Sayers Common
| Sayers Common | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
 Christ Church, Sayers Common | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ266182 |
| Location: | 50°56’57"N, 0°11’53"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Hassocks |
| Postcode: | BN6 |
| Dialling code: | 01273 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mid Sussex |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Arundel and South Downs |
Sayers Common is a village in Sussex, sitting two miles north-west of Hurstpierpoint in the midst of the county. Until the 1990s, the main London to Brighton road ran through here: it has become a more popular residential village since being partially bypassed by the new A23 road.
The village has some very old cottages at its heart, and also contains the Priory of Our Lady, previously a residential retreat, now a specialist school for children with autism. The parish had a recorded population of 6,264 at the 2001 census.
About the village
Sayers Common Wood and Coombe Wood, e.g. TQ267180, sandwiched between the old and the new London Roads, are well-loved ancient bluebell woods, large by the standards of this countryside, but noisy.[1]
Sayers Common church (TQ269186) built in 1880, has a wildflower churchyard, with ox eye daisy, spring sedge and adder's tongue fern and in the past has had green winged orchid. It can be rich in meadow fungi, including the rare straw club and many more.
Just west of the church, along the north edge of Furze Field wood, are derelict brook meadows (TQ263185) rich in wildlife, but rapidly losing value. There are roe deer amongst the tufted hair grass and dropwort next to the brook that divides the meadow. This tangle of coarse vegetation is squeezing out the betony, sneezewort, pepper saxifrage, devil's bit, tormentil and spotted orchid that still cling on around the edges. South of Furze Field (TQ262182) is a damp meadow wholly dominated by tufted hair grass, with some spotted orchids.
The countryside around the ex-Priory, Stuccles and New House Farms (TQ263189) has many oaks, and in July the purple hairstreak butterflies can be seen flitting and sunning in their canopies.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Sayers Common) |
References
- ↑ Bangs, David (2018). The Land of the Brighton Line: A Field Guide to the Middle Sussex and Southeast Surrey Weald. Farlington, Portsmouth: Bishops Printers. ISBN 978-0-9548638-2-1.