Georgian Meads

Meet the characters that lived in Meads in the time of King George II.

Meet Martha Applegate whose shepherd husband died in the severe winter of 1739 when the South Downs were white with snow and the Thames froze over. She is now a widow living in a world charted by men but she finds a new husband by teaching her cottage thatcher Amos the alphabet and numbers. Circumstanced dictate that she must tell a family secret and a daughter is lost.

Meet Seth a man of sixteen summers who takes his father's place as shepherd living on the green downland with his flock. He looks at the moon and stars as they drift round the heavens and watches his flock. His mind is at peace with nature in the rolling green downland.

Meet Daisy the pastry maid from old Bourne Place ( now Compton Place ) who is stolen away to marry William Cheer the freshly elected Constable of Collstocks Manor ( now Meads Eastbourne ).

Meet Livy whose family secret will not convince the vicar of St Marys. How it changes her life as she ......

Meet the characters who live on the beach by Hollywell in a shanty town made from flotsam and jetsam. How one of their number has his mind stolen by spirits!

If you would like a copy of this book please call into one of these Meads Street shops

The Black Cat Tea Rooms 50 Meads Street BN20 7RH

Longleaf Health and Beauty 5 Meads Street BN20 7QT


Author's Note

The time spent putting these words on paper has been a long journey. A fantastic enjoyable journey. It has been a time journey to another world. The lockdowns came and went and all the time my thoughts were with these rural characters living their lives deep in the natural world. Their world could be a slaughtering monster or a benevolent companion but their lives were rich in contentment, meaning and purpose. Their close world was a bountiful provider, a world that is no more and will never return. However the downland they worked is still with us in our world; it may be under your house or under a black tarmac road; two worlds many years apart.

Would you wish to have lived in their world?
What would they say if they were shown our world?

This book was prompted by the discovery of two items in the National Archive. When the year 1739 dawned the residents of the rural hamlet of Meads were not capable of writing a record of their daily lives. They had grown to adulthood without any opportunity to sit behind a desk in an educational establishment. Fortunately in the bustling streets of London where daily labouring was not a necessity there was knowledge to be had in the nascent institutions and coffee houses. Many had begun to use their knowledge and one of these was the surveyor who came to the hamlet and spent time busy with his measuring chain to prepare the financial map of Collstocks manor which this story is based upon.

It's thanks to this unknown surveyor that this story can now be told. Thanks also go to Mary Thomas of Ratton a Victorian diarist and artist who helpfully left an expressive sketch of the old cottages in Beachy Head Road Meads in her diary of 1835 - 37. The New Cottages appear in a map dated 1876.

The historical records these people have left us are part of the National Archive and are available to view at The Keep, Brighton. Due to copyright and licensing restrictions both items have been redrawn for inclusion in this book. The manorial map shown is an extract from the original which names Holywell as Hollywell.

Map of Collstocks Manor ESRO reference: R/L 40/3/2RR/2
Sketch Book of Mary Thomas of Ratton ESRO reference: AMS 6185/273

This book is dedicated to Raffaele Amato the author's great grandfather who came from Ravello just inland on the Amalfi coast. The actual date of his arrival in England is unknown but assumed to be in the mid 1800.