Statue of Conan Doyle who lived in Crowborough.

This article is attributed to The Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment.

In late 1906, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was visiting Crowborough, staying with the Leckie family at a house in Lordswell Lane known as Monkstown. Following a long illness, his first wife, Louise, had died earlier in the year. This visit appears to have been the first time he felt well enough to go anywhere, having been so distraught by her death. The daughter of the Leckies, Jean, had known Sir Arthur since 1897, when she became his tour and lecture organiser. Their developing relationship was soon to lead to marriage. Down the lane from Monkstown was a cottage called Little Windlesham, owned by a Mrs Scott-Malden, who was considering its sale. Sir Arthur fell in love with the property and purchased it, soon extending it into a large family house. Late in 1907, Sir Arthur married Jean Leckie and they moved into the house which was now called simply Windlesham.

Windlesham was developed entirely around Conan Doyle’s own ideas and specifications. Its focal point was the great long room known as the Billiard Room, at one end of which Lady Conan Doyle had installed a piano and practiced her music. The Billiard Room was the social centre of the house and could accommodate up to 150 guests. With rugs and carpets rolled back, it became an excellent dance floor. Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle were fond of entertaining, and so the long room was ideal for that purpose.

In the garden of Windlesham, Sir Arthur had a wooden summerhouse erected on a site that is now to the rear of Windlesham Cottage – separated from the estate in the 1950s. Originally, the estate extended from Monkstown Lane (a track leading from Lordswell Lane to Sheep Plain) west of the house, to the east along Hurtis Hill as far as Harlequin Lane. Sometimes, Sir Arthur would write in his summerhouse, although he told one of his chauffeurs, Bill Latter, that he preferred to write in his study on the first floor of the main house.

He often entertained other writers and personalities and, as old photographs show, would share a garden seat with some close by his ‘hut’, as he called the summerhouse. In Crowborough, he wrote several of his Sherlock Holmes stories. Also his science fiction stories The Lost World, The Poison Belt, The Land of Mist and The Maracot Deep. Of these The Lost World is best known, being made into a film at different times, and for television.

The Poison Belt is set in Sussex, and in it Conan Doyle clearly describes the view from his first floor study across Crowborough Common to distant Rotherfield. At that time, the trees had not grown to cover the area as they do now, and the common and golf course around Windlesham had acres of purple heather and golden-flowered gorse, allowing a magnificent view.

Other works penned at Windlesham include Sir Nigel, Round the Fire Stories, Tales of Adventure and A Medical Life – Conan Doyle having been a medical practitioner. He also wrote there his great history of WW1 The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1916-1919. Much else was written there, including his books on spiritualism, now collectors’ prized items. Windlesham was where Conan Doyle had spent the longest time of his life in any one place – 23 years from 1907 until his death in 1930.

He made many friends in Crowborough, one being Robert Wallis Hunt, headteacher of the first Beacon School in Church Road. Conan Doyle’s sons, Denis and Adrian attended this school for their secondary education, having first gone to Hookstead School (now a care home) at Goldsmith Avenue with their younger sister Jean. Mr Hunt was a keen billiards player and would turn up at Windlesham on his bicycle with his cue strapped to his crossbar.

But during WW1, Sir Arthur had outspoken opinions on the suffrage movement. Not entirely a misogynist – for he actually favoured women’s rights – his argument was against the unfemininity of the suffragettes’ approach to their demand for the right to vote. Nevertheless, angry suffragettes arrived and poured acid into a Royal Mail pillar box by his front gate which was, at this time, kept chained and locked at night. During the day a policeman was on duty. Should Robert Hunt arrive for his game of billiards in daylight hours, he was soon given entrance. But arriving later took time to arouse someone in the house to let him in, much to Hunt’s amusement but not Sir Arthur’s.

Throughout his years in Crowborough, local people took him to their hearts. A hearty man, he liked to walk and talk to everyone he met. In those days strangers were regarded with suspicion, but after his arrival his obvious honesty appealed. After his death, many of his old staff would speak of him in glowing terms. All were local, outspoken Sussex people, as honest in their approach as was Sir Arthur.

Most of the local pubs have claimed him as a regular. It’s possible he may have taken a glass of ale in many of them, especially those on the route of his favourite walks, which covered most of Crowborough. His favourite was going up to the Cross by way of Whitehill and down St John’s Road to the mill ponds on the forest, thence to Heavegate and back home. On this route, he most likely stopped at the Red Cross Inn (now The Cross public house).

Conan Doyle’s three children of his second marriage were all born in Crowborough. Denis in 1909, Adrian in 1910, and Jean in 1912. In later life, Jean became Air Commandant Dame Jean Conan Doyle, Lady Bromet.
On 7 July 1930, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle suffered a heart attack in his bedroom, next to his study. At his request, he was propped in a chair to look out of a window at his favourite view across Crowborough Common to Rotherfield. His sons then dashed to Tunbridge Wells to fetch oxygen, not available in Crowborough, but it did not help. His family was with him when he died. As he wished, he was later buried in the garden at Windlesham, next to his writing ‘hut’ and beneath a copper beech to the rear of Windlesham Cottage.

Many national figures and local people attended the funeral, which required a fleet of lorries to bring in the floral tributes. On 13 July 1930, a memorial service was held for Conan Doyle at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Lady Conan Doyle continued to live at Windlesham until her death 1940. She too was buried at Windlesham, next to Sir Arthur. On the sale of the estate in 1955, both bodies were exhumed and reinterred at All Saints Church, Minstead, in the New Forest. Close by is Bignell Wood, a country retreat Sir Arthur had purchased at a love-gift for his wife in 1925. Today, Windlesham is a private residential care home, and has been re-named Windlesham Manor.

On 23 May 1992, a plaque in memory of Sir Arthur was unveiled on Montargis Terrace by his daughter, Dame Jean Conan Doyle.

Crowborough Town Council erected a statue of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Cloke’s Corner on 14 April 2001. The statue is unique, being the world’s first public image of the great man himself. It was designed and created by a local sculptor of international renown, David Cornell. Funded by the town council, the project received donations from many sources, including the Daily Mail and the Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment. Mrs Georgina Doyle, wife of Sir Arthur’s nephew, unveiled the statue before a distinguished audience and the vocal appreciation of local townspeople. Visitors arrived from as far away as Japan, America Europe for the special occasion.