PREFACE

This is the third edition of ‘Thorney Island, Some Memories’.

With thanks to Ralph Cousins for his help and advice.

In recognition of the outbreak of World War One, a donation will

be made to S.S.A.F.A. Thorney Island, from the sale of each book

Cathy R. Rudkin, March 2019

Edited and published by: Cathy R. Rudkin, EMSWORTH, Hampshire

 THORNEY ISLAND~~~SOME MEMORIES

by CATHY RUDKIN

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to two very special people:

Firstly...to my father David Rudkin who inspired me...and taught me to value the
past...to look and listen...

...and secondly to Ernest Rudkin his brother, without whom this book would
never have been written. Ernest has provided me with pages and pages of neatly
written memories and detailed observations. His memory of 1909 onwards is clear
and vivid. He has patiently and diligently answered all my questions...and given me
great support and encouragement throughout.

Special thanks must go to Ernest’s son David Rudkin from Hertford, who
painstakingly illustrated his father’s graphic accounts and...under Ernest’s strict
supervision produced the beautiful drawings.

A very big “Thank You” to you all.

CATHY R. RUDKIN, JUNE 2001.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without prior permission in writing of the publisher.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There is not space to name all who gave me help, but special thanks go to:

ERNEST RUDKIN My Uncle...for all his wonderful memories.

DAVID RUDKIN My Cousin...for the beautiful drawings.
MELANIE BARGE For sourcing maps and artefacts.
TREVOR COUZENS For splendid photographs from the Church tower.
SQUADRON LEADER GOSS For information on War Graves and Crash sites.
CHICHESTER OBSERVER For kind permission to use the “aircrash” headline.©
The MoD For allowing me access and the Station Staff Officers
WEST SUSSEX RECORDS OFFICE
CHRISTINE KENNET For kind permission to use the article by Michael
Kennet on Thorney Island, from the Hampshire Magazine 1980.
RICHARD WILLIAMSON For description of red deer and birds on Thorney
Island, for his kind permission and that of the Chichester Observer.©
REV. C. PHILLIPSON. M.A. Rector of West Thorney (1955 - 1962) for kind
permission to quote from ‘A Little Guide To St. Nicholas Church West Thorney’.
GLEN BOWKER For his friendship to my father David Rudkin and
information about Paynes Boatyard and photograph.
PETER ROGERS For generous help and permission to use air
photographs and old postcard pictures of Thorney Village.
PETER BARGE Who kindly read through the script and advised on the
printing and also gave kind permission to use History of Thorney Island articles.

AND to strangers on the way who generously shared their memories...the meadows,
hedges, birds, trees and flowers who made me welcome in all seasons.

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THORNEY ISLAND - SOME MEMORIES

3
 COMPILED FROM THE MEMOIRS OF ERNEST RUDKIN WHO LIVED ON
THORNEY ISLAND FROM 1909 to 1922

INTRODUCTION by Cathy Rudkin

My father David Rudkin, local author of the Emsworth Series (seven books recording Old
Emsworth and the Emsworth Oyster Fleet, Emsworth during the First World War and The
River Ems), intended to write a further book, recording his childhood on Thorney Island and, I
think, a detailed history of Thorney Island to the present day. Sadly my dear father died before
he was able to put pen to paper to record his precious memories. This book is not an attempt to
write that book, for no one else but my father could do that; it is rather, a collection of
memories, anecdotes, photographs, snippets of history, and events and drawings, mostly from
Ernest Rudkin my father’s brother, born in 1905 and at time of writing 96 years of age.
Also included are some memories of my own and contributions from others with
memories of Thorney Island.
I have many happy memories of being with my father David Rudkin ‘mucking about’ in
the boatyard - Paynes Boatyard - on Thorney Island and helping him prepare for his sailing trips
‘down the River’, as he called the Thorney Channel, in his beloved 'Rosemary', a Hastings
Lugger clinker-built boat. Even when she was ‘tucked-up’ on dry land for the winter we would
still go down to Thorney in all weathers, armed with folding chairs, flasks of coffee and
sandwiches.
My father always said that people
were the best resources of times
past, he was a great listener and
gleaner with a canny knack of
extracting information from people.
He knew that if local memories,
knowledge and experiences were not
recorded they would be lost for ever.
Initially I had intended to compile a
history of Thorney Island and had
spent many hours in the West
Sussex Records Office, where I
found much information,
My father David Rudkin working on his scale model geographical, historical, social,
of ‘ECHO’ now in the Emsworth Museum.
archaeological and some fairly
recent Government and administration information. This information was scattered and time
consuming to access and I found this task daunting, so I decided to confine this book to
memories and experiences of a more personal kind.
Thorney Island is one of the very few remaining wild places. The occupation of the RAF
in the thirties, and later the Army, though restricting access, has actually allowed much of the
Island to survive. There are still many lovely trees, hedges and ditches, paths, lanes, some
meadows, flowers, grasses, birds, sea and land creatures, insects and one or two of the original
farm buildings still surviving. Sadly, the great stately elms and clear pools are no more,
destroyed to make way for the runways which also cover some war air-crash wrecks, and I
believe some Roman and even earlier relics. Who knows, one day they may come to light...

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 At least five of the ‘old folk’ that I knew from Thorney Island are no longer with us,
therefore it is with a sense of urgency that I started to record anything about Thorney Island that
I came across. I wish that I had listened more closely when my dear father talked about his
childhood on Thorney. I always thought there was plenty of time. Thankfully Ernest has
provided the backbone of this book and his memories are so precious and amazing for a
sprightly 96 year old.

July 1997
Ernie Rudkin and Cathy Rudkin on the occasion of his 92nd birthday at the
Crown Hotel Emsworth

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 MY MEMORIES OF THORNEY ISLAND

My first memories of Thorney Island go back to late Spring 1969 just after my mother
Ann had died, and my father took me down to Thorney Island to show me where he had spent
his childhood. He and brother Ernie would spend a week on the Island every year and go
sailing. My father, a skilled carpenter, constructed two or three boats in the back garden of our
home in Birmingham. I remember he once built a splendid canoe about 20 feet long, but was
unable to get it through our side yard so a large wedge was removed from the side of the house.
He also built a lovely little cabin cruiser, smart lively and compact, and painted her royal blue.
The cabin was teak and the sail was white. Later on my brother had the boat and it was
launched on the river at Tewkesbury.

c.1954
Paynes Boatyard “The beginning”. Courtesy Glen Bowker

On my first visit to Thorney I remember how lovely the trees and hedges looked and how
loud the twittering of the birds was in the boatyard...Payne’s Boatyard. I think many of the
hedges were thorn and gave good protection and food for the birds. I thought then that the
Island had been called Thorney because of the amount of thorn trees and bushes.
Father camped out in his green canvas tent in the garden at the side of a house. I think it
was known as 2, Church Road and the family surname was Cleeve. By a very strange
coincidence I recently met the daughter of the Cleeve family...she had been a little girl when I
last saw her in the 70’s...in that garden. We met at the bus stop on Thorney Island after the 47th
RA Extravaganza on July 14th 2001. What a small world. Church Road is just a few yards
from the hard at what is known as West Thorney...although it is geographically on the east,
nearly opposite the Church and behind the Clubhouse of what was then the Thorney Island
Sailing Club. Father was a member and I still have his cap badge, a navy and claret pennant
with T.I.S.C. engraved. Father made it himself from copper sheet and enamel paint.
I remember feeling away from it all on Thorney...it was so quiet and felt remote and
isolated, the only activity governed by the tides. When high tides coincided with week-ends
and holidays then the Boatyard became a hive of gentle activity, everyone seemed to know
everyone else, everyone ‘mucked in’ to help, give advice…and share in the laughter when
things went wrong, which they did every now and again...there was a kind of nautical

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camaraderie.
Father left teaching, married, and moved back down to West Sussex in the early seventies.
He was born in Bosham, brought up in Thorney and now was back, this time in
Westbourne. His new wife Kaye presented Father with a new Leisure 17, the only one about in
Thorney at that time. When his heart began to play up Father had to sadly part with her... she
was named 'Rosemary', after my second name. I believe she still sails in Chichester Harbour
under another name. I seem to remember she was owned by a retired Captain who once lived
in White Chimney Row in Westbourne.
Father then had a smaller boat, a Hastings Lugger, with a rear ‘balcony’ for trawling; teak
and clinker-built she rode the sea well…always stable and buoyant...with a broad belly. Later
Father built a beautiful neat cosy little cabin with a bunk and a table that folded up into the wall
of the boat. I remember him making the portholes in his workshop, everything had to be just
right, and it was. This cabin was painted rich cream and we used to sit in there with the hatch
open, waiting for the tide to come up, brewing mugs of hot steaming tea over a primus stove.
Father kept his boats at Payne’s Boatyard where he would sometimes assist Glen Bowker at
launching and landing. I remember he and Glen had some hair-raising escapades at sea, but
that’s another story.
I remember once being invited with my father for tea on a cabin-cruiser that was in dry
dock in the field at Payne’s Boatyard, it was propped up on stilts, having repairs to her
‘bottom’. There was grass growing below and we had to climb a steep wobbly ladder and then
clamber aboard. It was great fun, Earl Grey in enamel mugs, rock cakes that really were like
rocks, then throwing the crumbs to the waiting birds, excited chatter and exchange of
experiences. I felt a bit out of it as a Birmingham landlubber and I was a bit nervous of going
out to sea in small boats, though I had crossed the Channel many times and sailed back from
New York in the Georgic in the fifties…
Father would give us a plastic bowl and when on my first trip in 'Rosemary' water began
to swirl around my ankles I understood why. He said it was good for the seawater to seep into
the ‘lands’, the gaps between the clinker strips, as it would make the wood swell and become
watertight.
Sometimes my brother David would accompany Father on his voyages down Thorney
Channel...sometimes to Pilsea Island. David and I soon learnt the significance of the word
BOOM, and we both had head lumps to prove it.
I remember many happy days and evenings with Father and Kaye, spent in the
Boatyard...it was natural and wild...full of creepy-crawlies and insects and butterflies and
flowers and constant bird chatter. There were always flasks of coffee and sandwiches, why
does such mundane food taste so wonderful when you are outside in good company?
One Summer afternoon Father invited a friend down to have tea while he was removing
barnacles from Rosemary’s bottom. We had prepared best ham sandwiches with mustard as a
special treat. Our visitor brought his lovely golden Labrador with him, called Barney, and
whilst we were greeting each other Barney sniffed out the ‘grub’ and promptly wolfed it all
down, bread, ham and mustard, complete with greaseproof paper.
On another occasion I remember Father and I watching bemusedly while an anxious lady
repeatedly threw buckets of water over the side of her dinghy. Her single-hull had become
embedded in the mud and the tide was up. She told us she was trying to raise the level of the
sea to get waterborne. As Father and I glided off past we saw her embarrassed husband trying
to look invisible behind the mast. I think they were still there when we returned.
I remember folk always working away at their boats, some would disappear for months,
others never seemed to get away on the sea. Who was the cheery young man who always
saluted my father from his boat as he sailed by, either with a blast from a fog-horn or a hand

7
salute, and the elderly seaman who was preparing his boat to sail around the world, did he ever
make it? Is the Sunderland Flying boat tender still there, and the huge catamaran Chat Noir?
I remember Glen Bowker kept two lovely sheep in the boatyard...they kept the grass down
and fertilised the earth...I’m sure that moss and grass grew from their fleece. Glen originally
brought five Dorset Horn sheep down to the boatyard. They were very friendly and would eat
your sandwiches if you were not careful. Sadly Glen had to remove them because there were
too many dogs around.
I also remember a notice on one of the laid-up boats saying “Terns Nesting” and another
very old boat, with rotting and tattered plastic covers, which was home to a feral cat, and
always, the chatter and twittering of the birds; the hedges must have been thick with them
whatever time of day, but especially evening. I could discern blackbird, thrush, chaffinch, tits,
buntings and a robin, and many starlings and sparrows; are they still there? I hope so, for at
time of writing this all the birds have gone from my garden in Westbourne, only the doves
come now. I mentioned the grass below the boats on bricks and stilts, there was beautiful long
grass growing there, clover, coltsfoot, vetch, daisies, beetles and ladybirds.
In the evenings the Thorney Island Sailing Club would be alive with excited chatter,
especially if the high tide was in the early evening during Summer. I remember there was a
Boxer dog, who belonged to a member, who had a liking for red martini...which I discovered to
my cost when I placed my glass on the low table...did I detect a wobbly gait in this hound for
the next hour or so?
Glen Bowker recently told me that mice, rabbits and occasionally foxes are to be seen
there, but not so many birds now. Martins and swallows nest by the shed, some used to nest in
an old lifeboat in the pool. There are no seagulls except one on the beacon at the end of the
jetty. There are still robins, house martins, crows, swans, brent geese, egrets, dunlin and turtle
doves.
Once Father was appointed Skipper of the Day at the Sailing Club. Wearing his
Admiral’s hat...lowering the flag, and firing the starting pistol he started the first race, but at
that precise moment the wind dropped and nothing happened. I remember some disgruntled
skippers pushing their boats ashore to the Hard, neck high in water, however there was much
laughter and jollification later in the Clubhouse.
Sometimes Father would sail at night...he said the sound of birds and people’s voices
would carry clearly over the water but the clatter of mast-wires was maddening when trying to
sleep in a strong wind. He said that the spire of Chichester Cathedral, floodlit, was a well
known landmark on clear nights for those at sea. I believe that it is the only one, or one of two,
that can be seen from the sea in England
In the eighties my brother had a brush with the Military, he had walked miles round
Thorney Island and had found an isolated spot, totally deserted. It was a scorching hot day and
the sea looked inviting, but not having brought swimming trunks he decided to take a quick
'skinny-dip’. When he emerged from the sea he was confronted by two curious Military
Policemen, with rifles cocked and pointed. When they were satisfied that he was not a security
risk or spy he was allowed to get dressed.
In the seventies Thorney Island became a refuge for the Vietnamese Refugees, a school
was established to teach English, then for some years the Island was deserted after the RAF
departed. I missed seeing and hearing the planes. I remember seeing the men lovingly cleaning
and polishing them by the hangars, sometimes by floodlight in the evenings, they were large
roomy transport plane...Beverlies? It was quite exciting to wait at the traffic lights by the
runway and watch these great birds of the sky take off, but no more.
Over the years Thorney Island had changed. Some buildings have gone, some have gone
up, but it still retains its serenity and is still a haven for wildlife and birds. There is a primary

8
school and a nice new Nipper Bus that calls occasionally to take the children to mainland
schools.
The Army now occupy the Island and kindly allowed me access when I needed. On a
visit in August 1998 I saw a tractor in action across the flat pastures south east of the Island. I
also saw what looked like soft grass for hay or animal fodder growing in the fields and
meadows. There were cows and horses grazing. A few of the original farm buildings were still
there and I saw some chickens pecking around one of them. Some original buildings also still
survive near the Church, and the Victorian Rectory is surrounded by beautiful trees.
Near the Guard Check Point at the Great Deep I saw a lovely herd of Friesian cows, tails
swishing and mouths contentedly munching, but further down near the Church where my father
had camped I found only hard-standing where once was the grassy garden and house. All gone
now, only the memories.
I did find a lovely untouched sun-dappled lane to the west of the Island with only curious
birds and rabbit droppings for company. Up a track I found stone and rubble, where Elmtree
Farm had stood...where my father and uncle Ernie had once played with the farmer’s children.
Another farm building is now used as a store house and just before the Officer’s Mess buildings
there is a small row of lovely brick cottages and I was told a farmer still lives there whose
surname is Sprackling.
I wonder why Thorney is still called Island...now that it is joined to the mainland…yet it
truly does have the feel of an island and parts of it still remain beautiful and untouched. Long
may it remain so.
Cathy R. Rudkin...July 2001

Pencil rubbing of the name plate of my father’s boat

The “Office”, Paynes Boatyard Thorney Island

9
 ERNEST RUDKIN - EARLY DAYS FROM 1905

“I have been led to believe that I may be the only surviving individual with an intimate
knowledge of Thorney Island dating from 1910...and Miss Cathy Rudkin has asked me to help
write this book about Thorney Island...knowing that her father had intended to do so.”
Ernie Rudkin, Harlow, Essex...January 2001

I was born on July 24 in the year 1905, in Summersdale, Chichester, West Sussex. I was
the second child of a family of four children...my brother, David Rudkin, was born on
November 6 1907 and died January 1995, my sister Winnie was born in 1903, and died January
2001. We had a baby brother called Harold born in about 1910 who died while still a baby
from I believe pneumonia...there was no money for a doctor or medicine then...

My brother David and I attended

Nursery School in Chichester, and
then moved to Thorney Road,
adjacent to Thorney Island. My
Grandparents lived further south
on Thorney Road at number
2...one of a few fishermen's
cottages opposite the Thorney
Road Mission Hall.
We saw very little of our father
Walter Lawrence Rudkin...he
owned a little pony and trap and
delivered parcels from Emsworth
to Portsmouth. I remember that
the pony was stabled somewhere
out at the back. He was also a
builder and carpenter and was
finally forced to seek work away
c.1915 from home. I remember him as
Ernie, Winnie and David Rudkin at their home in being very smartly
Thorney Road dressed...dapper...always with a
walking stick and gloves...
When my grandfather died, my grandmother went to the Westbourne Union Workhouse
for a short time till she found other accommodation.
My mother’s name was Mildred Mary, maiden name Quinell. She was Father’s second
wife, the first wife having died in childbirth, along with the baby. We also had a half-brother
called John Rudkin.
When I was seven years old, I and brother David attended what was then known as the
New Emsworth County Primary School, which is still in educational use in Washington Road
Emsworth…just west of the Railway Station. I started in Standard 2 and left when I was in
Class 7, aged 14.
When I left school my teacher suggested that I should sit the Scholarship Examination,
however, to my great disappointment she had forgotten that although Emsworth Primary School
was in Hampshire, I lived across the river in West Sussex. Thorney Road only just being
within the boundary. Therefore, I was out of work and had to walk to Havant Labour Exchange
every day, I remember this being the worst time of my life, whenever I signed on there was

10
never any work available. Eventually I found work at Westbourne and I worked for an
upholsterer and French Polisher...I seem to remember that this establishment was sited at the
north west of Westbourne...and I remember there was a pub next door...I remember the
landlord’s surname was Lashly. The owner of the upholsterer’s shop was Linington. I did
french polishing and carpentry and also had to deliver furniture to homes in and around
Westbourne. I was given a two wheeled short handled cart...no horse…and I had to load and
unload the furniture unaided. The cart was just big enough to load a three-piece suite.
However, the work was tough and I often got soaked and frozen...so in 1923 I left. I was only
earning 4/- ( 4 shillings), a week.
After a year of failure in finding interesting work with a chance of an apprenticeship, I
received a letter and some money from my father telling me to go to a finishing school, with my
brother David, who was also now due to seek employment. So we both sat the trial
examinations at Buckingham Academy Place in Southsea. If we were successful we would
gain apprenticeships in one of the varied trades in Portsmouth Dockyard.
I was unsuccessful, but brother David passed, only to be told that out of the 1500
candidates there were only 41 vacancies. This meant that once again I was forced to hunt for
work, brother David also. Eventually I went into the building trade and David worked as a
cinema projectionist in Emsworth, behind what is now Treagust the butchers and adjacent to
St.Peter’s Chapel, now a cafe. Our poor mother had to take on menial work as our wages, at
the ages of 16 and 18 were totally inadequate to pay our way. I was able to get work at the
Printing Office in Emsworth behind the old Post Office. One matter of current interest, I heard
in recent years on Television, that at the time I left the Emsworth Printing Office, Alan Whicker
the television journalist, writer and interviewer, served some time at the same office, under the
proprietor Mr. Rogers, son of Mr. Daniel Rogers, who had been my employer. According to
the BBC, Alan Whicker had started there as an Apprentice Reporter for the Hants & Sussex
Press. I am almost certain that the programme I saw was called This is your Life’, I wonder
how many Emsworth folk knew and remembered...
In the 1920s I applied for a Farming Apprenticeship at the farm on Thorney Island
belonging to Farmer Metherell. He owned, or rented, the whole Island and sublet two sections
of 100 acres each to Farmer Clayton and Farmer Challen. Seeing Farmer Metherell’s Secretary
I was told that the premium for the Apprenticeship was £12 per annum, to cover a period of five
years. This was a massive sum in those days, so I wrote to my father asking him to please
advance me the money.
My father’s response was “pack your bags and meet me at Victoria Station”. So I did,
travelling on by train to Boxmoor, in Hertfordshire, where I worked as an apprentice carpenter,
helping Father in his carpentry and building work. It was there that I had my first experience of
living in lodgings. I had no money to buy tools, so I had to borrow my father’s, my meagre
earnings having to go on my lodgings.
When this particular job was completed my father told me that there would be no more
work until he got another contract on another site. So, once again I was off, loading my
belongings onto my bike, an ancient Rudge Whitworth that Father had bought second-hand for
me. This machine weighed about 22 lbs. it even had pressed steel mudguards and with my
travelling bag, a change of clothes and a raincoat, I pedalled off back to Thorney Island...a long
hard slog of about 100 miles.
Back in Thorney Road there was no room, so I had to find lodgings. Mother, who was a
“leading light” at the Thorney Road Mission, had some very kind friends who provided a room
for me, in the interim I had to sleep on cushions in the bath.
By now I was penniless and there was no work to be found. But, within two weeks
Mother was invited to stay with a Mrs. Denham, a fellow ‘Evangelist’ who had a Summer

11
House on the coast at Elmer, east of Bognor Regis. I was also invited and was pleased to find
work in and around the bungalow as painter, decorator, builder, and carpenter and joiner. At
the end of that holiday Mrs Denham had kindly found me more employment at Thornton Heath
in Croydon, where Mother and I were both invited.
My work there was for the owner of a large Drapery Shop. I started as a labourer, then
was ‘promoted’ to working at the heavy drapery department, curtains and floor coverings etc.
This was boring heavy work, with no hope of improved wages, so on my afternoons off I would
look for work on building sites and eventually I was offered work on a site at Norbury a town
further up the London Road. However, I was in a quandary. The General Foreman told me to
start work on the following Monday, only five days hence. I had no tools and no money, so
once again I wrote off to Father asking him to please forward me some funds to enable me to
buy my own tools. And his response? ...just the same as last time...“Pack your bags and meet
me at Brighton Station. Train fare enclosed.”
Having found some lodgings, I met Father at a new building site on the cliff above the
Eastbourne Road. There again I was set to work, borrowing Father’s tools. But this time I had
improved wages and after paying my rent and sending money home to Mother I had enough
money left to save up and buy my own set of tools At last I felt like a ‘real man’.

THIRTIES...FORTIES...FIFTIES...

Now that I had my very own tool set, I could seek better paid work...so that I could
continue to send money home to Mother. My next work came at Gerrard’s Cross,
Buckinghamshire. I was fortunate to see a notice in the window of a newsagent offering
lodgings at nearby Chalfont St. Peter and by a strange turn of fate that Newsagent later became
my Father-In-Law!!
From then on I worked on many sites for the builders Y.L. Lovell & Son...Father having
left them to work in Watford. I was lucky then to be sent to work at the Ideal Homes
Exhibition in Olympia. I volunteered to work on the Queen’s Doll’s House Pavilion. This job
was made up of sections and I was never shown any drawings or plans. I think the General
Foreman in Charge was putting us carpenters ‘on Test’...and kept the plans to himself. My
wages there came to £28 per week, literally a fortune then.
Other sites included one at St. James’ Park in London where the then tallest block of
offices in London was being built...this was at the Train and Omnibus Transport Headquarters
which we were building over St. James’ Park Underground Station. Here too I was presented
with a challenge...Jacob Epstein...the sculptor had the job of carving out two 3 to 4 ton blocks
of Portland Stone...to be set into the outer walls. I remember conversing with Epstein on one
occasion...I had to fill in the cracks and crevices in his temporary lean-to by the enclosure
around his “Night And Day” monstrosities. I also remember Epstein’s mode of dress was even
shabbier than that of any of the navvies working around him.
I married Doris, the Newsagent’s daughter, and obtained a mortgage for our home in
Greenford, West Middlesex. I did not have funds to purchase a car and could not afford bus or
tram fares so in order to get to work I had to cycle. This meant getting up at 5am six days a
week, and cycling in all weathers through Acton...Ealing…Marble Arch...Oxford Street…High
Holborn...The Bank...Aldgate and the Mile End Road. All this on bumpy cobble-stones and
having to avoid the tram lines. I remember that the way was occupied by horse-drawn drays
plodding to and from the Docks. I was now working on the Seamans’ Home near Limehouse
Town Hall, and believe me, it was not a very nice journey, right through London, with solid-
tyred buses and tramlines most of the way.
When trams became trollley buses and were picking electric current on overhead wires,

12
cyclists could not hear them coming up behind, more dangerous than tramcars. In retrospect, I
am sure that the prayers of my mother Mildred and sister Winnie, gave me the confidence and
courage to keep going.
Whilst at this site I received a telegram from a Mr. C.B.Colston, later to be Sir Charlie, in
response to my request for work at the Hoover Factory, just 11/2 miles from home. I thought I
had struck gold, and I did, only missing my Quarter Century, 25 years gold watch and
presentation by three months. This being due to a huge redundancy. So I had to move to work
at Locking Aerodrome, then ex-aerodrome, near Weston Super Mare, where preparations for
Britannia Airline were being started by the Bristol Aeroplane
Company. I stayed there for just one year, disappointed that
the lovely new Whispering Giants, which were just being
built, were about to be superseded by the first passenger jets.
Then it was back to Hoover, like ‘going home’.
In the sixties I left Hoover and joined a friend in Greenford
Essex where we worked in partnership in a hardware shop in
Harlow New Town. Here again, luck did not come my
way...time came when the ‘big’ stores in town left us with a
big reduction in trade. Then my work-partner died. Shortly
after this I sold the business, paid my partner’s wife his share
Ernie Rudkin in his garden at and retired at the age of 64.
Harlow with his prize winning My wife Doris and I moved into a new council house in Old
‘spuds’ Harlow where we tended our garden with great diligence and
joy, especially when we won the Garden Competition.
Sadly, my dear wife died twelve years ago. At the time of writing, Winter 1999...aged 94
I remain in fairly good health, do my own shopping and housework and some gardening. I also
play bowls every week..(Ernie is a Champion player and has many Cups and Trophies to prove
it...Editor). Last Christmas I was seriously ill, and although I recovered, I now have some help
with cleaning, but I still cook my own meals and do shopping. My sons Alan and David and
families keep an eye on me and David...who lives fairly near is, with his wife Ann, able to visit
me regularly. Both families are a great support and help. I have Grandchildren and recently a
second great-grandchild, so the Rudkin line lives on.
I have good memories of my younger days on Thorney Island which I hope you, the
reader, will find interesting. They were happy days, though there were some sad times, and
some hard times at school and some tough years at work but, when I married Doris I can
honestly say that from then on I enjoyed living.

August 1997
Ernie in reflective mood looking at his garden

13
 LIFE ALONG THE NORTHWEST SHORE...1910...1920s...
SOME INTERESTING CHARACTERS…
SOME WEIRD AND WONDERFUL EVENTS

A WATER SPOUT...1911

The Water Spout over Thorney Island about 1911

Pencil drawing by David Rudkin

I remember an item of great interest occurring off the south-shore of Thorney Island in
1911. I and my brother David were walking home from Emsworth School...I think it was in
early Summer. We had chosen to walk the shore path by the meadows so we had a full view of
this water-spout which was about two miles off-shore. Take it from me...we were really
SCARED and raced for home. Having told Mother excitedly all about what we had seen, we
rushed upstairs to look out from the front window...but by then it had moved on. This water-
spout could have been very dangerous to the farm workers...farm hands and livestock had it
progressed ashore. When we saw one of the farm-hands later on he told us that had we been
with him when the water-spout appeared, we would have heard the roar as it approached the
shore…he said it was very frightening. On reaching land the spout collapsed, due to the lack of
water continuity. All that remained was a huge black cloud which disappeared towards
Bosham.

14
 A LOG JAM...ABOUT...1913

One day I remember the large elms being cut down. They were then transported to J.D.
Foster’s Timberyard by his enormous steam traction engine, which powered two twelve-ton
logging trucks. When moving these monsters when loaded, Thorney Road had to be closed.
This was the only road from the Island, and any other traffic had to be stopped...in both
directions. Only when this massive slow moving convoy had cleared the narrow half-mile of
road to Thornham Lane could the road be reopened. The junction of Thorney Road with
Thornham Lane was the only junction between Thorney Island and what was then the Main
Road..the old A27 Chichester to Portsmouth road.

THE STRANGE WOMAN OF EMSWORTH...1912...1913

My brother David Rudkin mentions in his book ‘The Hermitage and the Slipper’ one of
Emsworth’s unfortunate ladies...a small, wizened and starved creature...despised by most of the
local inhabitants. Thus she lived as a recluse. I can add some more detail to David Rudkin’s
account. She was one of the few regular visitors to Thorney Island. She lived in two rooms in
the west of Emsworth...I believe just off the Havant Road. Sunday was her day to visit Thorney
Island and, when the weather was fine, David and I would see her walking past our home in
Thorney Road. She always carried a large black bag...probably made from American cloth, a
common material seen in those pre-war years. There were usually wisps of straw protruding
from the top of this bag, and us lads strongly suspected that, along with her her Prayer Book she
was carrying one of her many cats to Thorney Church...at West Thorney. Now she was always-
careful to avoid being noticed and, after leaving her home in Emsworth she would walk along
the Mill Pond footpath...cross the fields...then walk along a further footpath...past the Thorney
Road Mission Hall...across another field...then along the isolated Wickor Bank. Then she
would walk right round the south shore of Thorney Island...till she came to St. Nicholas
Church.
This was always about ten o’clock in the morning...and it was obvious that Thorney Island
was her one and only place of worship. It must have taken her two or three hours to walk there.
Sometimes we saw her return when we were on our way to Sunday School held at the Thorney
Island Mission Hall on Sunday afternoons. She walked a round trip of about eight to ten
miles...she could have chosen to walk along the road, which would have made her journey
easier and quicker. She would have been in her seventies or eighties. This is a sad, sad story.

BATH TIME FOR THE EMSWORTH CAT-WOMAN...1913

One evening, about 6pm 1912 or 1913, I had to take the Cat-Woman, whose name I think
was Sally Aden, to Prinsted. The Police had gassed her cats as she was preparing to go into
Hospital.
Nurse Pennicott and Mother Mildred Mary got the tin slipper-bath out in front of the range
in the kitchen and put a saucepan of water on to boil on the range. It was as much as Mother
could lift and even with the cover-lid removed from the range fire it took about two hours to
boil. There was only one position on the range. The range was fed by coal...Mother had a
delivery of 1 CWT coal delivered every week, from the Coal Merchant Ewens, from the
coalyard opposite the Mill…later burnt down…at the bottom of Queen Street Emsworth.
The Cat Woman complained most bitterly at having to be washed and she yelled loudly
and David and I both giggling, were sternly dispatched upstairs, where the yells and
protestations could be heard rising from below.

15
 Nurse Pennicott and Mother had to strip her and run a wet soapy flannel over her and then
dress her in clean clothes kindly donated by a Church lady, a skirt and coat and some old shoes
I think.
I was later asked to take her to a cottage at Prinsted where some kind person would take
her in. I remember walking with her down Thorney Road, turning left at the Thornham turning,
then walking towards the shore, past a few cottages on the left belonging I think to the Steven's
family, to the second cottage on the left, across a field that was nearly always flooded where the
seabank was breached. Upon arrival at the cottage the tenant was found to have gone shopping.
While I and the Cat Woman waited she decided to wander off down the garden and went
into the outside loo. The latch was broken on the inside...Norfolk Latch? ...so I, not wanting
her to escape or wander off, found a twig and secured the latch from the outside so she was kept
safely inside till the return of the tenant. I remember her being ‘bucked’ and ‘lively’. I then
walked home to Thorney Road alone to recount excitedly all the details to my brother and sister
eagerly awaiting news. What a strange thing for a young lad to have to do.

AMERICAN SOLDIERS...1914

They were building an aerodrome near Southbourne, (see “EMSWORTH DURING THE
FIRST WORLD WAR” by David Rudkin), the soldiers availing themselves of the long grass at
the landside of the Wickor sea bank. Many an evening I and brother David would hide and
when the soldiers lay down in the grass, with their young ladies, we would jump up and scare
them and annoy them. But none of them could run as fast as we youngsters could in the angry
ensuing chase.

SUMMER…1914

Pencil drawings by David Rudkin

Watching the soldiers and a Farmhouse on Thorney Island
about 1914

Thorney Island was a world of its own, with very few ‘outsiders’ I do remember one visit
from “outside”...it happened to be a pair of teenaged folk on a tandem...
In addition to that, I can tell you that six docile German prisoners of war, with a British
Sergeant in charge, travelled from Emsworth and back every day after helping with farm work.
Their Thorney Island transport was a horse-drawn open flat wagon. At night I believe they
bedded in Mr. and Mrs. Silver’s stables...and left a nice clean hay-loft...as I remembered it...

16
 A BALLOON EMERGENCY - WITH A SAFE LANDING 1914

On a fine evening in the late summer, my brother David and I were playing cricket with
two other lads when we were suddenly showered with sand from above. We looked up and to
our amazement we saw an air-balloon drifting southwards...just a hundred to one hundred and
fifty feet up. We could see that it was deflating rapidly and continuing to lose height, despite
the emptying of the sand ballast bags hung around the basket. As the balloon disappeared over
some cottages our curiosity got the better of us and we gave chase, arriving breathless at the

Deflating air balloon over farmhouse on Thorney Island...about 1914

Pencil drawing David Rudkin

scene of the landing just a meadow and a half past the cottages and a very short distance from
the sea. Some half dozen farm workers were already milling around the landed balloon. The
occupant of the balloon, a Naval dignitary, appeared to be unhurt from his ordeal and was
directing the loading of his balloon onto Farmer Challen’s horse-drawn flat wagon. With
everything neatly on the wagon, it was soon on its way to the mainland, probably Emsworth
Railway Station or, if contact had been made it would have been met by Naval transport in
Emsworth. Had the balloon travelled just another 150 yards, he would have had a taste of the
Emsworth water...which I assure you would have been very bracing.

17
 THE RUDKIN SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE 1915

My brother David and I set a daring and dangerous precedent when we took a bedroom
chair down onto the western end of the Great Deep...it was February...about 1915...and there
was thick ice. We called this chair our ‘toboggan’. We tied a broomhandle on in an upright
position, with a stick for a crossbar at the top...and then an old hessian sack for a sail. With a
stiff wind blowing we set off but only had the pleasure of one trip before the chair collapsed
and we had to take the debris home for firewood.
It was dangerous fun because along the centre of the Great Deep there were...every 20 to
30 yards several stretches of open water...close on 5 feet deep. Fortunately, the wind being
south-west, it was all the time pushing us towards the north.

Spirit of Adventure. Ernie and David on their “toboggan” risking life and limb on the Great
Deep...about 1915
Pencil drawing by David Rudkin

THE BIG SALE...about 1916

I remember that the busiest week on Thorney Island was when Squire Padwick, one of the
two farmers on Thorney, sold out to Mr. Metherell...later known as Squire Metherell. Squire
Padwick had old farm machinery and implements, tools and transport, but Mr. Metherell
brought with him his ‘modern’ gear when he took over the farm. So ‘moving week’ saw much
to-ing and fro-ing by mainland farmers who came to collect after a big buying spree on Thorney
Island...this must have been the largest sale in that part of the country at that time...

18
 ROCK OF AGES I916

It was on the south shore of Thorney Island that my brother David and I once came upon a
rock...half buried in the gravel beach weighing, in my estimate, about a fifth of a ton. Now in
ordinary circumstances this would not excite much interest to persons out walking except for
the fact that it did not fit the environment.
Nowhere else within Thorney Island could we find anything of such a rocky nature, in
such a wide expanse of ground with clay subsoil. Some years later, before the RAF
commandeered the Island, my brother David contacted an expert, who gave him information
concerning this rock...but suggesting he too was just as puzzled as to it being there. To both of
us, it had given the impression that it could have been a meteorite...so we were very
disappointed when this expert told us that the ‘rock’ was clay of a very hard nature. Strange
though…we still wondered why there was no other clay of that nature to be seen anywhere else
on Thorney Island. One thing that was evident to us...the ‘rock’ was all of three feet under the
adjoining meadow...and had been laid bare by sea erosion which must have, and still does occur
year after year.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...1918

“We were quite surprised by the otter’s

reluctance to get away”
On
one occasion brother David and I, in the company of Charlie Copsey junior and his little sister,
came upon an adult otter whilst we were collecting eggs in the Little Deep reed beds. We were
in the shallows and quite surprised by the otter’s reluctance to get away from our circle of legs.
Charlie’s little sister was told to put down the hat containing the eggs and run to get her
father...who was out on the pheasant breeding meadow. She returned within minutes...too
late...with Mr. Copsey and barking dog in tow...the otter having swum through our legs leaving
a blue trail of mud and stirred up black mud…covered with reeds…towards the open
water...from where it dived at mid-stream off the Little Deep, swimming in the direction of the
drain which passes beneath the Thorney Road. The muddied trail told us that the otter was
safely through the drain...and off to the thickly reeded eastern side of the Little Deep. There
was now little chance of us finding the otter again, nevertheless...any doubts about the actual
sighting were dispelled as Mr Copsey told us he had previously observed paw prints in the mud
in the course of his work. The actual observation however remained a sight never to be
forgotten.

19
 SLAUGHTER...ABOUT 1919

I remember visiting Richard Clayton, often on a summer’s evening, to help him with his
large gardens. It was a long rough muddy walk but, being just a lad, walking was my privilege.
I remember when he slaughtered his pig and we both had a lovely supper of liver and beetroot.
Whilst Richard was frying the liver, his dog Joe came in, attracted by the tasty smell. He was
soaking wet and covered in mud, and he shook himself dry right by the frying-pan, the drops
sizzling in the boiling fat. To me, I thought this greatly improved the flavour. I did enjoy it!

TREASURE AHOY...1919

About twelve months after the war ended, the Hermitage fishermen had discarded all
signs of their Naval uniforms, and were back at the Creek with caps...sweaters...boots and
pipes. This was at the north end of Stanbury Bank. One Sunday morning Father and Brother
David and I walked by and saw the fishermen attending to their nets. We noticed among their
collection of boats a box-like one, which was moored along with the others. Our interest and
curiosity aroused, we joined the fishermen to ask them what the object was. They told us it was
a sea-plane float, one of the many made and sold at a small factory at Chidham on the
neighbouring coastline...to the east of the Creek. I don’t remember a wartime factory there, but
I think a barn could have been used to store seaplane floats...they would have been no longer
required when flying-boats superseded seaplanes. In order to clear away War materials from a
farmer’s land these were being sold at 1/- (one shilling) a piece. The one we saw at the
fishermen's anchorage was used as a one man duck-punt…used to shoot ducks on moonlit
nights among the reeds. The same year us lads did see two of these craft being paddled around
off Prinstead by youngsters. The fishermen hunted duck to augment their earnings.

20
 A STRANGE HAPPENING 1920

Of all his childhood memories of Thorney Island, one particular event still puzzles
Ernest..and I now give his exact written account. Previously he had sent me two longer more
detailed accounts which I keep and treasure. I include a photo extract from his letter to me
about his account...and the drawings to illustrate it made by his son David. These beautiful
drawings were executed under strict instructions and close scrutiny by Ernest. David had to
produce several versions of each scene until they satisfied Ernest’s exact memory of what he
had seen...all those years ago. Here is Ernest’s account:

A SIGHT NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN...ERNIE RUDKIN

One evening in late August 1920, around eight o’clock, brother David and I were flying
kites on allotments off Thorney Road when we suddenly became aware of a screeching
cacophany coming from the area known as the Greet Deep. As we approached, the noise
became deafening...we were breathless after running for several minutes, so we threw ourselves
into the sides of a ditch to take cover...near enough to get a good view of what was going on.
The scene before us was awe inspiring. It was as if a kind of court session or ‘conference’ was
in progress…between a group of herons and four hares...surrounded by a mass of flying and
grounded gulls. As my illustrated plan, shows the four hares formed a square...being twelve to
fourteen feet apart. A semi-circle of seven or eight herons was surrounding the hares...in a
sense against the water of the Great Deep...about half a mile away. Making the scene even
more spectacular were gulls...several thousands of them forming an outer ring, beyond the
herons...creating a terrific noise. After patiently spying from the seclusion of our ditch, for
something like ten or fifteen minutes, curiosity got the better of us...and we stood up and waved
our arms above our heads. The change in scene was electrifying. As one can imagine, the
hares sped away towards the squawking gulls. The herons silently and slowly, gracefully,

21
flapped their wings...just enough to take off…whilst the reaction of the gulls to disperse was
haphazard...which created a spiralling ascendancy into the evening sky. One other person
witnessed the later stages of this scene, Richard Clayton, brother of Farmer Matthew Clayton.
Again, it was the unusually loud noise which had alerted him, although he was a considerable
distance away...about a mile. Without hesitation he had stopped his work and drove his pony
and trap furiously towards the scene and he arrived just in time to witness the mass exodus. We
excitedly related to Richard Clayton what we had seen...his response proving that this had
indeed been a very special occasion...adding that we were very lucky to have witnessed it in
full. Our growing belief that this was indeed one of nature’s rare phenomenon, was reinforced
over time. As an afterthought, we regretted the fact that a certain Major Smeed...a close
acquaintance and local naturalist had not been with us at the time.

Gull, hare and heron from the strange happening

Pencil drawing by David Rudkin

22
 Holding court at The Deeps
Pencil drawing by David Rudkin

23
 Sudden Adjournment
Pencil drawing by David Rudkin

24
 Ernie’s original ‘scenario’ for the ‘Great Happening’

Sketch map by David Rudkin to show locations of incidents recorded by Ernie

25
 ISLAND PLEASURE TIMES

Remoteness had much to do with the lack of recreation…on quiet moonlit nights, a small
pond on Farmer Matthew Clayton’s land...by the shore...was utilised as a duck shoot by the
farmer’s son Percy Clayton. Percy built himself a shelter by this pond and shot the duck when
they were ashore at high tide. This provided us with a change of meal at mid-day dinner...the
duck available was usually mallard, widgeon, shellduck, and sometimes a wild goose or
two...usually Canada Goose...
For us youngsters the skipping rope, spinning tops and hoops were in evidence around the
school playground…on the ‘mudlands’ us lads would play cricket. We were no good at scoring
boundaries, but we soon went over one when we saw the Squire’s pony and trap coming in our
direction. The Squire and the Gamekeeper probably did not know how to play or else I am sure
they would have joined in with us...
Mother Mildred Mary would not allow
Winnie to join us lads in play, it was
considered unladylike…Winnie had to stay
at home and help with domestic chores.
Winnie was quiet and quite refined...
Mother would not allow us lads to play
football with the village boys from
Emsworth...not only Sunday but
anytime...she told us it was ‘The way of the
World’...as if there was something sinful
about it...it was because of the bad language
I think...
1997 Christmas had its own rituals and traditions
Great Deep at evening looking east in the Rudkin household...our Christmas
stocking would contain an orange...and a
lump of coal for good luck.

Sunday...the Lord’s Day was a very important

day in the lives of the Rudkin Family...the lads having
to be extra good...extra well behaved...extra quiet and
extra clean. Different clothes would have been worn.
On Saturday evenings Mother Mildred attended a
Prayer Meeting at the Mission Hall. Before she went,
a tin bath would be placed in front of the wood
burning stove for ablutions...with stern admonitions
not to get dirty...to try to stay clean for the Sunday...

c.1930
Picnic time on Thorney Island Photograph lent by
Peter Rogers

26
 HOLY SMOKE

My father David’s and his brother Ernie’s antics did not only occur at home...at
school...even in Emsworth Square...but they also performed some hair-raising tricks in...dare I
say...the Mission Hall in Thorney Road.
Ernie recounted to me one particular trick that my father David called:

‘SMOKE IN THE TABERNACLE’

Ernie remembers that there was a ‘Tortoise’ brand coke stove used to warm the Mission
Hall on cold days. When he was about eight and my father six, they would surreptitiously
worm their way to the stove during meetings…until they were actually sitting right next to it.
Whilst the Preacher was extolling the virtue of a Godly life...they would quietly and discretely
tear bits of rubber from the soles of
their boots…which they would then
place on top of the stove. Slowly, but
surely, a horrible pungent smell
would pervade the Mission Hall. I
can only imagine the running eyes
and choking faces of those good
people...and the wide-eyed innocent
expressions on the faces of the
Rudkin lads. Of course...no one
would ever suspect them of such
‘wicked’ behaviour in the House of
the Lord...especially as their Mother
Mildred was a pillar of the
Church...who would ever have
thought that these two ‘delinquent’
Looking east from the High Water Coastal Path boys would have grown up into the
two most respectable...upstanding
citizens...my father David even becoming an Elim Pentecostal Pastor...

SOME EXPLOITS TOLD TO ME BY MY FATHER by Cathy Rudkin

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Father also told me that he and brother Ernie hated having to go to bed early on the
evenings of Mission Hall meetings, so that Mother Mildred could attend. It was especially hard
on lovely light Summer evenings so, boys being boys...they waited patiently in bed till the
angelic strains of singing wafted from the Mission Hall…then...quickly throwing on some
clothes, short-trousers...jackets...caps...and boots (newly polished and shined for the Sunday)
they would stealthily climb out of the back window onto the roof of the coal shed and ‘escape’.
Father told me he and Ernie would tie their bootlaces together and sling the boots round their
necks...to prevent them getting scuffed on the wall during their escape. Many a time they
would arrive home...muddy with scraped knees...and wild hair under askew caps…with all
kinds of creepy-crawlies secreted about their persons...faces rosy and aglow with excitement
and mischief...I imagine that they would have had to have made strenuous efforts beneath the

27
bedclothes to scrub their hands and faces to restore them to the pristine condition in which their
Mother had so trustingly left them. Father also told me that sometimes they only just ‘escaped’
being caught having to get into bed with their clothes on.

BROTHERLY LOVE

Father told me that often he and brother Ernie would be left in charge of their sister
Winnie...she was hard of hearing. Again...waiting for the sounds of singing from the Mission
Hall he and Ernie would creep on hands and knees and wait till Winnie was asleep. Then they
would vigorously shake the iron bed backwards and forwards, causing poor Winnie to wake up
screaming and terrified. Hearing the noise, the lady next door would rush round to see what
had happened and, on going into her room would find her sitting up in bed crying and shaking.
On going into the boy’s room the neighbour would find two innocent little cherubs asking
innocently what was wrong with their little sister…(Editor)

THE DUMMY

Father told me that Mother Mildred owned a dressmaker’s ‘Dummy’, I believe she did
dress alterations. On dark evenings...when Mother Mildred was at the Mission Hall...he and
brother Ernie would drape a blanket round this dummy...top it with sister Winnie’s hat and
place it on the front doorstep...and silently wait behind the partially opened front door.
Then...when an unsuspecting neighbour passed by they loudly rapped the door knocker and
using high pitched feminine voices would ask the passer by if they had seen Mrs. Rudkin in the
village. The passer by would reply that Mrs. Rudkin would be in the Mission Hall at this time
on a Thursday. With a polite high pitched “Thank you” they would wait till the passer by had
gone and then quietly open the door fully and haul in the dummy...Father said, “our giggles
must have been audible to them if they had stopped to see”.
Sometimes my father David and brother Ernie would scare poor Winnie with the dummy,
placing it at the end of her bed...making blood curdling screams and pushing it backwards and
forwards...I enquired of Winnie in February 2000 if she remembered these antics of her
brothers and she did…“they were very naughty boys”...she told me sweetly...(Editor)

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 MY MEMORIES OF THORNEY ISLAND VILLAGE AND SOME OF THE
INHABITANTS…Ernie Rudkin

There was a tiny village on Thorney Island...it had a beauty all of its own. The cottages,
built of Sussex Flint were not built in a bunch, but just a few here and there...singly and spread
out…with an adjacent Blacksmith’s Forge. A Mr. Barrow was a neighbour of ours in Thorney
Road until the farmer built a Forge and living accommodation right in the village...and at one
time he was in charge of the Forge. He did shoeing of horses and repairing of cart-wheels,
mechanical repair to farm machinery...which made him the ‘Top Priority’ man...keeping all
binders...ploughs...horse...rakes...tractors...(when they came into being) and carts in running
order...as well as the various farm implements and tools. I remember there was a village
‘suggestion box’ fixed to the wall of his forge...for suggestions on improvements on Thorney
Island. These went to Squire Metherell’s Secretary, this suggestion box was the most
prominent ‘chat-up’ place at that road junction about 300 yards from the Church, probably
where the hangars are now.

THE SCHOOL

I remember that the tiny school stood on its own...surrounded by a grassy area…in fact the
whole surrounding area was a playground. I never had the pleasure of meeting the School
Teacher...I can however be prepared to make a guess as to whom one of the teachers may have
been. It could have been a female friend of the Squire and his family...or it could have been the
local Preacher or one of his family. The reason I can make this guess is because I never
remember any person of a teacher’s dress or appearance pass our home in Thorney Road, in all
the years we lived there.
(There is a lovely photograph and description of Thorney Old School in Emsworth
Museum. Cathy Rudkin)

THE DAIRYMAN AND THE BAKER

The only regular passer-by that I remember was the Dairyman who collected the milk
from the Farmer...at 7am every morning in summer and, I think, earlier during the winter
months. He went to and from Emsworth Station where he would load milk and dairy products
from Thorney Island onto the train to Portsmouth. He used a horse-drawn vehicle, later on a
motor van. I seem to remember that this Dairyman also acted as a general ‘factotum’...in that
he kindly collected and delivered other items for the people on the Island. I do not remember
ever seeing a Postman deliver on Thorney...perhaps the Dairyman did this also...
Our milk came in one large churn...I remember that it had a nice polished brass rim. It
came from the supplier...a Mr. Bulbeck from Nutbourne...on the back of a three wheeled hand
pushed barrow...with tin measuring cups dangling from the side. They were made from the
same metal as the milk churn...and I remember them having large flat open handles...they held
one pint.
I do not remember seeing very many of the women folk coming or going by to do
shopping...it was too much of a journey. The only other ‘regular’ that I can remember passing
by was the local Baker & Confectioner...a Mr. Newman who lived at the Hermitage. He would
pass by promptly...six mornings a week at 6am...in all weathers. Other visitors to Thorney
Island that I remember, were Annual Licensed sporting persons who arrived for shooting, the
season being just after the Harvest. Private shoots were rented out by Mr. Padwick and later by
Squire Metherell…the parties usually being from London.

29
 FARMING

Mr. Padwick, Mr. Clayton, Mr Metherell and Mr. Challen, we called Squire out of respect
and politeness. The best known was Farmer Clayton and family...they lived in a very nice
place...almost complete and self-sufficient...his house was well found...with lovely flint stone
walls and a nice open fronted barn and shelter...used for cattle...wagons and carts...and farm
implements. I remember the stables and milking-room. During the school holidays my brother
David and I would help Farmer Clayton on his land...south of the farm. I seem to remember
that the farm was called Elm Tree Farm...sadly it is now gone…a runway running where it once
stood. I remember the Clayton Family going to Emsworth to partake in various sporting
activities and events.

PLOUGHING

In ploughing times, both Farmer Metherell and Farmer Padwick were in the habit of hiring
a two-traction engine pair...with an eight bladed double plough. These were arranged thus...
One engine anchored side-on at one end of the field to be ploughed and the other engine
on the exact opposite facing in the opposite direction. The long cabled winding-drums, situated
between the riding wheels, had both cables connected to the ploughs on swing-over couplings.
With both engines in steam they alternatively hauled the ploughs backwards and forwards...at
the same time moving their engines in an eight furrow advance along the sides of the field. It
turned out to be a very efficient yet simple job...once the initial setting up had been completed.
One fault, I thought...there was no roof over the engines…so the workers had to stop in heavy
rain. Being grazing land it was used for dairy cows. Cows were born and bred on Thorney
Island...there usually being one or two bulls in attendance, some of the Thorney Island livestock
won prizes.
Sheep...pigs...hens and horses completed the sorts of animals...and one or two domestic
cats...the only dogs I remember belonged to the Head Gamekeeper.
Mr. Metherell was ‘modern’ for those times in that he owned a car…the only car on
Thorney Island...I think it was a small two-seater Singer. We were all very impressed as he
whizzed by...I was about 12 then.

THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT IS TAKEN FROM DAVID RUDKIN’S BOOK

ABOUT OLD EMSWORTH...THE HERMITAGE AND THE SLIPPER…first published
in 1974 and now republished in 1999.

“Squire Farmer Padwick built the stretch of Thorney Road from the mainland, where the
old A27 Portsmouth to Chichester road ran...as far as the junction with Thornham Lane...in
1860. This was originally a ‘gated-road’...I think that in times past it was padlocked for one
day of the year...the first cottage in Thorney Road belonging to the key-keeper. The
mainland...north...gatepost was renewed in 1912. Before Squire Padwick built this stretch of
Thorney Road the way to and from Thorney Island was by way of King Street across the shore
at low tide...to the end of Wickor Point Bank. This way is still traceable at low tide and is
known as The Wade way...”
Ernie Rudkin adds “The nearest cottage was next to the gate and was part of a block of
four on the old Chichester to Portsmouth Road. To my knowledge the gate was locked every
New Years Day”.

30
 THE GAMEKEEPER

The Head Game Keeper’s name was Mr.Copsey...he lived in the first farm cottage before
where the Guard Post is now sited. In the meadow behind his cottage were hen coops full of
pheasant chicks under the care of domestic hens in season. This breeding ground being in open
meadow land was often visited by hawks. I remember once Mr. Copsey shooting down a
cuckoo...and, on opening it’s breast we found attached to its spine the yolks of three eggs in the
making...one was already in shell. It was so easy to quickly bring the gun to shoulder and fire
in error...as a cuckoo so resembles a sparrow-hawk in flight.

FIELD BOUNDARIES

The major field boundaries were natural hawthorn bushes and tall hawthorn
trees...between eight and twelve feet tall. They were the popular habitat of wood pigeons and
turtle doves. When fences had to be constructed they were usually constructed from local
wood...elm branches mostly. They were light but strongly and neatly made...with three strands
of wire used to bind then to the stake.
In all, the condition of the lanes, ditches, hedges, paths and cattle tracks was a credit to
Farmers Padwick and Metherell. It was not quite the same when the RAF took over Thorney
Island in 1935 and farming ceased. Seldom did I see any potholes or puddles except at the
entrance where the wear and tear was exceedingly heavy.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

It was in the month of September 1870 that Thorney Island ceased to be an Island. A sea
bank on the west of Thorney Island known as Wickor Bank and another on the east side called
Stanbury Bank were built completely blocking off the sea.

THE MUDLANDS

The area between the mainland and the Little Deep was known as ‘The Mudlands’...which
at one time was farmed by the Clayton family...and, believe it or not, it was used as the
watering place for horses and cattle. This water flowed across the Thornham Lane, filling up a
watering-hole adjacent to it. Where did this water come from?...from sewer beds over on the
higher ground East of Thornham...I think it is now a restricted area for sewage outlet.
This water overflowed and meandered through the grass and to a ditch and thus into the
Little Deep where it watered the reeds. I remember that these sewage fed reeds grew taller and
greener in comparison with those growing away from the stream.
I remember in this stream seeing sticklebacks and minnows...and in our early days we
used to drink from that stream when catching them. I can confirm that that water was some of
the nicest water I had ever drunk...I have no regrets about having drunk from it because those
lovely little fish told me when the water was pure. Sewage only reached Thorney Road after it
was purified during its 300 yard journey through the meadows.
When farming ceased, I noticed that water from the filter-beds was allowed into the
meadow...washed along Thorney Road, where it was ‘packaged’ as ‘horticultural compost’, in a
beautiful area surrounded by lovely parkland trees. This was hard luck for the people of
Thornham as they knew all about mosquitoes and smells when the wind blew from the west.
Fortunately this did not affect Thorney Island...it being much further south where the pure sea-
breezes drifted ashore at most times.

31
 It is noticeable that the sea-bank connecting the reliable Stanbury Point Bank is not of
sufficient stature to withstand the pressure from the tides...and could through inattention to
repair be liable to cause flooding of the mudland north of the Big Deep...thus making Thorney
an Island once again.
At that time the owner of that land was Mr Padwick, one of the farmers who farmed that
land. Now, when the sea-banks were completed there was no way in which the Deeps could
disperse...except by Farmer Padwick’s cattle and horses drinking it and by natural evaporation.
Farmer Padwick employed a contractor...name unknown to me, to install two drainage ducts
which drained out excess rainwater...by the simple method of gravity...
How did he do that?..When the tide was nearly at its lowest point...and before it started to
turn, the Deeps were well above sea-level, and the inland water was draining into the sea at low
tide through those ducts into an almost empty channel of Emsworth Harbour on the west
side...and...Thorney Creek on the east. To prevent the rising tide coming back up the ducts,
they both had hinged gravity operated lids which closed under sea pressure...until such time
when the sea subsided again. This simple process occurred twice every twenty four hours.
It was not quite a total success, as when excessive rain blown up by the wind did cover
Thorney Road from the Great Deep at times...but did not to my knowledge pose any problems.
At such times the water across the road was no more than knee-high to the adult inhabitants.
Mr. Padwick’s successor made a raised wooded walk for us to use when the water was
flooding, we lads gave this walkway a name...Metherell Walk...to perpetuate the new Squire’s
name.
One long-unused cart track, which ran east to west across the western side of Thorney
Island between the Great Deep and the Little Deep...was totally untraceable...being overgrown
with gorse bushes...oddly the only gorse growing around for miles...strangely this gorse made
no attempt to spread beyond the fences each side of the track.

WINTER EMSWORTH...circa 1919

The water came right across Hermitage...the tides were high and whipped up by strong
winds...we couldn’t get across to school in Emsworth from Thorney Road...I remember the
winkle-man would very kindly take us across the water to Emsworth...and pick us up again
after school...we had to sit very still and hold on fast or else we would have been tipped off into
the icy water. I remember when the tide went out once the sea was frozen the ice was about
five inches thick on the Bridge Mill Pond...we were able to skate for about two months...I
remember watching the waves under the ice at the Big Deep during a gale...

THE GREAT DEEP

(from “THE HERMITAGE AND THE SLIPPER” by DAVID RUDKIN)

I used to imagine great ships pass through the Great Deep but a foot-bridge was built so
that folk could pass over at the high Spring tides...I once remember hearing about a baker who
had drowned in the Great Deep during a flood tide...

THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF THORNEY ISLAND…FROM 1914...

Very little of Thorney Island was tilled for corn and root crops...mangles. Very little was
seen of vegetables for human consumption except those grown in our back gardens for our own
use...
I remember Thorney Island was swarming with all kinds of birds...common...sea...game...

32
 LITTLE DEEP

The eastern expanse of the Little Deep was, and still is to my knowledge, a bed of reeds
choked up with grass...and reeds...and woody nightshade. West of the Thorney Road was
always the more interesting with the marshier land making a natural breeding-ground for
moorhens, coot and peewits. Shellduck, although frequenting the area never appeared to nest
there...I remember Mr. Copsey, the Head Gamekeeper, giving permission to me and brother
David to cull the nesting coots and moorhen once during each season, in order to keep their
numbers down to a reasonable level.

Map showing The Deeps

33
 1998
Before the Harvest...overlooking the old runway. Photograph by Cathy Rudkin

1998
A beautiful avenue of trees. Photograph by Cathy Rudkin

34
 1998
Great Deep looking west

LIFE IN THE HEDGEROWS AND MUD

The gorse mentioned in the last section actually provided a safe haven for a large colony
of rabbits...even for mallard who were nesting...shelldrake, pheasant, partridges, several kinds
of finch, tits and yellow-hammers.
Once David and I saw herons wading in the Little Deep and the Great Deep...one pair of
nesting mallards in company with swans and ducks...sometimes even with smaller
species...such as red shank, snipe and sanderling...these sanderling were unfortunate at times of
low flight...we often saw them crashing into the telegraph lines...
In the Mudlands and the side waters of the Little Deep we had a small colony of plover
(peewits) who would often stay all year round.
The fruit trees in the gardens were very fruitful…the soil must have been good.
The grassy area round the school was always healthy and green, but the meadow grass and
grazing fields always looked as if they were in need of fertiliser...I remember it as pale thin and
dry...probably over grazed.
I remember that one clump of elm trees on the South East shore sported a small patch of
bluebells...the only place I remember on the West Sussex coast to see them.
Out on the south end water’s edge, at the corner of Wickor Bank, the grass covering was
enhanced by various blackberry bushes...the kind that grew to about eight or ten feet tall...I
remember another kind...the creeper kind which remained unnoticed to unpractised eyes. There
were blackberries sufficient for Mother to make us several fruit pies. These bushes were
inhabited by woodpigeons and turtle doves...and I remember the lovely pink dog-roses
mingling with the hedges in June.
The tall bush blackberries were eaten by all and sundry passers-by...but with their
unpractised eyes they missed the largest and juciest ones growing in the tall grass at the other
end of Thorney Island. The rest of the Island was covered by long coarse grass…and I
remember that every year the dry grass caught fire...whether by accident...or vandalism...or
deliberately by the farmers I never did know.

35
 1998
Sun dappled lane Thorney Island

1971
Road to the sea. Photograph by Ernie Rudkin

1998
Lovely willow trees and the remains of a
pool. Was this one of the ‘clear pools’ that
Ernie remembered?

GIANT MUSHROOM

At the end of the old and overgrown cart-track, which ran from east to west...between the
Great Deep and the Little Deep...in a small patch of grass, I found the largest mushroom I can
ever remember seeing...the Postman gave me 6d, (six old pennies) for it, this was a great
fortune to me. The mushroom was the size of a small dinner-plate...

36
 SMALL MAMMALS AND SNAKES

I remember seeing snakes now and again. I think they were Adders…on higher dryer
land...also beetles...
I also remember seeing hedgehogs…and once us lads found an otter, fulIy grown, basking
on his own, among the reeds in Little Deep, and living a life of luxury being surrounded by a
copious supply of ‘food’...voles...coots...moorhens, and possibly he would have fed on
domestic fowl and bird eggs.
Also on the mudlands, at the northern approach to Thorney Island there were dug-outs
along the side of the road towards Wickor Bank, an extension of Thornham Lane running west.
These were made by workmen, to supply them with chalk and other soil and gravel when the
Wickor Bank was being extended northward, they filled with drainage and rain water and
eventually lovely reeds.
These reeds in turn provided a habitat for voles and frogs, the latter multiplying
prolifically. Before long, the croaks from the frogs could be heard some distance away, and
continued right through the hours of darkness, especially during the breeding season. I
remember hearing them from 200 yards away.
I also remember seeing sticklebacks in the water in these dugouts.
During hot Summer evenings bats were plentiful...so plentiful in fact that not only could
they be seen along the Thorney Road but they could be felt. Walking along in the warm
stillness of many an evening, we could feel the ‘draught’ from near misses.
It makes me wonder why these lovely little flying creatures chose Thorney Road for their
‘race-track’ but perhaps the draught came from the overhead telegraph wires, buzzing and
whining in the gentle summer breeze...I’ll never know.
I remember that in the daytime, the eaves of the cattle sheds were crammed with masses
of sleeping bats.

THE TREES ON THORNEY ISLAND AS I REMEMBER THEM FROM 1910...

The largest trees that I remember were elms...two of which were the largest elms I have
ever seen from then up till now…1998. I seem to remember being told that they were the
largest elms to be found in Sussex.
They grew around the largest pond on Thorney Island...which happened to be the main
water supply to the Island. This pond was at the centre of the Island. I think that all the elms
bordered the Island’s ponds, except a small patch of them which grew on the South East shore.
Other spots where elms grew were near the church and I remember two more small groups
on Farmer Clayton’s land, again around pools. There were one or two bordering the school
grounds and a couple of smaller ones grew at the south of Farmer Challen’s property.
Next, in order of numbers were large Hawthorn, forming hedges alongside some of the
fields and meadows. I believe Thorney derived its name from these thorn trees, these being a
glorious sight when in bloom, and also later when the bright red haws appeared.
I remember two lovely willow trees, forming a canopy over a duckweed-covered
pond...this being the only pond left undisturbed by cattle drinking. This was a very pretty
pond...the water always pure and clear…and there to enjoy the solitude were usually a pair of
moorhens and a single dabchick. This lovely place is now under the runway. Most of the other
trees were of the small variety, growing in the hedges around the cottage gardens. Some locals
had plum, apple and pear trees in their gardens.

37
Original bird lists given to me by Ernie...what a memory!

38
39
 NESTS

Swallow nests adorned the eaves of most cottages and farm sheds. On the headland on the
south shore of Little Deep was a dried up area of bare ground where a small colony of plover,
and close by the fence there were often redshanks...nesting never far from the water...in the tall
grass.
Many and varied small species of birds nested on Thorney Island: goldfinch, bullfinch,
yellow wagtail, linnets...and some larger birds…swallows, owls. Once I found the nest of a
great tit in a low hanging elm branch...peering in I saw one green-finch egg and one cuckoo
egg. I did not get the chance to return to that nest to see them nesting and breeding.
My brother David and I had permission from the Head Gamekeeper to cull any eggs we
found, knowing that these birds would repeat their egg-laying process once again, if left
unmolested.

THORNEY ISLAND MISSION HALL

In my father’s book on old Emsworth

”THE HERMITAGE AND THE
SLIPPER” he gives a more detailed
account and history of the old Thorney
Road Mission Hall...so I will only make
brief reference here…Father
affectionately called the Mission Hall the
Tin Tabernacle...as it was and still is clad
in corrugated iron. The Hall was almost
opposite the Rudkin home at 14 Thorney
Road. His mother, Mildred Mary, was
Deaconess and a well known and
respected Preacher, and she regularly led
Services and Prayer Meetings there. Ernie
Rudkin tells me that she also helped with
the caretaking and catering. He
remembers that she would attend the
Mission Hall three times on a Sunday and
several times during the week. He tells
me that the two men in charge of the
Mission were called Superintendent
Kennet...who was a local fisherman…
June 1999
June 1999
(Kennet being a well-known Emsworth
Open door—the Tin Tabernacle
Open door—the Tin Tabernacle
name)...and Captain Hodgkin. Cathy
–Thorney Road
–Thorney Road Mission
Mission Hall
Hall
Rudkin

THE BUILDING OF THE THORNEY ROAD MISSION HALL

What follows is an account given, to me by Ernest Rudkin...

It was during the Summer, just before the 1914-1918 War that a small band of Emsworth
Evangelical Christians decided that they needed a small place to worship…of their own. It was
a local Newspaper that ignited the spark and encouraged their effort. The paper carried an
advertisement announcing the sale of an Army-type hut in Selsey, West Sussex. It was said at

40
the time that this hut was once the ‘Training Headquarters’ of Joe Becket...one time British
Heavy Weight Boxing Cthat the ladies of the Community excelled. Obviously this title had
much to do with the sale of the hut hence its ready sale and journey to Thorney Road. To a Mr.
Wraight…Carpenter & Builder of King Street Emsworth…fell the contract to re-erect the
building (which arrived in sections)
on a site along the Thorney Road...but
first...about the site…
This site was on a piece of land
belonging to Mr. Matthew
Clayton...Farmer Clayton of Thorney
Island…mentioned elsewhere in this
book. This plot was within easy
walking distance of Emsworth...and
had easy access for people on all
sides. In the hands of a good builder
the Hall was soon ready for
occupation and use. It was then that
the ladies of the Community excelled.
Having previously regularly supplied
the builder and his assistants with jugs
of hot tea, they then took over the
cleaning-up...also the internal
June 1997
decorating and painting...covering the
Still retaining its grace-
lower halves of the walls with a floral-
Thorney Road Mission Hall
print self adhesive semi see-through
paper. A small Lectern and a platform soon arrived...also a harmonium. The cost of all,
including building and erection was obviously paid for by the generous donor...Mr. Daniel
Rogers who was the owner of the Emsworth Printing Office and printer of the Hants & Sussex
Press. Many contributions came from members of the Evangelical Church. With Captain
Hodgkin installed as Superintendent, the Leader of the Mission Hall, the congregation made a
wonderful start, with a reasonably sized number of people, including some from Thorney Island
itself...I remember that at that time there was no bridge linking Emsworth to Thorney Island.
Last...but not least...the Mission ran a wonderful Sunday School which was attended by not
only Thorney Road children and several from further south on Thorney Island, but also several
youngsters from Emsworth and Southbourne. They were led by the splendid aforementioned
Messrs. Kennet and Hodgkin. Mr. Jonathan Kennet being known as ‘Gentle John’ to us lads.
Ernie remembered two other names from those early days...connected with the Mission
Hall…a Mr.Moser and Blind Winnie Haller…whose brother was apparently a ‘leading light’ in
the Mission...also he remembers a Minister who came from Southsea to attend the Grand
Opening of the Mission Hall.
Later, when Mr. Matthew Clayton died and his will produced, it was discovered that he
had very generously donated the land on which the Mission Hall stood to the Mission
Authorities without charge. Ernie Rudkin, on his visit to Thorney Island on the occasion of his
92nd Birthday in 1997, did visit Thorney Road and Thorney Island. The Mission Hall was
closed...the congregation now meet at the New Life Christian Church...up a track eastwards and
opposite from the Mission Hall.

41
 THE WAR YEARS

David Rudkin writes about Emsworth during the First World War in his book ‘Emsworth
During The First World War’ and there are some references to Thorney Island.

Information on the Second World War will be found elsewhere...but Ernie Rudkin writes
a lovely description of a visit he made to Thorney Island during the war...about 1939.
He writes “I was given the opportunity to visit Thorney Island by a work-mate of mine
whose family lived in Havant. For old times sake I gladly accepted...for this was a chance for
me to walk the Island’s coastline...as there was now a Public Footpath...
It was a beautiful day and, with ‘tongue in cheek’, I set out starting on the Sussex
side...East...and ending on the Hampshire side...West. I stopped only once...to eat my
sandwiches…expecting at any minute to be accosted by armed Service Men...there were some
working nearby on maintenance work...and the many cormorants perched on the fence of
scaffold poles across the sea-mud and sand…they obviously thought I was harmless…and
eventually I was glad to move on where I could be alone...
It was sad for me to see the sight of buildings and hangars and runway...where once had
been my lovely clear pool…and the elm trees…albeit, I had to admit to myself, what a splendid
strategic place to be militarised in time of war...yet I knew that my beloved Thorney Island
would never be the same again...
During this walk the Air Raid siren went off
when I was about three-quarters round the
Island...but I saw no activity...however…one
thing did fill me with great
pleasure...slipping into the churchyard
during this visit I found the gravestones of
my old friends Mr. Matthew Clayton and
Mrs. Clayton...the Farmer and his wife. The
names were just identifiable...they lie in a
quiet wooded part of the churchyard. I
found the graves again in Summer 1997. In
a much later year, when the RAF were in
command of Thorney Island, my son David,
who was doing his two-year National
Service in the RAF had occasion to visit
Thorney Island as a racing cyclist as part of
his ‘Club-run’, with some of his fellow
members. I remember him telling me that
members of the local sports club had made
them very welcome...
To end the story of life on Thorney Island, I
am sorry to say there appears no chance of it
ever returning to its original peaceful
attractiveness and farming activities”
Jan 25 1935 Written by Ernie Rudkin in July 1997 after a
New barn pond return visit to Thorney Island on the
Taken from the Hampshire Telegraph & Post occasion of his 94th Birthday

42
 THORNEY ISLAND VISIT FROM QUEEN ELIZABETH II...INCOGNITO...

Some years ago now…I think during the sixties, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had
occasion to use the RAF and Naval Services during a trip she made from the Isle of Wight...to
somewhere in Sussex...via Thorney Island.
To my knowledge, and that of my brother David, we were the only witnesses, and the only
civilians not connected with Her Majesty’s visit who were aware of this trip...and what
happened off Thorney...
It started with a trial run of a RN Hovercraft the day before Her Majesty’s journey, and
followed with her trip the following day. It so happened that the Hovercraft was not able to
complete its journey due to a sudden breakdown...so the Queen’s journey had to be continued in
a Naval pinnace…which had previously been moored at Thorney Island just in case such an
eventuality occurred. The pinnace went off to lift the Queen off the stricken Hovercraft and
then carried her safely to the landing jetty, where RAF personnel were ready to welcome her.
She made a ‘red-carpet’ walk up the beach to RAF Headquarters before eventually completing
her journey by car...up Thorney Road to the mainland.
Had the Thorney Islanders, who resided on the Thorney Road known, I can imagine that
they would have given Her Majesty a grand welcoming.

Royal Naval Hovercraft seconds before break-down…

Just off Pilsea Island

43
 LATER YEARS

Some important and necessary improvements in living standards were made...houses were
built close to the Church in a very nice part...the large trees still remaining with a distant view
of Chichester Harbour and Hayling Island. Another big advantage was the building of a
‘superstore’ on the west side of the road, short of the hangars and workshops...finally a Club
House was built on the east shore...a very kind gift I am told by Sir William Morris the famous
motor car manufacturer of Oxford...and among the trees behind the Church...and Victorian
Rectory…was a cosy little boatyard full of sailing boats...belonging to members of the Thorney
Island Sailing Club.
The shallow entrance to the harbour was once a mussel-flat...and on the other side of the
Bosham Channel was a large sand-bed...which at one time abounded in cockles...sadly not as
productive as it was in earlier times…

TIDE CHANGE IN THORNEY CREEK

The tide changed as we were anchored down. David and I were drowsing…lulled by the
food and mugs of tea, made in the same tea-pot David had cooked the vegetables in. Later we
had occasion to dispose of some liquid refreshment, at about 4am...whilst admiring the floodlit
tower and steeple of Chichester Cathedral...at the same time hearing the beautiful plaintive call
of the curlew when moving to part of the Creek already uncovered by the receding tide…
Summer1960’s

CHANGES

When Thorney Island came into the possession of the RAF...application for this use was
made few years prior to this and I believe some preparation had already been made...there was
plenty of activity and from the general public’s point of view, there was very little work for
them to do of a civil nature...apart from some building work and service deliveries. The RAF
constructed a road bridge in 1936.
However...one big change did occur, a bus service was started to Thorney Island by Basil
Williams owner of the Hants & Sussex Omnibus Company, sadly Basil Williams died during
the writing of this book…(his wife has written a history of this Local bus Company). I
remember using these buses to get from Westbourne to Emsworth and Ernie Rudkin used them
to get to Emsworth Station after spending the weekend sailing. Ernie Rudkin had spent the
1939-1944 War years in an electrical components factory, and his time off was spent in visiting
Doris his wife, therefore he had little time to visit his friends in Emsworth till peace was
‘declared’...and working hours and holidays got back to normal.
The one week a year that Ernie spent with my father David sailing on Thorney Island
meant a lot to both of them.
Ernie Rudkin had left Thorney Island permanently in about 1922.
Cathy Rudkin

44
 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THORNEY ISLAND

I will only give a brief overview of the history of Thorney Island and include copies of
some interesting articles discovered in the Local Studies Room of Havant Museum:
The name is believed to derive either from the Old English Torn Eye…Island of Thorns…
or some say from the French Tournai...where there was a Monastic settlement...perhaps
implying that at one time there were Monks on the Island...and that would tie up with the name
Hermitage at the north of Thorney Island…but...seeing all the thorns still thriving on Thorney I
opt for the first suggestion...
There is also the suggestion that the word Thorns has religious connections with Christ’s
Crown of Thorns...yet even before Christianity came to these lands Thorney Island was already
a Holy place...for a Bronze Age funerary urn was unearthed (1936). Details in the archives of
the West Sussex Record Office. Thorney Island is a wild isolated place...exposed to the
elements...a place of refuge, at least it was then...
Later the Island became the home of Britons...Romans...Saxons and
Normans...and...during the 1970s the Vietnamese.
It is a flat Island...fertile...surrounded by the sea to the east west and south...and the mud
flats and shingle show evidence of early occupation...burnt shards for example. The swampy
approaches and thick thorns would have given protection from marauders.
The first inhabitants would have lived in simple wattle and daub huts...oyster shells and
pots and stones used to hold cooking vessels have been excavated from this period.
There is some evidence of Roman occupation...Thorney Island was off the main Roman
road between Chichester and Portsmouth...and some evidence of salt working survives at the
north west of the Island…this may have been a harbour used by the Romans to transport salt to
Hayling Island. Some Roman tiles, brick parts and potsherds are kept in Thorney Church...they
were found in a ditch near the runway. The Romans liked eating oysters...evidence can also be
found at nearby Fishbourne Roman Palace. Some burnt flints and stones suggest the Romans
cooked and ate oysters on the shore at West Thorney by the Church...which is actually on the
east of the Island. This part of the Island is the highest...giving a good view to the south and
east and protected from the north. There is now a high-tide path built on the shingle bank left
uncovered by the sea.
There is a well recorded Roman landing site at nearby Bosham and Fishbourne and as
Thorney was well watered by natural streams it is more than likely that the Romans and other
early inhabitants cultivated the land...wheat still grows at nearby Chidham.
The Romans would have waded and boated to and from Wickor Point…where they would
buy and sell goods and food, some pottery, not made on Thorney, was found and plates and
drinking cups made in a New Forest pottery have been identified. The earth on Thorney is not
suitable for pottery making. Some red glazed pottery was also found on Thorney and was
identified as having come from Southern France...the name and date on one pot reads “SATTO
OF METZ...AD120”. It is possible that trade was made with Regnum Portus
Magus...Chichester and that there were Roman farmsteads occupying Thorney for about 300
years...from AD50...till AD350. I find it a comforting thought that those ancient farmers tilled
the same land over the centuries...first by hand, using wood and stone implements...later
bronze...iron…then horses and steam power...followed more recently by petrol and diesel
powered implements and vehicles.
The Romans departed about 410AD. The Saxons would have very possibly visited and
explored Thorney and the other creeks of Chichester Harbour, burning and pillaging. There is
no evidence of Saxon farming, nor of where St. Wilfrid walked from Winchester to Bosham in
681AD…could he have completed the final miles of his travels by boat from Thorney?...a nice

45
thought. The records tell us that St. Wilfrid found an Irish monk at Bosham...so there was
already a Christian presence before Wilfrid converted the South Saxons.
Earl Godwin was a friend of King Canute...who has connections with Bosham and whose
daughter is believed to be buried in the crypt of the Church there. Godwin was the father of
King Harold of Battle of Hastings fame and is reputed to have lived at Bosham...so it is very
possible that at one time he owned Thorney Island. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle writes that
Godwin was in great danger from King Edward the Confessor, and that in 1053 he...with his
wife and two or three of his sons stowed as much of their possessions as the barge could safely
hold and sailed from Bosham to Bruges. On the way his barge sailed or was rowed to Thorney
Island where news of his hasty departure would have caused a crowd of friendly Saxons to
gather...to offer help and wave goodbye. It was probably night-time...and flaming torches
would have lit the scene...dramatic...sad...fraught with danger...and a full tide would have taken
the barge safely out into the Thorney Channel...and eastwards...helped by a wind from the south
-west.
In the Domesday Book we read that in 1086 the Manor of Bosham includes mention of
Thorney. Osbern (later to become Bishop Osbern of Exeter) holds of the King the Church of
Bosham...Malgor holds of the lands of this Church...called THORNEI...and pays geld for eight
hides...there he has 32 villeins and eight ploughs. So there was definitely farming established
by then...
The next Bishop…Warlewast, probably built a new church in stone about 1100..and a
Priest would come from Bosham by boat until a Resident Rector of Thorney was appointed in
1308. The Bishops of Exeter continued to hold Thorney…Bosham...Chidham...West Stoke and
Funtington until the Reformation.
There is evidence that in ancient times the sea went right up to the foot of the Downs...the
land was marshy and liable to flood, and modern tillage has unearthed relics from the Stone and
Bronze Ages.
I found references to Salt and kiddles...grids or a stake fence placed in a stream to trap
fish, also crab baskets have been found by the site of the burnt mill (Emsworth).
In the 1200's...10 bordars held small pockets of land in return for services rendered to their
master...they would have lived in small huts as did 2 serfs...probably owned nothing and
worked in return for food ploughing and shelter.
1300’s...Occupants of Thorney were excused Tax payments to the King...yet the Rector
had Entitlement to several Tithes...including one from a mill - was this a windmill? This would
have likely been on West Thorney.
The lands dwindled under the Norman Lords after the Conquest. Edward the Confessor
was given the rich Manor of Bosham...including Thorney Island which then passed on to
Osbern…a Norman…later Rector of Thorney Island and Bishop of Exeter.
In the 1340’s...much land was lost to the sea in Chichester Harbour, (even in the 1800’s
the sea was encroaching), and the shore line was changing shape. There is a reference to a mill,
it could have been near the present church as this is the highest land on the Island...otherwise
this could have been a reference to another mill in one of the nearby Creeks at
Emsworth...Bosham or Fishbourne. The Church was dedicated to St. Nicholas...patron Saint of
children and seafarers...the sea would have been much nearer the Church in those times. At one
time Thorney Island came under the Parish of Westbourne.

46
 1871
West Thorney Village

47
 THE ISLE OF THOR CHICHESTER HARBOUR.
An article from “Tales of Old Wessex” by Innonimate.

How many people in Greater Portsmouth have succeeded in discovering the Isle of Thor?
Hayling they know, and Selsey, Bosham and Chidham; but it might be safely wagered that there
is not one in a hundred who has more than the vaguest idea of what Thorney is like, even
though it lies no more than a short four miles from their front doors.
The inference is that there is nothing specially attractive in the island, or that it is difficult
of access. In a measure this may be true. It lies remote from the beaten high road between
Emsworth and Chichester and its coastline is not impressive and its history lacks the romance of
the great historic events which cluster around Selsey, Bosham, Hayling, and the other islets of
which it forms the centrepiece.
Yet it would be a mistake to say that Thorney is not interesting. Like all of the marshlands
along the coastal plain, it has its moods. Linger around its creeks when they are veiled in
harmonies of haze or mist, traverse its lanes and shore-lines when they are bathed in a lurid
sunset or storm-swept by a raging sou’-wester and you will understand the attraction it has for
those with artistic instincts.
To reach it one has not much choice of routes. Turning south at the Hermitage, near
Emsworth, you will arrive at the causeways which span the Deeps separating the island from the
mainland at high tide. From here you will have a three-mile tramp along the only road in the
island to the little hamlet of West Thorney. The alternative, after crossing the causeway, is to
take the fields or the western shore-line, either of which is pleasant enough, especially in spring-
time, when the yellow ranunculus paints the levels, and the hedgerows are draped with blazing
ragwort and creeping bryony.
The path along the shore offers an additional attraction as it is a good hunting ground for
meadow browns, Fritillaries, clouded yellows, painted ladies, shaded blues, and other ‘flying
flowers’ and the observation or capture of these helps to beguile the tedium of the tramp.
The end of the walk, in any case, is the same mere handful of cottages embowered in trees,
and strung along a road leading to the Manor, the church. and the sea.

48
 Hamlet Where Many Races Have Lived

The hamlet of West Thorney is not imposing. The cottages are modern and the population
scant. How could it be otherwise when the total population of the island is not more than 173,
but no one can say it is not picturesque. The tree bordered lane which does duty as a street
emerges abruptly on the shore-line of Thorney Creek, where the high tide forms a lagoon of
shimmering water, bounded on the far side by the woods of Chidham, overtopped by the spires
of Bosham and Chichester.
From the hamlet southwards stretches a wide green plain as level as the sea itself and this
culminates in Longmere Point, the most southerly shore-line.
Longmere Point is worth a visit, as it marks the locality where Chichester Harbour pierces
the marshes and gives access from the coast to the plain at the foot of the Downs.
Up this natural waterway have streamed Neoliths, Goidels, and Brythons, each in turn
forming settlements in the Hampshire downland, and being ousted at a later late by Romans,
Saxons, Danes, and Normans. History has been manufactured at a very rapid rate among these
marsh-land islets. The point may be reached across the fields, but the pleasanter way is by the
eastern shoreline. It is not a long walk and it has much to make it interesting. Just after leaving
West Thorney hamlet one passes a row of elm trees growing at the edge of the creek and
presenting a maze of twisted and contorted roots which is awash at every tide. Just beyond the
Point in the bed of the creek is one of the most striking evidences of the severity of the climate
in the South of England during the period known to geologists as the Great Ice Age, it is a
foreign erratic, a huge mass of quartz diorite rock weighing almost ten tons.
The only place from which it could have come is either the Channel Islands or the north of
France, so it is obvious that this rock, which is only one of many hundreds that lie along the
coast of Sussex, must have been transported across the English Channel, most probably on an
ice floe, at a time when the climate of Sussex was similar to that of Greenland today.
The views around Longmere are very expansive. Hayling lies to the south, and beyond are
the waters of Spithead, backed by the hills of the Wight like a thin blue cloud on the horizon.
Almost opposite is the entrance to Chichester Harbour and the mouth of the little river
Ems, beloved of punters for its flocks of mallards, teal, and wild duck.
In the foreground is the shingle bank known as Pilsey Island, at one time notorious as the
haunt of a hermit who played the part of ‘Little John’ to the smugglers of the marshes. It was
also the anchorage for the ancient revenue hulk the Gripper, which did duty as a floating
coastguard.

Legends of the Smugglers

Legends die hard in this sequestered and sparsely-peopled corner, and one may still garner
many tales of the smugglers, who with blackened faces and pack ponies, transferred their kegs
to the roof and tower of the church of St. Nicholas before they were distributed inland to the
market town of the Weald.
Eastwards the view embraces broad vistas of the marshes up to Fishbourne and Chichester
and if it be a warm, moist day, Chichester Cathedral may be seen, tilted in the air and presenting
a wonderful mirage like effect.
These are some of the compensations obtained for ‘traipsing’ along the fringe of the low
lying flats of Thorney.

49
 Saint Wilfred of Selsey

The origin of Thorney’s name has given rise to some controversy, it is likely that the
island owes its name to its Saxon association and the heathen worship of the Saxon god, Thor
the thunderer. It is called the Isle of Thor in the Domesday book and as a rule the names
handed down by the Norman chroniclers were something more than a shadow of the past
history of the places they recorded.
The church is, of course. the pièce de résistance of the island. No one who visits the
hamlet will fail to notice it, with its yews and elms forming a picturesque group, mellowed by
age and quaint as the patterns their shadows weave.
It lies snuggled in a sunny corner of the creek, and serves as a reminder of the days when
King Ethelwalch the Saxon avowed himself a Christian and gave to St. Wilfred the marshlands
to the south of Chichester whereon to build churches and monasteries.
Those were stirring times for the Romanised Britons of Selsey and the district around.
Celt and Saxon had been at death-grips for over a century, the one striving to preserve
Christianity and the higher civilisation the Romans had introduced, and the other doing its best
to ruthlessly exterminate both.
The submission of Ethelwalch to St. Wilfred marks the turning point in the struggle, and
when in 683AD, King Ceadwalla confirmed the gift to Ethelwalch, the foundations of
Thorney’s church and priory were laid and the little islet commenced to play its part in the work
of Christianising the heathen Saxon.

The Old Church and Priory

Thorney Church was not the work of a day. It shows vestiges of Saxon, Norman and
Early English architecture. One of its most notable features is its long nave, and the vestiges of
the aisles show that it was originally cruciform.
It was a spacious structure, and, judged by contemporary standards, one would think that
it must have served a community of considerable size. All the evidence is to the contrary,
grouped around the church, their site now occupied by the graveyard, were the Priory and
domestic buildings of the monks.
Compared with the church the Priory was a small one accommodating not more than
twelve monks, who toiled for their daily wants, and ministered to the savage people around
them by reclaiming the wastelands and teaching the arts of agriculture, and by their blameless
lives and the force of their example, winning over the people from the worship of their false
gods to a higher life and more extended usefulness.
Later on, in the 10th Century, Thorney Priory seems to have declined, for we read in the
Domesday Book that it was served by one priest, named Malgar, who came from Bosham. All
trace of the old Priory has now disappeared but there still remains in the chancel of the church a
beautifully carved Norman doorway called the ‘Priests’ Door’. which served as an entrance
from the monastery to the church.

Great Apostle of the Saxons

The story of St. Wilfred is intimately connected with Thorney, Bosham, Selsey, and
Chichester; though it is involved in a vast amount of myth. St. Wilfred was the great apostle of
the Saxons. He was the Bishop of Selsey, and his cathedral church now lies fathoms deep off

50
 the coast of Sussex. Thorney Church was contemporary with Selsey Cathedral and it would not
therefore be straining evidence too much to picture the Saint visiting Thorney to worship within
the walls of the church and to make use of the Saxon font, which to this day is used for the
baptism of the faithful.
The high-placed lancet windows in the tower seem to show that the sacred building was
sometimes used for other purposes than public worship. For some centuries after the church
was built there was no other place in the island where the monks and the tiny population could
obtain protection from the Danish and other sea rovers who harried the Southern coasts.
There is one significant piece of evidence of these raids and of the terror which they
caused to the little community. During the restoration of the church a very large and massive
wedding ring was found beneath the floor of the nave. It was made in the form of hands
clasped, of gold and silver and was probably secreted where it was found by the officiating
priest during a threatening raid. It is one of the church rings used in olden times for the
marriage of parishioners too poor to provide rings of their own.
In later times it was customary, when no official or private ring was provided, to use the
ring of the key of the church door for the marriage ceremony.
If Thorney had nothing more to offer than its church, it would still be well worth a visit
but besides these priceless relics of a long-forgotten past it can boast of much else of unusual
historic and personal interest. It preserves the memory of Hubert of Bosham, Archbishop of
Benevute, and erstwhile secretary of St. Thomas à Beket of Canterbury, whose body is said to
have been buried in Thorney church. This is the legend, and in proof Thorney shows a
tombstone slab seven feet long with a carved crosier on it.

An Early British Poet

But by students of literature Thorney is chiefly remembered as

the birthplace of Caedamon, the Saxon Milton, and one of the
earliest British poets. It was here, in the creeks and marshes of
Thorney and Bosham, that the silver-tongued poet learnt the trade
of waterman, which afterwards proved so useful when St. Wilfred
took him to Whitby to serve as ferryman to the Abbey of St.
Hilda.
Amid the solitude of these marshland islets he first caught the
inspiration of those melodious hymns of praise, the ‘Dream of the
Holy Rood’ and the Metrical Paraphrase of the Scriptures which
are now such a landmark in English literature.
Read what the Venerable Bede has to tell of the Thorney poet,
and then, may-hap visiting the Little Isle, you will no longer deny
the merit due to it.
By kind permission of Peter Barge
RAF Memorial Window in the
North Wall of West Thorney
Church –Notice the vestiges of
aisle arch and pillars

51
 THE STORY OF THORNEY ISLAND by Michael Kennett

Less than fifty years ago Thorney Island - “the isle overgrown with thorn bushes” - was a
miraculously preserved rural backwater, quietly slumbering within sight of the ever-busy
Portsmouth to Brighton road. But the peace of centuries which had for so long hung over the
lush farming land and its scattered inhabitants was to be rudely disturbed by the rise to power of
Adolf Hitler and the gathering war clouds over Europe.
Situated just within Sussex, though with a very close affinity towards Hampshire and the
neighbouring town of Emsworth, the vest-pocket island has an area of little more than four
square miles, the parish being known as West Thorney, to distinguish it from East Thorney at
Selsey, now almost entirely lost to the sea.
Evidence suggests that the island has been inhabited, albeit sparsely, since earliest times.
The Saxons are said to have built an ill-fated wooden church which fell about them, but the
finding of a polished flint axe-head, dated about 1800BC indicates that Thorney was populated
long before Christianity came to this country. Prior to the Norman Conquest it was part of the
Manor of Bosham and is also mentioned in Domesday Book (1086) when one Mauger or
Malger “held Thornei from the Bishop for twelve hides”.
The parish church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas the patron saint of sailors, stands
surrounded by trees on the windswept eastern shore of the island. It was greatly restored in
1608 and again in 1885, but it is a tribute to the skills of the 13th-century stonemasons that, in
spite of its exposed position, several parts of the present building - notably the tower - are to-
day still much as they were originally constructed.

During the 18th- and early 19th-centuries smugglers found the lonely coastline of Thorney
Island much to their liking, and in their heyday carried out a flourishing trade in goods of all
kinds. Indeed it seems that the church played a part - perhaps unwittingly - in this nefarious
business. For when restoration was taking place in 1885 a long-forgotten keg of smuggled
brandy was discovered in the tower. And local legend has it that, when broached, the contents
proved to be of a rare quality.
An ordnance survey map published in about 1850 shows that there were three principal
farms on the island - Marker Farm; Priors Farm; and Westfield Farm - and these, together with
the manor house, rectory and a scattering of cottages, accommodated the couple of hundred or
so inhabitants. Most of whom obtained their livelihood from the land, though it seems there
have always been a few fishermen on Thorney.
Around this time the villagers received a visit from the Bishop of Chichester - the first
recorded since 1273, when “Bishop Walter Bronescombe in person received the homage of his
tenants in the island”. On this occasion - September 16 1846 - Ashurst Turner Gilbert visited
the parish in company with his wife and a servant in livery. They came in a ‘Fly’ hired from the
Crown Inn, Emsworth. His Lordship was pleased with the church and its condition, with the
school and the parish.
At that time Thorney was still a true island. Travellers were faced with the hazardous task
of traversing the ‘wadeway’ of the Great Deep - the channel that separates it from the mainland
- which could only be done at low tide, and even then the water was ‘nearly half a leg deep’.
Tales have been told of strangers to the island who misjudging the tide or wandering off the
wadeway - the narrow path was marked with few stakes - were claimed by the Great Deep.
And this is probably why the closely knit little community had few visitors from elsewhere.
However, by September 1870 work had been completed to block off the sea and provide a
new road to cross the Great Deep. But if the inhabitants expected an invasion, they were to be
disappointed - at least, that is for another sixty years - for the outside world hardly noticed that

52
easy and safe access to this remote place had been provided, and apart from the occasional
ramblers and naturalists, Thorney remained undisturbed.
In I860 the island had been acquired by a local landowner, Squire Frederick Padwick, a
well-known figure in the district, and he too was a road-builder, constructing the half-mile
stretch from the main Portsmouth to Brighton Road as far as Thornham lane, and probably
having a hand in the terrace of cottages alongside the road which still stand today. This length
of road was originally gated at each end, and the gate at the main road end remained intact until
the 1920’s, being padlocked on Sundays as it was, even then, still privately owned.
The Royal Air Force came to Thorney Island literally by accident - and remained for thirty
eight active years. In the early thirties it was realised in official circles - though perhaps not
admitted in public - that some action would be needed to protect England against an aggressor
who was already making his presence felt in Europe, and that an important feature of our
defence system would undoubtedly include the provision of adequate air bases, especially in the
south of England. So it followed that when, one September day in 1933, a Hawker Fury aircraft
crashed in a field not far from the Church of Saint Nicholas, the investigating team quickly
reported back to the Air Ministry on the very real potential of those lush green meadows as a
site for a new airfield.
Their report was accepted with alacrity and for the first time in its long history strangers in
large numbers descended upon Thorney Island. For many weeks they busily measured, mapped
and made notes all the time saying very little to the wondering inhabitants.
By the summer of 1935 building was ready to start and a report in the Portsmouth Evening
News announced that the Air Ministry intended to establish a base on Thorney Island and ‘to
locate Five squadrons there’. It went on to say that “estimated cost of the work is £500.000, all
applications for employment should be made through the labour exchange and it is expected
that sympathetic consideration will be given to those residents who are thrown out of
employment as the farming lands pass into possession of the RAF”.
This news was received by the inhabitants with serious misgivings. What would become
of their homes, their livelihoods and their parish church?

Looking East towards Chidham-

This is the old harbour creek mentioned by
Ernie...little changed

Lonely spot-hidden by beautiful trees-

this poignant plaque marks the 1933 air
crash that led to Thorney Island being
’discovered’ by the RAF

53
 But as subsequent events were to prove, there was no real need for them to worry too
much. The Royal Air Force was to adopt the church, which was to benefit in a number of ways,
but particularly through the presentation of a unique slate and oak pulpit; while there was no
sudden, savage uprooting of the civilian population, as the great air base slowly took shape over
a period of almost three years.
Today, of course, there would have been protest meetings by the score, bitter attacks on
the government and hosts of letters to the newspapers, not to mention visits to the island by
‘rent-a-mob’ to disrupt construction. But in the mid 1930’s people were perhaps more realistic
and many had already realised that the German aggressor would not be halted without a
struggle and soon the RAF would need all possible facilities.
Those who suffered most were undoubtedly the older residents. Most had known Thorney
Island from childhood, many had never lived anywhere else; but all they could do now was to
watch their familiar little world transformed into a mass of steel, bricks and concrete as the 200
acre airfield took shape.
One of those affected was my great-uncle, Matthew Clayton, who had owned Elm Tree
Farm for nearly 50 years, and although he was adequately compensated in financial terms, the
loss of a lifetime’s work was a bitter blow. He moved to a bungalow at the top of Thorney
Road, not far from the A27, but died just before the airfield was completed.
With most of the construction materials arriving by rail, Emsworth Station was a busy
place at this time. One week-end in December 1935 it was “the scene of feverish activity as
4.000 tons of steel girders were off-loaded by special cranes and borne by fleets of lorries to
Thorney”. By the end of 1937 work was all but complete. The Portsmouth Evening News
reported that ‘‘the landscape was dominated by huge hangars, a 95 foot water tower and a
multiplicity of barrack blocks, where green hedges, high trees, cattle and twittering birds used
to give such a truly rural aspect to the island”. But happily the report went on to say that “the
Air Ministry is faithfully carrying out its promise to preserve as many as possible of the rural
features of the island, and are also treating the inhabitants as fairly as possible”. Many of those
inhabitants had by now left the island. A pathetic notice placed beside the offertory box in the
Church of Saint Nicholas told the sad story: “Offering will be received with particular gratitude
at this time, when our population is reduced to about fifty”. With war only months away, it was
to dwindle still further.

Inscription

54
 DRAMATIC PRESS COVERAGE OF THE CIVILIAN EVACUATION OF
THORNEY ISLAND IN 1935

The Royal Air Force Station at Thorney Island opened

1935 on February 3rd 1938 as Number 16 Group, Coastal
Harry Savage –oldest resident on Command. A month later it became operational, when
Thorney. Retired farm worker two squadrons of Vickers Vildebeest torpedo-bombers
arrived from Donibristle Fife, having made the four
hundred mile flight in exactly four hours, with one stop to refuel.
As expected, the station played an important role in World War II, forming part of Coastal
Command, its aircraft - which included such household names as Anson, Blenheim, Beaufort,
Swordfish and Hudson - escorted numerous convoys in the English Channel, besides engaging
in strikes against enemy shipping and submarines, sinking ten ships and two U-boats.
During the Battle of Britain Thorney was raided by the Luftwaffe on three occasions, but
little damage was done and no more than a handful of aircraft were lost.
Concrete runways were laid at the station during 1941/42 - hitherto it had been a
traditional grass airfield, which of course posed problems during bad weather. And it was
perhaps fitting that much of the hard core for this purpose was provided by rubble brought from
Portsmouth following air attacks on that city. Now the base effectively covered most of the
island.
Peace found the Royal Air Force firmly established at Thorney Island. In 1947 the base
passed from Coastal to Fighter Command, and welcomed the faithful Spitfires and the new twin
-jet Meteors, which were to remain for three years. Other changes were to follow; in 1950

55
Number 2 Air Navigation School was moved there and the island saw thousands of student
navigators pass through; several years later Thorney became part of Transport Command, with
its Hastings, Argosy, Valetta, Beverley, Andover and Hercules aircraft.
But during this period the best known of all were the Whirlwind helicopters of Number 22
Squadron. They carried out search and rescue operations in the English Channel, the Solent
and Chichester Harbour for many years and the appearance of the distinctive yellow ‘choppers’
has been greeted with relief by many a yachtsman in difficulties, besides, of course, RAF pilots
who had been forced to ‘ditch’.
Following cuts in defence spending and a policy to close a certain number of stations, the
Royal Air Force ceased operations at Thorney Island on 31 March 1976, finally leaving the
base three months later. And so the most active chapter in the island’s history was closed.
With the departure of the RAF, there was a tremendous amount of speculation as to
Thorney’s future. The Royal Navy, it seemed, were interested in moving in, so too were the
WRNS. But the months dragged by into years and no firm plans materialised.
So once again, as in the thirties, a question mark hangs over the little island. Obviously

Some of the evacuation photographs from the press

Thorney must have a carefully planned future. The vast concrete runways, huge hangars,
administrative buildings, workshops, the ‘multiplicity’ of barrack-blocks and dozens of well-
built houses are still there waiting to be used - but how? How too can the island’s shoreline -
quiet now since the departure of aircraft and once more a wonderful habitat for all kinds of wild
life - best be preserved? These questions will need to be answered very soon, if Thorney is not
to revert to becoming again ‘the isle of thorns’, for without maintenance grass is growing waist
high around the buildings and it could quickly become a wilderness.

56
 In the meantime a small part of the old station is being used to house Vietnamese “Boat
People”, a temporary measure expected to last a further eighteen months. A re-settlement
centre, established by the British Council for Aid for Refugees, has been set-up and these
cheerful individuals stay for about two months, before housing and jobs are found for them in
various parts of the country. But this occupies only a very small part of this vast complex.
Through all the changes of past years the little Church of Saint Nicholas remains
untouched and undisturbed. Evidence of the war is, however, to be found in the churchyard.
For here, in a neatly kept extension maintained under the supervision of the Imperial War
Graves Commission, are the last resting places of many service men - both allied and enemy -
who died on active service and afterwards. But the church is still a tranquil place where in
summer the roses bloom and placid waters lap the nearby shore. Time seems of little
importance and whatever the coming years bring to Thorney Island, may it always remain so.
By kind permission of Christine Kennet

FLYING DAYS ON THORNEY ISLAND

‘PHOENIX’ recalls peace-time on the

Island which is now home to 500
Vietnamese refugees.

At the south-east end of Hampshire lies the

town of Emsworth and Thorney Island,
recently in the news. During the early
thirties a fighter crash landed at Thorney,
and not long after the Air Ministry bought
the land for an RAF aerodrome, which was
finished just in time for World War II and
was used mainly by Coastal Command
during the war.
One hangar was gutted by the Luftwaffe in
1940 and, due to the absence of a roof, was
subsequently known as the ‘sunshine’
hangar.
The situation was splendid for flying, with
approach to most runways over the sea, and
an absence of fog. Security was good as the
only connection with the mainland was a
stretch of bog known as ‘The Deeps’ with
only one road. Sports facilities were superb
with sailing, soccer, sea bathing, an indoor
and outdoor range and a fully equipped
gymnasium.
Front page of programme for Empire Day I first went to Thorney in late 1950; at the time
Thorney Island 1939 the unit resident was No.2 Air Navigation
School which had just moved down from
Middleton St. George in an exchange with a
Meteor Fighter Squadron. The aircraft were a Squadron of elderly converted bombers, the
Vickers Wellington T10, powered by two mighty Hercules mark 16 engines driving wooden
composition propellers. The Wellington was known to all as the ‘Wimpey’. Another Squadron

57
was equipped with the Avro Anson mark 21 and there were about twenty of these smaller
aircraft, often called ‘Annies’. The Station Flight (communications) had two Tiger Moths and
two old Airspeed Oxfords, but these very seldom flew anywhere at all.
The Wimpeys were getting old and the wiring had started to perish. They were wont to
land in various places with lights flashing and the under-carriage warning horn blowing madly
in the pilot’s ears.
One had collided before I arrived, on the east coast, and all aboard were killed. Another
belly landed in a potato field at Hayling Island while I was booking in, yet another crashed at
Chivenor with at least two killed within a few days of my arrival.
The Wimpeys would fly ‘details’ of three to five hours over the sea and cross country, two
student navigators doing the ‘sums’, hopefully correctly.
The first Vickers Valetta aircraft arrived brand new from Weybridge in 1951; a small
Flight was started on an old Dispersal down at the Deeps, and soon had three aircraft and I was
employed there.
One night panic reigned, one of the Wimpeys had caught fire, flames shot over a hundred
feet in the air. The Foam Tender tried to pump foam but packed up immediately, and the blaze
was extinguished by Chichester Fire Brigade in record time. Most of the machine was burnt to
a crisp; apparently one of the armourers was unloading Flash Bombs and dropped one without
the safety pin in position. The findings were that he owed the RAF £38,6l4.4s.6d!
We had several interesting visitors during my sojourn; one day Mike Lithgow landed the
Supermarine Attacker prototype with a snag; two brand new Spitfire Mark 19’s came for a stay,
an Avro Shackleton called regularly to load up a secret winged torpedo and quietly stole away,
and also loading the same torpedo were some great ugly Bristol Brigands of the type used in
Malaya.
More important, was a squadron of Vampires from Germany, loaded to the gunwales with
duty free cigarettes!
In March 1952, a Wimpey belly-landed in the Deeps while attempting a single engine
approach; as it scraped the grass a ‘swiss roll’ of turf filled up the fuselage. All the crew got
out safely but there was a bitter inquest afterwards.

This happened at midnight; at 2am another pilot aborted a take off, demolishing the sea
wall and ending on the beach. The aircrews were becoming a little anxious.
Our Battle of Britain display of 1951 was superb, and included a mock bombing attack of
a ‘native village’, which blew up with some very satisfying pyrotechnics and bangs, added to
by a Bofors Gun of the Royal Artillery on loan for the day with the gunners.
The Valetta T3 was an excellent flying classroom, and carried eight student navigators,
each with his own desk and gadgets, a couple of instructors and three ‘driver’ aircrew. One day
I was out for a ride when we passed over Brighton Pier. A student leaned over to me “Where
are we?” he mouthed, I pointed downwards! ‘‘Brighton” he shrugged and turned away.
I left in June 1952 and one month later the Adjutant of the Wellington Squadron was
practising single engine landing with one of the fitters aboard; the fitter was National service
and only had another six weeks to serve. They lost the only running engine, falling into the
mud short of the runway, and the tide was coming in fast. The Group Captain turned out the
whole station to attempt rescue, but the propeller blades had folded over the cockpit. One was
dead and decapitated, the other was in bad shape. Exactly what happened is uncertain, but the
tide came up and both men perished.
The Adjutant lies in the little churchyard at West Thorney alongside the crew of a Heinkel
which was shot down in 1940, also in the mud near the island. The church is the only part of
the Island that does not belong to the government.

58
 The RAF finally moved out in 1975 due to finance cuts, the last two large American-built
Hercules transports of No. 242 Operational Conversion Unit flying off to Lyneham, Wilts on
November 14, 1975.
Now, it seems, the Island may have a more peaceful future offering succour to folk from
across the world who have also learnt the hard way about fighting aircraft and war in the air.

A King Flies In - (from the “Yesterday” magazine May 1988)

Today it is home to the Royal Artillery, but for nearly half a century Thorney Island was
an air base noted for its long runways and ability to remain fog-free. It was commissioned in
the spring of 1938, and 50 years ago this month King George VI dropped by to inspect the
latest link in his country’s defences.
The spring afternoon was drawing to a close when the first engines were heard, faint at
first and then growing in power.
In Havant and Emsworth, many eyes looked skyward as the formation of torpedo bombers
droned across the sky, gradually dropping lower. The date was March 10, 1938. Their
destination, the new RAF base at Thorney Island.
The 11 Vickers Vildebeest machines flew over the six huge new hangars before breaking
formation in order to land. First to touch down was Squadron-Leader W.G. Campbell. with the
others landing in quick succession. One sub-flight of three aircraft drew particular admiration
by landing in perfect formation.
It had taken No. 22 (Torpedo Bomber) Squadron five hours to reach their new home from
their original base at Donibristle, Fife, 400 miles away. They had met thick weather over
Scotland, spent an hour on the ground at Cranwell for refuelling and lunch, and finally taxied
towards No. 4 hangar at Thorney Island at 4.35 pm. At that moment, the base became
operational.
It was a red letter day
for the RAF, proudly
bringing into
commission one of the
most up-to-date air
stations in the British
Empire, with a flying
ground measuring
more than 200 acres.
It also boasted a range
of impressive new
buildings, including a
splendid officers’ mess
built on the site of an
old mansion house.
The following day saw
1938 the arrival from
George VI on visit to Thorney Island RAF Base Donibristle of No. 42
(TB) Squadron, and by
the time the General
Reconnaissance School had been transferred from Manston in Kent, Thorney’s establishment
stood at more than 600.
The story has often been told of how the station came into being quite literally by

59
accident. In September 1933, the pilot of a Hawker Fury biplane from No. 1 (Fighter)
Squadron crashed on the South Coast and was killed. RAF representatives investigating the
crash were struck by the unique suitability of the surrounding land as an airfield, and their
recommendations were duly taken up and acted upon.
Once the station was opened, King George VI was eager to see his newest aerodrome, and
on May 9 visited Thorney as part of a tour of the four RAF Commands; Fighter (Northolt),
Bomber (Harwell), Upavon (Training), and Thorney (Coastal). His private Airspeed
monoplane, built in Portsmouth only the year before, touched down at 3.15pm and taxied
between the ranks of neatly parked aircraft.
As well as the Vildebeests of the two torpedo bomber squadrons, other planes on show
included Hawker’s Osprey and Nimrod, the Avro Anson, the menacingly named Blackburn
Shark, and two aircraft which would within a few years be household names after being tried
and tested in war - the Walrus and the Swordfish.

Plane crash changed history

Recent commemorations of the RAF’s raids on cities such as Dresden may remind many
local people of Thorney Island’s wartime role. The last bomber based there - a Lockheed
Hercules - left nearly 20 years ago, closing a chapter which started in 1933 after an RAF plane
crashed in the area.
An accident investigation team reported the potential of the area to the air ministry, whose
plans completely altered the island which had changed little since Roman times. Before their
arrival at Bosham the island was covered in thorns - hence the name - and was uninhabited by
man, though fugitives from justice sought refuge there.
The spelling of its name has changed little over the years; in 1052 it was Thorneg and in
the Domesday Book, in 1086, it was recorded as Tornel.
Gradually man spread on to the island tearing down the thorn trees, building wattle and
daub huts and catching oysters in the creek. The Romans stayed for about 300 years making
good use of the excellent soil, taking their wares to Emsworth market and building a network of
roads which stretched from Chichester and Fishbourne past Emsworth, on to Portchester Castle
and beyond. But while the Romans and others found the island to be an agreeable place to live,
others saw it with different eyes. The naturalist, Thomas Pennant, travelling down from the
north just before the Napoleonic wars in 1793, described it thus: “Beneath us lay the flat, dry
isle of Portsea...(then) turning to the east...the prospect is most horribly disgusting...two flat,
low, naked islands occupy part of this little sluggish sea. Haling (sic) is the largest, Thorney is
the next.”
What happened on Thorney after Roman rule ended is not known as there is no record of
it until its Domesday mention, where it pops up in the hands of the Norman Bishop Osbern. As
part of the Manor of Bosham, Thorney had been given to him by Edward the Confessor who
lived in Normandy until 1042. Apart from this, little seems to have happened up to the arrival
of the crash investigators; in 1938 the base opened and eventually became home to Spitfires,
Hampdens, Beauforts and other RAF aircraft.
Even during the war it didn’t see much action although stray Luftwaffe pilots occasionally
dropped a bomb or two. This changed in August 1940 when four formations of enemy aircraft
were spotted flying towards the Isle of Wight; one, made up of 28 Stuka dive-bombers
protected by Messerschmidt lO9Es, peeled off and headed for Thorney.
“As the Stukas were taking up their classic line astern circle,” says Chris Ashworth in his
book Action Stations, “they were set upon by Hurricanes of No 42 and 601 Squadrons and three
bombers went down in the first pass...but the German pilots persisted and succeeded in badly

60
damaging two hangers, destroying three aircraft and damaging another”.
Blenheims then followed the Stukas out to sea where they shot down two more before the
unlucky Germans bumped into some Spitfires. In all ten bombers were lost and five wrecked; a
total disaster.
Today the area plays host to more sedate pastimes: yachts and boats sail around her
undisturbed, families enjoy long walks on her shores and twitchers gather in hope of seeing the
last aviators still flying here - the feathered variety who rest or make their homes in this quietest
of places.
With kind permission Chichester Observer March 2nd 1995

A MOVING CEREMONY IN THORNEY ISLAND CHURCHYARD…

AUGUST 1998..Noon
I was privileged to be able to attend the British Legion Memorial Service on a lovely
sunny Saturday morning. Little groups of quiet people...some old…some very old...a
smattering of some in their fifties and sixties…one or two standing alone…
silent...thoughtful...remembering…some standing quietly by a grave...
...only the birds and the golden leaves caused sound and movement and then...in the
distance the haunting wail of the ‘pibroch’…plaintive and sad…a lone piper in kilt slowly
walked towards us...from the south along to the War Graves and the Cenotaph at the north of
the Churchyard. Behind him came the Army Padre...followed by members of the British
Legion carrying colours...then the band with a bugler...all white gloved and respectful.
Everything stopped...a moment of stillness...then prayers. That lovely hymn…‘Now
thank we all our God’ was sung...some singing in German…then the colours were slowly
lowered, a wreath was jointly laid by British and German representatives...then...so poignantly
the Last Post...even the birds and the leaves seemed still in their respect as we stood for the two
minutes Silence...those in uniform at attention...each alone with their own memories of
comrades lost and battles fought...what a little time to wait in gratitude and remembrance of
those who gave so much…
Flags slowly began to raise..the procession mustered and slowly left the way they had
come…again led by the lone piper…off into the distance…slowly fading away. We quietly
dispersed...but not before I had gone up to several of the elderly gentlemen...laden with shiny
medals, to politely enquire what each one was for...there were also present several ladies who
had served in the W.R.V.S. A sad moving occasion.

61
 August 29 1998
A lone piper and army padre lead the solemn
procession

War graves…German and Allied crews

62
 DRAMATIC HEADLINE PORTSMOUTH NEWS MAY 17 1962

“A Beverley 182 with 5 crew crashed into incoming tidal waters about 1/2 mile from
Thorney Island runway. Blazing no.3 engine fell into garden of Bosham Manor. 3 crew
rescued, 2 died”.

THE WAR GRAVES IN THORNEY ISLAND CHURCHYARD

Further on in this section I mention that Julien the Builder had put me in touch with the
father of the expert on the War Graves in the Cemetery...cheekily I contacted him and gained
permission to write to his son, he is the author of several War History books...and the History of
the RAF. He very generously gave me of his precious time and knowledge and with his kind
permission I have included an extract.
“As to your specific question, the Ju 88 A-5, serial 6025 coded B3+GK of 2/Staffel/
Kampfgeschwader 54 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed near the ‘South Landing’
on Thorney Island at 0200 hrs. Oberfeldwebel Heinrich Meier (pilot), Oberfeidwebel Georg
Hocke (observer), Unteroffizier Richard Rothenspieler (gunner) and Unteroffizier Werner
Dietzel (radio operator) were all killed and buried in that mass grave.
In the West Thorney (St Nicholas) Churchyard extension, you will find a section separate
from the rest of the military graves. Each grave is simple - an outline of an Iron Cross, the
name, date of birth and date of death is all that is on the headstone. Each of these graves marks
the mortal remains of 21 German airmen killed either on or close to RAF Thorney Island during
the last War.
The first German airmen to be buried at Thorney Island came from a Junkers Ju 88 A-1
serial 3134 coded 9K+EL of 3 Staffel/Kampfgeschwader 51, which crashed on landing at
Horsepasture Farm, Westbourne at 1215 hrs on Monday the 12th of August 1940. 24 year-old
Oberleutnant Hans Graf, 22 year-old Gefreiter Horst-Guenther Czepik and 28 year-old
Unteroffizier Walter Floeter were all killed in the crash; 20 year old Austrian Gefreiter
Guenther Fleischmann baled out and was captured.
1941 saw just 6 German aircrew being buried at Thorney Island from 2 different aircraft-4
came from a Junkers Ju 88 that crashed on the airfield whilst the remainder came from a
Heinkel 111 that crashed at Sidlesham on the night of 3/4 May 1941.

63
 Just four aircrew were buried in 1942-a Junkers Ju 88 crashed at East Dean in mysterious
circumstances on the evening of 19 August 1942 (the same date of the ill fated Dieppe
invasion). The last German to be buried was 20 year-old Gefreiter Werner Neubert-his Dornier
Do 217 crashed at Lovedean on the 15th of August 1943 when his pilot lost control trying to
get out of a searchlight beam; Neubert’s body was the only one recognisable enough to bury.
There were other German aircrew buried all over West Sussex and Hampshire during the
War but in the early 1960s, it was decided to exhume those who were not buried at or nearby
RAF airfields; these Germans now lie in the German Military Cemetery in Cannock Chase,
Staffordshire”.

Reproduced with kind permission of Squadron Leader Goss

Several allied casualties occurred around Thorney Island...West Sussex Record Office and
Tangmere Aviation Museum and local museums and libraries have details...and several books
have been written containing information...I include just a few:
Aug 16 1940 Hurricane on patrol shot down over Thorney Island...Pilot injured
Aug 17 1940 Blenheim on night patrol overshot runway and crashed...crew safe
Oct 9 1940 Blenheim on Aerodrome Protection Patrol south of Thorney
Island...Shot down over channel.

German air reconnaissance photo showing Satellite Photograph of Thorney Island

‘camouflage' on Thorney Island and Pilsea Island
By permission Chichester Observer By permission of Havant Museum
October 28 2000
64
 THORNEY ISLAND CHURCH

Extract from a Little Guide to St. Nicholas Church West Thorney by the Rev. C.Q.
Phillipson, M.A. Rector from 1955—1962
who kindly granted me permission to quote from his booklet which is available in the
church.

It has been said of the Church of St. Nicholas that it is one of the lovelier, lonelier, most
remote, least seen and known and altogether outermost churches in Sussex.

This beautiful Church is dedicated to St. Nicholas...the Patron Saint of seafarers. It is very
near to the foreshore on the east of Thorney Island facing Thorney Channel, and Chidham and
Bosham. It is known as West Thorney though...because there is another Thorney Church in
Sussex near Selsey...now lost to the sea.
On the south wall of the Church there is a history of the building and there are several
pamphlets describing the Church and its history so I will not write about that...only about my
recent visits there. The Rev. A.C. Crookshank...Rector of West Thorney 1937...1944 has
written a pamphlet setting out a brief history of Thorney, and Rev. C.Q. Phillipson M.A. Rector
from 1955 - 1962 has written a little pamphlet guide to the Church.
The walls are flint rubble...with ashlar dressing...mainly Caen Stone. The earliest
remaining stonework are the two small windows…one on each side in the Choir. The tower
dates back to the twelfth century…and the base shows evidence of arches and pillars...now
embedded with the stonework. The original Church would have been much larger…There is
evidence of South and North aisles...and the buttree on the south of the tower is all that remains
of the end wall of the South Aisle. The original north door would have led to the North
Aisle...one original ‘dog-tooth’ moulding stone is still visible on the outside north wall.
The oak screen work, dating from the 14th century is regarded to be the finest of its period
in the country. Both screens were originally placed together across the aisle between the two
small windows.
The table next to the screen is fine Jacobean and was originally used as the Communion
Table...the font is early Norman and there is a Priest’s Door with three small ‘scratch-dials’ for
the Priest to tell the Service times. The Church
Bell...named IHESUS (JESUS)...still rings out after
seven hundred or so years…the oldest inscribed bell in
Sussex.
The pulpit is unusual…being made from oak and
slate…it suggested something akin to a gun turret on a
bomber...or perhaps the bridge on a battleship... It was
presented to the Church by No. 2 Air Navigational
School in 1962…there is also an RAF Memorial
Window in the West wall.

West Thorney Church...Mentioned in Taxation List

of Pope Nicholas in 1291! Church tower served as a
convenient watching post and place of concealment for
smugglers and their contraband...probably brandy!

South Porch of St Nicholas Church…

West Thorney

65
 The Church Records mention smuggling...and there are some interesting old maps on the
South wall. At the rear of the Church are displayed some local Ancient and Roman finds.
Previous to the arrival of the RAF Station in 1936, West Thorney was quiet and remote
with only a small resident population...the village not being joined to the mainland by road till
1870...
After 1936 Thorney Island was in the fronPt line of air defence...men from all over the
world coming to serve there...from the U.S.A. Canada.. New Zealand and Australia.

Pen and ink sketch of St Nicholas Church West Thorney

Drawn by Ernie Rudkin’s son David Rudkin

66
 POSTCARD & WORDS

I include some photographs of Thorney Island church and also a photo-copy of a

beautiful postcard from Thorney Island Church sent by my father David to his brother Ernest
about 1937...This post-card was sent from my father David Rudkin and mother Ann Rudkin
from Emsworth about 1937...to his brother Ernie Rudkin

Dear Ern,
Staying here for a few days. Weather hot.
Thorney Island in dilapidation.
Hope all are well.

67
 St. Nicholas’ Church weath- Regimental Colours above tower room in West
ervane removed for repair...note Thorney Church. Note Norman Font, artefact
‘shot’ holes display and ancient book-cupboard bench

Views from the roof of Thorney Island Church Looking to the N.E. overlooking the Ger-
man section of the war graves and looking to the S.E.

From the East looking towards the From Thorney Island Church Tower
slipway and Prinstead and Chidham looking S.

68
AN INTERVIEW WITH A MAN UP A LADDER

Like my dear father, I could never walk by a man up a ladder, so, visiting Thorney Island
Church one Summer evening I called out “Hello there”...having spotted a ladder perched by the
tower. A voice answered my call and…again following the Rudkin tradition of nosing out an
interesting story, I began to ask questions. The man up the ladder was Julien...Master Builder,
working for Couzens the well known local builders...and he very patiently answered my
questions...and kindly agreed to let me interview him the following morning. Julien was
repairing storm damage to the Church spire and...not only did he allow me to pester him but he
kindly asked Mr Trevor Couzens of Westbourne to take some photographs for me of Thorney
Island from the tower...looking south...east…north and west...never been done before I imagine.
Also, by information kindly given to me by Julien I was able to contact the man mentioned
earlier who knows all about the War Graves in Thorney Churchyard and War Cemetery

THURSDAY AUGUST 27 1998..just before noon

C. How long have you been a builder?

J. 25 years.
C. Do you often work on churches?
J. Sometimes...mostly on the insides.
C. What are you working on now...inside the church?
J. Repairing Victorian floor tiles.
C Did the great storm of I987...do any damage to the church?
J. It took the limbs off the spire. I replaced them with new ones...made from cedar
wood.
C. Does St. Nicholas church so near the shore present any special weather problems?
J. The church, though only yards from the shore actually faces east...is on the east of
Thorney Island, reasonably sheltered, buttresses have been added to walls...to give added
strength. It is actually on the highest land on the Island you can see the east coast of the
Isle of Wight on a clear day.
C. What materials are you using on the church now?
J Render...which is a layer of lime, sand and sea shingle, also I knap some of the
flints.
C. Where is the weather-vane?
J. Back at the builders-yard at West Marden being cleaned...did you know there are
several lead shot holes in it?
C. No! Was this during the War?
J. No...shouldn’t think so...more likely bored young airmen or soldiers taking pot
shots...using the spire as target practice.
C. What is the vane made from?
J. Iron...with copper...and gilded.
C. Do you feel any ghosts here...or at other places?
J. No...sometimes there is a feeling about some places though.
C. Do you work alone?
J. Yes, usually...I just like to get on with my job…I enjoy the quietness. I come here
from the mainland on my bike.
C. Do you ever think about the original builders, centuries ago, do you ever see any
personal marks?
J Yes...you sometimes see the initials of the past builder.

69
 C. Next time you are up the tower could you kindly take some photographs for
me...one each from the S. N. E. W.?
J. Will do.
C. Many thanks. I’m so grateful for your time and information. I’m off to photo some
of the War Graves.
J Oh! There was a gentleman here this morning looking for a grave...his son knows
all about the War Graves in Thorney Island...he’s a writer I think.

As a result of Julien passing on this information to me I was able to write a bit about the
War Graves...

Late summer evening...looking North West…

Note Julien’s ladder!

70
 White Christmas at Thorney Island Church I999

Eddy Lewis...one time Warden at St. Nicholas West Thorney, Thorney...and Heather
Lewis kindly invited me to the Service of Nine Lessons & Carols one freezing evening just
before Christmas...
There had been a heavy frost...the road across the Island was like a skating rink...the
gravel in the car park glistened...the archway at the South Door was lit...and a beautiful garland
of green leaves and red and white ribbon festooned the arch...we sang...we prayed...we listened
to the Advent Scriptures...some Army Personnel children were simply dressed as Mary and
Joseph...wise men...shepherds...all the lovely traditional Carols were sung…we could see our
breath frosted in the air...

INFORMATION ABOUT WEST THORNEY CHURCH FOUND IN THE WEST

SUSSEX RECORDS OFFICE

There are several sources of information available if you have the time and patience to
follow them up...I have included some information in this book.
The Church Records and Parish Register are held on Micro-fiche and go back to 1570...I
include some of the legible entries...some of them are sad...and some mysterious...there are
several records of parishioners being drowned in the Wadeway...which is shown on some of the
early maps of Thorney Island.

SOME ENTRIES FROM WEST THORNEY PARISH CHURCH REGISTER 1570

- 1886

1571 is the first entry:

WEST THORNEY CHURCH...Church neglected...Blaxton Family repaired it. Queen
Elizabeth I approved Henry Blaxton to Thorney 1571.
1600 son Godfrey repaired church.
1608 record in register
“This yeere this Church was re-edified and beautified from Northamptonshire (Blaxton)
several came South”
1701 - 1702...the General Register records a few weddings...mostly with folk living in the
Parishes of Havant...Hayling Island...Warblington and Funtington. Occupations of men
recorded as ‘Labourer’.
In the Wedding and Baptismal entries the same Christian Names recur...James...Hannah…
Elizabeth…John...Katherine…Thomas…Matthew…Mary…Ann…
Sarah...William...Jane...Martha...Joseph. Later popular names were Edward and Roger…more
unusual names were Theosophus and Arethusa. The Surname Lang and Padwick was often
recorded…
18th Day of November 1776 Banns of Marriage:
John Padwick of the Parish of Emsworth..Batchelor and Beth Crafweller
and the same two family names again six years later:
July 1782...Marriage - Thomas Padwick of the Parish of Charlton in the County of
Southampton WIDOWER…and Mary Crafweller of this Parish...Thorney Island West
A sad and tragic entry reads:
1807 July 20...Ann Haslar who in a fit of despondency precipitated herself into a well and
was drowned.

71
 Another sad entry for July 7 1812 reads:
HANNA PALMER aged 40 years. “The children wept over her grave…”
three more burials were recorded during the same year.
1937...Three Confirmation candidates recorded from Thorney Island...the Service taking
place at St. John’s Church Southbourne.

Some Recorded Occupations and Surnames

Fred Padwick - Gentleman

Arethusa (Friend)
Shepherds...Boniface & Phillips
Gardener...Farmer...Carpenter…Waggoner...Clerk in Holy Orders
Carter...Brick layer…Farmer…Publican...Builder…Groom...Overseer of
Labourers…Steward on board ship…Cowman...Dressmaker...Yeoman Farmer
(1832...Tier...yeoman)…Lockyer navvy…fisherman.
1876...Treagus...Caroline daughter of Thomas and Fanny...Baptism
May 13...Laura / Jane; 1876 Wedding...William...Fanny Pennicutt West Thorney
1861 Padwick...William son of Fred Arethusa...Baptism
1861…Freida Mary daughter of William and Fanny...Baptism
1864/5/6…references to Bailiff Henry Lockyer
1833...an entry reads “The Rev. Charles Philip Lyth...(illegible word) was Inducted and
put into the real, actual and corporal possession of the Rectory and Parish Church of West
Thorney in the County of Sussex, and of all the singular and Rights, Members and
Appurtenances thereunto belonging...this fifteenth Day of April in the Year of Our Lord, One
thousand, eight hundred and thirty three.
By (Elders/Wardens) Eustace Cornwall…Clerk, Curate of Westbourne Sussex.
In the presence of Frederick Padwick; George Baker, Treagus; Tier; Pennicott…surnames
often recorded”.

On Wednesday 16 September 1846 the Bishop of Chichester the Right Rev. A.Turner
Gilbert visited Thorney Church in the company of his wife.and a servant in livery. They came
in a ‘fly’ hired from the Crown Inn at Emsworth. His Lordship was pleased with the Church
and its condition and with the School and the Parish. Thorney was still an island at that time so
his Lordship must have crossed the wadeway.
(Charles Lyth Rector)
The surname Padwick occurs again in this entry;
1891 Easter Vestry (Meeting ) April 17
Frederick Padwick Esquire…Herbert Padwick Esquire...were this day elected Church
Wardens
Dunne...(Rector)
About this time the Surnames Tucker and Palmer appeared often...The visit of another
Bishop is recorded thus:
The Lord Bishop of Chichester visited the Parish of West Thorney and re-opened the
newly restored Church...at the hour of 3 O'clock on May 29 1886...Saturday.
Present: F. Padwick. Warden.
His Lordship was much pleased with the restoration of the church and preached the
sermon. The offertory amounted to £15. 0s..I0p...requited to payment of Church debt which
was for £240. There was a large congregation and the Church was filled...right up to the West

72
wall of the Tower. The day was very fine and the Bishop drove direct from Chichester in an
open carriage. His Lordship also expresses himself to be much pleased with the Rectory and
Records. After the Service all were invited to the Manor House where tea and cake was
provided by the kindness of F.H.Padwick Esq. This was the second time our Lord Bishop
visited Thorney...he came over on foot from Emsworth some years ago during the late Rector’s
time...Rev.Taylor.
The above was made by me Francis N.B. Dunne.B.A. LL.B.
Rector of West Thorney…June 1886

Later on in the same year is recorded:

1886 The Venerable Archdeacon of Chichester accompanied by the Rural Dean paid a
visit of inspection on Friday September 24th 1886. They were received by the Rector who
pointed out the various places of interest in connection with the restoration. They both
expressed themselves as much pleased with the work. Francis Dunne, Rector.
More recent Church Rectors were absentee…having several Parishes most work done by
Curates...who lived in the Parsonage House half-way between the present Rectory and the
shore…
In 1980 West Thorney came under the Parish of Southbourne...St. John.
An 1870 Map in the Church shows plans for reclaiming the tidal areas of Thorney Island
by building sea-walls. This was unsuccessful and remains of the wall can still be seen and is a
well known landmark for sailors. The sea was kept out for only 3 weeks. 500 men were
employed…the building firm was Pocock. Extra land was precious because of the high price
for corn. 1859 Act of Parliament is recorded concerning this plan and can be viewed at
Westminster.
1870...Thorney Island was joined to the mainland by reclamation of 200 acres...bi-sected
by the Great Deep and the Old Thorney Channel. Prior to that travellers had to traverse Great
Deep on ‘a causeway marked by posts...known as ‘wadeway’...only completely uncovered at
low tide.

From a letter to the Sussex County Magazine 1933:

The Baker’s boy called every two weeks, once he was late returning and the incoming
tide had covered the ‘riding-stops’, the posts driven into the Deeps. By the fact of them being
covered or exposed by the tides they indicated when it was safe to cross, one is still standing.
This Baker’s boy was advised by one, Savage, not to attempt to cross, but he whipped on his
horse and they were both drowned and the cart swept away.

Diocesan Visit

In 2001 The Bishop of Horsham came to Thorney Island as part of his Diocesan Visit.

73
 SOME SNIPPETS ABOUT PILSEA ISLAND (SOMETIMES - PILSEY) &
THORNEY ISLAND

In 1086 a boat arrived at Thorney with a strange request from King William the
Conqueror...on board was a Norman Civil Servant...he wrote...“Malgar holds lands belonging
to Thorney Church...twelve hides from one Manor called Tornei...he pays a guilder (geld) for
eight hides…there are thirty two villeins and eight ploughs…”
At that time a Priest would come by boat to Thorney Island from Bosham to administer
the Sacraments and provide Spiritual and Pastoral care to the inhabitants.

An interesting record concerning the Foreman who worked on the Land Reclamation
Scheme:

Pilsea Island and Thorney Island...Land Reclamation Scheme

In 1870 a John Harrison aged 29 joined the Carnarvon Lodge, meeting at Havant…
(proposed and seconded by the Master of the Union and a Solicitors Clerk from Havant). He is
recorded as a Contractor’s Superintendent and his address is given as Pilsea Island...
The 1871 Census return showed:
John Harrison 29 Foreman of mudworkers born Bradford, Yorks.
Mary Harrison 35 Wife born Coningsby, Lincs.
John Harrison 5 Son born West Thorney.
Minnie Harrison 3 Daughter born West Thorney.
Lillie Harrison 1 Daughter born West Thorney.
Betsy Vinter Sister-in-law shopkeeper/grocer born Coningsby, Yorks.
There were a good many entries of ’Excavators’ from various parts of the country with
their families and staff settled in.
From the above it looks as though the work had been in hand for five years and was fairly
extensive.
John Harrison resigns from ‘Carnarvon’ in January 1881, presumably after the scheme
had been abandoned, but he may have gone elsewhere before 1881 and maintained his
membership for a while.
Church Records may show later additions to the family, and the I881 Census may show
remnants of the employees.
Jack Barrett of Emsworth kindly researched this information regarding Pilsea Island.

There once was an attempt to join Pilsey Island to Chidham but

a great gale blew up and whipped the sea up so that it breached
the ‘barrage’...you can still see the remains of the shingle and
gravel banks...they are well known to the local sailors...

There was an Inn on Pilsea Island. Perhaps built to supply the 500 Dutchmen (plus
horses) employed on the Reclamation Scheme. The concrete base can still be found among the
old Naval paint-testing area, there is a record of a Landlord or Publican living on Pilsea.
According to the West Thorney Church Records, Pilsea was once home to several families
and workmen. There are several records of births, burials and wedding banns.
The Church Warden’s Records for 1754 record many payments for sparrow heads at 1/4d
per head.

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 A map in West Thorney Church for 1872 shows:
“Pilsea Island is now a shingle bank...but in the past it had 15 acres of
cultivated land”.

From a letter written by Ernie Rudkin to me…

Pilsea Island was an attachment to Thorney Island and was for a long time in the charge of
the Admiralty. It was used as a research ground for paint - testing. For my brother David and
me it was our camping-ground each year at holiday-time. It also had quite a population of
rabbits, very healthy rabbits...
I did read in one of the daily newspapers that the headless body of Commander ‘Buster’
Crabb ‘visited’ the place a short time after he went missing whilst on duty as a diver in the
fifties…

Pilsea...sometimes Pilsey

I have been unable to find certain derivation of name...some suggestions are that it was
named after the ‘Piles’ between South Thorney and the island...shown on navigation
charts...sand and gravel banks...or perhaps after ‘piles’...stakes driven in the sand to mark the
way and prevent sea erosion...or...and I like this suggestion...it was called so because the outline
resembles a giant haemorrhoid...known as a ‘pile’!

Some extracts regarding Pilsea Island from West Thorney Parish Records

PILSEA ISLAND...William Elizabeth (Surname Pilsey?...illegitimate?)

1864 Fisherman Davis
1864 Engineer Pilsea Island
1813 Cont...Ayling...Fogle…Husbandmen...Mariner
Occupations listed are...Bricklayers…Contractor’s Agents
SAVAGE...address given as MUDLANDS
CHAPMAN...Engine driver
FOGDEN...Hay and Corn Merchant
Lieutenant in Royal Artillery...Rope Maker
I869 Blacksmith Ide? wed Servant Broadwater/Savage
1873 Samuel Caplin Bugley...London...found drowned at Pilsea from a boat accident at
Portsmouth June 14th 1873.
1922 August Unknown man...fully formed...found in the mud at Pilsea Island.

Pilsea Paint Testing

Metal panels were used to test paint for camouflage and sea resistance for battle ships.
There were racks of metal discs ½in. x 3 in. all in different colours...black…
white...grey...brown...6 racks and a storage shed...

Ernie clearly remembers a huge bush growing on Pilsea Island...it was yellow and without
thorns. It started as a small bush but rapidly grew to about six feet tall...and eventually about
forty feet wide. Ernie said all the rabbits lived underneath it. He remembered no trees on
Pilsea as it was too windswept and exposed to the salt air. The sea never totally covered Pilsea
and he and my father would camp on the shore sand…below the grass and just above the high

75
tide line...the wind was usually South West…

LARGE USA CARGO SS WICOOLA...7000 Ton sheltered off Pilsea Island 1953 during
storm...for two weeks or so? Then she settled on the mud in the soft flat mussel beds and stuck
fast...returned empty...to East Stoke Point?...the water there was never more than six feet deep.
Noel Pycroft, Hayling Island adds…”She was bound for Portsmouth when she grounded, her
bows supported by ‘camels’...wooden trestles so that she could be unloaded...eventually
returning to the USA”.

My father slept on the beach, and Ernie inside the tent. On one very hot morning they
balanced a mirror on top of a cooking pot so that they could shave...the mirror reflected the sun
onto the methylated spirits on the primus stove and the whole lot ignited and burnt the tent,
which they buried...along with the cans of food. They retrieved the food four years later, bully
beef and peas which they ate!

We...(Ernie and David) once saw two herons on the beach...the poor things were injured
and we were able to catch them...they had been washed ashore, by the sea...from the sea or
perhaps the Deep. They had possibly been shot and left to die. We hastily and humanely put
them out of their pain. There were only three elm trees large enough for heron to nest on
Thorney Island...the biggest elms were cut down by J.D. Foster, Boatbuilder of Emsworth, for
shipmaking...his whole fleet of about 20 ships were all constructed from local wood...from
Thorney Island...Stansted Forest...Warblington...the wood would be left to season for two years
in the Bunny log-pond...covered in sea-mud to make it easier to work with.
This ‘mudhole’ was by the Slipper Mill pond...near the floodgates by the tall brick
chimney...

Father told me there were many sea birds on Pilsea Island who were quite tame...that the
sand was beautifully clean and that he remembered seeing oyster-catchers and ringed plovers.

Map of Pilsea Island 1834 More recent map showing how tides have
Copied by E Fuller of Chichester from the changed the outline
Thorney Island Award Map which shows
allotments, freeholds, life holds, glebes and
tithes

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 PILSEA ‘CRUISE’

In the sixties Father once invited a young teaching colleague from Birmingham to spend a
day and night on 'Rosemary'. Father had a mischievous sense of humour...and I think he must
have tacitly implied to this young man that Pilsea Island was a palm-fringed paradise...and that
'Rosemary' was akin to the Royal Yacht Britannia...because this innocent man came down from
Birmingham laden with two heavy suitcases full of evening dress and expensive shirts and
shoes etc...also a heavy hold-all full of Thomas Hardy novels and Mahler tapes. It was late
evening when they set off in the rubber tender to 'Rosemary' from the hard at West Thorney.
The young man’s face was puzzled...of course he was not able to take any of his posh clothes or
shoes and Father had to lend him a pair of canvas deck pumps two sizes too large…and some
waterproof ‘wets’. Thomas Hardy went aboard...but the Mahler didn’t. I waved them off.
Next evening on the tide they returned...Father with his pipe of St. Bruno puffing away and a
seraphic grin on his face...and a wicked twinkle in his blue eyes...the young man’s face
however was set in pain and bright red and peeling with sunburn. He had not brought a sun-cap
and...much to his sartorial embarrassment Father had made him a ‘jury’ hat from a large
handkerchief knotted at each corner. The evening was completed with a lovely feast of rump
steak cooked on the faithful little primus stove in an ancient frying pan…the peas and ‘spuds’
being boiled together in an aluminium tea pot. The meal was washed down with hot mugs of
tea brewed in the same tea pot.

Smuggling

There are several references to smuggling on Pilsea Island in the next section…

Furze Bushes

Ernie mentions a yellow bush on Pilsea and I found this poignant reference. “He said
Wickor Point was so called because the ‘wickor’ (small boat or coracle) was rowed there from
Emsworth of a Sunday...unless it was too rough...once...when there were no wages the women
went to Pilsea where they scraped the rind off the furze bushes…
...even the sea boots...universal among the men were put to use in hard times by using old
soles as gaiters.
The writer mentions a Vidlers Boat...a flat bottomed centre-keeled boat...fore and aft
rigged...lug sail.

Part of the Thorney Manor

Estate Sale Handbook June 1927
Showing Pilsea Island details

77
 SOME INTERESTING SNIPPETS ABOUT THORNEY ISLAND

Ernie Rudkin gazes nostalgically at the photograph of his brother David in the David Rudkin
Room at the Emsworth Museum on the occasion of his 92nd birthday July 25 1997.

78
 June 1927
Notice of sale of Thorney Manor Estate

79
The Manor House Thorney Island-late 1920s

Thorney Village-late 1920s

Both by kind permission of Peter Rogers

80
 Map of Thorney Island in 1912
Showing West Thorney Church, Rectory, Old School, the Smithy and Elm Tree Farm. Notice
the avenue of trees (elms?) leading to the Manor House and the row of trees going southwards
on east shore. Elm Tree Farm is now beneath the runway but I was able to trace the grounds.

81
 Some Archeological Finds on Thorney Island

1 WEST THORNEY EARLY IRON AGE...POTSHERDS

3 1913 W.THORNEY...found flint working site…ROMAN...(Rev. Crookshank)
4 FLINT KNAPPING SITE...Pre Roman.
5 Undated human occupation site on the shore...black earth and pot boilers (stone or
clay feet to support pots on fire) and oyster shells...
6 NEOLITHIC…flint working site
7 Coastal working site (coloured flint) no date charcoal...broken shells Salt-works
8 Few Roman fragments found at Wickor Point…
9 Roman ditch under airfield...2nd. & 3rd. Century...some tiles... in Church…
10 Pre Roman flint tool…
11 Bronze age urn and worked flints under airfield…Neolithic Celtic flint tool…
Group Captain Eccles RAF found a jar and shards on Thorney Island in 1948.
Pre historic flints found in Thorney channel.
Evidence of Roman saltworks at Stanbury Point (Estuary).
Between Thorney Island and Bosham & (Prinsted & Chidham) 400 flint scrapers have
been found, part of the archaeological finds on Thorney.
Bronze Age Funerary Urn...found on Thorney Island in April 1936 by Rev. Frederick H.
Arnold. Now in Tongdean, Hove, East Sussex.
Information kindly supplied by Melanie Barge

Various references mentioned at the West Sussex Record Office…

AGLAND… Manor of West Thorney Estate

Manor of Bicklands
1711…West Thorney…(Seamans)
1773…The Seven Manors of West Thorney

Later sources of information regarding Thorney Island

West Thorney Rural District Council Records...

Westbourne Rural District Council Records...
Records concerning smuggling in Emsworth...(see David Rudkin Emsworth Books).
Some records concerning cereals and immunity from vermin...
References to plants...game...bird…resort on Thorney…’The Gunner’
1800 reference to the Manor of Thorney Island
1900 reference to the Squire on Thorney Island
1927 reference to the Manor Estate on Thorney Island
1936 Article and photo of Thorney Village
1939-1945 Reminiscences of Thorney Island Airfield
1973 Thorney Island Womens Institute
1973 Thorney Island Action Association
Oral history from the W.S.R.O...17(256). A tape with transcript describes action on 18th
August 1940 when German planes raided the airfield at Thorney Island...there was a dogfight
between Hurricanes and Stukas...
82
 The Chichester Observer printed photographs and eye witness accounts of various air
actions over the area
Brooks 1993—Sussex Airfields in WWII.

Various references to Thorney Island include:

West Thorney Crown Presentation...The Church Bell…streams…church…

Common fire...Dedication of the Church…
1833...reference to farms...Heath....Parsonage
1834...Map of Thorney Island.

FROM THE SUSSEX ARCHIVE COLLECTION XXXII

Thorney Island acreage...population...Islet of Pilsea

Ferry Boat…none…Public House…Private houses
Poll Tax under Charles II...Poll Indentures...Large size of Church...

THORNEY ISLAND INVADED AGAIN!! Daily Express Feb. 12th. 2001

A giant owl which went AWOL for seven months has swapped the delights of dive-
bombing soldiers for nights in with his girl friend. Stan, a Canadian great horned owl ruled the
roost on top of a NAAFI at the Thorney Island Royal Artillery base in West Sussex after
escaping from his owners. To the irritation of the Army the bird whiled away the hours
swooping on personnel in between scavenging for food. But not any more - Stan has been
reunited with his mate Abel after being coaxed down by his owners, Noel and Michael Pannell,
who run a falconry centre. Stan disappeared when he glided over the head of his keeper last
summer. Noel, 70, said; “It is great to have him back, we did miss him badly. He and Abel
have been inseparable since he got back”.

‘The Story Of Thorney Island’ by Rev. A.C. Crookshank…reprinted 1957

At time of writing I have been unable to contact the family of the Rev.
A.C.Crookshank..who died some years ago. The Publishers of his delightful little book…’The
Story Of Thorney Island’ have no record of their whereabouts. So...unable to gain permission
to quote from his book I do so with apologies...and in good faith.

The last hopeful paragraph from his book reads thus...

...”One day, when the world has learnt the folly of war, there will be another evacuation
from Thorney. It may be many years ahead, but then the farm folk will return, the ploughs will
go to and fro, over the flying ground and Thorney will grow the best roots in Sussex again.
They will still need the Church to mother them. It is for us to see that it is handed down, fit to
carry on its work, and to add more centuries to its long history”.

83
 1665
Map of Emsworth Harbour showing north west Thorney …
still an Island
Drawn by La Favelure
British Library

84
 ‘Thorney Island’
built by J. D. Foster of Emsworth

‘Thorney Island’ delivering coal to Portsmouth

85
 “Thorney Island”

I include two beautiful photographs of this lovely collier...built by J. D. Foster of

Emsworth (see The Emsworth Oyster Fleet by David Rudkin). They were in an envelope in
my father’s study…

Fountain Inn

This is marked on the old maps…opposite the Smithy. Smithy Lane marks the site…at
the old crossroads…just before the church. The Inn stood west to the church...when the
fishermen visited the Inn they had to wear ‘mudpads’ to stop sinking into the mud and sand…

Thorney Island Soldiers to the Rescue...April 2001

Soldiers from Thorney Island barracks have been called upon to assist the government
with the ‘foot and mouth’ crisis...by administration, logistics and reconnaisance of farms. A
giant straw mat for vehicles has been put across the entry to the Island to help prevent spread of
the disease in the area.

A 1594 Marine Survey Map

Held in the Naval Museum Madrid shows Chichester Cathedral Spire as a Naval
Landmark...it also shows what looks like Thorney Island.
Information from Glen Bowker
Thorney Island Blacksmith

Noel Pyecroft of Hayling Island told me that the last blacksmith on Thorney Island was
Mr. ‘Squaff’ Barron, probably Steve. His son lives on Hayling Island. He has a photograph of
his father and also a square foot of silk from a parachute that landed on Thorney Island...I think
he said there was a body attached...alive or dead I do not know!!
Noel Pyecroft’s grandmother was employed at Thorney Island Manor House.

Rocks

Noel Ryecroft also informed me there are one or two large rocks off the southern tip of
Thorney Island...they are black/brown Sarcen stones carried there by glaciers in the Ice Age.
There are some also at West Wittering and Snow Hill Creek...also some stones known as
‘Erratic Boulders’ in Mill Rythe Creek...locally known as ‘Devil’s Stones’...is this what Ernie
and my father saw in their childhood?

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 Thorney Island Old School

Emsworth museum contains a hanging display board with information on Thorney Island
and the Old School. This was in West Thorney in Church Road...nearly opposite the
Rectory...there are two photogarphs of the school...children and School Mistress. I include
some interesting extracts:
The school was built in 1856...windows and doors were made of West African
hardwood...windows were large and south facing...there was a grassy area for recreation.
(Ernie mentions this lovely grassy playground).
1858—1940 Records:
dimensions 21 feet long
12 feet wide
6 ft. 6in. high
1886 enlarged to 23 feet wide
1901 play area 125 sq. yards
1933 land for playing field provided...school described as ‘single room...dark...with poor
heating and ventilation’
1937 electric lighting installed...probably due to RAF occupation
1886} School Inspectors condemned the school
1910} lavatories as ‘neither wind nor water-tight
1922} and smelly’
Many of the pupils parents were labourers and farm hands...some are recorded as
‘chauffeur’…’engine driver’ and ‘Blacksmith’.
In 1878 there were 17 pupils
1939 there were 14 pupils
Pupils were aged 3-13 years. An 1890 Teacher’s Log records: many of the children are
backward...ill-mannered...many not able to read and write yet. Reasons for absence
recorded: ‘harvest’, ‘gleaning’, ‘blackberry picking’, ‘beating after a shoot’. The Log
records that often the children arrived soaked due to bad weather and state of the road and
had to be sent home. The teacher turnover was high...some stayed for only one term.
RAF children swelled the numbers but by 31 May 1940 they had all left...School closed
1st June 1940.
Thanks to Emsworth Museum

TRADE DIRECTORY THORNEY ISLAND 1926

Includes about 40 names…(one surname is Pennicott...Ernie remembers a nurse

Pennicott)...several different occupations and some lovely house names...Myrtle
Grove...Meadow Sweet...Fir Tree Cottage...Black House. Several farms are named: Thornham
Farm, Eames Farm (site recently became a bird hide), Wadeway Farm, Westfield Farm, Elm
Tree Farm, Marker Farm. Also Church Terrace...Rectory...The Glebe Mill House (Chidham
Lane)...Sewerage Works...The Bungalow...The Lodge...The Manor House and School View.
Thanks to Emsworth Museum

RICHARD WILLIAMSON...local Naturalist and writer very kindly gave me permission

to reproduce some of his article on Thorney Island. (Copyright Chichester Observer
Newspapers)
How did a roe deer get onto Thorney Island, and why was it lying dead on the edge of the
Great Deep?

87
 On Saturday I was doing my monthly wildfowl count for the Harbour Conservancy and as
usual scanning the Deeps for little grebes. But my glasses picked up a dead roe deer lying half
in the water. It was the first one I had ever seen there, though others may well have seen them.
Thorney Island is almost cut off from the wild country to the north by suburbia and the
railway. But having come in via that still (for how long?) lovely little bit of wild wood around
Hermitage after avoiding the electric rails, crossing the main road, the animal still had to swim
the Deep. But that, of course, is perfectly feasible too. There is a record in about 1960 of a roe
deer swimming strongly across Chichester Harbour from Chidham to Hayling Island, landing at
Tournerbury...the deer I saw had not been trapped in mud, and my guess is that it may have
succumbed to hypothermia brought on by torrential rain...
Black-tailed godwits can be seen at Thorney Island...after being extinct in Britain since
1830.
Little egrets also now colonising Sussex...Pure strands of Phragmites...habitat of Little
Deep
Three osprey ‘magnificent raptors’ which are bigger than buzzards spent more than a
month in Chichester Harbour recently...seen around Thorney Island and Chidham...also known
as ‘fish-hawks’...on their way back from Scotland...Scandinavia...going back to Africa for
Winter at Great Deep.
Richard Wlliamson ©

A brief over-view of bird-life on Thorney Island now...February 2001

Thorney Island and the surrounding intertidal habitats are probably the best places for
birds in Chichester Harbour. The most important areas are Pilsey, where the island and
adjacent sands host a spectacular roost of shore birds in the winter months, and the Deeps,
which are the wetland areas north of the current military site. Here the mixture of permanent
water, shallow seasonal pools, reedbeds and wet grassland is ideal for rare breeding species
such as Lapwing, Redshank and Reed Bunting in summer, and in winter supports thousands of
wildfowl and waders. Brent geese graze amongst the former runways where in summer
Skylarks breed; birds of prey can be spotted anywhere.

(With grateful thanks to Anne de Potier Conservation Officer

Chichester Harbour Conservancy)

At time of going to press I saw a planning application in the Chichester Observer..for a

bird observation hide at Eames Farm, Thorney Road, Thorney Island...for Chichester Harbour
Conservancy...
...also the Observer reported that 10,000 new trees had been planted on Thorney Island to
make a new five acre wood.
These actions are good news...hopefully the Island will regain its lovely sylvan habitat and
swarming birdlife
Conservation continues on Thorney Island, and Emsworth and District Wild fowlers and
Conservation Association were recently reported in local press for clearing a pond in Avocet
Quay on the island.

Thorney Island Soldiers Help Conservation

It was recently reported in the press that soldiers from 47 RA Barracks on Thorney Island

88
helped to plant thousands of new trees around the island...including a mini forest. On my last
visit...Spring 2001...I saw these lovely saplings...some were thorn trees. I hope these grow well
and it is good to know that one day they will provide a safe habitat for birds and insects etc…
and that once again Thorney Island will be ‘brimming’ with all kinds of wild life...as Ernie
remembers it.

Smuggling

There have always been stories about smuggling around Emsworth...mentioned in The
Emsworth Series books by my father David Rudkin...earlier I mentioned West Thorney Church
in this connection. In the West Sussex Record Office I came across an interesting letter about
smuggling on Thorney Island written in 1933. It is too long to include here but it refers to the
dangers of traversing the tidal waters to the island and the gated road mentioned by
Ernie…’mud up to your knees in winter’...and ‘just off Pilsea Isle the land is being continually
washed away...about 6 feet a year’...and ‘it will go all the way some day’.
The writer mentions prize winning Shire horses also...then goes on to say that a
‘lot’...contraband...was dropped at Pilsea and Wickor Point.
‘Stuff was left in the Deeps’...some going to the Inn Keeper (Fountain Inn on Thorney or
the Inn on Pilsea?) 3 gallon tubs of spirits were found once...and 50 tubs of brandy and rum
were once brought to Wickor Barn by cart...the horses hooves wrapped in sacking...they were
hidden under a ‘dung-mix’ beneath a bed. The Excise Men were not allowed to look under or
in a bed.

A Drowning in the Deeps

The letter writer mentions the drowning of a baker-lad and his horse...mentioned
earlier...and gives some more details. The baker’s lad was returning to the mainland and the
incoming tide had covered the ‘riding stops’...posts driven in the Deeps to indicate water level.
A native of Thorney Island...mentioned in the T.I. Trade Index...1926...and in the ‘Evacuation
of Thorney’ (press coverage)...one Harry Savage...warned the baker’s lad not to attempt to
cross the Deep...but the lad was anxious to get home and unwilling to wait for the tide to
recede...so whipping up his horse he carried on...he and his horse both drowned and the cart
washed away.
Another part of the letter refers to him being asked to deliver a cask of beer to the
island...he replied…”I had a cart with a big tail board but that cask he swims about in the cart
when I come across the Big Deep”.
The same Harry Savage told the letter writer this tale...One winter 2 women said they
must get across the Deeps but the road was already flooded 3ft. A tall man volunteered to ‘pig-
a-back’ them over and safely carried one over. The other woman was ‘stout’ and halfway over
he stopped dead...due to the heavy wind which was lashing the waves…”You be gurt heavy and
I be afeared I’ll have to let you down” he said...and she went plop into the water.

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 COINCIDENCE...SPRING - 2000

I was sitting next to a lady at Southbourne Parish Church after a Womens’ World Day of
Prayer Service. We introduced ourselves and the lady told me she lived on Thorney
Island...and of course my ears pricked up. I told her that my Grandparents and Father had lived
in Thorney Road…”what number?” she asked…”Number 14” I replied. Would you believe
it...she too lived at number 14...in the very same house. This lady very kindly invited me to
tea…here is my memory of that visit.…
I felt a lovely warm sense of peace, as if the years of prayer and fellowship had permeated
the walls. The actual layout of the house is exactly the same as when Ernie and my father lived
there in 1910…even the stair case is the same...where, my father told me...one day when he was
about eight years old he had tried to ‘escape’ upstairs from a very important Christian healer
and Minister who had come over to the house after a Prayer meeting at the Mission Hall in
Thorney Road. This good man promptly laid hands on my father’s tousled head and told him
that one day he would be a great Preacher. My father thought this was hilarious...but the man’s
prediction was true and my father did indeed become a great Preacher many years later.
It felt wonderful to be standing in the little parlour where my grandmother had held prayer
meetings...to see the back bedroom where my father and brother Ernie had escaped down the
drain pipe...to walk down the garden path.
I felt I had come home here...and was thankful that the good lady who lives there now
carries on the Christian Evangelical tradition of the house...
Upon leaving her home that evening I was very surprised to find the door to the Mission
Hall wide open…so being a Rudkin…that is naturally curious...I walked in. There was a man
mending a boat...stacks of boat tackle…boxes and piles of what looked like ‘clutter’ and right
ahead over what would have been the stage was a lovely Biblical scroll text….Jesus Christ The
Same Yesterday Today and Forever...the only visible evidence of the rousing Worship that had
gone on there in the past. I imagined my grandmother…Mother Mildred Mary…standing there
preaching…praying....and my father David and brother Ernie there as youngsters…my auntie
Winnie playing the harmonium, a very special and emotional moment. My great grand parents
lived at No.3 Thorney Road. When she was widowed my great grandmother had a very brief
stay at Westbourne workhouse—unfortunately the records for that time were destroyed in a fire.

May 2000
An old Biblical text still hangs on the wall of the Thorney Road Mission

90
 JULY 2001

To celebrate his 96th birthday, Ernie Rudkin, together with his two sons and their wives,
and my brother David, joined me for a celebration weekend. We visited the Emsworth
Museum and the David Rudkin Room where Ernie was presented with two oral history
tapes...one commemorating the opening of the Museum and the other a conversation between
my father David Rudkin and Jack Barrett concerning Rowlands Castle.
I interviewed Ernie about his early memories of Thorney Island.
Then we all met at my father’s home in Westbourne where I now live. We indulged in a
birthday tea for Ernie...complete with jelly and birthday cake...alight with 1 candle and a little
blue train of candles...Ernie loves steam trains!
In the evening we continued the celebrations at the Crown Hotel, Emsworth...where there
was much jollification and animated conversation.
On the Sunday morning we met at the Guard Post on Thorney Island—home of the 47th
Regiment, Royal Artillery. Having previously been granted permission to visit we were then
escorted down to West Thorney Church by a charming officer. We looked round the church
and met the army chaplain and some of the congregation. We were glad to see that two
weddings had taken place on the Saturday and that two christenings were to happen on that
Sunday during the service. As we were leaving the church a young lady introduced herself as a
‘Sprackling’...one of the farming family still resident on Thorney Island as mentioned earlier.
We spent some time in the beautiful churchyard and Ernie and son David placed a posy of
flowers on the Clayton graves...they were his childhood friends. Just by the tower we came
upon a small pigeon fledgeling...newly dead…having fallen from a tree...its tiny white down
fluttering in the breeze. We looked at the war graves...then suddenly Ernie was off...over a wall
to find the quiet little secluded creek that he remembered from his childhood. From there we
walked to the 1933 crash plaque...seeing some of the hundreds of new saplings planted on the
island...many of them being ‘thorn’ trees. Ernie and family had earlier visited Payne’s
Boatyard off Thornham Lane...they were sorry to have missed Glen Bowker, my father’s friend
who runs the boatyard...they hope to see him next time!
We had lunch at a local inn then went off in our three car convoy to Rowlands Castle
where over tea and cakes we continued with catching up on family news and talking over old
times...then it was time to go our separate ways.

Cathy and Ernie at the Crown Hotel Emsworth Ernie ready to cut his birthday cake
on the occasion of his 96th birthday helped by his son David
Westbourne July 2001
91
PRESENT TIMES...CATHY RUDKIN

Thornham Grange is still there… the remains of an old brick barn that used to belong to
Farmer Percy Clayton was at the junction of Thorney Road and Thornham...but I do not
think it was there on my last visit...it was partly hidden by tall thorns...and the ground
was very marshy. The lanes and some paths are still there if you know where to look...but
sadly much clearing and building is going on. I found plenty of thorn bushes.. .so thankfully the
very living things which gave Thorney Island its ancient name are still in evidence...also they give
food and shelter to birds and wildlife. The new Marina off Thorney Road is fairly well concealed…
and I was pleased to see many old trees still growing there...also a beautiful avenue of willow trees.
The row of fishermen's cottages at the end of Thorney Road are still there...where my great
grandparents lived...and...of course the Tin Tabernacle...the Mission Hall opposite…
mentioned elsewhere in this book. I am glad that the Christian Pentecostal tradition of
Thorney Island still lives on.. .and the New Life Christian Church is thriving in larger
premises there. Ernie remembers a spring or well at the centre of the Island...he said it was clear
and surrounded by beautiful trees...he remembers the Manor House and some farm buildings
nearby...I searched but did not find the spring...but there are some beautiful willow trees still
standing. I wonder if they are the same ones Ernie remembered...
The main inhabitants now are the creatures and hedges and trees...flowers...grasses and pastures…
the Armed Services thankfully saved the British Islands from invasion...I believe there was a
planning application from a large holiday camp company in the sixties...thankfully refused.
One compensation of Army occupation is that most of the Island being out of bounds for civilians
keeps some of the natural beauty intact and preserved. There may well be much ancient...and more
recent history buried beneath the runways. The Church and graveyard remain lovely and tranquil..
a sad place when you see so many young names on the War Graves.
My prayer is that Thorney Island will be allowed to go wild again one day.

Ernie Rudkin celebrating his 95th birthday

92
 1998
Dried Flowers and Leaves gathered from Thorney
Island

93
BIBLIOGRAPY

A History of England – Bede

Bourne in the Past

Domesday Book

Old Emsworth – David Rudkin

Oxford Dictionary of Place Names

Little Guide to Thorney Island Church – Revd C. K. Philipson

The Hermitage and the Slipper – David Rudkin

The Story of Thorney Island – Revd Crookshank

Various Hampshire and West Sussex Newspapers and Periodicals