BONFIRE IN CHIDDINGLYTHE EVOLUTION OF CHIDDINGLY PARISH BONFIRE SOCIETY ...
Chiddingly has a long history of bonfire participation, in one form or another. The first reports of any formal organisation date back to 1829 ... George White, aged 11, of Muddles Green kept a diary in this year and his entry for 5th November 1829 reads:- "A very fine day. Richard White come here to plow. I went to Mr Randle’s at Whitesmith. I went to Martha’s. I went to picken up potatoes. Ody went to dungen. I went down to the Place. Father went down to Burwick. I went to picken up potatoes bondfire day, and I went to Mr Noakes bondfire." The most likely location for this 1829 ‘bondfire’ took place, but the most likely location was in the garden of Noakes' Holme’s Hill home - see map below. In today’s setting, this is Watson’s Cottage and is located opposite the Trug Store at the Wattle along the A22. In June 1877, there is another torchlit procession and bonfire in Chiddingly in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Eastbourne Chronicle of Saturday 2nd July 1887 reports: - “At ten o'clock a large bonfire was lighted, and a torchlight procession, pre-ceded by the Chiddingly brass band, concluded the festivities.” In that same year, the Southern Weekly News of Saturday 10th November 1877 records the formation of the Whitesmith Bonfire Society that year and its celebrations on "Guy Fawkes Day" concluding with a bonfire 'near the street' - this being The Street, Chiddingly. In 1912 the Chiddingly Bonfire Boys joined forces with collaborators from Horsebridge and Dicker to celebrate the Fifth of November. . |
The main feature of the 1912 celebrations was the enormous route march that was undertaken. After a preliminary amble, starting at 6pm, which went from the White Hart at Upper Horsebridge to Leap Cross down London Road towards Hailsham, up Hawks Road and along Upper Horsebridge Road back to the starting point (a mere two and a half miles), the procession set off on The Main Event. This was to take them straight over what is now the Boship Roundabout, along the main road and down Coldharbour Road to The Plough. Then - presumably after refreshments were taken - it was up Camberlot and back on the A22 to Golden Cross, at which point there was an abrupt about face and a return to Hellingly for the bonfire and fireworks, which finished close to midnight. This second leg of the evening's hike equated to another eight and a half miles, for a grand total of nearly eleven miles over the course of six hours.
Rob Merrills, Chiddingly's Captain of Firesite discovered the newspaper article from 1912, headed "Hellingly" and pictured below, which confirms that a distance of some 10.5 miles was covered and that effigies of Guy Fawkes and Pope Paul V were burned on the fire. There's evidence that bonfire celebrations in the village took place before the First World War, and there are first-hand reports of similar activities in the 1950’s and 60’s. In 1993 the Chiddingly Festival Parade included a procession lead by Firle Bonfire Society and a video by the Bristow Brothers can be found at this link The Society in its current form was re-established on 10 October 2020 in the Six Bells, Chiddingly by Robert Puttick, Becky Gander, Neil Parkes, Simon Parks, Brady Ells & Esther Brooks-Ells. The Society's first out meeting was to Mayfield in September 2021. |
Fancy Dress entries at Chiddingly Bonfire in the 1960s - Photo from Pauline Kennard
1976 bonfire celebrations in Chiddingly - photo from Chris Pellett
