During The Ashdown Forest Dispute 1876-1882 commoners and land owners were interviewed by the solicitor William Raper. Their comments were recorded in a series of notebooks:

Thorp, John. 71. Grislings. My Father and Mother when I was a boy lived at Brownings, 8 acres, at Grislings Common, then belonging to Kenward of Ridgewood Farm, Uckfield. Our family lived there nearly 100 years. My Father left it in 1829. I was born and brought up there. Kenward used the land. I well remember that while I lived there Kenward always summered his stock on the Forest and used to fetch litter every year from the Forest to litter them down. It was all grass.

After my Father and Mother left the house the land was let to Charles Shaw (dead).

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