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:
Wood, James. 72. The Star Inn Piltdown. Innkeeper. (A very active and intelligent man and will make a good witness.) I was born at Malling Down Farm in Fletching. My grandfather Thomas Diplock owned and farmed it. It now belongs to Sir S. M. Wilson. I lived there till I was 24. I then married and took the Star Inn close by where I have lived ever since. My grandfather carried on Malling Down Farm till his death 44 years ago. Then his son Thomas Diplock carried it on till he died 8 years ago and about a year [ago] his son Thomas Diplock sold it to Sir Spencer Wilson who then let it to Mr. John Fleet, the present tenant. I can remember back over 60 years.
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| James Wood | m: 28th Oct 1806 St Andrew & St Mary Church, Fletching, Sussex | Ann Diplock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: c 1785 | b: c 1785 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| James | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1807 Fletching, Sussex ch: 24th May 1807 St Andrew & St Mary Church | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| James Wood | m: 11th Jan 1831 St Bartholomew Parish Church, Maresfield, Sussex | Anne Mitchell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1807 Fletching, Sussex ch: 24th May 1807 St Andrew & St Mary Church | b: 1810 Fletching, Sussex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John | William | Thomas | Joshua | Ann | Mary | Ebenezer | Ephraim | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1833 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1836 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1837 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1840 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1842 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1844 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1846 Maresfield, Sussex | b: 1849 Maresfield, Sussex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Weald is at Database version 14.05 which has ongoing updates to the 395,000 people; 9,000 places; 613 maps; 3,308 pictures, engravings and photographs; and 248 books loaded in the previous version
