Kingston near Lewes
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Kingston near Lewes is a village and
Overview
The village is small and situated at the base of the South Downs. Features include the primary school, village hall, riding stables, and the local
Many of the older houses are in the original village centre, "The Street", a picturesque mixture of cottages and larger farmhouses that leads past
During the 1930s to 1950s, a number of substantial houses were built on Kingston Ridge and in the early 1960s orchard land was developed to form what is known locally as "the estate", family houses that helped serve the establishment of the University of Sussex at that time. During the construction of the estate, a new village green, St. Pancras Green, was built. It features tennis courts and a cricket ground, and in summer supports occasional rounds of the traditional Sussex game of stoolball. The radical reputation of the university influx earned this new green the nickname "Red Square" from some of the more traditional locals.
The
Notable buildings and areas
The Kingston parish is long and thin and runs from Rise Farm in the Lewes Brooks, to the east, to Woodingdean in the west, encompassing many different habitats with many important species. It crosses a block of Downland that is one of the brightest jewels of the South Downs. The Juggs Road runs out of Lewes through the west end of Kingston and right the way to Newmarket Hill. It is an old trail used by Stone Age people and medieval fishing folk.[3] This area of the Brighton Downs retained unbroken its ancient Down pasture mantle along this road until the 1950s since when it has been put under the plough, like so much of our downland. Nevertheless the area contains some special parts.
To the north of the parish lies Lewes, St Ann Without and Falmer, to its west is the City of Brighton and Hove and to its south and east is the Iford parish.
Landmarks
- The St Pancras Church is dedicated to St. Pancras and has a distinctive Tapsel gate, with a central pivot which locals believe was designed to make it easy for funeral bearers to pass either side.[4][5]
- Above Kingston, to the east of the village, stood Ashcombe Mill, a six-sailed post mill which collapsed in 1916. Planning permission was granted for the construction of a replica of the mill for residential purposes on the original site,[6] which has since been built
- The downland above it is part of the SSSI.
- Westward of the village the land rises to a height of over 600 feet (180 m) at Kingston Hill and Newmarket Hill.[7]
- Castle Hill, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, lies within the parish. The site, which extends into the Brighton district, is designated as National Nature Reserve because of its habitat of chalk grassland. Early spider-orchid and the wart-biter (a bush cricket) are two nationally rare species that are found here.[8]
Kingston Hill
Kingston Hill (TQ 380 080) is the main landmark of this western side of the
Behind the Hill’s brow lies the delightful back slope, all mottled with
Cold Coombes
Cold Coombes (TQ 372 077) is a grand amphitheatre, eight hundred metres wide and often very steep. Much of it faces north away from the sun. It is
In August the lower slopes can have great swarms of
Castle Hill
The Juggs Road takes you as far as Castle Hill is to the west of Kingston. The ‘castle’ on the top of Castle Hill is a small rectangular enclosure with grassy banks. It might have been used for managing the sheep flocks, but it is not ancient. The southern slopes lie in the National Nature Reserve, but much of the rest is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the farmer manages them well with intense sheep grazing. The wild flowers are more scattered where the slopes are shady, but there are plenty to see. In late autumn you may find waxcap fungi amongst the gorse. The combe north (TQ 380 072) still has an old flowery slope on its northern side, although a large rearing pen for game birds covers part of it.[9]
Its south facing slope runs into Falmer and Standean Bottoms (TQ 37 06). On all sides they retain their virgin turf, fringed along their crests by gorse and thorn and dimpled only by gently descending pathways. In the morning and evening the valley will lie part under shadow, and at all times the southern slopes are shadier than the northern; some parts have deeper soils, some scarce any soil at all; some have a long sward and some a smooth, fine turf. The different habitats that result mean that the area is famed for its biodiversity, but it is particularly known for its orchids, which include the
The eastern slope of Castle Hill (TQ 380 069) just round the corner from the Nature Reserve, is
Newmarket Hill
This is perhaps the saddest area of the parish. There is a mast near the top and the path is narrow with high barbed wire surrounding walkers and cyclists. However, seventy years ago Newmarket Hill (TQ 359 073) was a special and open place, as the top of Kingston Hill still is. The chalk downland was rich in wildlife and there were even juniper bushes, which are likely to have been there for thousands of years. There was evidence of prehistoric barrows and field systems. All of this has now been ploughed out and the areas is now an empty desert of arable and re-seeded pasture, and only tiny fragments of their ancient flowery grasslands have survived on steep unploughable slopes.[9]
Lewes Brooks
Sometimes known as the Vale of the Brooks, the Kingston parish spans east as far as Rise Farm. There are fields with breeding lapwing in this area.
Governance
At a local level Kingston is governed by Kingston Parish Council. Its responsibilities include footpaths, playgrounds and minor planning applications. The parish council has seven seats available which were uncontested in the May 2007 election.[11]
The next level of government is the district council. The parish of Kingston lies within the Kingston ward of
East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Kingston is within the Newhaven and Ouse Valley West division, with responsibility for Education, Libraries, Social Services, Civil Registration, Trading Standards and Transport. Elections for the County Council are held every four years. The Liberal Democrat David Rogers OBE was elected in the 2005 election.[14]
The UK Parliament constituency for Kingston is Lewes. The Conservative MP is Maria Caulfield who in 2015 replaced the Liberal Democrat Norman Baker, who had been constituency MP since 1997.
Prior to Brexit in 2020, the village was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.
The parish of "Kingston near Lewes" was formed in 1894 when the parish of "Kingston" was abolished and split into "Kingston near Lewes" and "Kingston Urban" in the Municipal Borough of Lewes.[15]
References
- ^ "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
- ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
- ^ "Definition of 'Jugg'?". My Brighton and Hove. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ Roberts, William J. (1950). "Tapsel: His gate". Sussex County Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
- ^ John Houghton (2000), The Parish Church of St. Pancras. Kingston-Near-Lewes, Kingston Parochial Church Council
- ^ "Kingston, Near Lewes". Sussex Mills Group. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
- ^ "Parishes, Kingston near Lewes". British History Online. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
- ^ "Natural England – SSSI". English Nature. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
- ^ OCLC 701098669.
- ^ Mortimer, Carole. "Castle Hill: SSSI detail". Natural England Designated Sites. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ "Results – Town and Parish Council Elections" (PDF). Lewes District Council. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
- ^ "Election Results". Lewes District Council. 4 May 2007. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
- ^ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
- ^ "Councillor David Rogers OBE". Find your Councillor. East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
- ^ "Lewes Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
External links