History of Hale Farm House
Hale Farm House began in the 14th Century as a medieval hall and in the late 16th Century was converted into a mansion by an iron master called Torel who made cannon from the iron, trees and water that was in plentiful supply around the Hale.
Protestant England was under attack from Catholic Spain and the Armada was sailing up the Channel. Sir John Jefferay, Baron Lord of the Exchequer, who lived in Chiddingly Place, gave commissions to Torel and about ten other families in Chiddingly to make armaments for the ships, under Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, which were anchored at Newhaven.
The Hale is reputed to have had more stained glass windows than any other house in Chiddingly. It was later owned by the Calverley family, who lived in the village until the late nineteenth century.
Before 1914, it was two farm labourers cottages supporting 16 people.
David's great aunt, Milly Dayrell farmed the land with a team of oxen and horses, selling cream, eggs, dressed poultry and honey at Lewes and Hailsham markets. She also extended the Hale to its present size. She became a County Councillor and a founding member of the Women's Institute in East Sussex. She was an artist, a photographer an inventor and a huge eccentric personality. David's mother grew up here at the Hale Farm House in the 1920s and '30s and lived here from the 1960's till 2003. She bred Welsh Section B ponies under the stud prefix of "The Hale".
David and Sue Burrough have lived here for thirty years. David (professionally known as John Darrell) followed a career on the stage performing mainly with the Young Vic, R.S.C., the National, and the English Shakespeare Co. all over the world, and in London's West End, before Sue, who had also had a career in theatre and in teaching, and he decided to concentrate their energies into the Hale.
Now Hale Farm House Bed and Breakfast guests from all over the world are part of the living history of life at the Hale in this Low Weald area of East Sussex.
