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Tickerage Mill building with the cottage on the left. Photo by H.R.Gilbert, December 1988.

Tickerage Mill (sometimes spelled Tickeridge) is located in a valley at the far (North) end of Tickerage Lane, just west of Blackboys, off the B2102 road towards Framfield in East Sussex. The property consists of five main features - the main house, a lake (former mill pond), a water mill (now an artist's studio), the Mill Cottage, and a one-bedroom cottage which was formerly stabling.

It seems to have had 17th century origins. The Sussex Mill Group says; "The site where Tickerage Watermill now stands on the River Uck had at one time a furnace and a forge built on it, which formed part of the Sussex iron industry. The first accurate reference to a corn mill on this site appeared in the Defence Schedules of 1803 when John Smith was the miller. The last family to use the mill were the Paris's, with George and John the recorded millers. John Paris continued until just before 1930, after which the mill was closed down."
"By 1946 the mill was derelict and, although it contained its machinery, the future was uncertain. This Grade II listed building is set beside a causeway and utilised water from a pond on the other side to power a 14 foot diameter iron overshot waterwheel manufactured by Medhurst & Son of Lewes. The mill is built to three storeys of brick and timber and still survives. It is thought that no internal machinery exists, but the owner of the nearby mill house prohibits access. The mill can be seen from a right of way that passes the front door."

David Gilbert (1825-1916) was apprenticed to the miller there for about eight years from around 1847, when he and his brother William left the Waldron farm soon after both their parents had died.

Details of David Gilbert (1825-1916) and his family

The Farm at Waldron

It would appear that David lived on the premises, as he appears in the 1851 census as an unmarried servant and miller's journeyman, born in Waldron. His address at the time is shown as Tickerage Mill House, apprenticed to Edward Okill Dadswell (aged 30), born in Mayfield, farmer and miller with 75 acres and 4 employees. Also at the house were the miller's wife Rachael and three children, Eli, Ruth and Ebenezer. This number of people would suggest that they were all living in the big house and not the smaller cottage, but we may never know.

Map showing the location of Blackboys and the Tickerage complex of buildings. Map data (C) 2015 Google.

David's grand-daughter Ellen wrote of a conversation she had with David in his later years; "He was about 22 when he went to Tickerage Mill. Wages were raised from two shillings to eight shillings a week after about eight years service - and he was perfectly satisfied."

"While at Tickerage he became acquainted with Mrs.Reed and, through hearing of her sister Charlotte, came to know Grandma. I gathered that he wrote to Charlotte Hassell and when (I suppose) she favoured his suit, he asked her father's permission to pay his addresses to her, to which he consented. When a shop, empty for three months, was heard of in Eastbourne, it was taken, and they were married."

The 'shop' referred to, was to become the original Gilbert's Bakery to which the couple moved in 1855 when David left Tickerage.

Gilbert's Bakery, Eastbourne

David probably came to know Charlotte through their mutual attendance at the Framfield Calvinistic Chapel (which may actually have been little more than someone's front room).

A watercolour of Tickerage by David's grand-daughter Charlotte I.Gilbert (1886-1976), painted on 24 September 1909 from the field in the background of the photograph at the top of the page. The main house and lake are on the left, the mill itself is in the centre with the red roof, and most of the other various mill buildings on the right no longer exist.

On 22 August 1947 a quiet ceremony at Crowborough Registry Office marked the marriage of stage and movie star Robert Newton, aged 42, to Miss Natalie Newhouse, who was described as being "of Chelsea and Tickerage Mill Cottage, Framfield, Sussex." Newton had been married twice before and had a 12 year old daughter from his first marriage. The reception was held on board a yacht off Newhaven, and the honeymoon was in the Hebrides. (Thanks to Barry Mindel for that information)

In 1961 the main house was bought for £20,000 by Hollywood actress Vivien Leigh, who won an Oscar for her performance as Scarlett O'Hara with Clark Gable in the 1939 classic "Gone with the Wind". Vivien used it as her country retreat and entertained many celebrities there from John Geilgud and Lawrence Olivier (even after their traumatic divorce) to Princess Margaret and Winston Churchill. She lived at Tickerage until her death in 1967, when her ashes were scattered in the lake.

Previous owners of Tickerage Mill included artist Guy "Dick" Wyndham (1896-1948) in the 1920s (he was from the aristocratic Wyndham family of Petworth House, and built the studio with large oriel window overlooking the mill pond), Major Sir Ronald Armstrong Jones (1899-1966) father of Lord Snowdon, and Kenneth Letts, the manufacturer of Letts Diaries.

The main house overlooking the lake at Tickerage Mill. Photo by H.R.Gilbert, December 1988.

H.R.Gilbert visited Tickerage in December 1988. At the time of the visit the main house (known then as Tickerage Farm House) was occupied, the owner's staff (an old couple) lived in the cottage, and the mill itself was still standing, though unused and the sluice that originally powered it had been stopped up and diverted.

The mill is mentioned in the book 'Love Lessons' by Joan Wyndham 1921-2007 (daughter of artist "Dick" Wyndham mentioned above), about a girl growing up during the 2nd World War who, while staying in Tunbridge Wells, visits friends living at the mill. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's series 'Book at Bedtime' in Jan/Feb 1990, read by Prunella Scales.

In 2014 the entire 74-acre estate was put up for sale with an asking price of £3.5 million, or it was offered for sale as separate parcels, in which case the elements being offered were;

Lot One
Tickerage Mill House, a 3-storey, 5-bedroom Grade II listed house with paved terrace and lawns.
Garaging
Mill pond.
A Grade II listed walled garden.
Gardens, grounds and woodland, total 21.8 acres.

Lot Two
Tickerage Mill Cottage, 2-bedroom, stone-built Grade II listed cottage.
Mill building on two levels adjoining the old mill race, artists studio above and storage below.
Gardener's Cottage (former stabling), timber, 1 bedroom.
Gardens.
Water Meadow, 4.1 acres in total.

Lot Three
Tickerage Wood, 48.3 acres.