Ninfield 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. The village is quite
linear and centred 4 miles (6.4 km) north of
Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...
where two roads cross: the
A269 from Bexhill to
Battle and the
A271 to
Hailsham. The parish covers 2,500 acres (1,010 ha); approximately the northern half of which is in the
High Weald
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
AONB.
To the west of the village is Standard Hill, said to be the place that
William the Conqueror placed his flag after the
Battle of Hastings. As with many other Wealden villages, it was involved in the
iron industry: that fact is commemorated by the presence in the village of a set of iron
stocks
Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...
.
Smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
was also rife in the eighteenth century.
The village name is said to come from the fact that it was originally composed of nine and three quarter fields.
A legal record, of 1452, mentioning a Sussex village as "Nempnefeld", may refer to Ninfield.
Civil parish and civic events
The parish council consists of nine councillors. They put on several events, including a gala with professional cabaret, each year to raise money for nominated charities such as Alzheimers and Sussex Ambulance.
Amenities
Ninfield has a primary school, a shop and two
pubs- ''The Kings Arms'' and the ''Blacksmiths Inn''. It has two churches, its medieval parish church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin; and the
Methodist church.
Cultural references and former residents
Ninfield was once featured in an episode of the classic comedy
The Goon Show entitled ''The Nadger Plague'' and first broadcast by the
BBC in October 1956. In the episode, set in the 16th century, the residents of Ninfield were left terrified when two carriers of the titular plague, which caused the seats of peoples' trousers to "burn out", arrived in the village. The episode was written by
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...
, a sometime resident 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 ...
.
James T.A. Osborne (d. 1979), painter, artistic print maker, etcher and engraver long settled in Ninfield.
Local government
Ninfield is currently drawn, for the purposes of the fair apportionment of District Councillors as part of
electoral ward
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...
: ''Ninfield and Hooe with Wartling''. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 2,543.
Built-up component
The central, contiguous area of 558 homes on 65 hectares has been identified as a small Built-up Area, in the statistical government bodies definition (ONS and GSS) and had in 2011 a total of 1,307 residents.
Population density of this area was 20.1 persons per hectare.
Notable people
eSports
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
participant and sim-racer
Jimmy Broadbent is from Ninfield.
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in East Sussex
Civil parishes in East Sussex
Wealden District