Bob Delderfield’s History File
January 1997
Neighbours: Present and Past
For at least 500 years, Tylerset Farm, like Tile and Pound Woods, was part of the estate at Daws Heath owned by Westminster Abbey. It contains some 11 acres, which at present cater for the stabling and grazing of horses, and has been owned for the past 31 years by the Harvey family. A few weeks ago I visited Mike Harvey and his mother, Joan, to discuss the history of the farm. There is some evidence that the delightful little farmhouse may be as much as 400 years old. The view looking north is of undiluted trees and fields and if you ignore the distant roar of the A127, you could be in the depths of the countryside.
The Harveys heartily approve of the Trust taking over Pound Wood and Wyburns Farm. Mike feels strongly the importance of ensuring the preservation and conservation of all the remaining green land in Daws Heath. The Trust is delighted to have such supportive neighbours.
I also recently visited Miss Vi Grigg, another of our close neighbours. Now in her ninth decade, she has lived in one of the Haresland Cottages for most of her life. The Griggs were a very large family, many of whom lived at Daws Heath and were leading members of the Peculiar People.
Vi’s great uncle Alfred Grigg, who lived to 98, farmed Ebeneezer Farm in the lower half of the central triangle of Daws Heath. Here he kept cows and grew crops, but Vi especially recalls him growing large numbers of pinks which he sold to gypsies from Eastwood who then re-sold them in Southend. Like our previous informant, Doris Staines, Vi remembers the six Mitchell sisters who lived opposite her in “Woodlands” on the corner of St Michael’s Road. Their father, James Mitchell, had retired from his London draper’s business to Daws Heath in about 1890. Later on when (during Vi’s childhood) Mr Mitchell died, his eldest and youngest daughters kept house whilst the other four continued to work and live at the drapery, returning periodically to the quiet hamlet of Daws Heath.
Sadly, for Vi and many other long term residents of the Heath, the constant traffic through the village has now destroyed much of that quiet.