Sussex Map Mysteries

18/03/2022

Chelwood Vachery is an early 20th century country house in the middle of Ashdown Forest. Today, after various uses in the second half of the 20th century, it and the surrounding cottages, are private housing.

I believe it was built around 1902-1906 and owned by an MP and banker called Sir Stuart Samuel, when the formal gardens were constructed. Around 20 years later it was owned by FJ Nettleford and, using limestone that he had brought in from Cheddar Gorge, he created his own "gorge" along the path of a stream that falls from a spring around the same level as the house, to the valley below.

The conservators purchased the woodland and gardens in 1994 and they have worked to maintain them in a semi-wild state since. You can see the old ponds and weirs, and the "Folly Bridge", but the best feature for me is the gorge and its waterfalls.

On the old map there are references to "Hydraulic Rams" up the side of the valley. I try and find these and discover one of them is still in use today (I mention Victorian engineering, I suspect it may actually be Edwardian, but due to the dates on the map I can't be sure!), supplying water to something (no idea what, I'd imagine that the estate is on the mains these days).

As always, I'm not an historian, so this video probably contains glaring inaccuracies, but, if you want to visit the area, hopefully it gives you some background.

Parking is available at Millbrook East, Vachery, Trees or Long Horseshoe car parks on the A22, 'tween Nutley and Wych Cross. The area is quite boggy at the time of filming in March, but nothing that a stout pair of boots or wellies can't deal with. For quickest access follow the bridleway down from the A22 (https://streetmap.co.uk/map?x=543720&y=130197&z=120&sv=543720,130197&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map&searchp=ids&dn=828&ax=543720&ay=130197&lm=0) to the Folly Bridge (https://streetmap.co.uk/map?x=542850&y=129669&z=120&sv=542850,129669&st=4&ar=Y,y&mapp=map&searchp=ids&dn=828&ax=542850&ay=129669&lm=0). The hydraulic ram is at TQ431297 https://streetmap.co.uk/map?x=543130&y=129792&z=115&sv=543130,129792&st=4&ar=Y,y&mapp=map&searchp=ids&dn=828&ax=543130&ay=129792&lm=0

https://youtu.be/fYJj_1pMn2w

Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age. Join me as I discover what some of these things were, and what is left to...

13/03/2022

Channel Update:

With the sun becoming stronger and the days becoming longer, I'm preparing for Series 2 of Sussex Map Mysteries...

https://youtu.be/n49dFLnJ1tA

It's been a while since a Sussex Map Mystery, but don't worry (if you were!) Series 2 will be in production shortly, went and checked out a location for epis...

15/02/2022

How did they know when to go to church before clocks were (properly) invented?

If you were a peasant in medieval England, how did you know when it was time to go to church? There were no clocks or watches and in the early days there we...

08/02/2022

200 years ago, in February 1822, a large sailing ship, the Thames East Indiaman, was washed up on the beach at Eastbourne during a storm, with the loss of several lives overboard. A dramatic rescue took place, in which one of the rescuers sadly perished, but several seamen and the passengers from the ship were rescued.

Here is the story (in under 60 seconds!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBDRlorIWz0

On 3rd February 1822 the Thames East Indiaman, a large sailing ship, containing a valuable cargo hit rocks near Beachy Head in Sussex and then ran aground on...

01/07/2021

Episode 6 is live now!

Probably the most well known abandoned village in Sussex is Tide Mills, on the coast between Newhaven and Seaford. As the name suggests the village was built around a large mill, operated by the incoming and outgoing tide. But there were other developments nearby too. A seaplane base once stood between Newhaven and Tide Mills, railway sidings ran all the way from the harbour to where the yacht club now stands on the western end of Seaford seafront and then there was this complex of buildings marked as a “Hospital” on the beach, next to the mill pond at Tide Mills.

Join me as I explore the remains of the Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital or Annexe and look at the history of this establishment, set up to help boys who were recovering from operations.

https://youtu.be/WmifTxnv2mE

Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age. Join me as I discover what some of these things were, and what is left to...

16/06/2021

Released for Sussex Day 2021 - Happy Sussex Day to all residents of Sussex!

Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age. Join me as I discover what some of these things were, and what is left today.

In this episode I visit Brede Waterworks, just north of Hastings. The waterworks were opened at the end of the Victorian era to supply water to the rapidly growing towns of Hastings and St Leonards on the coast. The problem was, having steam engines to pump the water to Hastings meant they needed a supply of coal. There was no road access and the River Brede was just too far away.

The solution was the creation of a tramway, which had its own dedicated steam engine, to transport the coal from a wharf at Brede Bridge to the pumping station, just under a mile away.

Join me as I explore the area and look into the history of the Brede Waterworks Tramway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t731xO3-QD0

Released for Sussex Day 2021 - Happy Sussex Day to all residents of Sussex!Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age....

09/06/2021

Sussex Map Mysteries: Episode 4 - Wannock

Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age. Join me as I discover what some of these things were, and what is left today.

In this episode I visit the village of Wannock in East Sussex, about half a mile from the Polegate crossroads.

Today the village has almost lost its identity, abutted on two sides by Polegate and Willingdon, the latter itself abutting Eastbourne. But it wasn't always thus, and until the end of the 1960's Wannock was famed for its tea gardens, of which there were several (mostly shown are the Wannock Tea Gardens and the Wannock Glen, but there were others, this was a big place if you liked tea... in a garden!).

Join me on this brief exploration of how Wannock became one of the south coast's biggest day trip attractions after the First World War.

References and links in the video description.

I'm not an historian, and all my research has been done through the mighty Goggle and the local library. This isn't supposed to be a complete or accurate history by any means, and apologies if there are any clanging factual errors.

https://youtu.be/iShdp_9q4dg

Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age. Join me as I discover what some of these things were, and what is left to...

08/06/2021

Episode 4 of Sussex Map Mysteries will be live at 4pm on Wednesday

07/06/2021

Things didn't go 100% to plan when I was filming yesterday!

02/06/2021

New Video: Brighton's Lost Village

In this episode I visit the lost village of Balsdean, which, although it is in open countryside, is actually part of Brighton & Hove.

A small community lived here, in a valley tucked away from view, just east of where Woodingdean is today. The hamlet is wiped from the maps following the Second World War, and never returns.

I visit the area today, and look at how the village was destroyed in the second world war and completely reduced to rubble; not by German forces but by the British and their allies.

Some would say this is a ghost village, although I prefer the term "lost village", as the village has been lost completely, rather than being ghostly remains with no soul!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogBdGmA7IN8

[I'm not an historian, and all my research has been done through the mighty Goggle and the local library. This isn't supposed to be a complete or accurate history by any means, and apologies if there are any clanging factual errors.]

26/05/2021

QUEEN VICTORIA'S CAKE

In this episode I visit Crowborough Warren on Ashdown Forest and the site of the former New Mill, which has now been demolished. This mill, built around 1800, is said to have ground the flour to make the wedding cake for Queen Victoria. I look into the validity of this royal claim to fame.

I also look at the remains of the dam wall that was built to create the huge mill pond and also discover the last remaining packhorse bridge a bit further down stream.

Episode 2 will be published on YouTube at 19:00 BST today.

19/05/2021

If anyone has any places or areas that are worthy of investigating as a Sussex Map Mystery, please let us know!

19/05/2021

Episode 1 of Sussex Map Mysteries is now live on YouTube

In this episode I visit the cliffs on the eastern edge of Charles Neville's "Garden City by the Sea": Peacehaven (previously known as New Anzac-on-Sea). Maps from the 1920's show there to be a whole estate of roads here, almost a town in its own right, but there are only a few scattered houses and dirt tracks now. So what happened and why wasn't the area developed?

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me with this video, especially the members of the Peacehaven and Telscombe Cliffs history group on Facebook, who gave me loads of useful information. Finally, I’m not an historian, so I apologise if anything in this video is totally incorrect, I’ll leave the experts to what they do best and hope the rest of you gained some knowledge!

Stanley Bernard's fascinating books are available here: http://sussexbooks.co.uk/alltitles.php

The Facebook group for Peacehaven and Telscombe history is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/893625674090654

Some of the music in this video is from: bensound.com and also the YouTube music library

All the maps shown are available from the National Library of Scotland: https://maps.nls.uk/

The Geology of Britain 3D map is available from the British Geological Survey here: https://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain3d/

https://youtu.be/ky-_AocLWbk

Old maps often have curious things on them, which lead us back to a different age. Join me as I discover what some of these things were, and what is left to...