by Heather Spencer
Tostock is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'look-out' place. The village stands 65 metres above sea level on well-drained loam over clay, very suitable for mixed farming. In some parts of Tostock there is a layer of gravel overlaying the clay. It is on the western edge of the region known as High Suffolk. The parish covers an area of approximately 952 acres. The Blackbourne River forms part of the eastern and northern parish boundaries and the main highway is to the south. A Roman road (now A1088) ran along the east/north boundary going to Ixworth from Coddenham, just by-passing Tostock. Wet marshy land to the north of the village would have proved difficult to cultivate or develop. It was and still is a small compact village conveniently placed mid-way between Stowmarket and Bury St. Edmunds, just north of the main turnpike road (now the A14), for easy access to markets.
There are no natural resources in Tostock apart from gravel pits, and the gravel pit attached to the Ticehurst farm is now actually located over the parish boundary in Drinkstone. There are no vast estates and no large industries. The majority of the population, which has never risen above 400, would have been dependent on agriculture and its allied trades, for their living until the beginning of the 20th century. As David Dymond states in An Historical Atlas of Suffolk farming has always been the basis of Suffolk's economy. (1).
From the earliest records, namely the Domesday Book of 1086, one can see the evidence of the mixed farming - woodland for pigs, meadow land, smallholders and ploughs indicating arable farming. There was one working horse mentioned and there would have been oxen for ploughing but there was no sign of sheep, cattle or a mill at this stage. Tostock was in the densely populated centre of Suffolk with a population of 15-20 per square mile at the time of Domesday.
Tostock can still boast two greens, which would have probably been one large green in pre-medieval times. This would have provided common grazing land and a stockade for the animals. (p25)
The roads developed later. In living memory of some of the older residents, geese and ponies grazed on the Green and Leys (the larger green) when its appearance was very different with rough undergrowth, brambles, wild grasses and flowers' Evidence of a very much earlier inhabitant of Tostock Leys was found some years ago by Mr E C Pamment, who died in 1964, aged 80. His find was part of a mammoth's tooth and is one of the Society's treasures. In 1842, a labourer digging in a ditch on the Leys found a rich Saxon buckle containing two garnets which is now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
From Tostock's Inquisition of the Ninths return taken in 1341, there was further evidence of the type of farming with corn, fleeces and lambs being worth 13s 4d and a tithe of milk and hay worth 30s per annum. John le Schepherde was listed as a juror, his name giving a clue to his occupation. (2) In the same returns all the neighbouring villages with much larger acreages showed the same type of mixed farming but with more animal husbandry. These same villages could also boast a good number of mills, four in Rattlesden, three in Rougham and two in Drinkstone. From the records of Sibton Abbey in East Suffolk, there was mention of the Abbot of Sibton holding one acre, a windmill and a house in Tostock in l2l2-1229. (3) It is fascinating to contemplate workers travelling 30 miles to and from Sibton and how the Abbey came to hold land here in West Suffolk. It is believed that the windmill was on the site of the present playing field and village hall, which is one of the highest points in the village. Incidentally, the playing fields are considered to be some of the best in the area because of the excellent drainage. It is thought there was also a water mill in the vicinity of Tostock Old Hall, near the river in the 16th century, one of the fields was named Mill Meadow.
From early wills, we can deduce the type of cereals that were being grown here. For instance in 1464 the rector Robert Wolman left ‘to the poor of my parish, certain grain, rye mixed with wheat and malt to be dispersed amongst them. (4) Robert Wolman also bequeathed 'a horsemill and two horses in the tenement called Gwythevellys to John Leve, miller.' In another will of 1476, Nicholas Munnyng left 'a modius (dry measure of two gallons) of barley to the Light of Blessed Mary' (p26) in the parish church(s) and in 1487 John Tylly bequeathed a comb of malt. Much later in the 19th century there was evidence of a maltster in the village. In 1844 John Nunn, maltster, owned Ticehurst farm (7). Later in 1881 Ticehurst was a 'pleasure farm' with a 25 coomb steep malting, 85 acres and a cottage up for sale. (8) Today the rebuilt cottage is named Malsters Cottage.
One of the most interesting Tostock wills was that of John Nonne. This John Nonne, who died in 1540, was a clothmaker. His concern for his workers, his wife and the poor of Tostock, Woolpit even the poor prisoners of Bury was apparent. He left 4d to every one of his spinners on his books and those at home, up to the sum of £4, which signified a good number of spinners.(9) Not just his current spinners were remembered but 'a11 the spinners that ever had to be paid their full duty and acquitted of any duty they owe me,’ He left 3s 4d to each of his eight weavers.
The will described the dyehouse with all the woad, vats, leads cisterns necessary for the occupation of dyeing. The tools connected with the shearman's craft were all left to his son George, his wife to have 'her dwelling in the new parlour and the chamber over it in my mansion when I now live.' This was a property of some consequence and it is thought by some historians to have been Tostock Old Hall. John Nonne's was obviously a profitable enterprise and employed many people, including outworkers. The early part of the 16th century was considered to be the peak period the production of woollen cloth.
Therefore sheep were a very important part of the farming economy, English wool being the best in Europe. Cheese was made from cows and sheep milk. Detailed contents of a cheese chamber were given in an inventory of Richard Southgate, a resident of Tostock. dated 1700. (10) These included five Wey of cheese, which was an enormous amount by our standards (a Wey being either 2561b or 312lb). Also listed are cheese vats and a cheese press and tub, as well as various pails, sieves and bowls. From this inventory we can gain an insight into this mixed farm. In one barn there was corn and to the value of £22 (this was in October after harvest), 20 comb (comb = 4 bushel) of threshed and unthreshed wheat and rye to the value of £21. In other barns there was more hay worth £4. The hay would have provided the necessary winter fodder for the animals on farm. which consisted of six steers (£17), eight cows (£24), three (p27) bullocks (f9), an old mare and colt, two hogs and four shots (young pigs) valued at £10, four sheep and lambs (£41) and nine more steers and a bull (£12). The total value of Richard Southgate's goods, chattels and personal effects amounted to £727, a large sum showing him to be a man of importance in the parish.
Another aspect of agriculture in the form of an industry was shown as follows in the inventory of Samuel Owers, a yarnmaker who died in 1780. (11)
This gave the names of 33 spinners in his employment, eight being women, including six widows. The tops referred to was the combed wool ready for spinning and a tod was 28 lb. The total value of the stock belonging to Samuel Owers was very considerable at £1,110. This excluded the equipment found in the combing shop and wash-house, which makes interesting reading - the combs, sea coal, (p28) comb pots, yarn bags, scales and weights, skeps, pots' sieves and soap were all used in the yarn preparation.
The large amount of unsold yarn at Norwich and at home reflected the decline in the yarn trade at that time. This was due to several factors, the competition from Ireland and other parts of the country and the American war. James Oakes senior, who was one of the largest and most prosperous local yarnmakers, realised it was time to change direction, and sold his yarn making premises in Suffolk and opened a bank in Bury St Edmunds in 1794' He had a strong connection with Tostock, as his son James was Rector of Tostock from 1796 to 1861.
After the Napoleonic Wars, there was a general feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction in some parts of Suffolk. This was due to a variety of reasons, but chiefly unemployment' Ex-soldiers were looking for work, food prices were soaring, farmers were forced to cut labour costs due to increased rents and tithes and lower corn prices. Machinery was beginning to appear on the larger farms. Farm workers joined forces with the ex-servicemen in the 1815-16 'Bread or Blood' riots, often attacking machines and property' At the beginning of 1816, the Revd James Oakes, the Tostock rector wrote to Arthur young, the agriculturalist, 'the County is in a very depressed state and I have reason to apprehend as bad as the present times are, we are not got to the worst'. (12)
There were no recorded cases of riot or attacks in Tostock but the situation must have worried the farming community. Things did become worse in 1844 when there were 52 incidences of arson in Suffolk, but again none recorded in Tostock.
The farming calendar did not change much through the centuries, the focal point of the whole year being harvest. Little work would have been possible in January and February, just odd jobs like hedging, muck-spreading and making good fencing. Many labourers were laid off during the winter months barely able to scratch a living. The average summer wage for day labourers in 1804 was 9s 2d per week in Suffolk. (13) In March and April there would be ploughing, harrowing and drilling. June would be the month of hay-making and weeding and then harvesting in July and August. After cutting, corn was left to dry before carting and stacking. The women would glean after harvest and often poultry were put on the stubble'. (p29)
There were many traditions associated with harvest. Vic Huffey remembers as a boy 'taking the harvest' in the early 1900s. The men would meet at the farm, have a drink and plan all the work to be done. Vic was sent down to the 'Sink' (Thurston lane) with his father's breakfast. The men had just cut enough barley to clear a place to sit down. They all sat down round a barrel of beer. When Vic returned with his father's dinner, they still sat there and again at 'foursees' (4 p.m.) still in the same position, well away! This always happened on the first day of harvest before the men started work the next day. From then on, it was 'damned hard work, starting at 5 in the morning and not finishing till after dark'.
Derek Haselwood remembers hearing about another old tradition of 'shouting for largesse' when the men would make a lot of noise, shouting and laughing to mark the end of harvest, in the hope of a tip or two. There was no harvest horkey held in Tostock that anyone can remember.
Later in the autumn, there would be the threshing. As can be seen from the cover photograph, believed to be at the Lodge, c 1900, this involved a large number of workers, eleven men, three boys plus a dog for the rats. There would be teams of threshers going round the county with the steam driven equipment seen here. In 1871, a farmer by the name of Joseph Clarke at Bridge Farm, was listed as having four steam engines and employing twelve men and three boys, so he probably owned one of these teams. (14) The photograph also revealed the use of a horse and cart on the extreme right of the picture to cart away the corn, some of which would have been retained for sowing. Then ploughing up the stubbles would follow ready for drilling the winter corn.
As well as cereals, root crops were grown for feed. The Revd Orbell Ray who lived and farmed at Tostock House in the latter part of the 18th century was a keen agriculturalist. In an extract from Arthur Young's General view of Agriculture of the County of Suffolk in l8l3 (15), the Revd Orbell Ray gives a detailed account of his experience with the cultivation and feeding of turnips. 'About the middle of February I began to draw my turnips, cutting off the tap root at the same time and carried them to a pasture field, adjoining my farmyard, where they were unloaded and labourers employed to take the roots one by one and set them upon the grass in as upright and close a manner as possible.' (p30)
The Revd Orbell Ray reports that he continued this method through March, collecting over 100 loads. From here he carried two loads-per day to nine bullocks who were confined in the farmyard. When the bullocks were turned out in May on to a field of 'fresh luxuriant ray grass" they preferred the turnip tops to the new grass. His sheep also enjoyed these turnip tops. Sheep are still to be seen today in the very same area feeding on roots'.
In 1909, another farming occupant of Tostock House, a retired wine merchant from London, Mr G Capon, won the Challenge Cup at Ixworth Farmers Club for the best field of root crops three years running and was told to keep the cup. (16) It is understood his foreman Mr Jordan lived at Holly Lodge, now Reynolds House.
Rabbits were managed on a commercial basis, particularly on the sandlings in the north-west of the county. Several field names in Tostock reveal their earlier use. On the tithe map of 1843 on the eastern boundary near Tostock Old Hall can be seen Warrens, Great and Little Warrens and Barn Warrens. Today Tostock is over-run with wild rabbits despite myxomatosis.
In the 19th century the land was largely in the ownership of three families; the Brown family at Tostock old Hall and Tostock Place (272 acres), the Revd James Oakes at the Rectory (113 acres) and the Ray (later Tuck) family at Tostock House (190 acres). Other smaller acreages were held by John Bacon (68 acres), Harrington Willis (46 acres) and 74 acres by the Revd Mr Adams and the Revd Mr Payne, both local clergy. (17) Several tenant farmers rented farms from the three larger land-owners, for instance the Howell family at Place Farm, who lived there from at least 1841 to 1891, As a point of interest, it was John Howell who was the official enumerator of the census from 1851 to 1891.
The only woman listed as a farmer in the census returns of 1841 and 1851 was Mary Bowen at Bridge Farm. (18). Mary was a widow, her husband Thomas having died in 1834 aged 56. She had continued farming 48 acres with the help of one man and two boys for at least another 20 years. She died in 1863 aged 75. The Bowen gravestones are side by side in Tostock churchyard with the inscription on Thomas's - 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away - blessed be the name of the Lord'. These two farms were part of the Tostock Place estate. Farm bailiffs or stewards were employed (p31) by the larger land-owners to manage the farms on their behalf.
Thomas Newman featured in census return for three decades, living on the Green, starting as a young man of 30 in 1871, as a farm bailiff. During the last 200 to 300 years and allowing for boundary changes, it is estimated there were at least ten working farms in Tostock. These were Place and Bridge Farms, and the Old hall on the east side of the village. On the Leys, there was Tostock House with all its farm buildings, and Ticehurst just the other side of the old main road and now in Tostock. On the Green there were three more - Coopers Farm, Green Farm and the Lodge, previously known as Rectory Farm. A new farmhouse, another Rectory Farm, was built in l93l. In some documents, Reynolds House was referred to as a farm. In Flatts Lane, there was Spring Cottage, previously a farmhouse, and Hollywell House, which was the original 'off farm' of the Old Hall, situated at the end of Flatts Lane. There would have been access from this farm through to the Old Hall on a track shown on earlier maps.
From the 19th century list of occupations shown here connected with agriculture, it can be seen that at least 30% of the population was engaged in farming or its allied trades; the population reached its peak in 1861 at 375. These figures extracted from the census returns only give a partial picture of the true story of farming in Tostock. Whole families were dependent on agriculture, not just the head of the family. It is obvious they were large and often they had dependent elderly parents living with them as well. A typical example of such a family was seen in the 1871 census, with Charles Borley, aged 30, farm labourer, wife Eliza 24, four young children and widowed mother aged 68, lodging with them on the Green.
Women frequently worked part-time and long hours on a seasonal basis, such as harvest. The children were also expected to help from an early age, doing odd jobs.
Vic Huffey told a humorous story connected with seasonal work probably c.1900. Johnny Howell at Place (or Middle) Farm had fowls which he reared for Christmas. Local women from the village were employed to do the plucking and the quickest way to Place Farm was across the footpath by the churchyard. Because of the long hours and time of year, it was often dark by the time they returned home. On one occasion, they were (p32) returning by the churchyard when they were startled by a moaning ‘ghost' with a lantern appearing as if out of one of the graves. They were terrified and ran hollering, back to the farm across the main road and up New Road home to avoid the apparition. Some local 'wag' was having a bit of fun.
Throughout the 19th century, the thatchers listed in the census were practically all from the same family of Clarkes, with one exception, James Bond, aged 18 who was probably an apprentice. The Clarke family lived on the Green. Samuel Clarke married Sophia Cocksedge of Hessett on 22nd February 1827 and had four sons - William, Samuel, Thomas and Charles, who all became thatchers' There would have been many thatched cottages and farmhouses for them to work on in the district. In Tostock alone, it is understood that the Lodge, Haselwood House, Stone Cottage, Crossings and adjoining house, Spring Cottage, Place Farm, Gable Cottage, Renolds House, Wayside and two old barns, now demolished on the Green, were all thatched. There were probably more' Today the one remaining thatched cottage on the Green is Crossings, previously part of Coopers Farm and is often featured in picturesque photographs and paintings of the Green' The only other surviving thatched roof is that of the Mushroom in New Road, once the lodge for Tostock Place'
Horses would have featured on all the farms in the village. Mrs Eileen Mann (nee Rolfe) remembered as a little girl in the early 1900s seeing her father’s horses being taken to the blacksmith on the Leys to be shod, Then afterwards being walked down through the Leys pond and out the other side. Mr Frederick Rolfe' Eileen's father, and family lived at the Lodge' previously Rectory Farm' from early 19OOs to 1932. His cattle grazed on what is now the Playing field. It is understood that the Tostock blacksmith closed sometime before the First World War'. (p33)
The Marriott family had been the blacksmiths on the Leys for most of the 19th century. After the closure of the smithy at Tostock the village horses were taken to Beyton forge (Mr Clarke) in the next village and later to Downings at Norton. In the 1930s after Mr Rolfe, Mr Jonathan Mayne lived at the Lodge, farming with four horses until he had one of the early tractors and cut back to two horses.
Frank Huffey, an experienced horseman, who died in 1985 aged 89, reminisced about the old days when he worked at the Lodge. The main crops grown there in the 1930s were barley, clover, wheat and oats for cattle. The soil was described as light, subsoil and gravel in Kelly's Directory of 1937. According to Frank, the working week consisted of 50 hours in summer and 48 in winter. There were no holidays, only Christmas Day and a half-day on Good Friday. Frank reckoned on one horse working one acre per day.
Mr Hector Mann, who came to Tostock in 1925 from Cambridgeshire, farmed 216 acres at Green Farm and the land attached to Tostock House, some of which was located on the other side of the old main road in Drinkstone. Mr Mann had four Shire horses looked after by 'Tinker' Barnes, his horseman. (p34)
Mr Mann also had one of the first tractors in the area, an International, followed by an Oliver for grinding and ploughing. Like his predecessors, Mr Mann also had stock, bullocks, and sheep using the old flint stables and farm buildings which originally were part of the Tostock House farm. The fine flint barn on the Leys, part of this, group, is a listed building and believed to be over 200 years old. It consists of seven storage bays with a central floor area originally used for flailing, with through access for carts.
Later on in the 1930s, it is understood some of Mr Mann's land was planted up with fruit, apples, plums and pears. Chickens were put in the orchards. Sylvia Flatman (nee Everitt) remembers fruit picking here during the war years. A purpose built apple store was erected in 1952 on the Long Leys. In the 1960s, alongside the apple store stood several chicken huts where chickens were kept intensively. Now contracted out, much of the acreage is back to arable use again.
Farming was in a depressed state in the l930s and many small farmers were forced to give up. Larger farms, with capital behind them, like the Mann family managed to survive. The war years of l939-45 were often a boost to farmers, with the emphasis on food production. Land Army girls were billeted with Tostock families, one married a local man. Local girls and women from the village were employed and Mrs Halls remembers being taken by lorry with her children to pick fruit on Mr Mann's farm on the Drinkstone side of the main road.
Looking at the glebe terriers and early maps, one can see the field names, often giving clues to earlier uses. There was a Gravellpitts Close mentioned in an Indenture dated October 1596 (19) and later in 1775 there was a gravel pit field belonging to the Reverend Orbell Ray, already mentioned. This was obviously in the same area, near the old turnpike road, which is now the road linking Beyton with Tostock. Again on the 1843 tithe map, gravel pit field is named adjoining the old road. 'The well-known gravel pit' is also included ii the sale particulars of 1881, when Ticehurst was for sale' Gravel pits are still being worked today near the Cindern Hills at Ticehurst farm.
The Cindern Hills is another interesting name and dates back to 1627 at least when it was known as Sinderland Hill. The present owners of Ticehurst, the Bauly family, have recreated a haven for (p35) wild-life by landscaping the old exhausted pits with a stream and natural springs.
Wild-life, wild flowers and fish now abound alongside the current excavation on site. In another diversification, the old redundant farm buildings at Ticehurst have been converted into office units in two stages to form a very successful enterprise.
The Campion family farmed at Ticehurst from 1926 to approximately 1950. During the 1930s and 40s, Mrs Campion, a widow, ran a Jersey herd with the help of two herdswomen Victoria Campbell and Miss Yates. Milk was delivered by horse and cart and later motorised van, round the village by Mary Kirkwood from Elmswell and Peggy Everett of Tostock. Mary remembered one particular customer in Norton Road, who used to come to the cart with a pudding dish with the rice already in it, just waiting for Mary to ladle the milk into the dish straight from the churn on the cart.
Until the Second World War, farming was the mainstay of the village, although the agricultural labourers were poorly paid and many were glad to work the 24 allotments off Church Road to grow produce to supplement their diet.
Poaching went on and helped to feed the large families. Derek Haselwood has told the Society how 'most boys had a catapult and knew where they could borrow a ferret. The usual price of a good rabbit was sixpence and a hare might fetch two shillings.' This would be in the 1920s-30s.
Another oft repeated story concerned the 'Pokey Die' (Poker Dice competition) held on a Saturday night in the Gardeners Arms public house. This particular night there was nothing on offer, so one local character piped up and said 'You go ahead and I'11 get you a nice pheasant.' He was asked 'where is this 'ere pheasant?' and 'how do you know you've got one?'. He replied he did not have it but 'it's sitting in a holly bush down New Road, but if the winner sees me in the yard at turning out time it will be here.' The deal was done and the pheasant arrived for the prize. One old man in the village used to catch blackbirds, sparrows and starlings in the winter and they all went into the pot.
Several older residents of Tostock remember as children being sent to Mrs Dennis at Place Farm, sometimes known as Middle Farm, for milk at ld a pint for skimmed milk. 'Anyone who (p36) volunteered to help them turn the separator got a bit extra.'
Other childhood memories of the earlier years of this century include being given an apple in exchange for a rabbit skin by Bob Finch, a colourful character who lived on the Leys in a cottage on the site of present Bunglings. Bob Finch also dealt in moleskins.
From the orchard near the Green, behind the present bus shelter, Mr and Mrs Reynolds sold apples 1/2d for 1 lb windfalls and 1d for a lb Worcester, 2d a lb Cox's and Bramleys. Later in the 1930s Mr Reynolds kept poultry and later still pigs. Their house, previously known as Holly Lodge, then Better View has now been renamed Reynolds House, in memory of the Reynolds family who lived there for five decades.
ln 1925 there were two small-holders in Tostock, namely Thomas Phillips and Arthur Rush, and at the bottom of Norton Road a market gardener by the name of Henry Perkins, who sold tomatoes amongst other things. Doris Armstrong remembers being sent down to buy tomatoes as a girl. At Christmas time Perkins made up holly wreaths for sale on Bury market. He employed local lads, including Ted Everitt, who remembered this being a horrible job.
A piece of land, approximately one and a half acres, which had been worked by Perkins off the Norton Road was bought in 1957 by a local builder, Geoff Mulley, who built five houses on the plot. It was decided to call this cul-de-sac Perkins Way in memory of Perkins. Some of the old fruit trees remained in the gardens of the new houses for a few years, the residue of the old orchard. For many years lupins re-appeared each season from the earlier commercially grown crop.
Sometimes there was casual seasonal work to be found on the local farms, such as currant picking at Woodend Green Farm on the Tostock/Thurston boundary, also pea picking, harvesting potatoes and apple picking at Mr Mann's fruit farm in the village. Beet singling was a particularly back-breaking job and Derek Haselwood recalls the usual rate was 4d for each 100 yards; a farm in Woolpit paid 6d but it meant walking to Woolpit for the work. Before the introduction of beet harvesters, beet was pulled by hand and beet knocked together to remove the soil. Again, this was a heavy cold job which women were still doing in Tostock in the 1960's on the local small-holding. (p37)
Small-holdings appear to have been part of Tostock's farming scene over the last 150 years. There was a Suffolk County Council small-holding in Flatts Lane with a house built for the tenant in 1960. Later a purpose-built piggery was erected in the late 1960s. After several changes of tenant the County Council sold off the land, the barn and the house separately. The barn was converted into a superb private residence complete with indoor swimming pool and the house extended and improved. There are no longer any small-holdings in the parish.
In 1980 a survey of Tostock farming showed that over 52% of land was cultivated for cereals. In 1999 cereals are still the main crop grown but one or two new crops are cultivated, for instance linseed and rape. Apparently linseed was grown locally during the last war for flax. When they are in flower, the fields of blue and gold create a wonderful coloured patchwork effect. Also this year (1999) there are several fields of beans being grown, presumably for feed.
Over the last 40 years farming in Tostock has completely changed. For one thing there is no longer a working farm, in the old-fashioned sense, left in the village.
Most of the land is contracted or rented out to neighbouring farmers. Some of the land is set aside, other pasture is let out for grazing horses, sheep and cattle. There is no longer a milking herd in the parish. As mentioned earlier, Ticehurst, a family run farm is mainly a gravel extraction business, with some cereals grown as well as another new crop called tritical (a cross between rye and wheat) grown for feed, the great advantage being that rabbits do not eat it. Very few residents are involved in agriculture for their livelihood. 'Horsey-culture' has become quite a feature of village life, with several residents keeping horses for recreation, whereas in the 19th century, horses would have been kept for work or travel.
Mechanisation has taken over the farms with combine harvesters, beet harvesters, milking machines, sprayers for weed- killers and fertilisers, in fact a machine for every conceivable job. One man and a machine can now do the work of six to seven men. Harvest is over in a few hours and all the excitement, fun, tradition and much of the sheer hard manual work on the farm has gone. What the effects of the present agricultural depression will be in the long term no-one can foresee. (p38)
Contributors
Mrs Doris Armstrong
The late Mrs Mary Black (nee Kirkwood)
Mr and Mrs Alan Bauly
Mrs Sylvia Flatman
Mrs Gladys Halls
Mr Derek Haselwood written memories Tostock as I remember (1996)
The late Mr Frank Huffey
Written memories of the late Mr Vic Huffey
Mrs Freda Largent
The late Mr and Mrs Hector Mann
Mr Philip Spencer
References
1. David Dymond & Edward Martin, (eds) An Historical Atlas of Suffolk, Suffolk County Council Planning Dept/Suffolk institute of Archaeology & History (1989)'p'102'
2. Nonarum lnquisitions Record Comm.7, p75
3. P. Brown, Sibton Abbey Cartularies part 1 Suffolk Records Society, Suffolk Charters pp, p.48 & 125
4. Norfolk Record Office, NCC Brosyard, ref 318
S. Court of Archdeacon of Sudbury l354-l700 vol II,SRO(B) IC500/2/11/73
6. Ibid IC500/2/11/425
7. Whites Directory 1844 SRO(B)
8. Sale details, poster of Ticehurst
9. PRO PCC PROBL/Alenger 35
10. SRO(B) IC500/3/27/30
ll. Inventory of Samuel Owers IC500/3/52/84 SRO(B) by permission of Suffolk Record Office.
12. The James Oakes Diaries edited by Jane Fiske 1770-1800, Vol 1, (1990) Suffolk Records Society p107.
13. Arthur Young, General View of the Agriculture of County of Suffolk 1813 p100
14. Census Returns 1871 SRO(B)
15. Arthur Young, P100
16. Frank Holmes, A Life of Riley (1997) p42
17. Tithe Apportionments 1844 FL642l3/7
18. Census Returns 1851-91
19. Indenture HDl591/3/7
