Whenever the topic of horseracing enters the conversation, the obsessed will whisper behind a lifted hand, “The fight that Graham Green describes in ‘Brighton Rock’ is really Lewes, you know.”
They’re not passing on rumours. The fact is that a battle royal between the 1930’s similar to the Peaky Blinders and the police did take place on Lewes racecourse and as the result of brave interventions by the Peelers based in the County Town, broke the power of hoodlum gangs terrorising British racecourses.
And indeed it is true that the fight was the model for the battle royal that is famously fictionalised in Greene’s novel.
Less well known, but perhaps subtly more appealing, is that the cricket match described in A.G Macdonnell’s ‘England, Their England’ between a team of London layabouts, The Invalids and a local village side really did take place, and still does in the village of Rodmell.
“Blue-and-green dragonflies played at hide-and-seek among the thistle-down and a pair of swans flew overhead. An ancient man leaned upon a scythe, his sharpening-stone sticking out of a pocket in his velveteen waistcoat. A magpie flapped lazily across the meadows. The parson shook hands with the squire. Doves cooed. The haze flickered. The world stood still.” (England, Their England).
Substitute the fictitious village name ‘Fordenden’ with Rodmell and Abergavenny Arms for the ‘Three Horse Shoes’ and you have it. Just as described.
The story humorously covers the progress of the match and perfectly captures the mood of 1920/30s England and the perceived quirks of the English character.
During the game, one of the visitors has the ball driven forcefully towards him and before he can fully get out of the way, ends up catching it in an ample midriff.
Congratulated, he flings the ball into the ground and yells “I didn’t want to catch the bloody thing anyway!”
In the same game, an American visitor is invited to play. He hits the ball, throws down his bat and charges off to cover point, which is roughly where first base would be in baseball.
The entire match is played in a sort of alcoholic haze, as both sides demonstrate the famous propensity of the Englishman to naturally drink copious quantities of booze during their athletic endeavours.
If you want your imagination to be translated to reality, Rodmell Cricket Club still plays on the pitch each Sunday and each year the “Invalids” turn up and duly take on the village team in a replay of that famous fictitious, yet real match of 100 years ago.
Rodmell is a picture postcard village of thatched cottages and endless ‘listed’ buildings and 500 or so people. It’s pretty much straight out of an Agatha Christie novel and seeing Miss Marple peddling along on her bicycle doesn’t take much to imagine.
The village has other literary connections, but more of that in a moment.
It looks ancient, quaint and noticeable and, of course, indeed it is.
There is evidence of a settlement there in the Iron Age, giving rise to some locals pointing to hilly terrain nearby as having some ‘strange goings’ on at night.
An early Roman settlement has been discovered nearby and the name probably derived from a Saxon term for Rhod, a wheel and Melin, a Mill.
The village is listed in the Domesday Book and the church is a fine example of early Norman architecture, although the font is actually of Saxon origin.
More evidence that it is pre-Norman comes from the fact it was part of ‘The Manor’ of Harald Godwinson, the last English King to be defeated from an invader in 1066 and the last of the Saxon line.
The term ‘Manor’ in Medieval times didn’t just denote a dwelling. It meant an area under the dominion of a Lord.
However, in Rodmell’s case, there is still a fine example of one of Harald’s manor houses, well enough built to be inhabited today.
The village famousy had another literary giant as a resident.
Virginia Woolf purchased two properties in this part of East Sussex. She bought the ‘Round House’, a peculiar little circular residence on Pipe Passage in Lewes, built in 1802 as a windmill, but in which she never lived.
The other was 17th century Monk’s House in Rodmell, where she both lived and worked in the 1920s and 30s. Her work ‘A Room of One’s Own’ Is considered a literary classic among a number of other critically acclaimed titles. Overseas academics can often be seen wandering the streets of Lewes, enquiring the whereabouts of Virginia Woolf’s ‘Residence’.
Virginia was a controversial character and part of the Bloomsbury Set, a group of trendsetting Edwardian movers and shakers who held a different and radical philosophy of life based on the arts.
Virginia’s sister Vanessa Bell owned Charleston Farm House in the village of Firle on the way to Eastbourne, and reports of hedonistic parties, incest and licentiousness abounded even in her life time.
Most of her writing however was done at Monk’s House and both the ‘summer house’ writing lodge and the main house are open these days to visitors.
Indeed, the naughty party site, Charleston Farm House in the village of Firle is also open to public display, but I’m not sure that I should really encourage you to let your imagination go wild over there.
Rodmell however, has also been a scene of tragedy over the years.
Harald was defeated at Hastings, the village cricketers only just managed to tie the match with their London visitors, a clergyman was famously ousted from his living by Charles II on his restoration for continuing preaching Cromwellian Puritanism and Virginia Woolf committed suicide in 1941.
Aged 59 her artistic temperament and struggles with mental illness are well documented and the stress of the life she led with husband Leonard (who continued to live in Monk’s House until 1969) became too much.
She went for an afternoon walk through the East Sussex countryside, which she loved so well, then finally headed for the River Ouse which flows just south of the village, waded into it and drowned.
Relatively isolated, modern Rodmell has not changed much from those days. It has the usual array of societies to keep the villagers occupied, the pub still serves a decent pint and until very recently, the Blacksmith’s which stood opposite the pub, plied its trade.
Jane Marple will forever cycle its narrow streets and the River Ouse will continue to flow down to the Channel, undisturbed by anything other than the tide.
But Rodmell has several other events to add to its eccentric history.
In 2018, The Abergavenny Arms decided to check the wishing well in front of the pub. The well was used for centuries and provided spring water to the village. When people were dying in the 19th century from polluted water in nearby towns and villages, Rodmell had a clean supply, proving, once more, the village’s importance for the local populace.
More than £1000 was recovered in coins.
A local vineyard, established for many years has been revitalised and is now an award-winning English wine producer.
And the aeroplane came to Rodmell.
Strictly speaking, so called Lewes Airport is situated between three local villages Iford, Southese and Rodmell. Its grass landing strip and the size of the planes using it are restricted.
But an airport it is.
The owners, Swanborough Flying Club, always like to keep the villagers informed of their activities so that there will be no friction between planes landing and taking off and the local community.
So they hold an open day every so often to have a joint knees up and a tantalising odd flight in a stunt plane.
In 2017, the airport outdid itself. It had an elderly but important visitor to pacify the village’s residents.
It was a 1929 Gypsy Moth bi plane.
Beautifully preserved, the gleaming relic sat on view all day for pilots and enthusiasts alike to relish and admire.
But it still made a racket when it arrived. So how did they feel about that?
This Gypsy Moth was built at the same time and the same place as one that became famous.
That one was the plane that Amy Johnson flew to Australia, the first solo flight to the antipodes by a woman.
And that was in 1930, just as Rodmell’s blacksmith was about to bowl the first ball at the opening batsman of the London Invalids on the village cricket square.
Historic you see, So that’s all right then.