Monday, June 02, 2008

From a Rural Idyll to Custer’s Last Stand

Slightly off message. Just back from a break in the rural idyll that is Dallington, High Weald, East Sussex. Definitely an “Area of Outstanding Natural beauty” (AONB).

We hired a “Cottage” (a converted cattery!) at the end of a “no through” road, next to stables and a forest, as well as the start of 5 public footpaths. We could look out of our living room window and see horses and from the kitchen window we could see wild deer. During the day we would go for lovely walks and in the evening, a 10 minutes stroll would take us to the local 14th century village pub (The Swan) for a pint (or so) of Sussex Best bitter. On route we would see more wild deer, foxes and even on one occasion, two badgers scurrying away down the road.

In London we live in a flat is outside a main road. There is constant traffic day and night. In our temporary Sussex home we saw 2 cars moving in that lane in the 5 days we were there.

Perfect break for Londoner’s in half term you might say. Of course not everything in Sussex is sweetness and light. In the cottage was a local history book about the parish which I found fascinating. The peace, quiet and solitude of the local countryside which we now find so attractive was not always so. In the middle of the 19th century the booklet estimated that there were about 100 farms in the parish. Although the vast majority of these farms were very small, less than 10 acres, most of them would have supported a large family. The few large estates would have a number of labourers and their families. When the booklet was published some 10 years ago there were only 5 farms in the entire Parish. Now, there are probably even less. So, a hundred years and so in this village there would have been large numbers of farming communities as well as local shop keepers, blacksmiths etc. Each of the quaint cottages that are now mainly owned by commuters or retired city folk, use to house 2 or more families. Such a way of life was of course doomed.

Incredibly also in 1943, in this remote and tranquil place, a German aircraft, dropped a bomb that destroyed 3 homes. No-one was hurt. These homes were immediately in front of our holiday cottage.

In the village net link there is a discussion about the tradition that someone originally from Dallington was a USA cavalry trooper who was killed while taking part in “Custer’s Last stand”.

If it is true that Trooper Timothy Donnelly, who died at Little Big Horn, was originally from Dallington, then no doubt the village will claim him as a long lost son. However, the main reason why his family emigrated to America from Sussex in the first place would be simply due to rural poverty and depopulation. The real reason why our countryside is now so green, quiet and peaceful.

2 comments:

Robert said...

I live in an area like this, on a small disability estate, out of sight out of mind. it nice we have a fox who will come and visit rabbits, and of course we have little furry things in tree's, sadly what we do not have is a bus stop a shop, and now of late my cars been placed into the garage since i cannot afford to tax it, and I cannot afford to fill it up with petrol, but heck the country side is nice.

Anonymous said...

Sussex for the People 1939

Last December 1938, in the House of Commons, Lieutenant Colonel Stephenson-Clarke, Conservative member for East Grinstead, opposed a private member's bill that sought to give the public access to mountains and moorlands. He described it as an attack on the rights of property, but it is really he who has taken away our rights.

Sussex belongs to the People. It is OUR county. Its natural beauty, its rolling downs, its Weald and seashore are ours to enjoy, and not the privilege of a handful of land owners who have stolen them from us.

Its history is OUR history and the history of our forbears. It is along history—a history of heroic struggles. It was here that De Montfort defeated the king and gained for us the right to be represented in Parliament. It was here and in our neighbouring counties that Jack Cade led the peasants in arms against an unjust and plundering government. It was here that Tom Paine lived and spread his influence.

Men like Shelley, Trigger and Deryk Carver are not mere shadows of the past. They are a pattern for us and for all Sussex men. They are OUR people and their struggles are our heritage. The men of Alfriston, who met nearly 150 years ago to form the first Sussex Trade Union, the men and women who started a Co-operative movement in this county, with a history that goes back further than that of the Rochdale Pioneers, the men and women who fought in the Labourers' Revolt of 1830—these are our heroes and we honour their memory.

In the same way we/honour the men and women who in 1920 founded the Brighton Communist Party, those who fought in the Battle of Lewes Road, those who were with the unemployed when they marched to London in 1932 and again in 1934, those whose shouts and cries of anger spread along the South Coast when Mosley brought his hired thugs from London to attack the rights of our people, those who came on to the streets when the Nazi Police came to insult us in our own towns, and the Men of Sussex who fought with honour against the onslaught of fascist barbarism in Spain, some of them giving their lives. These are our people, our leaders, our brothers and sisters. The men in the past ' who struggled are our ancestors, not the long tedious succession of Saxon Kings and Norman Barons, Fuedal Lords and Chief Constables, Sheriffs, Lord Lieutenants and Mayors.

We are proud that our history is one of struggle. The struggles of the past give us courage for the greater struggles that are to come.The common people built this Sussex—this England, which others enjoy. But following in the footsteps of another great people who have built a land of Socialism over one sixth of the world we too shall strive to achieve the victory of Socialism.

I conclude with the words of a Sussex poet—Percy Shelley, whose words are a call to action for all Sussex people.

'Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number.
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
That in sleep had fallen on you.
Ye are many—they are few?



Sussex for the People
By Ernie Trory
Sussex County Committee of the Communist Party
First printed March 1939