Billingshurst is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred t ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Horsham District Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in Horsham. The district borders those of Crawley, Mid Sussex, Mole Valley, Chichester, Arun and Adur, and the unitary authority of Brighton & Hove. The ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England. The village lies on the

A29 road A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

(the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Stane Street) at its crossroads with the A272, south-west of

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby tow ...

and north-east of

Pulborough Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–south ...

. The civil parish has a land area of and at the 2001 Census had 2,677 households and a population of 6,531 people, which increased to 8,232 at the 2011 Census. High Street, Billingshurst

Toponymy

The village's name derives from

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

and means 'a wooded hill of Billa's people', most likely referring to the sandstone

hillock A hillock or knoll is a small hill,The Free Dictionary
"hillock" entry, retrieved December 18, 2007 ...

that St Mary's Church is sited on in the historical centre of the village. 'Bill' is the head of a family, 'ing' means of the people, and 'hurst' means wooded hill. It is most likely that it was a small family settlement, not yet being a large community or a parish, headed by one 'Billa' – someone of unestablished origin, and not by a populous

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

tribe.

Community facilities

The village has a secondary school and a sixth form college, known together as The Weald School. Billingshurst Primary School (formerly separate infant and junior schools, amalgamated in 2010) is situated near The Weald. New housing development on the eastern side of the village will include a spine road linking the A29 road north of the village with the A272 road to the east. 550 new homes will be built along with a school, dentists' surgery, play areas and improvements to the railway station.

Transport

Billingshurst is at the junction of the A29 and the A272 which are routes to

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east–west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twel ...

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

and

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns ...

. Billingshurst railway station on Station Road is on the mainline from

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

and

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only c ...

between

Christ's Hospital railway station Christ's Hospital railway station is near Horsham in West Sussex, England. It is down the line from via . It was opened in 1902 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and was intended primarily to serve Christ's Hospital, a large inde ...

and Pulborough railway station. The village is to the east of a remaining section of the

Wey and Arun Canal The Wey and Arun Canal is a partially open, 23-mile-long (37 km) canal in the southeast of England. It runs southwards from the River Wey at Gunsmouth in Shalford, Surrey to the River Arun at Pallingham, in West Sussex. The canal compris ...

; the canal has not been fully navigable since the 1890s.

Religious sites

Billingshurst has four churches. St Mary's Church (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church record ...

) is the oldest, with a mix of service styles, ranging from

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

communion services to informal family worship. Other churches are St Gabriel's Church (

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), Billingshurst Family Church (

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual exper ...

; part of the Commission family of churches) and Trinity Church ( United Reformed). Billingshurst Unitarian Chapel, set back behind the High Street, was founded in 1754 and is one of south-east England's oldest Nonconformist places of worship.

Sport

The local football team is Billingshurst FC based at Jubilee Fields on the western junction of the A29 and A272. The club was established in 1891 and is running senior sides and a youth section with teams running from Under 8's through to U16s.

Second World War

Kingsfold Camp, a

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

camp, was set up in Billingshurst during the Second World War (see List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United Kingdom).

Notable people

Paul Darrow Paul Darrow (born Paul Valentine Birkby; 2 May 1941 – 3 June 2019) was an English actor. He became best known for playing Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series '' Blake's 7'' between 1978 and 1981. His many television ...

(1941–2019), actor and author, lived in Billingshurst * Edward Enfield (1929–2019), television and radio presenter, newspaper journalist, and educational administrator, lived in Billingshurst *

Harry Enfield Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' and '' Harry & Paul'', and for the creation and ...

(1961–), comedian, lived in Billingshurst * Janet Lees-Price (1943–2012), actress, lived in Billingshurst * Pom Oliver (1952–), filmmaker and arctic explorer, lived in Billingshurst * Frank Patterson (1871–1952), illustrator, lived in Billingshurst * Connor Swindells (1996–), actor, lived in Billingshurt * James Tilley (1998–), footballer, born and lived in Billingshurst and went to school in Billingshurst at The Weald School

Film and cultural appearances

* Billingshurst's Dell Lane was the location for the BBC sitcom ''

Ever Decreasing Circles ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' is a British sitcom which ran on BBC1 between 1984 and 1989, consisting of four series and one feature-length special. It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and it reunited them with Richard Briers, who ha ...

'' starring

Richard Briers Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in '' Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), bu ...

. * Michael Lugg (1956) in

British Pathé British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

"Boy's Traction Engine" * Paul Adorian (1965) in British Pathé "Vintage Fire Brigade"

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Billingshurst Parish CouncilFurther information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex