Catsfield
| Catsfield | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
 St Laurence Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ725136 |
| Location: | 50°54’-0"N, -0°27’0"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 891 (2011) |
| Post town: | Battle |
| Postcode: | TN33 |
| Dialling code: | 01424 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Rother |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Bexhill and Battle |
Catsfield is a village in Sussex, six miles north of Bexhill-on-Sea, and three miles south-west of Battle.
Catsfield is in the Sussex Weald, within the designated landscape the 'High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty'.
Many suggestions have been made about the origin of the name Catsfield but it is unlikely its true derivation will ever be known. One theory advanced is the village takes its name from a North Saxon or Belgic tribe called the 'Catti' or Chatti, who settled in Sussex in Roman times. Another based on a tradition that a church was built in Catsfield by Saint Chad of Lichfield, or his brother St. Cedd who was active in the south-east of the land, hence 'Caedsfeld' or 'Chaddesfield'. The earliest written record of Catsfield (as Cedesfille) is contained in the Domesday Book of 1086.[1]
History
The village is first documented in the Domesday Book of 1086, in which it is recorded "there is a little church serving the hall". It is one of the oldest settlements in the area, with Romano British period archaeological remains.
The village once consisted of two manors: Catsfield and Catsfield Levett. Thomas Lyvet (Levett) held the lordship of the manor of Catsfield in 1445 but forfeited it, along with the lordship of Firle, for his debts. But the manor of Catsfield Levett remained in the Levett family for centuries, and in the seventeenth century a Levett heiress carried it into the Eversfield family. (Richard Lyvet of Firle was lord of the manor of Catsfield in 1431.) With a fortune built on ancestral landholdings and later on iron making, the Levetts held land across Sussex. The parish church is dedicated to St Laurence.[2]
Parish church
The parish church, St Laurence, dates from the early mediæval period: the nave is 1100, the tower late 12th century, the chancel 13th century and the tower buttresses 15th century.
The mediæval church bells are hung in the tower. The first and smallest bell is inscribed "Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Katerina Vocata" ('When I am struck I am the Rose of the World and am called Katerina'); the second bell is inscribed "Dulcis Sisto Melis Campana Vocor Gabrielis" ('I am the honey voiced bell called Gabriel'). Both bells were cast probably in the vicinity of the church during the late 14th or early 15th century by William Wodewarde of London. The third and largest bell is said to have been the greatest ever cast by William Hull of Hailsham and has the inscription "William Hull of Hailsham made me in 1685. John Maynard, John Blaskit, Churchwardens".
The church clock was made and installed during the late 19th century by J. W. Benson of Ludgate Hill, London.
A venerable Sussex oak was once to be found in the churchyard dating from the time before the Conquest. It was lost in the 1960s.
The Methodist church was in existence from 1912 to 2000.[3]
About the village
Partly within the parish is Ashburnham Park.[4]
The National Monuments Record documents sites of Roman cremation, post-mediæval iron works and architectural remains in Catsfield.
A Romano British cremation burial accompanied by pottery was found in 1902 during the construction of Twisly House. While excavating for a rain-water drain about 6 feet from the house and at a depth of 10–12 inches, a workman James Hodgkin found a pottery vessel of about one gallon capacity. It was of earthen colour and rather soft paste. It was full of earth and in the bottom there was chalk-like material. About a yard away he found another vessel, smaller and of thinner material which contained the remains of fine bones. The British Museum assessed the smaller vessel as the remains of a small Roman vase commonly found with cremated burials.[5]
At Watermill Stream is the site of a forge having a large bay with cinder below it. The name "Hamerwyse" is given to the meadow at the site in a 13th-century document suggesting a bloomery and in a lease of 1582 it is mentioned as "lyemeweke or lyerne Forge and Foryers". A forge pond is shown on a map dated 1795. Across the valley of Watermill Stream is a breached pond-bay containing sufficient forge cinder to indicate ironworking nearby.
Phenology
William Markwick, an inhabitant of Catsfield and a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, made pioneering observations in phenology, which is to say the times at natural events in nature occur such as when the first call of the cuckoo is heard or when the first primrose blooms. These were published in Gilbert White's 1789 book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.[6]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Catsfield) |
References
- ↑ The Church of Saint Laurence and Parish of Catsfield, nd, anon
- ↑ Photos of the church
- ↑ Catsfield Methodist Church; GenUKI
- ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Ashburnham Park
- ↑ Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex Notes and Queries H.Blackman – Pages 92–3 – 1 1926
- ↑ White, G (1789) The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne