The Life & Times of WALTER MILLS (1839 – 1911) Blacksmith of Stoughton, West Sussex, England
Facebook Comments
Ward Family Blog
Our Family History
5 Comments
H Roughsedge
I live in the old smithy in Walderton, in the parish of Stoughton. The smithy moved from Stoughton to Walderton (a mile down the road) some time in the 1800s I think, although it may have been earlier. It then re-located again, to its current location, in the last decade of the 1800s. This time the move was just a few yards along the road.
I have a photo of the smithy and the blacksmith that I can share. I don’t know the date, but I would guess the early 1900s, judging by the location of the building and the dress of the people in the photo.
I don’t recognise the Ivy Cottage in your photograph. It’s definitely not in the parish of Stoughton. The road name is not in this area either. There may be a building that was previously called Ivy Cottage, but there are very few properties here and that’s not a name that I’m familiar with. I wonder whether this is an error as your text refers to ‘Houghton’, which is also in Sussex, but near Arundel.
Let me know if I can help with anything!
John G. Ward
Helen: Thank you for the interesting comments on Walter Mills and Ivy Cottage. As I now live in the extreme western edge of North America (Vancouver Island), I cannot “drop in” on my old haunts of Havant, Emsworth and Walderton. So I rely on photos from Google Earth on my computer. I thought I was rather lucky to “zoom in” and find the wall plaque on Ivy Cottage. So it maybe some other address that the Artificial Intelligence thought was Stawell Road, Stoughton…! Still, my numerous readers can still enjoy the “story” of WALTER MILLS the Blacksmith. My e-mail address is john.ward@eaglepm.org (all lower-case) so if you have some photos or other information on this Book from my posted collection of 137-Books, I would be pleased to respond to any other comments. Read my Autobiography and you will see my connections with Hampshire, Sussex and other haunts from my first 38-years in England. I have now been gone for 50-years so life is much different now in “Jolly Olde”.
Regards,
John Graham Ward (32nd GGS of John De La Warde in 1045 AD.
Helen
Having done a bit of research myself today, looking at censuses for Walderton & Stoughton in the early 1900s, I’m 99% certain that the photo I have is of Walter Sr, Walter Jr & Charles Mills, with a couple of young relatives, outside the smithy circa 1915. Please let me know how I can share a copy with you? Best wishes.
John G. Ward
Helen: I would love to see those photos. Can you send a copy via e-mail to: john.ward@eaglepm.org I have a cousin in Hayling Island looking into the IVY COTTAGE issue. Talk to you later. John
Helen
Sorry, must be earlier as I see he died in 1911. He’s not a young man in this photo 🙂