This marvellous presentation was given to the Thursley History Society by Sean Edwards in 2013. His talk was introduced by Peter Clake Sean covered these areas in his presentation and talk: THURSLEY HISTORY SOCIETY MEETING, 24 January 2013: THE THURSLEY TITHE MAPS PETER CLAKE: WHAT ARE TITHES? Peter Clake opened proceedings with a brief talk putting Sean’s talk into its wider historical context. The tithe was a system that had existed for over a thousand years in England before the Thursley Tithe Map of 1849 was produced. Originally it was a payment of one tenth of yearly profits from farming made by parishioners in the locality to support their local parish church and clergy. At first the payments were ‘in kind’, consisting of grain, wood, vegetables and other products. Tithe barns were built to accommodate them. Over the centuries some changes were made in the system – the most important being the substitution of money payments for payments ‘in kind’ in some areas. Also, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, much church land passed into lay control and local lords of the manor took on the tithe rights. However the system was still functioning in the early nineteenth century and Thursley’s tithe map of 1849 was a direct consequence of the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836. This Act laid down that a money payment should be made in all parishes. It also appointed Tithe Commissioners to go round the country and get up to date evidence of the boundaries, acreage and the state of cultivation of each tithe area. This extensive survey led eventually to the drawing of official maps for each parish and the Thursley Tithe Map of 1849 gives us valuable insight into our area, as we were to learn from Sean’s talk. SEAN EDWARDS: A WALK THROUGH TIME CRITCHET FIELDS Sean explained how his interest started in 2005 from a reference to the ‘Critchet Fields’ somewhere in Thursley, mentioned in Walter de Gray Birch’s Cartularium Saxonicum (188593) as being part of the bounds of the Bishop of Winchester’s manor in 1150 AD. This meant a trip to the Surrey History Centre in Woking to see the Tithe Maps and their associated Apportionment of the Rent-Charge in lieu of Tithes volume. The maps gave only numbers but no names, which had to be found from the unindexed volume by a dip-stick approach – timeconsuming. But the reward was the wealth of information serendipitously revealed. The Critchet Fields were found running along Smallbrook Valley north of Brook Cottage, with the Upper Critchet Field being just below the Cricket Pavilion, prompting a bad joke about the origin of cricket in Thursley. In fact the name probably derives from the Saxon ‘Crudan Sceat’, meaning Cruda’s nook of land. BEAN LAND Other parts of Thursley looked at included the core of the village, Punch Bowl Farm, and the ‘Tweedsmuir Camp’ site, previously ‘Bean Land’. Field beans were probably grown there since their persistent roots help to protect against erosion on slopes in winter. Old photographs from the Thursley History Society archives provided lovely images from 1901, pre-Tweedsmuir and post-bean, including of the now-drained canal and ruined stone bridge. Much had evidently been well-kept parkland with the canal as a feature, where Thursley ladies in boaters elegantly desported themselves. DVDs AND WARPED LAYERS The publication in 2011 of the Tithe Maps and Apportionments on DVD, encouraged further work on the tithe maps from both Thursley and Elstead – present day Thursley includes parts of both 1849 parishes. Comparing the 1849 map with present Ordnance Survey maps showed both the astonishing accuracy of the tithe maps on a small scale, but a fairly large drift across distances – and also some lack of communication between the Thursley and Elstead mappers along the Smallbrook mutual boundary. The combined tithe maps were overlaid (as a Photoshop layer) onto one of several existing layered maps of Thursley that Sean had been working on, and re-sized and rotated to fit as well as possible. But the large-scale drift meant that when some parts were aligned, then other parts were fields adrift. So the tithe map layer was then ‘warped’ in Photoshop, like a stretchy table-cloth, area by area, so it aligned overall. The tithe map layer was then accurately redrawn. This layering – like overlaid acetate sheets – allowed direct comparisons between the tithe map and modern day maps. It also allowed comparison with the other layers, including geology, local names, footpaths, maps from other periods, and so on – 30 layers in the main mapset, with other layered mapsets at different scales. For maps of different dates, it allows fading from one time to another – a “walk through time”. The present extent of the transformed tithe map is from north of the Truxford Kink, south to include the habitations in the Punch Bowl. It extends east from Pitch Place, to beyond the old Red Lion pub. A similar sized extension to the north-east includes the Hammer Ponds. Further extensions are ongoing. THURSLEY COMMON Sean also showed his first Thursley mapping in 1967/8 (now digitized and incorporated as a layer), of 26 acres of the boggy vegetation of the Common; this required 6,000 triangulated points using an old army ‘pill-box’ prismatic compass. In 2006 he found that GPS made mapping of the big fire easier. Computers now enable accurate measurements – for example the fire, allowing for outliers and inliers, covered 565 acres. THE TOLL HOUSE We then looked closer at a few areas, including the old Toll House on the London/Portsmouth road. By comparing all available maps, the site of the toll house could be located to within a metre or so. It had stood on the north-bound side of the road, but the pre-tunnel A3 was moved further to the west and the site buried under the layby on the south-bound carriageway where the dualling ceased. When the tunnel was built, the road moved back east, with the site returning to the edge of the north-bound, just as it had started. The site, somewhat disturbingly, is almost exactly where the Bestival coach left the road on 10 September 2012, and for which no explanation has yet been confirmed. Photos were shown of our vice-president Michael O’Brien standing just above the site, with the oak tree that was hit, behind him. The presentation can be downloaded into a PowerPoint document: Here are Sean's lecture notes for the presentation and you can download the Thursley_Tithes_Lecture_Notes.pdf onto another device, such as your 'phone, to follow the talk with the slides. The slide-change cues are in the notes.":

Thanks to Amanda Flint, Andy and Siobhan's research for their family tree was brought to the attention of Thursley History Society The complete story can be found here: Another page from the document: Following an enquiry from the society, Andy Franks sent this information: I started my research during lockdown. I was on furlough from my job as a TEFL teacher at a language school in London, living in Croydon. Until then, to me Thursley was just a sign on the A3! I've used ancestry.co.uk and also my own research. People in Thursley have been incredibly helpful. I went on a walk of former Franks family residences in Thursley last year with Amanda and Mike, and Amanda found what appears to be the only remaining Franks grave in the churchyard after I sent her a photo of it. Amanda introduced me to Sally when I visited the farm. So far I have found records of 162 Franks baptisms, burials and marriages at the church in Thursley. The first was a 1623 baptism, spelt Francis, and the first with the current spelling Franks is the marriage of William Numan and Margaret Franks in 1695. The last is the burial of Elizabeth Franks in 1905, who died in Hambledon Infirmary aged 86. Of course, there would be many more of people related to Franks who had different surnames. Areas in and around Thursley where the Franks lived include High Field, The Street, Thursley lane, Back Lane, Hedge, Hedge Cottage, Hedge place, Pitland House, Pit Farm, North Place, Warren lodge, Creed Hole, Lower Hole (and just Hole), Ridgeway, Cosford (Cosford Farm and Mill Cottage), Thursley Common, Truxford, the Poor House, Bowlers Green, Bowlhead Green, Smallbrooke (Die House Road), Bramley Stables, and Hambledon Workhouse. In the mid 1800s there were a number of Franks residences around Thursley. In Guy Singer's book 'Tales of a Country Churchyard' there is one shown on the 1847 Tithe Map. In 1861, Richard Franks (I think my great, great, great, great grandfather) was the farmer at Pitlands Farm. The remaining grave in the churchyard we found is of George Franks, a sawyer, who died in 1878, his wife Mary Anne (died 1886), and four daughters, three of whom at least died young (Naomi and Annie Harriet aged 8 and Ruth aged 13). George lived in Bowlhead Green but was recorded as living in Battersea in 1861 before returning to the area to Thursley Common. I believe I can now trace my direct ancestry back to my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Henry Franks, who was buried in Thursley in 1763. There then followed three Richards on the family line until (definitely) my great, great, great grandfather William Franks was born in Chiddingfold in 1811 and his son (great, great grandfather) Nelson was baptised in Chiddingfold in 1841. His mother, William's wife Charlotte, was buried there the same day so presumably she died giving birth to Nelson. In fact, two and possibly three of Nelson's young siblings died the following year within days of each other and soon after that William appears to have remarried and left the area. In 1851 Nelson is recorded as living with Charlotte's family in Dunsfold, aged 10. At age 21 in 1861 he is a groom (like his father) at Bramley stables. I can't yet definitively place the aforementioned George Franks whose grave remains in the churchyard at Thursley on my family tree, but there are a couple of connections. Great, great grandfather Nelson had a daughter Mary Anne, a reference possibly to George's wife who as I say is buried with him. Also, I believe that great, great, great grandfather William died in 1850 in Wandsworth, around the same time that George was living in nearby Battersea (or maybe they were at the same address). William left everything to his sister Elizabeth, not Nelson. There are also connections to other families who I believe still live in Thursley, the Keens and the Boxalls. In fact, Nelson's aforementioned daughter Mary Anne married a Francis Keen in 1897. Although they were living in Maidenhead by then, there may well be a connection with the Thursley Keens. In 1895 Walter Frank Keen married Elizabeth Franks in Thursley, and I believe they and their family are buried in the churchyard (Elizabeth died in 1931). In 1876 a William Franks married Fanny Boxall in Thursley. In 1891 there is a young Alexander Boxall living with Thomas and Ellen Franks in Godalming. There are also many Franks links to Witley, Chiddingfold and other nearby places. In Godalming museum there is a grave board from Witley churchyard from 1689 for An Franks, daughter of Robert Franks, and still in Witley church is a lavabo from 1910 in memory of an Annie Elizabeth Franks. The Franks would obviously have been well known and established in the area. In his diary, the Reverand John Chandler, Vicar of Witley wrote: July 5th 1835 Saw Mrs. Weston, who is ill and keeps her bed; afterwards walked to Bowler’s Green; saw Mrs. Lillywhite and her husband, the Berrys, the Courts & Mrs. Craft, who had the Lower House people to tea. Then to Mr. Gele’s where I saw the Riddells; then to Franks, where I saw him and his wife and had some talk. July 26th 1835 Set out for Thursley before ½ past 8, and got to Thursley by ½ past 9; read prayers to the school and heard some of the boys; gave a Bible to Mrs. Franks for William, who is left; pretty good congregation in Church. Heard the school girls at Witley, and preached the same sermon in Church; not very many there, especially in the singer’s gallery, but pretty well altogether. Le Maire’s boy came with his sister; singing did tolerably… In terms of post Thursley history, my great, great grandfather Nelson moved from Bramley stables to Hill Stables in Wargrave, Berkshire and became a Marine Stores shop keeper in Maidenhead, then 'a dealer in rags and metal'. His son, great grandfather John, was the lock keeper at Bell Weir Lock on the Thames in Egham (his brother William Nelson - names running in the family! - was also a lock keeper at the nearby Romney Lock). His son, grandfather Phillip, moved to the Midlands and his son was my father Neil, who took over Phillip's machine tool merchant business. I was born in the Midlands but after university in Edinburgh and then living in London for 25 years I now live in Battle in East Sussex. Most recently, and following my foray into ancestry and records, I've been working as a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for East Sussex County Council!

Thursley Village Hall has hosted a number of theatre plays over the years. Photographs by Valérie Ferris and posters courtesy Clea Beechey The Launch Party by Farnham Maltings was held on 13 November 2016 Another production by Farnham Maltings was in 2017 This play started in the Church, processed through the village and ended in the village hall Abigail's Party is always a treat, even in the time of Covid: The latest play from Farnham Maltings, The Band Back Together, was held in the village hall on Sunday, 7th April:

Waverley Borough Council, 14th March 2012. With thanks to Sean Edwards.

This census has been analysed (see below) and compared to the 2001 Thursley census. While the population has not grown significantly, there has been a major shift from young to old.

With a note from Norman Ratcliffe of Happy Families Ancestral Research. The pdf can be downloaded below.

A talk by ANGELA YOUNG organised by Thursley History Society Advertisement for the talk Report on the talk The History Society was very lucky in being able to engage Angela Young to come and talk to us about her research into the Sinking of RMS Titanic.   She was doing this for a novel she intended to write and the more she researched, the more she discovered interesting things about her great grandmother the Countess of Rothes and Able Seaman Thomas Jones.  She decided that this was too serious a subject to include in a novel so she turned all the facts into talk about the Titanic.  The talk lasted about 45 minutes, but there was a hiccough at the beginning as her laptop would not work.  She was extremely cool about the whole mishap and luckily Tim Walsh came to the rescue and drove home to collect his laptop and saved the evening.  Angela delivered her talk in a most captivating manner, her voice and delivery were magical and at the end of the talk there was not a sound from the audience.  You could have heard a pin drop.  It was such an eye-opener to be taken into the lives of two characters who interacted on this tragic night.  The novel she has written – “The Dance of Love” (not on the topic of The Titanic) was for sale at the end of the evening. Our thanks go to her as well as to Sarah Grillo for her delicious eaty-bits, but most of all to Tim Walsh.    A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

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

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