Here is the extract from Ray Carter’s A History of Hollingdean (Lewis Cohen Urban Studies Centre at Brighton Polytechnic, c. 1980), featuring the recollections of Margery Hamblett:
Harrington Farm: "The House in the Trees"
"We moved to the old Farm House in 1909. There had been three farms, which had been broken up. Harrington Farm (when we went there it was in the middle of a nursery and was owned by a man called Scutt, who had a shop in Ditchling Road, now Eastwoods). The other two farms were the one by Hollingbury Park, somewhere at the top of Lewes Road (later Gates Nurseries) and now I think part of Moulsecoomb and the Wild Park.
The old house was a ten-roomed farmhouse, double-fronted with a porch in the centre. There were two large kitchens, one with an old-fashioned range; the other one was a wash-house or scullery and also had a large black kitchen range. We had extensive gardens and lawns. There was one tree in the middle of the lawns which was a landmark for miles around; it was nearly always bright yellow.
During the 1914-1918 war, a Belgian artist painted a picture of a tree somewhere in the garden, which was hung in the Brighton Art Gallery. Also in the Museum was a large tree-wasps' nest. I was in the garden one day and saw this nest suspended from the branch of a fir tree; it looked as if it were made of paper.
We had our own road to the house, as you know. That was taken over by the Council—also our small copse—to make Hertford Road. When we left, my father and brothers used to go down to the cellar at night to fight the rats which came from the farm buildings which were being dismantled. There was a lovely old walnut tree at the bottom of the lawns and about a hundred fruit trees. There were also beds of roses, the real fabulous old-fashioned kind; they had such lovely perfume.
The property was then owned by the late Sir John Blaker, who was a grocer in Brighton. It was offered to my father for £400. He refused—what a fool he was. There are still some of the original trees standing, including a lovely old horse chestnut, now in the grounds of Hertford Road School.
On the left-hand side, coming up from Hollingdean Terrace, was a large field; in it was a 'bottomless pit.' It used to be filled up over and over again, but whatever went in just disappeared. One of the houses (or its garden) must be somewhere over it! It was said there was an underground stream running under the back gate of the farmhouse, going right down to the town through the London and Lewes Road area. Perhaps that accounts for the bottomless pit.
Gypsies used to park in the copse, and one winter's night they intercepted my sister and would not let her come home until midnight. My brother had to fetch her.
Incidentally, we moved out on a Monday although still in possession until Thursday. On coming home from work on that Monday, I went down with a friend to get some stuff from the vegetable garden and found about twenty people all digging as fast as they could. The place was almost bare, not a fruit tree in sight. Even the ones my father had put by, ready packed to bring here, were gone. They had even dug up the tiles from the porch. Anyway, dad found out where most of the trees were and made them pay in lieu of taking them to Court."
Would you like me to add this reformatted version to your digital family record or use it to update any other notes we have?
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