Westcott Local History Group

Future Programme, News and Past Reports

The Group meets every other month, usually on the second Tuesday in the Westcott Reading Room at 7.45 for 8.00pm. Meetings are free to members. Visitors are welcome on payment of a £1 entry fee.

The future programme includes:

Saturday 16th and Sunday 17^th October: Westcott Reunited Weekend. Full details of the programme of events to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the village school are included in the NEWS section below.

Tuesday 9^th November: The North Downs – Peter Brandon. One of our most popular speakers returns to focus on the North Downs in English life and culture, past present and future.

Tuesday 11^th January 2005 : Malthus and the Rookery - Peter Bennett

Tuesday 8^th March 2005 : Suburban Surrey - Alan Jackson

Friday 25^th March 2005 : Good Friday Walk

Tuesday 10^th May 2005 : The Leith Hill Music Festival - Graham Muncy

Monday 13^th & Tuesday 14^th June 2005 (Visit) : Walk and Talk Historic Leatherhead - John Wettern

Tuesday 12^th July 2005 (AGM at 7.45pm) : The Overlord Crossword - Ron Smith

News

Celebrating 150 Years

Westcott School is celebrating its 150^th anniversary and former scholars and staff are invited to return during the weekend of 16^th & 17^th October.

The programme for the weekend is as follows:

Saturday 16^th October:

    The School will be open from 11am until 6pm with a display of photographs, scrap books, cine films and other memorabilia        to illustrate and recall the history of the school.

    PAWS – the Parents at Westcott School - will be providing teas and for those who want a midday meal ‘school dinners’       will be available at The Crown and The Prince of Wales.

    In the evening an informal dinner – the Westcott School Supper – will be held in the Westcott Reading Room at 7:30pm         when Sir Paul Beresford MP will be the guest speaker.

Sunday 17^th October:

    The School’s 150^th anniversary will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Church at 10:15am when the preacher will be Derek           Holbird, the Diocesan Director of Education.

    The School will then be open again from noon until 5pm.

Many former pupils and members of staff have arranged to return to Westcott to visit the school during the weekend and many more will attend if only they can be contacted - so please pass information about the weekend to any ‘old boys’ and ‘old girls’ that you are in touch with and encourage them to come along.

Please note that because of the restricted access to School Lane parking in the playground will be reserved for those who would find difficulty in walking to the school.

Copies of ‘The History of Westcott School’ (see below) will be available during the weekend. In addition to buying a copy for yourself the book will make a very welcome and affordable Christmas present for anybody you know who went to the School but cannot attend the reunion.

The Westcott School Supper should be a very entertaining evening for past and present Westcott residents. It will be held in the recently redecorated Reading Room and the meal will comprise a superb ‘hog roast’ buffet (or vegetarian option) with home-made dessert, cheese, wine, soft drinks & coffee - for an all-inclusive price of £15. Although an informal event, Sir Paul Beresford MP will be the guest speaker. To avoid disappointment order your tickets without delay using the proforma below.

In addition to school memorabilia the Westcott Local History Group have acquired a collection of photographs etc of the 17^th Dorking (Westcott) Scout Group. These will also be displayed in the school in the hope that former cubs and scouts will be able to put names to faces and places.

Top of the Class. There is one further event to note. On Saturday 6^th November there will be a concert at 7.30pm in Holy Trinity Church. A group of professional and amateur performers has been formed to celebrate the school’s 150^th anniversary in words and music with a programme which ranges from "the parlour to the London stage and from 1854 to 2004". Admission will be by ticket costing £8 - to include wine and refreshments. Call Andrea Gabb on 01306 885534 to place your order.

Although Westcott Reunited has been organised primarily for former pupils it is hoped that villagers who did not attend the school will take this opportunity to see how a Victorian building has been adapted to meet the needs of the 21^st century, and to attend the various events that are being organised to celebrate the school’s 150^th anniversary.

For further information call 01306 882624

THE HISTORY OF WESTCOTT SCHOOL

1854 –2004 50 pages & 95 illustrations

The History of Westcott School reveals how the school opened in 1854 as a National School to teach the three ‘R’s – reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic - as well as religious knowledge. It notes how education developed in the 19^th century resulting in the need to build a separate infants school in 1882 and the enlargement of the original building in 1912. It goes on to record post war changes, first as a Primary School and then, as now, a First School. But the book is far more than a history text book. It recalls the problems associated with truanting and the sickness epidemics that resulted in the school being closed for weeks at a time. It describes the attention paid to gardening, mothercraft, music and sport. Patronage, patriotism and punishment also get a mention, as does the ‘school in wartime’. All this plus fascinating and amusing memories contributed by staff and scholars from the 1920s to the 1990s.

WESTCOTT SCHOOL SUPPER

………………………………….. Telephone…………………….

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Reports of Past Presentations

May 2004 The Dorking Emigration Scheme - Dr Sheila Haynes
March 2004 The History of Local Gardens - Brenda Lewis
January 2004. The Battle of Dorking – Alistair Meldrum
November 2003 Edwin Lutyens
September 2003 St John’s Free Church, Westcott
July 2003 ‘Professor’ Den Basten on the History of Punch & Judy.
May 2003 Visit to Milton Court
March 2003 Secrets of the Tillingbourne Valley
January 2003 The Arts and Crafts movement in the Surrey Hills.
November 2002 The Life and Times of William Mullins
September 2002 Westcott in 1901
July 2002 Leslie Howard and Stow Maries
May 2002 Sir Gilbert Scott and the building of Holy Trinity Church
March 2002 The Railway comes to Dorking
January 2002  Stane Street
November 2001. The Early History of Cycling in Surrey
September 2001 Charcoal Burning and other local woodland industries
June 2001 The Chilworth Gunpowder Trail

May 2004 The Dorking Emigration Scheme - Dr Sheila Haynes

Our last meeting revealed that odd quirk of history: a tendency for it to repeat itself. Now the discussion is about skill shortages, welfare costs and immigration. Then the discussion was about excess labour, welfare costs and emigration.

Then was 1832, the excess labour was the number of unemployed craftsmen who were supported by a charge on the rates, and the Dorking Emigration Scheme was the proposed solution. Our speaker, Dr Sheila Haynes described how she, with the help of colleagues and supported by a successful emigrant to Canada, had investigated the scheme and followed the course of many of the participants.

In the early 1830s the Earl of Egremont had set up a scheme in Petworth to encourage emigration to the colonies in Canada. It was not long before Robert Barclay of Berry Hill concluded that it would be useful if Dorking had a similar scheme. A special meeting was called on 10th February 1832 and it was agreed that the sum of £3. 7/6 should be paid to families who emigrated. (The Petworth scheme paid £10).

The journey to Canada was arduous and some gave up in Portsmouth before they got on the converted timber boats sent to take them across the Atlantic. Typically they set off in April and travelled via Greenland to Quebec, finally arriving in Ontario in October. There they were granted five acres of land and given some assistance in establishing themselves. Some of the settlers were young single men seeking adventure and some were literally seeking a new life: they were avoiding the law and started on arrival with a new name as well! But many were large families seeking to better themselves and who subsequently encouraged other families and friends to join them.

By 1837 emigration to Australia had taken precedence over Canada and the Dorking scheme ceased operation. But to this day in Ontario there are people who can trace their links back to Wescott and Dorking, and the same street names exist on both sides of the Atlantic. Dr Sheila Haynes gave us an intriguing insight into this local scheme and the way it had contributed to the establishment of the nation of Canada.

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March 2004 The History of Local Gardens - Brenda Lewis

The powerful combination of local history and gardens brought a capacity crowd to the Reading Room to hear the talk by Brenda Lewis, from the Surrey Garden Trust, on ‘The History of Local Gardens’.

Brenda Lewis lead us though the trials and challenges faced by the great local gardens, Denbies, Norbury Park, Bury Hill and more the modern creations such as the Edwardian gardens of Polesden Lacey, the Jekyll design at Goddards, and the work of Cheale at Broomfield Park. The large audience gained a fascinating new insight into our local gardens.

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January 2004. The Battle of Dorking – Alistair Meldrum

Our first meeting in the Reading Room enabled Alistair Meldrum to recall for us the Battle of Dorking. Just over a century ago this battle, so crucial to the survival of Britain, was still fresh in everyone's mind. It occurred earlier in 1875 and the definitive report, indeed the only first hand account, was printed in Blackwood's Magazine published in Edinburgh in May 1871. The story was told by a Volunteer, one of the 170,000 who existed at that time and who were the predecessors of our present day Territorial Army.

In the early 1870’s Britain was reasonably prosperous but our naval fleet was scattered and our regular army stretched, with troops in India, Canada and Ireland. Germany annexed Holland and Denmark then threatened Britain. After a feint towards Harwich which resulted in the British fleet being all but destroyed and our Army wrong-footed, the German forces attacked from the South, landing at Worthing. The Volunteers, now our last ditch defence force, were sent by train towards Horsham. They arrived too late and retired to Leith Hill. However German columns advancing to the East and West in a pincer movement caused a further retreat through Coldharbour and Dorking. The force finally attempted to defend the line of the North Downs and the key Dorking gap.

Determined to hold Box Hill to the East and Ranmore to the west, the Volunteers marched through Dorking (looting a baker's shop on the way). An initial attack was repulsed but, lured into a trap when pursuing retreated German troops down the slope from Denbies, our troops were driven back in confusion. After fighting along the road leading from Dorking to Ranmore our troops retreated through Leatherhead and Epsom to Surbiton, where they attempted to regroup. However the Volunteers were no match for the advancing German forces and they were quickly overwhelmed. In the resulting peace Germany annexed the colonies, Ireland became independent and, with the overseas markets for our manufactured goods gone, Britain was finished.

The Volunteer’s account of this Battle of Dorking is not strictly accurate. Indeed, even in its totality, it is not in the least bit accurate for it is an imaginary account by Colonel, later General, Sir George Chesney MP. But the story was more than simple entertainment. It drew attention to the sate of British defences in the 1870’s which had the effect of reinvigorating the British Navy and resulted in improved defences around London. With modern maps showing the lines of battle in red and blue (there was no mention of blue-on-blue fire in a 1875!) Alastair was able to describe the battle, identify some of the forts subsequently built on the Downs and assess the impact of this piece of fiction on the development of our Navy and our entire defence strategy. A stimulating talk for historians, military buffs and all who live near Dorking.

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November 2003 Edwin Lutyens – Ron Smith

Ron Smith provided us with a deep insight into the work of the architect Edwin Lutyens, the gardener Gertrude Jekyll - and the British class system. He showed us fine examples of Lutyens designed country houses in the region and their spectacular Jekyll designed gardens. He also gave some insight into the role Lady Victoria Sackville played in the life of the architect.

Edwin Landseer Lutyens was born in 1869 to a prosperous Victorian family. He grew up in Thursley, on the A3 just north of the Devil's Punchbowl, and this village was formative to his career, as was watching the local joiner using local materials in house construction. When informed that he would become a builder his father baulked, but a compromise was reached and Edwin went to the South Kensington School of Art to study architecture.

At Kensington Lutyens trained with famous architects such as Norman Shaw and Philip Webb. Ron Smith demonstrated their contribution to Edwin’s evolving style with pictures of the village of Thursley and key examples of the work of these two architects. In particular the village hall shows the key Lutyens signature marks, the chimneys, gable ends and sloping walls that were to become so much a part of his later work.

Separately Gertrude Jekyll had developed as a professional gardener, popularising the large herbaceous border and natural planting schemes. In 1889 Edwin was asked to design a garden cottage for Harry Mangles – and the garden was designed by Gertrude. The lives of Jekyll, then 46, and Lutyens, 20, were to come together to create a partnership which lasted 40 years and transformed the design of English country houses and gardens.

The striking pictures taken by Ron Smith showed how Lutyens designs progressed in houses such as Vann, Great Dixter, Folly Farm and Hestercombe. His career had by now developed beyond designing country houses for private clients: he worked on major projects for government. He designed the government buildings in Imperial New Delhi including their fixtures and fittings. He also designed the new British Embassy in Washington.

One time Ambassador to Washington, Lord Sackville, the owner of the magnificent Knole House, had been a colourful character who married a Spanish dancer, Pepita, by whom he had a daughter Victoria. On his death Knole House went not to his daughter but to the next male descendant, a cousin of Lady Victoria. She promptly married this cousin and remained at Knole House, but her marriage was not successful. Earlier, in 1897, Edwin Lutyens had married Emily, the daughter of a Viceroy of India and a person with a deep fascination for Indian philosophy. This also was not to be a successful marriage. Lady Victoria and Edwin met and developed a relationship described as 'closer than just friends'. The relationship was to greatly expand Lutyens contacts and commissions.

Edwin Lutyens will also be remembered as the architect of the Cenotaph. This, like his work for the War Graves Commission, has no crosses to signify a particular religion and is built with striking simplicity. But it is in fact complex, with no vertical or horizontal lines: the apparently vertical sides slope outwards to the base and the 'horizontal' surfaces are part of a very large diameter cycle.

It was a truly remarkable presentation by Ron Smith: he provided a superbly illustrated talk on the development of Lutyens architectural style in conjunction with Jekyll’s gardens and also gave us an intriguing insight into the links within this strata of British society at the time.

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September 2003 St John’s Free Church, Westcott

Our meeting in September was a talk by Jonathan Clark, the last Minister of St John’s, about the Chapel and the Countess of Huntington’s Connexion. The talk took place in this most attractive little building which could accommodate easily the 60 or so members who attended. Jonathan covered the key events in the History of the Chapel; the development by Lady Selina, Countess of Huntington, of the denomination as it evolved from Methodism; and the special role of the Founder and patron of St John’s, John Worsfold.

In the first part of 19^th century Westcott had no formal place of worship. The Rev. Henry Lambert occasionally preached the gospel on the village green and it is said that John Worsfold, then in his seventies and a prosperous man described as an "extensive landowner" who behaved like "an old fashioned type of country squire", was so impressed by what he heard that he decided Westcott should have a church. He promptly donated 1.5 acres of land and the first £150 of the estimated £550 needed to build one. In all he donated £3,000 to the Chapel, a substantial sum in those days. The first Minister when the Chapel was opened in 1840 was the Rev. Lambert.

There are two marble tablets in the Chapel paid for by John Worsfold, one in his memory and the other giving details of his bequests. He is buried beneath the altar and until relatively recently his bust was placed so it looked down on his vault. Jonathan speculated that the Chapel’s founder, Mr Worsfold, may have regarded it as something of his own. This could have contributed to decisions that led to the opening of Holy Trinity in 1852, the year John Worsfold died.

There are many interesting stories of John Worsfold. For example he is said to have planted an acorn when a small boy and lived to see it grow into a large tree. Prior to his death he had it cut down and had his coffin made from its timber. This he stored in the vestry of the Chapel as his wife would not have it in the house. Perhaps symbolically, in addition to his own coffin, in which he now rests under the altar, he had the base and cover for the beautiful font, which is also at the front of the Church, made from the same tree.

Jonathan Clark had many entertaining anecdotes to tell about both the ‘Squire of Westcott’ and his role in the construction of the Chapel and its subsequent inclusion in the Countess of Huntington’s Connexion. We thank him for a very enjoyable and instructive evening.

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July 2003 ‘Professor’ Den Basten on the History of Punch & Judy.

Our last meeting was the Annual General Meeting and it was followed by a talk and show by ‘Professor’ Den Basten on the History of Punch & Judy.

Many of us will remember Punch & Judy shows from our schooldays. Well, times have changed! It is no longer PC to whack wives or babies and even jokes about the crocodile loving children – for breakfast – are frowned on. ‘Professor’ Basten put this down to ‘Brussels’ but the characters have always changed with the times. The Negro Servant remained until the 1960's and for many the Hangman went with the abolition of Capital punishment. The Crocodile was a relatively late arrival in the story and has only been an important character for about a hundred years.

As well as the ‘slapstick’, the secrets of the silver ‘swazzle’ were also revealed to us by ‘Professor’ Den Basten: an entertaining and instructive evening!

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May 2003 Visit to Milton Court

Longstanding member of the Westcott Local History Group, Richard Ede, welcomed members into the former Dining Room of Milton Court (a 1870 addition to the original building) and described the history of the estate with the aid of a fine selection of slides.

The Milton estate is mentioned in the Domesday book and in the 14th century was owned by the prioress and nuns of Kilburn who maintained ownership until Henry VIII's reign. Towards the end of the 16th century it was given to George Evelyn by Queen Elizabeth I.

Milton Court remained in the ownership of the Evelyn family until the mid-19th century but during that time there had been numerous occupants and it was sinking into serious decline. It had been used as a poor house and a great deal of damage done, including burning original wood panelling and using a pony to make deliveries up the internal Jacobean staircase.

Ownership passed to Mr Douglas Biggar in the mid 18^th century and he began some restoration work. However it was Mr Lachan Mackintosh Rate who really transformed the building during his ownership from 1863. He was a successful lawyer and banker and employed the eminent Victorian architect William Burges for the work. Much of what we see today, both internally and externally, is due to his work. However many original features remain visible, including much of the front façade, the front door, the staircase and several door cases and most notably the exposed roof timbers.

The Rate family owned Milton Court until 1936 by which time the garden had become one of the best known and most beautiful and the South of England. Just before the Second World War the property was bought by the Henley Telegraph company who added an office block and put up interior partitions. In 1965 the precursor company of UnumProvident bought Milton Court and in 1990 it underwent major restoration and refurbishment.

The rain held off long enough for us to make a brief visit to the gardens, laid out originally by Mrs Rate, and then to take a leisurely look at the inside of the building. Our thanks are due to Richard Ede for the arrangements and a superb presentation. We all thank UnumProvident for allowing us around their building and for the sympathetic treatment and care they have lavished on this local landmark.

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March 2003 Secrets of the Tillingbourne Valley

Dr Peter Brandon, experienced writer and lecturer on Surrey, introduced us to the ‘Secrets of the Tillingbourne Valley’.

Described as "The heartland of Surrey", the history of the valley is closely associated with the great land owning families of the region, particularly the Evelyns. In 1579 George Evelyn was granted by Queen Elizabeth I a monopoly for the manufacture of gunpowder and chose this area because it had water for power and transportation, wood for fuel and yet was sufficiently remote to allow manufacturing to proceed unhindered. Thereafter other industries sprang up, particularly around the numerous mills established on the river: along one 11 mile stretch there are records of a total of 31 mills. Richard Evelyn introduced wire making and the region produced nails, mousetraps and other products based on the material. There was leather tanning, flax retting, iron manufacture and brewing all underway in the valley. The valley was an advanced industrial community.

By 1620 and the time of John Evelyn manufacturing had declined. He was one of the first people to appreciate the importance of ‘technology transfer’ for the development of the community and he introduced hydraulic technology from Italy together with the arts of planting and landscape design. His development of industrial forestry in parallel with the introduction of classical Italian landscaping established the basis for the valley to evolve into the area of outstanding beauty still loved by artists today.

Peter Brandon developed his theme with fine wit and some delightfully misty and evocative slides of the locality.

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January 2003 The Arts and Crafts movement in the Surrey Hills.

Our speaker, Nigel Barker, currently works for English Heritage but was previously Surrey conservation officer and is an enthusiast for Arts and Crafts architecture. He described how in the late 19 century some architects set out to return to their roots and the needs of the people. In the event this attempt to regain integrity led to them catering more for the needs of the wealthy house owner than the general public, but it resulted in some idealised concepts of the country house.

There was no formal ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement, but it is generally recognised that the period between the changes led by Ruskin and Morris in the late 19th century and the First World War marked a definite age. The Surrey landscape was an ideal location for the movement, not only for its natural beauty but also for its location near London allowing professional buyers to build the house of their dreams. In the period 1870 to 1890 Richard Shaw, George Edmond Street, and Philip Webb were responsible for many of the key buildings in Gomshall, Holmbury St Mary, and Ewhurst. Nigel Baker showed examples of these, many of which are not normally open to the public. Late, around 1900, Edward Lutyens built Fullbook House and 'Orchards', arguably one of his best buildings.

Nigel Baker was able to show us a broad spectrum of classic buildings from the Arts and Crafts movement all within a short drive from Wescott. His enthusiasm and for the subject and stunning slides made for a most entertaining and informative evening.

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November 2002 The Life and Times of William Mullins

At the November meeting members were directed by Pam Hunter to Chippingborough, the 16^th century business area of Dorking which we know today as West Street, and in particular to the former home of William Mullins, a prosperous shoemaker. The house is still there, at No. 58 – 61, and it bears a plaque commemorating the fact that it is the only surviving home of a ‘Pilgrim Father’.

We shall never know exactly why William Mullins chose to be a passenger on the Mayflower when it set sail for the newly founded colony of Virginia in 1620 but as a result of her research Pam Hunter was able to identify which members of the Mullins family accompanied him and to describe the circumstances that led his fellow passengers to leave the Old World for the uncertainties of the New.

Her talk introduced the ‘Saints’ – a group of English Separatists from Lincolnshire, led by William Brewster, who sought religious freedom in Holland initially but in February 1620 negotiated with a group of venture capitalists in London for help establish a new life in America.

At that time the Government were promoting the opportunities offered by the vast undeveloped territory of Virginia and about 70 ‘Stranger’s’, mostly craftsmen, were persuaded to accompany the religious Puritans. The Mayflower was chartered and set sail from Plymouth on 16^th September 1620, reaching Cape Cod two months later. Attempts to sail south to Virginia were unsuccessful and so a settlement was created at New Plymouth on the site of a deserted Indian village, and an historic agreement was drawn up by the settlers to seek retrospective Crown approval to their action.

Sadly William Mullins, and the rest of his family, were among the many settlers and crew who soon succumbed to sickness, save for his daughter Priscilla. She married John Alden, another Mayflower passenger, and helped establish the new colony by raising ten children. Her name has entered American folklore as the ‘heroine’ of Longfellow’s epic poem of The Courtship of Miles Standish, Standish having been a mercenary recruited to accompany and protect the Pilgrim Fathers (a relatively recent name, incidentally).

Pam Hunter went on to describe her own visit to New Plymouth, where a heritage site recalls the founding of the settlement nearly 400 years ago. Meanwhile, it is now clear why West Street Dorking is a mecca for American tourists.

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September 2002 Westcott in 1901

The September meeting was based on the 1901 census, which revealed who was in the village on the night of the 31^st March, how old they were, what they did and where they came from.

That there has been a substantial increase in houses and population in the past 100 years came as no surprise but changes in average family size (down from 4.4 to 2.4) and a comparison with the number of houses with a single occupant (negligible in 1901 but currently well over 25%) were highlighted, as were the reduction in the number of young children (from 20% to 10%) and the increase in the ‘over 80’s’.

Throughout the 19^th century agriculture and domestic service had provided the principal employment. In 1901 there were still 10 farmers, supported by stockmen, carters, millers and agricultural labourers, and the Bury Hill and Rookery Mansions and the smaller country houses continued to be looked after by numerous butlers, footmen, maids, cooks, housekeepers, grooms and a small army of gardeners. To reflect extensive new house building in the village, however, there were now 18 carpenters, 13 painters & plasterers, 6 plumbers, 11 sawyers and timber yard labourers and sundry apprentices trying to keep pace with the output of 40 bricklayers and bricklayer’s labourers.

The census also showed how self sufficient the village was 100 years ago. There were at least three grocers, a butcher, two bakers and two fishmongers, a draper, two shoe repairers, a confectioner and six pubs. There were three blacksmiths, two whitesmiths, a coachbuilder and a wheelwright. There were no hairdressers but several dressmakers and over 20 laundresses as well as 40 or so jobbing gardeners and a similar number of general labourers. There were no chauffeurs as yet but a fly driver provided the equivalent of today’s minicab. There were two schoolmasters, a physician and a district nurse. There was a clergyman (and there would have been another if the Minister at St John’s had been at home on the night of the census), and a ‘Biblewoman’ who was the social worker to the Bury Hill estate. There was a village policeman and a village postman, although he actually lived just over the parish boundary in Dorking. There was even an artist and, of course, a photographer – Walter Rose to whom the Local History Group are particularly indebted.

With the exception of Henry Johns, a solicitor’s clerk, the Westcott workforce appear to have all been locally employed. Dorking was regularly visited, but for the weekly market and entertainment; not for employment. The concept of ‘commuting’ had not yet arrived!

The census also recorded everybody’s birthplace and here there were some more surprises. Of the 1302 inhabitants of Westcott in 1901 less than half were born locally i.e. in Westcott, Wotton or Dorking. A third of the inhabitants were not even born in Surrey. Some of the ‘outsiders’ were the live-in servants at the larger country houses, whose owners tended to recruit nationally, and in some cases internationally. Others were visitors, including five at Westcott Hill Farm which doubled up as a Dairy Farm (producing much of the village milk supply) and as a Lodging House. There were also individuals and families who had clearly been attracted to Westcott by the opportunities for employment, or simply as a pleasant place to retire to. Lady Hertford at Brooklands had been born in Paris, Henrietta Davis, the wife of the new owner of Rokefield came from Tasmania and the vicar’s wife was born in Buenos Aires. Other residents came from all over England, helping to create a much more cosmopolitan society than might have been expected at the end of the 19^th century.

To supplement the census detail contemporary reports from the Dorking Advertiser and Parish Magazine helped build up the picture of village life, including references to Westcott miscreants at the Dorking Magistrate’s Court, the annual parade of Court Rescue (Ancient Order of Foresters), the Westcott Torchlight Society’s procession, various ‘entertainments’ in the Reading Room, a suicide on the railway line and a murder on Westcott Common.

To conclude the evening members toured the village, called in at the school and some local shops, visited several houses and met the Barclay family and various other residents, all courtesy of Walter Rose whose photographs will always do more than any census or newspaper report to illustrate ‘Westcott in 1901’.

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July 2002 Leslie Howard and Stowe Maries

Over 100 people attended the Group's 4th Annual Meeting on July 9^th. With commendable speed the business matters were dealt with allowing Ann Wickham to talk about her home, Stowe Maries in Balchin's Lane, and its association with film star Leslie Howard.

Leslie Howard Steiner, was born at Forest Hill in April 1893 the son of an Hungarian Jewish immigrant piano-playing father. In a fascinating story, illustrated with many photographs and recordings, we learned of Leslie's first steps on the stage after serving in the cavalry during the first world war, and the fascination with film that led initially to an association with A A Milne to make silent films and was to end in Hollywood. Reference was also made to many of the famous names with whom he was associated and, behind the scenes, the private life with his wife and family in Westcott. Leslie Howard became known as the perfect Englishman; slim, tall, intellectual and sensitive, a role that suited his performance as Sir Percy Blakeney in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel, and many of his other stage and film performances during the 'thirties that established him as a matinée idol, both here and in the USA. In 1939 he played Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, one of the great Hollywood films, but with the outbreak of the Second World War he returned to England to make radio broadcasts and direct patriotic films to support the war effort. He died in January 1943 when the civilian plane in which he was returning from a lecture tour in neutral Spain and Portugal was shot down over the Bay of Biscay. The circumstances whereby the plane was attacked by a German fighter have given rise to much speculation and the mystery has been heightened by a Government decision not to release official files relating to the incident until 2025. Ann Wickham's carefully researched talk highlighted Leslie Howard's complex character but recognised the close links he maintained with his family and the love he had for his Westcott home at Stowe Maries. She described how he set about restoring its original 16th century exterior whilst modernising the interior, the construction of 'the cinema' in the garden and the collection of motor cars and ponies that Leslie assembled. We also heard how he tried to avoid recognition when shopping in Dorking; not an easy task for somebody so well known and a potential problem for somebody who 'didn't chase women but who couldn't always be bothered to run away' - which may also explain why Ingrid Bergman stayed at The Crown! After the talk members of the audience were able to contribute their own memories and photographs of Westcott's favourite film star to conclude a most informative and enjoyable evening.

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May 2002 Sir Gilbert Scott and the building of Holy Trinity Church

The Westcott Local History Group’s May meeting contributed to the 150^th anniversary celebrations for Holy Trinity Church. Terry Wooden set the scene by describing Westcott in 1850; a largely self-sufficient community comprising 160 houses and a population of 850 or so who were mainly engaged as agricultural labourers on the man farms (Milton, Rookery, Hill, Taws, Florence, Springfield, Chadhurst etc.), or as domestic servants in the country houses (Bury Hill, The Rookery, Brooklands), located within and around the village. But there was no church, Westcott formed part of the large parish of Dorking and to attend morning and evening service each Sunday required a walk to St Martin’s, or possibly to St John’s at Wotton.

During the course of the evening reference was made to the 3350 christenings, 1140 weddings and 2200 burials recorded in the parish registers during the past 150 years, and the meeting concluded with a slide show of early photographs of the Church.

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March 2002 The Railway comes to Dorking

The Railway Comes to Dorking was the subject of Westcott Local History Group’s March meeting and the speaker was Alan Jackson. By the 1840’s London had become the centre of the country’s railway network. There were termini in the north, south and west of the city but no through routes. The Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway (subsequently the South Eastern Railway) opened in 1849 as part of an enlightened initiative to avoid the cost and delay of transhipping goods across London by providing a direct link between the industrial heartland of the country and the channel ports. Although not yet achieving this objective, except in times of crisis when, for example, it was dedicated to moving the survivors of Dunkirk to Aldershot and beyond, the line has survived and Alan Jackson described its route, construction and current use.

He went on to record the opening, in 1867, of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway’s rival line, linking Dorking with Leatherhead through the Mickleham gap and subsequently continuing south to Horsham and beyond.

Crossings. All have now gone but many of those present remembered how the occupants of the isolated cottages, normally a railway platelayer and his crossing keeper wife and family, relied on the delivery of fresh water from Dorking by train each afternoon. Reference was also made to the short-lived Westcott Range Halt. This was built in 1916 for soldiers to use the rifle range on the north side of the railway line at Coomb Farm, but was demolished in 1928.

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January 2002  Stane Street

Ken Kilburn looked back to the 300 year period from the Claudian invasion of 43AD when most of Britain, and especially the Southeast, was occupied by the Romans. With the assistance of a large collection of slides he led LXXXVIII members and guests out of the walled city of Londinium, across London Bridge along a route which is familiar to us as the A24 and A29 but which was constructed by the Romans and became known as Stane Street. The journey led through Merton and Ewell and crossed the Mole by a ford close to Burford Bridge. Although distinctively straight for most of its length, Leith Hill necessitated a diversion through Ockley. The road crossed the river Arun by a bridge at Alfoldean and after 56 miles entered the town of Noviomagus, which we know today as Chichester, by the East Gate.

Nearly 2000 years later not only is the route of Stane Street still identifiable for much of its length, but its distinctive features, an embankment (agger) constructed with layers of gravel or flints between two parallel outer and inner ditches, can still be seen in those areas where the road survives as a bridle path. There were probably four ‘stations’ along the road. Two have been located and excavated, at Alfoldean and Hardham. One of the other sites was almost certainly in Dorking but to date neither the precise route of Stane Street through the town nor the location of the ‘station’ has been found.

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November 2001. The Early History of Cycling in Surrey

The speaker at the November meeting soon climbed on his hobby horse. He then mounted a boneshaker and at the end of the evening he and several Group members manoeuvred round the Westcott Reading Room on a penny-farthing! The cycles belonged to Les Bowerman who was particularly well qualified, as well as equipped, to talk about the early history of cycling in Surrey since he is Chairman of the Send and Ripley Local History Society and Past President of the Veteran Cycle Club.

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September 2001 Charcoal Burning and other local woodland industries

The census return for 1861 records that in April of that year Robert and Hannah Gale were living in a cottage at Logmore. They had not been there in 1851 and it was apparent that the fsmily did not stay put for very long since the children had been born at several different places including Ewhurst, Rudgwick, Albury, Wotton and Dorking. James was a baby of four months, Sarah and Susannah, aged 10 and 7, were scholars, presumably walking into Westcott each day for their schooling. William (22), Benjamin (16), Thomas (13) and John (11) all worked with their father as charcoal burners.

At the September meeting of the Westcott Local History Group Chris Howkins vividly described the life that the Gale family would have lived in their woodland environment between Westcott and Coldharbour. Having negotiated terms with the local landowners, the winter would have been spent in the careful preparation of a site and the collection of wood to be converted to charcoal in the following summer. He explained how the wood of different trees possessed markedly different qualities. This was reflected in the charcoal it produced and used to meet the specific needs of the blacksmith, the gunpowder manufacture, the goldsmith and the artist as well as in the domestic kitchen in the days before the availability of gas, electricity and oil. He also described the meticulous detail with which charcoal ‘ovens’ were constructed to ensure an even heat, the constant supervision that was required during the 2 or 3 days that they were alight and the way in which markets as far afield as Kingston and Chichester were served. The involvement of the whole family and the importance of the many by-products of the forest harvest were also entertainingly explained; the attentive audience learning about the invaluable qualities of the one legged stool, the wooden tent peg, primrose leaves and ‘one sniff’ violets.

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June 2001 The Chilworth Gunpowder Trail

Leaving the Pippbrook behind, members of the Westcott Local History group headed west into the valley of the Tillingbourne for their June meeting. Assembling at The Percy Arms, Chilworth they were introduced to Glenys and Alan Crocker who briefed them on the industrial heritage of the Tillingbourne. There were corn mills at the lime of the Domesday survey and fulling mills to support the woolen industry in the Middle Ages, but attention focused on the mills that provided gunpowder.

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