Tilling (Sussex) of Elizabeth Mapp and subsequently of Lucia, who renamed it Mallards House. Cynthia & Tony Reavell (1984) "E F Benson: Mr Benson remembered in Rye, and the World of Tilling" contained a map of Tilling that drew on references in the books and the layout of Rye itself. A similar plan was reproduced in Holt's novels. In some instances, the street names of Tiling and Rye coincided – for example, High Street (the location of Godiva Plaistow's house, "Wasters") and West Street ("Quaint" Irene Coles' "Taormina") – but there were some variations: Mermaid Street became, in Tilling, Porpoise Street (where
Thomas Tilling and at the time had only one employee; a conductor, Mr. Joseph Eagle, who stayed with the firm until the end of his working life, well into the 1890s. By 1856, he owned 70 horses, which he used for bus and general carriage work. When the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was formed in 1866, Tilling was contracted to train and supply horses to haul the fire engines; the horses were trained to respond quickly and, prior to handover to the fire brigade, were employed on bus services (primarily the Peckham route) to gain experience with heavy traffic. Tilling soon became the