Catalogue description Documents relating to Ticehurst from the collection of the Stapylton-Smith family of Steellands

In 1961 a map of William Hunt's land at Dalehill was deposited by its owner, Mrs H M F Stapylton-Smith of Steellands; it was listed as AMS4614 but the papers which accompanied it (AMS4614/3, 4) were not described

In 1983 the Ticehurst war-book (AMS4614/5) was given Mrs Stapylton-Smith

Mrs Stapylton-Smith died in 1990 and in 1995 the Dalehill map was withdrawn by her daughter. A colour photograph was made prior to withdrawal, and is listed as AMS4614/1

The deeds of the Dalehill estate, 1350-1684, are in the Dunn of Stonehouse archive (DUN 2/1-72), and it seems likely that the map (AMS4614/1) is a stray from that group. For other fragments of the Dunn archive which have been recovered from the antiquarian market, see AMS4666

The two descriptions of Steellands (AMS4614/3 and AMS4614/4) were probably written by E C Kingdom and Josiah S Cowling respectively. Kingdom owned the house between 1911 and 1920, when he sold it to Cowling

The Ticehurst War Book (AMS4614/5) was given to Mr Stapylton-Smith at the end of the war by Miss Ruth Collingridge of Merriams in Ticehurst, who was also instrumental in the deposit of the Dalehill map at ESRO in 1961. Miss Collingridge acted as senior air-raid warden and local authority representative on the triumvirate. Steellands had been used as a centre for the men and materials employed in the repair of flying-bomb damage in 1944. For Miss Collingridge's antiquarian collection, see ACC 982

Documents deposited June 1961 (ACC 458), given 16 September 1983 (ACC 4138) and purchased 3 January 1996 (ACC 6762)