Judy Middleton 2002 (revised 2020)
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove This lovely image painted by Frederick Nash in 1841 serves as a reminder of Portslade’s rural past |
Mill House Farm
Mill House Farm was situated between where Mill Lane and Mill Close are today.
In the 19th century Edward Blaker owned this land and in the 1890s the farmhouse was let to W. Towne and F. Holder at a rent of £26 a year.
The Farm House had laid-on water and contained the following: Two parlours, Three cellars, Six bedrooms, Two attics, A privy, Large wash-house
The other buildings were: Tool house, Detached chicken shed, Flint-built, five-stall stable with granary, Lean-to coach-house, Small garden
There was a walled-in chicken yard and garden, in the occupation of Mark Read for a rent of £2 a year.(Later on, Coe’s, the well-know butcher and fishmonger with premises at George Street, Hove, used this space to rear their chickens and turkeys.)
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| copyright © D. Sharp A section of the former Mill House Farm's flint and lime boundary walls, now a garden wall of houses in Mill Close. |
Mill Cottages
Originally, the cottages were separate from the Farmhouse. The 1841 census recorded that Luke Wadey, a 42-year old shepherd, lived there with his wife Mary of the same age, and their children, Esther, 13, Walter, 10, Richard, 7, and one-year old Eliza. There were also two agricultural labourers.
By 1851 the cottages were occupied by five agricultural labourers, one of them being Thomas Akehurst who lived with his wife, two daughters, and one son.
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| copyright © D. Sharp The gravestone of Sarah Mobsby in St Nicolas churchyard. |
In 1871 Francis Peters, 44-year old miller, lived with his wife Ann of the same age. He employed one man.
In 1881 Francis and Ann Peters were still the occupants together with their 30-year old niece who acted as a general servant. The numerous Peters family merited a large altar-style tomb in the churchyard of St Nicolas, although the date of Francis Peters’s death cannot now be read.
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| copyright © D. Sharp The Peter's altar-style tomb in St Nicolas churchyard |
In 1881 the other cottage was home to James Steele, an agricultural labourer, and his wife. By 1891 James and Matilda Steele were still in residence, and James had reached the great age of 80. According to long-time Portslade resident George Steele, his great-grandfather Alfred Steele spent his working life at Easthill Windmill and lived in one of the cottages where George Steele’s grandfather, another Alfred Steele, was born in around 1847 and died aged 95 in 1942. This Alfred Steele, and his son, were both market gardeners.
In 1891 the other cottage was occupied by Hermann C. W. Kindleb, 47, and his wife Ann, aged 40.
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| copyright © D. Sharp Hermann Kindlib's gravestone at St Helen's churchyard |
Hermann was born in 1843 at Gotha in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, his wife, Anna was born in 1851 in Prague, then in the Austrian Empire. It is interesting to note that at the time of Hermann’s birth, Prince Albert Edward (later Edward VII) was Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a titled he inherited from his father Prince Albert.
His occupation was given as skin dresser. But legend has it that he also made violin strings and sausage skins, and that he hanged himself on the arm of a stone cross in the churchyard of St Helen’s, Hangleton.
The
inscription on Hermann Kindlib's gravestone at St Helen's
churchyard:-
In loving memory of Hermann C. W. Kindleb died 30 Decenber 1897 aged 55
He
is gone but not forgotten,
never shall his memory fade,
sweetest
thoughts shall ever linger,
round the spot he is laid.
In 1895 the cottages were in the occupation of Mr Pearce and Mr Etherington. The cottages were described as follows:
Two kitchens, Two back kitchens, Two pantries,
Four bedrooms, Wood-house, Back yard, Good well, used in commonLand Sale
The trustees of Edward Blaker put these properties together with Blaker’s other extensive land holdings up for sale on 21 October 1895 at the Estate Auction Mart, 136 North Street, Brighton. The property was divided into thirteen lots with the Mill House Farm and Mill Cottages being in Lot 2. Ten of the thirteen lots were sold for a total of £11,975.
it seems that the five-stall stable with granary had a separate life because they were let to Alfred Brooks for £18 a year, and included four acres of pasture that made up Lot 3. The stables were withdrawn from the market when only £450 was bid for them. Subsequently, the stables were sold privately for £520.
Whippet Racing
By 1930 Mr G. W. Jones owned Mill House Farm, and the lessee was Mrs E. Bramwell Davies. Mr W. R. Kells came up with the idea of staging whippet racing at the farm. Apparently, this took place because in September 1930 Mrs E. Webb of Easthill House lodged a complaint about it, and the following month Revd Noel E. C. Hemsworth, vicar of St Nicolas, joined in condemning it. He especially objected to whippet racing being held on a Sunday, which also brought down the wrath of the Lord’s Day Observance Society who promised to take urgent action. Although Portslade Council would not provide any financial backing for such action, they did come to the conclusion that whippet racing disturbed the peace, while barking and yapping interfered with religious services, besides attracting ‘an influx of noisy and undesirable people who were inclined to use profane language.’
In October 1931 the Lord’s Day
Observance Society informed Portslade Council that whippet racing at
Mill House Farm had now ceased, and the lease had been surrendered to
the freeholders whose solicitors state there is no intention of
holding further meetings.
The Second World War
Members of the Canadian Army occupied the Mill Farm site, and kept their Army trucks in the big granary while there was a tank or Bren-gun carrier near the entrance. The latter vehicle was far too wide to get through the gates, and so part of the old flint wall came down – either by accident or design. It must be said that the Canadians were somewhat cavalier in their attitude to private property because they had no compunction about making an ice-rink for their amusement, utilising the modern 35-ft living room, taking out the windows, and flooding the wooden floor. The Canadians managed to obtain skates, and it was even rumoured that ice-hokey took place when it was cold enough.
When the Canadians vacated the premises, they did not attempt to clear up the site, including stacks of live ammunition stored in the house. Instead, the next owner, Mr R. F. Simms, gave quantities of .303 Enfield ammunition to a farmer friend. Mr Simms’s young Peter enjoyed distributing brand-new billy-cans to other boys in his scout troop.
The site was also littered with chewing-gum wrappers, mostly a brand called ‘Sweet Sixteen’ that was flavoured with cinnamon. Two mines were later discovered in the sunken garden, and British sappers were called in to deal with them – naturally, this event caused some excitement.
A Family Home
Mr R. F. Simms purchased Mill House Farm in the 1940s from an American while the place was still in the occupation of Canadian troops. The accommodation consisted of two 18th century flint-built cottages plus a modern wing, all linked together to form one dwelling, although the contrast between the components was considerable. For example, in the old cottages the rooms were small and the ceilings low while the modern part had high ceilings and a large living room. The usual practice was for the owners to occupy the modern wing, while servants lived in the old part.
In 1947 the Simms family moved in. South of the cottages, the three-stall stables were still in existence plus two rooms known as the ostler’s quarters. South of the stables there was a huge flint building with 40 iron rings embedded in the walls. The property covered three acres with a frontage facing west. On the west side there was an old flint wall, and a row of giant fir trees, while 12-ft brick walls bounded the north, south and east sides.
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| copyright © P. Simms Richard, the baby brother of Peter Steele, is in the pram, while his cousin Michael stands on the right; the other children are Rodney and Delia Smart. This photo was taken in the grounds of Mill House Farm, and perhaps the apple orchard is in the background. |
When you entered the front gates, you passed a full-sized tennis court to the left and a sunken garden to the right. There was a large vegetable garden, a lavender garden, and to the east of the buildings there was an orchard containing over 200 apple trees. A special storage room was created at the entrance to the cottage side. The apples were laid out on sliding shelves, about 6-in apart in four rooms.
The greenhouse contained two vines, one producing black grapes, the other white ones. Beside the windmill a greengage tree and cherry tree flourished. In front of the greenhouse was a functioning well fitted with a sturdy cover. Ducks, chicken and geese roamed freely throughout the grounds.
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| copyright © P. Simms Richard Simms and Jennifer Delfoss play with a rather splendid horse and carriage in the grounds of Mill House Farm. The Delfoss family used to live in Southwick but emigrated to Canada in 1953 |
The remains of the windmill were situated north of the modern wing, and consisted of one large, circular room that was completely dry and serviceable. Mr Simms made it into a house with a spiral staircase leading to a newly constructed upper floor. Unfortunately for Mr Simms, his five years at Mill House did not prove to be a happy time. For example, he experienced such trouble with his tenants that in the end he was obliged to pay out a considerable sum of money in order to make them vacate the premises. Then, his family business was nationalised, and he took the decision to emigrate with his family to Virginia in 1952; his son Peter later re-located to Canada. They left behind Peter’s cat called Whisky who continued to live there with Frank Newton and his aunt in the Round House. Mill House Farm was sold for £3,000. The Round House continued to be occupied until May 1958 when it was sold to R. Green, the property developers, because Portslade Council was about to serve a compulsory purchase order on the property. While the building work of constructing some 26 or 28 houses was going on, Green’s occupied the Round House as an estate office.
Easthill Farm
Easthill Farm buildings were situated on the corner of Foredown Road and Mill Lane, in the early 1960s the farm and cottages were demolished and 56 council flats (Parker Court) were built on the site.
Easthill Farm was part of the large land-holdings once owned by Edward Blaker and forming the ‘valuable freehold estate’ that was put up for sale by his trustees on 21 October 1895 at the Estate Auction Mart, 116 North Street, Brighton. The estate brought in rents of £594 per annum. For the auction, the land was divided into thirteen lots, of which ten lots were sold for a total of £11,975.
Easthill Farm, Lot 10, consisted of 65 acres and 14 poles, and included the following:
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| copyright © D. Sharp A section of the former Easthill Farm's flint and lime boundary wall, at the entrance of Parker Court. |
Easthill Cottages
Modern farm buildings
Flint and slated double-bay barn with granary over
Stabling for ten cart-horses
Two loose boxes
Horse stable
Three covered piggeries
Root house
Walled-in bullock yard and hovel
Large walled-in lambing yard with hovel
Five-bay wagon lodge
Chicken house
Detached coach house.
Each part of the double-tenanted cottages contained five rooms.
At the time of the sale the property was let to William Taylor for £170 a year, while William Price acted as the farm bailiff.
It is interesting to note that Lot 10 included Hangleton Bottom and Side Hill Piece, and was also let to William Taylor for £55 a year. This land was situated on high ground near Foredown Hospital with a frontage to the track from Easthill to the Dyke of 1,287-ft. The land was on offer at the auction for £1,060.
Walter Hillman was the tenant farmer of Easthill Farm from 1889 to 1915.
In 1905 William Robinson managed the farm for Walter Hillman.
On 22 August 1919 William Morris sold Easthill Farm along with other land at Portslade comprising 193 acres to Brighton Corporation.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove The 1950 built 'Mill House' Public House was once located a 100 metres from the former Mill House Farm. In 2016 this pub was demolished and eight houses built on the site. Today, the only visible reminder of the 'Mill House' name, is the Brighton & Hove Bus Company's bus stop opposite the former pub site in Mill Lane on the Number 6 bus route. |
Census Returns
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Middleton, J. Portslade and Hove Memories (2004)
Royal Pavilion &
Museums, Brighton & Hove
Copyright ©
J.Middleton 2020
page layout by D.Sharp