West Firle Poor Law Union formed in 1835 providing a
workhouse for the people of West Firle and nearby parishes. The workhouse could house 180 inmates but it
was closed after 1898 when the union merged with Chailey and Lewes unions.
The building was converted into a row of private houses
known as Stanford Buildings but they were badly damaged on the afternoon of the
22nd May 1942. Two Spitfire
pilots left the airfield at Redhill in Surrey for a practise flight when they
came across low cloud over Firle. Flt Lt
Barrett climbed above the cloud and returned to Redhill but Sgt Harold Ernest
Barton went below the cloud which was lower than expected. He hit the end of the row of houses
destroying part of it and injuring one of the residents. Barton was killed; the end of Stanford buildings was badly damaged both by the impact and the resulting fire.
The fire was reported in the local papers but not the cause
so as not to affect morale. The Sussex
Daily News emphasised the work done by the National Fire Service from Lewes
"effective work by NFS personnel
from Lewes greatly minimised damage to property when they attended a fire at
Stanford-buildings Firle". The
Sussex Express mentioned that it was caused by a plane crash but gave no
details concentrating on the rescue of Mrs Hughes from the house by another
resident of Stanford Buildings "Mrs Hughes's husband told the story to
an 'Express Herald' representative and extended his grateful thanks to Mr
Mitchell for the manner in which, under great danger to himself, he carried out
the rescue".
The official report on the crash was short and too the point "Cause of crash not known. Hit buildings and burnt out. Sgt H
E Barton of 602 Squadron Redhill. One
civilian injured. 25 people evacuated from buildings" Any further official documents are closed subject to the 100 year rule.
Sussex Daily News - Monday May 25th 1942
Sussex Express & County Herald - Friday June 5th
1942
East Sussex Record Office: SPA 2/21/45 Crashed & forced
landings of British and German aircraft in East Sussex 1939-1945
I'm Mrs hughes's great granddaughter,I've heard family accounts of the disaster,but never seen any official account,very interesting,thank you
ReplyDeleteMy husbands ancestor was Mr Mitchell. But we knew nothing about the rescue until today. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMr mitchell was my late husbands grandfather. So interesting to read this thank you
ReplyDelete