HNHC Bulletin August 2017

Monday 17 October, 7.30 pm, Cranston Lecture at St Mary's Church Wednesday 18 October, 8.00 pm, AGM and President’s lecture Wednesday 15 November, 8.00 pm, Yvette Robbins, Diseases and health conditions in East Surrey Saturday 18 November, 10.00 am, SHERF Conference Leatherhead Institute Wednesday 13 December, 8.00 pm, Members talks and social Wednesday 17 January 2018, 8.00 pm, Wildlife Aid Foundation, Hedgehogs Charity number 273602

Holmesdale Natural History Club The Museum, 14 Croydon Road, Reigate, RH2 0PG http://www.hnhc.org.uk Bulletin No 118

August 2017

Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 18 October 2017.

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Apologies for absence Minutes of AGM held 19 October 2016 To consider and approve the Annual Report for 2016-17 To consider and approve the Statement of Accounts for 2016-17 To elect the Secretary, Treasurer, Curator for 2016-17 To elect other members of the Executive Committee To consider approval of a motion to raise the subscription rate for 2018 to individual membership from £15 to £18, joint membership from £21 to £25 and family membership (two adults plus children) from £25 to £30. Life membership would be 10 times the annual membership.

8. Any other business Nominations for President, Secretary, Treasurer, Curator and/or Members of the Executive Committee should be in writing, supported by two other members, and with the written approval of the candidate, to the Secretary not less than seven days before the AGM. The President’s Lecture on “The constantly curious Reverend Bullen” will follow the Annual General Meeting

Programme For September 2017 to January 2018 Weekend 9 & 10 September, 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Heritage Open Days Wednesday 20 September, 8.00 pm David Williams, Recent Finds in Surrey Saturday 7 October, 11.00 am Surrey Local History Meeting -1-

Lectures Members are reminded that lectures are always an opportunity to display any exhibits or give news of interest to members (not necessarily related to the talk).

Wednesday 20 September, 8.00 pm David Williams Recent finds in Surrey As Finds Liaison Officer for Surrey and East Berkshire, David studies and records many finds for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. He will tell us about some of the more interesting recent finds from the area.

Wednesday 18 October, 8.00 pm President’s lecture The constantly curious Reverend Bullen The Reverend Robert Ashington Bullen was Vicar of Wisley & Pyrford. He was an eminent authority on molluscs, a geologist, an enthusiast for theories on the tools of ancient man and a stalwart of the HNHC at the turn of the 20th Century. This talk aims to draw on his activities and enthusiasms to give an insight into the life of the Club in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Wednesday 15 November, 8.00 pm, Yvette Robbins Diseases and health conditions in East Surrey Yvette is a Lay Member of the governing body of East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group, the NHS organisation that buys healthcare services from the local hospital, community providers and general practitioners to meet the needs of the local population. She will talk about the incidence of disease and health conditions in East Surrey and what residents can do that might help to reduce their risks and indeed some of these diseases/conditions and will report on a conference for clinicians on plantbased nutrition that she attended in the US last year.

Wednesday 17 January 2018, 8.00 pm, Wildlife Aid Foundation Hedgehogs The hedgehog, with dwindling numbers, is becoming a much rarer sight . A speaker from the Wildlife Aid Foundation will tell us about what we can do to help them. They will also describe their programme of rearing orphaned young hedgehogs to adulthood and caring for sick and injured adults so that they can be released back into the wild.

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Wednesday 13 December, 8.00 pm Members talks and social Do you have a picture or story members might be interested in ? Then bring it along to the social. Any aspect of natural history, local history archaeology or geology would be welcome. Did you visit somewhere on holiday that members might like to know about ? Let Gerry Moss know so that we can make certain we have any relevant facilities available, or provide any help needed, for example, to project images from a pamphlet.

Other Meetings Saturday 7 October, 11.15 am – 3.30 pm Surrey Local History Meeting at Surrey History Centre Hot Off the Press: Digital Newspaper Archives and Local History The range of digital copies of Newspapers from the 17th century to the present day will be covered with five talks with special emphasis in their use for the study of local history. Details from the Surrey Archaeological Society website. Book with www.surreycc.gov.uk/heritageevents or see the flyer on the notice board.

Monday 16 October, 7.30 pm Cranston Lecture at St Mary's Church This will be at St Mary Magdalene Church, Reigate at 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm.

Sean Hawkins will talk on "Thomas Martin and Reigate's second public library" and Andrea Thomas on “Martin Luther and the Reformation after 500 years” (on the anniversary of his sending ninety-five theses to the Archbishop of Mainz.)

Saturday 18 November, 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Leatherhead Institute, Leatherhead Structured Deposits and Ritual Offerings The Surrey Archaeological Society SHERF conference will cover Roman, Saxon and post-medieval examples. Details available from the Surrey Archaeological Society website.

Redhill Walk On 29th April Gerry Moss led a group of members on a walk around some of the historically significant sites of Redhill. We met at the Linkfield Lane car park, where the old roads Linkfield Lane, Linkfield Street and Hatchlands Road meet. The area is also known as Reffells Bridge (often wrongly called Raffles Bridge) as it was the site of the Reffells Brewery. The remains of the Somers Arms pub associated with the brewery are now used as an estate agent’s office.

The walk then proceeded up Linkfield Street over the railway bridge, from which there was a fine view of the spire of St Matthew’s Church and the -3-

Dome flats, built on the site of, and named after, the Victorian astronomer Richard Charrington’s observatory. The level of the bridge is above the original street level, and looking down from the bridge you can see the site of a tannery – now marked by Tannery Cottage – and a row of red brick cottages built in 1905.

Further up the hill in Oakdene Road is a late 18th Century barn and, on Linkfield Street, Fengates House, dating from 1730. The route then continued past the White Lion pub and some 18th Century houses in Linkfield Street to the junction with Ridgeway Road. Looking down Upper Bridge Street it was possible to see a cast iron fence post with the name of Reigate ironmonger T. S. Marriage & Co embossed on it. Almost opposite is the former home of T.R. Hooper, built in 1883 in the Arts & Crafts style with sgraffito decoration.

Noting the route over Redhill Common straight ahead, we turned left down Mill Street past an unusual drinking fountain on three levels – for people, horses and dogs. In Mill Street we passed the Garibaldi Pub, cottages from ca. 1500 at 5 and 7 Mill Street and Old Garlands, a 17th Century house with a Georgian façade.

At the 5-way junction of the Brighton Road, Garlands Road, Mill Street and Hooley Lane, we saw the former Somers Arms, later the New Inn and now a plumbers merchant, and a drinking trough supplied by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. Progressing down Hooley Lane, we passed the site of the original London to Brighton Railway station, then turned left following Redhill Brook along Brook Road, and continuing back to Brighton Road.

Passing under the Reading Arch bridge, the route then led into Redhill town centre, where we noted the Belfry bells, originally from St Anne’s Workhouse. Notable buildings in the centre of town are The Wheatsheaf pub, currently known as The Junction, with its interesting decoration showing the original name and that of the brewers Nalder and Collyer.

Opposite is the former Nicols department store (now Cooks), Lloyds Bank, formerly the Capital and County Bank, and the Warwick Quadrant, built on the site of the Market Hall. Turning up Station Road, we passed the 1858 Baptist chapel which, unusually, was open, allowing us to peer inside at the simple but pleasant interior.

Our route then took us down Warwick Road, part of the Warwick Town development planned by Lady Warwick, widow of Lord Monson. On the left is the former Thornton House School, originally built for the Caterham Spring Water Company, and now being converted by Raven Housing Trust into shared ownership houses. We then went along North Street to the junction with Linkfield Road. Here we saw the double bend in the road, indicative of it following ancient field boundaries, and also Batts Hill Cottage, dating from around the 16th Century and with erection notches still visible. Then it was back to Linkfield Corner car park for the end of a most interesting afternoon tour.

Andy Sandford -4-

Birdsong Walk around The Moors Following the excellent talk on birdsong by Jerry Blumire and family last year, we were delighted when Mr Blumire offered to lead a bird watching and listening walk around The Moors nature reserve and Mercers Lake.

Meeting at 8.00 am on Saturday 20th May at the Nutfield Lane end of Holmesdale Avenue (possibly the Club’s earliest start in a good many years) the walk started off along the public footpath that goes alongside and then between the two Holmethorpe Lagoons.

At the point where the path passes between the lagoons we were able to observe reed warblers on one side and house martins collecting mud from the mud banks to construct their nests on the other. We also saw swifts, a great crested grebe, a common whitethroat and a coot with chicks. Also flying around were a male and female common blue butterfly.

male Common Blue red & black Froghopper Polyommatus icarus Cercopis vulnerata Continuing east past the lakes and towards the railway we passed along a wooded area where we saw a green woodpecker in flight and then further on heard a chiffchaff. This area was rich in insect life and we observed blue damsel flies, an ichneumon wasp, a broad-bodied chaser dragonfly, a small copper butterfly and a squash bug.

mint moth Pyrausta aurata

Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerurm -5-

Albonia geoffrella We then crossed The Moors and continued round on the path that follows the course of Redhill Brook towards Cormongers Lane. On this part of the walk we observed that chestnut tree leaf miners had already been at work.

Other sightings included a pair of long-tailed tits, a scorpion fly, a heron, a robin, a blue tit, a goldfinch, a goldcrest and a whitethroat. We also heard a dunnock and a tree creeper singing.

The walk then continued past Chilmead Barns and Nutfield Marsh to Mercers Lake and back along Nutfield Marsh Road to the starting point. All agreed it was a very enjoyable and interesting excursion and thanked Mr Blumire for making it possible.

Andy Sandford Photos from Jerry Blumire

Founder’s Day Excursion This year the Club celebrated Founder’s Day on 17 June with an excursion inspired by Liz Ramsay’s talk on Remarkable Trees of Surrey and Beyond.

Around a dozen members met by the old prison on the village green in Lingfield where the first of the trees we visited, a venerable hollow oak, has stood for over 400 years. The tree is next to the village pond and the old ‘Cage’ lock-up prison. This was built in 1773 as a temporary gaol for minor felons and was last used in 1882 to lock up a poacher.

After spending some time inspecting the tree – inside and out – and listening to a short talk by Mr Sandford on the significance of Founder’s Day, we walked to the nearby church of St Peter and St Paul. An attractive medieval building with twin naves and fine brasses, the church was originally built in Saxon times and extensively rebuilt by Sir Reginald de Cobham in the 15th Century. Sir Richard also endowed a chantry and college (making this a collegiate church) so that priests would be on hand to pray for the immortal souls of himself and his family.

We then walked back to the village for a fine afternoon tea at ‘Joyce’s with best wishes’ café. After tea, the final leg of the excursion took us to -6-

Crowhurst churchyard to view an ancient yew – reputedly 4,000 years old.

This is completely hollow but still in leaf. The interior of the tree was reputedly further hollowed out in the 1820s and fitted out with a table, benches and a door. The door still remains.

Reigate Roman Tile Kiln Progress on the re-construction of the Roman tile kiln in Reigate caves has recently seen the completion of a section of the original kiln ceiling. This was a complex process apparently involving a series of supporting metal hoops now removed. The kiln itself has been re-built using – wood glue, covered up by crushed waste roman tile mixed with mortar. Access to this is on the last public cave day of the year on Saturday 9th September – or I can arrange access on a separate basis.

Paul Winder

Electronic version of the Bulletin.

The Bulletin is now available in an electronic form as a PDF. This saves the Club money in printing and for some postage and enables pictures to be in colour. Anyone who has not yet registered interest in receiving a copy in this way email Gerry Moss (g.p.moss@qmul.ac.uk). ____________________________

This is your Bulletin. Why not write an account of something of interest to Club Members ? Material for the next Bulletin should be sent to the editor, Gerry Moss, 10 Hurstleigh Drive, Redhill, RH1 2AA (phone 01737 765508, e-mail g.p.moss@qmul.ac.uk) by the 18 December 2017

Crowhurst yew Andy Sandford -7-

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