Plumpton, East Sussex
Plumpton | |
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East Sussex | |
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UK Parliament | |
Website | Plumpton Council |
Plumpton is a village and
Plumpton is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a church and two mills, and is shown as Pluntune, meaning 'town or settlement where plum-trees grew'.[3]
Plumpton Green is rumoured to have been the inspiration for the popular 1960s British children's television series Trumpton by Gordon Murray, with nearby Chailey being Chigley and Wivelsfield Green being Camberwick Green.[4]
Landmarks
The Clayton to Offham Escarpment is a Site of Special Scientific Interest along the ridge and slopes of the South Downs. Stretching some 10 km from Hassocks in the west to Lewes in the east, it passes through several parishes including Plumpton. The site is of biological importance due to its rare chalk grassland habitat along with its woodland and scrub.[5]
The most visible boundary of the South Downs National Park aligns with the southernmost access road to Plumpton Racecourse, which itself runs alongside the Sussex Greensand Way, the Roman Road that crossed the parish in an east–west direction.
Notable buildings and areas
The parish of Plumpton comprises the top of the
Village layout
Chapel Road is a cul-de-sac with 24 houses. These are mostly semi-detached, with a small terrace of cottages built in 1900. Woodgate Meadow is a fairly recent development of large, detached houses on the site of a former brickyard. Westgate was built on farmland some years later (1995) incorporating mainly detached houses and also the new village hall and green.
Plumpton Lane, connecting Plumpton and Plumpton Green has, in recent years, received several small housing developments. The houses are of an attractive design, incorporating traditional red Sussex tile-hung walls.
Notable Buildings
There are a number of historic and notable buildings in the area.
Churches
The naves of Plumpton church (TQ 356 134) and Westmeston church (TQ338 136) were built by the Normans, with later chancel and south aisle at Westmeston, and later tower and chancel at Plumpton. Stone buildings were exceptionally rare in those times hence their small size. Both of them had frescoes painted by the Lewes Group which were uncovered only in 1862, although those at Westmeston were not preserved. Parts of the paintings at Plumpton, on the north wall of the nave, do survive and have recently been restored. Extraordinarily, it is thought that the wooden bell hanging frame may date back to 1040. The stone tower may have been built around the original wooden tower and its bell hanging. Plumpton church is surrounded by Plumpton College. Newly planted trees look to further obscure our view of it. The churchyard is currently badly maintained for meadow species.
In Plumpton Green stands All Saints Church (TQ 363 168). Archaic vegetation survives in the front churchyard and has lots of
The Plough Inn
The pub was originally sited by Bower Farm but was relocated to the crossroads when the airfield was built in the second world war. There is a monument to the airmen by the pub.
Behind the Plough Inn is an archaic meadow, used as a campsite by the pub. It has old flowery sward,
Plumpton College
Plumpton College is a Further and Higher education college with a variety of land-based courses, including Viticulture and Oenology, Agriculture, Horticulture, Floristry, Equine Studies, Animal Care and Veterinary Nursing, Countryside Management and so on.[6]
Plumpton Place
Plumpton Place stands next to Plumpton College. It is a six-bedroom manor house with a moat and water mill (TQ 361 136) which run into Plumton Mill stream. It had a big 17th century threshing barn, which is used by Plumpton College.
In the early 1970s,
Ashurst Farm
Ashurst Farm, by Plumpton Racecourse, has had an organic farm since 1994. Until then, the dairy cows had been hand-milked, and the land had received no artificial fertilisers since 1945, thus facilitating immediate organic status.[7] The farm has a vegetable box scheme and employs much local labour.
Woodland
There are a number of beautiful and ancient woodland in this area.
Plumpton Wood (south)
The southern Plumpton Wood (TQ355 145) stands on wet
Plumpton Wood (north)
The northern Plumpton Wood stands on
Streams
The Plumpton Mill Stream flows north through the parish, to join the Bevern Stream just north of the railway. In turn, the Bevern Stream flows into the River Ouse at Barcombe Mills. The streams and their banks are delightful green ribbons through the parish's farmed landscape.
Plumpton Mill Stream
The Plumpton Mill Stream arises at Plumpton Place. The Stream once had three water mills. The pond of the Upper Mill is now a wilderness of
Half a mile south west of the race course, hidden away on the steep bank of one of the stream's tributaries, is a maiden English Oak (TQ 355 148). It has a girth of 3.66 spans and great limbs straddling the stream. The stream's banks at that point are covered in
In late 2016 the lower Plumpton Mill Stream and the whole of the Bevern Stream below her were polluted by a huge volume of slurry from Plumpton College Dairy Unit. All the fish in the affected streams were killed. The streams and their wildlife are still recovering.[8]
Bevern stream
The Bevern is fed by the clear chalky waters of Plumpton Mill Stream arising at moated Plumpton Place. There are crossings and short accessible bank lengths all the way west past Plumpton Green.
Scarp and downland
The south of the parish rises to the top of the Downs and the slope forms part of Clayton to Offham Escarpment, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. There are a number of interesting and historic sites within this area of the parish.
Tumuli
On the scarp, there are three clusters of round barrows on each of the three main spurs that jut forward. They are likely to have been built by Bronze Age farmers. Most of the barrows are not obvious, but there is one that is a yard tall on an arable field just south of the South Downs Way and just west of Novington Plantation (TQ 364 125). Most of them have 'pillage dimples' in their tops where erstwhile treasure hunters or predatory antiquarians dug them out.[9]
The Plumpton bostal (TQ 360 128) rises from the Half Moon Inn. It was an army road in the Second World War taking vehicles to the training grounds on the plateau, so it has been concreted. It looks down over a stretch of scarp with a good assemblage of Down pasture flowers. It is still owned by Brighton Council, though leased to Plumpton College. At the base of the scarp the woodland is relatively rich in species, with bluebells and ramsons.
Plumpton Plain
The
One enclosure, still covered in scrub, lies to the west of the bridlepath running southwards from the South Downs Way. Four more, to the east of the bridlepath, are under pasture but can still be seen with the use of a site plan, as are the field paths and banks. On the wooded valley sides to the south east there are other house sites and field lynchets.[9]
There is a lot of evidence of the tools that the Bronze Age people used and it is relatively easy to find an axe head. The archeologist, David McOmish, when uncovering these settlements found a complete Neolithic flint axe, twenty-six centimetres long.[11]
Plumpton Cross
To the south of Plumpton Plain is a 100-foot cross carved into the chalk, probably made by the monks of
Faulkner's Bottom
Faulkner's Bottom (TQ 352 116) has evidence of the field systems of the Bronze Age settlements found in Plumpton Plain. Most of the visible signs of those people have been ploughed out, but on the west side of Faulkner's Bottom two Bronze Age enclosures survive, as well as an undated 'valley entrenchment' crossed by a terrace way at the head of the valley (TQ 352 125). This rectangular enclosure is atmospheric, with old thorn bushes, bracken and rosebay glades, and with some scrub oaks. There is a long strip along the steep eastern valleys where archaic Down pastures still survive. There are orchids,
Governance
Plumpton lies within the Chailey ward for the East Sussex County Council tier of government. The ward also includes Chailey itself, Ditchling, East Chiltington, Newick, St John Without, Streat, Westmeston and Wivelsfield.
Plumpton is served by
The UK Parliament constituency for Plumpton is Lewes.
Education
Plumpton Primary School is located in Plumpton Green and was built in 1974 for children living in Plumpton and surrounding villages, especially Wivelsfield, Hamsey, and Chailey. The school has an assembly hall, a student library, a playing field and a (now defunct) swimming pool.[14]
History
Simon de Montfort fought and defeated King Henry III at the Battle of Lewes in 1264. He gained a strategic advantage, and achieved complete surprise, by using a night march to position his numerically inferior army on Downland high above the town by early morning. To avoid detection they ascended the Downs four miles to the north-west of Lewes up Warningore Bostal, a deeply-worn track that exists to this day. Before marching on the town de Montfort is reputed to have rallied his forces, wearing large white crosses on their tunics for identification, on Plumpton Plain. Although now no longer in place, within living memory a sandstone block at the centre of the cross bore the inscription 'Battle of Lewes 1264'.
As in the medieval Sussex Weald generally, Plumpton parish and Plumpton's manorial outliers to the north (known as 'Plumpton Boscage') had huge amounts of common land. By 1596, 240 acres of Plumpton Common had been enclosed and divided, though Plumpton Green remained common land until 1842. There is little evidence now of the commons. Place names like 'Riddens' Farm and Wood and 'Inholmes' Farm indicate very ancient enclosures from the wild. The place name 'Lentridge' Farm perhaps denotes the more widespread ancient presence of
Schooling began in 1837, where two teachers taught in a small building (measuring 22×16' – 6.7×4.9m) in the south of the parish in Plumpton village. This was the main centre of the parish population, which was then around 275, with some 20 children attending school.[15]
The railway station was opened 1863, two miles to the north, and the centre of the parish gradually moved towards it. By the 1870s there were three drinking establishments, the village shop and a few other small businesses to the north of the station, spaced along Station Road. There were also a number of brickmaking sites in the open fields to either side of the road. Apart from brick-making and farming there were other rural activities such as bird-scaring,
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2020) ) |
The 1870 Education Act introduced compulsory education and during 1875 the newly formed Plumpton School Board approached a total of six local landowners to sell a half-acre plot for the building of the school. All refused. The threat of compulsory purchase finally procured, for £250, a corner of a meadow bordered by a stream 200m north of the railway and in 1877 building commenced on a large single schoolroom, surmounted by a prominent bell-tower, with adjoining three-bedroomed house for the schoolmaster. The parish population was about 400 at this time; the school was designed for 64 pupils, and opened in 1878. During the first few years absenteeism was very high as it was common for children to work from an early age.
The school functioned for almost a century, and was extended at least twice to accommodate the ever-increasing population. It was eventually superseded by the present school, which was built in 1974 at the end of Southdowns cul-de-sac, and provides education facilities for 150 pupils, ranging from the ages of 4 to 11 in seven educational years. The redundant old school building had a number of community uses and then became a private residence until, in the late 1980s, with the addition of three new cottages it was converted into a total of seven dwellings. The school bell, still intact in the tower, was presented to the new school, where it is prominently displayed in the courtyard. The adjoining schoolhouse was unaffected by this development, and remained unchanged.[15]
Village groups
This section needs to be updated.(August 2021) |
There are many groups and societies in comparison to the size of the village; one of the most notable being Plumpton Players, a drama group. The society performs up to two plays a year. In 2007, the society was chosen to perform the worldwide premiere of A Wet and Windy Night by Declan Cleary. In May 2008, the Players performed Dave Freeman's classic comedy/farce
There are also sporting groups, which attract visitors from across Sussex, including cricket, tennis, rugby and football clubs. The rugby club plays in Sussex Division 1. The cricket club is one of the most successful village teams in the area consistently winning both the Mid Sussex League and the Wisdom Cup. The club was the first in the area to wear "Coloured Clothing" in their cup matches. The kit consisted of maroon and yellow trousers with matching shirts. In 2008 the team moved to the East Sussex League winning the league by nearly 100 points. The season was a double success as the 2nd eleven also won their division by nearly 80 points. In 2009, the first eleven completed their second successive league win and promotion by winning division 3 by over 80 points, recording 14 wins and being the only team in all 12 divisions to stay unbeaten throughout the season. In 2013 the 1st xl had their best ever finish, 4th in division 1, and the 2nds were promoted to division 6.
Notable people
- Edward James Boys (1916-2002), historian of the Crimean War was born here
- Sally Thomsett (1950-), actress in The Railway Children and Man About the House was born here.
- Queen Camilla, second wife of King Charles III, and eldest daughter of Major Bruce Shand, grew up in the former rectory known as The Laines.[16]
- Jimmy Page (1944-) Led Zeppelin guitarist lived in Plumpton Place between 1972 and 1985
References
- ^ "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
- ^ "Civil parish population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
- ^ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.369.
- ^ "In Search of the Real Trumptonshire". Trumptonshire Web. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
- ^ "Natural England – SSSI (Clayton to Offham Escarpment)". English Nature. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ "Plumpton College". Plumpton College. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ OCLC 1247849975.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ "Plumpton College fined £50,000 for slurry pollution". BBC News. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ OCLC 701098669.
- ^ "Plumpton Plain earthwork". Historic England. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ a b McOmish, D., Tuck, C, (2004). Plumpton Plain, East Sussex. Archaeological Investigation Report Series A1/08/2004. (English Heritage) ISSN 1478-7008
- ^ Hows, Mark. "Ditchling Cross". Hill Figures Website. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
- ^ "Plumpton, Streat, East Chiltington and St John (Without) ward 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
- ^ "Website Main Page". Plumpton Primary School. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
- ^ a b "Plumpton School History". Plumpton Primary School. Archived from the original on 7 February 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
- ^ "Duchess of Cornwall's Plumpton home on market for £3.15m". Mid Sussex Times. JPIMedia. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
External links
Media related to Plumpton, East Sussex at Wikimedia Commons