The old building on the corner in Bletchingley has a special significance for our family. Not far away from it is the village war memorial, and among the fallen who are commemorated, is Horace Colgate who died on his eighteenth birthday. In 1914, despite the fact that Britain was now at war, a happy event took place in the upper rooms of this building, in October of that year, my mother-in-law was born. She was the second daughter in the family, and cousin of Horace Colgate.
Bletchingley is a pretty Surrey village, and an old village too. There was a castle here, now only ruins remain and the ring-works and bailey; it was built some time in the early twelfth century, but demolished just over a hundred years later. The church is older, dedicated to St Mary, it has a tower built in about 1090, with walls over five feet thick! Within the tower is a ring of bells which are still in use. Bletchingley used to have two MPs… before parliamentary reforms in the nineteenth century; one of her more famous members was Lord Palmerston himself!
When we go back to visit Bletchingley, we don’t think of the Normans who built the castle, or the members of parliament, famous or otherwise, we remember our family who lived here for so many years.
Lois Elsden 