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Books > Villages of Sussex Photographic Memories
Henfield, Golden Square c1955 (ref. H313002) | Henfield is a main road village midway between Horsham and Brighton. St Peter's 13th-century church was rebuilt in 1870. Nearby is the Cat House, a quaintly decorated half-timbered residence. Brickmaking was quite a large local industry. A common on the Brighton Road has a fine cricket pitch and reed beds. There are two old coaching inns in the High Street: the 14th-century George and the White Hart. In the picture an old-style touring caravan hitched up to its towing car waits at the roadside. |  Add your own Memory
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Alfriston, Burnt House and River Cuckmere c1960 (ref. A33024) | Burnt Farmhouse is isolated; it incorporates the remains of Field Place, which burned down in 1765. The tower of Litlington church can be seen in the distance. The farmhouse is still inhabited and well conserved. | Add your own Memory
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Alfriston, view from High and Over c1960 (ref. A33044) | High and Over, or Hindover, is a vantage point on the South Downs, overlooking the Cuckmere river valley. A hill figure of a white horse was re-cut in the escarpment in 1924; it is visible from Cuckmere Haven. Many villages in the Cuckmere valley have medieval dovecotes. This is a relic of the past, when the Lord of the Manor was entitled to keep a pigeon house, and the birds could feed off his tenants' crops. | Add your own Memory
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Alfriston, Market Square c1955 (ref. A33017) | A Saxon settlement beside the River Cuckmere, Alfriston was a centre for smuggling. The 14th-century church of St Andrew is built on a mound on the large village green. The Clergy House, a 14th-century timber-framed and thatched hall house, is in the care of the National Trust and is open to visitors. The 16th-century Star Inn was a hostel for pilgrims and the exterior is decorated with woodcarvings of beasts. The George Inn has Tudor wall paintings. We can see old shops in the photograph - S Selvey, the grocer, and Wood, the butcher. The ancient market cross has been knocked down by vehicles and restored several times. The scene is similar today, and well conserved, but all the shops are now engaged in tourist-related trading. | Add your own Memory
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Barcombe, the Village Sign c1955 (ref. B18031) | We are on the navigable River Ouse and an old Roman road. The flint-built church of St Mary is over-restored, with little of the original remaining. Court House is an altered 15th-century hall-house. The picture shows the village sign and a modern road sign. All road signs were removed during World War Two to confuse invaders. They were replaced soon after the war finished, in time for the great expansion in post-war tourism. | Add your own Memory
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Belmont, from the Downs 1903 (ref. 50296) | We are on a high, sandy hillside on the outskirts of Hastings. Nearby, Minnis Rock Hermitage has three rock cells cut out of a sandstone cliff face; it is well conserved. The whole area is now much more developed with housing. The beauty spots of Fairlight Glen and Ecclesbourne Glen are nearby. It is washing day; we can see linen hanging from the lines. | Add your own Memory
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Blackboys, the Post Office c1960 (ref. B566034) | Blackboys is a small iron industry village. Its name is believed to have come from the appearance of charcoal workers as they emerged from working in the woods. Tickerage Wood was the site of a smelting furnace and forge hammer, and later a corn watermill. The village also had a well-known post-type windmill, which was sited by the main road. The 14th-century Blackboys Inn has been recently restored after fire damage. | Add your own Memory
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Bodiam, the Village c1955 (ref. B128015) | Bodiam is located on the River Rother and was once a port that shipped iron ingots and cannon, which were made in the area. Bodiam Castle was constructed in 1388, the last castle to be built in England for coastal defence. It is well conserved and set within a moat, and is in the care of the National Trust and open to visitors. In the picture we can see the 14th-century Castle Inn on the right and Bodiam Stores on the left. The scene is similar today, but the shop is now a tearoom. | Add your own Memory
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Burwash, the Village 1889 (ref. B291501) | Burwash was a centre for Sussex iron making. After the iron industry ceased production, the locality was less prosperous; the common became notorious for 18th-century lawlessness. Batemans was built in 1634 for an ironmaster; later it was the home of Rudyard Kipling (1902-1936). It is a beautiful Jacobean house, now in the care of the National Trust and open to visitors. Kipling's literary work 'Puck of Pook's Hill' (1906) is set in the area. Park Mill, a watermill built in 1795, became part of Batemans and is restored to working order. Burghurst manor house is opposite the church. Rampydene is a fine brick house built in 1699. The church of St Bartholomew is on the left of the picture, partly hidden by Scots Pine trees. | Add your own Memory
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Chailey Green, Village Green c1965 (ref. C437004) | A scattered village on a hilltop in the centre of Sussex. Friendly societies began here at the Five Bells Inn in 1782. The Heritage is a specialised health care institution for disabled children with buildings in several locations around the area. High Common was famous for potteries, and bricks are still made in the area. North Common has a white smock windmill reckoned to be the exact centre of Sussex. A temporary World War Two fighter airfield was constructed at Chailey in 1943, with grass runways. | Add your own Memory
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Colemans Hatch, Hatch Inn 1927 (ref. 79599) | A small village on the edge of the Ashdown Forest, east of Forest Row. Holy Trinity church was built towards the end of the last century and features a copy of an Italian Pieta by Francesco Francia. Nearby Hollyhill is a large house with a Jacobean façade built in 1885. In the picture, heavy horses wait patiently by the stable while they are prepared for work. On the roofline a builder stands on a scaffolding platform repairing a chimneystack. | Add your own Memory
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East Blatchington, the Village 1891 (ref. 28388) | We are on the Downs, just north of Seaford. The church of St Peter has a fine Norman font. Admiral Walker, who fought with Nelson, is buried here. T A Guthrie (1856-1953), known as F Anstey, novelist and contributor to 'Punch' magazine, is buried in the churchyard. In 1862 Henry Coxwell, a local aviation pioneer who soared to the height of 26,000 feet in a balloon in 1862, is also buried here. In 1794 a very large barracks was built just north of the village; it was used to house militia during the Napoleonic Wars. After the First World War, the barracks were closed and demolished. The village is now a part of Seaford; it is surrounded by recent housing estates, although the scene is still recognisable. | Add your own Memory
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East Dean, the Village 1921 (ref. 71404) | We are in a valley of the Downs near Beachy Head. The Tiger Inn is a fine building that was a barracks during the Napoleonic wars. The village church of St Simon and St Jude's has a semi-detached Norman tower and a sepulchral cross slab bearing the arms of the Bardolf family, who were Lords of the Manor of Birling. The road southwards leads to Birling Gap, a coastline hamlet with spectacular scenery and chalk cliffs. The scene is similar today, but with more trees and buildings in the foreground. The inn has been extended at the right-hand end. | Add your own Memory
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East Dean, Old Forge 1921 (ref. 71405) | Here we see a workplace with an open-air view; the craftsmen are taking a breather. Apparatus for wheelwrighting is nearby; there is an iron cone for forging circular iron rings, and a flat circular area for laying out wheels. The yoke hung on the front wall was used for draught animals, probably oxen. A tall white flagpole stands in the garden. | Add your own Memory
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East Hoathly, South Street c1950 (ref. E177006) | This area was connected with the iron industry. The church has a Tudor doorway and a Norman piscina on a carved pillar. Thomas Turner, who lived in the village in the mid-18th century, left an important diary spanning eleven years of his life. The Pelham family were influential local landowners, and their emblem was the Pelham Buckle; cast iron milestones in the area have the Pelham Buckle carved on them. Belmont is a Georgian house, and the gatehouse is an early Victorian house sited to the rear of Belmont. The village is noted for trug manufacture at a local steamed wood works. | Add your own Memory
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Falmer, the Village c1955 (ref. F170001) | We are on the Downs between Brighton and Lewes. Near the rebuilt church there is a thatched barn and an early dewpond. Dewponds were depressions in the chalk ground, lined with puddled clay; they were used to collect rainfall for watering farm livestock. There is another example of a dewpond nearby at Balmer. The picture shows Downland cottages with flint walling and tiled roofs. The village is now cut in two by a very busy dual carriageway, and is the location of the University of Sussex campus. The scene is similar today, but most properties are now used by the university. | Add your own Memory
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Five Ashes, The Five Ashes c1960 (ref. F172002) | The village is named after five ash trees on the green. Twits Gill was once the home of Sir Austen Chamberlain, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1903 and Foreign Secretary in the 1920s. He assembled a vast collection of rock plants from all over the world. At the time of the picture, the Five Ashes public house was offering customers ales from Tamplins, Brighton Brewery. | Add your own Memory
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Fletching, the Street c1950 (ref. F138005) | Simon de Montfort's army lay here the night before the Battle of Lewes in 1264. The area was made notorious by the 'Piltdown Man' fake archaeological discoveries in the 1910s. The nearby Sheffield Park estate built the modern mock half-timbered houses at the end of the street. Sheffield Park Gardens were magnificently landscaped by Capability Brown and are open to visitors. The gardens also contain the National Pinetum collection of pine trees. The southern terminus station of the Bluebell Railway to East Grinstead is nearby. | Add your own Memory
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Flimwell, the Village 1903 (ref. 49363) | Flimwell is centred on a crossroads near the Kent border. Its church, St Augustine's, was built in 1873. Seacox is a French chateau- style house built in 1871 for the Goschen family, who were great benefactors of the village; they built many cottages for estate staff. Sir Edward Goschen was British Ambassador in Berlin in 1914 when the war began. Seacox Park has a magnificent collection of trees and shrubs. | Add your own Memory
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Forest Row, the Village 1909 (ref. 61439) | A large village on the northern edge of the Ashdown Forest, Forest Row was a popular place in the 14th century when the King and his Lords used it as a base for hunting. Brambletye was the first mansion in the area; it was built in 1631 and destroyed by 1680. The ruins are extant. A new Brambletye was built nearby in 1919. The main road leads down past Holy Trinity church, which was built in 1836. The scene is similar today but the road is very busy with motor traffic. | Add your own Memory
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