EDITORIAL
Number 3. 1984
The aim of 'Ringmer History' is to provide a forum for the publication of articles about Ringmer and its neighbourhood in a format that will interest and entertain local readers with no special historical knowledge, but maintain as high a standard of acuracy and scholarship as amateur local historians can reasonably expect to achieve. When the first volume was published in 1982 it was very favourably received, but the view was expressed by more experienced historians that the initial flow of articles would soon be reduced to a trickle, mostly written by a small clique. Once more Ringmer seems to be confounding the sceptics, and we trust that this volume will again demonstrate the triumph of hope over experience. While of course we are pleased to have built up a core of regular contributers, and the names of some authors will certainly be familiar to readers of the previous issues, exactly half the articles in this volume are by authors who have not previously published in this magazine, or in some cases, anywhere else. We hope their work will serve as an example and a spur to others, and that the flow of new articles will indeed prove self-sustaining.
The balance of this issue is perhaps tilted towards Ringmer's southern boundary, and indeed across it into our sister parish of Glynde. In partial redress we have also crossed a few yards over our northern boundary into Framfield parish, to investigate the history of the house now known as Bentley Wildfowl. The articles range in time from the middle ages to virtually the present day - did you know that parish magazines from as recently as the mid-1970s are now apparently non-existent and all record of their content lost?
The editors have again received much help in the production of this issue. In particular we would like to thank Anne-Marie Diamond, who has typed the entire magazine, John Harding and Eric Butterworth for assistance with the illustrations, and the Sussex Rural Community Council for printing and binding the magazine.
John Kay John Bleach