East Chiltington

East Chiltington
East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Lewes
Website	http://www.eastchiltington.net/
List of places UK England East Sussex 50°55′16″N 0°03′00″W / 50.921°N 0.050°W / 50.921; -0.050

East Chiltington is a village and

, a Roman road, runs from east to west through the centre of the parish.

Eton College owns a 500 acre plot in the parish and in 2021 applied to build 3,000 homes in the area north of the railway line. The proposal has met with resistance from locals, citing amongst other things the risk to the biodiversity of the area.^[3]

There is no public access to the majority of the banks of Bevern Stream through East Chiltington.

Geography

The parish of East Chiltington comprises the

parish.

The area is remarkable for its long stretches of intact flowery lane sides. There are at least five spots along Novington Lane with the rare

carnation sedges

.

At Brookhouse, East Chiltington, (TQ375 155) there used to be a 2.25 m girth pollarded native

The Bevern stream

The Bevern stream runs through the middle of the parish, flowing eastwards to the

However, like many of the Sussex streams and rivers, the Bevern stream has not been left unpolluted. In late 2016 the whole of the Bevern Stream was polluted by a huge volume of slurry from Plumpton College Dairy Unit. All the fish in it were killed.^[6] In recent years, however, sea trout have been seen in the Bevern stream at East Chiltington, and the stream is healthy again.

Woodland

There is impressive woodland in East Chiltington. Beneath the Downs the large woods sit on Gault Clay. Further north, the land is fertile lower greensand so there is more arable land and less woodland. The remains of Home Wood has now largely been destroyed for farm land.

Home, Great Home and Middle Home Wood

Before 1650, Home Wood was 300 acres and an important demesne wood of the

at Lewes. The majority of it was converted to farmland by the church and the commoners dispossessed. The footprint of the lost medieval Home Wood begins at the north end of Novington Lane. Hattons Green was once lawns at the edge of medieval Home Wood, but it is just paddocks and cottages now. The green and Homewoodgate Farm marked its western edge. There is still a small woodland called Home Wood which has old holly, coppiced beech and old wood pasture feel. Next to it was Novingdean Common, which was a common of 40 acres lost to the people after 1600.

Great and Middle Home Wood are the last remaining large fragments of the wood. Great Home Wood (TQ 372 182) spans the East Chiltington and the

Middle Home Wood (TQ 378 174) has hornbeam, hazel and oak and in spring many bluebells. There is a gentle valley stream at its centre and a derelict unimproved pasture along its north side, which a footpath crosses.

Both Great Home and Middle Home woods have suffered losses to make a

Long Wood

Long Wood (TQ 367 142) has oak, hazel with bluebells in spring and much birch. It has laurel thickets and 12 ancient woodland indicator species. Silver-washed fritillary butterflies and harlequin longhorn beetles can be seen here.^[4]

There are drained ponds between it and Cottage Wood, which have become a marshy area (TQ 381 192) with frogs, dragonflies and damselflies flying above scarce wetland plants, such as

Warningore wood

Warningore wood (TQ 382 140) spans the East Chiltington and

. It suffered from the two world wars when wood was needed when many of the standards were clear felled and not regrown.

The wood was a candidate SSSI. If that designation had been completed the rich herbaceous vegetation of the wide rides which included old Wealden plants like

Novington sandpits

The disused Novington sandpit (TQ 368 145) stands between Long Wood and Stanton's Farm. It was used to extract the

and they are in need of urgent management to prevent the spread of invasive species through the local watercourses. The pits are in need of proper closure and management for wildlife and public recreation.

Scarp and downland

Clayton to Offham Escarpment is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which stretches from Hassocks in the west and passes through many parishes including East Chiltington, to Lewes in the east. The site is of biological importance due to its rare chalk grassland habitat along with its woodland and scrub.^[7] At the top of the scarp are two National Trust reserves, Blackcap and Ashcombe Bottom.

Ashcombe Bottom

. It is a biodiverse area with many butterflies and migrant birds in spring.

Blackcap

Main article: Blackcap, East Sussex

frog and bee orchid and there are tiny fragments of heathy grassland and even ling heather. In autumn the waxcap fungal flora can be spectacularly colourful. 21 old meadow species have been counted there. Next to the top of the Warningore Bostal, are a cluster of 12 smallish round barrows, each one with a ‘pillage dimple’ in the top, but otherwise well-preserved.^[8]

Notable buildings

Notable areas around East Chiltington

Parish church

The parish church (TQ 369 151) was once the chapel of a detached part of Westmeston parish hence the name of the lane, Chapel Lane, and farm, Chapel Farm. It was built in the 12th century. Quite fascinatingly, the church which has walls, nave, chancel and tower made of

winklestone. It is a church made of fossils. Big winkle shells, Viviparus

, stand proud of the stone, reddish or grey, and very similar to the water snail shells you can pick from riversides, which are of the same genus, though they live 135 million years later.

The church has one of the largest yew trees in Sussex and maintains its wild flower meadows proudly. It declares on entry to look out for its

cocksfoot

. The serving rector, Godfrey Brodster, has recently retired and the church is currently closed (2021).

Hurst Barns

The largest estate in the area is Hurst Barns (TQ 383 160) at around 500 acres. It has a handsome 18th century farmhouse, cottages, an old threshing barn and wooden (converted) granary. It has a line of

lime trees

. It has been bought by the Earl of Albemarle.

Governance

East Chiltington is governed at the local level by East Chiltington Parish Council which consists of seven councillors meeting every two months. The parish council represents the parish on matters governed at District and County level. The May 2015 election was contested by eight candidates.^[10]

East Chiltington lies within the Chailey ward for the next tier of government, East Sussex County Council. The ward also includes Chailey, Ditchling, St John Without, Newick, Plumpton, Streat, Westmeston and Wivelsfield. The County Council provides services such as roads and transport, social services, libraries and trading standards. The county councilor is the Conservative Jim Sheppard.^[11]

The next level of government is

Lewes District Council. The District council supplies services such as refuse collection, planning consent, leisure amenities and council tax collection. East Chiltington is covered by the Plumpton, Streat, East Chiltington and St John (Without) ward which returns a single seat. In the May 2015 election, Sarah Osbourne, a councillor from the local Liberal Democrat party was elected.^[12]

The UK Parliament constituency for East Chiltington is Lewes. The Conservative Maria Caulfield, a local nurse, has been serving as the constituency MP since 2015 when she defeated the incumbent Liberal Democrat Norman Baker.

Prior to Brexit in 2020, the village was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to East Chiltington.

1. ^ "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
2. ^ "Civil Parish Population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Eton v the sea trout: college's land sale sparks fears of river pollution". The Guardian. 19 June 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
4. ^
   OCLC 1247849975.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
   )
5. ^ "Woodland Trust tree 5775". Retrieved 15 October 2023.
6. ^ "Stream leading to River Ouse polluted by slurry killing hundreds of fish". The Argus. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
7. ^ "Natural England - SSSI (Clayton to Offham Escarpment)". English Nature. Archived from the original on 15 July 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
8. ^
   OCLC 701098669
   .
9. ^ "Blackcap". Countryside Sites. Brighton & Hove City Council. Archived from the original on 31 July 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
10. ^ "Candidates - Town and Parish Council Elections" (PDF). Lewes District Council. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
11. ^ "Find your councillor". Lewes District Council. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
12. ^ "Election Results: 4 May 2007". Lewes District Council. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009.