born in 1856.  In 1851 and 1861, Theron was living with his parents in Godstone Road, at Lingfield, but in 1871 he was lodging with the Stew family at 1, Rustic Cottage, Godstone, working as an estate carpenter.  Theron married Annie [Anne] Stone on 15^th April 1871 at St John’s, Felbridge, Annie had also been lodging with the Stew family.  Annie had been born in 1847 and was the daughter of William Stone, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Ann née Tingley, of Hedgecourt Common, Felbridge (by 1861, William had become the Bailiff of Gullege Farm) [for further info see Handouts, History of Gullege, SJC 03/02’ Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 03/13 and War Memorials of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02v]. 

Theron and Annie had seven children; Kate born in 1873, Silas born in 1877, Ernest Walter born in 1879, Martin born in 1882, Hepzibah born in 1884 and Sydney Samuel born in 1888.  In 1881, the Stripp family were living at 2, Bynes Cottages, Bynes Road, Croydon, Theron working as a carpenter, but had potentially moved to Long Cottage by 1888 when Sydney was born.  However, the Stripp family do not appear to have resided at Long Cottage much past 1891 as in 1901 they were living at 26, Cheturde Road, Streatham, Theron working as a house carpenter, being succeeded at Long Cottage by William James Godly and his family, although at the time of the 1901 census William was visiting friends in Hampshire.

William James Godly had been born in 1866, the son of George Godly and his wife and Elizabeth née Howard.  William James was also the nephew of William Godley who had lived at no. 20 in 1864 (see above), and the uncle of Sidney Frank Godley VC [for further info ration see Handouts, Pte. Sidney Godley VC, SJC 03/00, Felbridge Remembers their War Heroes Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 01/15 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 07/19].  In 1887, William James Godly married Florence Lurline Warner, the daughter of Charles Warner, master confectioner, and his wife Elizabeth née Allcock.  Florence had been born in 1862 and before her marriage was a confectioner’s assistant working for her father from their premises at 11 & 12, Ship Street, East Grinstead.  As a point of interest, in 1901, Florence’s mother Elizabeth and brother Harry were living in the second of the row of old cottages in Imberhorne Lane, now 3, Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handout, North End School, SJC 11/10]. 

William and Elizabeth Godly had four children, Lurline born in 1888, John Henry born in 1892, Bertha born in 1897 and Ralph Hamilton born in 1900, potentially at Long Cottage.  Lodging with the Godly family in 1901 were Walter Albert Cooper, a coachman-groom, and his wife Emily née Garwood and their son Walter Fennemore Cooper.  Walter had been a footman at FelbridgePark for the Gatty family in 1891 and married Emily, the daughter of Daniel Garwood, in 1897.  Emily had been a housemaid at Felbridge Park and her father Daniel had been the Gatty’s coachman [further information see Handouts, Dr. Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03 and More Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC11/03i].  Neither the Godly nor Cooper families stayed long at Long Cottage.  By 1911, the Coopers had moved to Egerton, Kent, where Walter had become the victualler at the Rose & Crown, and, all except John Henry of the Godly family had emigrated to Australia, being succeeded at Long Cottage by Thomas John Holder and his wife.

Thomas John Holder had been born in 1879, the son of George Holder, a general labourer, and Ellen née Wheeler (sister of Thomas Wheeler who married Betsy Susannah Baldwin who had lived at 18, Imberhorne Lane in 1891 (see above)).  In 1891, Thomas John Holder was living with his parents at Charlwood Cottages, Green Hedges Avenue, East Grinstead, and married Kate Naomi Baldwin on  24^th April 1905, at Felbridge; Kate was the daughter of William and Caroline who had been living at 18, Imberhorne Lane in 1891 (see above).

On 13^th August 1911, Long Cottage was purchased by Thomas Lewis Jupp, potentially from William V K Stenning, or his estate, by a mortgage with Charles Turner.  However, the East Grinstead Directories record that the Holders were still living at Long Cottage in 1914/15, perhaps as sitting tenants or boarding with the Jupp family.  However, at some point John and Naomi Holder, like the Godly family, also emigrated to Australia, leaving Thomas Lewis Jupp and his family sole occupants at Long Cottage. 

Thomas Lewis Jupp was born on 16^th March 1873 at St Pancras, the son of Maria Jupp and spent most of his youth living with his grandparents at various properties at North End, Felbridge [for further information see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.1, JIC/SJC 07/18] .  On 19^th September 1896, Thomas married Barbara Jane Roberts.  Barbara had been born in Worth on 2^nd August 1867, the daughter of David and Jane Roberts.  Thomas and Barbara had a daughter called Hilda Annie who was baptised on 5^th July 1898, at Worth, and in 1901, the Jupp family were living at Yaxley Cottages, North End, moving to The Croft, North End by 1911, before moving to Long Cottage.  Sadly Barbara died, aged just 53, and was buried on 27^th July 1921 at St John’s Church, Felbridge.  Three years later, Thomas Lewis Jupp married Ethel Emblem, in the Battle area of Sussex in 1924.  Ethel had been born on 30^th August 1892 and had already had a son, Leonard Raymond Emblem, born in 1923, in Steyning, Sussex, as a single woman.  Thomas and Ethel also had a son, Thomas Cyril Jupp who was born at Long Cottage in 1926.

From the documented memories of Tony Jones, the Jupps decided to divide the Long Cottage plot and had a small bungalow built in the northern half of the plot that they named Felstead, moving there in about in 1946 (see below) and were succeeded at Long Cottage by Mr Edwin Thomas Powell, a baker, and wife Patience, who lived there with their separated daughter Mrs Patricia Ann Ketley.  The Powell’s would appear to have only been renting the property as Thomas Lewis Jupp sold Long Cottage, on its reduced size plot, to Henry James Little on 21^st September 1949.

Henry Little lived at Long Cottage for nearly ten years before he sold it to Tony and Marion Jones, of 18, Imberhorne Lane (see above), in August 1959, for the sum of £3,300.  The Jones family lived at Long Cottage until 23^rd April 1973 when they moved to Corydon, Cranston Road, East Grinstead, having sold the site of Long Cottage as the only means for an access road to the fields of the farm complex known as The Birches (see above) at the rear that had been sold for light industrial development.  Thus in August 1973, Long Cottage was demolished and the new roadway to The Birches Industrial Estate was laid.  The loss of Long Cottage, which had stood for just over 80 years, makes it the second lost property, after Thatched Cottage (see below), of Holding B.

Felstead, 14, Imberhorne Lane (TQ3758 3927)

As established above, Felstead was built about 1946, after Thomas Jupp divided the plot on which Long Cottage was standing, building a new bungalow in the northern half of the plot, the third property to be built on Holding B. 

There are no known images that give a complete view of the property known as Felstead.  However, from documented memories and photographs the dwelling was a brick-built bungalow with a tiled roof, of typical design of the mid to late 1940’s.  It was rectangular in shape with the longer side running east-west. 

Thomas was to remain at Felstead until his death on 10^th April 1959, aged 86.  However, it would seem that his death was a catalyst for Ethel Jupp to sell the property and by 1960, consultant engineers Crawford & Cryan Ltd. had purchased Felstead and were operating from the site.

Crawford & Cryan Ltd. specialised in the maintenance and construction of roads, parking areas, drives, footpaths, drains and culverts.  The bungalow was used as the company’s office and the extensive back garden at Felstead became the yard, with several large sheds built, lying north-south, against the boundary with Long Cottage that stored equipment and materials.  Crawford & Cryan Ltd. operated from the site at Felstead for 18 years before Director T J Cryan wound up the company on 19^th April 1977.

The bungalow at Felstead was demolished and incorporated as part of the Calor Gas Centre (see below) until 1999 when the whole site was re-developed as a pair of offices (now Rhopoint House and Leo House) and ScrewFix, the retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products.  The demolition of Felstead made it the third lost property of Holding B.

Thatched Cottage(TQ3756 3927)

A cottage that later became known as Thatched Cottage was constructed on Holding B, a leasehold plot that was once part of East Grinstead Common, held of the Borough of East Grinstead.  Holding B was a leasehold property, one of just two leasehold properties (excluding the windmill plot) on East Grinstead Common held by the Borough of East Grinstead.  One leasehold property was in the vicinity of what is now Charwoods Road/Green Hedges Avenue, off Lingfield Road, amounting to 1r 18p and the second was Holding B, further north, near Felbridge Water, adjacent to what is now Imberhorne Lane, amounting to 2a 0r 9p.  Being a leasehold property it has proved impossible to determine who held the lease until 1842, when it was held of the Borough of East Grinstead by William Stenning although he was not residing at the property and lived at Halsford House, London Road, East Grinstead [for further details see Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.1,  JIC/SJC 07/18].  It was not until sometime between 1871 and 1881 that the cottage acquired the name Thatched Cottage, until then it was simply known as a cottage, either on East Grinstead Common, in Felbridge or on Imberhorne Road.  [Further details for most of the following residents can be found in the Additional Family Appendix to Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt 3, available on request or downloadable at www.felbridge.org.uk].

There are two potential candidates found in the East Grinstead Borough records that could be associated with Plot B.  The first is Robert Cornish, who in 1669, was recorded as having enclosed a piece of East Grinstead Common on which he’d built a cottage, barn, orchard and garden.  In 1671, Robert Cornish was ‘forced’ to take out a 21-lease [expiry would have been 1692] for a parcel of East Grinstead Common that he had enclosed containing about ‘2 acres & one half’ on which now stood a large dwelling, barn, orchard and garden.  The second is Matthew Gander, a broom maker, who in 1792, had enclosed a ‘small amount of land and had lately erected a cottage on the Common’ being granted a 31-year lease at a rent of 5/-.  Matthew Gander, in 1792, appears in the contemporary records as either Matthew or Mathias, with a choice of spellings for his surname - Gande, Gandy, Gandey and Gander (see below), the name Matthew Gander will be used here. 

What can be established is that a cottage was built on Holding B sometime between c1669 and 1792, which by 1881 was known as Thatched Cottage (see below).  Sometime between 1881 and 1891, Thatched Cottage was demolished and replaced by a new dwelling on the southern edge of Holding B,  which had become known as Long Cottage (16, Imberhorne Lane) by 1901 (see above).  Around 1946, the plot on which Long Cottage stood was divided and a new bungalow called Felstead (see above) was built in the northern half of the plot, although it was south of the original site of Thatched Cottage.

Sadly there are no images of the cottage that was originally built on Holding B, but from map evidence it was standing in 1795, although that map was after the Yeakell and Gardner map of 1778, so the cottage could potentially date to before 1778.  We assume from its later name that the cottage was thatched, and, from map evidence it sat within a small wooded enclosure in Holding B.  Cottages in the Felbridge/East Grinstead area dating to the mid to late 18^th century were typically timber framed, with wattle and daub infill and tiled or thatched roof, and it would have had a stone and brick chimney stack on one end.  The materials would all have been sourced locally.  By the 19^th century, the timber framing may well have been in-filled with brick or covered with either tile hanging or weather boarding (or a mixture) to ensure a better level of weather protection.  However, the roof would appear to have remained thatched if going by the name attached to the property in the 1881 census records.  The most likely person to have had the cottage, later known as Thatched Cottage, constructed was Matthew Gander who held the lease on the plot in 1792, as Robert Cornish’s plot of 2½ acres and the description of a large dwelling is unlikely to be this property. 

With regards to the Gander family, they had been in the East Grinstead area since the early 1600’s and by the time of Matthew’s birth in the mid 1700’s the Gander family had also spread to the Lingfield area.  From the surviving records there is a choice of Matthew Ganders holding the lease in 1792, senior or junior.  However, if it was Matthew senior he only held the property for about a year.  Matthew Gander (senior) was baptised at St Swithun’s church, East Grinstead, on 9^th August 1752, the son of Elizabeth Gander (who potentially married Thomas Edwards on 22^nd September 1753).  No father’s name is recorded which may imply that Matthew was a base born child.  On 5^th November 1771, Matthew married Fanny Soper at St Swithun’s and they had at least six children including; Sarah, baptised on 8^th March 1772 but died within 36 days being buried on 15^th April 1772, Thomas, baptised on 4^th July 1773, Matthew (junior), baptised on 21^st May 1775, George, baptised on 27^th July 1777 and who was buried aged just 9, on 3^rd September 1786, Elizabeth, baptised on 18^th March 1781 and James, baptised on 25^th May 1783.  Matthew senior’s wife Fanny died and was buried on 9^th September 1789 and it would appear that he took a second wife, Lydia, with whom he had a seventh child, William baptised on 7^th April 1793 who was sadly buried on 5^th February 1794.

As established above, Matthew Gander senior was a broom maker by trade and living on East Grinstead Common would have been an ideal location to gather materials for the craft of broom making, wooden poles for handles and twiggy birch or furze for the broom head.  However, Matthew died in 1793 being buried in the churchyard of St Swithun’s on 25^th October 1793, recorded as ‘poor’, so it would seem unlikely that Matthew senior was the Matthew referred to in the lease of 1792.  Thus it is potentially Matthew Gander junior who took out the lease.  Unfortunately little can be established about his life except that he married, as a widower, Dittymia (Ditemia) Sifflect at the church of St George the Martyr, Southwick, in 1790.  The only other potential reference to Matthew Gander junior’s family is a burial in the churchyard at St Swithun’s on 30^th December 1798, of Dimetia (no status is given in the register so it is not known if this was the burial of a potential daughter or Matthew’s wife).

The first collaborated information about Thatched Cottage comes from the East Grinstead tithe of 1842, which details Holding B, as two plots amounting to 2a 0r 6p.  The cottage and garden sat in plot 2327, amounting to 1r 4p, and the remainder of holding, plot 2328, was meadow.  The holding was recorded as owned by Earl de la Warr and Earl of Amherst and in the occupation of William Stenning.  However, as already established, William Stenning didn’t reside at Thatched Cottage and in 1841 it had been sub-let to Henry Marden. 

Henry Marden had been born in East Grinstead in 1804, the son of John Marden and his wife Elizabeth née Wheeler.  Henry’s siblings included; John born in 1792, Lydia born in 1794, James born in 1876 and George born in 1801, the first three children born in Eat Grinstead, whilst George was born in Worth.

On 25^th May 1822, Henry married Mary Ann Skinner in East Grinstead.  Mary Ann had been born in Lingfield, Surrey, in about 1800, the daughter of John Skinner and his wife Hannah née Harman.  Henry and Mary Ann had at least ten children including;  John born in 1823 but who sadly died aged just 15 in 1837, Henry born in 1824 who married Rebecca Jenner, [for further information see Handouts, High Grove Cottages, JIC/SJC 07/15 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, SJC 07/18], Hannah born in 1827 who married George Skinner (both living at no.20 in 1851 (see above)), Mary Ann born in 1829 who married Edward Hayward Comber [for further information see Handout, High Grove Cottages, JIC/SJC 07/15], Lydia born in 1832 who married James Peters, whose son William was living with Henry and Mary Ann at Thatched Cottage in 1871, Elizabeth born in 1835 who married Charles Peacock, Eliza born in 1840 who married Henry Kilner and then William James Hewitt/Hewett [for further information see Handouts, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt. 2, SJC 05/12 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19] and was living at Thatched Cottage with Henry Marden in 1871 and 1881, and Sarah Ann born in 1843 and who sadly died aged just 12, in 1855.

According to the census records, Henry did not live at Thatched Cottage continuously if the route taken by each enumerator is to be believed.  Henry and his family were living at Thatched Cottage in 1841 but by 1851 they had moved to 20, Imberhorne Lane (see above), and the census return records William King (born about 1802), an agricultural labourer, and his wife Jennett (born about 1792) as living at Thatched Cottage in 1851 (no further information).  Then in 1861, when Henry Marden and his family had moved to 24, Imberhorne Lane (see above), William and Jennett King had been succeeded by James Hunt and his family at Thatched Cottage.

The Hunt family consisted of James (born in 1831) who was a gardener, his wife Anna [Annie] (born about 1832) and two for their eventual five children, Thomas James and Agnes.  The Hunt family were still at Thatched Cottage for the birth of their third child, Edna (born in 1863) but had moved to Lewisham, Kent, around 1864/5 where Annie and Mary were born.  In 1871, the Hunt family were living at 26, Brockley Cottages, Ladywell, Lewisham, James still working as a gardener. When the Hunts left Thatched Cottage, Henry Marden and his family moved back and were recorded as living there in 1871.  For much of his working life Henry was listed as an agricultural labourer but in 1871 he was recorded as a cow farmer, potentially on Holding B. 

Four years after the 1871 census, Mary Ann Marden died aged 75, from Thatched Cottage and was buried on 27^th December 1875 at St John’s church, Felbridge and, ten years later Henry died aged 81, from Thatched Cottage and was buried on 10^th December 1885 at St John’s. 

Sometime between the death of Henry Marden in 1885 and the next census return in 1891, Eliza Hewitt, who had been living with Henry as housekeeper, along with her family moved to no.9 [33^*], Imberhorne Lane [for further information see Handouts, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt. 2, SJC 05/12 and Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19]  and it would appear that Thatched Cottage was demolished between 1881 and 1891 and replaced by a new dwelling at the southernmost end of Holding B, which became known as Long Cottage (see above).  The demolition of Thatched Cottage, which had stood for over 100 years, was the first lost property on Holding B.

National Grid Emergency Reserve Depot aka Das Bunker (TQ3755 3929)

As established above, a cottage had been built on Holding B sometime before 1795, which by 1881 was known as Thatched Cottage (see above).  Sometime between 1881 and 1891, Thatched Cottage was demolished and replaced by a new dwelling on the southern end of Holding B, which by 1901 was known as Long Cottage (16, Imberhorne Lane) (see above).  Around 1946, the plot on which Long Cottage stood was divided and a new bungalow called Felstead (see above) was built in the northern half of the Long Cottage plot.  Finally, around 1949 a reinforced concrete structure was built adjacent to Felstead, on its northern side, which was one of several National Grid Emergency Reserve Depots (known locally as Das Bunker) built in response to the perceived growing ‘Cold War’ threat.  Das Bunker was the fourth property to be built on Holding B.

The structure was built standing alone, virtually in the centre of a 1.11 acre plot, set back from the building line of the run of dwellings from Long Cottage to Aveley Cottage in Imberhorne Lane and resembled a large, rectangular, flat-roofed concrete box, which locals believed was an emergency bunker, built in response to the perceived growing treats of the Cold War, hence the nickname Das Bunker.  However, this was not entirely accurate.  It is true to say that with the perceived threat of the Cold War, the British government began to build fortified war rooms and invest in ways to maintain communications and electrical power across the country in the event of hostilities.  Controlling the supply of electricity during a crisis was the responsibility of the Emergency National Grid Control Centre, working in conjunction with the Central Electricity Authority.  Even before World War II, it had been recognised that it was important to have regional grids with auxiliary interconnections for emergency use, thus after nationalisation in 1947, District National Grid control rooms were established around the country and the one for the southeast was housed at Wealden House, just off the Lewis Road between East Grinstead and Ashurst Wood.  With the perceived threat of the Cold War, it was further felt that these District National Grid control rooms should be supported by back-up equipment facilities or depots, hence the construction of the bunker-like building at Imberhorne Lane.

As the threat of the Cold War subsided, the Das Bunker structure and compound was taken over as the Calor Gas Centre, which had previously operated from The Garage at Felbridge.  Eventually, the site was put up for re-development and in 1999, Das Bunker was demolished.  Demolition of the structure took 3 weeks because the reinforced concrete walls were so thick, making this structure the fourth lost property on Holding B.  Today, Rhopoint House, Leo House and the ScrewFix unit stand on the site of Das Bunker and it adjoining neighbour of Crawford & Cryan, formerly Felstead. 

Bibliography

Handout, Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03, FHWS

Handout, St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02i, FHWS

Handout, Civil Parish of Felbridge, SJC 03/03, FHWS

East Grinstead Directory, 1928, FHA

Handout, Biographies from the Churchyard of St John the Divine, Pt.3, SJC 09/06, FHWS

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.1, JIC/SJC 07/18, FHWS 

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19, FHWS

Background history of the area

Imberhorne Rental Records, 1557, Ref: WKRO U269/E341, ESRO

Imberhorne Rental Records, 1566, Ref: WKRO U269/M30, ESRO

Buckhurst Terrier, 1597

Imberhorne Manor Rental Records, AMS5909/11, ESRO

Surrender John Delve/ Drew Peverell, 1649, Imberhorne Court Book, AMS5909/8, ESRO

Surrender Thomas Squire/Edward Nicholls, 1665, Imberhorne Court Book, AMS5909/9, ESRO

Death of Edward Nicholls, admittance of son Edward Nicholls, 1688, Imberhorne Court Book, Ref: AMS5909/9, ESRO

Imberhorne Rental Book, 1698, Ref: KLHC U269/M31, ESRO

Death of John Nicholls, admittance of  his widow Elizabeth Nicholls & their daughter Elizabeth Argles, 1708, Imberhorne Records, ADA 106, ESRO

Surrender Thomas and Elizabeth Argles/John Nycolls, 1735, Imberhorne Court, ADA 108, ESRO

Death of John Nycolls, admittance of son Benjamin Nycolls and his mother and guardian Sarah Nycolls, 1739, Imberhorne Court, ADA 108, ESRO

Death of Benjamin Nicholls, admittance of son George Nicholls and his mother and guardian Sarah Nicholls, 1771, Imberhorne Records, ADA 110, ESRO

Surrender George Nicholls/William Muckamore, 1821, Imberhorne Records, AMS5910/4, ESRO

Surrender William Muckamore/John Cuthbert Joyner, 1822, Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Handout, Harts Hall, SJC 07/05 and Eating, FHWS

Handout, Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt. II, SJC/JIC 03/08, FHWS

Surrender John Cuthbert Joyner/William Pentecost, 1830, Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Surrender William Pentecost/James Hone [Horne], 1831, Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Surrender James Hone [Horne]/Robert Hawes, 1840, Imberhorne Court Records, AMS5910/4, ESRO

Handout, Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 01/13, FHA

1841 Census Records, www.ancestry.co.uk

1840 East Grinstead Tithe map

1842 East Grinstead Tithe Apportionment

Rental Books, 1892, Court omission of 1832, Imberhorne Rental Records, AMS 5910/6, ESRO

Absolute surrender Robert Hawes/Thomas Goodwin, 1850, Box 3151, SHC

Surrender Robert Hawes/Thomas Goodwin, 1853, Imberhorne Records, AMS5910/5, ESRO

Quit Rents, 1853, Imberhorne Court Records, AMS5910/5, ESRO

Surrender Hawes/Penfold, 1857, Imberhorne Court, AMS5910/5, ESRO

Enfranchisement, 1873, Imberhorne court Records, AMS5910/5, ESRO

Sale Goodwin/Price, 1873, Box 3151, SHC

Sale Price/Gatty/ 1880, Box 3151, SHC

Handout, Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03

Enactment of the Will of Gatty/Sayers, 1903, Box 3151, SHC

Sale, Sayers/East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd, 1911, Title Deeds of 18-24, Imberhorne Lane, FHA

Sale, East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd/Neighbour, 1911, Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

The History of East Grinstead, by WallaceHenryHills

A History of East Grinstead, by M J Leppard

Wealden buildings, Ed. By John Warren

Rental list for the Borough of East Grinstead, Sackville papers, 1613, (Ref: U269/E152, KHLC)

East Grinstead Common map, 1816, FHA

East Grinstead tithe map and apportionment, 184/42

Handout, NorthEndSchool, SJC 11/10, FHWS

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18, FHWS

Sale map for the Felbridge Place estate, 1911, FHA

Gander lease, 1792, (Ref:  ADD 11, Folio 165, ESRO)

Clevecote, renamed White Wings

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of S J Clarke, FHA

Sales details for Lot 9, Felbridge PlaceSale catalogue, 1911, FHA

Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Dixon’s East Grinstead Directory, 1915, 1916 and 1923, EGTM

Photographs of Clevecote, FHA

Census Records, 1871-1911, www.ancestry.co.uk

Birth, Marriage and death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Neighbour Family tree, Malcolm A Neighbour, www.ancestry.co.uk

Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11, FHWS

East Grinstead Directory, 1928, 1931 and 1953, FHA

Neighbour Probate, 1945, www.ancestry.co.uk

De Brincken Matthews family tree, Leane Sharp, www.ancestry.co.uk

Surrey Electoral Roll, 1930, www.ancestry.co.uk

EG Telephone Directory, 1931- 1964, www.ancestry.co.uk

Probate, Matthews, Geraldine de Brincken, 1938, www.ancestry.co.uk

Probate, Matthews, Arthur Brincken, 1943, www.ancestry.co.uk

Roberts’ family tree, Nicholas & Thomas, www.ancestry.co.uk

Probate, Faithfull, Marguerite, 1953,

Probate, Alice, 1956,

Probate, Roberts, Ellinor Beresford, 1961

Probate Marian, 1964,

Probate, Roberts, Hamilton Walter, 1967,

Felbridge & District Rifle Range

Felbridge Parish and People, Millennium Edition

Handout, Hobbs Barracks, DHW, 01/03, FHWS

Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

So what did your dad do after the War?, Local newspaper article, 5^th Jan. 1978, FHA

Jones family photographs, c1959, FHA

Documented memories of S J Clarke, FHA

East Grinstead Target Shooting Club, www.egtsc.co.uk/page/history                                                  

Telephone Directory, 1966, www.ancestry.co.uk

Aerial photograph of area, 1970, FHA

O/S map, 1979

Clevecote Nursery Potting Shed

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Title Deeds for Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Dixon’s East Grinstead Directory, 1915, 1916 and 1923, EGTM

East Grinstead Directory, 1928, 1931 and 1953, FHA

Photograph of Imberhorne Lane, c1915, FHA

Planning application plan, 1931, FHA

Jones family photographs, c1959, FHA

O/S map, 1936, FHA

O/S map, 1955, FHA

PO Telephone Directories, 1946-59, www.ancestrey.co.uk  

Advertisement in the Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 27^th July 1951, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Advertisement in the Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 3^rd September 1954, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Farm complex known as The Birches

Title Deeds of Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Title Deeds of Long Cottage, FHA

Handout, Memories of StreamPark & The Birches by Tony Jones, SJC 05/01, FHWS

Handout, Lost Property in Felbridge, Pt. 2, JIC/SJC 07/19

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of S J Clarke, FHA

Jones family photographs, FHA

Handout, Poultry Keeping in Felbridge, SJC 05/11, FHWS

18- 24, Imberhorne Lane

Surrender Hawes/Penfold, 1857, Imberhorne Court, AMS5910/5, ESRO

East Grinstead Tithe map and apportionment, 1840/2

Census Records, 1841-1881, www.ancestry.co.uk

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Penfold family tree, Michelle Braithwaite, www.ancestry.co.uk

Probate of John Penfold, 1864, www.ancestry.co.uk

Sales poster for ‘2 cottages in 4 dwellings’ abutting Imberhorne Lane, 1864, FHA

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, North End, JIC/SJC 07/18, FHWS

Enactment of the Will of Penfold/Carr, 1865, Imberhorne Court, AMS5910/5, ESRO

Enactment of the Will of Carr/ White and Dunk, 1896, Imberhorne Court, AMS 5910/5, ESRO

Enactment of the Will of White/Payne, 1905, Imberhorne Court, AMS 5910/5, ESRO

Payne family tree, part of the Pollard family tree, Susan Phillips, www.ancestry.co.uk

Enactment of the Will of Payne/Payne, 1908, Imberhorne Court, AMS 5910/5, ESRO

J A Payne burial, 1912, Burial Register of St John’s Felbridge, FHA

M J Payne burial, 1914, Burial Register of St John’s Felbridge, FHA

Enactment of the Will of Payne/Waters, 1915, Imberhorne Court Records, AMS 5910/5, ESRO

Enfranchisement, 1915, Imberhorne Court, AMS 5910/5, ESRO

Sale, Water/Brooker, 1931, Title Deeds, FHA

Sale, Brooker/Jones, 1953, Title Deeds, FHA

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of S J Clarke, FHA

22-24, Imberhorne Lane

Sales Poster, 1864, FHA

Census records, 1841-1911, www.ancestry.co.uk 

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Photographs, FHA

The Jupp Album, FHA

Drawing of 22 & 24, Imberhorne Lane, 1968, FHA

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19, FHWS

Handout, War Memorials of St John the Divine, SJC 07/02v, FHWS

A girl called ‘Tom’ by Olive ‘Tom’ Sharman

Dixon’s East Grinstead Directories, 1914, 1915, 1916, EGTM

The Nickall family tree, FHA

The East Grinstead Fat Stock Shows, newspaper articles in Sussex Agricultural Express - Friday 16^th December 1910, Friday 13^th December 1912, Thursday 11^th December 1913 www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Handout, Llanberis Farm, SJC 01/07, FHWS

The Gibb Family tree, FHA

Amy Gibb’s Postcard Album, FHA

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19, FHWS

East Grinstead Directories, 1928, 1931 and 1953

1939 Register, www.ancestry.co.uk

Title Deeds of Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of Marion Jones, FHA

Documented memories of SJ Clarke, FHA

Pixie & Lilac Cottages, 18 & 20, Imberhorne Lane

Sales Poster, 1864, FHA

Census records, 1841-1911, www.ancestry.co.uk 

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Handout, History of Gullege, SJC 03/02, Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 03/13, FHWS

Handout, War Memorials of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02v, FHWS

 Photographs, FHA

Handout, Felbridge Triangle and the Development of Warren Farm, SJC 03/05, FHWS

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, SJC 07/18, FHWS

Handout, Pte. Sidney Godley VC, SJC 03/00, FHWS

Felbridge Remembers their War Heroes Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 01/15, FHWS

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19, FHWS

The Jupp Album, FHA

Dixon’s East Grinstead Directories, 1914, 1915, 1916, EGTM

The Creasey Family Tree, FHA

The Gibb Family tree, FHA

East Grinstead Directories, 1928, 1931 and 1953

1939 Register, www.ancestry.co.uk

Title Deeds of Clevecote Nursery, FHA

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of Marion Jones, FHA

Documented memories of SJ Clarke, FHA

Handout, More Biographies of the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC 11/03, FHWS

Handout, Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine, Felbridge, SJC 07/02vi, FHWS

Handout, Oak Farm, JIC/SJC 01/13, FHWS

Long Cottage, 16, Imberhorne Lane

Title Deeds of Long Cottage, FHA

O/S maps, 1873 & 1895, FHA

Photographs, FHA

The Jupp Album, FHA

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of Marion Jones, FHA

Documented memories of SJ Clarke, FHA

Census records, 1891-1911, www.ancestry.co.uk 

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

1939 Register, www.ancestry.co.uk

Burial Register for St John’s church, Felbridge, FHA

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 07/18, FHWS

Handout, Pte. Sidney Godley VC, SJC 03/00, FHWS

Handout, Felbridge Remembers their War Heroes Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 01/15, FHWS

Handout, NorthEndSchool, SJC 11/10, FHWS

Handout, Dr. Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 11/03, FHWS

Handout, More Biographies from the churchyard of St John the Divine – Estate workers of the Gatty family, SJC11/03i, FHWS

Dixon’s East Grinstead Directory, 194, 1915 & 1916, EGTM

 Felstead, 14, Imberhorne Lane

Title Deeds of Long Cottage, FHA

Photographs, FHA

The Jupp Album, FHA

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Documented memories of Marion Jones, FHA

Documented memories of SJ Clarke, FHA

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

East Grinstead Directory, 1953, FHA

Telephone Directory, 1960, www.ancestry.co.uk

Crawford & Cryan advertisement, Kent & Sussex Courier - Friday 24^th October 1969, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Crawford & Cryan liquidation, The London Gazette 3/5/1977, FHA

Thatched Cottage

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.1, JIC/SJC 07/18, FHWS

Gardner & Gream map (after Yeakell & Gardner, 1778), 1795, FHA

East Grinstead Common map, 1816, FHA

East Grinstead Tithe map and apportionment, 1840/42

Gander lease, 1792, (Ref: ADD 11, Folio 165, ESRO)

Birth, Marriage and Burial Registers of St Swithun’s, East Grinstead

Census records, 1841-1891, www.ancestry.co.uk 

Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk

The Marden family tree, FHA

Handout, High Grove Cottages, JIC/SJC 07/15, FHWS

Handout, Shopping in Felbridge, Pt. 2, SJC 05/12, FHWS

Handout, Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt.2, JIC/SJC 07/19, FHWS

National Grid Emergency Reserve Depot aka Das Bunker

Documented memories of Tony Jones, FHA

Felbridge PlaceSale map, 1911, FHA

O/S amp, 1936, FHA

O/S map, 1955, FHA

Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers: The Passive Defence of the Western World, by Nick McCamley

Emergency National Grid Control Centre, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/osp14.pdf

Seaboard Control Centre, East Grinstead, 1993, by Steve Oliver, rceasussex.org.uk/1993/03/30/seaboard-control-centre-east-grinstead-2/

Calor Gas Centre, Post Office Telephone Directory, 1931, 1936, 1952, www.ancestry.co.uk