COUNTRY VIEWS 4 - NOTES
Dagbrook Lane: Dagbrook Lane starts at the bottom of Barrow Hill and runs off west and south, skirting Broadmere Common. This photo shows it on a bright winter's morning in the 1990s.
Batts pond: The pond sits where Dropping Holms meets the footpath that leads to the bottom of Batts Drive and Faircox Lane. This black-and-white view from the 1910s - with the church and Henfield Place in the distance - has long since disappeared, though the pond is still there.
Crouch Hill: The road north from the village winds up to Shermanbury and is known as Crouch Hill - pronounced "Crooch Hill". Where the main road meets the junction with the Wheatsheaf (Albourne) Road. stood a toll house. In this black-and-white photograph, the "Hurstpierpoint" finger on the signpost is pointing down the Wheatsheaf Road.
Path from Holders to Swains: The lane to the bluebell wood shown in Country Views 2 looks like this in early Spring - a very muddy track just down from Holders. Wellington boot country!
New Hall Lane: Just before the main road to Upper Beeding gets to Smalldole, New Hall Lane runs off to the right, past New Hall and down to Streatham Farm. This view looks back along the lane from near the gates of New Hall.
Henfield woods stream: The northern edge of Henfield Common and the cricket pitch is fringed by woodland, and a stream - shown in this photo - separates the fields from the woods.
Henfield floods: Each spring the river Adur floods into the fields on either side, and these fields are known locally as "the Brooks". The area around Henfield is therefore very fertile and contains several market gardens and nurseries. This old photo - taken about 1908 - shows some of the flooding of the time.
Allotments: There are some allotments sandwiched between the Common and the Bowls Club - here is a photo of part of them.
Betley Barn: Stonepit Lane runs from West End Lane down to the river. about halfway down its length, an unmade road leads off right to Great Betley Farmhouse. Part way down the road to Great Betley stands this lone barn. The land round Betley is not farmed by the owners of Betley but leased to other farmers. I used to meet the late Jack Hooker, a local farm worker, much loved in the village, and stop for a chat of a fine morning. Jack's collie, Meg, was a very intelligent dog. In order to gather the cows from the far sides of the field behind the barn to the corner near the barn itself, Meg would lie down on her back in a water trough and wave her legs in the air. The cows, fascinated by the waving legs, would walk over the field and congregate by the trough. No-one taught this to Meg - she devised it herself!
Lane near Field House: Field House, once the headquarters of Gill Orchard, stands about a third of the way down Furners Lane, and this lane - known to our family as "Blackberry Lane" because we used to pick berries there every year - runs north along the side of Field House. The footpath continues north and east past Woolfly and Park Farm to the Wheatsheaf Road.
Batts pond: The pond sits where Dropping Holms meets the footpath that leads to the bottom of Batts Drive and Faircox Lane. This black-and-white view from the 1910s - with the church and Henfield Place in the distance - has long since disappeared, though the pond is still there.
Crouch Hill: The road north from the village winds up to Shermanbury and is known as Crouch Hill - pronounced "Crooch Hill". Where the main road meets the junction with the Wheatsheaf (Albourne) Road. stood a toll house. In this black-and-white photograph, the "Hurstpierpoint" finger on the signpost is pointing down the Wheatsheaf Road.
Path from Holders to Swains: The lane to the bluebell wood shown in Country Views 2 looks like this in early Spring - a very muddy track just down from Holders. Wellington boot country!
New Hall Lane: Just before the main road to Upper Beeding gets to Smalldole, New Hall Lane runs off to the right, past New Hall and down to Streatham Farm. This view looks back along the lane from near the gates of New Hall.
Henfield woods stream: The northern edge of Henfield Common and the cricket pitch is fringed by woodland, and a stream - shown in this photo - separates the fields from the woods.
Henfield floods: Each spring the river Adur floods into the fields on either side, and these fields are known locally as "the Brooks". The area around Henfield is therefore very fertile and contains several market gardens and nurseries. This old photo - taken about 1908 - shows some of the flooding of the time.
Allotments: There are some allotments sandwiched between the Common and the Bowls Club - here is a photo of part of them.
Betley Barn: Stonepit Lane runs from West End Lane down to the river. about halfway down its length, an unmade road leads off right to Great Betley Farmhouse. Part way down the road to Great Betley stands this lone barn. The land round Betley is not farmed by the owners of Betley but leased to other farmers. I used to meet the late Jack Hooker, a local farm worker, much loved in the village, and stop for a chat of a fine morning. Jack's collie, Meg, was a very intelligent dog. In order to gather the cows from the far sides of the field behind the barn to the corner near the barn itself, Meg would lie down on her back in a water trough and wave her legs in the air. The cows, fascinated by the waving legs, would walk over the field and congregate by the trough. No-one taught this to Meg - she devised it herself!
Lane near Field House: Field House, once the headquarters of Gill Orchard, stands about a third of the way down Furners Lane, and this lane - known to our family as "Blackberry Lane" because we used to pick berries there every year - runs north along the side of Field House. The footpath continues north and east past Woolfly and Park Farm to the Wheatsheaf Road.
