History of Polegate War Memorial Recreation Ground

The small village of Polegate, lost thirty-three men in the Great War of 1914-18. At the cessation of hostilities there was a national encouragement for villages and towns to provide a War Memorial for the local fallen. The appeal for funds in Polegate for a memorial unfortunately failed to raise anywhere near sufficient money although this could well have been due to the small number of inhabitants.

At that time the local Member of Parliament was one Rupert Sackville Gwynne who was very highly regarded as a constituency MP and who resided in the hamlet of Folkington close to Polegate. During his life he was generous to local causes and supported them with funds and donations of land, a matter that he appears to have been quite discreet about.

The unfortunate situation of Polegate’s plight of being unable to provide a lasting tribute to their thirty-three fallen was clearly something which could not be allowed to pass and so Rupert Sackville Gwynne together with two Polegate men Clement Knight and Alfred Pain Wiggins decided to right the matter.

On the 30th of January 1922 Gwynne, Knight and Wiggins purchased from Henry Marchant five acres of land off Wannock Road. Records suggest this land may already have been being used as a football field. Certain conditions were made on the purchase in the form of a Restrictive Covenant which states that The land and any buildings erected on it should not be used for any purpose other than a recreation ground or purposes ancillary thereto. This Covenant is binding on the land regardless of to whomsoever the land passes. A committee was formed with Rupert Gwynne as the Chairman.

On 16th February 1923 Hailsham Parish Council, of which Polegate was then a Ward, discussed a letter received from the Secretary of Polegate headed “War Memorial Recreation Ground” in which the land was offered with the Title Deeds headed “The Polegate Recreation Ground” to the Council. The Council agreed to take over the land on the terms contained in the letter.

The Deeds for the War Memorial Recreation Ground were handed to Polegate Parish Council on the 22nd of April 1940. On the 9th of October 1945 Polegate Parish Council discussed a letter from Councillor W A Payne which read as follows; “That this Council fix a plate on the new entrance to the recreation ground so that the public may know that the ground was purchased by the residents of Polegate as a War Memorial to the fallen in the 1914-18 war”. The Council were unanimous in their support. The block memorial still remains but without its plaque and a new Memorial was erected near to the entrance of the car park.

Subsequently the land was dedicated through Fields In Trust Centenary Field as a public playing field and recreation ground.