The

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 ...

of Chalvington with Ripe, in the Wealden District of

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

, England, is made up of the two villages, ''Chalvington'' and ''Ripe''. They are located in the upper Rivers Cuckmere and Ouse joint valley north of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...

, between the A27 and the A22 roads, and some northwest of

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

. Ripe is the larger of the two

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es with , compared to the of Chalvington. The civil parish was formed on 1 April 1999 from "Chalvington" and "Ripe" parishes.

History of the villages

The

Romans 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

built a road through the two villages, and remains of the layout can still be seen. In medieval times the area had a profitable wool trade.

The villages

Chalvington

The village of Chalvington (''Charnton'' in the traditional

Sussex dialect English in Southern England (also, rarely, Southern English English; Southern England English; or in the UK, simply, Southern English) is the collective set of different dialects and accents of Modern English spoken in Southern England. As of ...

) is named ''Calvintone'' or ''Caveltone'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. It is located in the area between the A27 and the A22 roads, some north-west of

. The name Chalvington is first attested as ''Caveltone'' and ''Calvintone'' in

; it is

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

in origin, and means ''Cealfa's farm''. Many local names derive from the Anglo-Saxon occupation of the area. There is one public house in the village, the Yew Tree Inn. The parish church is dedicated to St Bartholomew.

Ripe

Ripe is a village within the Wealden District of

, England. It is located east of

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

in the valley north of the

. The two villages are adjacent to one another, Ripe ecclesiastical parish being the larger of the two in area. There is limited public transport to the village. The village, in a mainly rural area, is mentioned in the

and has had a number of names, including ''Alchitone'', ''Achiltone'', ''Achintone'', ''Echentone'' and ''Eckington''. The 13th-century parish church is dedicated to St

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. There is limited public transport to the village. At the end of the

Anglo-Saxon period Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman imperial rule in Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the Anglo-Saxons stretched north ...

it was owned by Earl Harold Godwinson, who become

King Harold II Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman ...

and was killed at the

Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place appr ...

in 1066. The Domesday Book mentions 'Rype' and 'Echentone' which were owned by Richer de Aquila (

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction ...

), and the church is also mentioned in

Pope Nicholas IV Pope Nicholas IV (; born Girolamo Masci; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death, on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be elected pope.McBrie ...

's ''

Taxatio Ecclesiastica The ''Taxatio Ecclesiastica'', often referred to as the ''Taxatio Nicholai'' or just the ''Taxatio'', compiled in 1291–92 under the order of Pope Nicholas IV, is a detailed database valuation for ecclesiastical taxation of English, Welsh, an ...

'' of 1291, an ecclesiastical tax assessment survey. The novelist

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list.

, best known for ''

Under the Volcano ''Under the Volcano'' is a novel by the English writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) published in 1947. It tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British Consulate general, consul in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca, Quauhnahuac on the D ...

'', died at age 47 in a boarding house in Ripe on 27 June 1957. Lowry is buried in the village churchyard. Ripe was also the retirement home of the tattooed performer Horace Ridler (the Great Omi) who died there in 1969. There was one public house, now closed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalvington With Ripe Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District