THE BEGINNING
The tiny hamlet of what we now know as Windmill Hill stands on a ridge in
East Sussex, overlooking Pevensey marshes and the sea to the south, whilst the Weald faces
northwards.
The area has been populated for many centuries; it is a well known fact that
there are remains of an ancient settlement nearby. Flint tools and
arrowheads are common finds in the fields. The Romans also passed by....
Prior to the sixteenth century, the hamlet possessed a far more attractive
name of Posey Green, a quaint title for an area which at that time was
heavily involved in the iron industry. The noise from blast furnaces and forges
must have been deafening. The waste slag was used to build a causeway between Bodle Street
and Posey Green. Iron would have been carried by cart down this path to the nearby river
where it would have been loaded on to barges.
... Wyndmyl Hyll became the accepted name of the area on
maps from the sixteenth century onwards. Admittedly this generally centred on Windmill
Hill Green, which was slightly removed from Posey Green. Today, we know it as Beacon
Green, for the obvious reason as a signalling beacon had been standing here at
various times throughout history. The current structure was erected and lit for
‘Beacon Europe’ in 1992, when on New Year’s Eve people all across Britain
and the continent joined in unison to celebrate the E.E.C. becoming the largest
frontier-free market with 12 nations and a population of 340 million....
Despite the busy A271 running right through it, Windmill Hill still retains
its peaceful nature, although, admittedly, it takes some imagination to see the road as a
simple track! Indeed this is what it originally was, a pretty fir tree lined lane.... As
the years passed by, so horses came to be replaced by steam wagons and engines....
WINDMILL HILL STORES
A map from 1844 shows a small cottage with a garden standing on
the site, now occupied by Windmill Hill Stores, and 'Commerce House'. It is very likely
that this little building was also a shop belonging to the butcher and grocer John Kemp.
"The first written reference to this particular shop is found in the
deeds of 24th March 1852. Kemp was selling the property for the sum of £250. Included in
this price were piggeries and a stable.
The buyer was Edward Beeny, a well known local businessman (he also owned the
mill and a brickyard). Beeny died in 1872. His son Herbert sold the mill a year later,
enabling him to concentrate on the shop. The business began to develop rapidly, so much so
that the little premises were no longer big enough. Herbert erected a larger
building which had a cellar, shop floor, storage and living quarters at the back
forming a separate building. Other features included a harness room, stables and an
outside pulley with winch.
By the time of his death in 1897, Herbert Beeny had been an established
grocer, draper, tea dealer, provision and wine merchant and in addition a furnishing
wholesaler. His executors sold the property in early 1898.
The new owner, dropped the name Windmill Hill Stores, and used his own [Hallaways
Stores] on the hoarding board. Frederick Hallaway also eventually took on the
role of sub-postmaster for Windmill Hill's post office which had been opened at the stores
in 1897. Since Hallaway all subsequent storekeepers have held this position.
As well as the familiar stock that Beeny had kept, Hallaway also sold toys
such as hoops, tops and marbles, clothes, shoes, in fact anything at all. One of the
shop's employees was a young Eddie Simmons who in later years opened the garage nearby.
His working day was long and hard, usually starting with a milk round for Taylors in the
early morning. The young lad carried the churn in a cart and cycle combination.... The
large container would be emptied using a ladle, the milk being measured into awaiting
jugs. Once the round was over for the day, Eddie would then become errand boy for
Hallaway, earning 9 shillings a week. He would be lucky to finish by 8pm.
In 1929, Frederick and Fanny Hallaway retired.... A Samuel Braidwood
took a lease on the business for a proposed term of 21 years. Things however, worked out
differently: On 14th January 1930 the lease was transferred to Ernest Simmons. Hallaways
Stores became known simply as Simmons.
...With Simmons now running the premises, changes were guaranteed. For a
start, Ernest let a piece of land opposite the stores. He put this to use as a vegetable
allotment; he also reared a few chickens. The top floor of the building had originally
been a granary store, hence the winch and pulley. The new use was a storage area for mats,
rugs and carpet. The cellar was used for wine, and, as refrigerators were rare, all
produce that needed to be kept cool was also stored there, such as meat and cheese....
[T]oads also frequented the damp cellar! The entrance to the cellar was via an outside
door (where today the concrete patio is laid). Wooden runners for easy manoeuvering were
also situated here. Inside the stores a wooden staircase in the middle of the shop floor
also led down to the basement.
The shop floor itself was stacked with all manner of goods. A large counter
for the drapery section stood in one corner, another for sweets graced the middle, the
provisions area had a counter and drawers stretching from floor to ceiling. These
contained anything from loose rice to household items. Also on the same level was a
storeroom, post office and the entrance to the living accommodation. A second staircase
led up to the clothing department.
In 1944, the doodlebug blast at Beacon Green caused all the windows at the
stores to be blown in!
In 1945, Ernest Simmons transferred the business to his cousin Alfred
Pellett, who in turn bought the property from Mrs Hallaway. Alf and Mabel Pellett
moved from Lower Telham Farm near Battle to their new home. The Pelletts stopped selling
clothes, which must have upset a few of the regular customers who were used to ordering
handmade boots and Derby tweed working suits from Ernie!
The second floor was closed to the public and only available for viewing
special lines at Christmas. A paraffin shed was added outside the premises. The old
harness room for a time served as a storage area for pet food, until it was eventually
demolished. "The layout of the shop floor was altered. The post office was in the
front left hand corner of thebuilding. The storage area became home to canned foods. When
the hygiene people did finally catch up with the stores, the cellar was cleared of the
slabs of butter, meats and cloth bound cheeses.... Barrels full of vinegar, syrup and
treacle took their place under the stairs.
Even right up through to the 1960s, the stores retained its quaint old ways.
Tobacco twists would be cut into ounces for chewing; loose foods would be washed and
sieved; coffee beans were freshly ground; and all meats were sliced on the premises.
Postmen delivering the mail into the office left the sub-postmaster to distribute the
letters around the village. This was done at the same time as the grocery deliveries.
The customers' orders were collected on Mondays, along with any pension
books, and the goods generally delivered on Thursdays. The radius of 5 miles was covered
including Bodle Street and Wartling. At first bicycles were used, eventually Morris,
Austin and Bedford Vans would be put to good use by the delivery men....
...Mrs Pellett was the first person in Windmill Hill to have television, and
on Coronation Day 1953 many customers poured into Commerce House to watch the ceremony
being broadcast. The Pellets were a very well liked family in the district, and even now
some locals still refer to the stores as 'Pelletts'.
After AIf Pelletts' death, his son Ken ran the stores with Mabel. However...
[i]t went on the market for two years before Douglas and Pat Vardy bought
it in April 1976. Sadly, a lot of historically interesting items were destroyed in this
period, such as still packaged ancient stock. The old counters were ripped out as well as
the pinework upstairs; the staircase too was removed; a ladder for a while replaced it.
The basement was blocked off and a dividing wall was built between Commerce House and the
stores.... The Vardys retained a delivery service for the elderly. This was operated 3
times a week; paraffin was also delivered, at first in a little blue Morris van, although
a new Bedford swiftly replaced it. The Vardys employed a few of the Pelletts' old staff
including Ken himself....
In September 1980, Douglas and Pat Vardy sold the stores.... The new owners
did a great deal of modification work to their property. The shop floor was opened up, a
new staircase was installed for the basement, in the right hand corner. A two storey flat
was constructed within the shell of Herbert Beeny's original building.... In 1984, Ann and
Jim Clement sold the stores to Pauline Willis. She ran it with her sons Tim and Ian, until
May 1988.
...Bryan Burchmore having been made redundant as a cost
accountant was looking for his own business. Windmill Hill Stores seemed like the ideal
opportunity. Selling the family bungalow in St Leonards he took the plunge. Many ideas
were tried with the stores, new products were gradually introduced. A video hiring library
was unfortunately short lived. However the newsagent part of the business has survived
since 1989. The windows were all replaced with double glazing, including
the shop frontage. New counters, refrigerators and shelving gondolas were all installed.
In 1992 the derelict basement was refurbished. It was not until the birth of my nephew,
Kieran, that we could think of a use for it! It became Windmill Hill's first baby
shop on July 18th 1992. To improve on this side of the business, my father and my
brother, Dean, took over the running of Seaford based 'Nappy Chappy' on 1st May 1993. This
had been run by Ian Bedford who had built up quite a business. It was an ideal opportunity
to start a new delivery service as well as promoting the babywear....
Some customers are puzzled by the logo used by Windmill Hill
Stores (a bee standing by a windmill). It is quite simple really 'B' for Burchmore!....
|
The original leaded glass
was donated to Buckleys Yesterdays World in 1993, it now forms part of one of their
recreated shop fronts in Battle, Sussex.
THE HORSESHOE INN
It would be a fair assumption that the Horseshoe Inn came into existence thanks to the
Curteis family.... In 1807, [Edward Curteis MP] purchased ‘Windmill
Hill’ - a large mansion, along with a great deal of land in the nearby area. ...I
estimate that the inn was constructed somewhere in the 1820s.
Charles Simmons became tenant landlord for the Squire....
Simmons’ son took over the tenancy. He was a very important member
of the Windmill Hill cricket team, and, as landlord, he provided all the refreshments at
its matches.... [H]e was succeeded by his son Charles, junior, in 1905....
On 7th August 1912, the Horseshoe's freehold was put up for auction... Charles
Simmons junior, became owner.... The cricket square was reinstated in 1913. Both
the local team and visitors to the inn used it....
Many bar and outside games were also played: they included quoits, complete
with a 15 feet pitch and proper clay beds, pokey die (a 3 dice game), dominoes, and darts;
they took place in the public bar whilst shove ha'penny and cribbage were played in the
saloon bar. Whist drives were also popular.
During the First World War a function room was built to the side of the inn,
known locally as the 'Shoe Room'. It became a venue for
the Windmill Hill
flower show. Interestingly the show had originated from a pumpkin show that used to be
held in the hamlet. The Herstmonceux and District Farmers' Club [officially known as 'The
Wartling and Herstmonceux Sparrow and Rat Club'] was founded at the Horseshoe and
the [function room] became their meeting place.... This rather gruesome society first met
in 1910.
In 1932 Charles Thomas Simmons became the 4th landlord....
[T]he inn became highly acclaimed for its food and past-times, which included the typical
Sussex cream tea and a good old sing song. The outside lavatory... [was] the double seated
variety!
During the Second World War both the Home Guards and ARP used the inn as
headquarters. The men would also sleep at the Shoe Room. Charles had a reputation for his
home made cider....
In 1963, the family run little Inn was given a new identity. R.V.
Goodhew Ltd became the new owners.... A new framework was constructed around the
original building, in order to give it the impression of an Elizabethan manor house. The
materials came mainly from derelict barns... The masonry was of the rare Kent ragstone;
scarce because it was popular with American housebuilders. All the plasterwork was
completed by hand. Above the doorway to this day you can still see a 1963 penny mounted in
the ceiling to commemorate the completion of the work. It has been blackened by people
holding up cigarette lighters to look at it.
A steak bar was located upstairs, whilst below were 3 bars and a restaurant.
Since Goodhews, there have been a number of owners of the freehouse....
At the time of writing [1994], Cairn have just taken
on the proprietorship of this interesting part of Windmill Hill's history.
THE MONKEY PUZZLE
Today we all know the Monkey Puzzle simply as a garage at the top of Victoria Road,
this was not always the case.
Originally the land had been known as Pigpale Farm,
complete with a huge barn, stables and a natural spring filled pond. It was owned by Bob
Harmer.
On the other side of the road was Pope’s Farm... bought as a retirement
home by a Hastings man, Mr Draper. When his sister [Mrs Mabell Allen] later saw how
extensive the property was, she persuaded her brother to sell it to her.
Mrs Mabel Allen was a very capable businesswoman.... The
property which she had purchased with her husband Bill, boasted a large orchard, an
oasthouse that had been converted into a number of small cottages, a thatched cottage
nearby and a large farmhouse.
The Allens opened the farmhouse as the "Monkey Puzzle Tearooms and
Guest House". The strange name came from the name of two trees standing outside....
When their son Don was invalided out of the RAF a short time later, he came
home to help out with the daily work. Bill went to spend more time in the orchards....
Don was left to his own devices with the guest house. So he set up his own
private drinking club in the building. Mabel had huge and very ambitious ideas for her new acquisition.... A local builder..., Walter Luck, was given
the contract for the work. He set about converting the barn into an extensive tea room
complete with a dance floor. The whole area was decked out with old ships timbers.... The grounds were carefully landscaped and
a swimming pool was installed on the site of an old dungheap! The changing cubicles were
formed from part of the old stable block.The pond was tidied up and an island was added
from soil excavated from the pool. A dovecote placed on the island could be reached by a
tiny bridge.
The grand opening in the late 1930s was by the Bobbies girls from the store of the same
name in Easthourne.... Don
Allen by now had his own band and was performing regularly as a sideline from the
still retained guest house.
When the war broke out, the RAF had a billet in the Pope's Farm guest
house. The lads used the Puzzle frequently. Business boomed even further when the
Canadians arrived at Windmill Hill. Mabel Allen became 'mother' to
the boys, feeding them up with
home cooking. Evening entertainment came in the form of
many popular dance bands. Max Jaffa and Jack Byfield also appeared
after their stints at the Grand Hotel
in Eastbourne, more often than not taking over from Don and his boys
at midnight, allowing them to go and have a well earned
drink!
The German POWs at
the Lime Cross Camp built a miniature replica of Herstmonceux Castle: this replaced the dovecote on the island. It
became a very popular attraction, as did the avaries and monkey cage.
The monkeys gave quite a stir one day when one of the
little creatures escaped....
In 1948, Mabel... asked her daughter, Mollie, and son-in-law, Stanley Edwards to take over the complex....
The Monkey Puzzle
roadhouse still remained very popular, especially as a venue for private parties, for
companies such as WH Smith. Coach
parties also stopped off....
The swimming pool was very
popular with local schools. Even
a young Denis Norden... came to
swim here. At night boisterous
youngsters would still go for a dip, with or without floodlights.
Another visitor that
frequented the Puzzle for afternoon
tea was Dr John Bodkin Adams, the infamous murder suspect.
During very cold winters
the pond, usually graced with
swans, would freeze over, and was used for iceskating. The 3 resident ducks Tom, Dick and
Harry had a nasty little habit of chasing visitors and pecking their ankles!...
The Edwards were able to succeed in opening the
Coronation Club, next to the tea rooms; so named because it opened on Coronation
Day 1953....
[For the
television coverage of the coronation] locals crowded into the club converted from another
part of the stable block; seats were in reality cushioned over heavily disguised drinking troughs!
In the 1960s Mollie and
Stanley Edwards gave up the
business and the Puzzle was divided up. Drummers and Pope’s Farm were sold. The tea
room, swimming pool and grounds were bought by the boxer Terry Downes.
The site was used as a secondhand car dealership and Downes wanting a luxury home started
to convert the tea rooms. Unfortunately he hadn’t gained planning permission. After
all the fuss that surrounded his case, he moved away.... The eventual buyer was Mr Harrison. He retained
most of the original features, such as the pond, the castle and the car dealership and added a few of his own: petrol pumps were erected next to the old tea room; he also built an
American style diner very similar to todays Happy Eater/Little Chef establishments.
In 1965, Mr. Harrison sold
out to the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). The pond was filled in,
using waste material from the gypsum mines, the castle was removed and the whole area then
concreted over, to allow the installation of new petrol pumps and a kiosk.
Yet more changes were on
the horizon. In 1973, the year of the fuel crisis, two cousins by the names of Derek
and Mervyn Southouse were running... Hailsham Roadways.... Knowing that ARCO was in a difficult situation, the two men
approached its local manager, Leo Long [who] subsequently agreed to rent them some of his land. Eventually they
bought him out.
The diner, by now losing
money, was closed down and became the headquarters of Hailsham Roadways....
In 1987, due to ill
health, Mervyn sold out to his cousin. Also in 1987 the old Monkey Puzzle tree was lost in the hurricane. (A new one has
been planted in its place.) In 1991, the old swimming pool was filled in to allow more
storage space.
ORCHARD VIEW CARAVAN SITE
The Orchard was formerly part of Pope’s farm (today an antique centre) and had been
owned by Mr Draper until he was bought out by his sister Mabel Allen.
In the early 1960s, Les Hooper bought the orchards and oasthouse
cottages. He converted them into a clubhouse and a leisure park.
With the arrival of main drainage in Victoria Road, Orchard View was able to
establish itself as one of the first caravan parks in the country to have proper mains
service (i.e. private WCs and showers).
The site had been partly residential since 1974. When Southem Caravans
took over control in 1989, the whole camp was made into a residential area for the
retired.
The clubhouse under different ownership has unfortunately remained closed.
|
|
before restoration |
as restored |
A windmill may have existed in what is now Windmill Hill as early as
Elizabethan times, when a survey of the Castle estate mentions "Wyndmylhyll".
In 1769, the windmill was tenanted by one John Edwards, and the mill
is on Yeakell and Gardner's map of 1783.
In 1814 the old mill was pulled down and "an immense post
mill with an enormous tailpole" was erected on the same site.
Steam power was installed in 1894, but steam working ceased in 1913.
(See Richard and Richard McDermott, The Standing Windmills of East Sussex
[Betford Publications, n.d.], 61.)
There is a Windmill Hill
Windmill Trust and a preservation society, the Friends of the Windmill
Hill Windmill. See the Trust's website,
www.WindmillHillWindmill.co.uk.
In December 2001, the Heritage Lottery Fund contributed £577,000
towards the restoration.
The restoration of the windmill was completed in 2005 and the windmill is
open to the public on selected days - see WHAT TO DO in Herstmonceux
Parish.
To see ukvillages.co.uk's webpage on the Windmill Hill Windmill, CLICK HERE
|
David Force writes:
The School House in Windmill Hill appears originally to have been built in the early
Seventeenth Century as a farmhouse. It was purchased in 1766 by Edward Allfree, who
founded there a school which had the distinction of being the first
co-educational boarding school in Britain - pre-dating by some 125 years the
founding of Bedales which currently lays claim to that title.
Allfree had previously
been a surveyor and draughtsman, and these subjects took a prominent place in the
boys' curriculum. His wife Elizabeth taught the girls needlework, music and French. The
experiment proved an immediate success, and over 40 children were registered at any given
time as boarders, along with many local day pupils. The school was renowned for its extravagant
balls, intended as recruitment drives, and for its excellent food,
which earned it the title of "Gluttony Hall". In 1777, fees for
girls were 13 guineas - "tea and sugar included" - while boys paid 16 guineas,
which included special tuition for university entrance.
The school flourished into
the 1850s under the direction of Allfree's eldest son. Afterwards it passed
through a succession of hands until competition from the free local church
schools led to its closure at about the time of the First World War.
The Allfree dynasty continued for many years elsewhere, however, as five of Edward
Allfree's 14 children went on to found schools in their own right.
Little physical evidence
remains now of the school's activities, but in the County Records Office at Lewes there
survives an exercise book which bears witness to the excellent standards of
draughtsmanship practised by the boys under Allfree's tutelage.
|
