Rudgwick Preservation SocietyAutumn 2015 Newsletter

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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

A New PresidentThe committee are very pleased and delightedthat Mrs Diana Chatwin has accepted ourproposal to be our new President in place ofLeslie Hawkins, who himself succeeded StanSmith, founder of the society.

Diana is, of course,author of our mostsignificant publication:Timber-Framed Buildingsof the Sussex Weald, TheArchitectural Heritage ofRudgwick, published in1996. Still as fresh as adaisy, and still for sale, bythe way - £12.00 tomembers. Next yearmarks the 20th anniversary of its publication, sotime for a “Big Push” to sell our few remainingcopies. With her husband, Charles, she alsomade a video film to accompany the book, nowtransferred to DVD. Diana and Charles live in TheStreet, Slinfold. She is also chairman of theSlinfold History Society, and an active participantin the Wealden Buildings Study Group, of whichshe is a former President. She has continued hermembership and support RPS over many years,giving several talks at our meetings, and enablingcontact with Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratorywho have dated several houses in the parish.

Newsletter EditorHot on the heels of Diana’sappointment, we have a new editorfor this edition, Trish Morgan is anAustralian resident of Rudgwick.She and her husband live inWoodfield Road. You can judge for yourself howshe has done! There may be further changes, butTrish is sensibly working to the existing format asshe finds her way around the material which wesend her. We wish Trish every success, and look

forward to working with her as a co-optedmember of the committee.

Geoff AyresSadly, we have said goodbye to Geoff as acommittee member. He has served on thecommittee for many, many years, and lived inRudgwick for even longer. We shall miss hissense of humour, his interest in the history ofRudgwick, and his technical knowledge.However, Geoff will continue to organise ourwalks programme for the time being. He hasdone this with stoical dedication for a very longtime, and without this the walks would probablyhave been abandoned by now. Thank you Geoff,and congratulations on your engagement! Geoffis on the far left of the group photo at RudgwickStation.

Great War ProjectNow that Winter is upon us, I shall be using thetime to chase up existing participants who havenot yet put together a short account of yourrelative’s life and war service. Not everyone is

AUTUMN 2015

Mrs Diana Chatwin

Trish Morgan

Tuesday 25 May 2015, walkers at Rudgwick Station, en route to agenerous supper provided by member Rob Bookham at The Milk Churn,to whom we owe grateful thanks.

THIS EDITION:· Chairman’s Report…......………………………….1· Planning Matters.….…………………………........2· On the Buses........….…………………………......3· Rudgwick’s Railway: Revolution or Evolution......6· Malcolm’s Miscellany………………...…………..12

www.rudgwick-rps.org.uk

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comfortable with doing this, so I am liaising closelywith participants. I hope to use the same softwarewe have bought for producing the Newsletter tocreate good quality material on each soldier, aswell as all the varied aspects of Rudgwick we areworking on. The aim is to have a book ready for theanniversary of the Armistice in 2018. The diary youread every second month in the RudgwickMagazine will be incorporated, and we now have asurprisingly large number of mini-biographies ofthose with Rudgwick connections who were killedbut who are not recorded on the village warmemorial.

Rudgwick’s Railway and StationIn this issue and thenext you will find newarticles on the history ofthe village station andhow it affected thevillage over its 100 yearlifetime. It has been afascinating journeyexploring its history, andthanks must go to GerryBixley, of Bisley inSurrey, who has let mecopy numerous photos,patiently explainedmuch railwayinformation, but above

all brought hisrealistic,accurate scalemodel of ourstation to theEllens GreenSummer Show,where manypeople saw it,and hisexhibits. If youmissed it, hereare twopanoramicphotos. Gerrygrew up close to the station in Bramley. As hesays, Rudgwick is the better station to model as somany old photos look down from the bridge. Weare pleased to have been able to support theMedical Centre and the Milk Churn Coffee Shopwith new display boards. Malcolm Francis will showyou there is another story to tell of bus transport inthe village.

Tempting HistoryOver the past few months, fascinating lines ofresearch have opened up. “Findmypast” haveuploaded Rudgwick School full admissionsregisters for the 1890s to 1913. David Hamilton ofThe Miller’s House at Gibbons Mill has generouslylent his grandfather’s farm accounts ledgercovering mid 20th century receipts & payments forGibbons Mill Farm. Graham Crummett, a Norfolkmember, has provided several items, on hisgrandfather’s 1920s garage (Station Garage), andan even more mysterious D Day leaflet producedby Rudgwick Parish, dated Tuesday 6 June 1944 –must have been put out after the day. Ancestryhave uploaded 63 Francis Frith 1950s/60s photosof Rudgwick and Bucks Green, but they are onlyavailable to Premium members. I I havescreenshots from free access in August.

Roger Nash

PLANNING MATTERSVanessa Sanderson

Horsham District Planning FrameworkUpdateFollowing the submission of the Horsham DistrictPlanning Framework (HDPF), an independentinspector was appointed to hold an Examination inPublic (EiP) to consider the ‘soundness’ of theHDPF. As part of the Examination the Inspectorheld a series of public hearing sessions inNovember 2014. In December 2014 the Councilreceived the Inspectors initial findings which statedthe need to increase the level of housing identifiedin the Plan. As a result of this the HDPF: ProposedMain Modifications was published for a period of 6week representation on 23 March 2015. Followingthe receipts of objections to the main modifications,the Inspector decided to hold an additional hearingon 3 July 2015. On 21 July 2015 the Councilreceived a note from the Inspector stating the needto increase housing provision to 800 dwellingsper year (from 650) and the requirement to reviewthe local plan within a 3 year period. The PlanningInspectorate has now informed the Council that itwill receive the Inspector’s Final Report into theHDPF by the end of October 2015

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)Sussex Countryside Trust sent a representative tothe EiP in November and they expressed concernsabout the outcome especially when the Inspectoradvised that he would take into account the ‘unmetneeds’ of other local authorities including Londonand allocate a proportion of those needs to theHorsham District. Sadly this is clearly reflected in

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ON THE BUSESMalcolm Francis

Rudgwick is fortunate in having a good bus servicelinking our village to Horsham and Guildford. A lot ofthe surrounding villages do have a bus service butsome of the routes are quite tortuous; I notice onethat departs from Alfold, only on a Tuesday, travelsto Loxwood, Kirdford, Wisborough Green,Billingshurst and Arundel and reaches Worthing twohours later. (Not run by Stagecoach, which alwaysgives one the picture of the vehicles being horsedrawn.) Rudgwick’s buses these days seem ratherbland, a large (normally very dirty on the outside)metal box on wheels. I think that the character ofthe old buses and coaches of previous decades,that served our village, made them morememorable. I have done some research regardingthe old companies that served Rudgwick with somehelp from Roger Nash, a relative of Fred Kilner whoran a local bus and coach company based inLoxwood. The other company that servedRudgwick, the Aldershot and District TractionCompany, ran a service from Guildford to Horsham.It was a much larger company than a lot of the “oneman bands” that were quite common in Pre-wartimes. There is an excellent book “Horsham’sIndependent Bus Services” by Laurie James,published by the History Press. The book is verycomprehensive in its coverage of the local transportsystem and well worth a read. I will quote a coupleof paragraphs from it to set the scene:“During the years leading up to 1933, Fred Kilnerand his wife owned the Woodlea Garage atClemsfold (it was located where Oakes AgriculturalSupplies is now situated, next to Doves Volvogarage). Jesse Wise’s Sunbeam service passed byand he would obtain petrol and tyres from thegarage. Over a period of time the money he owedthem on account increased and he told Fred Kilnerthat he would get paid when the bus service wassold. By chance, Fred Kilner had a potential buyerfor his garage so he bought Wise’s bus service andthe green-liveried 1930 Dodge bus that ran on it.The trading name Sunbeam Bus Service wasretained. Fred Kilner made an application to take

the increase in annual number of dwellings that arenow required in the Horsham District as above. Thenew figure is also subject to a 3 year review whichmeans that the revisedfigure of 800 dwellingsper annum is not fixedfor the original 20 yearperiod and is very likelyto increase again. DrRoger Smith, CPRESussex Trustee whorepresented the CPREat the examination, hassummarised the keyissues of the EiP in theSussex Review. This isavailable for download on cpresussex.org.uk.

Neighbourhood PlansThe CPRE has always encouraged communities toput together a strong Neighbourhood Plan (NP).These ultra-local planning documents are provingmore influential than ever – especially in the manyareas lacking a wider local plan. Not long ago theCommunities Secretary refused planningpermission for a 1200 housing development inWinslow Buckinghamshire because it did notcomply with the town’s NP. In the absence of anup-to-date local plan for the whole area, theCommunities Secretary ruled that the settlementboundaries set out in the NP – which was backedby 98% of voters in the local referendum – shouldhold.

The Government recently made more fundingavailable to groups working on NeighbourhoodPlans and HDC have a strong support programmeavailable to help Parishes prepare their own NP. Itis apparent that many (22) Parishes in theHorsham District have already applied to Registerfor a Neighbourhood Development Plan.Regrettably Rudgwick is not one of them. It is myview that without an NP Rudgwick will becomeincreasingly vulnerable to undesirable &unsustainable development which could succeedon Appeal. Clearly the increase in housingnumbers as required by the independent Inspectorwill have an impact, especially in areas where thereis no clearly defined NP. There is comprehensiveinformation on Neighbourhood Plans and how theywork on the Horsham District Planning website forthose who would like more information on thissubject.

Aldershot and District Dennis Lancet, in the 1960’s.Photo courtesy of Classic Buses website.

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over the licence without change to the timetable andfares for the daily bus service from Plaistow toHorsham via Ifold, Loxwood, Alfold, TismansCommon, Bucks Green, Clemsfold and BroadbridgeHeath… the bus was kept in William Cole’s (coalyard!) in Loxwood. Fred Kilner then obtained a newtwenty seat Bedford coach to undertake private hirecontracts and then applied for an excursion and tourlicence in 1934.”

One forgets just how much bureaucracy there waseven in those days to run such a business!

Fred Kilner’s brother in law was W B Hempstead,who had a goods carrier business based inLoxwood. He moved to Bucks Green and then in1934 applied for an excursion licence. The companyran two fourteen seat Chevrolet coaches but in 1937those vehicles were added to the Kilner fleet atLoxwood. Fred Kilner expanded his fleet to eightvehicles within in a few years.

“There are usually some amusing anecdotessurrounding a country bus service. One day FredKilner had to prevent a man boarding a bus atPlaistow as he wished to travel with his live calf.Chickens in baskets were one thing, calves another.On another occasion Fred Kilner found an Aldershotand District bus conductor on the roadside one night.The conductor had taken a “parcel into a pub” andwhen a passenger rang the bell the bus haddeparted without him. The Sunbeam service only rana few minutes behind Aldershot and District bus sothe conductor was soon back to his own bus. TheLoxwood to Horsham section of the service loadedwell, the busiest journeys often required duplication.The police often complained about overloading ofthe Kilner buses between Broadbridge Heath andHorsham. Busy journeys would sometimes need twoduplicate vehicles with one conductor collectingfares on all three.”

There are various publications that give a detailedaccount of the hard times of operating buscompanies during the Second World War, withdrivers being called up for active service and theinflux of military personnel and civilian workers intothis area. It appears that there was a lot of behindthe scenes manoeuvring to secure lucrative busroutes even in the closing years of the Second WorldWar.

“A Mr Basil Williams was the majority shareholderand Managing Director of Hants & Sussex MotorServices Ltd which started in 1937. By 1944 BasilWilliams was running bus services in Emsworth,Havant, Midhurst and Petworth areas… He hadearned capital from lucrative war work contracts andhe found that buying up small bus operators inSouthern England was the easiest way of expandinghis territory .... He made a tempting offer to FredKilner to buy into his business in two stages. Thiswas possibly seen as beneficial by Kilner, as thefleet needed investment and running a bus companyin wartime was a great strain on his family.”

The takeover of the bus service in 1945 was done insuch a way that little was apparent to the travellingpublic and, more importantly, to the other localoperators like London Transport, Southdown andAldershot and District, who were concerned at BasilWilliam’s potential ability to take over smalloperators and strengthen them to challenge thelarger companies. The new company was called F HKilner (Transport) Ltd and was responsible for busservice activities around the Horsham area. Thevehicle livery of Hants and Sussex was maroon, redand cream and in spite of being owned and licensedto Fred Kilner, or Sunbeam Coaches, the vehiclescarried the Hants and Sussex livery and fleet names.It seems that the new owner wanted to create anillusion of a bigger company; buses and coachescarried high fleet numbers to give this illusion. Infact, the company ran services from Horsham toPlaistow, Roffey, Littlehaven, Three Bridges andEwhurst! Gradually the management and ownershipof the company passed from the Kilner family eventhough Sunbeam Coaches, licensed for excursions,etc, remained with them for a short while.

“By 1952 the fortunes of the bus industry in general,and Hants and Sussex in particular, were on thedecline. The Labour Government imposed hugeincreases in Fuel Tax from 1950 and by 1952 it hadreached 200%! Wages had been increasing sincethe War and bus operating costs were rising steeply.Fare levels, which had been fairly static since the1930s had to rise but as fares were controlled by theLicensing Authority, it took a long time forapplications to increase them to go through. In themeantime, the operator had to absorb any deficit …

Hants and Sussex Bedford Duple, 28 seater (1951), asused on the Plaistow service. Copyright Mike Smith

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The last day of operation under Hants and Sussexauspices was Tuesday, 21st December 1954. Thefinal journey on Service 31 from Horsham toPlaistow, over Fred Kilner’s original route, was at9.53p.m. ... The bus had a Union Jack on the bonnetat half-mast and in the window a placard displayed “Sentenced to Death”

The Plaistow service was then taken over by theAldershot and District bus company. Aldershot andDistrict buses were painted in a two tone green,quite similar to the Southdown bus company, whowere the main company in Sussex. The buses werealways single deckers on the Rudgwick routebecause of the very low railway bridge on the A281just east of Bucks Green. The bridge’s clearancewas just over 12 feet, so often lorries became stuckunder its arch. Old photos of the bridge’s brickworkshowed how much damage had been done over theyears. The route from Horsham to Guildford viaRudgwick was confusing to passengers who did notknow about the Fox Inn turnaround, as in those daysthe buses reversed into Lynwick Street to turn thebus around, they thought that they were returning toHorsham. The practice had to be stopped as newregulations would not allow a bus to be reversedwith passengers.

The Aldershot and District bus company had a fleetof buses made by the Guildford-based company,Dennis. The workhorse for Aldershot and Districtwas the Lancet, in various seating sizes etc. Iremember those buses had two lateral seats thatwere perched a little higher over the buses’ rearwheels; as a child those seats always were always afavourite.

One forgets just how bad maintenance must havebeen on such buses in those days and breakdowns

were common, additionally there were not thestringent safety checks that are required thesedays. There was a very serious crash involving oneof the Aldershot and District buses close toClemsfold near the aptly named Slaughter Bridge. Iunderstand that someone was killed in a collisionwith a car and the investigation found that the bushad bald tyres. The conductor on that bus, whowas badly injured, was related to the Tilley familyhere in Rudgwick.

To balance out this sad story I was told of a veryfunny incident involving the Guildford to Horshambus that happened in the Bishopric as one entersHorsham. In those days before the present day“improvements” to the road system, there was ajunction with traffic lights close to the Black HorseHotel (which was on the corner of West Street andWorthing Road). Any passengers on the bus fromGuildford would alight in the Bishopric to cross the

road to where the Southdown service bus toWorthing would be waiting in the Worthing Road. Alady hurried off the Guildford bus to catch theWorthing bus; she had been knitting in the bus andunfortunately as she hurried across the road shedropped her ball of wool which trailed out behind herunder the traffic as she climbed aboard the Worthingbus…

On a personal note, I was a pupil at Collyers Schoolin Horsham and had the choice of catching theGuildford bus No 33) or the Plaistow bus ( No 49). Iused to cycle to Bucks Green usually, to catch thebus from Plaistow as it ran at the most convenienttime, my parent’s house in Lynwick Street. Themorning bus was often a Southdown vehicle, whichmust have been on loan to Aldershot and District, itsuited me as it always had one extra wide seatwhere I could place my cello (Monday morning I feltlike a pack horse with satchel, sports bag and cello).I must admit that quite a few times, often on a darkwinter’s night I would catch home a later bus, whichwas the No 33 to Guildford, alight from it near theKing’s Head and then remember that my bicyclewas parked outside Buck’s Green Garage. I thoughtthat absent mindedness usually afflicted the elderly!When I was a young lad there used to be a lady inRudgwick by the name of Mrs Reeves; sheorganised many coach trips to various events. Myparents used to take me to a Pantomime on Ice,staged in Brighton. It was usually a winter-timeevent, I have many fond memories of the event andalso of seeing the illuminations of Preston Park aswe journeyed back from Brighton. The coach wasalways a Bedford Duple (I presume from SunbeamCoaches in their twilight years) which had an interiorthat was pure Art Deco, all the interior lights were inthe shape of little flaming torches that glowed in thedark. I used to stay awake to see the Preston Park

A 1930’s photograph of the old railway bridge on the A281.Note the advertisements pasted to the wall. The bridge was ingood condition at this time, later pictures show a lot of damageto the archway through repeated collisions with large lorries.

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Turnpikes did not long outlast the railways, and theone through Bucks Green (A281) is known to haveopened its gates permanently in 1873. The canalthrough Loxwood in 1812 ushered in a newindustrial age for transport of heavy goods.However this too ceased traffic in 1871. None ofthese disturbed the age-old habits of a typicalRudgwick resident much, but some of the old ‘greenlanes’, despite being ‘king’s highways’ began to fallinto disuse. There was even a proposal for aninclined plane railway, extending the Surrey IronRailway (Wandsworth to Croydon) from Croydon toNewbridge Wharf on the Arun at Billingshurst, viaRudgwick, presumably horse-drawn. Part was built,the Croydon, Godstone and Merstham extensionwhich opened in 1805 and closed in 1838.

Many other foolish but wealthy dreamers in Londonbegan to get railway fever as the industrialrevolution seeped southwards on the back of twoiron rails and the invention of the steam engine. Ittook most of the 18th century to get the steamengine to work both commercially and technically. Itwas in 1804 that Trevithick used steam to power alocomotive in South Wales, but not until 1830 didthere exist an exclusively steam poweredcommercial passenger/freight railway from Liverpoolto Manchester, for which credit goes to GeorgeStevenson. I am disappointed that my greatgrandfather supervised (he called it an honour) thedemolition of the Stevenson Water Street bridge inManchester in 1904. Five years after Stevenson’striumph in Lancashire there was a proposal to buildanother from Croydon to Brighton, throughRudgwick, after which ideas flew off the drawingboard and out of the window: Wimbledon toPortsmouth 1838; Guildford to Brighton viaHorsham 1845; Redhill to Portsmouth viaChichester, also 1845. All three would have gonethrough Rudgwick had they been built. ‘Railwaymania’, a frenzy of schemes reached a peak in1846 when 272 railway Acts were passed, a third ofwhich were never built and lost a lot of people a lotof money. Readers interested in the details shouldread Wikipedia’s entry on the subject.

But unlike most stock market bubbles there weretangible and revolutionary results. The London ofthe 1840s was successfully pushing tentacles ofiron and steam outwards. The Waterloo linereached Guildford in 1845; the line from ThreeBridges (linked to Victoria) reached Horsham in1847. By the end of the decade, Godalming waslinked to the Waterloo line, and the two lines fromLondon were linked cross-country Shalford toRedhill. In the 1850s, the Waterloo line reachedPortsmouth, and the line from Horsham throughDorking joined the Victoria to Leatherhead section.The possibility of a line linking Guildford to Horsham

illuminations and then suddenly we were in BucksGreen…

My late mother in law always referred to the oldcoaches as “charabancs” which were a very popularcheap transport after the First World War. Thecapacity of such vehicles was normally no more thantwenty people and often they were open topped! Avery funny story was recounted to me by my fatherand recalls an old gentlemen, who had the nickname of “ Chinny”, who used to live in Ewhurst. Hewas the butt of many jokes regarding his escapadesbut here is one: A party of people went from Ewhurstto London. The party stopped somewhere in Londonat a café and Chinny was heard to say to thewaitress “I expect you are busy today, 23 of us areup from Ewhurst”. Now we have the capacity of theEwhurst charabanc…!

Many thousands of buses and coaches have beenscrapped over the years but some have beenpreserved by enthusiasts. It is one thing to have anold classic car salted away in a warm garage but it isa problem to house an old bus or coach!

Frazer Clayton, who lives in the village, owns abeautiful coach that was made in 1930’s. He hasdone a wonderful restoration of the vehicle, includingmaking a complete new bodywork frame in ashwood as the original had rotted away. I understandthat Frazer purchased the seasoned ash wood fromAgate’s timber yard in Horsham when they wereclosing down. The upholstery was completelyrefurbished with the original manufacturer of thecloth agreeing to produce a run of the correct patternand colours! The coach has a remarkableprovenance , it was used during the rescue ofpeople caught in the tragic flooding of Lynton andLynmouth in 1952. The coach has been used invarious TV productions.

RUDGWICK’S RAILWAY:REVOLUTION OR EVOLUTION?

Roger Nash

Pre-Revolutionary Days, before 1859For centuries, the only way of getting around in theLow Weald was by getting yourself through the mudof the notorious local clay either on foot, or by horse,for some with a cart. Ogilby mapped the London toArundel coaching route through Ockley, Oakwoodhilland Slinfold in 1675. Then came turnpikes, throughLoxwood & Alfold as early as 1757 (to Guildford1761), Bucks Green to Horsham (A281) & Clemsfoldbranch (north) 1809 (Ockley 1812), Five Oaks(north) 1811, Rudgwick & Cranleigh 1818,Billingshurst 1824, Ellens Green & Rowhook 1829.

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must have seemed real, if not to Rudgwick folk, tothose whose eye was on a fast buck. In fact the ArunValley line from Horsham via Pulborough to Petworthin 1859, and Horsham to Brighton, 1861, came tofruition before our line, and with similar lack of longterm success.

The Revolution Begins:Horsham and Guildford Direct RailwayCompany, 1859-62On 29 October 1859, detailed plans were put to locallandowners; suggestions or alterations had to besubmitted to Edward Woods, surveyor of the route.On 9 November notice was given of the first Act ofParliament to incorporate the Horsham and GuildfordDirect Railway Company (HGDR) to construct arailway line from the Mid-Sussex line to theGodalming branch of the London & South-WesternRailway, to allow the use of Guildford station, andrunning rights to it, and to allow workingarrangements with, and subscriptions from, theLondon, Brighton & South Coast Railway Company(LBSCR). On 3 December 1859 the Horsham andGuildford Direct Railway Private Members Bill for the1860 session of Parliament was announced.Promoters of the Bill and members of the boardincluded James Braby (Rudgwick), Thomas Child(Slinfold) and William McCormick (Liverpool,contractor). Chairman of the Company was JosephCary, Secretary CF Lucas. Later members of theboard included Henry Fox, William Lintott and JohnBradshaw. Trouble quickly came as LBSCR decidedto lobby against the bill in February 1860, mainly ongrounds of competition. HGDR’s answer was toinvite them to run the line, which they agreed to do.

On 6 August 1860, assent was given to “An Act formaking a Railway from the Mid-Sussex Railway tothe Godalming Branch of the London and South-Western Railway (LSWR) at Guildford, to be called‘The Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway’". Thetarget date for completion was August 1864, with apenalty clause that the company would lose £12,000payable to Board of Trade unless a valid reason for

delay could be provided. Within days the sites of fivestations, including Rudgwick, were announced.However, a second problem, and in this case a long-running saga, arose as LSWR who operated theshared Peasmarsh to Guildford track and stationwould not co-operate. An agreement of sorts wasfinalised only in May 1861. Some issues were neversatisfactorily resolved until reorganisation on 31December 1922. On 1 July, contracts forconstruction of the 15 mile line were signed – therevolution was under way. Sometime in early 1862,work began under the HGDR team: Chief Engineer,and surveyor of the line’s route, Edward Woods ofWestminster, Resident Engineer Thomas Oliver ofDerby (who came to live in Horsham and builtTanbridge House for his family) assisted by JamesTaylor, and contractor James Holmes for WilliamMcCormick of Liverpool, and Inspector of WorksJohn Dixon Browne.

The Route in RudgwickA map held in Surrey History Centre shows theplanned ‘line of rail’. From this, and the schedule, itis possible to learn the names of owners andoccupiers of each parcel of land to be crossed.Starting at the Slinfold boundary, three parcelsbelonging to Swaines Farm were owned jointly byMary Stringer and Mary and Elizabeth Smith,probably daughter heiresses of George Smith, Esq.,and farmed by Hannah Stanford. The Stanfords hadtenanted Swaines from the Smiths for many years.Eight more parcels of Naldretts Farm, towards theturnpike (A281), were owned by Edward BriceBunny, Esq. of Slinfold Lodge, whose family ownedbig acreages in both parishes for severalgenerations, having inherited title from the oldRudgwick family of Naldrett. A bridge under theembankment was to be provided here, probably atBunny’s insistence. The last two parcels south of theA281 were in the ownership of James Braby. One ofthe Smith parcels came next, where the line is closeto Swaines at Bowcroft Lane.

Between here and the ‘parish road’ (Church Street),the line picked through six Braby parcels and fourmore of Bunnys. Here Bunny’s fields are part ofGaskins Farm, in occupation of another Stanford, theWidow Mary. These Braby fields are probably glebeland of Parsonage Farm, farmed, with Greathousewest of Church Street, by Henry Jenkins, whosefamily once owned the King’s Head. A close study ofa modern OS map reveals that many of these fieldswere cut in two, indeed whole farms were split in thisway. It cannot have made farming any easier fortenants.

Across Church Street, the line entered GreathouseFarm, where the station was planned, 18 parcels inall, to Lynwick Street. The land west of here was part

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of Hobbs Barn holding owned by Sarah Holmes andfarmed by Edward Dinnage. Three parcels ofWoodsomes Farm were owned by SamuelNicholson and farmed by James Puttock, who wasalso, significantly, a brickmaker. Might he have beenthe supplier of bricks to the railway engineers? Overthe hill, beyond the 380 yard long brick-lined tunnel,

in Cranleigh parish, was the extensive estate ofBaynards Park, owned by Rev Thomas Thurlow, andtherefore owner of the land for the eponymousstation there, which he demanded and located as theprice of his support.

Twenty years earlier, the tithe map schedule hadlisted the landowners and occupiers. All the ownersand occupiers, and a few others, already there, notnecessarily on the same land, perhaps the previousgeneration. This was a stable evolving community,even if some of the landowners were absentees.

Revolutionary Behaviour?Rudgwick Vicar Assaulted,Brighton Gazette, 18 Sept 1862.Reverend George Matthews, vicar of Rudgwick since1833, was assaulted after performing service inGreathouse barn near the railway bridge cutting in

Lynwick Street on Sunday, 7th September. ThomasWalker, a “strong powerful-looking navvy” working onthe Guildford-Horsham line, approached the vicarwho was returning to the house of Reverend RichardSparkes in Alfold. There had been other “outrages”in the neighbourhood. In court, it was asserted thatthe prisoner and another navvy came up to them and

demanded sometobacco several times.The prisoner hitMatthews with his fistover the left eye, andknocked him down.Matthews stated hewas nearly blinded byblood and when he gotup again, he wasknocked down again bythe prisoner. He got upa third time and wasagain knocked down.He did not attempt toraise himself again, butcrawled to the bank andremained quiet to avoidanother attack. Theprisoner and hiscompanion then left.The prisoner wasalleged to say he wasthen going to look forReverend Sparkes tokill him. Sparkes hadapparently soughtrefuge in a cottage.Frederick Buck, thevillage carrier who livedin a cottage in Lynwick

Street was called as awitness, and stated the

attack took place near his cottage, but that he wastoo frightened to intervene, but heard the prisoneruse threats. Revd Matthews managed to reachBuck’s cottage to wash the blood off. PC Eames tookthe prisoner into custody at the Queen’s Head,Bucks Green, after Buck had identified him,whereupon the prisoner assaulted the policeman tooas he was handcuffed, and then was violent all theway to the police station. The case was adjourned tothe next Thursday, when the prisoner was committedfor trial at the assizes.

In October, Reverend Matthews asked at HorshamPetty Sessions for a special constable for Rudgwickto serve whilst the railway works were beingundertaken because the railway workmen werecontinually causing disturbances and assaulting theinhabitants. The magistrates agreed to do so, and todemand the railway company pay the expense.

Line of rail submitted to Parliament 1860, station locations not agreed yet. Based on 1st Ed O S map with railwaysto date added (a unique map as it spans two original sheets)

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However, the Chief Constable refused as there wereno spare men!

The Struggle to Completion:London, Brighton & South Coast Rail-way Company, 1862-5LBSCR had more clout both as a business and asengineers. By 28 April 1862, they had agreementthat all business would be carried out in their offices,and that their supervisors and inspectors would

control theworks. On 25July, LBSCRannounced ithad contributed£75,000 to thecapital of theHGDR, andagreed to pay anadditional£48,000 for theline oncompletion.LBSCR wouldfind thematerials forconstruction ofthe permanentway and buildthe stations. On29 July there

was formal merger. Edward Woods was replaced aschief engineer by one of LBSCR senior employees,Frederick Bannister. However, a report of theimpending opening of the line in December 1864names Woods as Engineer, presumably reporting toBannister, Holmes of Liverpool still the contractorand Taylor under the superintendence of Oliver incharge of earthworks, tunnelling and bridges. JohnDixon Browne was unfortunately killed in 1863during construction of Baynards Tunnel, the onlyknown fatality. Negotiations with landowners werenever simple, and dragged on into 1863. It was notuntil 1864 that a bid of £3,698 was accepted forbuilding all 5 stations. Directors expressed their"extreme dissatisfaction at the great delays whichhave taken place and the inefficient manner in whichthe works have been prosecuted". It did not helpthat every change required a new Act of Parliament,for example three in 1864, one to add a loopallowing trains to head south at StammerhamJunction, Itchingfield, which in the event was barelyever used – but can be seen on maps or satelliteimage. The other two gave LBSCR total control ofthe project. HGDR was dead.

Events moved faster now. On 2 May 1865,Bannister reported to the board that the line wasfinally ready to be inspected by the Board of Trade,

and that the line would be open for use on 1st June1865. This soon became 1st July. BoT ChiefInspecting Officer, Colonel Yolland had beenunhappy both with the traffic arrangements atGuildford and public use of Rudgwick Station, set ona 1 in 80 southern incline, until it was re-levelled onan incline of 1 in 130. As the company wascontractually obliged to provide this station forJames Braby (on his land), it had no choice but tocarry out the works, which also included the raisingof embankments and a bridge over the River Arunby 10 feet (3.0 m). History does not explain whatchanges were necessitated at the turnpike (A281)crossing. A new date, 1 August, was set andmissed.

Opening of the LineOn 28 September 1865, West Sussex Gazettereported, in some bemusement, the sorry state ofaffairs as far as concerned Rudgwick (see below).On Monday, 2 October 1865, Sussex AgriculturalExpress said “An event so important as the openingof this line might well have been celebrated by somepublic demonstration, but the timetable was simplyissued and the first train left Guildford for Horshamat 6.35am with about a dozen passengers who hadthe benefit of being carried free. But inspection ofthe track decreed that Rudgwick Station could notbe used since the gradient on which it was built wastoo steep at 1 in 80. This caused an uproar amongstlocal people who claimed that they were beingisolated and villagers threatened to call out the firebrigade to ‘quench the Government Inspector's fieryspirit!’" The timetable (previous page) clearly omits

Col William Yolland, CB, FRS, RoyalEngineers, 1810-1885, Chief Inspector ofRailways 1877-85. Copyright Royal Society

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Rudgwick.The Expressreported aPresentationof Volunteerprizes by MrsBradshaw ofKnowle Parkat Baynardsto coincidewith theopening of theline: the bandof the 1st

SussexVolunteersBattalionplayed as the2.25 trainfrom Guildfordarrived; MrSamuelRansom ofthe Travellers(Martlet) Inn,Rudgwick hada booth. Thevolunteersmarched tothe grounds

of Baynards for the presentation of prizes, and backagain to races, sports and refreshments in theenvirons of the new station. A large number of thewell-to-do attended , including “Mr John Braby andMr James Braby and party”.

On 10 October 1865 West Sussex Gazette stated,presciently, that the line was "likely to prove a morepicturesque than profitable part of the Company”.There was a feeling that it had been built merely toprovide connections with the LSWR at Guildford,and to give a through route to the Midlands. OnWednesday, 1 November 1865 Rudgwick Stationopened at last, with a feast provided at his new hotelby James Braby of Maybanks (between Cox Greenand Ellens Green). This was the son of the JamesBraby who had sponsored the original Act, and whoby a quirk of fate had died on 3 August. The Brabyswere the beneficiaries of the railway crossingGreathouse Farm from the Church Street bridge toLynwick Street.

Initially eight trains ran daily, covering the line in 50minutes. However, sluggish traffic returns meant thatfares were raised within 18 months of opening,whilst services were reduced to three each way onweekdays and Saturdays, certain trains terminatingat Crainleigh, with two on Sundays. It was not longbefore only 3rd class accommodation was provided.However, the number of daily services reverted to

eight, calling at all stations. There was very littlethrough-running on the line, only excursions(particularly on Sundays and often from the WestMidlands, via Reading, to Brighton). Hence the quickclosure of the Stammerham loop in 1867. It hasbeen said there were no goods yards at any of thestations in 1865, and there seems to be no record ofwhen they were provided, though the yard atRudgwick, which required considerable excavation,is clearly marked on the OS Map of 1880.

In 1866 Kelly’s Directory has these entries forRudgwick: “ The Horsham & Guildford direct line ofrail passes through the parish, half a mile south ofthe village, where there is a neat station....In closeproximity to the station is the Railway Hotel, asubstantial and commodious structure, with largegrounds attached”; Stationmaster, George Evans,the first named person in the job; William Hogwood,Railway Station Hotel and Commercial Inn, coalmerchant; Edward Botting, Hencocks, (previously afarmer at Howick), also coal merchant . Were theyrivals or partners? Does this suggest there was atleast one siding from the start? Revolution?Perhaps.

News items in the first few years include the firstline-side fire during a drought in August 1868, andthis from 5 June 1869: cheap return tickets, Londonto Rudgwick, Slinfold & Horsham, Summer Sundaysonly, leaving Victoria 6.55am or London Bridge7.15am, returning by train leaving Portsmouth4.25pm, and the branch train connecting to it: 1st

class 7s 6d; 2nd class 5s 6d; 3rd class 2s 6d. Thusdid Rudgwick’s tourist industry begin, sort of. On 3August 1871 the annual field visit of SurreyArchaeological Society travelled by train toBaynards, thence by road to Rudgwick church,Alfold and Cranleigh, returning by train fromCranleigh.

Source: West Sussex Record Office

Thanks to Nicola Francis’s family collection of photos there is nowanother posed Edwardian platform photo showing a tall slim stationmaster, probably Mr Louis Brighty, 1903-7. A better known platformpicture was ‘postally used’ in 1907. A third shows him and his familyin the station forecourt. Same photographer for all three?

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A New Hotel for RudgwickJames Braby senior of Maybanks was quick torealise the potential of routing the railway acrosshis land, and also having the station in a corner ofGreathouse Farm accessible from the villagestreet. There is a hint in a newspaper article thata specific contract to build it in that location wasentered into. But Braby went further, and had theforesight to see the potential for developmentnear the station. Not for nothing did his familycome from the Waterloo area of Lambeth, wherethey had already made money from property. Hishotel must have seemed a presumptuous andunheard of development in part of the streetscene where there were no other buildings.

It was first advertised as newly erected and “to letimmediately” (already licensed) in December 1864.Rudgwick’s Railway Inn’s “situation is one of themost picturesque in the county and must ‘eventually’command a good trade … seven bedroom withwater and store closets, large parlours with foldingdoors … stabling for six horses, coach house...”,said the Sussex Advertiser, asking applicants toapply to Mr Gasson, Braby’s bailiff. The successfulapplicant was Samuel Ransom, who was theexperienced innkeeper of the Queen’s Head inChedburgh, Suffolk, which was in the hands of theRansom family from before 1841 to after 1891.However, he seems only to have got the businessgoing, as the license was transferred to WilliamHogwood only weeks after the station opened. In1866, a directory described the Railway Hotel as “asubstantial and commodious structure, with largegrounds attached.”

By 1870, the same directory added (calling it MartletHotel): “The cricket club meets at this house, andthe cricket field covers over 5 acres of land”. Twopossible fields fit the bill, Furzefield or GreathouseMeadow. The Brabys are known to have been keenon cricket, which at the time was played on severalfields both in the parish and at Maybanks itself.Cricket is short lived but by 1874 (Mrs ElizabethCulmer, landlady) and 1878 (David Prince, landlord),“There is a lake, covering over an acre and a half ofland [the ‘tip pond’, now silted up], well stocked withfish”.It has been described recently as a swampymorass, but was still described as “a large sheet ofwater affording good coarse fishing” as late as 1922.Staff turnover seems high: was it proving less viableas a business than hoped? Few guests appear inthe censuses. In 1881 a surgeon and his wifestaying there seem to have been on leave from theEast India Company. At the Queen’s Head in BucksGreen there were six lodging. By 1880 DavidStarkey was landlord.

The Curious Case of the CarmenAs a curious post-script to the above, reported on 25August 1866, there was a flurry of interest in anotherBraby project after the opening of the station. TheBrabys came from a family of Lambethwheelwrights, a firm which did a lot of business withthe carmen and contractors of London. Whereas thehotel was the brainchild of his father, James Brabyjunior attempted to woo the Metropolitan Contractorsand Master Town Carmen’s Provident Society, abenevolent society recently founded in 1863, ofwhich he was a member. 20 to 30 of them came toRudgwick to discuss his offer of a 3 acre buildingsite for the erection of almshouses for the “infirm ordecayed members” of the trade the societyrepresented. A school for the education of the poor[? of Rudgwick] was also to be erected on the samepiece of ground, a meadow sloping from east towest and immediately opposite the railway station. Agood dinner and excellent wine was provided by MrHogwood at the inn. Among the guests was thevicar of Rudgwick, Reverend Drury. No decision wasreported.

By 25 February 1868, the new Stanstead Cottagewas to let, opposite railway station forecourt, andnamed after the house James had occupied inForest Hill before he moved to Rudgwick in 1865.This was on the land earmarked for the almshouses,but it seems they were never built, which is oddsince the society still referred to them in the mid-1870s. Stanstead Cottage’s first occupants were theyoung Misses Allberry and Mrs Maria Hunt, arelative. The 1874 directory notes there is a ‘school’in the house, perhaps taking private pupils, perhapspoor children, nominated by the Carmen, but short-lived. By 1878, William Churchman, auctioneer anddistantly related to James Braby lived there, theAllberrys and Mrs Hunt living elsewhere in thevillage.

Martlet Hotel and Corner, c1903

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Kilburn Villa was completed next to StansteadCottage in 1880, and became home to JohnJenkins, a retired Rudgwick farmer, previously atHale Farm, whose family once had the King’s HeadInn. Kilburn is where James Braby’s grandparentshad lived. In 1884 the cottage was converted intotwo. To this day, Stanstead and Kilburn, the latterrather altered, stand opposite the Medical Centre,and countless photographs of the station haveshown them in the background. Of the carmenthere is no trace, and they might as well not haveexisted in the newspaper record by this date.

To be continued in the next newsletter

MALCOLM’S MISCELLANYA collection of short stories

Malcolm Francis

I have had quite a few positive comments about mycontributions to the last Newsletter; here are somemore.

I have often recalled farming stories from theSixties, I spent a lot of my spare time in my teenageyears working for one of my relations, Bert Hill, whofarmed a large part of the Baynards estate.

One year, Bert had bought the standing crop ofwheat from a farm that had been owned by theGuinness family, close to Holmbury St Mary (Ithought that the crop would have been barley!). Itwas an interesting experience because the fieldssloped quite steeply up to the North Downs and alot of the standing wheat was quite a challenge toharvest. It is it easy to see why there have been somany serious accidents involving farm machineryoverturning or sliding out of control when theremaining stubble after any cereal crop is harvestedcan become nearly as slippery as ice. I have beenon a tractor, with a large trailer-load of bales underthose conditions and it is very frightening.

I remember that one of the fields at Holmbury wasso steep that the grain tanks on the combineharvester were actually spilling over each time themachine was manoeuvred, whilst turning around atthe headland. One day I had to take over drivingthe combine, which was quite wide and stable,whilst Bert struggled to bring the tractor and fullyladen grain trailer down to a flatter surface… sparea thought for the combine harvesters you seeworking on the South Downs in similar conditions. Itis of note that these days the largest combineharvesters are fitted with tracks rather than largewheels and tractors and attendant equipment havea much wider track.

Another rather funny incident occurred whilstharvesting on the farm at Holmbury St Mary; eachfield of standing wheat was a challenge, but a fieldnear the road between Ewhurst and Forest Greencaused another problem - how to get a very largecombine harvester into small field surrounded byhigh hedges. The field gate was much too small,even with the gate posts removed.

Bert thought the best way was to drive the veryheavy combine over a deep ditch straight off thepublic road, where the hedge was quite thin. I wasdetailed to stop the traffic after Bert had placedsome very strong railway sleepers over the ditch.Bert knew that this was very risky because if thesleepers broke the combine would be stuck and theroad would be blocked, not to mention that seriousdamage would be done to the machine. Have youever seen railway sleepers bend but not snap …?

This ties into my next story of timbers actuallygiving way. I used to know a carpenter, who had awhole raft of building stories relating to Sussex, andwho recounted a very funny incident that happenedto him in Midhurst. There was a house within thattown that was timber framed and consisted of aboutfour stories. The structural repair work necessitateda mains water storage tank being drained, while stillwithin the roof, to enable vital supporting timbers tobe replaced. It seems that somebody did not seethe warning notice and turned the mains watersupply to the tank back on. When the tank was fullof water it broke loose from the roof space and felldown through the rest of the floors with the sameeffect as a bomb. Luckily the building was empty atthe time…..

A similar effect was produced in my next story: Iused have an old friend who had lived in Guildfordfor many years. He recounted that at the outbreakof the Second World War a lot of people decided toput their valuable furniture into storage and the localPickford’s warehouse was filling up fast. My friend,whose office was near to the warehouse, watchedas a large grand piano was winched up the outsideof the building to the top floor. Unfortunately theblock and tackle equipment failed just as the pianowas being swung inside - the piano plunged to theground and exploded! Everybody thought that itwas a German bomb. The piano exploded withsuch force, due to the stress on the large iron framestrung with hundreds of steel wires, that the body ofthe piano was just matchwood.

One can imagine the telephone call to the piano’sowners…..