Barcombe

Barcombe
Sussex
St Mary's Church, Barcombe
Location
Grid reference:	TQ417144
Location:	50°55’23"N, -0°1’5"E
Data
Population:	1,473  (2011)
Post town:	Lewes
Postcode:	BN8
Dialling code:	01273
Local Government
Council:	Lewes
Parliamentary constituency:	Lewes
Website:	http://www.barcombe.net/

Barcombe is a village in Sussex: the wider parish has four settlements:

• Old Barcombe (TQ418143), the oldest settlement in the parish with the parish church;
• Barcombe Cross (TQ420158), the more populous settlement and main hub with the amenities and services;
• Spithurst (TQ426174) a hamlet in the north-east; and
• Town Littleworth (TQ410180) in the north-west.

This village gives its name to the Barcombe Hundred in the Rape of Lewes.

Barcombe is recorded in the Domesday Book as "Berchamp". The origins of the name 'Barcombe' are uncertain but the first element is the Old English bere, meaning 'barley'. 'Combe' is usually a gentle valley, but the Domesday Book name as a different suffix.

A visitor attraction here is 'Barcombe Mills'; an old water-mill complex on the River Ouse at the base of the hill on which Barcombe Cross sits. The mills burnt down before the Second World War, but Barcombe Mills is still a popular Sunday outing for townsfolk from Lewes and Brighton.

History

Roman settlements

There have recently been two important excavations at old Barcombe. From 1999 onwards they have been excavating a Roman villa and surrounding buildings south of the church (TQ419142). The villa stood near a crossroads, and it has been found that it was built on top of an earlier Iron Age roundhouse. The Roman inhabitants are likely to have benefitted from the iron industry in the Wealden forests to the north. The villa was abandoned around 300AD.

Even more recently the Culver Archaeological Project found a Roman defended settlement just across the Ouse at Bridge Farm, Upper Weillingham (TQ431144).

Disused railways

Two railway lines ran through the villages: the line between Lewes and Uckfield; and the line from East Grinstead, part of which is now the Bluebell Railway. There were stations on each of the two lines: Barcombe station on the East Grinstead line, and Barcombe Mills station on the Uckfield line, with a junction south of the latter before the line continued to Lewes. Barcombe closed on 28 May 1955, whilst Barcombe Mills closed on 4 May 1969. Part of the line is now a cycle track. Barcombe Cross only became the hub of the parish when the railway line opened. Before such time it was just one of the dispersed hamlets.

Old Barcombe

Barcombe, which may be distinguished as 'Old Barcombe', is the oldest settlement in the parish. Here stands the parish church, St Mary's, with a few older houses around it. The mediæval church, with its fine shingled, broached spire, may incorporate some materials scavenged from the Roman villa found nearby, though this is not visible in the restored church. The church was rebuilt in 1878–9. The agreement to restore the old church included a commitment to build a new church at Spithurst in the north of the parish: St Bartholomew's, now known as 'Old St, Bartz'.

Shelley's Folly

Shelley's Folly

Shelley's Folly

Shelley's Folly was built by Theobald Shelley in 1686. The property passed through generations of the Shelley family until the early 19th century when the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley who was the next in line to inherit the property sold out to his younger brother in 1815, who himself sold it to Sir John Dodson, a well-known judge and politician, in the 1840s. The Dodson family retained ownership of the property for the next 150 years. Through much of this period, they let it with notable tenants including George Murray Levick, a surgeon on the ill-fated Terra Nova Antarctic expedition led by Scott in 1912, and the Marchioness of Queensberry and family. The Dodsons, now Lord Monk Brettons, moved back into the property in the late 1960s refurbishing the property before selling up in 2004.

Camoiscourt Shaw

North of the old Barcombe village towards Barcombe Cross is Camoiscourt Shaw (TQ419153), a woodland gill along which the derelict Bluebell Line ran. A footpath leads from Church Road across cow pasture and into the gill.

Conyboro Park

Conyboro Park, Cooksbridge, is in the parish of Barcombe. It has woodlands, and the south side had some old trees of impressive girth. The section of the North End Stream to the south has a bank side bluebell wood, and more woodland the east (TQ410136).

Barcombe Cross

The village has three main routes into the centre of the village and the buildings cluster around the crossroads. A 1724 map by Richard Budgen is the first time the place name Barcombe Cross is identified and the map has a pictorial depiction of the crossroads. Barcombe Cross expanded from 1839 onwards when the railway station opened and has since become the main village in the parish hosting the parish school, shops, amenities and services. Barcombe Cross is now just known as Barcombe in the local area and is signposted as such. It is only on maps is it shown in its full name.

Barcombe Oil Mill and pasture

Barcombe Oil Mill which was in operation until 1909. It was demolished in 1917 leaving a few discarded millstones and the old mill leat. It is South of Barcombe Cross and north of Camoiscourt Shaw. Around the demolished mill is a pasture remarkable for its botanical richness, (TQ422152) with a range of archaic meadow plants. There soils is very varied in this area which gives rise to the mix of grassland species, including plants which prefer acidic soils such as Tormentil (Potentilla), |Heath Grass (Danthonia decumbens) and Devil's Bit (Succisa pratensis), through to those that prefer neutral grassland including Ox Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and Pignut, to the alkaline loving Quaking Grass (Briza), Yellow-Oat Grass (Trisetum flavescens) and Ladies Bedstraw (Galium verum).

Bird's Hole Wood

To the west of Barcombe Cross is Bird's Hole Wood (TQ406153). It is hazel coppice under Ash and has some fine oaks. It is a partially ancient woodland and partially descended from rough common. In spring the ground is half bluebells and half Bramble.

Blunts Wood

Blunt's Wood

Blunt's Wood (TQ406153) is on the very west of the parish and southwest of Bird's Hole Wood. It has Beech and coppice shrubs, but has suffered from much replanting of conifers. In the early spring months woodland floor is covered in bluebells.

Barcombe Mills

Main article: Barcombe Mills

Barcombe Mills is a conservation area and a popular spot for walking, kayaking and river swimming and an important area for its wildlife, natural environment and water storage. The Barcombe Reservoir is adjacent. The area includes a small hamlet and some farms, including Barcombe House, and a water treatment works.

Spithurst

The hamlet of Spithurst is mainly on one lane, Spithurst Lane, running north of Barcombe Cross. Three tiny-but-colourful old meadows still survive around Spithurst, including the old 'St Bartz' churchyard.

In 1296 the hamlet was known as 'Splytherst' and this may have been after Alexander and Richard Splyherst. The name Spithurst could also be derived from the term 'split-wood' because the hamlet did indeed split two giant 'hursts': on the west side, Knowlands, Oldpark, The Butletts, Spithurst Wood and Slutgarden Woods and on the east side, Burtenshaw's, Agmond's and Down Coppice Woods.

Between Spithurst and Newick is the 2,000 acre Sutton Hall Estate.

Old 'St Bartz'

Old St Bartz Church, Spithurst

St Bartholomew's Church was built in 1879-80 of flint with masonry. The church was part of a unique experiment in inter-church co-operation when the Church of England minister allowed the local Russian Orthodox clergy to use it on the Sundays that he was not. The small Orthodox congregation was made up of Russian exiles and converts and the church became famous for their elaborate ritual.

In 1969 plans were drawn to close and demolish the building until a year later the Queen signed an order withdrawing the scheme. The church finally did close in 1994 and it became a diocesan youth centre called St Bartz. A large extension has been added on the north side.

Despite relatively small congregations, the churchyard is quite full and contains a large but anonymous family mausoleum. The relaxed management of the churchyard has given it the character of a woodland glade and a haven for wild flowers. Species recorded there (2017) include Anemones, bluebells and Goldenrod mixed in with Devils Bit and Betony, Ling Heather, Pepper Saxifrage (Silaum silaus), Bitter Vetch and Tormentil (Potentilla), Birds Foot Trefoil, |Mouse Ear Hawkweed (Pilosella officinarum) and |Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)". It is also famous for its display of Green-Winged orchids. More recently the churchyard has been split in two and damaged by 'improvement' in one part, and neglect in the other.

Knowlands Wood

Knowlands Farm and wood

Knowlands Farm (TQ419170) opens its woodland to visitors. The woodland is an Oak-Hornbeam with Small Leaved Lime, Wild Service tree, Alder Buckthorn and Aspen and active coppice management. Anemones and Bluebell are co-dominant. It has Grass Snake, Adders, Stag Beetles, Purple Hairsteak and White Admiral butterfly, and the Purple Emperor butterfly is being restored. The rides are wide and sunny and in spring Willow and Garden Warblers, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and Nightingales can be heard in the coppice regrowth.

Dallas Lane, Agmond's Wood

Down Coppice, Agmond's Wood and Burtenshaw's Wood

East of Spithurst Lane from St Bartz is a big wood named in three parts: Down Coppice, Agmond's Wood and Burtenshaw's Wood (4300&y=1 1700&z=120 TQ 43 17). They are attractive woods with flowery rides, sunny glades, clay banks and big ponds. The woods are varied with much old Hornbeam and some Hazel coppice (still cut), areas of Larch and scented pine, maturing Oak and Sweet Chestnut coppice. In spring there are Primroses, Anemones and Bugle and in summer Betony and Tormentil.

Gipp's Wood

Gipp's Wood (TQ430188) is to the north of Beak Farm. It is coniferised to the north and the wood is used for Christmas trees, but is still "open, pine-scented and airy, with old coppice on the lower ground".

Town Littleworth

Town Littleworth, Cooksbridge, is a small hamlet to the north-west of the parish that spans Town Littleworth Road. It hosts the Secret Campsite that celebrates the local wildlife and hosts the Sussex Wildlife festival.

Oldpark Wood

Oldpark Wood, (4180&y=1 1790&z=120 TQ 418 179) is to the east of Town Littleworth and an Oak-Hornbeam coppice. Wood Anemone is overwhelmingly dominant in April. Knowlands and Oldpark were probably joined before a large part of the wood to the south was cleared to make pastures for Church Farm around two hundred years ago, and to the north nearly a hundred acres was cleared about fifty years ago, when Spithurst Wood (TQ425175) was separated from Oldpark Wood, too.

Parish streams

There are three streams in the parish: the Bevern Stream, the North End Stream and the Longford Stream. They all flow east to the River Ouse and all demarcate the boundary of the parish in one way or other. Before the early 19th century, these streams created different islands absolutely cut off from each other in wet winters.

The Bevern Stream runs from the South Downs and there are many Downland flints brought by ice age torrents. It meanders from Clappers Bridge, (TQ422161), eastwards past Red Bridge and Beam Bridge, and, under the lost railway line, to the Ouse. It is particularly attractive to the west of Clappers Bridge, where there are water crowfoot, marsh frogs and minnows and bullhead minnows swimming between the reeds.

Like the Bevern Stream, the North End Stream runs to the River Ouse from the South Downs and it also holds many Downland flints brought. The stream divides the Hamsey and Barcombe parishes and passes to the south of Old Barcombe. There is only one small stretch of public bank path along its entire length. There is a bankside Bluebell wood at Conyboro Park.

The Longford Stream through the north of the parish and to the west it demarcates the boundary between Barcombe parish and Newick parish. In areas it creates marshy brooks such as Beak's Marsh (TQ439177) where archaic fen and damp meadow vegetation partly remains. There is a large area of Greater Pond Sedge (Carex riparia) where roe deer hide. The Roman road to London passed across the eastern part of the marsh.

The streams are known for their sea trout populations, which grow to large sizes and return year after year. Sadly these populations are on the brink of collapse due to mismanagement of these waterways, largely by Southern Water and sometimes farmers who have allowed their effluent to overflow into them. Wild salmon, which once bred in these waters, are now very rare.

Barcombe, dismantled railway line

Bonfire

Barcombe Bonfire is held annually, two weeks after the Lewes celebration on which it is modelled. The society is largely family-orientated. There is a firework display and several processions.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about East Sussex Barcombe)

• History of Barcombe Mill: Sussex Mills Group
• Barcombe Parish Council
• Barcombe in the Domesday Book