Obviously a work in progress but we are working to trying to put together a potted history of the land, old houses that used to be here – and the current Moons Mill house which was built in 1900.
There was a Moon family in East Sussex who were millers in the Crowborough, Rotherfield, Uckfield, Mayfield area and there are several references to them. So it is likely that the area was once connected to this family possibly several hundred years ago.
This area of East Sussex was in the centre of the thriving Wealden ironworking area. There was a furnace at Hugget’s Farm Mill north of the Hadlow Down where cannons were cast in the 16th century, and a charcoal and cinder furnace at Spood’s farm just north of Moons Mill. So it is possible that Moons Mill Farm was linked to this industry. However, iron-working ceased in the middle of the 17th century. Some mills were put to other uses such as fulling or corn milling but others fell into disrepair. Certainly, 19th century maps show it as a Moon’s Mill Farm but East Sussex Archives may have 16th and 17th century maps of the area that may show an actual mill on the site.
Mills are often named after their owners so maybe the Moon family owned the mill or land where the house is at an earlier time. It is mentioned occasionally in the East Sussex Record Office where you find mention to family deeds and other land records, marriage settlements etc. Their catalogue for most records is available online http://www.thekeep.info/collections/ – just search for ‘Moon’.
ESRO also have probate records, inventories, tithe records, rent/rate/valuation books contain information about the Moon family, and the owners and tenants of Moon’s Mill.
There are some references to the occupants Moon’s Mill on the Weald website http://www.theweald.org/P2.asp?PId=HD.MoonsF. Note that it is in the parish of Mayfield and it was a farm in 1841 so the mill had ceased working before then.
The house now known as Moon’s Mill did not appear on the Ordnance Survey of 1874 but was there on the Ordnance Surveys of 1899 and 1911. On both of those maps it was called Dewbrook, with Moons Mill Farm lying a short distance to the south.
At this time Hadlow Down lay within the Uckfield Rural District Council. After looking at the building control plans index to Uckfield RDC plans from 1897 we found no entry for Dewbrook (ref DW/A 6/1). This would suggest the house was built before 1897.
There is a valuation from 24 May 1900 of Dewbrook, Mayfield, in the occupation of Charles Brown, part of the real estate of Frank Covell of Cross-in-Hand, Waldron. Frank Covell also owned a house and shop in Cross in Hand, in the occupation of Mrs Covell. It is worth mentioning at this point that the parish of Hadlow Down was not created until 1904, mostly taken from the parishes of Mayfield, Framfield and Buxted.
From Kelly’s Sussex directories, 1899-1938. These directories are not comprehensive but usually list the larger houses and businesses in a parish. They do not say whether the person listed is the owner as well as the occupier of a property. The editions of 1887 and 1899 did not list Dewbrook or anybody in Hadlow Down named Brown or Covell.
The editions of 1903, 1905 and 1909 listed Roland Quinnell at Dewbrook. The house was not listed in 1911, 1913, 1918 or 1927. We have been contacted by a relative of Roland who stated that he did live in the house when it was called ‘Dewbrook’. He was Anglo-Indian, and grew up in the Himalayan foothills.
Looking at the Inland Revenue Valuation list of 1911 for Hadlow Down (IRV 1/33) this shows that Roland Quinnell was the owner and occupier of Dewbrook. However, his name had been crossed through at an unspecified date and Thomas Farrow was listed as the occupier, with Roland Quinnell of Ivy Cottage, Broadwater, Worthing as the owner. The name had also been crossed through and Moons Mill substituted.
We have photos of the owners from 1912 – The Farrow Family. Thomas Farrow was what was known as a ‘penny banker’, i.e. a small local banker who took deposits from the local community and re-lent to local businesses. The Farrow bank unfortunately only lasted through to 1920 and the demise of the bank probably led them to move soon after.
-
- We have the original photo in our house
The drawing room extension was added in the late 20’s, hence the date of 1928 on the down pipes. We have been told that the extension and the arts and crafts mods were done by a ‘silent movie director’ at some point in the 1920’s.
In 1922 Lawrie Hugh McGavin, CBE, FRCS Eng, was listed at Moons Mill. He was still there in 1924 but had added LRCP Lon to his list of honours. The house was not listed in 1927 but in 1930 and 1934 Walter Henderson-Clelland was shown at Moons Mill and in 1938 Charles H Davies was living there.
There is also later valuation of 1933/4 and this shows W Cleland-Henderson as the owner and occupier of Moons Mill (DW/C 13/7). This too has been crossed through and, at an unknown date, the names C H Davies and J Oxley have been written above it. We noticed that W Cleland-Henderson had also owned Brookhouse Farm and Brookside on the opposite side of Tinkers Lane. It seems that it 1936 the house was sold by Mr & Mrs Mannix (Edward John Mannix & Agnes Birchet Mannix) as we have a copy of a estate map from June 1936 – Part Moons Mill Estate 1936 Evans & Oxley to Mannix. The sale particulars can be viewed here – moonsmill.co.uk/particulars-from-1936-sale.
We received information about the American owners during the second world war from a lady called Maureen who was evacuated to Moons Mill at the age of five in 1939. The 1939 register shows Charles H Davies, Dora, Pamela & Sloane – “They had a chauffeur and lots of jars of sweets in the study”.
Finally there is a sales particular for Moons Mill, Blackboys, to be sold at the White Hart Hotel, Lewes, Tuesday, 14 May 1946 at 3pm. This contains a plan showing the house and grounds coloured in pink. The house was described as ‘The very attractive and compact modern residence Moons Mill, exceptionally well appointed and complete with all modern conveniences. Lounge Hall, 3 Reception Rooms, 6 Bedrooms, 2 Box Rooms, 3 Bathrooms, Kitchen with ‘Aga’, Maid’s Sitting Room. Own Electric Light, Water and Drainage. Oil Fired Central Heating throughout. Delightful Garden and Grounds with tennis Court, Orchard and Dell. Detached Range of Garages with Chauffeur’s Cottage over. Small Farmery, Range of Glass Houses and other out-buildings. Five Enclosures of Pasture and Arable, intersected by a trout stream, in all about 18¾ acres. Vacant Possession on completion of the Purchase. For sale by Auction, by order of C H Davies, Esq.’
The Special Conditions of Sale at the back of the particular states, at part 4, ‘The title shall commence as to the greater part of the property with an Indenture of Conveyance on ale dated the 26 June 1919 as to a further small part (having an area of .255 of an acre) with a Conveyance on sale dated 3 December 1928’.
The document includes photographs of the front of the house, the south aspect from the drive approach, the lounge, the inner hall and lounge hall, and the trout stream. The document, including the plan, consists of 15 pages (ref AMS 7108/175).
We believe the sale in 1946 was to Air Commodore and Mrs A G Board who probably lived at the house until the 1960’s when it was purchased by the Wildi Family. We have a fair few photos of their time in the house – moonsmill.co.uk/1970s-through-to-the-1980s/.
Jim Wildi was a Hungarian engineer who emigrated to England to avoid the Russians. He invented a successful process for making nylon webbing, which he sold to Webasto, when seat belts became compulsory in late 60s/early 70s. His webbing business was successful for many years but he failed to make the transition to a large scale manufacturer.
The extension he demolished was the last remaining bit of the c19 house, left when the Edwardian house was built. It consisted of butlers pantry, larder, servants sitting room on the ground floor and servants/nursery bedrooms on 1st floor.
In 1986 the property was divided into two and the main house was bought by the Stockdale family. The chauffeur’s cottage and garages were sold separately to John and Mandy Champion, with just over 9 acres. At that time the total property was around 22 acres. The Champions bought an additional 20 acres in the late 90s from an estate sale in the valley.
We purchased the house from James Stockdale in 2013.
Project Damned – Flowing
A weekend with a jackhammer and finally we have restored flow from the main river to the ramrod & to the red river. More work to be done on enlarging the channel through 200mms of concrete but flow established and water is doing its thing. Sixty plus years later we now have reinstated the flow [...]
Project Damned Part Two
Following on from initial work earlier in the year we started on Project Damned again yesterday. Very interesting and we seem to have the structure for a ramrod system with aesthetic overflow.
1970s through to the 1980s
Over the summer we had a visit from Ann Wilde who owned Moons Mill from 1958 into the early 1980's. She came with her daughter who had lived at the house for her first 25 years. At this time the house was over 52 acres and included the chauffeurs cottage behind the property. When Moons [...]Much of the information above was compiled with the help and assistance of Elizabeth Trout from The Mills Archive Trust.
