Uncover East Grinstead’s hidden memory of charities and industry, crafted from local records and family legacies.
This section examines how the town’s parochial charities were built and run, and how they shaped daily life in Felbridge and surrounding areas. It also tracks the rise of the iron industry and the impact of early furnaces on local homes and landscapes.
The narrative ties together the people behind the generosity—including James Evelyn and the Gatty family—and the legal schemes that managed funds and distributions. It explains how changes in education and charity law affected these long-standing endowments, while revealing the human stories behind the columns, obelisks, and schoolrooms.
- Learn how medieval and early-modern charity funds were established, managed, and sometimes fell into private control.
- See how local reform and shifting education policy altered the use and purpose of endowments.
- Get a sense of the region’s iron industry through the sites, workers, and communities that built fortunes and left a material mark on the countryside.
- Discover connections to notable families and their lasting monuments, like the obelisk and inscriptions mentioned in local history.
Ideal for readers of local history, East Grinstead lore, and anyone curious about how charitable giving and industry helped shape a Sussex town.