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This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Thursley Parish Magazine November 2023 Article: Memorial Service booklet:

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in February and March 2021 After our recent articles celebrating the works of various past illustrious male residents of Thursley, including an architect, a composer and an artist, it is high time we turned our attention to one of the most distinguished ladies that has had the pleasure of calling Thursley home. This month and next, we delve into the imaginary world of children’s author and naturalist, Monica Edwards. Part 1 is about her early life and how she arrived in Thursley. Part 2, next month, will be focusing on her career and latter years. Monica Edwards (née Monica le Doux Newton; 8 November 1912 – 18 January 1998) was an children's writer of the mid-twentieth century, best known for her Romney Marsh and Punchbowl Farm series of children's novels. She was born in Belper, Derbyshire, the third of four children born to the Reverend Harry and Beryl Newton. In 1927, when Monica was 15, the family moved to Rye Harbour in Romney Marsh, Sussex, where Harry Newton remained as vicar until 1936. Her formal education was fragmented and she spent a lot of her time on the Marsh, observing fishing boats, sheep shearing, sailing with fishermen and riding shepherd’s ponies. In later years she was able to use this experience to good effect when writing her “Marsh” and “Punchbowl Farm” books. Among the people Monica met at about this time was Bill Edwards, a young man some ten years her senior. He lived principally in Rye, but spent most of his summers in a fishing hut on Camber Sands. Amongst other things, he and Monica shared a surprising interest in, and aptitude for, gymnastics! They appeared performing a balancing act in festivals in Hastings and Battle, and even appeared on picture postcards. Perhaps this was at the root of parental disapproval of the liaison. Certainly, there was a point at which her father forbade her to see Bill again until she was twenty-one. Monica accepted the dictum, but on her twenty first birthday, she returned to the precise spot on Camber Sands where she and Bill had parted, to find him waiting for him. Parental opposition was duly removed, and they married two days later. They remained married for over fifty years until Bill’s death in 1990. How wonderfully romantic! By 1947, Bill and Monica were living in Send and now had two children, Shelley and Sean. Monica, by this point, had had a couple of books published and this allowed them to think about buying a larger family home. Various properties were looked at and rejected, and eventually Monica attended the auction of Pitlands Farm, Thursley, more in a spirit of idle curiosity than with any serious intent to buy. She put in a single bid, because the price seemed so pitiably low, and, to her astonishment, found that she had bought it! Thus, began the family’s life in Thursley. This photograph, from the Estate of Monica Edwards, is a view of the farm before they moved there. It is very similar to that shown in Whittam's drawing below. When they arrived, the house had no electricity, no mains water, no sewage. Water was wound up from the well, a privy was placed at a discrete distance from the house and baths were taken courtesy of a friend. The house dates from 1332. The Edwards’ changed the name of the farm and many of you will recognise this early photo of it as Punchbowl Farm, at the top of Highfield Lane, now the home of the Scheffers family. In older Ordinance Survey maps, the farm still retains its original name. Its location is shown in Geoffrey Whittam's illustration from Monica’s book, “Black Hunting Whip ” . Here the farm is being approached from the village down the sunken lane. Behind the farm is the barn and beyond, Barn Field rises to the left to meet the other sunken lane. This later picture, taken by Monica Edwards in 1953, shows the approach to the house from the farm gate (Bill is on the right). By this time the chimney on the right-hand part of the house, visible in the earlier photograph, had been dismantled by Bill. This was the kitchen chimney in the oldest part of the house and it was in a precarious state. For some years, until it was rebuilt, the smoke from the range exited through a pipe in the roof. Just visible in the end wall of the older wing, where a part of the house has long since fallen, is the window put in for the bathroom. The bathroom was created partly from chimney space and in part a 'Priest's Hole'. From the Surrey Daily Advertiser, May 31st - June 1st, 1974 Anyone lucky enough to have read “The Unsought Farm” will be familiar with the absorbing story of how the Edwards family gradually renovated the house and land, and took to farming. It was in a terrible state when they bought it. The land was derelict and the house scarcely less so. Plainly, the land was not going to generate much income for some time to come, and this was the necessary spur to start Monica’s literary career. Her first two books, “Wish for a Pony “and “No Mistaking Corker”, were published before their arrival in Thursley. And so, for the next twenty-five years she continued to write steadily, publishing one, and sometimes, two books a year. To be continued…………. Acknowledgements: Thank you to V K Lindley for the account of Monica’s life in Thursley. The Monica Edwards website http://www.monicaedwards.co.uk/ Sean Edwards, son and Thursley resident. Monica Edwards at work at her desk in Punch Bowl Farm

Boxalls and Vine Cottage were originally a single three bay building with a central open hall.  The heavily sooted roof structure supports this.  There are some interesting features, notably a bespoke oak hook installed in the stair case void which the heritage consultants believe was used to hang/dry meat.  Boxalls was later extended to create a cross-wing (now Vine Cottage), and extended again to the rear in the late 19th / early 20th century and split into two cottages to form Boxalls and Vine Cottage as they are today. Historic maps also indicate that the original plot of Boxalls comprised the existing plots of Vine Cottage (to the south) and Wheelwrights (to the north).  The current owners wish that was still the case and they weren’t ‘boxed’ in by the two adjacent properties as they are today.  Perhaps it’s how Boxalls got its name or more likely it was named after a local family (it was actually called Tudor Cottage until around 1960). Below is the 1977 Report by the Surrey Domestic Buildings Research Group Note: They date the house 1600 but Manorwood, the heritage consultant we used for planning, dated it much earlier circa. 1525. Bob and Nancy Swanson, 1977

Photographs from a display board created by the History of Thursley Society See also The Fosberry Family Tree entry

Photographs from a display board created by the History of Thursley Society, See also The South African (Boer) War entry on the Fosberry windows in St Michael and All Angels. William Karn Fosberry, born 1816, died 1883 aged 67 Charles, Albert and Alice

The Village Hall was open from 10am to 4pm for visitors to view the fascinating memorabilia, read the villagers' stories and remember the lives of all who lived through the war years at home and overseas. Later there was a dinner in the Village Hall (photographs courtesy Valérie Ferris)

Article written by Jackie Rickenberg for the Thursley Parish Magazine, September 2023, about Joan Pearl Wolfe, 19, known as the 'Wigwam Girl' which inspired the name of the case Joan Pearl Wolfe at 19 This month there is a very long overdue memorial service taking place in the churchyard. At the same time a memorial stone will be erected, identifying the currently unmarked grave of Joan Pearl Wolfe, murdered on Hankley Common on 7th October 1942 at the age of 19 years old. Joan’s relatives will be attending as well as members of Thursley History Society and other interested villagers are invited to attend. Joan’s story is a complex and complicated one but it is summarised below: Joan was not local to Surrey. She grew up in Tunbridge Wells and attended Mark Cross Convent School, paid for by a wealthy aunt. She had a troubled upbringing, her father committed suicide when she was 7, her mother soon remarried and then Joan found her stepfather dead on the kitchen floor, again her mother remarried shortly afterwards. She ran away from home when she was 16 and lived a nomadic life, occasionally staying with a Thursley resident, Kate Hayter, whom she had befriended. At this point in the war, Canadian troops were based nearby and Joan met a French-Canadian soldier named August Sangret, a year older than Joan. He also, had had a troubled past. Throughout the 1930’s, August accrued an extensive criminal record, which included violent assault, threatening to shoot a woman and numerous convictions for vagrancy and theft. He was regularly unemployed before he enlisted to serve in the Battleford Light Infantry in 1935. Joan and August first met in a pub in Godalming on 17th July 1942. The pair had a dysfunctional relationship over the next two months. Joan had nowhere to live, so after their second meeting, they returned to Houndown Woods near Thursley and near August’s barracks, where he built her a wigwam shelter for Joan. This hideout led to the naming of the eventual crime.  After the destruction of a second shelter by the army, August broke into the Thursley cricket pavilion, where Joan lived for a few nights before disappearing on 14th September. August had a partial alibi for that night and made half-hearted attempts to investigate her disappearance. He had, after all, promised to marry her and gone as far as applying for permission to wed from his commanding officer. Joan’s writing on the wall of the cricket pavilion – “Somewhere in Canada with you” On 7th October, two marines patrolling the wood noticed what appeared to be a hand protruding from a mound. They informed the authorities who excavated Joan’s body. Primarily based on evidence from the known relationship between Joan and August, he was eventually arrested and tried for her murder. Fifty-three witnesses were called for the prosecution (including many well-known Thursley characters including Kate Hayter aka “The Witch of Thursley”, who lived in The Bungalow at Pitch Place and William Featherby, who lived in The Bungalow, Thursley and was known as Mr Thursley), whereas August was the sole witness for his defence. Hardly surprisingly, the jury found him guilty under the circumstances, but they urged the judge to show leniency in sentencing. Mr Justice Macnaghten ignored this request, put on the black cap and condemned August to hang. Joan Wolfe was buried on 8th January 1943 in the churchyard in an unmarked grave by the Rev. H. Gordon French, vicar. August was hanged on 24th April 1943, despite an appeal and the jury’s refused request for leniency being reported to the Home Secretary, who choose to uphold the judge’s sentence. He was buried in a mass grave at Wandsworth prison. Brookwood Military Cemetery records his name on their wall of honour, as having died in service- the Canadian Army had not discharged him before his execution, so officially, he was one of their war dead. The memorial makes no mention of the circumstances in which he died. These passages were taken from “Tales from a Country Churchyard” by Guy J. Singer, available directly from him on www.GuyJ.Singer.com or from Amazon. Guy published his book in 2022 and it’s a fascinating record and insight into the graves and memorials in the churchyard and the sometimes-lost stories of the people at rest there. I would thoroughly recommend it and in it you can read the story of Joan and August in much more detail than I am able to reproduce here. So, there you have it. A sad tale of two vulnerable people and the strange twists of fate that led them both to spend the last few months of their lives together in Thursley. As mentioned above, until now, Joan’s remains have lain in an unmarked grave. Her family and the church wanted to put that right and as a result, generous donations have paid for a headstone for her, which will be erected and celebrated at a service in the churchyard on 28th September 2023. From Surrey Live, 27th December 2022: https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/surrey-wigwam-murder-unique-british-25778274 There is also an extensive entry on August Sangret in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Sangret And a book by M J Trow:

This article by Rosemary Stockdale was published in the Parish Magazine When war broke out on 1st September 1939 life changed overnight for Poland and all her people. One such person was Janina Macsimowich (later Kot). The first 2 ½ years were spend avoiding working for the Germans but in March 1942 she was called up and sent to work in a fish processing factory in Cuxhaven where conditions were extremely hard. In summer of 1943 she was snet to work on a farm outside Cuxhaven due to shortage of fish. After the Summer she returned to the fish factory a cycle repeated in 1944 and was there in May 1945 when Cusxhaven was relieved by the British. Her husband to be J Kot was 20 when the Germans invaded Poland on 1st September 1939 which was followed, 2 weeks later, by Russian Red Army invading from the East. A few months later 13th April 1940 the family was forced out of their home and boarded a Kattle wagon, classified as a ‘Dangerous Element’ on a journey east that took nearly a month, part on the transsiberian railway, to reach their destination of Kustanay from where lorries took 25 families including children and elderly to state farms, in isolated villages on Russian steppes, about 50 miles away called Worobiowka. The local villagers, deported from Ukraine in 1935 welcomed them and they started in their new hard rural life. In summer of 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Republic and all young and not so young men were conscripted into the Soviet Republic army to work for victory. In winter of 1941 the , US entered the war, alarming Stalin and negotiations started to via Polish diplomats to release Polish people from prisons and camps to create a polish army. However Russians did not have arms, tenrs or food so after the amnesty Brisitsh and Americans agreed with Russia to take Polish people from Russia to Middle East. In January 1942 they were conscripted by Russia to join the Polish army and eventually arrived in Pah-Levi in Persia (Iran) in April 1942 and then Tehran and then onto a training camp near Bagdad and onto Palestine in May ’42 and Suez Canal. With situation improving in North Africa the army decided to send some 15,000 soldiers to South Africa to recuperate. The ’Mauretania’ transported Kot, in great comfort, to Durban and by train to Natal where they were pampered with food and drink for 3 months. Then the US and British armies started to prepare for the invasion of Europe and after months at sea Kot arrived in Grenock, Scotland. From there he was sent to Berwick and joined the newly created 1st Polish Armed Division in Light Anti Aircraft Artillery. After a brief holiday touring the Highlands, he was sent with his division and their guns to defend Tilbury Docks. After successful Normandy landings he then went by boat to Normandy and fought his way through France, Belgium and Holland where they spend the winter of 1944 – 45 waiting for the US armies to successfully cross the Rhine and start their push across Germany. In March 45 Kot entered Germany with no passport and successfully occupied the Nestfollen Zone for 2 full years until 1947. The Geneva Convention prevented them from repaying their enemies for the atrocities Kot and his country men had suffered under them. In April 1947 Kot sailed to the Uk and joined Polish Resettlement Corps (P.R.C.) and was snet to Tweedsmuir camp in May 1947. He had met his future wife Janina previously in a Displaced Persons Camp who after the war was then sent to work in the Cotton Mills. In 1948 they were married in Bury Lancs and then returned to Tweedsmuir Camp, Thursley to start their married life. When their children were born Kot went to London to find work and for next 30 years worked night shifts at Heinz. On retirement, following a partial stroke, he came back to live in Thursley, the village he had fallen in love with, to enjoy life with his wife, children and grandchildren.

Photographs, please! The central focus for the year was the Jubilee weekend in June 2002 which began with a classical music concert in the gardens at Buckingham Palace. There was a Jubilee Church Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor and a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral which followed a Ceremonial Procession from Buckingham Palace. Events culminated in a pop concert at Buckingham Palace with performers including Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Elton John and Shirley Bassey. The evening ended with a spectacular firework display and The Queen lighting the National Beacon, the last in a string of 2,006 beacons which had been lit in a chain across the Commonwealth. It was much more difficult to track down much information on how the Golden Jubilee was celebrated in Thursley despite it being only twenty-two years ago. It was noted “That on Saturday the 1st June, there will be a Thursley Village party – a pig roast, jazz and fun for all the family in the Village Hall”. And so, it was to be. A fantastic whole village feast was prepared. Long tables were set up, bunting was hung and young and old enjoyed a day of sunshine, celebrations and commemorations for our dearly loved Queen.

Including an article written by Jackie Rickenberg for the Parish Magazine in December 2021 The name Thursley is probably Norse. In the 14th century it was known as "Thoresley" which is thought to be the Danish name meaning "Thor's field". Thor was the Norse god of thunder and a block of sandstone on Thursley common is called Thor's Stone; it was believed to have been a thunderbolt thrown by the god. Alternatively, the name may be a personal one associated with a former owner or holder of land - there was an Abbot Thor in 975AD or an Archdeacon Thor in 1100. Not much is known about the very early history of Thursley; a few neolithic implements have been found, mainly axe heads and arrow heads. Many years ago, the parish boundaries of Thursley extended as far as Haslemere, but now they are greatly curtailed. They run round Thursley common, including Warren Mere, and cut across to Bowlhead Green almost to Brook, then back past Boundless Farm to the Devil's Punch Bowl. They then continue round the bowl to Pitch Place, down to Truxford and back on to the common again. The first metalled road was constructed in Thursley in 1749 and the Portsmouth road became a turnpike road in 1767 when travel by stage coach became popular. Naturally the Portsmouth road has always had its influence upon Thursley's life. Baring-Gould's book "The Broomsquire" is based on the notorious murder of a sailor on Hindhead by three ruffians in September 1786. The sailor set out from the Red Lion Inn accompanied by three men who murdered and robbed him, throwing his body into the Devil's Punch Bowl. The men were caught near Petersfield trying to sell the stolen clothes. They were hung on Gibbet Hill on 7th April 1787 in chains made by the Thursley village blacksmith at Forge Cottage. The Gibbet remained as a warning to passing travellers until it was blown down in a thunderstorm in December 1790. The murdered sailor was buried in Thursley churchyard where a memorial stone was erected. His coffin was made at Wheelwrights, then the carpenter's workshop, and cost 7s. 6d. Other villains frequented the Portsmouth road which was a great source of revenue to highwaymen. It has even been hinted that the local clergy held up coaches themselves in order to improve depleted church funds. St.Michael & All Angels Church is largely Saxon although it was enlarged and restored in 1860 and 1884. Two small windows in the chancel are Saxon, and still have the original oak grooved for bedding the horn windows which were customary before the manufacture of glass. There is an old Saxon oven which was used for baking the Communion wafers, and also for heating charcoal for incense. The font is almost certainly Saxon. About 1500 a massive oak timber frame was added to support the bell cage and spire. There is an interesting 16th century oak chest, fitted with three locks. Each warden was provided with a key for one lock and by this method their honesty was never allowed to be in doubt.. The group of 18th century table tombs by the church porch erected in memory of the Stillwell's of Cosford are particularly fine. The building that now serves as the Village Hall was formerly the school which replaced the Dame school in the churchyard. It was built of local Bargate stone in 1843 and enlarged in 1854. After the school closed in 1959 it was decided to utilise the building as a community hall and money was raised by selling The Institute (now Prospect Cottage) and the site next to the Three Horseshoes pub on which stood the old wooden village hall (now Tilhurst). The Institute was designed by the famous architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, whose father leased The Cottage (now Street House). Lutyens also designed extensions to The Corner, opposite Street House. In Thursley churchyard, not far from the grave of the poet John Freeman, is a cross designed by Edwin Lutyens, bearing the names of his parents and his sister Aileen. Nearby is Edwin’s memorial stone to his nephew, Derek Lutyens, who was killed in 1918 whilst serving in the Royal Air Force. On the outskirts of the parish Lutyens designed two lakeside boathouses for Whitaker Wright in Witley Park. During the 15th and 16th centuries the woollen cloth industries flourished at Godalming. Although it was illegal to weave outside the cloth towns, two Surrey families, the Hookes and the Chittys, carried on the industry at Thursley. In the 17th century Thursley became a centre for iron smelting when the industry was flourishing with contracts from the Navy for cannon and shot. The iron mills were built near a brook on Thursley common, which was widened in places to make the ponds, known as the Hammer Ponds. Gradually the iron industry with its attendant occupation of charcoal burning died out, and by the end of the 18th century very little iron was worked. Thursley ironworks were the last to operate in Surrey. It is generally accepted that the first four cottages in The Lane were used as workshops connected with the industry, while the cottages above them were the dwelling houses of the workmen. At the beginning of the 19th Century silk weaving took the place of iron smelting, and the “crape” mills were also built near the Hammer Ponds. Crape is a gauze-like fabric with a wrinkled surface and the black silk was often used for mourning dress. Much raw silk was reputedly smuggled from France to the mills at Warren Mere, then on to Dye House where it was dyed before disposal. The smuggling activities were no doubt very profitably managed and at a later date even whiskey was supposed to have been hidden away in cellars under Highfield Farm and its outbuildings. It is said that the horses used for transport of the whiskey were taken to The Forge where their shoes were turned back to front in order to fool the customs officers. The silk weaving industry was closed by 1851. Thursley common was left to sheep, quite large flocks being raised on the excellent grass which at that time covered the heath. Although there were only minor skirmishes in the area during the Civil War, the local ironmaster, William Yalden, was a friend of Oliver Cromwell. Towards the end of the war it was suspected that Thursley had Royalist sympathies so Cromwell stationed Livesey’s Kentish Men in the village. They remained for nine months and were reputed to have behaved badly. The piscina in the church was probably damaged at this time. The inhabitants petitioned Sir Thomas Fairfax to remove them in 1649. King Edward VII reviewed the troops on Thursley common early in the twentieth century, a road being specially built for this occasion. In December 1941 the Canadian Lorne Scots regiment occupied Tweedsmuir Camp which was used as a repatriation centre for Canadian soldiers returning from the war. There were also large scale movements of troops through the camp until 31st May 1944, 5 days before D-Day. A bronze tablet was donated to Thursley Church by the Lorne Scots on 10th January 1943. On the departure of the Canadians in 1947 Tweedsmuir became a Displaced Persons Camp for Polish families many of whom still live in the area. There is an interesting web-site at www.tweedsmuirmilitarycamp.co.uk which gives more information about the camp, its history, geography and occupants both during, and after, the last war. It is the brainchild of the Rogalski brothers who spent their childhood there. In 1941 Winston Churchill, General de Gaulle and General Sikorski came to Hankley Common to review a tank demonstration. Throughout World War II Hankley Common was used for training by British and Canadian armoured units and was also used for many top secret trials including flame-throwers, anti-mine flail tanks and rocket launchers. Hankley Common (near the Lion’s Mouth) is also the site of the Atlantic Walls constructed in preparation for the D-Day landings. The Hankley Common Atlantic Wall Trust has carried out a detailed investigation into the construction and usage of the walls. In October 1942 a 19 year old English girl, Joan Pearl Wolfe, was murdered on Hankley Common and the following April a Canadian soldier, August Sangret, who was based at Witley Camp, was hanged at Wandsworth Gaol for her murder. This became known as “The Wigwam Murder” as Sangret had built wigwams for her to shelter in. The trial was famous for being the first time a human skull had been produced as evidence in a British court. Because of its scenic location and proximity to London, Thursley has always attracted tourists and visitors some of whom subsequently decided to take up residence either by renting or owning property. The composer, Sir Malcolm Arnold lived in the village in the nineteen-sixties. He owned “Sawyers”, next to the recreation ground, from 1962 to 1965. In that short time he married his second wife, Isobel, and also extended the house which was then known as Canbury Cottage. In addition to his classical music and dance compositions, Sir Malcolm also composed 132 film scores including those for “Hobson’s Choice, “Inn of the Sixth Happiness”, “Whistle down the Wind” and five St.Trinians movies. He was awarded an Oscar for his musical score to “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. The poet, John Freeman, did not reside in Thursley but wished to be buried in the churchyard in sight of Crooksbury Hill. Motoring cartoonist Russell Brockbank lived in The Lane between 1951 and 1978. He worked long hours from a studio in his garden and during this time he was appointed art editor of “Punch” magazine. The author, Monica Edwards, famous for her stories of life in and around Punch Bowl Farm, was a renowned expert on badgers which she studied in detail in the local area. Margaret L. Woods, a popular novelist and poet at the beginning of the twentieth century, spent some time at Vine Cottage in The Street. Sir Roger Stevens, an eminent diplomat and a University Vice-Chancellor, enjoyed his many years in the village. Another diplomat, the RT.Hon. Herbert Fisher O.M. had a country house in Thursley. He was a member of parliament and a minister in the government until 1923. The owner of the Cosford Estate, Colonel Rushbrooke and other major landowners have, in their times, had considerable influence over the development of the village, its people and its architecture. The Thursley History Society is open to all those with an interest in the village. An archive is maintained of documents and artefacts relevant to Thursley’s history, both ancient and modern, and there are periodic exhibitions of these archive materials. Additions to the archives are always welcome as are new sources of information on the history of the village. More details of Thursley and its Church can be found on the British History web-site at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42929 Parish Magazine article written by Jackie Rickenberg for December 2021 It’s hard to believe, as I write this in early November, that this is the last article of this year. I know it’s supposedly a sign of old age – but just where has this year gone? I’ve just got time to slip in excerpts from a little brochure written exactly seventy years ago, sadly, author unknown, but published “in aid of Thursley Festival Funds” at price 6d (old pennies for those who don’t remember!) Thursley 1951 A Brief History of the Parish and Village “When writing a brief history of Thursley, it is difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction: between actual events and romantic yarns, which everyone has heard from their ancestors. The generations of Thursley’s inhabitants appear to include honest hard-working labourers, hard-working smugglers and hard-working highwaymen amongst those who have created its history. A variety to please all! Many years ago, the parish boundaries of Thursley extended as far as Haslemere, but now they are greatly curtailed. They run round Thursley Common, including Warren Mere and cut across to Bowlhead Green, almost to Brook, then back past Boundless Farm to the Devil’s Punch Bowl. They then continue round the bowl to Pitch Place, down to Truxford and back on to the common again. Naturally the Portsmouth Road has always had its influence upon Thursley’s life and villains often frequented it as it was a great source of revenue to the highwaymen. There is believed to be a secret underground passage running from the back of Foldsdown to the sandy bank at the foot of the hill below Millhanger (remember this was 1951, before the A3 extension - ed), through which they made good their escape after holding up the coaches, as they toiled up the hill. It has even been hinted that the local clergy had held up coaches themselves in order to improve depleted church funds. The church is largely Saxon, although it has been enlarged and restored. There is an old Saxon oven which was used for baking the Communion wafers and for heating charcoal for incense. The font is almost certainly Saxon and the massive oak timbers supporting the steeple make a structure which is probably unique. Inside, there is an interesting 16th century oak chest, fitted with three locks. Each warden was provided with a key for one lock and by this method, their honesty was never allowed to be in doubt. Not much is known about the very early history of Thursley; a few Neolithic implements have been found, mainly axe heads and arrow heads. However, during the 15th and 16th centuries, the woollen cloth industries flourished at Godalming, and although it was illegal to weave cloth outside the cloth towns, two Surrey families, the Hooke’s and the Chitty’s carried on the industry at Thursley. In the 17th century, Thursley became a centre of the iron smelting industry. The iron mills were built near a brook on Thursley Common, which was widened in places to make the ponds, known as the Hammer Ponds. These were used for cooling the iron as it was smelted. Gradually, the iron industry with its attendant occupation of charcoal burning, died out, and by the end of the 18th century, very little iron was worked. It is generally accepted that the first four cottages in The Lane were used as workshops, connected with the industry, while the cottages above them were the dwelling houses of the workmen. Silk weaving, at the beginning of the 19th century took the place of iron smelting, and the mills were also built near the Hammer Ponds. Much raw silk was reputedly smuggled from France to the mills at Warren Mere, then onto Dye House, where it was dyed before disposal. The smuggling activities were no doubt very profitably managed, and at a later date even whiskey was supposed to have been hidden away in cellars under Upper Highfield Farm and its outbuildings. It is said that the horses used to transport the whiskey, were taken to The Forge where the shoes were turned back to front in order to fool the customs officers. After the decline of the silk weaving industry, the common was left to sheep; quite large flocks being raised on the excellent grass, which at that time, covered Thursley heath. Thursley has now almost healed the scars of the last war and is peaceful once more. How will the future compare with the past? The facts show us Thursley is as lovely and industrious as ever, its countryside unrestricted to us in almost every direction, but no doubt the imagination can still visualise a smuggler behind every door”. This little gem, which throws up some lovely connotations and visual images of Thursley past, is kept in our archives. Apologies to the Rev. Hannah and the inhabitants of some of Thursley’s most historic houses mentioned in the article; there is absolutely no suspicion that we have smugglers or highwaymen amongst us today! The archives are lovingly and safely stored and protected by Tim Walsh and Alie Hanbury from Thursley History Society, and contain a vast array of irreplaceable reports, photographs, records, deeds, etc, etc. If you have anything relating to the village or surrounding area, your house or descendants that you would like protected and stored for future generations, please feel free to contact us at thursleyhistorysociety@gmail.com. We’ve recently been contacted by someone whose grandparents lived in Thursley before the beginning of WW1, who has donated a beautifully embroidered fire screen, done by his grandfather, whilst in hospital in 1917 recovering from gas poisoning. Irreplaceable! And very gratefully received into our archives and where hopefully, we will find a suitable spot to publicly display it.

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in September 2021 Last month’s explanation about the origin of Emley Farms’ name, started me thinking about some of the names familiar to us, but perhaps not immediately obvious as to where their origins lie. The village sign gives a clue as to the name Thursley, which was called Thoresle in 1292. This names etymologically is difficult to interpret but it was probably derived from the Saxon God, Thunor or Thunder and may be related to the heathen temple at Peper Harrow. Read on further for another possible explanation! What about The Devil’s Punch Bowl? This is another very odd name. It seems (according to “Portrait of S.W Surrey” by Jane Brown from the early 1980’s) to have “arrived” in the district around the mid-18th century, roughly at the same time as the neighbouring Devil’s Jumps. The first recorded mention of the name is on John Rocque’s map of 1768 where the area is labelled “Hackham Bottom or Devil’s Punch Bowl”. The Devil’s Jumps also appear on this map, but it is interesting that this name also appears on an earlier map by John Senex in 1729. On that same map the site of the Devil’s Punch Bowl is simply shown as Hackham Bottom, which suggests that the Devil got the Jumps before the Punch Bowl! The name Hackham is probably derived from an ancient place name “Hegcumbe” meaning a hay-combe or meadow in a valley, a reference to the meadows that occupied the northern part of the valley before the gorse took over. There is a road map by John Ogilby dated 1675 of the London to Portsmouth Road and as this is fairly large scale it should surely show the Devil’s Punch Bowl, if it were known as such – but it does not; it only shows the name Hindhead. Why the devil the Devil suddenly came to this corner of Surrey in the mid 1700’s, it is difficult to say. An alternative origin to the name Thursley is that the name is related to “Thor’s Ley”, which dates back to the Danish occupation of Surrey in the 9th century. Thor was the Scandinavian Vikings God of war and folklore has it that Thor made war on the Devil, who had annoyed him, by jumping from hill to hill – hence the name Devil’s Jumps. One day Thor caught him in the act and bowled him over with a stone – they say you can still see the stone on the Jumps! However, the delay of nine centuries before the name stuck, is somewhat tardy, so believe what you will! The name Devil’s Punch Bowl, coupled with the wilderness of the landscape, has always conjured up vivid imagery, and Charles Dickens made use of this very cleverly in the following passage from Nicholas Nickleby: To Godalming they came at last, and here they bargained for two humble beds, and slept soundly. In the morning they were astir, though not quite so early as the sun, and again afoot; if not with all the freshness of yesterday, still with enough hope and spirit to bear them cheerily on. They walked upon the rim of the Devil’s Punch Bowl: and Smirke listened with greedy interest as Nicholas read the inscription upon the stone which reared upon that wild spot, telling of a murder committed there by night. The grass upon which they stood, had once been dyed with gore; and the blood of the murdered man had run down drop by drop into the hollow which gives the place its name. “The Devil’s Punch Bowl” thought Nicholas, as he looked into the void, “never held fitter liquor than that!” Nowadays, the Punch Bowl is a well-known walking and beauty spot but as Charles Dickens implies, it has had its share of dark and sinister times. The sailor’s murder referred to above by Dickens, is a part of Thursley’s history, but for those not familiar with it, it’s worth repeating. Next month’s subject! Incidentally, The History Society recently unearthed an old Tithe map of Thursley dated 1846, which lists all the field names around the village. It goes a long way towards explaining some of our house names. We are in the process of getting it framed and it will be on display at the upcoming VE Day exhibition on 14th November in the Village Hall. It’s interesting to note that the majority of land in Thursley was then owned by either Lord Middleton or Henry Yaldon Knowles. I don’t claim to know all the house names in the parish, but I can’t remember seeing anything known as The Rumpy, Dunghill, Upper Bottoms or indeed Lower Bottoms! I would love to stand corrected though. Remember to email if you have any queries or points of interest; thursleyhistorysociety@gmail.com. Postcard circa 1933