House in Hurst Lane, Sedlescombe

Image: © Patrick Roper Taken: 12 Dec 2015

A modern house, Lynden Lea, in Hurst Lane. The original house on this land was called ‘Zimbabwe'. The name was changed to Lynden Lea probably in the late 1970s and retained when a new, larger house was constructed in the early 21st century. ‘Lynden Lea’, or ‘Linden Lea’ as it is usually spelt, is inevitably associated with the poem My Orcha’d in Linden Lea’ written in 19th century Dorset dialect by the scholarly William Barnes and published in 1859. In 1902 it was set to music by Ralph Vaughan-Williams and is still frequently heard in this version. The poem itself could apply just as well to Hurst Lane as to a field in Dorset: My Orcha'd in Linden Lea 'Ithin the woodlands, flow'ry gleaded, By the woak tree's mossy moot, The sheenen grass-bleades, timber-sheaded, Now do quiver under voot; An' birds do whissle over head, An' water's bubblen in its bed An' there vor me the apple tree Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

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