Ticehurst is both a village and a large

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 Rother 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. The parish lies in the upper reaches of both the Bewl stream before it enters

Bewl Water Bewl Water is a reservoir in the valley of the River Bewl, straddling the boundary between Kent and East Sussex in England. It is about south of Lamberhurst, Kent. The reservoir was part of a project to increase the supply of water in the a ...

and in the upper reaches of the River Rother flowing to the south-east. The parish includes the parish wards of Ticehurst,

Flimwell Flimwell is a village in the civil parish of Ticehurst, in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located close to the border with Kent at the junction of the A21 road with the A268 and the B2087. The village is situated in an Are ...

and Stonegate. The linear settlements of Berner's Hill and Union Street lie between Ticehurst and Flimwell. It lies to the south-east of

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

, and is about distant.

History

Ticehurst is not mentioned 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 ...

''; the manor came into being in the 14th century. ''Pashley Manor'' is also mentioned at the same time, and is within the parish. The village's name derives from

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 ...

; there are two possible derivations. The most plausible one is that it means ''wood on the Teise'' from the river; the second roughly translates as 'The wooded hill where young goats graze', ''ticce(n) + hyrst''. (1248, Tycheherst) Ticehurst was a centre of the Wealden ironworking industry.

Governance

Ticehurst is part of the

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 t ...

called Ticehurst and Etchingham. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,679.

The villages

Ticehurst

There is an active village club, which runs regular social events, and a monthly newsletter "News & Views" which is produced by a team of volunteers. The village school serves both Ticehurst and Flimwell. There is also a comprehensive website covering most of the activities in the community.

Ticehurst House Hospital Ticehurst House Hospital was a mental health facility. It opened in 1792 and was owned and run by five generations of members of the Newington family until 1970. In 2000, the hospital name changed from Ticehurst House Hospital to The Priory Ticehu ...

(now part of the

Priory Group The Priory Group is a provider of mental health care facilities in the United Kingdom. The group operates at more than 500 sites with over 7,000 beds. Its flagship hospital is the Priory Hospital, Roehampton, which is best known for treating ...

) specialises in the treatment of psychiatric disorders and is located on the western edge of the village. Samuel Newington opened the original Ticehurst House in 1792, as a place dedicated to the care and treatment of psychiatric illness. The Victorian hymn composer, John Bacchus Dykes—he composed Melita ('Eternal Father Strong to Save') among other tunes—spent his last years as a patient in Ticehurst House. From 1974 to July 2018 the village was home to the headquarters of the Antiquarian Horological Society, at New House, on the village square. The village is also home to Maynard's Fruit Farm, made ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' "Top 50 places to eat outside in Britain" list. Outside the village there are dairies at

Northiam Northiam is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district, in East Sussex, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Hastings in the valley of the River Rother, East Sussex, River Rother. The A28 road to Ashford, Kent, Ashford ...

and Stonegate, a bakery at

Bodiam Bodiam () is a small village and civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England. It lies in the valley of the River Rother, near to the villages of Sandhurst and Ewhurst Green. Geography South of the village of Bodiam and exte ...

, family butcher in

Etchingham Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex in southern England. The village is located approximately southeast of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent and northwest of Hastings, on the A265 road ...

, a smokery in

and two more pubs at Three Leg Cross and Dale Hill. The Scottish singer/guitarist

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle (band), Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and ...

lived in Ticehurst in the late 1960s and recorded tracks for his 1971 '' Rosemary Lane'' album in his house in the village. Ticehurst was also the final residence of

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

's first wife, Evelyn Nightingale. The village church, St Mary's, was the venue for the wedding of her son, the journalist and theatre critic

Benedict Nightingale William Benedict Herbert Nightingale (born 14 May 1939) is a British journalist, formerly a regular theatre critic for ''The Times'' newspaper. He was educated at Charterhouse and Magdalene College, Cambridge. His first published theatre revie ...

, to the author Anne Redmon. Pashley Manor Gardens is promoted by the

Historic Houses Association Historic Houses (formerly, and still for legal purposes, known as the Historic Houses Association or HHA) is a not-for-profit organisation that represents well over a thousand independently owned historic English country house, country houses, ...

and by the

Campaign to Protect Rural England Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar produ ...

. The gardens hold an annual tulip festival each spring.

Flimwell

Flimwell is a

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

, lying either side of the main road. Other settlements are Union Street and Dale Hill to the west, and Seacox Heath to the east. Flimwell covers an area of approximately , with about 5% of the area being built up.

Stonegate

South-east from Ticehurst and due north-east from

Burwash Burwash, archaically known as Burghersh, is a rural village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. Situated in the High Weald of Sussex some inland from the port of Hastings, it is located south-west of Hurst Gre ...

, is the small village of Stonegate. It came into being at the same time as the railway line from Tunbridge Wells. The

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

at Stonegate has hourly train services to London (Charing Cross and Cannon Street) and to

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

. The next stop from Stonegate to London is

Wadhurst Wadhurst is a market town in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of the civil parish of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood and Tidebrook. Wadhurst is twinned with Aubers in France. Geography Wadhurst is situated o ...

and towards Hastings is

. In Stonegate, there is a Church of England primary school, and the Anglican parish church of St Peter.

Religious sites

The three village churches are: *

St Mary's Church, Ticehurst St Mary's Church is a 14th-century parish church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin in Ticehurst, East Sussex, England. Part of the Diocese of Chichester, the church has grade II* listed building status. In the church is a brass memorial to John Wy ...

, a 14th-century parish church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin * St Peter's Church, Stonegate * St Augustine's Church, FlimwellSt Augustine church, Flimwell
/ref> * Hail Burwash

Transport

There is a railway station nearby, at Stonegate (until 1947 it was called ''Ticehurst Road''; and before that ''Witherenden''); and there is a bus link to Wadhurst railway station.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Rother District