Newsletter No. 8
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1 NEWSLETTER NO. 8 - Sep 2005 More on Windmills From “Windmills at Work in East Sussex” by Brigid Chapman from the research material of Maurice Lawson Finch, pub- lished by S B Publications 2004 – copyright holder Eileen Finch. Available from good bookshops price £7.50. Brigid Chapman has this to tage, Riseden Road, when Mr say about the windmills of R Overton was living there. Wadhurst: He had pulled the centre post down with the aid of a rope “The post mill at Riverhall may and a windlass in 1973 and well have been the model for set the top of it in a square the painting on the postcard, flag-stoned flower bed in the pictured here, for Maurice lawn behind his house. And Lawson Finch has this note in he had placed three of the his file: millstones within the paving of the patio. On Rother mill stream There is little surviving physi- FOR SALE JUNE 1983 cal evidence of other mills MILL HOUSE, RIVERHALL around Wadhurst. The post WADHURST mill that stood behind the Mill He has no further information House Cousley Wood, which on this mill but plenty on faces the B2100 Wadhurst to Riseden post mill, shown on Lamberhurst road, was in a maps from 1823 on a site dilapidated state in 1885 and south of Riseden Road (TQ has now totally disappeared. 621303) [and used above for Standen's mill, shown on the Society’s newsletter]. It Bestbeech Hill in 1795 and collapsed on a still day in 1910 White's mill, shown near and its roundhouse with the Butcher's Wood, on maps mill's fallen main post protrud- from 1866-1894, have also ing from it was a feature of vanished without trace.” the garden of Windmill Cot- 2 The Committee Saturday 8 Oct:- East Grinstead Local History Fair is taking place in the Meridian Hall, East Grinstead from 10:00 to Chairman Michael Harte Greenman Farm 16:30. Last year’s fair was an eye opener about what other and Wadhurst societies have achieved - well worth a visit. Editor 01892 783 292 TN5 6LE Wednesday Oct 19:- at 14:00 Dr Ian Beavis will be lead- Treasurer Ian Adam-Smith Trewyck ing a walk round Tunbridge Wells Common, starting from Woods Green 01892 782 835 Wadhurst TN5 6QS the Fir Tree Road carpark. If wet, the visit will be round the Museum. Secretary Heather Woodward Chequers Stone Cross Rd Monday Oct 24:- Dr. Ann Kneif (a historian and also a 01892 783 212 Wadhurst TN5 6LR guide at Leeds Castle in Kent) will be giving a presentation and talk on Leeds Castle in Bells Yew Green Village Hall at Talks Secretary Michael Blease Oak Cottage 19:30. Tickets are £3 each (to include tea and biscuits af- High Street 01892 783 317 Wadhurst TN5 6AJ terwards) and can be obtained from Frant Village Stores or at the door. Further information is available from Sue Petrie Visits & Events Rachel Ring Chestnuts (01892 542 894 or e-mail at [email protected]). Secretary Stone Cross Road 01892 783 455 Wadhurst TN5 6LR Bocking/Parish Bryan Bell Church House Notes on Society Meetings Council link Church Street 01892 782 845 Wadhurst TN5 6AR Wednesday 1 June:- Putting Batemans to Bed Meetings Martin Turner The Colleens Our talk by June Laycock centred on what in most house- Organiser Lower Cousley Wood holds might be called spring-cleaning. The normal house- 01892 783 803 TN5 6HE hold, having got the house dirtier in the winter than in the summer, does its spring-cleaning in the spring whilst the Cttee members John Breeze Puck Hill Station Road National Trust having put the house to good use in the more 01892 782 586 Wadhurst TN5 6RT clement seasons of the year has to do its spring-cleaning between November and March. Dudley Groves The Cottage Cousley Wood But the use to which it is put consists of 75000 visitors and 01892 784 772 TN5 6ER this puts much pressure on the fabric of the house and its contents. Together with many interesting and amusing David James Markwicks Cousley Wood tales and readings about the Kipling family, June told us 01892 890 330 TN5 6HG about the hows and whys of putting the house to bed. Every item in the house has its own specialised treatment to Meeting Schedule for 2005 prepare it for the next season and these treatments need Commemoration Hall—19:30 for 20:00 their own implements. These include pony hair and hogs hair brushes together with badger hair shaving brushes for Wed 2 Nov Heather Woodward: the books. The furniture is polished (once a year only), Nelson: the Myths and the Truths moved to the middle of the room, covered with acid free Wed 7 Dec AGM - members’ talks and social tissue and then its own special cover; all the while the Dates for 2006: Thur 12 Jan Thur 9 Feb cleaners are wearing cotton gloves. Chairs are lifted by the legs only so as not to put stress on the backs. Thur 9 Mar Thur 13 Apr Thur 11 May Thur 8 Jun It is not moth that is a problem with the carpets but the Thur 13 Jul Thur 12 Oct Thur 9 Nov Thur 14 Dec woolly bear, the larva of the carpet beetle. Accordingly carpets are hoovered on both sides, then rolled and put in a cupboard. Squeezed cotton wool dipped in mild detergent Forthcoming Events cleans porcelain; any gilding is not touched at all. The Saturday 30 September:- Open Meeting - in the May- problems for the books include silver fish and woodworm. field Memorial Hall - to mark the Mayfield History Socie- Members of NADFAS clean all the books; these must not be ty’s 30th Anniversary. Doors open at 18:30 for a Local taken off the shelf by the spine but carefully lifted down, History Exhibition with images of the Elizabethan Mayfield brushed page by page, and replaced on the shelf making Cannon salvaged off Gravesend only last year, forged at sure that the back edge does not touch the back of the the Mayfield Gun Foundry of Sir Thomas Gresham, to- shelf. The books still smell smoky, 70 years after Kipling’s gether with copies of the original Patents for Cannon pro- death. duction only just discovered at the Lewes Record Office. Followed at 19:30 by Archive Films about Sussex and If any real problems occur, the services of the senior Nation- Sussex Life by Tim Cornish. WHS members will be made al Trust conservators are available for advice or practical welcome. assistance. And then there’s still the garden and the mill to put to bed as well! Jeremy Oldershaw CHATHAM DOCKYARD Saturday 1 October:- Our autumn visit will be to Chatham Wednesday 6 July:- Military Aviation in Northern Dockyard, leaving The Greyhound at 09:00. After coffee/ France tea, we have a 1½ hour conducted tour ‘In the Footsteps of Kicking off Wadhurst’s week of celebration and remem- Nelson’; this will set the background for our meeting on 2 brance - 60 years after the end of World War II and 90 Nov when Heather Woodward will be talking about Nelson. years after the Battle of Aubers Ridge - the Society exploited After lunch and private exploration, we join the Kingswear the links built with Aubers by the Twinning Association and Castle for a cruise along the Medway. We will return to Wa- invited Jocelyn Leclerq to cross the Channel and give us the dhurst by 18:30. RR benefit of his encyclopædic knowledge of the exploits of the 3 Royal Flying Corps and the RAF over the fields of northern sponse to a need to win a wager that the tower of Dalling- France in both World Wars. ton Church could be seen from his home. It could not, Fascinated by the subject since his childhood, Joss has but the rapidly erected Sugar Loaf was a convincing become one of the few acknowledged experts in this field, substitute. both through extensive reading and by serious research It was a fascinating and exhilarating afternoon. Thank with a small group of friends. Speaking in impeccable you to the members of our excellent Footpaths Society, English, he enthralled the largest audience we have had to and to Paul Eldridge in particular, for their thoughtfulness date with a mixture of battle history and personal details in including us in their programme. DJ about some of the pilots involved across both wars. Sunday 7 August SUMMER BARBECUE:- by kind invita- He began his talk with an aerial photo of Aubers on 21 tion of Malcolm and Marion Williams at Walland. The sun March 1915, just before the battle that led to our twinning, shone, the company good, the food excellent, what more and mentioned some of the British airmen who lost their could one ask for…? Our thanks to Marion and Malcolm for lives in the skies of the Weppes: Albert Ball, Mick Mannock, their welcome, to John Lamplugh for the pig and the hours William Rhodes-Moorhouse VC. spent cooking it, to the people who brought, erected and dismantled marquees and furniture, to those who gave Moving on to the Second World War, he briefly mentioned raffle prizes or brought produce for sale or prepared food, the deployment of early British mobile radar units to north- and to all those ‘on duty’ on the day. Finally, our thanks to ern France in 1939 - and their hasty withdrawal with the all who bought tickets in support! RR collapse of France in 1940.