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The farmhouse at Furnace Farm, Waldron. Photo by H.R.Gilbert 2008.

The Gilbert family were involved with two properties in the Waldron area at various times during the 18th and 19th centuries, a house or cottage at Little London which they occupied, and what is now called Furnace Farm in Furnace Lane near Horam, at which they farmed but did not live.

Richard Gilbert (1894-1988) wrote;
"There can be little doubt that the annual payment of £2.13.4 (for what the Land Tax describes as 'house and land') ever since 1770 represents the Gilbert home at Little London. It stood, a large cottage, on the left hand side of the road from Horam to Cross-in-Hand, near the junction with a road (on the left) to Tanners Manor. Unfortunately it was burned down a good many years ago."

The road to Tanners Manor is Furnace Lane, and the junction is locally known as Sharps Corner. As can be seen from the map below, it is neither near Little London nor Waldron, but closer to Horam. However Horam barely existed at the time, only developing after the railway arrived in 1880.

To details of the family of William Gilbert 1

From 1784 William Gilbert (c1738-1800) paid as occupier of land to the west of the house along Furnace Lane, belonging to Barnaby Gouldsmith, and the 1840 Heathfield Tithe Map shows nine parcels of land occupied by a third-generation William Gilbert (1790-1844), including a house and garden at The Furnace (now Furnace Farm), which still exists to this day. William's brother David (1825-1916) refers to the property as "farms" prior to 1850, so it is possible that other locations were involved.

Map of the various locations mentioned. Map data (C) 2015 Google.

The earliest record of the property in the family is the 1770 Land Tax return referred to above, paid by William Gilbert (1738-1800) as owner and occupier of 'house and land' - a payment that continues for more than half a century - along with being occupier of the land belonging to Barnaby Gouldsmith (ownership changed to Josiah Smith from 1790). This pretty clearly indicates farming.

There are three generations of William Gilberts involved with this story so, for convenience I am calling them William 1 (1738-1800), William 2 (1790-1844) and William 3 (1823-1874).

William 1's wife Mary took over the payments after his death in 1800, being first entered as "Widow Guilbart" but from 1810 as "Mary Gilbert". In 1811 there also appears the name of another "William Gilbert", paying as occupier and owner for a piece of land. As Mary's son William 2 (1790-1844) would by then have been 21 years old, it's reasonable to assume that this is the William referred to, particularly as in 1815 he takes over payment of everything for which Mary Gilbert had previously been responsible. In other words, William 2 had effectively become head of the household at 25 years of age.

In his will dated 1834, William 2 mentions no property other than his share of the War-Bill-in-Tun pub at Warbleton, so it can be concluded that, although he was paying the bills for it, the house in which he was living did not at that time belong to him, but was leased. Presumably it was leased to his mother Mary, who died two years later in 1836.

The Warbill-in-Tun pub, Warbleton

It is assumed that William 2 took over occupation of the cottage at Sharps Corner after his mother Mary died in 1836. He was already a widower and had two small sons to care for - William 3 (1823-1874) and David (1825-1916). His boys were too young initially to work on the farm (or 'farms' as his son David referred to them) but they later became increasingly useful. David wrote "I was brought up to all kinds of farming work", which suggests the keeping of animals, as well as agriculture. There was certainly a horse, for he refers to a stable.

To details of the family of William Gilbert 2

According to the 1840 Tithe records, the leased lands were;

"Furnace"
'Upper Field', arable. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.
'Little Meadow', meadow. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.
'House and garden', Furnace Farm house and driveway. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.
'Orchard', arable. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.
'Furnace plot', pasture. Pond at Furnace Farm. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.
'Furnace plot', pasture. North of pond. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.
'Pasture plot', south quarter. Proprietor; Elizabeth Sarah Smith.

"Land"
'Pond field', meadow, north portion. Proprietor; Augustus Elliott Fuller. Lessee; Elizabeth Sarah Smith. Occupier; William Gilbert.
'un-named', pasture, centre portion. Proprietor; Augustus Elliott Fuller. Lessee; Elizabeth Sarah Smith. Occupier; William Gilbert.

Proprietor Elizabeth Sarah Smith was perhaps a relative (daughter?) of Josiah Smith mentioned above, who had owned the lands at the beginning of the century.

As for Augustus Elliott Fuller, he was a wealthy landowner, MP for East Sussex from 1841 until his death in 1857, and descendent of the Fuller family which had been connected with Tanners Manor since 1573. Although leased by the Fullers for many years (it was heavily involved with their very successful iron business), the Manor was eventually bought outright by Samuel Fuller (Augustus Elliot's great-grandfather) in 1617 from the Earl of Dorset.

But Samuel's son John Fuller was given Brightling Park by his uncle in 1703. John renamed it Rose Hill after his wife Elizabeth Rose, and the family eventually moved there - indeed that is where Augustus Elliott Fuller was living while the Gilbert family were leasing his land. Tanners Manor was sold to the local Bonnick family in 1746, but the Fullers clearly still had residual land interests around Waldron a century later, presumably leaving Elizabeth Smith to administer them.

Tanners Manor, Waldron

The area concerned lies within Ordnance Survey plans numbers 5617 and 5618, with the house lying exactly on the boundary between the two sheets.

The pond at Furnace Farm, presumably in the 'Furnace Plot' mentioned above, and probably owing its existence to 16th century ironworkings. Photo by H.R.Gilbert 2008.

Furnace Farm was the site of the original Waldron Furnace, certainly in operation by 1560 and continuing for some 200 years. Although Wealden iron smelting had been fully commercialised since the 1490s, its activities grew rapidly from around 1540 with the urgent requirement for iron cannon and shot for the Royal Navy, freeing them from reliance on foreign imports.

Waldron Furnace was owned and operated by the Pelham family during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, producing cast cannon balls, pig iron and, later, guns. The water wheel that powered its furnace bellows was driven by a header pond fed from the stream which still runs southwards from Little London. By 1770 the furnace was out of use, and the land had returned to farming. However the area had been scarred by the excavations and it is likely that the ponds are the result of this.

William 2 died in 1844, and David wrote "My father died leaving two sons, of which I was the younger. After a time, the farm was given up and I then apprenticed myself to a miller at Framfield". It is thought that his apprenticeship began in 1847, so the operation of the farm by the two sons did not last more than about three years.

Tickerage Mill, Framfield, where David was apprenticed.

More information about David Gilbert's family.

Information taken from Richard Gilbert's family history and autobiography, the 1770 Land Tax return, and the Heathfield Tithe Map records from 1840 (among other sources).