Tilling (Sussex) "à la Riseholme" was first served in Tilling in "Mapp and Lucia". A railway station opened in Rye in 1851 and there are various references in the Benson books to a local station. In the BBC's 2014 dramatisation, townsfolk gather at a station depicted as "Tilling Town" in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Prince of Wales. In John van Druten's play, "Make Way for Lucia" (1948), based on Benson's novels, Lucia refers to Georgie Pillson and Major Benjamin Flint having breakfasted together in East Tilling. This appears to be the next station on the line between Tilling
Thomas Tilling took over the bus assets of the BTC, and in 1967, BET sold its remaining bus interests to THC. The National Bus Company was formed a year later, mainly from former Tilling and BET subsidiaries. After nationalisation, the group remained as a management unit within the BTC with the following changes: Following nationalisation of Thomas Tilling Ltd's bus interests, a number of subsidiaries continued under separate ownership as the Tilling Group. Tilling Group was taken over by BTR plc in 1983. Companies within the Tilling Group post-1948 included: Thomas Tilling Thomas Tilling Ltd, later known with its subsidiary companies as