The Domesday Book then and now

The BBC in 1986 launched a programme of recording everyday life throughout the United Kingdom, since it was occurring 900 years after the original Domesday Book it was renamed the Domesday Project. The whole of the UK – including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man – was divided into 23,000 4x3km areas called Domesday Squares or “D-Blocks”. Schools and community groups surveyed over 108,000 square km of the UK and submitted more than 147,819 pages of text articles and 23,225 amateur photos, cataloging what it was like to live, work and play in their community. As the data was recorded on to large scale laser discs that were read by the BBC series of Master Computer series, it became less well known until it was recently revived by George Auckland and his innovations team. More of this exciting project can be found here.

However Whatlington, or Watlingetone as it was spelt in the old Domesday book, has very little information. As can be seen for the D-square for GB-576000-117000, there is a little information about Sedlescombe and Whatlington from the survey in 1986.

"The area around the small villages of Sedlescombe and Whatlington 

is essentially rural. It is especially picturesque and this, 

together with the close proximity of the historic site of the 

Battle of Hastings,attracts much tourism, especially in the summer 

months. 

There is a lot of farming and little industry, therefore, the area 

does not provide many jobs and most workers find employment in the 

near-by large towns of Battle, Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne and 

further afield in Tunbridge Wells and London." 

There are a few linked articles on Sedlescombe including government, employment, education, religion, recreation to name but a few; but nothing on Whatlington. And Vinehall Street and Whatlington Road had no information on it at all. Information, questions and queries can be added and asked here. The information has to be into the compilers by Hallowe'en (or the 31st of October 2011). Any takers?

And before you think, I am talking too much of the present and future. I have raided Mother's archive for something that was published, I think in the Battle Observer, on Friday the 15th of April 1994. "Weathervane keeps Ken's memory alive"- Ken Crouch, to those that knew him and knew of him, was a brother to Reg and Sid Crouch, an organist, a postman and a choir master to Whatlington choir. As the article says, "...was born in Whatlington and lived in Battle, died in 1986. He had been organist and choirmaster at the village church for 35 years." The weather vane was designed by Ralph Wood of Le Fevre,Wood & Royle and featured a man playing the organ and was partially gilded. (Does anyone know the website address for this company?) The weather vane was made by Derek Griffiths of Ironworks UK Ltd in Westfield. Can anyone remember this or what do they remember of Ken Crouch? Can anyone tell me, did the weather vane survive the fire that took the church? Does anyone have any pictures of the weather vane or Ken Crouch himself?

I remember Mr. Crouch, as I knew him, allowing the choir out early to get the conkers out of the large horse chestnut tree in the graveyard. It was around that time I found out that Malcolm Muggeridge's parents were buried in Whatlington Church's graveyard. He was still alive at the time. Can anyone tell me if the picture of Malcolm Muggeridge in a graveyard on his society website - the link is shown above - is it Whatlington? I hear rumours that he used to make his own fireworks, the Battle rouser.

One website describes the Battle Rouser as thus: 

"Regional traditions produced their own special fireworks. The "Battle"  rouser or rocket  for example was a powerful firework made in a wooden cylinder within a paper  container. The powder mixed with iron filings is tamped down with a wooden pestle. It was named for Battle in Sussex where it was produced. The materials for these were obtained up till about 100 yeas ago from the local government powder mills.  About 50 years ago the production of the rouser was banned.  It is recorded that during celebrations at Battle 2000,000 rousers were set off at one time."

Can anyone tell me if Mr. Crouch did make fireworks? Also, just as important, tell me what you would like to see in this blog. Yes, there will be some tales of what happened during the war, both of them, in the village, I just need to get a bit more information and permission to tell these tales. 

Whatlington on the web

In the front beer garden of the Royal Oak public house are a couple of oak trees. Logical enough. One was planted to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's II coronation and the second in 1977 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of that coronation. The second tree was protected by a deer guard that came from a piece of land known as North Park, which was part of the Home Farm for the big estate. 

The house for the big estate is now Vinehall School and was home to Lord Ashton who had moved Hyde in Cheshire. His name is recorded as one of the names for the houses in the school with Paxton and Rushton being two others - the former being thought to be the landscape designer and the latter being the name of a large residence within Mountfield. A final house name was added to cope with the increase of pupil numbers. A history of Vinehall School will follow at another time, however you can find a thorough history of the school here.

The house, like many in the Second World War, was taken over by Canadian Troops and once in a while, a piece of history comes back to remind us. During the 1970's, a potato harvester picked up an unidentified object, which got put to one side as more Désirée potatoes came up from the ground. It was only when my father, Derek Elliott (a past Chairman of the Parish Council) came to see the men that he recognised the object from his war days. It looked to him as a piece of high explosive ordnance as it had a splash of red paint on it. He immediately took it off the harvester to the side of the field and then rang the police from the farmhouse. This was a time before mobile phones. It was also a time when the police took bombs quite seriously, their bomb expert would turn up next Wednesday; worryingly, it was only Thursday or Friday when the bomb was found. When the bomb disposal team did arrive in a Volvo estate they correctly identified it as a Canadian bomb; but as they casually threw it in the back of the car, they explained it was only a smoke bomb.

Has anyone else had similar experiences where they found something strange on their land that should be mentioned in the Whatlington and Vinehall Street archive?

First post of the Whatlington and Vinehall Street Archive

Dear Reader,

As you will notice from the title, this is an archive for Whatlington and Vinehall Street. I include Vinehall Street as this should encompass the Mountfield and Whatlington School as well as Vinehall School. The idea of a creating an archive for the village came about after a talk where both Alan Judd and Charlotte Moore discussed how the village survived during the last two world wars from their family's point of view. A conversation started with myself and Roger Fisher about creating an archive similar to Catsfield's archive. This has now evolved into an online journal so that all can see it.

It is open to all, but I would like to see village members add their own memories of anything to do with the village.

On a quick dig into some books at home, I have found the Sussex volume of the Domesday Book. Those that do not know of this, it was a survey created for King William in 1086 and compiled in Winchester.

"Earl Harold held Whatlington. Then and now it answered for 1/2 hide. Land for 6 ploughs. Reinbert holds from the Count. He has 2 ploughs. 6 villagers and 3 cottagers with 3 ploughs. Meadow, 10 acres; woodland, 6 pigs. Value before 1066 and now 50s. It was wasted."

A hide is a measurement of land for tax assessment outside of Danelaw countries and it equates to 120 acres with local variations on the acre. The term "plough"implies eight oxen with the plough.The term "villager" denotes a member of the peasant class with most land whereas the term "cottager" was that of the lowest and smallest class of peasant. The terms and definitions of the other Domesday sayings can be found here.

 

The village was spelt "Watlingetone" in the original text. The above paragraph was also copied into the second edition of Whatlington Parish Remembered (published in the year 2000), which was compiled by Mr. L. Bennett. For those of you who do not have this, I will add snippets from this.

1894 "The First Parish Council meeting held at Mr Ashby's house. Appointed Chairman - Mr Welstead, Vice Chairman - Mr Wordley, Clerk and Overseer of the Poor - Mr S.E. Elliott. Meetings to be held quarterly."

Whatlington Church, St. Mary Magdalene, has published a few pamhplets including The History of St. Mary Magdalene and Embroidered Kneelers.

From the first pamphlet, "The church stands on the point of a spur which projects into the Brede Valley. Here an ancient trackway crossed the River Brede, then very broad as it's name implies, by a ford in a forest clearing, a "leah ford", from which has come Leeford. Shrines and chapels, where wayfarers could offer prayers were often built on such sites."

From the second pamphlet, "Kneeler II: commemorates JOHN de WHATLINGTON, who a native of Whatlington, was Seneschal of Battle Abbey. He became the 14th Abbot of Battle by Royal assent dated Mach 10th, 1307 and he died in 1311. The design is of The Arms of Battle Abbey (as seen in Canterbury Cathedral Cloisters) and it was embroidered by C. E. & J. L. Gould." 

A Seneschal is, and I had to look it up, a steward of a medieval great house.

So you have seen what I have added so far, but I am sure some of this will have triggered memories be they about the Christmas pageant, the fight over a house, the Home Guard; please add your thoughts to the comments. You can also send me some things to put on the blog or the Whatlington and Vinehall Street Virtual Archive to give the blog its full name by sending the articles to this email address wvarchive@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you for your time.

An archivist for Whatlington and Vinehall Street