Deeds of Bearhurst in Ticehurst

The Lower Part of Bearhurst in Ticehurst, purchased by William Watson in 1749

The property was sold by Thomas Payne to Daniel Beard, who bequeathed it to his son Daniel Beard of Rottingdean, gent.

On 28 and 29 September 1749 Daniel Beard and his wife Jane conveyed the property to William Watson of Ticehurst, gent, for £595; it was described as:

two closes (one called The Fatting Close), a forestall, a hay-house, and land called The Great Meadow, two little pieces (2a), two pieces called Woodfields, The Side Meadow and The Little Mead, brookland called The Little Eye, The Long Eye, The Colts Brook, The Great Eye, The Barn Field and The Barn Croft with the adjoining little pieces of shaws (7a), occupied by [blank] Russell, widow (1).

The remainder of Bearhurst in Ticehurst, purchased by William Watson in 1766

Wilkin Watson purchased Bearhurst in moieties from Isaac Spratt, gent, and Michael Deane, gent, and Mill Land from Richard Hickes; on his death the property descended to his brother Needler Chamberlain Watson of Rye, surgeon (6).

Before 1763 Needler Chamberlain Watson was indebted to several individuals on behalf of his late brother Wilkin Watson and brother Daniel Watson of Ticehurst, timber-merchant, who had lately become a bankrupt, and on his own account.

On 17 and 18 January 1763 Watson conveyed his estate to John Usher of Bethersden in Kent, gent, and James Smith of Rye, grocer, for the benefit of his creditors John Buckhurst of Rye, mercer, John Lake of Bapchild in Kent, yeoman, William Marten of Winchelsea, gent, Robert Lake of Winchelsea, gent, Thomas Hovenden of Rye, victualler, James Knight, William Knight and Christopher Knight of Brookland in Kent, graziers, and Margaret Richardson of Guestling, widow; the estate consisted of:

1 messuage, barn, stable, buildings and 27 pieces of land and wood (190a) called Maplesden in Ticehurst and Wadhurst

2 four fields called Richfields in Wadhurst

3 messuage, barn, stable and 120a called Bearhurst in Ticehurst and Wadhurst

4 Mill Land in Ticehurst and Wadhurst

all lately occupied by Wilkin Watson, and descended on his death to NCW

The remainder of Bearhurst in Ticehurst, purchased by William Watson in 1766

5 barn and 49a in Rye and Playden, occupied by NCW and Thomas Hovenden, lately purchased by NCW from the heirs of Robert Fagg, bt

6 three messuages, stables, buildings, gardens and a piece of land (2a) in Battle, occupied by John Mayo, [blank] Body, [blank] Phipps and William Palmer, which NCW inherited from his late wife Mary

7 messuage, barn, stable, building, garden and 360a in Pyecombe, occupied by [blank] Hampshire, settled on NCW's marriage by his father William Watson, esq

8 two messuages, yards, garden, buildings and land occupied by NCW and William Croucher, and a malthouse occupied by Thomas Procter, in Rye, lately purchased by NCW from John Welch, deceased

9 piece of garden now fenced in (¼a) in The Wish in Rye, occupied by NCW, who lately bought it from Thomas Masters

10 messuage and garden in Peasmarsh, occupied by Thomas Gadd, being a cottage held on lease from [Thomas Pelham Holles] Duke of Newcastle

11 NCW's household goods and stock in his dwelling-house in Rye and in Playden

the properties 1 and 2 above were subject to the life estate of NCW's father William Watson, esq; 1-4 were subject to a mortgage for £1000 secured by bond to Samuel Durrant, esq, and Henry Burtenshaw and Company; 3-4 were subject to two mortgages for £800; 5 was subject to a mortgage for £1000 to Thomas Lamb, esq; 6-9, with property in Battle and Pyecombe, were subject to a mortgage for £1500 to Messrs Field and Avery (2-3).

Some of the Needler Chamberlain Watson's estates were sold and with the assistance of an advance of £1600 by his father William Watson of Ticehurst, esq, Watson was able to discharge all his debts. On 12 and 13 May 1766 the trustees joined N C Watson to convey to Bearhurst and Mill Land in Ticehurst and Wadhurst to his father William Watson (4).

The whole Bearhurst Estate

By his will of 5 February 1771, William Watson of Bearhurst in Ticehurst left Maplesden in Ticehurst and Wadhurst in trust for his grandson William Watson (son of his son Daniel Watson), and Bearhurst and Mill Lands, with eight acres called Ropers Field, copyhold of the manor of Hammerden, in trust for his eldest son Needler Chamberlain Watson for life, with remainder to his children by his wife Elizabeth, charged with an annuity in favour of his son Isaac Watson and a legacy of £600 to his daughters (5).

William Watson died shortly after making his will. His son Needler Chamberlain Watson had four children by his wife Elizabeth - William, Elizabeth, Mary and Catherine Watson. On 23 and 24 June 1800 William Watson of Rye, gent, was joined by John Woollett of Rye, gent, and his wife Elizabeth, née Watson, and Catherine Watson of Rye, spinster (only surviving daughters of NCW), and William Watson the grandfather's surviving executor Samuel Chamberlain of Fleet Street, London, druggist, to convey Bearhurst to William Richardson of Bearhurst in Ticehurst, gent, and his trustee Thomas Richardson of Benenden in Kent, gent, for £2900. The property had for some years consisted of a farm of 190a, occupied by William Richardson, before John Wiley, before John Hopper and before James Bourne, and was composed of a house, buildings, 133a land and 10a coppice called Bearhurst in Ticehurst, occupied by Edward Burgis, before Samuel Diplock, the land formerly called The Lower Part of Bearhurst, formerly occupied by [blank] Russell, widow, and purchased by William Watson the grandfather from Daniel Beard, and Mill Land (formerly called Shoyswell Mead and Millfield, 28a) in Ticehurst, purchased by Wilkin Watson from Richard Hickes, and the Hammerden copyhold called Ropers Field, to which William Richardson was admitted on 24 June 1802 (6-9).

By his will of 22 August 1818, William Richardson left his estate, subject to an annuity in favour of his wife Elizabeth and legacies to his daughter Philadelphia wife of Richard Hickes and Mary Richardson, to trustees for the benefit of his son William Richardson at 21; they proved the will in PCC on 12 February 1819. On 30 and 31 May 1821 William Richardson, in contemplation of leaving England 'for a considerable time', was joined by his mother Elizabeth Richardson of Ticehurst, widow, to convey Bearhurst (occupied by his brother-in-law Richard Hickes at £125) to Thomas Richardson of Rolvenden in Kent, gent, Stephen White of Ticehurst, farmer, John Standen of Ticehurst, yeoman (who had married his sister Mary), Richard Hickes of Ticehurst, farmer, and Joel Newington of Ticehurst, miller, in trust to manage the property and to pay the annuity and legacies charged on it by his father's will (10-11). The following day William Richardson released his father's executors, who had settled his estate and paid the residue to his son, from the trusts of the will (12).

John and Mary Standen requested the payment of the £1500 legacy in her father's will and on 27 and 28 January 1823 William Richardson, his mother and the trustees raised that sum, and a further £100, by a mortgage of Bearhurst, measured at 180a 0r 3p and occupied by Richard Hickes, to Thomas Peters of Robertsbridge in Salehurst, surgeon, Richard White of Goudhurst in Kent, gent, and Robert Willsher of Hurst Green in Etchingham, gent, for £1600 at 5% (13-14).

On 28 January 1823 Robert Dunk of Rolvenden, gent, in whom a term of 300 years created by the will of William Watson had been vested in 1800, assigned it to Giles Miller of Goudhurst, gent, in trust for the mortgagees (15).

On 4 and 5 June 1826 William Richardson of Bearhurst mortgaged Bearhurst, occupied by Richard Hickes, to Richard Preston if the Inner Temple, barrister, and his second son James Preston, for a sum of up to £3000, of which £1938 6s 6d consisted of the valuation of the farm stock on Heronsdale in Waldron. His mother Elizabeth Richardson, widow, assigned £50 of the £100 annuity under her husband's will to secure the loan.

On 9 May 1832 Richardson mortgaged Mill Lands in Ticehurst (28a), with a cottage and lodge built on it, occupied by Richard Barrow, to Samuel Newington, gent, and his trustee John Paine, cooper, for £400 (18).

On 10 October 1832, in contemplation of his visit to Richardson at Heronsdale the following day, Preston wrote to Richardson with a detailed account of their financial affairs (17B). On 14 October 1832 Richardson released the equity of redemption to Bearhurst to Preston; no money changed hands, but the purchase price consisted of the farm for £3250 (25 years' purchase on a rent of £130), £777 for the value of the timber, £1000 in respect of Mrs Richardson's annuity and £1880 for the farm stock (17A).

On 11 June 1833 William Richardson and his mother sold Mill Lands in Ticehurst to Richard Preston for £1700, of which £421 13s 0d went to discharge the mortgage to Newington, £500 in respect of Mrs Richardson's annuity and the remainder of £791 13s 8d to Richardson (18).

Thomas Peters, one of the mortgagees of Bearhurst, died and was buried at Salehurst in November 1827. In 1837 Richard Preston paid off £600 of the principal to Richard White and Robert Willshire, who on 21 and 22 December 1837 assigned the mortgage to Tilden Smith of Vinehall in Mountfield, gent, and Giles Miller of Goudhurst in Kent, gent (14).

Preston agreed to sell part of the land to the South Eastern Railway Company. His will of 12 August 1836 was proved in PCC by his eldest son William Scott Preston, and on 19 January 1848 the mortgagees acknowledged that the remaining £1000 charged on Bearhurst had been paid off by Richard Preston. On 27 February 1852 Tilden Smith and Giles Miller executed a reconveyance of Bearhurst to William Scott Preston (14).

Soon after that date a schedule of these deeds was drawn by Tilleard Sons and Freeman of Old Jewry, London, solicitors (19).

Documents given by Kathleen Maynard, Bearhurst, 31 August 1964 (ACC 639)

The donor bought Bearhurst in 1930 and found the deeds in a cupboard of the old farmhouse, which by 1964 had been destroyed by fire. The gift was occasioned by the sale of the property in 1964.