This is Sussex --THE seat of local government in north east Sussex has moved yet again, and Wealden District Council's 1980s state-of-the-art buildings in Pine Grove are practically empty. Except, of course, for the county library branch, which maintains a stoic existence on the first floor above the vacated offices.
So Hailsham has won the long battle which began even before the reorganisation of local government in 1974, when the two councils – Uckfield and Hailsham Rural Districts – were reluctantly forced into what many regarded as a shotgun marriage. Now Starfield, in Beacon Road, Crowborough, where Uckfield Rural Council met for many years, is just a memory, remembered by the name of a modern housing estate built on its site.
And that is a matter of regret, for Starfield, nearly 800 feet above sea level on the summit of Crowborough Beacon, had established a place in history long before the councillors and clerks took possession.
The house was built about 1890 by Dr Isaac Roberts, a distinguished astronomer. He chose the site for reasons of climate and sunshine. It was a gracious house, standing in about four acres, which included a double tennis court and covered badminton court.
It contained an observatory with a revolving copper dome and a 20-inch reflecting telescope with which, in 1894, Dr Roberts took photographs of nebulae which ranked among the best of their kind. By using long exposures of up to three hours he was able to demonstrate the spiral character of many of the nebulae outside the Milky Way, an achievement which won him scientific acclaim.
Dr Roberts continued his researches at Starfield until his unexpected death on a hot Sunday morning in July 1904. At the inquest two days later it was said that heart failure had been accelerated by the heat.
The Kent and Sussex Courier's obituary notice described him as "a well-known and widely esteemed astronomer who was regarded as one of the greatest living authorities on the science and who had made a valuable contribution to scientific literature: "He lived a strenuous life in the interests of the science he loved so well".
Dr Roberts was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a member of the Geological Society, and a Doctor of Science of Dublin University.
In May 1928 Starfield was on the market, and by mid-June it had been sold before auction. Uckfield Rural Council, then occupying cramped quarters in Church Street, Uckfield, snapped up a bargain at £3,500.
In January 1929 a public inquiry was held at the old Oddfellows Hall at Crowborough into the council's application to borrow this sum.
The council was then paying a rent of £40 a year for its accommodation in Uckfield which, the Ministry of Health inspector was told, was "totally inadequate".
One of the witnesses said that the mass of population justified the move to Crowborough. Objectors claimed that the price was "too high", and that the offices would be in the wrong place, only 100 yards from the boundary of the neighbouring East Grinstead Rural Council.
A Mayfield parish councillor said that Hadlow Down would be a more central location – foreshadowing an argument which surfaced again years later when Wealden District Council was formed by amalgamating Uckfield and Hailsham Rural Councils. Some thought the new offices should be at Heathfield.
But in 1929 Uckfield councillors got their loan. They met at Starfield for the first time on Monday, September 30. Mr Francis Barchard, who in 1929 had been elected chairman for the 24th successive year, congratulated the general purposes committee on the excellence of the arrangements which had been made, "both as regards the offices and the council chamber"
By 1934 the council's staff had increased from 17 to 29, and it was agreed to spend just over £4000 on alterations and adaptations to the building, including the provision of a new council chamber. A report said that the heavy increase in office work made new accommodation necessary.
The new council chamber, which those of us of the local Press remember with affection, was used for the first time in October 1935.
The Kent and Sussex Courier reported that it formed part of an entirely new building - "For the first time it will be possible for the public to attend, as ample seating room has been provided.
Nearly 40 years later came the reorganisation of local government. Meetings of the new Wealden District Council were held at Starfield, but by the mid-1980s plans for the Pine Grove offices had been approved. Wealden met there for the first time in February 1988. Twelve or so years later Starfield was demolished, leaving only its name on a roadside sign.
When Uckfield Rural Council ceased to exist "Pip" Piper, a member of the rating staff since 1928, decided to retire. He had joined the council when it was still operating from the Uckfield offices, which it shared with the Uckfield Board of Guardians.
The clerk of the council was Mr John Cruttenden. Mr Pipe remembered him as " a fine man who knew exactly what he would be asked when he went to a meeting. He had everything at his fingertips".
Mr Cruttenden was clerk to the Board of Guardians, the Newhaven Harbour and Ouse Navigation Authority, and Commissioners of Inland Revenue.
"When we moved up to Starfield he said he would give up all the other appointments if his salary could be increased to £400 a year. They refused, and Mr Cruttenden said 'In that case, I'm leaving'. They advertised for a successor at £500 a year." Reported by This is 26 minutes ago.