Tilling (Sussex) Tilling Green, in the fictional county of Ledshire, appeared in one of Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver stories, "Poison in the Pen" (1955). Tilling (Sussex) Tilling is a fictional coastal town, based on Rye, East Sussex, in the "Mapp and Lucia" novels of Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940). Tilling takes its name from the River Tillingham which flows through Rye. Benson himself moved to Rye in 1918, where he lived in Lamb House, former home of the novelist Henry James. Benson was mayor of Rye 1934-7 and was elected Speaker of the Cinque Ports in 1936. Tilling first appeared in "Miss Mapp"
Thomas Tilling Wolsey, formed a limited company, Thomas Tilling Ltd, in 1897. In addition to bus work, the company hired carriages to individuals and to a range of public utilities. The company put three Milnes-Daimler motor buses into service in 1904. These were open top double-deckers with 16 inside seats and 18 "outside" on the upper deck. These were the first double-decker motorbuses built for public service in London. By 1905, Tilling had 20 motor buses but still owned 7,000 horses, kept in 500 stables. The horses worked the company's 250 horse buses were hired to companies and individuals for hauling goods