Horsham Forum - The Horsham and Southwater Commmunity Forum

This forum was created for topics about Horsham’s past. Use it to post your memories or questions about Horsham in days gone by. All stories or images of old Horsham are welcome.


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www.visithorsham.co.uk | www.virtualhorsham.co.uk

Boxing day Meet from the Carfax, Fireworks and bonfires in Horsham park,to name a few.

Even young persons must have some nice memories of pleasant days in what was and still is a beautiful public park.

Writing of bonfires we used to have one on the Green in Roffey, we the children would collect for weeks, all fireworks were shared, and the potatoes in jackets and locally collected chestnuts were great.

Sadly on my last visit to see the home i grew up in the green had been fenced and separated for some reason. Does anyone know Why? I am talking of the area of Littlehaven lane.

May i take this opportunity to wish all Christmas Greetings. Keep up the good work.

Yvonne.

Two pupils have been identified; the twins Betty (now Kenton) and Joan Rice. I would love to be able to add more names, especially the teachers.

You can contact me via the site or PM me here

www.hiddenhorsham.co.uk

My Grandparents, Phyllis and Arthur Barton operated the Cock Inn during the years of (approx) 1910 to 1945.  Can anyone help me with information about the inn at that time?

 It was once used as a Coaching Inn.  My mother, who lived there with her brother Ben, told me many stories about the place, including a ghost story, which prevented the local staff remaining there after dark.  I visited Cock Inn in 1976, and took a photo of the Inn, but haven't returned.  I now live in Australia.  Does anyone have any information of the history of Cock Inn, or photographs?  I'd be happy to pass on my Mother's stories of the years she lived there if anybody is interested.  

Regards, Joanna.

The Bartons – who ran the Cock Inn 1924 to 1938

My mother, Jeanne, was 10 years old when her parents, Phyllis and Arthur Barton took over the inn. Mum had a brother, Ben, who was 18 at the time.

During the years before the family took over the Inn, soldiers had been billeted in an upstairs room.  Because of their heavy boots, the floor of that room was left uncarpeted.  But when Arthur Barton took over, he had the room carpeted and it became Ben’s bedroom

The staff at the Inn believed the place was haunted, and would not stay there after dark. Mum said that in the evenings, when the work for the day was finished, and the family sat around the fire to talk, there would be the sound of heavy boots marching in the room upstairs, even though there were no longer bare boards there, and in any case the room was often empty as Ben was away from home. When mum questioned her parents, she was given some excuse, such as “It’s only the wind.” 

Ben had joined the armed forces and was away from home for a few years.  Normally, dogs were not permitted into the Inn but when Ben returned, he was allowed to bring inside the house his two pig dogs, which had remained by his side the whole time he was on duty in the forces..

The dogs followed Ben upstairs, but nothing would induce the dogs to enter his bedroom. They growled, and when Ben tried to drag them inside, they stood their ground and refused to move through the door. So they slept in the hallway. If Ben ever noticed anything strange about that room, he never told his young sister.

“Southwater A – Z” mentions that Arthur and Phyllis Barton left the Inn in 1938.  At a later time, Arthur Barton drove an ambulance during the blitz about 1942. One night he received a call, and neither he nor the ambulance was ever seen again. It was assumed they received a direct hit from a bomb, and there was nothing left to find. 

In 1976, I visited the UK with my Australian husband and took photographs of the inn to show my mother in Australia.  She noticed that part of the Inn had been demolished for construction of a car-park but the stables and the large tree were still there.

I wish to thank Patsy Laker of the Southwater Local History Group who was so helpful in helping me gather this family history information.

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	1920 abtBartonParentsJeanneBen.JPG (31 views, 35.89 KB) 76 Cock Inn Sussex.jpg (28 views, 340.16 KB)