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:
16.10.79
Dival, Thomas. This witness cannot fix dates at all and will probably not be worth calling. He works at present for Lord De La Warr. [Lives at] Chuck Hatch, Hartfield. Born at the brickyard close by and baptised at Hartfield 24 July 1814. My father was foreman at the Chuck Hatch brickyard belonging to the Buckhurst Estate. As soon as I was old enough I helped my Father and cut litter on the Forest for anyone who wanted it from the time I was a nipper, 12 or 13, and I have cut every year till the last 10 or 12 years when I had other work to do.
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| Thomas Divell farmer | m: 2nd Jun 1809 St. Mary's Church, Hartfield, Sussex | Elizabeth Mitchell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1784 Hartfield, Sussex | b: 1788 Hartfield, Sussex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mary | Thomas | Elizabeth | Edward | Ann | Henry | James | Caroline | b: c Sep 1809 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 29th Oct 1809 St. Mary's Church | b: 1812 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 29th Apr 1812 St. Mary's Church | b: 1815 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 19th Nov 1815 St. Mary's Church | b: 1817 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 21st Sep 1817 St. Mary's Church | b: 1820 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 28th May 1820 St. Mary's Church | b: 1822 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 31st Mar 1822 St. Mary's Church | b: 1823 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 13th Apr 1823 St. Mary's Church | b: 1824 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 18th Apr 1824 St. Mary's Church | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| William | Thomas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1811 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 13th Jan 1811 St. Mary's Church | b: 1814 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 24th Jul 1814 St. Mary's Church | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thomas Divall labourer | m: 11th Jul 1840 St. Mary's Church, Hartfield, Sussex | Sarah Ounstead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1814 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 24th Jul 1814 St. Mary's Church | b: 1822 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 24th Feb 1822 St. Mary's Church | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harriet | Caroline | Edward | Thomas | William | Mary | Edward | Henry | b: 1841 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 29th Aug 1841 St. Mary's Church | b: 1848 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 25th Jan 1848 St. Mary's Church | b: 1848 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 1848 St. Mary's Church | b: 1851 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 9th Feb 1851 St. Mary's Church | b: 1854 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 13th Aug 1854 St. Mary's Church | b: 1858 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 5th Sep 1858 St. Mary's Church | b: 1860 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 30th Sep 1860 St. Mary's Church | b: 1864 Hartfield, Sussex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| James | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1845 Hartfield, Sussex ch: 7th Sep 1845 St. Mary's Church | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
