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Heath View, now known as "Acorns", in the early 1900s. The stamp on the postcard is dated 1905 or 1908. It is situated on the Old Portsmouth Road. The Edwards family lived there. Jim Edwards was the local rate collector for the parish and collected the rates on his bicycle. The parish extended right over to Haslemere so he pedalled quite far! Jim's brother, Freddy , was quite a local character. He lived at Cosford Mill with his sister and before the first World War worked in the City for a German bank. During the war he didn't have a job because of the hostilities and he never worked again. Cosford Mill was condemned and he moved into a shed at Heath View but went to the mill during the day. He then bought a piece of woodland near Horn Cottage and it was alsways known as Freddy's property. Another lodger at Heath View was Louis Pecskai who was by origin and birth, a Hungarian. He had been born in Fiume when it was part of Austro-Hungary but he looked more like an Italian. Mary Bennett remembers him as a much jollier Napoleon. By nationality he was passionately British and insisted on serving in the Home Guard. Louis Pecskai had been a child prodigy as a youth, Court Violinist to Queen Margarite of Italy, and he remained a violinsit of very high standing, with honorary fellowships of both Trinity College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music, at each of which he had taught and had some reputation in London Chamber Music. He suddenly married a pupil called Bertha who was young enough to be his daughter and they built themselves, first Truxford and then Racks Close (now Cotton House). When pupils fell off during the Second World War, and his own health started to fail, the Pecskais left Racks Close and moved to Smallbrook Farm, lent to him by Sir Bruce Thomas, and there he died in 1944. Two postcards published in the 1920s From Wikipedia: Luigi Pecskai ( Fiume Veneto , July 21 , 1880 - Thursley , February 24 , 1944 ), also known as Louis Pécskai , was an Italian violinist of Hungarian origin.     In the Royal Academy of Budapest, he studied with teachers Baldini and Jenő Hubay . He made his debut in Fiume as an infant in 1886, and then appeared successively in London, Rome, Florence, Ancona, Turin, Budapest, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Venice, Milan, Padua, Graz, and in the principal towns of Italy, Hungary , Switzerland and England, the country in which he was going to die.

This photograph, inspired by the school photographs of his youth, was Peter Anderson's idea (he lived in Brook Cottage, opposite the road to Smallbrook, at the time) and 2000 was the perfect time.

Thursley History Society recently made a small contribution to the fund established to save the Rural Life Living Museum. Just over £150,000 was raised and the museum has been saved from closure. https://rural-life.org.uk/ This is the beginning of a notification from the Rural Life Living Museum: From Wikipedia:

Tony Kelly, of Bedford Farm, gave a talk in the village hall in October 2024 about his extraordinary feat. The text and the ppt below are condensations of his talk which was appreciated by the packed audience. From Thursley Village Facebook page: Climbing Mount Everest, 8848m, in 2003 The highest point on Earth. A summary of Tony Kelly’s story   The presentation will cover the lead up to the climb and our summit bids. I’ll also touch on some history of the mountain, as in 2024 its 100yrs since the famous 1924 Mallory and Irvine Expedition (and the mystery of did they summit or not). Their route was on the North side of Mount Everest and we are attempting the same North side route from Tibet. We are attempting the north route because its technically much harder than the south and consequently climbed much less. Back then around 1200 people had summited Mount Everest but only approx. 200 of them from the North side. It's worth dwelling on George Mallory and Sandy Irvine briefly. Mallory’s body was eventually found on the North Face in 1999 with torso bruising indicating a serious fall whilst roped. The remains of his mid layer jumper were still visible supplied by W Paine, 72 High Street, Godalming. Yes, he was a local. Originally from the north west but settled in Godalming as a teacher at Charterhouse and married Ruth, a Godalming girl. Sandy Irvine’s remains were only found in September this year, 2024, on the north face directly below but much further down than Mallory’s body indicating they were almost certainly roped together when they fell. I will also bring to the talk a section of telegraph wire, used for Advanced Base Camp communications in 1924, that I found on the East Rongbuk glacier in 2000. I was with Graham Hoyland at the time (he was on our 2000 expedition) who had been responsible for the search that found George Mallory in 1999. Graham was the great great grandson of Howard Somervell who was on the 1924 expedition with Mallory and Irvine. So where did it all begin for me? After hiking in the UK through my 20’s I got introduced to rock climbing and quickly progressed to rock, ice and mountaineering in the Alps. After 10 years of multiple annual trips to the Alps, I was looking for a bigger challenge and met the internationally renowned expedition leader, Russell Brice, in a bar in Chamonix. My friend and mountain guide, Mark Seaton, was able to reassure Russell I was technically more than competent to join him but we didn’t know how my body would react to extreme altitude. In 1999 I went with Russell Brice to Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world at 8,188m to find out if I was ok at altitude. As a test it went well. The weather was brutal. In the end we didn’t make a summit attempt because of extreme snow conditions but I was the only member of the expedition, westerner or sherpa, to reach the expeditions high point of 7,900m and I did it solo. Mt Everest was on! I had mentioned, summit bids, plural. In 2000 we took an expedition to Mount Everest to climb the North side from Tibet. After 2 months on the mountain we made 2 attempts on the summit. The first one was aborted at 7900 metres due to atrocious weather conditions and massive snow loading. That first attempt had high attrition and resulted in 6 of the 7 climbing members pulling the plug. Consequently, on the 2nd attempt, it was only myself, 3 professional mountain guides and 3 sherpa’s that made the attempt. At camp 2, 7500m, our tents got avalanched overnight and buried. It became a matter of survival, avoiding carbon dioxide asphyxiation overnight by punching holes through the snow and ice over the tents and the following day using a quite dangerous technique to deliberately trigger avalanches to clear the massive snow load in front of us to be able to down climb. To cap it off in our exhausted state when we pulled off the mountain a melt water lake had broken out of the East Rongbuk Glacier and we had to build a raft out of barrels and wood to ferry the 20 expedition members and 10 tonnes of equipment out! I’m reminded of the definition of an Adventure: “an undertaking with an uncertain outcome”! So the 2003 Expedition was “Unfinished Business”. We returned to Kathmandu, Nepal, in late March and after assembling some 11 tonnes of equipment and “shopping” in the local markets for 2 months plus of provisions for 17 team members we made our way via Lhasa, Tibet to Mount Everest basecamp at 5200m and set about the expedition proper. High altitude climbing is a combination of technical competence, mountaineering experience and a “head game”. It’s a marathon not a sprint. You’re going to spend months in daily calorie deficit, physically and mentally stressed by the environment and the challenge. -50 deg C and 150mph winds are regular features. You’ll spend a lot of time climbing at 10/10ths of your ability and experience but to be successful you will have to spend some time at 11/10ths or worse and make the judgement call on when to take those risks and how long to stay exposed. Tenacity, stamina and will power will count for a lot. On arrival at basecamp team members blood oxygen levels of mid 70% were not unusual. That would be an A&E visit back home at sea level. Acclimatisation to get the blood oxy levels into the 90%’s takes weeks as you teach your body to produce more red blood cells to cope with the ¼ of sea level oxygen availability we’ll have to deal with higher up the mountain. Acclimatisation starts in base camp knocking off 6000m peaks to warm up and then moving up the glacier to work on the mountain. The route will take a month and half of preparation work putting in fixed rope and installing and provisioning four high camps. We’ll be going up and down visiting and revisiting these camps. This will mean we will effectively climb the height of Mount Everest several times in the process before we even consider a summit attempt. The north side route is not only technically more difficult than the south side by it is much longer. Its 22km from Basecamp to Advanced Basecamp. From ABC we must establish camp 1 at 7050m, camp 2 7500m, camp 3 7900m and camp 4 at 8300m and fully stock them. That includes lugging oxygen bottles (about 6kg each) up which we will use (3 each) from camp 3 7900m onwards. The climbing is a mix of technical ice climbing and massive snow slopes, rock sections of scrambling and massively technical vertical rock climbing at 8600m on the 2nd Step (this is the crux of the climb). Having got the infrastructure of the route set up we had to retreat to base camp because of a massive storm. It wiped out a significant portion of our camps on the mountain ripping tents stocked with personal kit, food and oxygen off the mountain and depositing it on the glacier below. When we went back up to ABC we had to find the debris on the glacier and icewall, extract it from crevasses, uncover the snow buried ropes, rebuild the camps and route. (when l say “we” went back to recover things it was actually only 2 of the 7 client climbers (Trynt and myself) together with sherpas). We then set about a summit attempt in late May. Two of the seven climbers pulled out sick. The rest of us pushed on. Five climbers with sherpa partners and a mountain guide. Herman, the guide, was focused on Zedi, Matt and Gernot. Sue and Chung were sick. Myself and my sherpa partner, Dorje, were operating pretty much independently. It’s typically a six-day push, four days up and two off. Leaving camp 4, 8300m, at circa 10pm/11pm to climb through the night. Intending to reach the three steps on the north east ridge by dawn. But we experienced some delays en route due to some slower expeditions blocking the route in front of us. It wasn’t busy like photo’s you may have seen of the south side but this was 2003, the 50th anniversary of the 1953 success, there were a few more climbers than normal and its the nature of the route on the north that is much more constraining. I got further delayed by having to rescue a climbing colleague (Zedi) who made a massive error and found himself hanging on the rope at the 2nd Step, 8600m, swinging over the north face of Mount Everest with a mile of fresh air between his legs. It cost me, and Dorje my sherpa partner, a lot of excess oxygen usage fighting to save him. We got him back in and back enroute. It took Dorje and I a while to sort ourselves out and get going again. The others, including Zedi, who I had rescued, were ahead and summited, albeit late (having breached the turnaround time limit we had all agreed to). I calculated I was about to run out of oxygen probably on top and that would risk death. I made an incredibly difficult decision to turn back 48metres from the top which would have taken another 1.5hrs! I radioed Russell to advise and we turned back. On descent I did actually run out of oxygen around 8500m but we still had to get down so Dorje and I pressed on without. We also had to help rescue (again) the same guy I had recovered on the way up because now he had gone snow blind and couldn’t see to down climb. The climb was incredible but a massive blow to turn back so close. After getting back to Advanced Base Camp and feeling pretty low the next morning Russell came to my tent with a mug of yak milk tea and a large shot of whisky and told me to shut up and say nothing. He said everyone else is leaving, there’s a narrow weather window opening and I think you have it in you to go back! Basically he convinced me to attempt what no climber (professional or amateur) other than a small number of sherpa’s had ever attempted on Mount Everest and that was to climb the mountain twice in one season and I was going to try twice in two weeks! So nine days after returning to Advanced Base Camp Sue and Chung, my colleagues who had been sick on the first attempt and myself together with our sherpa climbing partners mounted what was to be my second attempt this season and my fourth summit attempt on Mount Everest. The weather was going to be challenging. We didn’t have the requisite four days up and two off. We had to wait out a storm in Camp 2 and then pushing very hard from camp 2 we missed out camp 3 by a continuous climbing push stopping very briefly at camp 4 (not for rest, food and sleep as normal) we picked up water and oxygen and continued climbing into a 33-hour continuous aggressive push right through the night to summit early in the morning, for me at 7:03am, May 31st. It had been amazing as every other expedition except ours had left the mountain so Sue, Chung and myself had the entire mountain to ourselves. This is unheard of and although we had climbed through a storm the summit day was blue sky with the curvature of the earths horizon visible for a 100miles. There were tears. Which immediately froze! Getting up is of course only half way. Getting off is essential and almost as hard as going up. In my case very hard having only nine days prior albeit but for 48metres been on the summit. It becomes a massive head game. Your body is screaming for rest telling you its done in and there’s nothing not even fumes left in the tank. You want to stop. But if you stop and rest there is a very high chance you’ll slip into dozing followed by hypoxia and then hypothermia and death. So keep moving. I made it back to camp 1 at 7050m and rested for the night before descent to ABC the following day. 2003 was the 50th anniversary of the 1953 successful first summit by Hilary and Tensing via the South side Route and associated with that anniversary the Nepali Mountaineering Association were at the 2003 Kendal Mountain Film Festival awarding medals for significant achievement on Mount Everest. I was on stage in the company of Chris Bonington and Doug Scott (1st brit), Stephen Venables (1st brit no Oxy) and others including Mike Westmacott and George Band members of the 1953 expedition. I was awarded a Gold Medal with the citation from the NMA president: “an outstanding rescue, wise turn around at 48m, subsequent success after only nine days and in aggressive style, extraordinary & exemplary mountaineering”

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in October 2021 (see also separate entry for The Hindhead Murder 1786 - 1986 . The Unknown Sailor was an anonymous seafarer murdered in the Devil’s Punchbowl in September 1786, and buried in Thursley’s churchyard. His murderers were hanged in chains on Gibbet Hill, Hindhead the following year. In his book Who was the Sailor murdered at Hindhead 1786 (2000), Peter Moorey argues the case that the Unknown Sailor's identity was Edward Hardman, born in 1752 in Lambeth , London, although this has not been confirmed. The story goes thus: The sailor was visiting the Red Lion Inn at Thursley , as he was walking back from London to join his ship at Portsmouth on 24 September 1786. There, he met three other seafarers, James Marshall, Michael Casey and Edward Lonegon. He generously paid for their drinks and food and was last seen leaving for Hindhead Hill with them. The three seafarers murdered and robbed him and stripped him of his clothes. The three then made their way down the London to Portsmouth road (now the A3 ) and were arrested a few hours later trying to sell the murdered sailor's clothes at the Sun Inn in Rake . The Hampshire Chronicle, dated 2 October 1786, reads: Sunday last a shocking murder was committed by three sailors, on one of their companions, a seaman also, between Godalming and Hindhead. They nearly severed his head from his body, stripped him quite naked, and threw him into a valley, where he was providentially discovered, soon after the perpetration of the horrid crime, by some countrymen corning over Hind Head, who immediately gave the alarm, when the desperadoes were instantly pursued, and overtaken at the house of Mr. Adams, The Sun, at Rake. They were properly secured, and are since lodged in gaol, to take their trials at the next assizes for the county of Surrey. Six months later they were tried at Kingston assizes (the precursor of Crown Courts) and two days after that, on Saturday 7 April 1787, they were hanged in chains on a triple gibbet close to the scene of the crime in Hindhead. The blacksmith who made the chains and gibbet was Richard Court who is buried in Thursley churchyard and his headstone bears the inscription: ‘My Sledge and Hammer lie reclin’d, My Bellows too have lost their wind; My Fire is out, and Forge decay’s, And in the Dust my Vice is laid.’ The sailor was buried in our churchyard and the gravestone was paid for by the residents of the village. It reads: In memory of A generous but unfortunate Sailor Who was barbarously murder'd on Hindhead On September 24th 1786 By three Villains After he had liberally treated them And promised them his farther assistance On the road to Portsmouth. The Sailor's Stone at Gibbet Hill (in The Punchbowl) was erected by James Stillwell of nearby Cosford Mill soon after the murder. It was sited on the Old Coaching Road from London to Portsmouth close to the site of the murder. The inscription on the front of the stone reads: ERECTED In detestation of a barbarous Murder Committed here on an unknown Sailor On Sep, 24th 1786 By Edwd. Lonegon, Mich. Casey & Jas. Marshall Who were all taken the same day And hung in Chains near this place Whoso sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed: Genesis Chap 9 Ver 6 In 1851 Sir William Erle paid for the erection of a granite Celtic cross on Gibbet Hill on the site of the scaffold. He did this to dispel the fears and superstitions of local people and to raise their spirits. The cross has four Latin inscriptions around its base. They read: POST TENEBRAS LUX IN OBITU PAX IN LUCE SPES POST OBITUM SALUS which translate to "Light after darkness. Peace in passing away. Hope in light. Salvation after death." All monuments are standing to this day. St Michael and All Angels churchyard The murder of the unknown sailor has always attracted press coverage: Extract from The Daily Universal Register, 4 October As well as monographs and other literature: From the Francis Frith Collection:

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in February 2023. See also Vicars of Thursley. Revd Mathews with a parishioner It is with a heavy heart I heard this week of the untimely passing of Peter Muir, until recently, the vicar of St Michael’s and All Angels, Thursley. Peter had been an enthusiastic supporter of Thursley History Society and even in this last year or so since retiring to Cyprus, with his indomitable wife Angela, he maintained close links with us. On a personal note, Peter married my husband and me, some years back and I have very fond memories of his wisdom and guidance during this time. Rest in Peace Peter. I’m sure Peter’s almost four decades of living in Yew Cottage in the village, will be chronicled for posterity, but until then it reminded me of the memoir of Ken Mathews, a previous vicar of Thursley, which was compiled by John Fforde in 1996. “The Rev. Arthur Kenneth Mathews OBE, DSC, was of the generation that had only just completed its preparations for a career and taken up its first appointments when the Second World War intervened. Then came the naval life, best described by extracts from the obituary in the Daily Telegraph of 4th January 1993. Rev Kenneth Mathews was one of the Royal Navy’s most distinguished wartime chaplains. He joined the RNVR in 1939 and spent the rest of the war on the County Class cruiser Norfolk, a busy ship on the Northern patrol and then in the South Atlantic. “It would be impossible”, the captain of Norfolk later wrote, “to exaggerate Ken Mathew’s influence on Norfolk. His value in the ship was certainly greater than that of any other officer. He made her the happiest ship I have ever known. He was loved by every man on board, and it is largely his influence that has kept the Norfolk spirit alive ever since”. “ He had an admirable naval record, resulting in him being appointed OBE in 1942 and then DSC soon after, so becoming one of the few service chaplains to be twice decorated. After an influential career in the Church, he chose to return to the work of parish priest in which his pastoral gifts had free rein. And so, Ken and his wife, Betsy, came to Thursley in 1968. In the Parish Magazine for February 1993, thirty years ago exactly, Michael O’Brien and Robert Crawfurd record the following memories: “We remember him as Vicar of Thursley from 1968 until his retirement in 1976. For Thursley they were eight splendid years. Ken quickly made his mark on our community as a man of outstanding personality. He loved and understood people: understood their eccentricities, their joys, their sorrows. Just as in the Navy, he had won the hearts and minds of the men in his care as Chaplain on board HMS Norfolk so, in the less hazardous days of his peacetime ministries, the same magic was quickly evident to his parishioners. His desire to draw a community together, in the same way as earlier he had drawn his ship’s company together, resulted in the foundation in 1972 of our annual Harvest Supper in the Village Hall – an event that quickly proved popular with everyone and had continued, until recent events, without a break ever since. A series of winter lectures in the hall started under his direction and he also encouraged the formation of the Thursley Over 60’s club. He came to us from Peebles, in the Scottish Borders, where walking in the country is a popular recreation. He immediately reinstituted the Rogation Walk around the entire parish, including Bowl Head Green, blessing the farms along the way. He outwalked most of his new parishioners by completing the whole seventeen miles himself, and then presiding at Rogation Evensong in the Church. He always encouraged the young to come on their ponies if they wished, and always had a large following. Walking his dog in the village he was a popular friend to meet. Ken’s ministry in Thursley was marked by his untiring efforts to help all in need, to which end he would go to almost any lengths and be quite unsparing himself. Both he and Betsy were lovers of classical music and supported enthusiastically any musical events in the parish. When he left us, we all felt the loss of a truly Godly priest and valued friend. In 1976 they retired to a house in a valley near Burford, to the restoration of which they had given much thought. The Tallat, Westwell, became a place of pilgrimage for their many friends. Betsy died in 1981. In 1987 Ken married Diana Goschen and they lived happily at The Tallat until Ken’s peaceful death in his 87th year in December 1992”. The Institution of The Reverend Arthur Kenneth Mathews: The pdf of the Order of Service shows a heavily annotated version: Undated obituary from The Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Mathews

Thursley History Society organised a visit to the museum in November 2024 Sukey Langdale writes, "12 Thursley residents (including some from Pitch Place and Bowlhead Green) met in Southsea over coffee and then moved to the Landing Craft Tank 7074, the last survivor of this type.  It took 10 tanks to Gold Beach on June 7th 1944. It had two tanks on board for us to look at.  Then we were let loose in the museum to view whatever we liked at our own pace and it was truly fascinating.  The shop had bits and pieces to buy including very interesting books about D-Day.   Then we finished by looking at the Overloard Embroidery, finished in 1974.  It is 83 meters long, with incredible detail and colour .   To cap it all we then had a very good fish and chips lunch, sitting outside on the “front” at Southsea in glorious sunshine.   What a day!" From L to R: Tom Grillo, Sue Ranson; Peter Hunter, Jackie Rickenberg, David Young, Tricia Horwood, Pat Clake, Lizzie Young, Sukey Langdale, Jerry Horwood, Sally Scheffers, Peter Clacke These are just a few examples of exhibits both outside and inside the museum A scale model of the Atlantic Wall The 83 metre, 33 panel Overlord Emroidery is worth the visit for that alone. How good to end the tour with some fine Fish & Chips!

This delightfully named cottage was probably built between 1730-50. It was known as Pit Dairy before being renamed as Gnome Cottage by the National Trust. © Copyright Colin Smith It is a two-storey stone cottage with a half-hipped roof. It is thought to have been a farm and we have seen an old photo showing it as "Punchbowl Dairy Farm". The outlying farm buildings were demolished many years ago. The cottage has a large hearth and it has several early Georgian features, such as the brick in the quoins and in the jambs of the windows. It is a wonderful place to live. We moved into Gnome Cottage in 1991. Andrew works for the National Trust as Head Warden for Hindhead commons and I am an Infant Teacher. Andrew moved to the area in 1988 from Whitley Bay in Northumberland and I am originally from Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. We were married in Thursley Church on the 31st July 1993. Jilly Storey, 1996 Jilly and Andrew Storey, 1996

By Judy Hewins, Marchants Hill Rural Centre, 1979, with notes by Sean Edwards and an article by Jackie Rickenberg which was published in the Parish Magazine in June 2024 On 10th April 2013, Sean Edwards of The Street, edited and published a document originally produced in 1979 as a teaching resource, written by Judy Hewins from Marchant’s Hill Rural Life Centre. It was entitled “Village Study Notes – Thursley”. It contains a well collated account of Thursley village, plus much original research that should be available to a much wider audience. I have included some excerpts of it here: 1.    “FUNCTION b) Original Function: The settlement dates from Saxon times. It developed as a farming community and would have needed to be self-sufficient, therefore the availability of the following resources influenced the location of Thursley: Water, light soil which is easy to cultivate, fuel from the surrounding wood, rough grazing for the animals and building materials for houses were all important. c) Increased Importance: Later Thursley increased in influence with the development of another function, the iron industry, with locally available raw materials. This brought employment and wealth to the village. d) Function Today: Now, however, these original reasons for existence have been lost. Thursley is a residential village with high property prices. It assumed this new function with the greater wealth, mobility and leisure time of its changing population. Thursley is a very charming place to live, but within easy commuting distance of the nearby towns and even London. Farming is still seen, but not as the prime function of the village. The farms are dispersed around the village. 2. POPULATION AND ADMINSTRATION The information given about the population of Thursley has been taken from the 1971 census. The total population of the civil parish was 630 people. a) Parish Council: An act of 1894 introduced Parish Councils to organise Village affairs. Thursley’s first Parish Council met on June 2nd 1895. Today it serves as a voice of the local people and retains the power to make bye-laws. It has 7 elected members, who serve for a 4-year term and a paid part-time clerk. They meet every five or six weeks and their main business is to maintain footpaths, deal with local complaints and discuss planning applications. 3. HISTORY a) Earliest Times: There is evidence that the settlement at Thursley dates from Saxon times. Parts of the village church are known to date from 1030. The name Thursley may be from the Anglo Saxon meaning a clearing or “field” in the forest, where the Gods Thunor and Thur were worshipped. Alternatively, the name may be a personal one associated with a former owner or holder of land - there was an Abbot Thor in 975 A.D. or an archdeacon Thor in 1100. Parishes were originally marked by boundary stones, and the bounds were beaten annually. On Thursley Common there are two boundary stones both known as Thor’s Stone. One beyond Thursley Hammer Pond marking the boundary between Thursley and Pepper Harrow and the other on the margin of Pudmore Pond marking the meeting of three parishes, Elstead, Pepper Harrow and Thursley. Both stones are located in extremely boggy areas, so it is very inadvisable to try and discover their location. d) The Turnpike Age: In the 18th Century many roads were in a very poor condition. The narrow sunken lanes in Thursley were often virtually impassable to wheeled traffic and the main London to Portsmouth Road, which passes near to the village, was a dangerous highway where travellers were often attacked by robbers and cut throats. The poorer people had to walk and tragedy sometimes befell them. Thursley Burial Register contains this entry “January, 4th 1788, Samuel a Sailor found dead upon Hindhead, who perished in the Snow”. Prior to the Turnpike Act of 1753, many laws were passed requiring people to work on the upkeep of their local roads, but there was little improvement. The first metalled road was constructed in Thursley in 1749. In 1753 it was allowed that local trusts could make up roads, each in their own areas and they could then collect tolls from people who used the roads. The Portsmouth Road, near Thursley, thus became a Turnpike Road in 1767 and travel by stage coach became more popular. A milestone still remaining gives the distance to Portsmouth as 33 miles and Hyde Park Corner, 36 miles. The Tithe Map (1846) shows the Commons Roads, including French Lane, Road Lane, Highfield Lane and Rutten Hill Lane. A total of 20 roads in the parish altogether. The Award which accompanies the map, shows the site of the Turnpike Gate and Tollhouse – which was owned by the Trustees of the Turnpike. In 1851 Henry Craft was the Tollgate Keeper. He was 39 years old and lived with his wife, Jane and two children, Mary Ann aged 14 and Henry aged 11, described as a scholar. On census night he had a visitor, Edward Jay, a 31-year-old Agricultural Labourer and also living there was Mary Welland, a 13-year-old girl. Ten years later the Turnpike was in charge of Mrs. Craft, Henry Craft described himself as an Agricultural Labourer, the children had left home and Edward Lyling lodged with them. 4. SERVICES AND AMENITIES a) The Church: Displayed in the Church Porch Enter this door As if the floor Within were gold And every wall Of jewels all Of wealth untold As if a choir in robes of fire Were singing here Nor shout, nor rush But hush . . . . . … For God is here Thursley church is dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels and dates from Saxon Times. The original church was built in 1030 A.D. and is therefore over 900 years old. The Saxon plan was of a nave and a chancel and except for the addition of a South Porch circa 1230, the church remained in this way until major restoration work was begun in 1860.” More to be continued next month. HOWEVER. By the time you read this, we will have had the exciting launch of the Thursley History Society’s new website, which will include a lot of the archives you have read through the years in this magazine, including these study notes. So please do take a peep at: thursleyhistorysociety.org    also Instagram: @thursleyhistorysociety And as we’ve recently enjoyed the Horticultural Society’s Spring Show, I thought it might be interesting to look back on one from seventy years ago. The pdf below is the complete 44 pages of Judy Hewins's Village Study Notes - Thursley 1979:

This book was compiled through the efforts of the Thursley Women’s Institute to commemorate their Jubilee Year, 1965. What different times we live in today! Many of the articles in the book appear under separate headings on the website and can be searched using '1965', the whole text of the book can be downloaded, see below. As President of the Thursley Women’s Institute, I would like to place on record my appreciation of the help afforded by Mrs Sadler (WI) of The Lodge, Thursley, who was responsible for the cover design, and to members of the Thursley Women’s Institute and Thursley village who contributed the following articles.   The delightful copyright photographs are by Miss Megson of Godalming who kindly allowed them to be reproduced and the reproduction was done by Mr Sadler of Thursley   Ursula Dunlop, Pitch Place, Thursley 1965

This article, written by Mary Bennett, first appeared in the Parish Magazine in July 1978 and was published by the History of Thursley Society in a loose-leaf book. THURSLEY IN THE 'TWENTIES When I was a child in the ‘twenties, Miss Aileen Lutyens, Sir Edwin Lutyens’ youngest sister, dominated the Thursley scene. She lived in the large house by the Clump, now Charringtons (the present vicarage stands in what was then her meadow) and looked exactly like her photograph in the village hall - brisk, capable and benevolent. There were close links between her and the Rapleys at Hill Farm, since Mrs.Rapley - already an old lady in my memory - had taught the little Lutyenses before her marriage. Both families were musical and, in retrospect, I think it was rather bold of my mother, as a newcomer, to start a choral society in the face of this entrenched interest. But she did, and all was well; Miss Lutyens’ penetrating alto was safely absorbed into the new choir, which proceeded to do well in a couple of Dorking festivals but did not survive our partial migration to Oxford in 1925. Miss Lutyens was one of those who got Thursley its first Village Hall, the large army hut that stood on the crest of the hill by the ‘Shoes and was to be the scene of all major social events for some forty years; she was also a founder member of the local W.I. I suspect that she had a hand in most of the local events of the time. The School was a real school then, presided over by Mr. Swallow, and beyond the playground where the Thorfield flats now are, was the Vicarage, now Thorcroft. This was then a much larger house (the upper storey was later destroyed by fire) and the garden seemed to me infinitely romantic, with winding paths leading through the belts of trees and shrubs that encircled the two lawns. On one occasion there was a fairy play, in which we dressed up with butter-muslin wings and flitted in and out of the laurels - this must really have been rather awful, but remains magical in my memory. Angela Smith, the Vicar’s daughter, also ran a pack of Brownies, whose meetings were the high spot of my week. We met in the Vicarage stable loft, which meant climbing up one of those ladders that are no more than hand-and-foot-holes against the wall, and stepping sideways off it through the loft door, an adventurous exercise when one’s legs were short. One of the things Brownies had to learn was (oddly enough) how to make a rice pudding. This was impossible for one of us, since her home had no oven, a fact that made a deep impression on me at the time and is a fair measure of the change in standards of living since. Angela Smith must have had a considerable gift with children since she kept a dozen or so little girls from a variety of homes happy and out of mischief on Saturday mornings for some years. Beyond the Vicarage, at Foldsdown, (which they had themselves built) lived the Parkers. Mrs. Parker was very pretty and very fragile - everyone liked and respected her, but she was not strong enough to play as active a part in village affairs as Mr. Parker, to whose drive and devotion Thursley owed the installation of its first district nurse, Nurse Collins. It is hard nowadays to realise that there was a time when the nurse’s salary and expenses were wholly provided from private subscriptions, but so it was, and a very great deal of work was needed to keep the nursing fund solvent and in good order. Of course I did not realise this until much later: I thought of Mr. Parker as a kindly grown-up, with whom my father used to go for walks, and Foldsdown as the scene of very splendid children’s parties at Christmas. My mother’s chief friend in those days was Miss Stevenson, who lived at The Lodge, now the O’Briens. She was a retired headmistress, a formidable and rather fascinating Scot, who still gave violin lessons and was very occasionally persuaded to play at village concerts. Among her pupils was Bob Goble from across the road, soon to join the Dolmetsches at Haslemere and eventually to become the leading English maker of harpsichords. A musician of a very different sort was Mr. Pecskai, who taught at the Royal Academy and played in a well-known London quartet. Hungarian by birth and breeding, though passionately English in sentiment, he looked like a rather stouter Napoleon: my father enjoyed the verve of his conversation and we saw a good deal of him. He and his elderly rather cross-grained accompanist, Miss Lebel, lodged at Heathview, the house now owned by Wendy and Graham Jones, until he suddenly married one of his pupils, when Miss Lebel went off and took lodgings with Mrs. Harbutt in Vine Cottage. Poor Mrs. Harbutt must have had a time of it with my old cousin, Mrs. Woods* in her front room and Miss Lebel in her back - neither old lady at all easy, and the two of them on far from friendly terms. Louis and Bertha Pecskai eventually built themselves Rack Close and they lived in Thursley until his death in the 40’s. But that takes us far beyond the days of these childhood memories of a Thursley that now seems very remote indeed. MARY BENNETT * Margaret L. Woods, a well-known poet and popular novelist at the turn of the century.

Pax Cottage was built in 1500/1550 as a single hall house standing free of the now attached Oak Cottage built in the 17th century, and Shrike Cottage and Rose Cottage were attached in the 18th century. It was purchased by Peter and Leslie Huish on 20th July, 1957 The roof construction has no ridge pole and has rafters attached in pairs supporting the handmade tiled roof which was first thatched with heather. The small sitting room was originally open to the roof void and an open fire on the floor allowed the smoke to escape through a smoke vent now covered by the the tiled roof. Pax Cottage also showing Oak Cottage Timber frame construction in bedroom We have opened the original large fireplace after removing three smaller fireplaces, and exposed the beamed walls and ceilings. The relatively large garden at the rear has been featured in the "Gardeners World" of August 1992 and "Which" magazine and has ironstone paths and patio constructed by Pat and Leslie Huish. We spent two years moving earth to level the garden which sloped downhill in two directionss. The garden includes Himalayan Pine and hybrid Catalpa trees Leslie grew from seed.