Kirsty Warren
Lindfield history pages
Lindfield history pages

Lindfield History Pages

Lindfield history pages

Articles published in:

2023

  • Lindfield History Project Group received a parcel containing hundreds of invoices dated between 1834 and 1835, for shopping and services supplied to the Tuppen household. Click here to learn about shopping in Lindfield’s history.

  • What is the connection between a car company, the theory of flight, an English university, the laws of combat, the concept of quality management and Walstead Burial Ground? The answer is Frederick William Lanchester. Click here to read more.

  • On Lindfield High Street in 1914, there were five public houses all selling beer obtained from commercial breweries, mostly in Brighton and Lewes. But one hundred years earlier, the village’s pubs were either brewing their own beer or being supplied by The Lindfield Brewery. Click here to read more.

  • The 3rd June 1953 was declared Coronation Day. To organise the celebrations in Lindfield, an Executive Committee with eight members was established. Click here to read all about the celebrations around Lindfield.

  • How much has the High Street changed in 100 years? This article compares the High Street in 1923 with today.

  • The previous article compared the west side of the High Street in 1923 with 2023; in this article we journey down the eastern side. Click here to read on.

  • Read here, all about the WWII submarine that disappeared without a trace and its connection to Lindfield.


2022

  • Click here to find out all about when, In 1899, the Lindfield Parish Council decided to form a volunteer fire brigade to provide fire cover for the parish.

  • To help the poor, between 1563 and 1601 the Government enacted legislation that provided a framework for the provision of poor relief by parishes. Click here to find out how Lindfield helped its poorer residents.

  • How has Lindfield celebrated royal events in the past? Click here to learn all about them.

  • Click here to read a continuation of the history of Lindfield’s royal celebrations.

  • In late 1921, an enterprising woman, Gladys Van Weede established - as sole proprietor - The Rainbow Pottery Company, trading from an outbuilding behind Abbotts Pharmacy on the High Street. Click here to read all about it.

  • From 1680 or earlier, three generations of the Neale family were innkeepers of the White Lion inn in Lindfield; later renamed the Bent Arms. Click here to read more.

  • Click here to find out all about Lindfield’s almost railway station.

  • If you or a family member have lived in Lindfield for many years, it would not be surprising if tucked away at the bottom of a drawer, or in an old album, there is a photograph by William Marchant. Click here to learn all about him.


2021

  • Ever wondered what Lindfield pond looked like in 1865? Click here to see and learn a little about the photo.

  • Click here to find out all about when the censuses started and what can they tell us about our village in years past.

  • Click here to find out all about the piano factory that was thriving in Victorian Lindfield.

  • This article looks at Lindfield fair through history.

  • Where have the Lindfield clergy resided in centuries past? Click here to find out.

  • Click here to find out all about Lindfield’s connection to Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame and how John Bent gave his name to The Bent Arms.

  • This article explores another of Lindfield’s black history connections. The story begins with Francis Smith senior in Nevis, an island in the Eastern Caribbean. Click here to read more.

2020

  • The war had a dramatic effect on every aspect of life on the Home Front, to learn about Lindfield during this time, click here.

  • It is said that a village pub is the heart of the community. Click here to learn all about the pubs of Lindfield.

  • Here is part two of an in depth look at the pubs of Lindfield and their history.

  • Lindfield has often been described as possessing an ‘historic High Street’, due to the attractive and varied architectural styles of buildings lining the road, but what is the history of the road itself? Find out more here.

  • In the first days of May 1945, there was great expectation that the war would soon be over. Click here to find out more.

  • Although Lindfield School was established in 1881, its lineage can be traced back to William Allen in 1825. Click here to read all about it.

  • This article looks at Lindfield School between 1900 and 2000.

  • Residents have shared their memories with us from their time at Lindfield Primary School. Click here to read all about them.

  • The meeting place is stated as, ‘Society shall meet at the House of Thomas Finch, at the sign of the Tiger in Lindfield Town’. To learn all about the society and The Tiger click here.

2019

  • Did you know Lindfield had a castle? This was surrounded by a broad moat which joined to the river through gaps in the outer earthworks. Outside a ditch linked to a stream entirely surrounded the castle. Click here to read more.

  • In common with much of Lindfield, its origins can be traced back to Saxon times, when the lands are first mentioned in the copy charter dated 765. Learn more here.

  • All Saints Church at the top of the High Street was built in the 1300s in the Perpendicular style. Click here to learn all about it.

  • Lindfield was once little more than a high street with a few roads. Read here, the amazing transformation over the years.

  • A grand house with its origins in Elizabethan times, is perhaps an unlikely location for the founding of a revolution in education. Read Bedales history here.

  • During the first three quarters of the last century horticultural businesses thrived in and around Lindfield providing much employment. Read all about it here.

  • Until the early part of the 19th century, burial facilities were mainly provided by the Church of England in parish churchyards. Click here to find out why Walstead has its own burial ground.

  • It could be said that Lindfield is defined by the Common and Pond. To learn about their history, click here.

  • In 1938, Cuckfield Urban District Council, the local authority responsible for Lindfield, commenced planning for an evacuation. Click here to learn all about the children and the local families that took them in.

  • Does any other community have a bakery that traded continuously from the same premises for 223 years? Click here to learn all about the history of Lindfield’s oldest bakery.

  • Learn all about the history of Christmas traditions and how they’ve changed by clicking here.

2018

  • For eight hundred years much of the land in and around Lindfield formed the Manor of South Malling. Read more to find out how King Henry VIII changed all this.

  • Today nothing exists of the West Common and you would be forgiven for thinking the area completely lacks historical interest. However, there is always more to the story…

  • The land east of the High Street demonstrates the change and growth over 120 years which has helped to create today’s thriving community. Click here for more information.

  • Gravelye Lane for centuries was merely a track providing access to a couple of farmsteads and Northlands Wood. Find out what changed here.

  • At the top of the village, stands the grandiose and private Old Place that is largely obscured from view. Perhaps in a strange way, the property goes almost unnoticed when passing by. Learn here what it’s all about.

  • From the mid 1800s until about 60 years ago Lindfield was virtually encircled by big houses and their grounds. This article looks at two of these houses.

  • Mention ‘The Bent’ in Lindfield and one immediately thinks of The Bent Arms, but who was Bent and where did he live? Find out more here.

  • Lindfield’s The Old Forge is today, the home of Happy Feet Boutique children’s shoe shop, but how old is old? Click here to find out.

  • Lindfield Women’s Institute was established in June 1917. Activities included instruction in cooking, food economy, growing food crops, sewing and renovating old clothes. All that and more made these lovely ladies a beacon in struggling times. Read on to remember them.

  • News of the Armistice, bringing to an end the fighting, took time to spread and was not widely received until the following day. People needed to read it to believe it was true. Read here to see how locals celebrated.

  • Initial thoughts on a memorial for the village, as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by local men, were first expressed in early 1919. Click here to learn more.

  • When did you last stand on Lindfield Bridge and look at the river? The dark, slow flowing water passes through private land with no public access, perhaps making it Lindfield’s hidden and forgotten river. Click here for more.

2017

  • Long before our smooth roads, horses had the hard job of pulling heavy carriages over all sorts of surfaces. Julius Guy, a Lindfield carriage builder, set about finding a way to improve the suspension and so much more. Read about this local hero today.

  • Worcester Sauce became popular in the 1840/50s and is still widely used. Today, instead of asking for Worcester sauce, you could have been asking for Lindfield Sauce had its makers had the business acumen of Mr Lea and Mr Perrin. Click here for more.

  • In the Mid Sussex Times in 1913 was: ‘As the result of a public reading at the Haywards Heath Corn Exchange, Dickens was able to hand £100 to the then Vicar of Lindfield ‘. But who wrote to the Times and why was Dickens handing over so much cash? Click here to find out.

  • Lindfield parish church had been in a poor state of repair for years. The problems stemmed from the church receiving very little money. Find out how Reverend Francis Hill Sewell saved the church.

  • A newspaper report in August 1861 commented that the school was ‘among the finest educational structures in Sussex.’ To find out more click here.

  • There were very few days during The Great War that determined how future land battles across the world would be fought; a son of Lindfield played a leading role in one such day. Please read on to find out more about our local hero.

  • Mention The Welkin to Lindfield residents today and it conjures up images of the houses with their neat gardens and well maintained grounds in the area behind the High Street and north of Hickmans Lane. Find out more here.

  • The name Finches does not derive from a Victorian country mansion. It is much older in origin dating back to a farm that existed in medieval times, with perhaps the land being farmed a thousand years ago. Click here for more.

  • This article explores the early history of the area and how Lindfield as we know it today came about. The first recorded reference to Lindfield is in a Saxon charter dated 765! Click here for more.

The Smith family and Lindfield

By Richard Bryant and Janet Bishop, Lindfield History Project Group

This article explores another of Lindfield’s black history connections.

The story begins with Francis Smith senior in Nevis, an island in the Eastern Caribbean, one of the two islands which today form the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis. The islands were among the first in the Caribbean to be colonised by European settlers. English settlers arrived in Nevis in the 1620s, decimating the native population. By the 1640s, cane sugar became their main crop. Sugar and its by-product, rum, were profitable exports. The settlers at first worked with white indentured labourers from Britain but soon began to import enslaved Africans. By the late 1780s, the enslaved population was 8,420 while the whites numbered 1,510.

Among the white inhabitants were brothers Richard and Francis Smith. Richard managed sugar estates owned by the planter James Smith (the brothers may have been related to James). Francis Smith was a ship’s carpenter, building local craft and repairing vessels from England working the triangular slave trade route.

In 1789, Richard died and Francis became ill, prompting him to make his Will, and he died shortly afterwards. His possessions included two black boys, bequeathing one each to Francis and Jenny; children of Amelia Brodbelt, a free coloured woman (here the term ‘coloured’ is used to reflect its historic meaning). She was the daughter of an enslaved black woman and a white plantation owner and had been granted her freedom in 1765. The rest of his possessions were shared equally between her five children: Francis, Jenny, Amelia, Hetty and Christiana. Given the bequests and that her children had the surname Smith, Francis Smith was undoubtedly was their father. The offspring of a black mother and white father were known in the language of the time, as ‘mulattoes’. Although they weren’t married, Amelia Brodbelt was regarded as his surviving ‘spouse’.

Amelia inherited from her wider family a property on the edge of Charlestown. With business acumen she and her four daughters developed and ran some sort of hospitality and accommodation business, which initially perhaps included a brothel. The business increasingly prospered and, eventually renting properties that were occupied by the island’s Court, Council and Assembly, they became respected members of island society.

Turning to the Francis Smith born in 1787, the surviving son of Amelia Brodbelt and Francis Smith (the ship’s carpenter): little is known of this Francis’ early years in Nevis, but his working life may have started in London. Some prosperous, well-connected coloured people financed their sons’ work experience abroad. Amelia Brodbelt may well have wanted her son to become a ‘merchant of London’. However, by 1817, it is known he had settled in Haiti, working as a trader or merchant.

During his time in Haiti, Francis Smith met Josephine Villeneuve, who was to be his life partner and mother of his many children. She was clearly of African descent. Their first child was born in 1817, followed on 13th February 1819 by Francis Villeneuve Smith. His birth registration records his mother as a resident of Port-auPrince, Haiti and his father as a foreign merchant. From her signature she was an educated woman and perhaps from a well-to-do family.

As business opportunities in Haiti reduced, Francis Smith moved his family to London and in 1821 they were living at Brunswick Place, Shoreditch. After a couple of years, the family moved to ‘a more wholesome environment, settling in Lindfield’. Francis Smith purchased Townlands, opposite the parish church, and its farm from Captain Pilford R.N. Pilford was able to purchase and alter Townlands, following promotion after his success at the Battle of Trafalgar. In recognition, he renamed the house Nelson Hall. He sold due to money problems. The farmland today is the site of The Welkin development and part of Hickmans Lane Recreation Ground.

While Francis Smith turned to farming and was now regarded as an ‘Esquire’, Josephine was busy with their growing family, with William and Rosa being born in Lindfield and baptised in Lindfield Parish Church. At that time, it was quite common for parish registers to record people’s skin colour or foreign origin; the Lindfield register makes no such note, suggesting Francis Smith’s complexion must have been so light and his features so European that he passed as white.

Josephine now called herself Marie Josephine and as her skin colour portrayed her origin, she may not have been readily accepted into village society.

As an aside, Marie Josephine Villeneuve always claimed, but it was never proved, that her father was Pierre Charles Jean Baptiste Silvestre de Villeneuve, a French naval officer stationed in the Caribbean. Villeneuve commanded the French fleet defeated by Nelson at Trafalgar. How ironic if Villeneuve’s illegitimate daughter lived in a house with Trafalgar victory connections? Perhaps a fanciful thought.

The Smith family lived at Townlands for only a few years, leaving Lindfield for whatever reason and sailing to Australia in June 1828, before settling in Van Diemen’s Land, now called Tasmania.

Francis Smith bought two large tracts of partially developed land, and created an impressive cattle and sheep farming estate, he called ‘Campania’. To develop his property, a large workforce was required, and he employed convicts, both male and female. The estate house was impressive and well furnished. On a trip back to England in 1843 he lobbied government to end convict transportation.

However, everything was not well, as Marie Josephine was ostracised due to her colour, and, together with the children, suffered racial insults. In total she had 12 children but sadly six children died. Meanwhile, Francis, a domineering man, developed the farm and other business, and participated in local society, becoming a Justice of the Peace and leading citizen. He appears to have successfully hidden his mulattoe origins.

Francis Smith died on 8th September 1855 and was buried in a local cemetery in Richmond. Shortly afterwards, Marie Josephine Villeneuve and her three unmarried daughters returned to England, setting up home in London. She died in December 1893 while living with her son, Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith, at his grand residence in Kensington. The Sussex Express announced the death as the widow of Francis Smith ‘JP’, formerly of Lindfield.

The story continues with Francis Villeneuve Smith, one of the Smiths’ children who lived in Lindfield prior to growing up on his father’s estate in Tasmania; returning to England to further his education. In 1838, he began studying law at the Middle Temple, being called to the Bar in 1842. Returning to Tasmania, he was a successful barrister, becoming Solicitor General. In 1856, following election to the Tasmania House of Assembly, he served as Attorney General becoming Tasmania’s fourth Premier (1857-1860), a Supreme Court Judge (1860-70) and Chief Justice (1870-75). He received a Knighthood in 1862.

Francis, on 26th August 1851, married Sarah Giles born in the County of Mayo, Ireland, the only child of Reverend George Giles. Their marriage was blessed with two sons and two daughters. Interestingly, all were given Villeneuve as their second forename, which recognised his mother’s ancestry.

On retirement, he retired to England, purchasing a fine house in South Kensington and Heathside, Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, where he died on 17th January 1909, age 89. His widow died six months later.

Special thanks to Christine Eickelmann for permission to use her paper, ‘The Enigmatic Father of Tasmania’s fourth Premier’ published in the Tasmanian Historical Research Association’s journal, August 2021, as the base for this article.

Contact Lindfield History Project Group via https://lindfieldhistoryproject.group/

Who lived in that house - Paxhill

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Paxhill around early 1900s

This month’s article focuses on the large house, Paxhill, which stands on the hill to the north east of Lindfield Bridge, and its lands.

In common with much of Lindfield, its origins can be traced back to Saxon times, when the lands are first mentioned in the copy charter dated 765. The relevant section has been translated as, ‘the sloping enclosure, Walstead, Lindfield, Paxhill and Buxshalls’ which are described as ‘pastus porcorum’; swine pastures. Paxhill appears in the charter as ‘Bacanscylfes’ and this name carries through for many hundred years. In medieval times a nunnery stood close to the river. The wealthy local Borde family, variously spelt e.g. Board, are known to have owned the estate from at least the mid-1500s and the name Paxhill start to appear in records from the early seventeenth century.

The house we see today was built by Ninian Borde between 1595 and 1606 in the Elizabethan style to replace an earlier house. The latter date and his initials are inscribed above the main entrance. It is said some of the stones for the building came from the ruined nearby nunnery. On Ninian Borde’s death in 1606, the estate passed down through the family, with the last male heir William Board dying in 1790, leaving a widow, Harriot, (nee Crawfurd) and three daughters, Louisa, Harriot and Fanny Board. Paxhill passed into the Crawfurd family through the marriage of Fanny Board to her cousin Thomas Gibbs Crawford of Saint Hill, East Grinstead. Their son married Clara Homfray, of Honingham Hall, Norfolk in 1825 at Lindfield church, and their two daughters, Jane and Laura Crawfurd, inherited Paxhill estate in 1840. From 1828, the estate was leased until family members returned during the late 1840s.

In 1849, Jane Crawfurd married Arthur Smith, who (with his brother Albert) became well known as the first Englishmen to climb Mont Blanc on 12th August 1851. During the 1850s, Arthur Smith managed the Egyptian Hall in London and with his brother gave performances recounting their exploits on Mont Blanc. Being acquainted with Charles Dickens, during the late 1850s he handled the bookings for his readings and accompanied him on tour, in effect acting as Charles Dickens’ tour manager.

Drawing by SH Grimm dated c1787

On land adjacent to the Ardingly road within the Paxhill estate, Arthur Smith built The Chalet in the early 1850s. Arthur Smith died in 1861 and two years later Jane Smith married Emile Bouchard, an officer in the French Hussars, and the property became part of the marriage settlement. The Chalet subsequently passed through many owners before becoming a religious house, St Margaret’s, and latterly in 1967 the Convent of the Holy Rood for the Sisters of the Cross. Today known as Hollyrood, it is a Disabilities Trust adult residential home.

By 1855, Arthur and Jane Smith together with her sister, Laura Crawfurd, had left Lindfield to live in their London house in Grosvenor Place. Paxhill was leased before being sold in 1856, thus ending some 300 years of ownership by the Borde/Board and Crawfurd families. The purchaser, Rev Borsley, quickly sold it to Thomas Herbert Noyes of East Mascalls, Lindfield, who lived in the house for a short time. Subsequently it was bought in 1865 by Peter Northall Laurie, the Governor of the Union Bank of London since 1861; his uncle had founded the bank. The bank following several acquisitions amalgamated with the National Provincial which subsequently became a constituent of NatWest, now part of Royal Bank of Scotland.

By this time the house was showing its age and needed modernising, which the wealthy Mr Northall Laurie immediately put in hand, including installing a bathroom; reputed to be the first in Lindfield. He also significantly extended the house. Following his death in 1877, the estate was again put up for sale, and was bought at auction for £39,000 by William Sturdy. It was to be the country home for himself, his wife Frances and their large young family. They employed around 20 live- in indoor and outdoor staff. The estate when purchased by William Sturdy comprised 353 acres of land and the large well- appointed mansion with an extensive range of rooms and servants quarters. Outside were lawns, pleasure grounds, shrubberies, an Italian garden, kitchen and fruit gardens, a heated vinery, and a peach and nectarine house. Beyond was parkland stretching down to the River Ouse, with a lake, boathouse and fish ponds. The coach house in the Elizabethan style had space for eight carriages. Properties within the estate included Bridge House and Grange Farm with its farmhouse and brick cottages Like the previous owner, William Sturdy extended the house and embarked on a major programme of improvements to the house and grounds. On his death in 1906 at the family’s London house, William Sturdy left an estate of over £1million and during his time at Paxhill had acquired a portfolio of Lindfield property. In his memory a stained glass window, depicting Justice and Prudence was installed in the South Chapel at All Saints Church. Previously, William Sturdy had given the church a new tenor bell and ringers’ gallery in 1887 and the Sturdy family also funded the building of the Choir Vestry in 1911.

His son, William Arthur Sturdy, took over Paxhill, and was active in village life through to his death in 1918, aged 48. He was a considerable benefactor to Lindfield. King Edward Hall would not have been built opposite the Pond had he not provided the land. Likewise, the miniature rifle range in Alma Road during the Great War. This was just one of his many good and generous deeds at that time, these ranged from providing workrooms for the Lindfield Voluntary Work Organisation making clothes and dressings for the wounded, to funding the purchase of a potato sprayer and chemicals for residents to borrow.

Following William Arthur Sturdy’s death, Paxhill remained owned and lived in by family members. Early in the Second World War, the estate was requisition by the military becoming a camp for the Canadian Army and the Black Watch. It is said about 70 huts were built to accommodate 1,500 troops on the land alongside Park Lane. Military equipment, including large quantities of ammunition and shells, were stored throughout the park. The officers’ mess was located in the house, a part of which remained occupied by the Study family and staff. The camp had all the necessary facilities from water tank to sewerage works and even a cinema, to which the more adventurous village boys would seek to gain access. The military presence reduced after D-Day and at the war’s end the camp was used to demobilise returning British prisoners of war.

Paxhill continued to be occupied by members of the Sturdy family until about 1960 when it was leased first to Preston College, Brighton, and then to Captain Goodwin for use as a retirement home. The property was sold in 1970 bringing to an end almost one hundred years
of ownership by the Sturdy family. Further changes of ownership followed with the house continuing to be used as a home for the elderly until 1999, when it was sold and converted back to a private residence.

The growth of Lindfield

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Two residents on meeting in the High Street were overheard discussing all the new housing being built in Lindfield and whether facilities could cope and the character change. The conversation didn’t take place recently but in 1901. For many centuries Lindfield village comprised little more than the High Street. Through roads such as today’s Lewes Road, Denmans Lane, Hickmans Lane, Sunte Avenue, West Common and Summerhill Lane existed as little more than tracks with the occasional isolated cottage and all bordered by fields. The prosperity of the Victorian era and the coming of the London to Brighton railway line created the need for new housing, especially for working class families. Lindfield started to grow with short rows of cottages appearing around the village. The more affluent built villas on Black Hill. By the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign and the early Edwardian years, new roads were being constructed, most notably Eastern Road, Luxford Road (originally called Western Road) and Compton Road. Leading local businessmen, and those with money to invest, either commissioned houses to be built on these roads or purchased houses constructed speculatively by builders. All were participating in ‘Buy to Rent’, as most people could not afford to buy. The tradesmen and shopkeepers recognised that an increased population meant more business. It was at this time the Haywards Heath and District Building Society, established in 1890, started to prosper (merging with the Yorkshire in 1992). Housing commenced along Lewes Road, and in 1906 local businessmen Charles Wood and Frederick Beeny (the great-grandfather of TV property developer Sarah Beeny) started the West View development. Originally planned for 30 houses but, beset by problems mainly relating to drainage, only 17 were built, including a corner shop. On completion it was nicknamed White City. In little more than half a century the number of dwellings in Lindfield village more than doubled. However this growth came to an abrupt stop with the Great War. The coming of peace brought a mood to create a ‘Land fit for Heroes’. Lindfield Women’s Institute made representations to the local authority that many new houses were needed for working families, but disappointingly only six were subsequently built.

The country being impoverished by the war, together with the economic depression, resulted in few new houses during the 1920s. The next decade saw housebuilding start again, with the 1937 Ordnance Survey map showing ‘infill’ housing in Luxford Road, Eastern Road and elsewhere. Most new properties were developed plot by plot along existing roads, on the Haywards Heath side of the village, such as Backwoods Lane, West Common, Summerhill Lane, Sunte Avenue plus the new Denmans Close and Oak Bank, Brook Lane and Roundwood Lane. These roads comprised mainly detached houses, with many designed by the respected architect Harold Turner. He undertook a wide range of commercial commissions across Britain and abroad but is best known locally for his high quality domestic architecture with ‘arts and crafts’ period features. The late 1930s saw the infrastructure put in place ready for housebuilding in Chestnuts Close, Summerhill Drive and Meadow Lane. However, the Second World War delayed completion of these schemes. The building during this pre-war period added around 270 houses.

Again war impoverished the country and building was slow to recommence apart from a few houses. Most notably in Hickmans Lane were the 12 semi-detached St Johns Cottages on land given by Maud Savill to the District Council for demobbed servicemen and their families. It was in the early 1950s that the local authority acquired the land of Box’s Nursery and erected housing in Chaloner Road and the first sections of Newton Road. The next ten years saw larger scale private housing developments start on new roads such as Dukes Road (also built on Box’s Nursery land), West Common Drive, Appledore Gardens, Pelham Road, Beckworth Lane and Close, Oakfield Close, Finches Park Road and the first section of Savill Road. Collectively, in the 20 years up to 1965, some 400 houses were built in the village In Lindfield’s rural area to the west of the village, a few houses existed along Gravelye Lane. However, during this period significant housebuilding commenced in this area, with the construction of William Allen Lane and adjacent roads south of Gravelye Lane. These residential schemes, all completed by the mid-1960s added a further 100 houses. The map of Lindfield had changed dramatically and more growth and change was on its way. During the next ten years much needed building land became available through the demolition of the Mid Sussex Steam Laundry, the County Hotel (previously Finches) and The Welkin, following closure of the preparatory school. The most controversial proposal was for the Welkin site, with a plan to construct a large high-rise apartment block comprising nine storeys. Residents were horrified and following much protesting, that ultimately led to the formation of the Preservation Society, the scheme was scrapped and the dwellings as seen today built. The land previously occupied by the other demolished buildings, and land that became available, resulted in the completion by the mid-1970s of the Meadow Drive development, second parts of Savill and Finches Park roads, By Sunte, Finches Gardens, Blackthorns, Shenstone, Brookway, Fieldway, Pickers Green plus others totalling well over 650 houses.

Around this time national house-builders such as CALA Homes were looking covetously at the farmland between Gravelye Lane, Scamps Hill and Lyoth Lane. Following the earlier successful Welkin protests, campaigning started again. Local newspaper articles liberally used the word ‘battle’ and the campaign took the style of ‘The Battle to Save Lindfield’. Victory was again achieved and development plans were put on hold for another day. Effectively, a ‘red line’ drawn down Gravelye Lane made land to the south and other pockets of land the only possible potential developments. Developers were quick to acquire and build on the land south of Gravelye Lane resulting in Westlands Road, The Hollow and nearby roads with about 150 houses being completed by the beginning of the 1980s.

The demise of Lindfield Nursery, better known locally as ‘the mushroom factory’, provided land for the Noahs Ark Lane development. Two more nurseries went the same way, resulting in Harvest Close and Linden Grove. These totalled 150 new homes. During the 1980s and 1990s, the scarcity of available land resulted in a reduction in housebuilding, the main developments being Summerhill Grange, on land that had been part of Tavistock and Summerhill School, and Portsmouth Wood Close. These totalled nearly 60 new detached houses. An ever increasing demand for housing in the new century encouraged the national house-builders to again set their sights on Lindfield and encroachment on to agricultural land. The fields once part of Luxford Farm, behind Newton Road, became the target. Archaeological evidence showed the fields had been farmland for over 1,300 years. Despite some opposition, it was not long before 125 dwellings at The Limes were being lived in. Attention then turned once more to the Gravelye Lane, Scamps Hill and Lyoth Lane triangle that had been vociferously fought over in the 1970s. This time planning permission was granted for the Heathwood Park development, with construction continuing today towards 230 dwellings on completion. Last year saw ground being broken, further down Gravelye Lane, for 130 homes at the ironically named Lindfield Meadows. There will no doubt be more building in the future. But it certainly isn’t new phenomenon!

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