Piddinghoe
| Piddinghoe | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
 The Old Post Office, Piddinghoe | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ433031 |
| Location: | 50°48’36"N, -0°1’48"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 255 (2011) |
| Post town: | Newhaven |
| Postcode: | BN9 |
| Dialling code: | 01273 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Lewes |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Lewes |
Piddinghoe is a village in Sussex, sitting in the valley of the River Ouse between Lewes and Newhaven, in the county's Holmstrow Hundred, five miles south of the former, downstream of Southease.
The village claims to have the only remaining bottle-shaped brick kiln in the country.
Piddinghoe is regularly visited by sailing enthusiasts as the body of water by the village is a fine location for dinghy sailing in particular but also windsurfing.[1]
An old saying of unknown origin says that "Piddinghoe people shoe their magpies".[2] One theory is that this refers to the habit of shoeing oxen, which if black and white, were called magpies.[3]
St John's Church
St John's Church is one of three in the Ouse Valley with a round Norman tower, the others being at nearby Southease and St Michael's, Lewes. It may be built upon a large prehistoric burial mound, again like Southease upstream.[4]
History
Piddinghoe does not appear in the Domesday Book, but by 1220 a manor of that name was in the hands of William de Warenne.[2]
In the 13th century the village name appears as Peddinghowe or Pidingeho and in the 14th century as Pydynghowe.[2] It means "hill-spur of the family or followers of a man called Pyda".[5]
In 1916, Charles Neville bought land in the parish along the coast in order to create a new village, which he named Anzac-on-Sea. The next year it was renamed 'Peacehaven' (now a parish in its own right.[2]
About the village
Court Farm once farmed much of the surrounding downland the land close to the farmstead is now a smallholding with pigs. The house is mediæval and the derelict flint barns are similarly old. The little wildfowl lake was a Victorian brickfield.
Piddinghoe Pond was a quarry site from the late 19th century. By the mid 1950's excavation had stopped and the pit had filled with water. It has now been acquired by the Newhaven & Seaford Sailing Club.[6]
Despite the Downs around Piddinghoe once being almost entirely old Down pasture, now the best surviving fragment is to the north of the parish on the Southease border on the north slope of Broadgreen Bottom (TQ420038). The western end is scruffy and there were many rabbits until a few years ago, so you might find hound's tongue and wild thyme and other open ground short-lived species. The eastern end of the Downslope has old Down pasture perennials, like round-headed rampion, horseshoe vetch, Devil's bit scabious and Autumn Ladies'-tresses orchid. The south slope of Broadgreen Bottom has a long Gorse bank that is used for game bird cover.
The Money Burgh (TQ424036) is a Neolithic long barrow dominating the narrow strait of the Ouse valley. It is possible that prehistoric people crossed the estuary here as a mediæval ferry crossed at Stock Cottages, nearby.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Piddinghoe) |
References
- ↑ "Dinghy sailing and windsurfing". http://www.touristnetuk.com/se/sussex/activities/watersports/index.asp. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 A History of the County of Sussex - Volume 7 : @ (Victoria County History)@Piddinghoe
- ↑ Newhaven to Lewes Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Bangs, Dave (2008). A freedom to roam Guide to the Brighton Downs : from Shoreham to Newhaven and Beeding to Lewes. Brighton: David Bangs. ISBN 978-0-9548638-1-4. OCLC 701098669. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701098669.
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
- ↑ "Brighton Watersports at Piddinghoe Lake" (in en). https://thebrightonwatersports.co.uk/lake-activities.html.