Ardingly ( ) is an English 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Mid Sussex district of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England. The village is in the

High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The High Weald National Landscape is in south-east England. Covering an area of , it takes up parts of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, and West Sussex. It is the fourth largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England and Wales. It ha ...

about south of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and east-north-east of the county town of

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

. The parish covers an area of . The 2011 Census recorded a population of 1,936 an increase from 1,833 in 2001.

Heritage

There is mention of a place ''Ertlyngeleghe'', in 1396, which may refer to Ardingly. St Peter's parish church, towards the western end of the village, dates from the 14th century.

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

's wild botanic garden, Wakehurst (previously known as Wakehurst Place) is about north of the village. Ardingly Reservoir is about west of the village. The Big-Upon-Little rock formation is close to a footpath between Ardingly and

West Hoathly West Hoathly is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, located south west of East Grinstead. In the 2001 census 2,121 people, of whom 1,150 were economically active, lived in 813 households. At the 201 ...

Events

In June the South of England Show early in the month and the London to Brighton cycle event (usually held on

Father's Day Father's Day is a day set aside for honoring one's father, as well as fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. "Father's Day" complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother's Day and, in som ...

) attract visitors from a wide area. The South of England Showground hosts regular antiques fairs, some of which have featured on the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

game show ''

Bargain Hunt ''Bargain Hunt'' is a British television programme in which two pairs of contestants are challenged to buy antiques from shops or a fair and then sell them in an auction for a profit. It has aired on BBC One since 13 March 2000 in a daytime ...

''. Every four years an international

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

camp is held on the showground, attended by about 3,000 Scouts and

Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

from West Sussex and other areas at home and abroad. The most recent event, WS 2017, was held on 5–12 August 2017. The nex
WS event
2021 is being planned for 7–14 August 2021.

Schools

At the southern edge of the village is

Ardingly College Ardingly College () is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located near Ardingly, West Sussex, England. The school ...

, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

. The village also has a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

primary school, St. Peters CE Primary, with about 120 pupils. Most of the children of secondary-school age attend Oathall Community College in Haywards Heath.

Public transport

Ardingly has a low-frequency bus service to the nearby towns of Haywards Heath and Crawley. Ardingly railway station was opened 1 October 1864 by the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR (known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton)) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at ...

.Ardingly railway station
on Disused-Stations.org.uk - Nick Catford - Accessed 9 September 2007 The Southern Railway electrified the line in the 1930s but

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways closed the line and station to passenger trains in 1963. The goods yard and connection to the main line remain open as an ARC Aggregates terminal. The nearby

Bluebell Railway The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line in West Sussex in England. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between and , with intermediate stations at and . It is the first preserv ...

owns the former trackbed between Ardingly and and has a long-term aspiration to re-open the line.

Notable people

* Frances Garnet Wolseley, 2nd Viscountess Wolseley, a celebrated horticulturist and gardening author, moved to Culpepers, Ardingly, in 1920 and died there in 1936.Jane Brown, "Wolseley, Frances Garnet, Viscountess Wolseley (1872–1936)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004)
Retrieved 27 December 2016. Pay-walled.
/ref> * Jon Snow, journalist and television presenter, was born in Ardingly in 1947.

References

External links

Ardingly Village Website
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Civil parishes in West Sussex