Without a doubt we are very lucky to have such a beautiful and historic building
Mid Sussex Local History Group and members of the Facebook group ‘Haywards Heath in Days Gone By‘ kindly shared this old newspaper article and information regarding Oathall’s history before becoming a Veterinary Practice when it was called Fairmile and Luke Stuart for sharing details of the house when it first became a Veterinary Practice.
Planning Permission at ‘Fairmile’ (now Oathall) for building of Garage – 1923
Mid Sussex Times Article – Wednesday 14 July 1943
Haywards Heath Man Wins D.S.O. Four Times.
Haywards Heath naval officer, Commander Edward Albert Gibbs, R.N., has set up a record in the senior service. He has been awarded a third bar to his D.S.O., and is believed to be the first naval man ever to have achieved the distinction of winning the D.S.O. four times.
For 20 years he made his home in Haywards Heath with his widowed mother and his sister at Fairmile, Oathall Road. His mother died four years ago, and Miss Gibbs has recently removed to The Little House, Gander Hill. She has received many messages of congratulations on her brother’s distinction. The award of the third bar to Commander Gibbs’ D.S.O is for “COURAGE AND SKILL in successful actions against enemy submarines”.
Commander Gibbs is a Londoner by birth, his father, Mr. E. A. Gibbs, who died 20 years ago, being on the staff of Messrs Steel Bros., East India Merchants of Rangoon and London. His first school days were spent at Arnold House St. John’s Wood. From there he went to ‘Wellesley Preparatory School, Broadstairs, and then to Dartmouth Naval College, so that the whole of his life, from the days of his youth, has been spent with the Navy.
Interviewed by Mid-Sussex Times reporter, Miss Gibbs, who was born in Rangoon, where her father was engaged in business for his firm, said “My brother was very modest about his successes at the Naval College or in the Service”. We could never get him to talk about them. He was, I believe quite good at all boys’ sports, and in addition was very fond of sailing. When he was home on leave he use to often to partner on the golf course at Pyecombe, Brighton. He was also an accomplished musician, and played the piano well. He married three years ago, and has a son, a jolly little chap just two years old, his wife living in Somerset.
Sussex Police Force HQ Contol Room – 1943
On 1st April 1943, 6 existing Sussex Police Forces comprising East and West Sussex Constabularies and the Boroughs of Hove, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings were amalgamated to become the belated wartime ‘Sussex Police Force’. It was decided the HQ radio control room would be located in a house called Fairmile, Oathall Road, Haywards Heath. A medium wave radio network was set up linking each Sussex District HQ with ‘the Heath’ and this is where the photo below was taken. The radio was also linked to operate with the master station at Regional HQ, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
The combined Sussex Police Force ceased to exist on 1st April 1947 and the component Forces reverted to their pre-1943 status with the exception of Hove Borough which was permanently amalgamated with the East Sussex Constabulary much to the chagrin of its members! The control room was moved from Fairmile to the top storey of the old Lewes police station in West Street and transferred to Malling House, Lewes in 1948 when it became HQ of East Sussex Constabulary. It still fulfills the role of the County Police HQ and now shares accommodation with East Sussex Fire Service.
The Sussex police forces would again be amalgamated on 1st January 1968 as the Sussex Constabulary and again renamed Sussex Police in 1974.
In the photo below is Constable Fred Brooks who was Inspector at Haywards Heath in 1965. Using the radio is Sergeant John Bridger later Inspector at Battle and Superintendent William ‘Bill’ Britton is on the right.
Farlington School – Pre 1950’s
The buildings comprising Farlington School once surrounded the property known as Fairmile – the School relocated in the mid 1950s -Farlington Close and Farlington Avenue now occupy much of the old site.
The beginning of Oathall Vets
The practice was originally established around 1910 by Henry Taylor MRCVS and was located first at Sunnyside and then at Ormerod House, both in Haywards Heath. Kenneth Stuart, Henry’s son-in-law, took over at Fairmile in 1940 under the name of Mr K Stuart.
In 1976, Mr Stuart’s son Anthony took over the practice when companion animals became more popular, and the farm side dwindled.
In the early days the building was very different from how it is now. There was just one consulting room and one operating theatre, and the rest of the building was used as a private residence.
Each upstairs room had a bell which was connected to a switch board in one of the downstairs rooms which later became a second operating theatre and the top two floors had original gas light lamps on the walls – these were used but converted to electric. There were only two radiators in the whole house and no central heating. The heating in the upstairs of the house was purely gas fires, and the hot water was provided by a gas boiler which was located in the basement. The house was one of the first in the area to have solar hot water.
Kenneth Stuart was a well-respected surgeon and, in his spare time, was a great fisherman and won dozens of prizes for gardening, especially roses, rhododendrons, and azaleas. The front gardens were both to the left and right of the house and the drive originally only had a turning space for a couple of cars. In fact there were apparently a couple of old Austin 10 cars found in the bushes it was so overgrown! The carpark was, at first, only on the left hand side and could fit just 5 cars and the large pine tree in the black & white photo below fell during the great storm of 1987 and was big enough to touch the house – luckily without causing damage!
Present Day
Moving on we uncovered hundreds of old medical equipment & bottles collected by Kenneth Stuart. This is just a tiny portion with some local history including the milk bottle from the Lindfield dairy.
Now a days, our building still retains many original features including the beautiful stained glass entrance doors which you will see when visiting us and as a local business we are proud to have such a historic building.
We are always looking for information regarding our building’s history so if you have any details or photos that you would be willing to share please drop us an email here
