FARM COTTAGES

Salehurst, Sussex. Private property

 

Built on a shelf of land beside a minor country road between Bodiam and Staplecross is a terrace of three cottages, the centre one of which is haunted. Originally built in the late 17th or early 18th, century they have been considerably altered on numerous occasions. The gabling and extended front wall of the middle cottage was added in 1936 to act as a buttress against a slip towards the road, and the internal construction re-arranged before the three were re-sold early in 1972.

 

Above the centre gable end is a stone plaque with the letters 'ESC' embossed on its face. These are the initials of a former owner of the property and is not indicative of a local council. The haunt here is of an old man seen standing at the entrance of a bedroom usually about 10.30 in the evening;

 

No horrific crimes are the cause of his appearance for the apparition is of a local farming landowner whose land was 'stolen' by the builder of the cottages who 'chopped off' a piece of his land to construct his home some 200 years ago.

 

It used to be legal in the olden days to acquire' property by building a cottage on the verge of roads'. Provided that it had been constructed in one night and four walls were up and smoke issuing from the chimney it was considered habitable and owned by the builder.

 

Many squatters' cottages built under these old laws can still be found, for with a team of friends working hard during a long winter evening it was comparatively easy to comply with the conditions. One in the west annoyed the lord of the manor who owned the ground, but he accepted the situation and charged 2/6d a year 'ground rent', but this was soon forgotten.

 

The reason for this old Sussex character continuing to inhabit the building is one merely of pure rage at losing some of his ground. He has been seen only a few times.

 

 

 

 

 

Story by Andrew Green: 'Our Haunted Kingdom'

 

 

 

 

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