Everybody who drives from Horsham to Guildford knows Bucks Green, a hamlet on the A281. Although somewhat busy with through traffic, this area has a long history, close to the River Arun at Wanford. The latter area was once Wanford Green, near the ancient mill on the road to The Haven. Around the Fox Inn was Franktonhook, at the junction (hook) of the road to Loxwood and Drungewick. The A281 was a turnpike (toll) road from an Act of Parliament in 1809. Prior to that there was no road directly to Alfold Crossways or Horsham. No one has ever satisfactorily explained a green at Bucks Green! The community used to have numerous commercial activities, as indeed it does today.
The junction of Haven Rd and the A281, Guildford Rd, looking north to the Queen’s Head. Right: a tall building on the site of the former tollhouse, where gates stood across both the turnpike itself and the turning to The Haven. The prominent oak is long gone. King & Chasemore advertised property hereThe Queen’s Head is Rudgwick’s oldest inn (1750s), sadly now closed and a private house. A noted landlord between the wars was Francis CrouchThe Lower Smithy used to be next to the tollhouse. The business continued until after the warThe Post Office and general stores was located nearer Watts Corner (the junction with Church St). It was for many years the telegraph office. Names associated included the Wellens and the StreetsSnoxalls, or The Old House, is at the centre of Bucks Green, and is one of the oldest houses in Rudgwick, 1337/8. for much of the C20th this pair of cottages became a restaurant.Green Lanes (once called Mill Hill Cottage) is further east, but it too was once tea rooms on the main road; now much alteredThese Edwardian cottages dominate the south side of the road, and have little altered frontages today.Watts Corner, looking south, at the junction of Church Street and Guildford Rd. The three cottages are now one.at Franktonhook there is traffic island, on which several businesses have thrived, including a garage, and this little shoemaker’s hut, long gone.Rudgwick School (1905) opened in 1880. A new school in the village opened in 1972, with infants at the old school for a few more years. The building is now a private museumWanford Mill on the River Arun has existed since the medieval period. It was for a long time in the hands of John Botting before it closed; now a private houseFrom the Gaskyns sale catalogue, 1930, the Mill House at Wanford clearly shows its older Georgian frontage and Victorian wing behind, little altered todayNear the river, and off Naldretts Lane, is Warhams, the oldest building in the parish, and for miles around. Warhams has at its extended core a fine example of early C13th timber work. it was an aisled hall house, possibly a hunting lodge for the manor of Pulborough, as such one of the oldest continuously inhabited timber-framed houses in SE England
Hi there,
My mother (maiden name was Buck) is currently researching our family history and has just made the connection with Rudgwick. She has recently discovered quite a bit of information, all the way back to her G.G.G.Grandfather and would, I’m sure be keen to get in touch with you to share what she has discovered to date.
Kind regards
Paul Bryars
Rudgwick Preservation Society 
Hi
Would anyone have any info on my G.Grandfather Richard Buck please.
many thanks
June
Hi there,
My mother (maiden name was Buck) is currently researching our family history and has just made the connection with Rudgwick. She has recently discovered quite a bit of information, all the way back to her G.G.G.Grandfather and would, I’m sure be keen to get in touch with you to share what she has discovered to date.
Kind regards
Paul Bryars