Alciston is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, England. It is inland, just off the

A27 road The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire, follows the south coast of Hampshire and West Sussex, and terminates at Pevensey (near Eastbourne and Bexhi ...

, about north-west of Eastbourne and east of

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

. The ecclesiastical parish is linked with that of

Selmeston Selmeston is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is located eight miles (13 km) east of Lewes, to the north of the A27 road between there and Polegate. The church existed at the time of its ment ...

and Berwick.

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 ...

in origin, its name was then ''Aelfsige''; it is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The present 14th-century church, of unknown dedication, is built of chalk from the nearby South Downs. There is a large medieval tithe barn in the village. It is long and is the largest in Sussex. Every

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

, the road outside the Rose Cottage Inn is closed for the villagers to take part in a traditional skipping contest. The historian C.V. Wedgwood is buried in the church graveyard.

Governance

The lowest tier of government for Alciston is a parish meeting. Instead of voting for representatives, a small parish may hold a community meeting twice a year to which all the electors may attend and vote on issues. Wealden District Council is the next tier of government, for which Alciston is part of the Alfriston ward, along with Alfriston, Berwick, Chalvington & Ripe and Selmeston. The ward returns one councillor, who was David Watts in the 2019 election. Alciston is represented at the

County Council as part of the East Hoathly & Hellingly Division. The May 2017 election returned the Conservative councillor Nick Bennett. The parliamentary constituency for Alciston is

. The general election in May 2015 returned Maria Caulfield as MP. Prior to Brexit in 2020, Alciston was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District