Herstmonceux ( , ; ) is a village 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 Wealden District of East Sussex, England, which includes

Herstmonceux Castle Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the fir ...

. The Herstmonceux Medieval Festival is held annually in August.

History

The name comes from Anglo-Saxon ''hyrst'', "wooded hill", plus the name of the Monceux family who were lords of the manor in the 12th century. In 1086, the manor, simply called Herste, was in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Foxearle. In 1677,

Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex, 15th Baron Dacre, (13 May 1654 – 30 October 1715) was an English peer. He became Earl of Sussex in 1674 when he married Lady Anne Fitzroy, illegitimate daughter of Charles II and Lady Barbara Palmer. The Bar ...

, was paid £3 when he went to a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

match played at "ye Dicker", a common near Herstmonceux, one of the earliest references to the sport. The Herstmonceux area is known for the making of trugs, baskets made from split

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

boards set in an ash or chestnut frame. A number of local people continue this tradition.

Governance

The parish council consists of eleven elected members. An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward had a population at the 2011 census of 2,852. Education is provided at Herstmonceux Church of England Primary School.

Geography

The village (previously called Gardner Street) is part of the larger Herstmonceux civil parish, which includes Cowbeech and the hamlets of Foul Mile, Trolliloes, Cowbeech Hill, Stunts Green, Ginger's Green, Flowers Green and part of Windmill Hill where the Windmill Hill Windmill is situated. Cowbeech village is north-west of the parish.

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

is south-west of the village, and

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

south-west.

, south-east of the village, is a former site of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. It is now home to the Bader International Study Centre of

Queen's University, Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Sus ...

, Canada, and the area therefore enjoys an influx of Canadian and other international students each school year. The castle grounds are also home to the Observatory Science Centre and the Herstmonceux Mediaeval Festival. Buckwell Place was the seat of the Hare family. There are two

Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

within the parish. Herstmonceux Park is of importance because of its wetland habitat and fen vegetation. It is the only known location of Milk Parsley ''( Peucedanum palustre)'' in the south-east. The second site,

Pevensey Levels Pevensey Levels is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Bexhill-on-Sea and Hailsham in East Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a Ramsar site and a Special Area of Conservation. An area of is a nati ...

, lies partially in the parish. The site is of biological interest consisting of low-lying grazing meadows, hosting a wide variety of wetland flora and fauna.

Religion

All Saints' (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

) parish church, with its 12th-century west tower and 13th/14th century

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, overlooks the Castle. Herstmonceux Congregational Church, just outside the village on the way to the castle, was erected in 1811 and is now a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Twinning

The village is twinned with Varengeville-sur-Mer, in Normandy, France.

References

External links

Cowbeech village website
{{Authority control Villages in East Sussex Cricket in Sussex English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District