The Mid Sussex Times October 26 1979

Before the confusion.....

There's Wivelsfield, Wivelsfield Green, Wivelsfield Station and, of course, Wivelsfield Road, so the odd amount of confusion which arises from time to time is at least somewhat understandable.

In the beginning, so to speak, there was just Wivelsfield Village, ancient and beautiful standing to one side as one drive out of Haywards Heath heading towards Ditchling Common.

Today, it is simply Wivelsfield at the end of a cul-de-sac, with uninterrupted views of the South Downs, and at the centre the small jewel of a church, of St Peter and St John the Baptist, with early transitional Norman and early English portions. The church register dates from 1559 and inside the church itself is a list of ministers going back to the 15th century.

Apart from the charming houses and the village school, the rest of Wivelsfield lies about a mile to the east at the part of the village called Wivelsfield Green. Here, there are shops, a post office, in fact, for the innocent passerby, it appears to be a separate village.

Recently, a postcard came to hand showing a venerable old man standing outside the front door of the house, and above the door the sign "Wivelsfield post office." "The legend on the card read "the oldest postmaster in England.”

The gentleman is undoubtedly William Edward Kenward, Born May 4, 1821, died January 18, 1910.

About 1845, letters for Wivelsfield came via Lindfield, carried by a post boy, who was paid by the parishioners of Wivelsfield. By 1855, there was a receiver and a receiving house for post at Wivelsfield, forerunners of the present day sub postmaster and sub post office. W. E. Kenwood was that receiver, a position he presumably held until his death, in 1910.

Until about 1887, the records state that the mail came up from Hurstpierpoint, and after that date, from both Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath.

With the further development of deliveries, Haywards Heath became the main post down for Wivelsfield, and deliveries came from there both direct and via Scaynes Hill, the latter servicing parts of the field green area; these arrangements dating from about 1895 to about 1939. Today it is all done direct from Haywards Heath.

Mr Kenward saw his office grow to become a post and Telegraph office, and as the population grew over at Wivelsfield Green, a pillar letterbox was erected there about 1882.

Eventually, the demand for postal services grew to the point where, in about 1895, a sub office was opened in the general stores at Wivelsfield Green, with the sub postmaster being Trayton Nathanial Randall.

As this shop developed and changed hands over the years, the postmasters changed, and between 1900 and 1967, Messrs W. Avery, C.Elliott, J.Merriman, M.Ward, E.Thorpe and H.Thorpe were all at some time to hold that title. Mr. J. Gloyham is the present sub postmaster at Wivelsfield Green.

When Mr. W. E. Kenward died in 1910, the post office at Wivelsfield Village continued under his son Thomas whose baptism is recorded in the church records as November 25, 1855. He died in 1944 and he is, like his father in mother, buried in the village graveyard.

With his death, the post office, just alongside the church, seems to have finally closed, as it is not mentioned in records after that date. A reminder of the office is still visible, as in the garden wall is the letterbox.