Wadhurst, East Sussex Beggars Bush 1825
Now Beggars Bush Barn, Buckhurst Lane, Wadhurst, West Sussex, TN6 6JU. The site is north of the road between Mark Cross and Wadhurst.
It is first shown on the Greenwood & Greenwoods’ Map of c.1825 just north of Skinner’s Farm. The name appears to denote two buildings at a fork in the road to Buckhurst. Barrow’s Bush is shown at the same location on the 1″ to 1 mile map by Gardner & Gream, (based in part on a survey by Gardener & Yeakell in 1778). Nothing is shown on the earlier 1741 map of the area. It is therefore possible that Beggars Bush replaced an earlier name, perhaps from a person. If so it may indicate the popularity of the name, but is not probative of anything more.
The 1851 Census records three families headed by Farm Labourers at Beggars Bush, but the name is not recorded in any earlier or later Census. The name continued to be used for the landholding until at least 1918. There is a Coldharbour about a mile south in Mayfield.
The ghost of an old man wearing a long coat and bearing a sack was alleged to have been seen in the 1960’s at Beggars Bush, described as being about 100m from the Best Beech crossroads, on a narrow lane leading from the B2100. This is associated with a poacher killed by a gamekeeper “in the early nineteenth century” or a tramp who died “scrumping” “many years ago”. It may have been suggested by the much older place name.
OS Grid
TQ609314
Sources
The Weald of Kent, Surrey & Sussex – see Wadhurst page
Thanks
John Pile
Posted: April 23rd, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Ghosts, Sussex, Wadh, West Sussex | No Comments »
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