Revealed: The real location of Trumpton | UK | News | Daily Express
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EXCLUSIVE: The REAL locations of Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green REVEALED
THEY were the places that enchanted generations of young children, but now we can finally reveal the REAL locations of Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green.
11:01, Wed, Mar 30, 2016
| UPDATED: 15:52, Wed, Mar 30, 2016
PETER HENN
The locations of Trumpton and Chigley and Camberwick have finally been revealed
The influence for the show, launched in the 1970s, featuring a team of firemen, has been shrouded in mystery.
But Express.co.uk has found strong evidence to suggest that Trumptonshire is based on a small corner of East Sussex.
The villages of Plumpton Green, Chailey and Wivelsfield Green roughly match the description given by the show’s creator, Gordon Murray, in 1999.
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He said: “Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley are representative of real locations which are one-and-a-half miles from each other in an equidistant triangle. 
There’s developments, too, but it’s still a place people like to live in
Local farmer Tony Oliver
"But their exact position must remain a mystery as disclosure could lead the actual places being inundated with tourists, something I couldn't bear to see happen.”
And eagle-eyed fans of the BBC classics, which were originally shown in the 1960s and were repeated until the 1980s, have spotted the link between the locations there and the villages in the south of England.
Chailey was originally called Chagley - meaning field of gorse - after the plant that grows in the area.
PETER HENN
Tony Oliver thinks he has finally unravelled the mystery
And, crossing over between Chigley and Camberwick Green, the village has an old windmill on the top of Chailey Common.
Heritage Mill, built in 1830, sits on top of Founders Hill, and is a smock mill with a roof that rotates so the sails meet the wind.
Local farmer Tony Oliver - who could possibly be the modern counterpart of Jonathan Bell - said things had changed in Chagley over the years.
He said: “There are fewer people who work locally, and that does have an impact on the area.
“There’s developments, too, but it’s still a place people like to live in.”
The 73-year-old, who worked as a lecturer in Brighton before taking up farming, also served as chairman of the village parish councillor and as a member of Lewes District Council during the 1980s is also currently the Steward to the Lord, Court and Manor of Balneath.
He added: “Agriculture in the area is not what it was, it’s harder for people.
“It was the foot and mouth epidemic that really hurt people around here, it was hard for people.”
PETER HENN
The actual green at Wivelsfield Green
Chailey also has an arts group and a bonfire society.
The man who is the most likely counterpart of the Mayor of Trumpton, Plumpton Parish Council chairman Reg Stone, denied being such.
He said: “I think it’s a bit wrong to say I’m a mayor, really.
“I think the man who wrote the shows used to live near here, so that’s where the names come from.
“Plumpton is a very pleasant rural village.
“The biggest thing I’ve been involved in in my time on the council has been the level crossing by the railway station.”
PETER HENN
Mr Murray himself compared the Bluebell Line railway, to Lord Belborough’s private track
And - in an echo of the show’s narrator, Brian Cant - there’s even a Cants Lane in nearby Burgess Hill.
One of the most notable features of Chigley - the last instalment of the trilogy, was the steam railway line.
Mr Murray himself compared the nearby Bluebell Line, a preserved steam railway, to Lord Belborough’s private track in the sleeve notes for a seven inch single released in the 60s.
The line, which runs from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead, was reopened as Britain’s first heritage railway line in 1959.
But it isn’t just the Trumptonshire Trilogy that has paid tribute to the line.
The line was immortalised by the Reverend W. Awdry in the Thomas The Tank Engine series with Stepney the Bluebell Engine.
But there are, inevitably, some disappointments for fans of the shows.
PETER HENN
A map of the Chailey link walk
Neither Plumpton, Chailey, or Wivelsfield Green have a fire station, so Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub have no modern, real life equivalents.
And there is no police station for our equivalent of PC McGarry (number 452) while the likes of baker Mickey Murphy has nowhere to sell his wares in the three villages.
But there is some hope for people aiming to match up the locations in the programmes with those in the real world.
Plumpton is a village but in the show Trumpton is quite clearly a town.
Furthermore, it is the county town of Trumptonshire.
Plimpton, Wivelsfield Green and Chailey are all relatively close to Lewes,the county town of East Sussex.
And with its medieval heritage and town clock one could genuinely argue that Lewes might just be the REAL Trumpton.
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