A SNAPSHOT OF WEST FARLEIGH 

From the 1841 Census return:

There were 58 Agricultural workers, most of them with families, of up to 8 children. 5 being  the average number of children.

Tutsham had 95 people living on the estate, 13 families with 38  children between them.

There is no indication of where they were housed the address for all of them is just Tutsham.

The Alms houses were occupied with families with a working head of the family.

The original almshouses were on the site of the present Oliver North Flats.

Farleigh Green was rather different, as it had tradesman living there. A Shoe Maker, Dressmaker,  Bricklayer, Blacksmith, Baker and two gardeners, as well as some Agricultural labourers.

There was a School Mistress with two servants living at Spittle Crouch. (This was before the school was built) It was probably a Dame School for those who could afford to pay. Does any one know where Spittle Crouch was or is?

Some properties were occupied with families of Independent Means. All of whom had servants. Smiths Hall had 16 servants!

By 1911 it looked a little different:

There were 44 adults and 34 children living on Tutsham. With an average of 2.4 children per family. There was one family of 5.

By this time not everyone living on Tutsham were farm Labourers. For example in Mill Cottages, there was family of Blacksmiths, a lock keeper, a railway flagman and several people working at the cricket Ball factory in Teston.

What was surprising and upsetting, there was a family of mother, father and 4 month old baby, recorded as living in a shed on Court Lodge Farm. A Widower living in the Lodge, ( this would have been a log or storage shed) at the Good Intent and a single man living in the Chequers Stables (Tickled Trout). Let’s hope this was not a grim as it sounds.