By Victoria Evans, Searchroom Archivist
With our recent push to digitise glass plate negatives to further increase accessibility while ensuring the long-term preservation of the originals, the Society of Sussex Wealdmen collection (catalogued as SSW) is now available on our website. This collection is comprised of 800 negatives, and these have all been digitised by our Technical Archives Assistant. This sparked interest into the history of the society and learning that it is still active as the Sussex Sunday Walkers. This blog post will be taking a walk through their history as well as showcasing a few of our favourite images.
The society was launched at a public meeting held in Horsham Town Hall on Tuesday 16th of March 1926. The aim of setting up this society was twofold: to popularise walking as a hobby as well as the preservation of bridleways and footpaths which can easily be lost if not maintained, recorded and mapped out thoroughly. Then the first official walk by the society was held on Sunday 28th of March 1926 and it began at Cranleigh, and 12 miles later ended in Shere, of which 21 members were present.
As can be gathered from above, the walks were not limited to the Weald only but spread across into the Downs too. In the April 1926 committee meeting it was agreed that a ratio of two walks in the Weald and one on the Downs for the Sunday walks.
Unfortunately, we do not have any images from the first official walk. The earliest we have are dated from 11th of April 1926. But from cross-referencing newspaper adverts for the society, we have located the original route they took on the 9th of May 1926 walk which we have some images of:
During the 1930s the society continued to programme walks, and more social activities were planned. The AGMs would close with a lantern slide show (very likely that the ones we hold would have been the ones shown!) followed by refreshments and sometimes dancing until midnight! Although with all this fun membership numbers did begin to drop throughout this decade, especially with the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 and the manpower needed for active and ARP service. In spite of this, the walks themselves were still well attended by a core group of members.
During the war walks were still held. At first, they remained close to Horsham and the use of public transport was temporarily ceased. However, in the fashion of “Keep Calm and Carry On”, by 1943 the society were walking further afield and using trains again. The social events did have to pause during the war, but a special concert was held at the 1946 AGM to celebrate the end of the war in place of the usual lantern slide show.
Horsham: at Ellen’s Green, 20 Oct 1940
Walk: Roman Gate – Ellen’s Green – Rowhook
Dorking: at Juniper Bottom, 26 Aug 1945
Walk: Dorking – Mickleham – Westhumble
Post-war the society kept ticking away but initially membership dropped and the impact of the war was still prevalent in the 1950s. Weekend aways and partnerships with other local walking groups were introduced and the advertisement of the society was imperative to it continuing. Reaching the 1960s the society focussed more on preserving public rights of way and this included walking disputed paths, clearing obstructed paths, protesting closures and diligently mapping rights of way on their own maps while they waited for the definitive map. It also appears that the walks during this became more “serious” and empathise was placed on a fast pace rather than just leisurely taking in the views.
Today the society’s membership hovers between 75 and 100 and they get a varied mix of members, currently averaging around ten, out on the walks (https://sussexsundaywalkers.org.uk/about-us). Next year will be the society’s centenary! They have plans to retrace the first official walk from Cranleigh to Shere. They plan to also walk the South Downs Way in 8 sections from April to September 2026 and gathering to celebrate will be held on the 25th of July at Loxwood North Hall. If you are interested in joining the Sussex Sunday Walkers, please contact them for details.
If you are interested in viewing the whole collection of digitised negatives, please search ‘SSW‘ on our catalogue and when logged in (register here) you will be able to view and purchase digital copies for £5 per image. And if you are looking for any further reading on the society, the book The Society of Sussex Wealdmen: the first 75 years by Peter Armstrong (Lib 14405) is very comprehensive.
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