The ship Coonatto started its life in Rotherhithe on the south bank of the Thames in 1863. She was built by Thomas Bilbe & Son to a new design which used both timber and iron – known as “composite hull construction” Although this made the hull stronger, it was of course heavier. She was a square-rigged clipper and…
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Alone with the Doodlebugs
My grandmother Bessie Gordon was in her early 40s during the Second World War. Her husband Alex, had been seriously wounded in the Great War and it is likely that he suffered from ‘shell-shock’. Alex and their 9 year old son Roger, had been evacuated to Dursley in Gloucestershire along with his sister Dorothy (Dolly)….
A unique Sussex Church
St Mary-in-the Castle in Hastings is one of the finest English churches I have visited and although it is now a thriving performance venue it is full of ecclesiastical interest. Strangely the best place to get a good view of the exterior of the church is on Google Maps as it is set back into…
An aeroplane for every family!
Blade Runner is one of my favourite films but do you know that this brilliant depiction of life in the future is set in the year 2019? The year 1984 has now come and gone and there is no ‘Big Brother’ or ‘Room 101’ – except of course on TV. This made…
Sussex Survivors of the Fateful Charge
Last week I was taking a group of WI members on an historic tour of Lewes which includes the graveyard of St John-sub-Castro church near to where I used to live. Although I have walked through the churchyard many times before I spotted a grave that I had not previously seen which mentions the Charge…
African Policeman from Alfriston
William Bodle was born in Alfriston in 1855, the son of Charles, an agricultural labourer and Elizabeth, a schoolmistress. He left home at when he was fifteen to join the Army; firstly the Sherwood Foresters and later the Inniskilling Dragoons. At the age of just eighteen Bodle was posted to southern Africa where he saw…
Kissing the Queen’s Hand
In January 1858, Queen Victoria’s oldest daughter, also called Victoria ( although her mother called her Vicky ) married Prince Frederick of Prussia. The Corporation of Seaford was so proud that they wrote a “Loyal Address” to Queen Victoria congratulating her on her daughters marriage. The address was taken in person to Queen Victoria at…
The Hailshamberry
My Father met my mother when he was working at Knight’s Nursery in Hailsham. He drove all over East Sussex delivering fruit vegetables and garden produce. Knight’s Nursery actually once invented a new fruit called the Hailshamberry! It was first grown in 1911 and was a large, almost ever-green bush with large leaves which protected the fruit…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 