The Fernhurst Society
Tales from the Archives - 58
The stagecoach rumbles through Fernhurst
When Margaret Hutchinson was about six years old in 1910 she used to visit old Mr and Mrs Wheeler, as she recalls in her book 'An Edwardian Childhood'.
Mr Wheeler was a bearded old country man in stout corduroy trousers tied beneath the knee, and a baggy coat with large pockets from which he was as likely to take a live ferret or a dead rabbit. He used to tell Margaret and her brothers tales of his childhood in the 1840s and how, in the days before the railway, the stagecoach would drive through Fernhurst. He left school at the age of seven and sometimes his family were so poor that they had to eat pig food because they couldn't afford bread. He was known for his skills with the scythe but could turn his hand to any sort of gardening or odd job but his main job was that of charcoal burning. There were many sites in the area at that time, including Nappers Wood and Henley.
His wife was an elderly little Sussex woman, always dressed in black or grey with a crisp, starched apron. Her smiling, wrinkled face reminded Margaret of the Beatrice Potter character Mrs Tiggywinkle. Margaret and her brothers used to love to run into her snug little cottage and sit in the seats in the chimney corner by the huge log fire with the kettle hanging over it on a chain. If you looked up the chimney you could see shelves for smoking bacon and up to a small patch of sky. Margaret particularly remembers the scrubbed simplicity of the room with its patchwork cushions and rag rugs.
If you would like to know more about this story, or research other local topics, the Archive is open on Tuesdays, 2.30-5pm in the Village Hall. Other times by arrangement.
Christine Maynard
Fernhurst ArchiveOne of a series of short articles bringing you some of the incidents from our rich village history. Collated by Christine Maynard, based on documents preserved at the Fernhurst Archives, these originally were published in the monthly Fernhurst News.
The Fernhurst Archives
Fernhurst History
