Lurgashall 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

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 ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

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, 6.5 km (4 ml) north west of

Petworth Petworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex, Heat ...

, just inside the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

. The population at the 2011 Census was 609.

History

The church has had many additions over the years, it still retains some evidence of the original Saxon structure. The village had become almost extinct in 1100, and finds no mention 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. After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, the King gave the Lurgashall area to a Norman family called Alta Rippa, who built a Manor House there in about 1100. The Manor House itself has not survived but the area that the estate occupied is now Park Farm, which gets its name from the Deer Park which the Alta Rippa family established in about 1200. The coming of the Manor revived the village's fortunes and it grew in importance throughout the feudal period. An account of what it was like to live in the village in the early part of the 20th century is given in the book ''A view of Edwardian Lurgashall'' by H. S. Roots. It was re-published in 2000 and is based on the memories of a child called Harold who came to the village aged four in 1899. His father was the headmaster of the village school for 10 years and the book is an account of Harold's time growing up in the village and giving accounts of rural life as it was then in what was a fairly isolated village on the northern outskirts of Petworth. There was at one time a mill which has been transferred to the Weald and Downland Living Museum, leaving just the mill pond. The Rev A. A. Evans wrote in ''A Countryman's Diary'': "This was Lurgashall. have been to it several times since and with heightened appreciation... its beauty increases with familiarity, it endures, while the merely catchy and trivial wear away".

Sports and leisure

Lurgashall cricket club plays on the village green, and is often the guest team at the Ebernoe Horn Fair. Some of the sheep's horn trophies won by highest scoring batsmen used to be displayed in the inn. There is a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

for indoor activities such as bingo, parties and receptions. There is a football pitch to the south-east of the green. Cricket at Lurgashall

References

External links

Lurgashall Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Chichester District

History

Sports and leisure

Further reading

References

External links