Flashback Friday: The History of George Wickham

These brilliant photos and information are supplied by Richard Symonds, former (retired) Surrey Recorder for the Brewery History Society, who is the author of A Brewing Heritage, using the twin towns Reigate and Redhill as a case study and still researches all sorts of interesting things to do with beer…! Continue reading

The Bull – witness to hundreds of years of Limpsfield shenanigans

Winston Churchill, Jeremy Thorpe, Edward VII, Queen Victoria and Eric The Keys… just some of the famous and infamous who have passed by or through the the doors of The Bull Inn…  Continue reading

Flashback Friday: White Mare Cottages, Limpsfield Chart

The lovely White Mare Cottages on Stoneleigh Road that overlook Limpsfield Chart and the National Trust land were first built in the 1800s, but by the 1970s they had fallen into disrepair and become largely derelict.

A local resident and business partner acquired all four cottages in 1980 and set about rebuilding them.  The photos were taken in May 1980 – 37 year ago – as building work started.     Continue reading

Flashback Friday: Chart Windmill, Limpsfield Chart

If you’ve ever wondered why there’s a Mill Lane and Mill Cottages on Limpsfield Chart, but were afraid to ask… well, it is the site of the Chart Mill which stood on the Chart until 1925.  According to OckleyWindmill‘s history on Surrey mills, the mill on Limpsfield Chart was built around 1817 and is unique among Surrey’s mills, because it was the only one to have clockwise sweeps…apparently most mills sweep anti-clockwise… Continue reading

Flashback Friday: Convalescent Home at Wolfe House c. 1913

Currently Wolfe House Residential Care Home, the house on Wolf’s Row, was originally built in the 1800s, when Limpsfield appears to have been awash with auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes!  The Limpsfield Convalescent Home took in injured soldiers during WW1. The original building was destroyed in 1921 and the current one built on its site, continuing as a convalescent home until at least the 1950s.

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Flashback Friday: The Forge and Forge Cottages Limpsfield

The Forge and Forge Cottages on Limpsfield High Street (not to be confused with Forge Cottage on Limpsfield Chart – Stoneleigh Road) were built in the late 1600s. The Forge itself (pictured) stood on the end of the cottages on the corner of Priest Hill by Memorial Stores until the 1930s, when it was finally demolished. The four tiny timber and brick/rubble cottages still stand, now painted white and black. Continue reading

Flashback Friday: Limpsfield Village in the snow?

Actually we’re not entirely sure if this is Limpsfield in the snow or not – it could be the age of the print – it looks pretty wintry though!  It’s taken from outside what was then The White Hart pub (Lord Rodney/Rodney House) looking down the high street.
 
The photo is stamped J Brasier, who was J Brasier of the Brasier & Sons family, Builders & Undertakers, based at Brasier’s Cottage, next to what is now Ebbutt & Sons Funerals. They were carpenters and journeymen by trade, so presumably made the coffins as well as undertook the burial?
J Brasier played cricket for Limpsfield into his 70s (in the 1920s) and is, according to this article, directly related to our very own PM, Theresa May (nee Theresa Mary Brasier)!!  Click here to see how they’re related: Find My Past/Theresa May
brasiers-cottage-limpsfield
PS. Sorry for the lateness of this Flashback Friday – I was held up by the snow…and Southern Trains 😉 …

Flashback Friday: Henry Radcliffe Convalescent Home, Trevereux Hill

Now Trevereux Hill’s Chart Ridge, Limpsfield Chart, the Henry Radcliffe Convalescent Home, formerly Charing Cross Auxiliary Hospital was one of several auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes around Limpsfield and Oxted. Continue reading

Flashback Friday: Nightingale cellist, Beatrice Harrison at Foyle Riding

Foyle Riding was formerly the home of world famous cellist, Beatrice Harrison (1892 – 1965). The garden at Foyle Riding was perhaps the most talked about garden in England in the 1920s. For the very first time, on 19th May 1924, radio listeners heard a cello playing while nightingales sang, live and broadcast by the BBC.

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