The Fernhurst Society
Tales from the Archives - 13
Tudor Gardens? Tudor Gardens?? (part 2)
Alice Tudor, daughter of Owen Scripps Tudor, was born at High Beech Essex in 1873 and spent some of her early years in the Argentine where her father was a successful businessman. On his retirement in 1905 the family came to Fernhurst and they immediately became involved in village life.
Alice’s interests were particularly in education and for many years ran series of lectures in the village hall but her lasting legacy is that she revived and revised the May Day festivities in 1920, basing the crowning of the May Queen and other ceremonies on authentic records. She also taught and encouraged a love of traditional country dances.
She was much involved in the Fernhurst Cottage Building Society, which she and a group of friends, including James Cole, set up in the 1920s. They believed that everyone had to right to own their own property. The society built and/or acquired a number of properties such as St Margaret’s Cottages and various houses along Vann Road.
Many older residents will have her book ‘Fernhurst: the Story of a Sussex Village’ illustrated by local artist Reg Gammon on their bookshelves. It is a delightful work, published in the 1930s and reprinted in the 1960s.
Her interests also included the church and visiting the sick. She never married and was much mourned when she died in 1941. In her obituary she was described as ‘a ministering angel on a bicycle’.
If you would like to know more about this story, or research other local topics, the Archive is open on Tuesdays, 2.30-5pm in the Village Hall. Other times by arrangement.
Christine Maynard
Fernhurst ArchiveOne of a series of short articles bringing you some of the incidents from our rich village history. Collated by Christine Maynard, based on documents preserved at the Fernhurst Archives, these originally were published in the monthly Fernhurst News.
The Fernhurst Archives
Fernhurst History
