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Grade II listed building (9 March 1960), located on The Street From Historic England: House. C16 with C19 range to rear. Timber framed with whitewashed brick and rubble infill, plain tiled roof, hipped to left. Sandstone rubble with brick dressings to rear. Two storeys with end stack to right and ridge stack to left. End stacks on rear range. Four framed bays with three braces on first floor. Three leaded casement windows to first floor and two windows below. Central door in gabled porch on wood supports and sandstone plinth walls. From Judy Hewins's "Village Study Notes: Thursley" Wheeler's Farm hand pump Wheeler's Farm 1953, Miss M Baker and an (unsuccessful) suitor. Wheelers Farm House in 1989 View looking North from Churchyard in Thursley 11/94 Wheelers Farm & Old Vicarage Wheelers Farm Yard and Old Barn, 1990 Wheelers Farm and outbuildings, 1996 Yard at Wheelers Farm, with Damsel the horse. John Worsford, the carter lived at Wild Goose 1905 wedding of Edward Baker (Ted) of Upper Highfield Farm and Maria Levy of Smallbrook Farm. Edward (Ted) Baker and wife, Maria (née Levy) with daughter Betty (who later became Weeden) Wheelers Farm during the restoration of The Granary

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 pulloed 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: 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

5th June 2022, Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Taken by Philip Traill, passing Wheelers Farm.

PARKER, Alfred Nigel, Major. 5th Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders Died 23rd October 1944 In the 1922 issue of “Small Country Houses of Today” magazine, Foldsdown House, Thursley, was described as “taking its place naturally and pleasantly in a part of Surrey so beautiful that an ill-considered building is more than usually an outrage” It was here that Nigel Parker grew up, having been born in the September of 1915, to his parents, Alwyn Parker, C.B, C.M.G, a respected diplomat and City banker, and Sophia, a society figure in her own right. He was baptised in the church of St Michael’s and All Saints on October 15th by the Reverend C.K. Watson. His early education took place at St Peter’s Court, a preparatory school in Burgess Hill, Sussex, followed by his moving to Harrow School. After his time at Harrow, he went up to read law at New College, Oxford, in anticipation of a career in the legal profession in the City. Whilst at Oxford, he successfully rowed for his college. After coming down from Oxford, he was articled to the long-established Solicitor’s firm of Linklaters & Paines, in London, where he worked until the outbreak of war in September 1939. As soon as that occurred, he made the decision to join the ranks of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. It was at this time, in the January of 1940, that he also married the American born twenty-year-old Jean Cecelia Constance Eliott in the Chelsea Register Office, a larger society wedding being impossible at the time, due to his military commitments. They were to have two children, a son, Colin, born in November 1940, and a daughter, Veronica, born two years later, in May 1942. In 1940, The Queen’s went to France as part of the 51st (Highland) Division with the British Expeditionary Force, in an attempt to stem the tide of the German armies which were sweeping down through the Low Countries and into Northern France. When it became apparent that the Allied troops needed to be evacuated, plans were put into force that resulted in the events that, these days, we know simply by one word – Dunkirk. In order to hamper the relentless progress of the Germans, the Queen’s saw action at the town of St. Valery-en-Calais, and it was during this fighting that Nigel Parker was wounded. In the middle of battle, he was shot in one leg by a sniper; falling to the ground, he rolled over, to be then shot in the other leg. It was ironic that it appears that his wearing a kilt (contrary to regulations) in fact saved his life – he was told by his doctor that the kilt had saved him, as a khaki battle dress would have poisoned the wounds. As a result, he was invalided home, where he recovered. He then spent the rest of the war, until 1944, training troops in Scotland, near Inverness. After the D Day landing of June 1944, he re-joined his unit, and once again landed in France. His superior officer, Colonel (later General Sir) Derek Laing sent him in command of D company, as the first British troops to re-enter the newly liberated St. Valery-en-Calais, after it had been forced to surrender back in 1940. This was regarded as a great honour. As the Division moved northwards towards Germany, in October the Queen’s found itself as part of Operation Pheasant, which was a major operation to clear German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. And it was here that Nigel Parker fell, in the middle of fierce fighting during the liberation of the town of Schijndel. The night of Sunday 22nd October 1944 was notably dark and cold. For the men of the Queen’s their attack area was an open meadow that they had to pass over, in order to reach the enemy lines. Their target was the elimination of a strong German detachment of Fallschrirmjager soldiers of the German 59th Division, located by a railway line in the De Berg area of Schijndel. At midnight, there was a heavy artillery bombardment in support of the troops, who then proceeded to advance towards the German position. They had to move forward through open meadows as well as marshy peatlands, totally without cover, and they were hit heavily by German machine guns with tracer ammunition as well as sustained mortar fire. It was said that “Hell broke loose”. Major Parker was hit three times in a row, twice he managed to get up, according to eyewitnesses, but the last hit was fatal. The battle continued all night, until at about 6am a group of Sherman tanks appeared, and the Germans withdrew. A total of 12 men were killed that night, plus a further 56 either injured or seriously wounded. The next morning, the 12 dead bodies lying in the field were collected by their own men under the supervision of a Padre Smith and buried in temporary graves nearby, at a local farm owned at the time by the Van Mensvelt family. They were later reburied, with full honours, in the nearby Uden War Cemetery. A fellow soldier on the day of the battle, Sgt George Sands, said of his commander “Major Parker had been a good commander and friend and a very brave man”. This is but one of the many tales relating to the names on our war memorial in the churchyard. There are many more, as each name is included. Please buy a copy of “Thursley Remembers” and keep for future generations to “Never Forget”.

Photographs taken 26th August 2019 by Philip Traill

This document was transcribed by Sean Edwards from photocopied pages in the Thursley History Society archives, 16 February 2012. Although described by the author as short, it provides a concise but comprehensive overview as can be seen from the contents below. Introduction Thursley Common in south-west Surrey, a National Nature Reserve since 1978, is a very special place. Highly regarded for its outstanding wildlife interest, deemed precious, and therefore something to be conserved for us and for future generations, it is today a mere fragment of a once extensive tract of heathland that was the very essence of this part of southern England. It may come as a surprise to many people that this ecological gem is not entirely natural and that it is an artificial habitat — a by-product of historic land-use. Thursley Common exists because man has created it, and that which is so highly valued today is largely the result of centuries of man’s use and abuse. Thursley Common is, therefore, something of a paradox. For centuries it has been dug up, burnt and grazed. In more recent times it has been partially afforested, severely burnt, blown up, driven over and stripped of its vegetation. Somewhat incredibly, in view of such a history of exploitation, it is now regarded as the outstanding area of lowland heath and valley bog in southern England - the home to 26 species of dragonfly, to somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 different types of insects, and to many rare plants as well as being the breeding ground of 69 bird species. To help you understand how Thursley Common has evolved, this short historical account will guide you back over its long history and explain how the past pattern of land-use is the key to the way in which the site is managed today. Contents include: How the Common Began The Saxon Period The Medieval Period Rights of Common The Peat Deposit The Iron Industry Heather and Gorse Will Reeds Wood The Parish Field Pudmore Pond The 19th century rural economy and management of the Common Grazing The Broomsquires Recognition of Thursley’s wildlife value Recreation Military Use The Whitbread era Nature Conservation Exchange of Rights Thursley Common today BIBLIOGRAPHY Read the full paper which consists of 14 pages including a comprehensive bibliography

Thursley Horticultural Society 2009, Sean Edwards talk. Everybody here will be familiar with Thursley Common.We shall look at what most of you see every time, – and then look a little closer, and see what maybe you never noticed. We shall also look at important aspects of the Common that maybe you have never seen at all. View the full presentation here... And Sean's lecture notes here...