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 up Tilling's South London services. In 1935, Tilling took over Royal Blue, which was the premier express coach company in the South and West of England, with a network of routes stretching from Penzance to Margate and Bournemouth to London, having developed tours and local services around Bournemouth and the New Forest in the horse-drawn era and express coach services after the First World War. Tilling and TBAT continued to trade successfully, but internal disagreements resulted in TBAT being wound up in 1942. The companies in TBAT were split between Tilling and BET, and the two groups continued to operate