St.Mary's School,Baldslow

[Chris in 1066]

Hi All

Recently, I have researched (because i now live in this area) and published a web site featuring Baldslow Village

WWW.Baldslow.com

I would appreciate comments and additional information, pictures, etc to help make this site a success

Thanks in advance

Chris in 1066

[Richard]

Dear Chris in1066,

I can offer little (yet) in the way of additional information or pictures but I found your account of Baldslow to be both fascinating and somewhat enigmatic.

Many people may have heard of the name 'Baldslow', especially in conjunction with the road of that name, above St Helens Road, Hastings.
I assumed 'Baldslow' was somewhere 'off the map' but now you have brought it into clearer focus with your website.
Yet it remains something of a mysterious place, or Hamlet, rather than a proper 'Village', despite being included with the Cinque Ports Hundred of Hastings, according to Domesday, implying it has a long history of settlement.
I did not realise there was a strong connection to the area near Beauport Caravan Park, though I believe we once touched here upon the 'Hundred Inn' which was later converted to the East Lodge of Beauport Park

Church history is interesting, as always, but I still do not know what a 'tin Church' dated as 1863, is or why it was constructed that way, economy of materials through lack of funding by the parent Church?
Others may well share in my ignorance.
What exactly became of this Church, St. Peter's, did it decay after closing finally in 1979 and was it eventually pulled down in 1981?
It seems likely that something existed pre-1863 but Church history is a convoluted and curious thing and perhaps there is no further information available to us?

I find the recent school history (as always) to be interesting in respect of the new 'Beaulieu House' which was leased to 'Hydneye House' - hailing from some place in Eastbourne - a boys Prep school (of that name) which survived until Hastings Council was obliged to force Comprehensive Education upon the region, resulting in demolition of the school, (despite public opposition), and building of the new Maplehurst School – known today as Helenswood Girls School.

We know that Admiral Commanders of the Royal Navy have a strong connection with Hastings and environs and it is interesting to learn that the fictional name of 'Holmhurst' was applied to a farmhouse known as 'Little Ridge' before being acquired by Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont, K.C.M.G., in 104.

Thanks again for this insight.

[Chris in 1066]

Richard
Thank you for your particularly insightful questions about my research, though I am afraid I have answered at least one of them on the web sight already. In the article about the tin church, it is stated that it was pulled down for the express purpose of widening the road, (I believe villagers used Ore Village Church or Westfield Church prior to erecting their own) and the Hydeneye school came from Willingdon, not somewhere in Eastbourne. Perhaps a further reading of my site would offer a more conclusive history of the area, instead of something you describe as 'enigmatic.' After all, you say yourself that you can 'offer little' in the way of additional information, and Baldslow IS my local area.
Chris in 1066

[Richard]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your slightly barbed reply

I missed the bit about the road widening but knew you had clearly stated 'Hydeneye' (what a great name) came from Willingdon, so two 'Hydeneye's' in total then.
The land was donated as stated but who paid for its building costs?
These would not have been so great of course as it was a much cheaper form of construction.
Was the Church built partly owing to an increase in the population of the Village and is there any indication of the costs per pew, as more expensive Churches would surely charge much higher pew fees (thus affecting the attendance).
I did not have time to check out your reference numerics as the website requires log in details before permitting access and I simply ran out of time.

Very interesting stuff you have researched.

[Richard]

A plot of population statistics through time would be interesting, despite complications from boundary changes.
Parish registers are probably scattered about at the outlier Churches you mention until the local 'Tin Church' of 1863, assuming it had full control of such matters thereafter.
Surnames might be interesting as well as an index of local road names and occupations of the locals.

[Chris in 1066]

Richard

www.baldslow.com is a free hosted site by Webs.com, (although I have purchased the domain name) but there are restrictions like I am limited to only 10 pages.
So, what do I put on those 10 pages that would be of interest to the majority of readers - i.e. items of interest rather than just statistics.

As you can see, there is one page empty under St Peters Church which will eventually contain the contents of the Parish Registers when I can get over to Brighton to transcribe them, and yes, I have extracted all the names from the 1841 to 1911 census returns and followed families throughout them - but where do I put all this data?

Extra pages could be purchased but the site does not generate any income to purchase them - so its a catch 22 situation.

As I find extra data by searching the archives, I try to add it wherever I think it belongs, and at the moment I could easily fill another 10 pages

Chris in 1066

[Richard]

Hi Chris,

Geoff may know more about free website creating and hosting options available.
It's the sort of thing that should be interesting to anyone wanting to set up and add information to a project as things develop.
Barring that I can ask my brother (who is a web designer) if he can think of anything useful to add to the situation.
At least you have the domain name registered now and here's hoping we can come up with a better (free) solution.
I assume the material you have is stored in a 'Cloud' and there is a back-up in case of problems.

[Chris in 1066]

Richard

First of all, thank you for your interest.
When I first joined Webs.com, there was not a limit on the free site pages, and I have several more free sites with them including this one that has 20 pages.
http://www.maythornemill.webs.com which shows my heritage as i was born and bred in Nottinghamshire.
All the material for my sites is backed up on my laptop and also stored on a portable hard drive that can be transferred to and from my laptop and basestation - sorry, i dont use cloud.

In a previous post you asked "A plot of population statistics through time would be interesting, despite complications from boundary changes." and there you have hit the nail on the head as Baldslow district is controlled by the Ridge East and West, A21 and Harrow Lane - making part of the village in St Mary in Castle ward, part in Westfield, Part in Battle, part in St Leonards; and its a hell of a job trying to find them all.
This is what i have got so far:

Year Males Females Children Total
1841 12 13 40 65
1851 11 11 19 41
1861 10 12 32 54
1871 17 17 45 79
1881 30 28 61 119
1891 27 29 52 108
1901 53 42 119 214
1911 69 50 107 226

Why the sudden big increase in 1881, I have yet to find out.

Chris in 1066

[Richard]

Hello Chris,

Thanks for the interesting population data.
I have chatted with my brother who says that a lot of people come to him with requests to create a website to improve their own efforts and, frankly, most are rather poor-looking.
He thought your Baldslow site looked quite good and, in fact, was as good as any he had seen (of the type made by a free provider).
Also he indicated that since you are familiar with the Host and its page creation etcetera it might be better to stick with them, although it is a rapidly changing world out there and many new offerings keep popping up.
He did not know how much they are asking to add extra pages but said it will be a lot less than paying a commercial rate.

I have yet to peruse your other sites but note that you have not linked the Baldslow site to these, perhaps because you think it is not relevant?

Could you open another website with the old provider, with a different email/name, to get around the limitations of 10 pages or is that a restriction regardless?

[Richard]

...also perhaps Geoff may consider providing an entry (plus link) to Baldslow from his 'History' section of 1066 online (The Online Guide) as Baldslow has connections with Hastings, clearly it deserves more prominence.