A Description of Activities
By Susan Lickfold (Mrs. F. R.)
The first ever Lickfold family gathering was held on Saturday. May 10, 2003. The event was organized by Gordon Lickfold, and was held at the Lickfold Inn in Lickfold, and the Noah's Ark Inn in Lurgashall. The two inns are less than a mile apart.
At this writing, I do not know the actual count of the attendees of the Gathering. Gordon was expecting over 130. Not being a good judge of crowds, I really don't know how many of us there were. But it took us aback somewhat to see throngs of people wearing nametags that said "Lickfold" on them!
The group had to be split into two groups so that the two inns could take care of all of us for lunch. Afterwards we took big group pictures on the village green. In any event, I would imagine that it was the largest gathering of Lickfolds in one place at the same time in recent memory-if ever. A number of countries were represented. We even had a relative attending from Portugal
Gordon provided us with a wonderful booklet he had assembled for the event. This contained the agenda, maps of the area, a list of attendees and where they were from, some historical clippings, and a listing of family gravesites in the churchyard of St. Laurence Church in Lurgashall, including the inscriptions on the monuments where readable. But the most valuable portion of the booklet is the family trees for the seven branches of the family. The trees represent an enormous amount of time and effort on Gordon's part and detail how one can trace his or her ancestors back to Walto de Lykfold, who lived at Lickfold in 1297 and 1332.
Each group had an opportunity to meet with Gordon and Rev. Lusted, the Vicar of St. Laurence, for some additional information and background on the area. There was therefore plenty of time for those who wished to tour the graves in the churchyard to do so.
The overwhelming number of attendees were from the United Kingdom. However, in addition to Gladys Lickfold, who traveled to the gathering from Portugal, there was a small contingent of us who had come to the gathering from the USA. These included Fred and Susan Lickfold and daughter Linda Leigh Lickfold, Nellie and Mark Flora (Nellie's mother was a Lickfold), Camilla Powell, whose mother also was a Lickfold, Ray Lickfold and his wife Diane, and Ray's sister Mary Brownell and her husband, Jerry. Nellie, Fred, Camilla and Linda Leigh are descended from Alfred Lickfold of Northchapel, Sussex, who emigrated to Ontario in 1848. Ray and Mary are descendants of Alfred's brother John, who also emigrated to Canada and then to Washington State.
Since all of the above had traveled so far to the Gathering, we continued to spend time in and around Lickfold and the area for the next two days. Fred and I, who were staying with Mary Lickfold and her son Robert in Lee-on-Solent and her sister-in-law Pam Olsen (nee Lickfold) traveled back to Lurgashall the next day to attend church. The following account is from my journal.
We awakened at 6:30 a.m. to bright sunshine. Bathed and dressed for church and went down for breakfast. Mary, Pam, Fred and I set off for church at St. Laurence in Lurgashall. We arrived without incident but about 10 minutes late-arriving in time for the Gospel reading and homily. The congregation and Vicar greeted us after the service.
The church has undergone some refurbishing since we last attended in 1984. They have added a lovely millennium stained glass window in the rear of the church, and a new red carpet which goes down the aisle and up into the Sanctuary. We admired again the Baptismal Font we had seen before, and were informed it was the "new" one (from the 1600's) because the original font had been broken by Oliver Cromwell's followers. A large piece of the broken font is on display in the entry.
We spent some time poking around the graveyard in front of the church. The yew tree which shelters so many of the Lickfold graves is at least 400 years old. It is amazing to think that tree was growing there before our Revolutionary War.
We walked around the Lickfold village green, which was being prepared for a cricket match, until the Noah's Ark Pub allowed us in at noon, We had lunch with Gladys Lickfold from Portugal, Mark and Nellie Flora, and Camilla. Gladys showed us a photo of her grandfather and we all agreed he looked like a Lickfold!
On Monday all five of us (Fred, Susan, Mary, Pam and Robert) set off for Headley Mill. The weather decided not to cooperate-it was mostly drizzly and miserable most of the day. But we enjoyed our brief visit to the mill, where we met Gordon and joined Gladys, Ray and Diane Lickfold, Mark and Nellie Flora, Camilla Powell, and Jerry and Mary Brownell.
We then "did" the Headley churchyard, and found the graves of John and Anna. We now know all of the gravesites for John's and Anna's descendants (with the exception of "Uncle Jack".) We then repaired to the local pub for lunch and a presentation from Joyce Stevens, the lady who currently occupies one of the old Lickfold properties. After lunch, we toured this property. The weather was rainy and kept our visit short. We then went to Lurgashall to see more graves, though we had been to church there the day before.
Following Gordon, we passed Boxholland Farm and wound up at Hillgrove Cottage. This was a lovely estate that had been owned by Lickfolds at one time. The current owners, Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Reed, knocked themselves out to be hospitable to us. It was obvious that the Lickfolds who originally farmed this land were no tenant farmers! In addition to allowing us to explore the lovely house and grounds, they provided a delicious "cream tea," featuring scones with jam and cream, cake, biscuits and shortbread.
The earlier history of the mill is a little vague, and some further investigation into its history is being done just now. (Editor's note: this pamphlet was written in the 1970's) It is almost certain that there was a mill on this site in 1086 (Domesday). It was in the manor of Bishops Sutton and during the nineteenth century was in the ownership of Sir Archibald Macdonald Bart, of Wolmer, his Father and Grandfather for about 100 years. It was then purchased by the present owners' father, the late Frederick Ellis, in 1914.
The west end of the Mill is considered to be 16th century and the centre is obviously much older. In 1796 the bridge was rebuilt, and soon afterwards part of the house was rebuilt and the open water wheel covered in, major reconstructions took place to the fabric of the Mill and all the present water milling machinery was installed so that this contains a very modern layout as water mills go, in fact, the latest in stone flour milling machinery.
A hundred years ago our countryside must have been humming with industry, for we have records of over 50 water mills working within 10 miles of Headley, and now according to a recent survey by the University of Southampton, Headley Mill is the last one still running in the whole of the county of Hampshire, and still carrying out by water power the task for which the Mill was built.