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Where the maisonettes now stand at the Water Lane end of Bluehouse
Lane was Skinners Farm. When George Eliot was writing ‘Mill on the Floss’ she used to stay at Skinners Farm. She also wrote Adam Bede while staying in Limpsfield.
The farm was unoccupied for a long time and was left open to the elements - and the
public. It became dilapidated, was declared unsafe and the site was developed. The remnants of the farm walls still surround the development as a planning condition. They were about 7 feet high but
unfortunately were reduced in height to their present one foot or so but there is still a wall! There was a raised barn adjacent to BHL which stood on stones in order to defy attack by
rats.
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Opposite the development is a house known as Connors. It is always wet where their
drive meets BHL. Many attempts have been made to cure the problem but the reason why it is persistently wet is a result of a natural spring.
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The pavement was added to the western end of BHL in the 1970s. Pictures will be
posted here showing the lane before they were added.
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The hurricane in 1987 resulted in many trees being blown down and blocking the
road.
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The house on the corner of BHL and Chichele Road
used to be a chapel. There was a covenant which prohibited gambling on the premises when it was converted to a house.
Limpsfield Sawmill
The Limpsfield Sawmill was located roughly in the place where Limpsfield Village Hall now stands. The bungalow immediately to the north of the hall is called Old Sawmills, once the home of T. Dalton
Purdey, architect. On the High Street roughly between the two you can still see two remaining gateposts of the sawmill.
The original sawmill barn was removed and re-erected as The Barn Theatre but the sawmill was still operating after that time.
New Zealanders in Oxted
Many people remembers Ferguson's Radio, TV and electrical shop in Station Road West, now the Chinese restaurant. Fergie, the owner, was a New Zealander. He wa injured in the leg during WWII
and nursed by a local Oxted girl (Marjorie?) whom he married. He was invalided out of the Services. They had three sons (one of whom was killed in WWII) and a daughter. Of the remaining sons,
David ran the business with his father and Bob was in insurance in the city of London (and a member of Lloyds, the writer believes).
Barrow Green Court, Barrow Green Road
Barrow Green Court was formerly the home of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), philosopher and jurist. Now the home of Mr. Fayed.
L G Fry was an English Impressionist who lived in
Limpsfield around 1900. He painted an oil entitled ‘Bracken cutters on Limpsfield Common’. It was a commoner’s right to cut bracken as winter bedding for animals.
If the subject interests you, why not join the Facebook Group or e-mail the
Web-master
Oxted Library
Before the current library, Health Centre and Council Offices were built (JT DesignBuild, Bristol) the library was housed in a single-storey wooden
building. This building was originally the Crowhurst Village Hall. It had a main section, a reference room and a reading room, brown linoleum flooring and gas heaters!.
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