See separate entries for Badgers, Shepherd's Cottage, Pax Cottage and Olde Hall. Photographs only PAX COTTAGE* OAK COTTAGE Mr and Mrs Croft of Oak Cottage. He was a chimney sweep and she was a midwife. Previous owners of Oak Cottage include: Yalden Tone and Rodney Badcock outside Oak Cottage, September 1947 ROSE COTTAGE Property particulars in September 2025: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160192829#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage&channel=RES_BUY HAZEL COTTAGE Painting by C W Cooper, 1948 From 2017 sales particulars BADGERS* SHEPHERD'S COTTAGE* Surnames of former owners of Shepherd's Cottage include: Winter; Twyman. Holman OLDE HALL* A Mystery Solved! The photograph below has long mystified the society and despite its appearance in the Parish Magazine, nobody came forward to identify it. Step forward committee member, Sally Scheffers who would not let it go and continued to ask around. Finally the suggestion that it was the original front of the Back Lane cottages (ie Oak Cottage, Pax Cottage) was confirmed as you can see from the contemporary photographs. Cottages in Back Lane

This article was written by Jackie Rickenberg for the Parish Magazine Undated studio portrait in the archive On Christmas Eve 1919, Walter Wright sold Rock Cottage, at the very top of Highfield Lane at the head of the Valley of the Rocks, to the President of the Board of Education (what would now be the Secretary of State) H A L Fisher. In fact, it was not Herbert Fisher who made the decision to buy Rock Cottage – it was his wife Lettice (at the time they had a seven-year-old daughter called Mary). She committed them to the purchase on the basis of one brief visit, being largely persuaded by the fact that Walter Wright’s daughter who was residing in the property during this visit, was called Lettice Mary! H A L Fisher and Lettice Ilbert in Oxford Fisher was born in London in 1865, the eldest son of eleven children. Direct relatives included brother-in-law, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and first cousins Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell, and his godfather was the Prince Consort. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford and it was there he took up his first post as a tutor in Modern History. By 1913 he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and by 1916 Fisher was elected Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam. He joined David Lloyd George’s government as President of the Board of Education. And of course, Lloyd George became Churt’s most famous resident a year later. Coincidence, or were they close? He was sworn on the Privy Council, therefore becoming The Right Honourable, and it was in this post that he was instrumental in the formulation of the Education Act 1918, which made school attendance compulsory for children up to the age 14. Fisher was also responsible for the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act 1918, which provided pension provision for all teachers. So, when Herbert Fisher bought Rock Cottage a year later, in 1919, he was already a committed, hard-working MP and government minister and remained so for a further 7 years. When he retired from politics in 1926, at the age of 61, he took up the post of warden of New College, Oxford which he held until his death. During his long, illustrious career he served on the British Academy, the British Museum, the Rhodes Trustees, the National Trust, The Governing Body of Winchester College, the London Library and the BBC. In 1939, he was appointed the first chairman of the Appellate Tribunal for Conscientious Objectors. Unfortunately, this inadvertently would be responsible for his demise on 18th April 1940. Two letters (above and below) discussing the use of H.A.L.Fisher's underwear On this date, whilst in London to sit on a Conscientious Objectors’ Tribunal during a blackout on what was called a London “pea souper”, H A L Fisher was knocked down by a lorry and died in St Thomas’s Hospital. Now, what was it about this honourable man’s life and ultimately, his death, that made it into a best-selling book and film? Well, bizarrely it was his underpants. You see, Fisher had left a few of his possessions - clothes, his library of books, etc in New College, Oxford and they were still there a couple of years later, when in 1943, Operation Mincemeat was being planned and executed. This is now the name of the best-selling book by Ben Macintyre and a film starring Colin Firth. Operation Mincemeat was a British Intelligence operation to deceive enemy forces, where they undertook the invention of a false Royal Marines officer, whose body was to be dropped at sea in the hope the false intelligence it carried, would be believed. It was, indeed, a success and was responsible for misleading German intelligence and possibly influencing the eventual outcome of the war. The following excerpt from the book, explains the details that joined the otherwise unlikely chain of events: “Underwear was a more ticklish problem. Cholmondeley, (intelligence officer) understandably, was unwilling to surrender his own, since good underwear was hard to come by in rationed, wartime Britain. They consulted John Masterman, Oxford academic and chairman of the Twenty Committee, who came up with a scholarly solution that was also personally satisfying. “The difficulty of obtaining underclothes, owing to the system of coupon rationing”, wrote Masterman “was overcome by the acceptance of a gift of thick underwear from the wardrobe of the late Warden of New College, Oxford”. Major Martin (the corpse’s new identity) would be kitted out with the flannel vest and underpants of none other than H A L Fisher, the distinguished Oxford historian and former President of the Board of Education in Lloyd George’s Cabinet. John Masterman and H A L Fisher had both taught history at Oxford in the 1920’s, and had long enjoyed a fierce academic rivalry. Fisher was a figure of ponderous grandeur and gravity who ran New College, according to one colleague, as “one enormous mausoleum”. Masterman considered him long-winded and pompous. Fisher had been run over and killed by a lorry while attending a tribunal examining the appeals of conscientious objectors, of which he was chairman. The obituaries paid resounding tribute to his intellectual and academic stature, which nettled Masterman. Putting the great man’s underclothes on a dead body and floating it into German hands was just the sort of joke that appealed to his odd sense of humour. Masterman described the underwear as a “gift”; it seems far more likely that he simply arranged for the dead don’s drawers to be pressed into war service”. H A L Fisher, lower left, tutor to future King Edward VII (top).

The purpose of the visit was to assess whether two early 20th century terracotta memorials in the churchyard may have been made at the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild at the Watts Gallery, Compton. The assessment was made by Penny Hines, Collections Curator, Watts Gallery, Compton, with Sally Scheffers, Chair, Thursley History Society, Amanda Flint, Churchyard Working Party and Penny Streeter in attendance. 1. The Tozer Memorial Marjorie Anne Tozer (1902-1911) and Francis Spernon Tozer (1903-1920) 51.14682° N, 0.71326° W. On entering the churchyard along the path in front of Church Cottages, the memorial is approximately 9m to the right, beside the wall. Height of cross 1.2m. Maximum width and length of plot as marked by kerbs 0.97m x 2.09m. The Curator confirmed the memorial as Compton style. The colour of the pottery matches the date of the second recorded Tozer burial (1920): a red terracotta local to Compton was used around this time, changing to a greyish material as the seam dried up. The Celtic cross form bears a similarity to the memorial made as a tribute to George Watts (died 1904) which is in the gardens of Limnerlease. Mary Watts, Celtic cross memorial to George Watts, c.1904 The Thursley memorial is plainer, not especially ornate. The Tozer memorial is thus an example of Arts and Crafts style. The Compton grave memorials were custom made but as far as the Gallery is aware the order books, which might have confirmed the memorials’ manufacture, did not survive the 1956 closure of the Pottery as a commercial business. The body of the memorial would have been press moulded. This is a rapid and cost efficient process and thus a cheaper option than an engraved headstone. Fabrication would have been in sections and the sections built up to form the finished piece. The kerbs, each with rivets, are very typical of Compton style graves and they too would have been press moulded. Lichen on the memorials is not an issue. The Curator reassured us that despite cracks the memorial is in really good condition. She rubbed a finger over the memorial and confirmed it was not ‘sugary’. The biggest threat is water and frost. It was suggested that when frosts are severe (e.g. below -5°) the memorial could be covered over. We could also photograph the cracks four times a year over a two year period to monitor the condition. The inscription is also typical. The headstones were moulded and the letters were carved afterwards by removing the clay so the letters were prominent. The inscription ‘Resurgam’, I will rise again, has no known artistic connotations at this point and is likely to be a matter of family choice; however, from at least the 17th century, it was frequently used on graves and war memorials to indicate triumph of death or extreme adversity. 2. The Eva Florence Wonham (d.1929) Memorial 51.14664° N, 0.71444° W This small red memorial stone lies between the Garden of Remembrance and the Smallbrook path. Until this year it was largely concealed by growth from the so-called Sarcophagus Box. Height 0.27m, Width 0.27m, Length 0.43m The Curator confirmed this memorial too is of Compton style, the colour is consistent with the Compton clay. It is a lower cost memorial than the Tozer cross. It might even have been intended as a temporary grave marker. Manufacture would have been the same as for the Tozer memorial. The damage across the top may have been caused by a fault in the actual terracotta body during manufacture. It is also worth noting that the grave markers have metal rods in the middle around which the “parts” are built. If these start to rust they can start cracking the terracotta. This reinforces the importance of monitoring the effects of moisture on these memorials. Alternatively the damage may have been caused by accident. The Curator’s visit and expertise were sincerely appreciated. She kindly donated a copy of Mary Seton Watts and the Compton Pottery by Hilary Calvert and Louise Boreham. We gave her a copy of Tales from a Country Churchyard by Guy J. Singer. The Pottery book will eventually be housed in the History Society Archive. She also suggested visiting the parish church of St John the Evangelist in Churt where there is a First World War memorial, also the work of Mary Watts and executed by the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild. Visit to the parish church of St John the Evangelist, Churt, 13 July 2026 by Amanda Flint and Penny Streeter. There are two memorial tablets in the church of similar manufacture and lettering to the Thursley churchyard memorials. A large tablet commemorates those who fought in the First World War including, sympathetically, those who survived and came home. The second tablet, in the same style, is dedicated to Canadian infantry soldiers whose colours were deposited in the church for safe keeping. Apart from the Watts link, there were two other areas of interest connected to Thursley. In both parishes the Canadians were a significant presence during WWl. Secondly, certain family names recur in both parishes: for example, Boxall, Chandler, Daubeney, Larby, Voller and others.

This remarkable collection of old postcards was put together over many years by Kay Cottle. Her husband, John Gunner, has bequeathed the collection to the Godalming Museum. In the main, the back of the postcards are blank but occasionally, when the message is legible or interesting, it has been reproduced. Places of interest include: Bowlhead Green; Cosford House and Cosford Mill; Devil's Jumps & The Devil's Punch Bowl; Gibbet Hill & Gibbet Cross; Hindhead; Lea Park; Murder of the Unkown Sailor; Old Parsonage, Hill Farm House and other houses and cottages of note; Red Lion Inn and The Three Horseshoes; St Michael & All Saints Church Thursley and Thursley Common; Witley Camp; Witley Park. Bowlers (now Bowlhead) Green; Brook Cottage and Horn Cottage; Broom Squire's Cottage; The Camp Churt Road to the Pride of The Valley; The Clump; Thursley Common; Cosford House; Cosford Mill Thursley Cricket Field; Devil's Jumps; Devil's Punch Bowl Devil's Punchbowl; The Dye House; Entrance to Thursley; The Four Brothers; View of Thursley; Greetings from Hindhead; Greetings from Thursley; Greetings from Witley Camp Greetings from Witley Camp; The Half Moon, Thursley; Hammer Pond; Heath View; Hill Farm; The Hindhead Story (aka The Sailor's Murder), a collection of hand coloured postcards Hindhead, Devil's Punch Bowl; Hindhead, Devil's Punch Bowl, Keeper's Cottage; Huts Corner, Hindhead; The Institute; Kettlebury, Thursley; Lea Park House; Lea Park Lake; Lea Park; Lea Park, The Fountain; The Lookout, Hindhead; Milford Camp, 1903 Milford Camp; Old Dame School; Old Parsonage; Peperharow, Yew Hedge; Pitch Place, Portsmouth Road Post Office, Thursley; Punch Bowl Farm; Red Lion Inn; Red Lion Inn, Thursley, The Garden from the South; Red Lion, Thursley; Red Lion Inn and Portsmouth Road; Red Lion Inn and Red Lion Garage, 1925; The Ridgeway; Rocky Lane, Thursley The Royal Huts Hotel; The Sailor's Stone, Hindhead; Sailor's Stone and Gibbet Hill; Sailor's Stone and Devil's Punch Bowl; The Sailor's Tombstone, Thursley Churchyard; Scenes of Beauty in and Around Thursley (Brook Cottage and Horn Cottage); Smallbrook Farm, Thursley; The Stream, Thursley; The Street, Thursley. The Street; The Three Horseshoes; Thursley - view; Thursley Church Thursley Church; Thursley Common, Pathway to Moat; Thursley War Memorial; Thursley, In Denvil Copse; Thursley Sign; Thursley - views; Thursley, The Firs; Thursley, The Hollow; Thursley - view; Truxford The Vicarage; View at Brook; View at Thursley; View from Devil's Jumps; View from Gibbet Hill; View near Gibbet Hill; View from Gibbet Cross; View from Thursley Church; View in Thursley; "Peace" in Thursley Views of Thursley; Village Hall; The Street; Village, Thursley; Village, Thursley; White Horse, Hindhead; Winding Road, Hindhead; Witley Camp, "I'm Thinking of You Everyday; Witley Camp Post Office View from Racks Close from a postcard posted in 1910. The two large deciduous trees are no longer there and on the left is the granary of Hill Farm Barns, then Hill Farm House, The Old Parsonage, HatchCottages and St Michael & All Angels. Witley Camp Witley Park

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in August 2021 After reading about Shepherd’s Cottage in last month’s article, Anne Treadwell, a Bowlhead Green resident, wondered whether we could shed some light on the origins and past residents of Emley Farm, in Bowlhead Green. Some of you may be familiar with this, now National Trust owned, property as it is one of the oldest and most prominent houses within the Parish of Thursley. The oldest portion of the Grade 2 listed Emley Farm is the rear section. It was a four-bay timber-framed smoke bay house with many characteristics of immediately post medieval period, circa 1550-1590. The remainder of the house is early seventeenth century, with the front porch being added in the later nineteenth century and then the timber framed bathroom wing added in the 1920’s. The bay window in the study is believed to have come from nearby Cosford House. The house also boasts one of the best-preserved bread ovens and a brick lined well 140 feet deep, the deepest in Thursley. Access to the well would originally have been at floor level and is now built around. It is said that donkeys were used to raise the water and they were reportedly kept in the cellar. The house has five bedrooms and bedroom 4 is known as the Witches Room as it was the dressing room used by the children for dressing up at Halloween. Outside there are wonderful barns, a granary and extensive farm buildings, used for the traditional mix of arable and pasture farming (although at the turn of the 1800’s, it was predominately a turnip growing farm). Emley was once part of Witley Park Estate and from the early 1800’s was lived in by the Loring family. A Loring daughter married Colonel Vesey and they lived at Emley until 1929. Emley was the Vesey’s country house as the following advertisement in the West Sussex Gazette of 31st July 1924 would indicate; “Cook and betweenmaid wanted end Aug. Cook about 30, betweenmaid about 15. Two in family; two in nursery. House-parlourmaid, nurse and nursery nurse kept. Town and country. Apply Mrs Vesey. (Two things. How employment law has changed and secondly, remarkable really that I have lived until this age without the services of a betweenmaid being essential!). Shortly after the Vesey’s left, the farm was then occupied by Mr Bertram Austin, a retired Royal Artillery Colonel who, tragically, had two prosthetic legs after being blown up in the Great War. In those days prosthetic limb technology had, sadly, not quite reached the awe-inspiring levels it deserves today. It was reported that “Mr Austin never oiled his legs and every Sunday would squeak as he walked up the aisle for the service”. Despite his disability Bertram Austin went on to successfully race cars at Brookwood circuit. Col. Austin had bought a new Bugatti, directly from a Paris showroom and drove it back to his Surrey farmhouse. He was undoubtedly a man of some spirit as he had his new Bugatti modified to accommodate his disability, creating a hole in the scuttle and fitting larger pads on the control pedals. He left Emley in 1948 to live in Cornwall. Circa 1920's, Captain Bertram Austin racing his Bugatti at Brooklands. The author and lecturer, who lost both of his legs on the Somme, took part in the Spring meeting of the Junior Car Club at Brooklands (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) The fallen gravestone of Bertram Herbert Austen MBE, 1896 - 1966, in Thursley churchyard Another resident was Dr Dennison, who bought the farm in 1953 for £11,000, later buying another two boggy fields, which until then had been part of Begley Farm. It was after his death in 1991 that Emley Farm was bequeathed to the National Trust and more restoration work was carried out. It is now available for rent and among the various domestic details about the farmhouse on their website, comes the warning “Long eared bats roost in the loft at this cottage. If a bat gets into the living room during your stay, please open a window to allow it to escape”! Incidentally, Emley was originally called Imbeleg in its early days. The first element is the Old English “imbe”, meaning a swarm of bees i.e., the place where the bees swarm. An aside. Whilst researching this article, I came across this hysterical article from the Nottingham Evening Post of 2 Nov 1919: COAT, NOT GOAT. COMEDY OF A TELEPHONE CALL AND ITS SEQUEL. Hello! Is that you? Please meet me the station -with the car, and bring a coat." Dench was chauffeur at Lower House, Bowlhead Green. Godalming, and, during a telephone call, was puzzled to hear his mistress (as he thought) request him to bring a goat to the station in the motorcar. As his mistress kept goats, he obeyed. But the strange cargo attracted the attention of the police, with the result that a summons was taken out against the faithful chauffeur for " moving a goat contrary to the Surrey Foot and Mouth Disease Order." The explanation was made to the court yesterday and amid general hilarity, the case was dismissed. Here is an article on the restoration of Emley Farm: https://surreyhills.org/fipl-barn-restoration-emley-farm/

There is no obvious connection between John Freeman, the poet, and Thursley, but he is buried in our churchyard. He must have visited the village, liked it and somehow obtained permission to be buried here. His friends, probably the circle of Georgian poets, including Walter de la Mare and Alice Meynell, bought the field next to the churchyard and gave it to the National Trust in his memory. From Allpoetry.com: John Freeman was a poet whose work reflects the asethetic principles of the Georgian era in British literature. This period, which roughly spanned the first two decades of the 20th century, was marked by a renewed interest in traditional forms and a focus on rural life and themes of nature. From A Dictionary of Methodism: Poet and critic, born into a WM family at Dalston, Middx on 29 January 1880. His health was permanently impaired by scarlet fever in early childhood. At 13 he joined the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society as a junior clerk and spent the rest of his life in its employ, rising to become Secretary and Director in 1927 and a leading figure in the insurance world. He was a local preacher. But he was more widely known in the literary world, where he contributed to Edward Marsh's Georgian Poets anthologies and enjoyed the friendship of such figures as Alice Meynell, Walter de la Mare and J.C. Squire. His friend Edward Thomas called him 'a sort of angel' and Eleanor Farjeon described him as a 'quiet poet ... gentle, with a fine sensitive mind, and qualities which made his plain features lovable.' After Thomas's death, she collaborated with Freeman in seeing Thomas's first volume of poems through the press. His own first book of poems, published in 1909, was followed by several others, marked by his 'grave and quiet rhythms' and including Stone Trees (1916) which gained him recognition. Poems New and Old (1920) won him the Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature. His Collected Poems appeared in 1928. He wrote on literary matters for the New Statesman, The Bookman, the Quarterly Review,and the London Mercury and his prose works included a Portrait of George Moore (1922), English Portraits (1924), Herman Melville (1926) and a play Prince Absalom (1925). He died on 23 Sept. 1929 and his funeral service at Anerley WM Church was conducted by his fellow poet, Andrew Young, then a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He was interred at Thursley, Surrey, where a field adjoining the churchyard was given to the National Trust in his memory. 'Meanwhile de la Mare came to know a poet friend of Roger Ingpen's … John Freeman, who like himself was in business - a great deal more successfully than de la Mare. He had begun life as an office boy at thirteen, and became in time the Secretary of his insurance company, the Liverpool Victoria. Like de la Mare, he would come home at the end of an eight- or nine-hour working day in the City, to write verses late into the night. He was also a copious correspondent and very well read. Tall, gangling, ugly, solemn, punctilious, there was in him an endearing quality about these very attributes; Edward Thomas referred to him as "a kind of Angel", and de la Mare, after his death, described even his physical appearance in phrases that suggest beauty - "beautiful brows", and ruminative eyes "of a peculiarly ardent blue".' Theresa Whistler, Imagination of the Heart: the life of Walter de la Mare (1993), pp.127-8 A later photograph of John Freeman taken from the frontispiece of "John Freeman's Letters", edited by Gertrude Freeman and Sir John Squire, Macmilland & Co Ltd 1936. This delightful extract which describes Thursley and mentions John Freeman is from "Solo and Duet" by Sir John Squire: (But I was still on the bench at the Thursley Cricket Ground.) It was almost too hot to move, but very pleasant up there with the commons below, ridge after ridge of hills fading behind them and, in the other direction, the red roofs of the village outskirts. It would have been pleasant to stay there, or to tread again the old street of cottages and climb to churchyard and church and Rapley's farm which has King John walls in it. The church has newly discovered Saxon windows with the original wooden frames in them; it has also a magnificent lot of oak supporting roof and tower. And in the churchyard by the wall, above the steep declivity, there is a tombstone bearing the inscription "John Freeman, Poet", for there lies there, within sight of Crooksbury Beacon and in the heart of the country of Cobbett, whom he loved one of the strongest, most delicate, most profound, and most neglected of poets of our time. But I had set myself a long Journey that day; I wanted to get as near Winchester as I could; I should have to stop for lunch; and it was already half-past eleven. So I rose, and marched off to rejoin the main road, which climbs for three miles or so until it reaches Hindhead, the Punchbowl, and the monument of the murdered sailor. This letter also appeared in the book: Monday. 1928 Dear Jack I am tired and so, casting up my Sins, I remember I've not said a word (more than hasty "saying") of thanks to you for your part in my Selected Poems. You know they are due this Spring, and that I've actually had a spoonful of money from the divine Macmillans on a/c? I ought to have told you before: I ought to have typed you a letter in Capitals, all in Red, with a huge "thanks" at the top; but being uncivilized, though nor forgetful, I didn't. And thinking I must write I remembered that for fourteen or fifteen years you've printed my verse with suh blind and incomprehensible readiness as no editor has ever shewn to another poet. They are dozens, scores, hundreds-short and long, rhymed and rhymeless: you must be horrified to look back and remember. If at the end of a long life you have to make your peace with the Recording Angel (a malicious fellow, he!) and other virtues are dismissed with contempt and other charities declared folly, if then you speak of these many wise and kind indulgences, that Angel will be convinced you are the kindest of friends-and the best of critics. O rare conjunction! This is nonsense: I am tired, as you will see. Ever J.F. From Wikipedia: John Frederick Freeman (29 January 1880 – 23 September 1929) was an English poet and essayist, who gave up a successful career in insurance to write full-time. He was born in London, and started as an office boy aged 13. He was a close friend of Walter de la Mare from 1907, who lobbied hard with Edward Marsh to get Freeman into the Georgian Poetry series; with eventual success. De la Mare's biographer Theresa Whistler describes him as "tall, gangling, ugly, solemn, punctilious". He won the Hawthornden Prize in 1920 with Poems 1909-1920. His Last Hours was set to music by Ivor Gurney. From a newspaper article dated 27th November 1987 He died on 23rd September 1929 and probate was granted to his widow, Gertrude Frances Freeman, on 14 January 1930 leaving £3,745. John Freeman's headstone in Thursley Churchyard: John Freeman's gravestone with 'bird bath' exposed. This stone, set into the wall of the churchyard and juxtaposed to John Freeman's headstone, has this inscription: THE ADJOINING FIELD WAS PRESENTED TO THE NATIONAL TRUST IN 1931 FOR PRESERVATION AS A MEMORIAL TO JOHN FREEMAN BORN 29 JAN 1880 DIED 23 SEPT 1929 The view across the National Trust field with John Freeman's grave, and the inscribed stone in the wall, in the foreground John Freeman's poetry: Here are two examples of his verse: from MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD AND OTHER POEMS; published 1919 by Selwyn and Blount of London. Snows Now the long-bearded chilly-fingered winter Over the green fields sweeps his cloak and leaves Its whiteness there. It caught on the wild trees, Shook whiteness on the hedges and left bare South-sloping corners and south-fronting smooth Barks of tall beeches swaying 'neath their whiteness So gently that the whiteness does not fall. The ash copse shows all white between gray poles, The oaks spread arms to catch the wandering snow. But the yews--I wondered to see their dark all white, To see the soft flakes fallen on those grave deeps, Lying there, not burnt up by the yews' slow fire. Could Time so whiten all the trembling senses, The youth, the fairness, the all-challenging strength, And load even Love's grave deeps with his barren snows? Even so. And what remains? The hills of thought That shape Time's snows and melt them and lift up Green and unchanging to the wandering stars. The Wren Within the greenhouse dim and damp The heat floats like a cloud. Pale rose-leaves droop from the rust roof With rust-edged roses bowed. As I go in Out flies the startled wren. By the tall dark fir tree he sings Morn after morn still, Shy and bold he flits and sings Tinily sweet and shrill. As I go out His song follows me about ... About the orchard under trees Beaded with cherries bright, Past the rat-haunted Honeybourne And up those hills of light: As up I go His notes more sweetly flow. Or down those dark hills when night's there Full of dark thoughts and deep, A thin clear soundless music comes Like stars in broken sleep. When I come down All those dark thoughts are flown. And now that sweetness is more sweet, Here where the aeroplanes Labouring and groaning in the height Lift their lifeless vans:-- Sweet, sweet to hear The far off wren singing clear.

A memorial service in September 2023 in the churchyard of St Michael & All Saints, Thursley, saw the placement of a memorial stone on the unmarked grave of Joan Pearl Wolfe, the victim of the 'Wigwam Murder' in 1942. Her murderer, August Sangret, was tried for the crime in 1943 and was hanged in Wandsworth Prison in April 1943. This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Thursley Parish Magazine November 2023 The complete article is in the pdf below: Memorial Service booklet:

Photographs only: see separate entries for: Street House; Wheelers Farm; Opening of Wheelers Farm Granary; Wild Goose; The Lodge; Boxalls; Vine Cottage; Sunset Cottage; Prospect Cottage; Streetfield; Little Green; A Walk Through Old Thursley: * denotes separate entry. HATCH COTTAGES Hatch Cottage, the extension was built on for the Hacks. According to Ann Levy there had been a village shop at the other end No 1 and No 2 Hatch Cottages. Surnames of previous owners include: No 1 - Court; Williams; Knight; Thompson; Dupont; Knight - No 2 - Court; Hack; Hockley; Campbell; Ashley; Boyd Bert and Nellie Williams outside No 1 Hatch Cottages Hatch Cottages were sold in 1952 as part of the break-up of the Cosford Estate. The entries below are from the auction catalogue. 1 Hatch Cottages, from estate agent's particulars June 2026 https://seymours-estates.co.uk/property/the-street-thursley-surrey-gu8-has260130/ THE COTTON HOUSE, formerly RACKS CLOSE Racks Close is an unmade road on the left immediately after Hatch Cottages Racks Close in the early 1990s It has now been extensively modernised and renamed 'The Cotton House'. View from Racks Close from a postcard posted in 1910. The two large deciduous trees are no longer there and on the left is the granary of Hill Farm Barns, then Hill Farm House, The Old Parsonage, Hatch Cottages and St Michael & All Angels. Sisterly angst on the rear of the postcard! THE LODGE* Wheelwrights and The Street. John Goble and his wife moved to Wheelwrights in Thursley in 1902 to become the village blacksmith and wheelwright. Cruiser Mk IV tanks of 5th Royal Tank Regiment, 3rd Armoured Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, drive down The Street in July 1940 WHEELWRIGHTS Wheelwrights (HM Land Registry Map below) Mr Goble and son Robert Jean and Arthur Moss Previous owners of Wheelwrights include: Goble; Kentish; Moss Sale particulars in September 2025: https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbgursgus260083 SUNSET COTTAGE* WILD GOOSE* PROSPECT (formerly THE INSTITUTE)* HARVESTERS From a 2008 sales brochure June 2026 THE GRANARY, WHEELERS FARM* WHEELERS FARM* LITTLE GREEN STREET HOUSE*

In addition to the extensive paper archive (which we are continuing to catalogue and publish), there is also a collection of artefacts collected over the past many years. They are illustrative both of their period and life in the village of Thursley over the past many decades. We will be adding to this post as we catalogue more items so, if you are interested, remember to log back in from time to time. This is the content of a box of artefacts numbered 3: 1. Wooden carved wall plaque: About x”square. Stuck on back: "Carved by late George Warner of Thursley about 100 yrs old". No date given, but George Warner lived in Church Cottages and worked for the Fishers at Rock Cottage in the 1920s. In padded envelope addressed to Parish Clark, The Barrows, Seddle Road, Elstead. Elaine Felton? She may know more? 2. Plastic folder with notebook: Inside front printed: Regent (fuel), F. J. Barnard, "Half Moon", Thursley, Godalming 5883. 3. Tagged A 14 Box 3: Orange/red velvet handbag/purse containing intact sewing kit given as a 21st birthday present in 1903 to Edith Warner (Keen), daughter of Mary Keen of Pitt (Punch Bowl Farm). Stored in a maroon box. 4. Clothes brush: Backed on faux red leather. Regent (fuel) "With Compliments From F. Barnard, Half Moon, Thursley” 5. Tagged A 56: Flour scoop, Butter Pat, Pestle, Wooden Halter weight – smooth inside from use. 6. Labelled Box 3 397: Framed certificate: Surrey Fed of WI Drama Festival 1935 in Class Costumed Plays (Novice). 7. Labelled Box 36: Frame containing this necklace of Mrs Mays. Label in frame incorrect as George Mays (Mayes?) lived at Highcombe Farm that was, but it may have been called Boom Squires Cottage. Need to clarify. Delivered by Marg Hall. 8. Labelled Box 3 40**: Musket Ball. Found in a part of the timber frame of Dye House Granary. Donated by Charles Weedon. 9. Shoebox labelled A Box 3 8**: Containing dress, petticoat + bonnet for very young children made in the 1880s & worn until 1893 by Baker family of Upper Highfield Farm. Donated by Betty Weeden (née Baker). Also old ladies cotton cap worn by Elizabeth Keen of Upper Ridgeway Farm. Donated by Betty Weeden (nee Baker). 10.Patinated brass or bronze? plaque from The Clump + 1 screw**: "This Acacia tree was presented by Lieut-Col. W P H.Rushbrooke, and planted by the Chairman of the Surrey County Council on Saturday, December 15th, 1934, in memory of William Cobbett". 11.In blue striped paper bag marked 395 Box 3**: Mary Anne Smither's Work Book signed 1830. She married James Baker April 14th 1855. In brown envelope marked 396 Box 3: Plus James Smither's blank work book cover written on 1864. All pages photographed. This is the content of a box of artefacts numbered 2: 1) Tagged A 177 Box 2. Lump of oak: joint from Elizabethan Granary at Wheelers Farm during restoration in 1996. 2) Tagged A 209 Box 2. Mitton Challenge Trophy. Croquet Champion. 1985 M. F. Smart – Freda lived at Hilldown - Anne-Marie Emersic’s mother - 1986 GLJ Nightingale – John, Four Winds - 1987 Lady Stevens – Jane, Hill Farm - 1988 Mrs. J. Hawland - Jane, Hill Farm (same person! ) - 1989 Mrs P. Coles - Patricia, Upper Ridgeway Farm - 1990 Dr. J. Stoneham - John, Rack Close now Cotton House - 1991 J. R. Nightingale - Ruth, Four Winds Trophy donated by Dick Milton, plumber at Homefields, emigrated to Brazil. Tournament held on previous winner's garden so no one wanted to win! 3) Double frame containing cap badge of Lorne Scots Regt Canada. Other side photo of SR Barber & Lorne Scots Church Parade 1942. 4) Tagged 32 Box 2. Very small jam jar containing (& labelled). "Old china doll's head found in the village". SS's writing. 5) Small glass bottle labelled "This old ink bottle was found on the track leading into the Devil's Punch Bowl from Highfield Lane". SS's writing. 6) Stone ginger bottle, Stranafield Bros, Riply Surrey. Labelled "The Stone bottle was probably by day-trippers resting on the bank bay a field of Punch Bowl Farm". SS's writing 7) Stone ink bottle. 8) Set of old keys to current Village Hall. Large metal tag: Village Hall, return to Post Office, Main Hall N/W Door, Western Rear Doors. Communicating Door Hall/House, Club Room VH 5, Committee Room (Front). Village Hall *Soot Doors. Village Hall M L Jupe The Well House 9) Miscellaneous Bottles & Labels: - Wine Bottle (?) - Wine Bottle (?) - Dinneford's Magnesia Bottle - Boots The Chemists Bottle - Goodall Backhouse & Co Yorkshire Relish & Bottle - Squared medicine Bottle with stopper (may not be for that bottle) Above labelled “Variety of Bottles found at Punch Bowl Farm. 10) Rusty Hurricane Lamp: Fever Hand. Made in W Germany, so post war. 11) Old broken bottle (very old) hand blown base in green glow. Labelled "Old Broken Bottle Found Deep in the theant of a Hazel Tree at Punch Bowl Farm", Wrapped.

Alan Karn's baker's cart driven by Drew Milton, the roundsman. Jim Christmas's father was the baker. Alan Karn married Mary Barnard on September 18, 1902. Mary lived in Hindhead Nursery (now Upper Ridgeway Farm), but everyone knew her as "Auntie Jum" as in Jumbo. Betty Karn From the 1936 Register of Electors This brief history of Karn's store (continued below) was published in the Parish Magazine in May 1978 and in 'Lives of the People of Thursley' by The History of Thursley Society in 1996 Karn's Grocery shop. You can see the poplar tree which was a major landmark especially from the common. Alan and Sid Karn in the third photograph Karn's shop with Mrs Karn outside Karn's Grocer shop, 1897 The Christmas family including Jim as a young boy From Thursley Today, 1965 (see separate entry) Year unknown, illustration by Salli Tomlinson The Old Stores in 2009 The Old Stores c2020 from sale particulars

From British listed buildings: Hall House. Early C16 core, refaced in C17. Timber framed, clad in sandstone rubble with brick patching and dressings, hipped plain tiled roof. Two storeys with corbelled stack to left of centre and stack to left end. Two 3-light, gabled, casement, on-eaves dormers to centre and one 3-light window to either end of first floor. Five windows to ground floor, irregularly spaced, under-cambered heads. Door to left of centre in large, open, gabled porch with arched entrances to front and sides with carved spandrels. Interior:- Some framing visible. Grade II, 29th April, 1986 Smallbrook Farm 1897 Cart Shed, footpath up to Church Cuts. Maria and Ann Levy, 1897. The sisters are in their milking gear, the hats, we decided, were to protect their hair from being dirtied by the cows, or to stop them getting ringworm. They rose at 5:30am for the milking - the rest of the family rising at 6:00am. Mrs W Levy of Smallbrook, Uncle Lancelot from Petersfield and their sister, Mrs Woods, from Hedge Cottage. Miss Maria Levy Ann Levy on her milk round in Thursley village, 1908. She and her sister, Lucy, ran the farm together. They managed the farm and the lodgers with the help of the carter and the cowman until 1931. The picture was taken outside Wheelers Farm. Smallbrook Farm, 1897 - the second row of trees are the elms of Highfield Lane which blew down. The second 1897 picture shows the added windows. The Granary, 1897, was pulled down by LadyThomas, you can still see the back wall and the steps. 1905 wedding of Edward Baker (Ted) of Upper Highfield Farm and Maria Levy of Smallbrook Farm. The photographs below are from Betty Weeden's album Betty Weeden In 1994-95, the History of Thursley Society (as it was then named), published Betty Weeden's brief history of the farm 1876 - 1939 in four parts. The first is reproduced below and the rest can be downloaded from the pdf: Mrs. G. G. R. Boon, of Smallbrook Farm, Thursley, with her 4-year-old chestnut gelding,Cetus, which won 25 first and two reserve championships at shows in the South of England during the past season. Mrs. Boon bought Cetus in Sweden in the spring of last year. It wasthen an unbroken 3-year-old. She schooled and trained the animal herself and rode it to win the fine array of trophies in the picture. Both Major and Mrs. Boon—the former is an Old Farnhamian—are well-known show jumpers. Stewart and Faith Wagner, 1996 Previous owners of Smallbrook Farm include: Levy; Wagner, Daw Sale details in February 2024: https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbgursgus230100

This article was written by Rosemary Stockdale for the Parish Magazine and includes accounts of life there written by Weis and Zen Rogalski. In 2012, the Rural Life Centre in Tilford mounted an exhibition, "Polish Exiles, Surrey's Hidden History, and this pamphlet complemented the exhibit: Here is a simpler 2pp version of the above: In addition, Weis and Zen Rogalaski also wrote this for the Rural Life Centre in Tilford: