From farm dairy to central depot
Kirdford’s farms had produced milk for centuries. G. H. Kenyon, the Sussex historian who studied 210 Kirdford probate inventories from 1611 to 1776, found milkhouses containing churns, tubs and shallow dairy vessels. These belonged to mixed farms where cattle, crops, pigs, poultry and woodland formed one economy. Butter and cheese allowed part of the milk supply to be stored and sold, while fresh milk was difficult to carry over long distances.
By the late nineteenth century, the railway at Billingshurst and improving roads had widened the market for fresh milk. London required increasing supplies, while many Wealden farms produced quantities too small for separate long-distance consignments. A central depot could combine their churns, cool the milk promptly and assemble regular loads for rail or road transport. A local newspaper discussion in 1894 records farmers considering collective dairy organisation and the value of consistent standards.
The creamery opens, 1912
Lord Leconfield’s estate built the Kirdford depot between the village and Bridgefoot. Local history dates the start of work to 1911, and a contemporary advertisement recorded a formal opening by the Earl of Winterton in April 1912. The site included a receiving yard, plant rooms and a strong water supply. Advertisements promoted an artificial spring capable of producing nearly 2,000 gallons an hour for cooling milk, washing floors and machinery, and sterilising returned churns.
The early business offered contracts for ‘pure new milk’ and valued dependable winter production. Customers and medical officers were invited to inspect the premises. Its machinery could cool milk to about forty degrees Fahrenheit and pasteurise it when required.
William Eve and clean-milk standards
William Robert Eve became a leading figure in the creamery’s opening years. Newspaper reports place him at the centre of supplier contracts, railway arrangements and disputes over milk quality. In a case involving Arthur Downer of Manshall Farm, chemical analysis was used to test whether a delivery met the contract for pure new milk. The contract required the farm supply to meet a measurable standard at the receiving door.
Eve also encouraged quality through public competition. Mrs Barwell’s dairy at Barkfold won the principal cup for the best average dairy, M. Kilner of Laneland Farm received the award for the cleanest supply, and T. Carn of Meadham Farm gained a consolation prize. Separate cash awards went to cowmen, recognising the daily work of preparing cows, washing vessels, controlling the milking and cooling the milk quickly. J. B. Watson, Lord Leconfield’s steward, presented the prizes and described his connection with the creamery from its beginning.
The 1911 census records several people whose work belonged to the surrounding farm and transport economy. Charles Holden managed Barkfold as house and farm manager. Mark Nicholls combined farming with the village carrying trade, while members of his family worked in domestic service and agriculture. At Strood Green, Alfred Miles worked as a wheelwright and carpenter. The census and local recollections also record agricultural labourers and blacksmiths within the network that kept farms, carts and horses working before the depot possessed a motor fleet.
Horse transport and the First World War
Nearby farmers first delivered their own churns, while supplies from more distant holdings were collected. After treatment, a horse-drawn load travelled to Billingshurst station, commonly behind two horses and occasionally three. Full seventeen-gallon churns were heavy, and regular journeys over wet rural roads wore shoes, harness and wheels. Gaius Carley, who began work at Kirdford forge in 1912, remembered the extra blacksmithing created by the creamery horses.
The First World War placed this system under pressure as farms and transport businesses lost men, horses and vehicles. A military tribunal heard that one married creamery assistant treated incoming milk and helped take the finished load to the station. His employer stated that his loss could stop the business and remove about 300 to 400 gallons a day from the market.
A. E. Mitchell and the United Dairies network
In 1921 A. E. Mitchell arrived from London on an intended six-month secondment. His daughter Joyce Chipchase later explained that he was the creamery’s third manager. He remained at Kirdford until his death in 1941. During his management the premises were leased to South Eastern Farmers Limited of Petersfield and operated within the wider United Dairies network. By 1927 company advertisements placed Kirdford alongside country creameries at Mayfield, Glynde, Heathfield, Etchingham and Petersfield.
Road collection gradually replaced farmers’ personal deliveries. The creamery owned two lorries and used three more under contract. Mitchell planned the routes and arrival times so that vehicles reached the single unloading point in sequence. A lorry reversed to the building, opened its rear door and sent the churns down a chute. Workers rolled them away for sampling and treatment while sterilised empties were loaded for the return journey.
A working day in the 1930s
By the mid-1930s the depot handled about 2,000 gallons a day. Three people worked in the processing area, supported by an office and laboratory; Mitchell’s son Cecil served as foreman. Milk from each farm was recorded and tested before joining the combined supply. Cold storage held any surplus beyond the tanker’s capacity, while a generator and separate engines powered the plant, pumped spring water and heated water for sterilisation.
Laboratory testing checked freshness. Joyce Chipchase remembered a test in which stale milk changed the colour of a prepared solution. One failed churn could affect the full tank, so doubtful milk was returned for livestock feed. Farm inspections and clean-milk competitions applied the same standards to cowsheds, milking utensils and daily routines. A Wandsworth public-health delegation followed Grade A tuberculin-tested milk from a farm near Rudgwick through Kirdford as part of the supervised supply chain to South London.
At about half-past two, the combined milk was pumped into a road tanker bound for United Dairies’ Valley Road depot at Streatham. The driver returned later in the evening and maintained the vehicle in the creamery garage. The Valley Road site had developed from a model dairy opened before the First World War and became part of United Dairies’ London distribution system.
Closure in 1943 and the Old Creamery
Kirdford Creamery closed in 1943. Wartime petrol controls made it more economical to concentrate collection at the Express Dairy depot beside Billingshurst station, where milk could reach the railway with fewer road miles. The closure ended the churn-lorry collection, laboratory work and afternoon tanker departure from Kirdford, while the supplying farms continued within a reorganised collection system.
The buildings remained useful. After fire damaged F. C. Eldridge’s premises at the village malthouse, the local carrier and haulier moved into the vacant creamery. Its large doors, open yard, garage and storage buildings suited removals and general haulage. The Leconfield Estate offered the Old Creamery for sale in 1958, and later occupants included Murphy Chemical Limited. Commercial units still occupy the site, which continues to be known as the Old Creamery.
