Monday, September 04, 2006
CHARLWOOD PATHWAYS AND ANCESTORS
Charlwood was always somewhere to go to when I was a child. There was a circular route, via Ifield Wood and back along Bonnets Lane which we regularly seemed to cycle round. It was about a 5 mile round trip. I don't remember actually doing anything in Charlwood.
I went there far more often than Bill did and yet he had family there.
His father had grown up there and there had been Monks in the village for a couple of hundred years. Later research has shown that ancestors on his mother's side were also in Charlwood in the 19th century.
Bill's grandparents died during the war. His father returned home from a prisoner of war camp after hostilities ceased to pick up the pieces of his life with a wife and a young son in Crawley. He felt no need to go back to Charlwood, though he had cousins there.
Bill and I pass through the village often. Sometimes we have stopped to absorb some village atmosphere and imagine how things were for the earlier Monks.
His grandparents would hardly recognise the place - though lots of old houses and cottages remain.
With the growth of both Crawley and Gatwick, Charlwood has also grown. One can find architectural syles from the 1950s and 1960s and on to the end of the 1990s. The development of housing has slowed now for fear of more extensive plans taking shape. Gatwick Airport has reached saturation point with one runway, and for 20 years or so there has been talk of a second runway.
We are led to believe that the plans have been shelved - for now. If the second runway were to be built it would further spoil what was once a rural idyll.
Today we went for a walk across the land that would be lost to airport development. The views across the fields were peaceful and rural, but our walk was punctuated by the roar of aeroplanes taking off about 2 miles away. Bill didn't seem to mind and commented that it was a good place for aeroplane spotting.
We parked the car near to the church. His grandparents were buried here - and presumably many other relations. But apparently many old and decrepid stones were moved. We must arrange some time to discover exactly where William and Louisa were laid to rest.
After a while our walk across the fields brought us to a crossroads - a signpost pointed to footpaths in all 4 directions and there was a map on the post.
We turned right, back towards the village.
Our aim was to find Providence Chapel. We had missed it last time we walked in the village, although we had walked to the end of Chapel Lane, or so we thought.
We know that some members of the Monk family had been chapel people.
Today we found the chapel and it was not what we expected.
Chapels are normally brick built with some high pointed windows, but Providence Chapel was a wood clad building.
The sign on the wall stated that the chapel was built in 1816.
The fence round it is obviously much more recent.
The road in front of the chapel is not a made up road - more like a farm track.
The very first grave we saw belonged to the family.
You might just be able to make out the name William Monk.
This William was not Bill's grandfather (who we believe lies in the churchyard). This William was Bill's grandfather's cousin and therefore is Bill's first cousin twice removed. William was married to Charlotte and she was also buried here. William died in 1923 and Charlotte lived on until 1943.
We have followed the lives of William and Charlotte. They spent their early married lives at Sussex Farms. We found one of them, Corts Farm, down near Midhurst. In 1901 they at at Racton Entire, the other side of Chichester.
At some point after that they returned to Charlwood. Their daughter, Nellie had gone back earlier and in 1901 was a teacher at the village school and lived with her Grandfather.
When they returned to Charlwood, William and Charlotte lived in Elm House - a very short distance from Fulbrooks Farm, where Great Uncle John and his wife Susan lived with their family. Tucked in between these 2 houses was the rather shabby little home which was called The Nest, where Bill's grandparents lived.
Great Uncle John and Susan were also chapel people - but we found no grave for them.
William and Charlotte's grave is the dark grey stone just inside the gate on the left.
Just a little further along Chapel Lane are the 3 Providence Cottages. We know that Bill's great grandfather lived in one of them towards the end of his life - indeed we have it down that he died here in 1915.
In 1901 he was in Rosemary Cottage, which we also passed.
I can't tell you if any ancestors spent any time in this building - the village lock up, or cage.
I have discovered no tales of dastardly deeds.
But a certain George Monk was reprimanded by the Horley powers that be for leading a life unsuitable for a family man!
It is only a very small square room inside and these windows would have given very little light to the wrongdoers.
It was just a short walk today in the September sunshine but it took us along pathways where we have never trod before - but no doubt we were passing along where the footsteps of Bill's ancestors had been many a time.
And we learned just a little more for the family history album.
I went there far more often than Bill did and yet he had family there.
His father had grown up there and there had been Monks in the village for a couple of hundred years. Later research has shown that ancestors on his mother's side were also in Charlwood in the 19th century.
Bill's grandparents died during the war. His father returned home from a prisoner of war camp after hostilities ceased to pick up the pieces of his life with a wife and a young son in Crawley. He felt no need to go back to Charlwood, though he had cousins there.
Bill and I pass through the village often. Sometimes we have stopped to absorb some village atmosphere and imagine how things were for the earlier Monks.
His grandparents would hardly recognise the place - though lots of old houses and cottages remain.
With the growth of both Crawley and Gatwick, Charlwood has also grown. One can find architectural syles from the 1950s and 1960s and on to the end of the 1990s. The development of housing has slowed now for fear of more extensive plans taking shape. Gatwick Airport has reached saturation point with one runway, and for 20 years or so there has been talk of a second runway.
We are led to believe that the plans have been shelved - for now. If the second runway were to be built it would further spoil what was once a rural idyll.
Today we went for a walk across the land that would be lost to airport development. The views across the fields were peaceful and rural, but our walk was punctuated by the roar of aeroplanes taking off about 2 miles away. Bill didn't seem to mind and commented that it was a good place for aeroplane spotting.
We parked the car near to the church. His grandparents were buried here - and presumably many other relations. But apparently many old and decrepid stones were moved. We must arrange some time to discover exactly where William and Louisa were laid to rest.
After a while our walk across the fields brought us to a crossroads - a signpost pointed to footpaths in all 4 directions and there was a map on the post.
We turned right, back towards the village.
Our aim was to find Providence Chapel. We had missed it last time we walked in the village, although we had walked to the end of Chapel Lane, or so we thought.
We know that some members of the Monk family had been chapel people.
Today we found the chapel and it was not what we expected.
Chapels are normally brick built with some high pointed windows, but Providence Chapel was a wood clad building.
The sign on the wall stated that the chapel was built in 1816.
The fence round it is obviously much more recent.
The road in front of the chapel is not a made up road - more like a farm track.
The very first grave we saw belonged to the family.
You might just be able to make out the name William Monk.
This William was not Bill's grandfather (who we believe lies in the churchyard). This William was Bill's grandfather's cousin and therefore is Bill's first cousin twice removed. William was married to Charlotte and she was also buried here. William died in 1923 and Charlotte lived on until 1943.
We have followed the lives of William and Charlotte. They spent their early married lives at Sussex Farms. We found one of them, Corts Farm, down near Midhurst. In 1901 they at at Racton Entire, the other side of Chichester.
At some point after that they returned to Charlwood. Their daughter, Nellie had gone back earlier and in 1901 was a teacher at the village school and lived with her Grandfather.
When they returned to Charlwood, William and Charlotte lived in Elm House - a very short distance from Fulbrooks Farm, where Great Uncle John and his wife Susan lived with their family. Tucked in between these 2 houses was the rather shabby little home which was called The Nest, where Bill's grandparents lived.
Great Uncle John and Susan were also chapel people - but we found no grave for them.
William and Charlotte's grave is the dark grey stone just inside the gate on the left.
Just a little further along Chapel Lane are the 3 Providence Cottages. We know that Bill's great grandfather lived in one of them towards the end of his life - indeed we have it down that he died here in 1915.In 1901 he was in Rosemary Cottage, which we also passed.
I can't tell you if any ancestors spent any time in this building - the village lock up, or cage.I have discovered no tales of dastardly deeds.
But a certain George Monk was reprimanded by the Horley powers that be for leading a life unsuitable for a family man!
It is only a very small square room inside and these windows would have given very little light to the wrongdoers.
It was just a short walk today in the September sunshine but it took us along pathways where we have never trod before - but no doubt we were passing along where the footsteps of Bill's ancestors had been many a time.
And we learned just a little more for the family history album.
