Back to the homepage

Watercolour painting of Ryderswell Cottage by Charlotte I Gilbert (1886-1976) around 1950.

Ellen Isabel Gilbert (1857-1951) widow of David Gilbert (1861-1902) and her five surviving children - Ellen, Charlotte, Mary, William and Richard (David had died in the First World War) had been living in Eastbourne (5 Old Orchard Road, and the 22 Upper Avenue) but she also acquired a newly-built house in Uckfield in 1905 in order to have another base near the home of her aged (and widowed) mother, Mary Sophia Morris. Ellen named the Uckfield house "Ryderswell", after a property in Ringmer of the same name that had previously belonged to her family.

More details of Ellen Isabel Gilbert and her family

'Ryderswells', London Road, Uckfield.

Her mother died in 1916 and the Uckfield house thereafter became unnecessary and little used. But Ellen still appreciated the idea of a 'bolt hole' to get away from Eastbourne occasionally and enjoy some peace in the country. Accordingly she sold "Ryderswell" in 1923 and, in its place, bought a small cottage in Ballsocks Lane, Vines Cross, Horam, East Sussex, named "Lilac Cottage". She moved in on 17 May 1923 and renamed the house "Ryderswell Cottage".

Ellen Isabel Gilbert and Pharoah the dog outside Ryderswell Cottage around 1926.

The age of the building is not known, but it doesn't appear on the 1842 Heathfield tithe map, which shows the site as being the southern portion of a large field which runs up beside Ballsocks Lane to the T-junction at the top. But it does appear on the 1875 map. Richard Gilbert (1894-1988) wrote to H R Gilbert in 1979 (Notes in { } by HRG) "Grandma Morris {Mary Sophia Morris 1831-1916} died in 1916 and Aunts Mary and Alice and Uncle Bob {who had also been living in Uckfield} had returned to live in Eastbourne by 1918; in addition, after the war {World War 1} neither Bill {William Gilbert 1892-1955} in Leeds, nor I were in a position to spend much time at Uckfield. In consequence, Mother decided to sell Ryderswell and, in its place, bought a cottage, then called Lilac Cottage, at Vines Cross in 1923."

Two watercolour paintings by Charlotte Gilbert of Ryderswell Cottage rear garden on 15 August 1925 (left) and August 1932 (right)
The originals are in the archive of the Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne.

"The Uckfield house (which Mother had bought in 1904 before its completion) was named 'Ryderswell' by Mother after a house in Ringmer parish at one time inhabited by a branch of the Morris family. It seems that the word 'Ryderswell' was painted on the double gate of the Uckfield house so that 'RYDERS' appeared on one gate, and 'WELL' on the other. At any rate, it was our habit to think of the name as one word (and quite wrongly) 'Ryderswells'. Mother's printed notepaper in 1915 bears the name as 'Ryderswell', but there is an old pillowcase marked 'Ryders Wells' in Mother's own handwriting (in marking ink)! Uncle Bob alludes to the Uckfield house several times in his diary as 'Ryderswells'. Ellen {Ellen Gilbert 1885-1988} says that at first, the name on the gate of the Vines Cross cottage was 'Ryderswells Cottage' but that in later repainting the final 'S' was inadvertently dropped. (I am doubtful about the accuracy of this). At any rate, we have long called it Ryderswell Cottage."

The rear of Ryderswell Cottage in the 1920s. On the left is the outside toilet. A small upper dormer window was later added to the wall facing the camera.

Elsie Gilbert (1906-1990) wrote "In the 2nd World war they (Gilberts) were sometimes at Ryderswell Cottage and, during one of such periods, a small bomb (incendiary) fell on 22 Upper Avenue, after which they did not live there again. No.3 Bourne Street however belonged to them and, it then being empty, they lived there."

Ellen Gilbert with N....r the dog in the small sitting room at Ryderswell Cottage during the war (1941). The piano is visible on the left.

Ellen Gilbert (1885-1988) bought the cottage from her mother Ellen I Gilbert in 1948. The Gilbert family stayed there often for holidays and weekends in the 1940s and early 1950s. The bedrooms were extremely small and the stairs very narrow and steep. Water came at one time from a pump in the garden and there was an outside toilet only. Washing oneself was done with a large china jug and basin on a marble-topped table, and the kitchen sink was of stone. Upstairs were three bedrooms, one on the south end of the house with an unusual triangular bay window, and two on the other side of the stairs, with the far room only accessible through the main bedroom.

Downstairs there was tiny 'sitting room' in which Ellen had amazingly managed to cram a Broadwood upright piano which had come from the bakery. There was also a living room with a large open fireplace and, at a slightly lower level, the kitchen, which can best be described as gloomy. The garden was triangular and had bee hives, but there were no bees by the 1950s.

Elsie Gilbert, H R Gilbert and Richard Gilbert at Ryderswell Cottage in April 1955. An upstairs dormer window has now been added, and so has an indoor toilet (to the left of the open doorway).
The empty chair on the left was one of several thousand made for guests at the Pevensey Pageant in July 1908, and one of four (two with arms and two without) bought by the Gilberts afterwards. We still have the two with arms, including this one!

Mary Gilbert's diary;
25 July 1967; "Went to Vines Cross with Charlotte, stayed till August 7th."
26 July 1967; "Charlotte slammed the lavatory door shut outside and it wouldn't open. After calling twice, ?? came in the evening and put it right. The bolt had gone in inside, and he got a garden rake from the shed and pushed it back by pushing the rake through the window from outside. What a relief !!!"

When H R Gilbert and his brother David stayed there in the 1950s there were two children living next door at 'Overdene'. The daughter later married, and she and her husband bought the house from Ellen Gilbert in 1970, on the condition that they wouldn't change anything! In fact, the only change they made was to extend the kitchen and built a proper bathroom / toilet at the back. They were still there in the 1990s and allowed HRG and David to look over the property. Little had changed.

Ryderswell Cottage, Vines Cross, Horam, in 1984. Photo; H R Gilbert.

By 2010 the house was still very similar, although its name had been changed to "Ryderswell" and a paved drive had been laid up the right hand side and round the back.

Looking up the back garden of Ryderswell Cottage in December 1998, taken by David Gilbert.