The Diplock Stag
which is a centre piece in our Homes,
has aroused much interest
and controversy over the years.


One Local Story
is that a local plasterer,  whose relatives are still living in the area, made it on its present site when the cottages were built, and they recall seeing him sitting astride its back making the antlers.  To substantiate the story they say the stag is on a wire frame.

Those against the story agree on the wire framing but cannot see how one could sit on virtually green (i.e. new) cement work.

Another Story
has some slight variations but is basically
that the stag came from Southdown Hall, some say from the garden, some from an archway over the main drive leading from the High Street.

An almost identical Stag was placed over a single lofty brick arch at Charbough Park, Dorset in 1841 by Mr Sawbridge Erie Drax.

Its also understood that the Stag was used in the design of beer labels for Diplock's brewery.

There have been requests in the past for photographs to substantiate these claims but without success.

It is known that the Diplocks had
"garden ornaments" imported from France soon after the house was built and an old
gentleman from Polegate remembers being chased away by the gardener at "The Hall"
for sitting on the stag when he was a boy.

What we like to believe…

We're told that the stag is the Chinese symbol of  Contentment and Peace in which case, whatever the history,
the stag is the right symbol
for the Homes.