Search Results

This article was written by Rosemary Stockdale for the Parish Magazine In 2012, the Rural Life Centre in Tilford mounted an exhibition, "Polish Exiles, Surrey's Hidden History, and this pamphlet complemented the exhibit:

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in January 2023 Happy New Year from the Thursley History Society. Last month, James Mendelssohn wrote about the lessons learned from the devastating fire on Hankley Common this summer, and how we can apply those findings to our own small but fairly spread-out community. We all like to hope that the fires that have ravished our commons in recent years were accidental incidents but this month’s story features a far more sinister turn of events. I came across this article taken from Old Bailey Proceedings Online, dated 31st March 1879, from the trial of Thursley resident, Alan John Mitchell, who was charged with Arson, with intent to injure. The article is as it was written up in the Proceedings, so there is an element of repetition, but I thought worth including a lot of it, in order to get the full story. The language is of the time! WILLIAM LILLYWHITE I am keeper to Mr Robert Webb, Lord of the Manor of Witley, in the county of Surrey. On 9th March I saw some fires burning on the common. I went to find a friend, Mr Budd. I went in front of the Red Lion public house** at about 10pm. I saw Alan Mitchell there, and heard him use the expression that he would burn the b_____ common* out. I then went and concealed myself a little distance from the Hammer Ponds, about half a mile from the public house. I saw the fires burning from the direction of the public house all along the road. I saw the prisoner and two other men, Keen and Elwyn, coming along the road towards the Hammer Ponds. They came close to where I was watching and I heard Keen say “Don’t do it, Alan, you are a fool if you do, there is someone watching”. The prisoner then stepped back in the road for a few seconds, he then came towards the bushes, a little above where he was the first time, and I moved from the place where I was watching close where he came across, and I distinctly saw him take the matches from his clothes, light them and put them into the bushes, and light the bushes in several different places. The common was burning the six or seven different places at that time. I said to him “Alan, what are you doing this for? Are you not right, now?” He did not make any reply. I told him he would hear of it. Keen came up at the time and said “If we put it out, I suppose that will do?” Cross-examined I had been out nearly all of the evening. I left home just before 7 – no fires were burning at that time. There was one fire between 7 and 8, but not in the Milward Manor. Our manor is the Witley Manor, it is all the same. Some call it Witley and some Milward, they are not in different parts, they are both in one. I saw one fire in the Pepper Harrow Manor a little after 7, this fire was nearly a mile from the fire I saw burning at Witley. WILLIAM BUDD I live at the Silk Mills in Thursley. I was with Lillywhite on the night of the 9th of March. In consequence of something that he had seen, he asked me to go out with him. I went with him towards where the fire was burning. We hid ourselves in the bushes. I heard someone say “Don’t you do it, Alan”. Then I heard Lillywhite say “Alan, what are you doing that for? I have caught you now”. I can’t tell whose voice it was that said “Don’t do it, Alan”. I did not see anything done by anybody. I saw a fire alight, I did not see who lighted it. I know two Alan’s in the neighbourhood of Thursley. No more. I don’t think so. The two I know are Alan Mitchell, the prisoner, and Alan Elwyn. I did not see Alan Elwyn that night. CHARLES FREDERICK NORTON (Policeman 50 Surrey Constabulary). I apprehended the prisoner at the Horse Shoe Inn on 10th March. I charged him with setting fire to the common, the property of the Lord of the Manor. He said “If you want me for anything I did last night, why don’t you summons me, and not take me now?” He said “Will you let me go home to change my clothes?” I accompanied him to his house, and allowed him to go upstairs to change his clothes and I stood at the foot of the stairs. I could not hear him moving about and I went up and then found that he had escaped by jumping out of the window. I next saw him in a lane at the back of the house. I went after him and when he saw me get over the fence, he started running. I ran after him and eventually caught him. He afterwards said, “I know I went down the road last night, but I was drunk, and if I did anything wrong I did, but I don’t know it”. The proceedings continue on in a lengthy fashion, taking evidence from Frederick Rothwell – the bailiff to Mr Webb, Lord of the Manor of Witley, and witnesses for the Defence including Alan Elwyn and Albert Keen, who “ saw nothing ” and admitted to “ having been in a little trouble, it was not about poaching. I don’t know what it was; I never heard nothing. I have never been in prison, I was convicted and fined for poaching ”. Potentially an unreliable witness, might I suggest! Other names mentioned, who were all drinking in the Red Lion that night and went down to see the fires were Robert Walker, Bill Carter, Jerry Dark, Hughy Mitchell and James “Wisdom”. And even though the waters were muddied somewhat by Alan Elwyn claiming that William Lillywhite had been in The Half Moon*** all afternoon, implying his recollection and judgement might have been somewhat hazy, Alan Mitchell was found guilty and sentenced to five years Penal Servitude, which was, according to The Penal Servitude Act of 1857 , imprisonment with hard labour! *Blanked out in the transcript **The Red Lion Inn (Bridle Cottage) was on the Old Portsmouth Rd, now a private house. ***The Half Moon pub was situated down the slip road onto the A3, I believe, just before Hammer Ponds. If anyone has any photos or info on The Half Moon, we would love to see it.

These wonderful photographs by Jill Fry were for a talk she gave in 2008 and include photographs taken between 2005 and 2007.

The Times by Richard Pohle Surrey Live https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/gallery/thursley-common-fire-one-year-20712130

This account was contributed by Mr Good, the Honorary Secretary. We are a small branch of 25 members with Mr Abels from Upper Highfield Farm as President, Lt Colonel Dunlop from Pitch Place as Chairman, and Mr Good from Streetfield as Secretary. Monthly meetings are held on every third Tuesday in the Three Horse Shoes. We have a Service Committee which meets when required to deal with any case that has been brought to notice. We have a representative on the Village Hall Committee and a Poppy Day Organiser who arranges the sale of Poppies etc. A representative and delegate attend County Conference. A Remembrance Day Service is held which members attend with Standard. A Branch Dinner was held in March of this year when 26 members and friends had an enjoyable evening. Thursley won the County Chairman’s Cup for 1965 which is presented by the Chairman to the Branch he selects for his special commendation.

When preparing for the Wedding Belles exhibition in 2008 (see separate entry), research was carried out in the available marriage registers. Nearly 400 weddings were analysed which recorded the occupations of the groom and groom's father. This would be a wonderful subject for a PhD! As a result of updating the Wedding Belles entires of Thursley Marriages, the years 2003 - 2024 have now been analysed and the occupation of the bride has been added:

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in May 2024 From the left: Joyce, Patricia and Marion Everyone that knew Joyce, was very sad to learn of her recent passing. Joyce had lived in Thursley for around 66 years, an incredible achievement! This month we would like to pay tribute to Joyce through the recollections of her great village friends, Patricia Coles and Marion O’Brien. Joyce and Peter Hall moved into South House, in the village, in 1958. A year later, Pat and Patricia Coles moved into Upper Ridgeway Farm and finally, Michael and Marion O’Brien arrived at Vine Cottage in 1964, before moving to The Lodge, in 1969. All three couples were newly married and yet to start their families. The three wives became firm friends and shared their lives and family experiences. Here are some of their recollections: Marion remembers meeting Joyce and Peter at a party in Cosford House, where they threw the most memorable parties of the time. Patricia thinks she first met Joyce at her strawberry farm, Coles Strawberries, renowned in the area for over 45 years, even supplying Wimbledon for many summers. Everyone in the village went there to buy strawberries in the summer, so Patricia got to know both Marion and Joyce very quickly.   The couples began their families and soon Joyce and Peter had Christopher, Adriana and Simon, the Coles, Stephen and Malcolm and the O’Brien’s had James, Sarah and Charles. They remember the children playing happily for hours on the Common, making camps and having all sorts of adventures. Stephen now lives in New Zealand and Adriana in Australia, but still remain close. I am sure there are lots of stories, as yet untold to parents, even after all these years! Joyce was an excellent cook and soon got into village life, and she, Patricia and Marian helped with the catering of the annual Harvest Suppers, the flowers in the church and latterly, the Over 60’s club – very different to The 60’s Club, which was for all the children in the village, born in the 1960’s. Michael remembers being given the job of the table plan for the Harvest Suppers and each year incurring the wrath of Major Brian Camp, the rather formidable chairman of the Parish Council, who, it would appear, was easily given to criticism! Patricia and Marion reminisced further about village life back in their early days: There was a village policeman living in Harvesters, a busy Post Office, in the Old Post Office, a shop, run by Bernie Karn, in the Old Stores and a butcher alongside the shop. The day Marian and Michael moved in, they found a note on their kitchen table, welcoming them to the village from Nan Wonham, who ran the Post Office. Her husband Ben delivered the daily papers, milk was delivered by Mr Ellis and eggs could be bought from Ron and Mary Rapley, in Highfield Lane. Ron Voller was the postman and could be seen doing his rounds by bicycle. He and his wife, Nellie, also ran a kennels at Hilldown. Today it is Patricia who has a wonderful kennels and cattery at Upper Ridgeway Farm. Fewer people had cars and almost all only one per family. Many caught the bus, either to Guildford, Godalming or Hindhead, from the lay-by just before the slip road onto the A3. There was one bus an hour and the ladies of the village caught it to get their weekly shopping, carrying it all back home with them. Patricia recalled a lady who was terribly shy and if the returning bus had any Canadian soldiers on it (still billeted here after the war), she would walk all the way from Godalming with her shopping! There were at least eight working farms; Hill Farm (Middleton), Hedge Farm (Guyatt), Lower Highfield Farm (Rapley), Upper Highfield Farm (Abels), Cowdray Farm (Goble), Punchbowl Farm (Edwards), Upper Ridgeway Farm (Coles) and Bowlhead Green Farm (Ranson). Four of them are still working today. The Coles, Gobles and Ransons still run their family farms with Sally Scheffers now at Punchbowl Farm. The village school had recently closed when Joyce and Patricia arrived in Thursley and there was a school bus to Milford which originally came all the way up Highfield Lane. However, after some accidents on the lane, it took to stopping near the shop where the children would alight and disembark. The Red Lion had closed and was now a garage owned by Reg Cottle, who was a great help to everyone, but The Half Moon pub, near what is now Silkmill House and The Three Horseshoes were very much open. Streetfield had just been completed and there was a new cricket pavilion, which was later replaced following an arson attack. There was an active Women’s Institute as well as a monthly Church Fellowship and a Church choir which Sarah O’Brien sang in, despite being almost tone deaf (her words)! It was so interesting listening to these recollections and hearing how the village has changed. What hasn’t changed is the strong community spirit and great friendships forged within the village. With Sarah’s recent move back to Thursley, Marion, is impressed at the number of WhatsApp groups and other ways in which this spirit is kept going amongst the different generations. Joyce enjoyed this link with the next generations having her son Simon and his wife Amanda, and their two children Nat and Hannah, living at South House, as does Patricia, with Malcolm farming at Upper Ridgeway. One last fond memory of Joyce was told by Patricia: “Joan was wonderfully bilingual but occasionally got a bit mixed up. She once told me a friend had had aquapuncture! I now have to think every time I use the word acupuncture!" She is much missed.

First published in 1954, The Unsought Farm is Monica Edwards’s story of how she and her husband Bill bought Punchbowl Farm, just outside Thursley in Surrey, near to the Devil’s Punchbowl. The new printing is being released in March 2025 From the publisher, Girls Gone By : It is an absolutely fascinating book, with masses of black and white photographs, and really helps the reader to understand more about the adult Monica and the family. Never before published by Girls Gone By, this is a must not only for fans of Monica Edwards, but also for all those interested in events of the mid-twentieth century. We have two introductions, one called ‘Punch Bowl and Half House: Memories of Farm Life’ by Julia Edwards (no relation).and also ‘Growing Gold’ by Ali Catmore. The Unsought Farm will be published in March 2025 https://www.ggbp.co.uk/product/me-the-unsought-farm-by-monica-edwards/ Girls Gone By are selling their edition for £13.00 + £1.00 postage (£6.00 for overseas) which is good value when compared to hardback editions on sale through eBay etc which range from £30 to £75 for a copy.

This walk was devised, written and illustrated by Amanda Flint and Sean Edwards in August 2018 and revised (slightly) in March 2025.

Thanks to a conversation between our Chairman, Sally Scheffers, and her veterinary surgeon, Jeremy Mantel, we are able to reproduce the press report of this stampede which occured on 23rd June, 1915. From The Woking News and Mail, 2nd July 1915

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in April 2022 With the Village Hall Committee in the throes of a major fund-raising initiative to extend and improve the hall, we look back on the fundamentally pivotal role the hall has played in our village’s past history. The first excerpt is from a booklet called “Thursley Today” compiled by the Thursley Women’s Institute to commemorate their Jubilee year, 1965. “When the Surrey Education Committee finally decided to close down the Village School in 1957, despite opposition by the Parish Council and local inhabitants, the Parish Council at once began to consider the possibilities of converting the school buildings into a new Village Hall. When approached, the County Council informed the Parish Council that a decision had already been reached to convert the school into a Camp House for youth purposes. News of the impending relevant report by the Education Committee to the Council reached the village and, just in time, strong letters of protest were sent to the press, the press took up the fight and eventually, despite a lot of toing and froing, a public enquiry was held on 29th November 1960 in the old school building. It is doubtful whether so many people had ever before assembled in a building in Thursley. Mr Michael Jupe and Mr Duncan Scott represented the village. When they made points in the villages’ favour, there was great applause; when the County made points in the County’s favour, there were boos. The atmosphere was electric. Although the Council’s application for a Camp House was upheld, they were so impressed by the never-say-die spirit of the village that they reopened discussions with them in July 1961, with the result that, later that year, they agreed in principle to sell the school building to the village. The old Village Hall ( formally to the left of the pub) and the Village Institute (now Prospect Cottage) were sold and the first Village Hall Fund was set up. Detailed plans were then embarked upon and the work to the caretaker’s flat, billiard room, a new entrance and car park were formed and completed in 1964. Since then, the work has been slow but steady; the men’s and ladies’ lavatories have been more or less completed, a new floor laid to the hall, the hall redecorated, the building rewired, heating installed and a large amount of maintenance work undertaken. The Women’s Institute has played their part in selecting and making new curtains for the hall, billiard room and small committee room. There is still a fair amount of work to do, but at long last, the end appears in sight”. This account was attributed to Mr Duncan Scott of The Corner House. That’s how our Village Hall evolved, but what of its use and form since 1964? From a 1987 newsletter, Surrey Scene, published by Surrey Voluntary Service Council, the following is a summary of an article entitled “Sweat and Toil in Thursley”. “Tucked away, just out of earshot of the humming A3, on the way to Hindhead, is Thursley. A small village, with a population of 580, it represents one of Surrey’s many picturesque delights. It has a fine church, a pub, a large cricket pitch and recreation area, many delightful houses, a post office and in pride of place in the centre of it all, stands the Village Hall, which this year won the Best Kept Village Competition, Village Halls section. The hall blends in easily into the village scene, partly because age (circa 1850) has mellowed the grey stone of which it is built, and partly because it was until 1957, a Church of England primary school. So, the hall looks like a school and looks as if it belongs in the village. Pursuing the programme of works instigated by the Village Hall Committee two years ago, kitchen facilities have been upgraded, with the installation of new units. It has been possible to extend car parking facilities with the help of a generous donation from a villager and the lawn at the rear provides a pleasant as well as a useful amenity. In the Hall’s secretary’s own words “It has taken a great deal of sweat and toil to reach this stage – it hasn’t been easy! The village is fortunate to have a beautiful building, set in lovely grounds, at its disposal, but who is it that uses the hall? Well, it would seem, the world and his wife. When I dropped by recently, a pack of immaculately turned-out Brownies were camping in the Hall for a week. During term time a private nursery school operates in the Hall – it started three years ago and seems extremely popular. Then, of course, there are regular meetings and AGMs of the Horticultural Society, the Thursley Club (for over 60’s), the Fellowship (a social club for all age groups), the Parish Council, the Village Hall Committee and the Parochial Church Council. There are also such occasions as the Harvest Supper, the Christmas Fair and private parties. No one would suggest Thursley Village Hall is perfect – all halls are unique with many and varying problems but the care and good housekeeping shown by the Management Committee towards the hall has been exemplary in 1987 and well deserving, in the opinion of the judges, of this Village Halls prize”. As most of us have seen from the entrance hall today, this was not the only year that this great honour was bestowed upon the Hall. There have been many! And so, the baton has been passed down to this generation’s stewardship of our much-loved hall. This is why we all should get involved. Donations, time, fund raising - even if it’s just completing the questionnaire sent out recently – any help would be greatly appreciated and is essential to keep the Hall evolving in order to meet our needs. It is the heart of our village and has been for the past 172 years! For ways in which you can help, please go to www.thursleyvillagehall.co.uk email thursleyvillagehall@btconnect.com or speak to Clea Beechey, Village Hall Chairman, whose details are in the front of this magazine. The Trust Deed below is dated 1st August 1963