Stanmer is a village on the northern edge of the city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

, in the ceremonial county 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. It was formerly a

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 ...

until 1952 when it was split between Brighton and Falmer. In 1951 the parish had a population of 1097.

History

The etymological root of the name is "Stony Mere",

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 ...

for "stone pond", referring to the

sarsen Sarsen stones are silicification, silicified sandstone blocks found extensively across southern England on the Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, an ...

stones around Stanmer village pond. The stones are not in their original situation, but have been gathered from the Downs and landscaped into the park's appearance. There have been rather inconclusive archaeological excavations at Pudding Bag Wood and Rocky Clump in the north of the park, and in Stanmer Great Wood, producing evidence of occupation from

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times onwards. The village is first recorded in about 765 A.D. when (if the document is authentic) land there was granted by king Ealdwulf of Sussex to Hunlaf in order that he might found a college of secular canons at South Malling near

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

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

it had the curious distinction of being an exclave (forming a detached part) of the

Rape of Pevensey The Rape of Pevensey (also known as Pevensey Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. With an area of it is the largest of the Sussex rapes. History William the Conqueror gran ...

, which is otherwise east of the Ouse. 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 ...

shows that in 1066 and 1086, the tenant-in-chief remained the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

while the local lordship had been transferred from the canons of 1066 to the archbishop by 1086.

Landmarks

It was for long a closed village ruled by the resident lords of Stanmer, with a population static at just over 100. From the eighteenth century onwards the lords were the Pelham family who received the title Earl of Chichester in 1801 in addition to the Baron Pelham of Stanmer they had had since from 1762. They lived in the mansion called Stanmer House, built in its present

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

form in 1722, a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It stands at the centre of Stanmer Park, landscaped by

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

, which was awarded Grade II "park of special historic interest" status by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

in 1983. In the eastern portion of the park was built, from 1960 onwards, the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. Stanmer Church, with a narrow spire unusual in Sussex downland, is adjacent to the pond and to Stanmer House. Its historic dedication is unknown. It was built in 1838 on the site of a 14th-century predecessor destroyed by fire. Stanmer has a working farm at its centre. Near the church is an unusual survival, a donkey wheel, i.e. a treadmill formerly operated by a donkey. There are 18th-century lodge-houses at the upper and lower ends of the park. The village also possesses former

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...

in the Chichester name, built around 1900. Th
Stanmer Preservation Society
has been responsible, over the years, for the maintenance and upkeep of many of the agricultural artifacts which were discovered and excavated in the Stanmer Park locality. Included in with some of these include those from Rocky Clump, first discovered by Walter Gorton and Charlie Yeates in the 1950s. It also now maintains the church, Rural Museum and Donkey Wheel.

Stanmer and Brighton

On 1 April 1952 the parish was abolished and merged with Brighton and Falmer. The park is now a major public space for the residents of the city of

, and regularly hosts such events as

kite A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...

-flying and

combined driving Combined driving (also known as horse driving trials) is an equestrian sport involving driving (horse), carriage driving. In this discipline, the driver sits on a vehicle drawn by a single horse, a pair or a team of four. The sport has three p ...

(horse-driving trials). Stanmer House was used as offices by the university in the 1960s and 70s, but was recently derelict and in need of restoration. It is now partl
open to the public
again and is licensed as a wedding venue.

Sources

* *Brighton Archaeological Society (2000) Field Unit Archive 2000, http://www.brightonarch.org.uk/13_1.htm (scroll down). *Carder, Tim (1990) ''Encyclopaedia of Brighton.'' Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. *Funnell, John (2000) Excavations at Rocky Clump, Stanmer. ''Flint'' 43. * Gorton, W.C.L. & Yeates, C.W. (1988) ''Rocky Clump, Stanmer: a forgotten shrine?'' Stanmer Preservation Society. * *Yeates, C.W. and others (?1980s) ''Stanmer'', 2nd edn. itchling Stanmer Preservation Society. *Yeates, C.W. (1986) ''Hovel in the wood.'' Privately published. artly reminiscence, partly archaeology. An important documentary source, the estate accounts from 1769 to 1950, is housed in East Sussex Record Office,

References

External links

Anglo-Saxon charter relating to Stanmer, Sawyer no. 50Stanmer Preservation Society
{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Areas of Brighton and Hove Former civil parishes in East Sussex Conservation areas in England