Brede, Sussex
| Brede | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
 Brede Waterworks | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ825183 |
| Location: | 50°56’24"N, 0°36’0"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,763 (2011, parish) |
| Post town: | RYE |
| Postcode: | TN31 |
| Dialling code: | 01424 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Rother |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Bexhill and Battle |
Brede is a village in Sussex, eight miles north of Hastings and four miles west of Rye.
The River Brede, which flows to the south of the settlement, takes its name from the village. The name is derived from the word for breadth in Old English, bradu, and refers to the wide valley which it overlooks.[1]
Parish chruch
The parish church, St George has a nave and a north aisle which date from the thirteenth century, while the chancel and south aisle are built in perpendicular style. It has a tower at the western end, and internally there are two monuments to the Oxenbridge family, dating from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The church is a Grade I listed building.[2]
The ecclesiastical parish is teamed with Udimore, Beckley and Peasmarsh; the four parish churches are St George, Brede, St Mary Udimore, All Saints, Beckley and St. Peter and St. Paul, Peasmarsh.
At the western boundary of St George's Churchyard is the grave of Damaris Richardson, who at the age of 22 died of a broken heart having been forbidden from marrying her love; she lies buried, marked by a simple wooden cross, in the exact spot by the churchyard wall where she had secret trysts with her love, who would stand on the other side..[3]
About the village
Near the church is Church House, an L-shaped building with one wing dating from the seventeenth century. It has two storeys and an attic, with a tiled roof. A second wing was added in the early nineteenth century, which has two storeys with a slate roof.[4] To the north of the church building is Church Cottage and the Old Post Office, which together form another L-shaped building. Church Cottage is a weatherboarded, timber-framed building dating from the fifteenth century, while the Old Post Office probably dates from the eighteenth century.[5] To the south of the church is a new Rectory, next to the newer portion of graveyard.
The village has a primary school, Methodist church and recreation ground. There are also two pubs; The Red Lion opposite St. George's Church and The Broad Oak, which reopened in March 2019 after two years of closure, and threats to demolish the building for housing. It was previously known as The Rainbow Trout. A bus service connects the village to Northiam, Hastings and Rye.
The parish contains a Site of Special Scientific Interest; 'Brede Pit and Cutting'. Here, a cutting into the landscape has revealed a sequence of all known geological layers in the area. Fossilised remains in these sections provide key information for the study of palaeogeography, sedimentology and palaeoecology.[6]
Brede Waterworks
To meet the growing demands for a drinking water supply to Hastings, trial boreholes were sunk in 1892, initially close to Brede Bridge, but then further to the west on the south side of the river. A continuous pumping test was conducted in 1896, and the boreholes were able to supply a million gallons a day for six months, and so parliamentary approval was obtained for the scheme.[7] However, landowners demanded high prices for their land, and extraction royalties for the water. When Church Farm, on the north bank of the river, was offered for sale, Hastings Council bought it, assuming that water would be available beneath it. Work commenced in 1899, to sink two wells on the farm, numbered 1 and 3, while well number 2 was to the south of the river, on land sold to them by Miss Brisco. The ground conditions were treacherous, but after 4 years, the two north bank wells had reached 275 feet while the south bank well had reached 200 feet. Some 2,700 feet of headings and adits to connect the wells together were also constructed. Unexpectedly, the soft ground meant that the wells had to be lined with concrete blocks, and the work cost £38,412, against the original estimate of £14,630.[8]
A three-uater mile tramway was constructed from the site to Brede Bridge, at an 18-inch gauge, and was worked by an 0-4-0 saddle tank. A wharf was built just upstream from Brede Bridge, and a steam crane was used to unload materials from barges into the waggons.[9] In addition to the main pumping house, while held two 410 hp triple expansion steam engines. The boiler house, mechanical filters, an aerator, an underground storage tank for treated water, and four cottages for employees were constructed on the site.[10] By 1922, the supply from the wells was inadequate, and was supplemented by water taken from the river. In 1928, Hastings Council bought the Great Sanders Estate at Sedlescombe, and built a dam across the Powdermill Stream to create Powdermill Reservoir. Water whence flowed downhill to Brede Waterworks, a mile and a half away.
The coal barges ceased to arrivce when, by 1928, navigation on the Brede was difficult, so coal for the pumping engines was delivered by road to the tramway near Brede Bridge.[11] By 1935, the locomotive was worn out, and was scrapped. A road was built so that coal lorries could deliver coal to the works.[12] With demand for water still rising, work on the construction of Darwell Reservoir began in 1938, although it was not finished until 1951, due to delays caused by the Second World War. This supplied water to Brede pumps through a 6.5-mile (10.5-km) gravity aqueduct. Worthington-Simpson supplied a third triple-expansion pump in 1939–40, and the boilers for the engines were upgraded.[13] The engines were used until 1964, when electric pumps replaced them. They were held in reserve, but one of the Tangye engines was scrapped in 1969, as its steam receiver had cracked.[14] The boilerhouse chimney, which was 99 feet tall, was demolished in the early 1980s, the buildings were given a Grade II listing in 1987.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Brede) |
References
- ↑ Gardiner 1995, p. 128.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1232070: The parish church of St George (Grade I listing)
- ↑ 'Sussex: a love letter to the county that's hosted the greatest romances': Great British Life 11 February 2022
- ↑ National Heritage List 1352899: Church House (Grade @ listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1044141: Church Cottage and Old Post Office (Grade @ listing)
- ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Brede Pit and Cutting
- ↑ BSES 2000, p. 3.
- ↑ BSES 2000, pp. 4–5.
- ↑ Clarke 1995, p. 2.
- ↑ BSES 2000, pp. 7–9.
- ↑ Clarke 1995, p. 3.
- ↑ Clarke 1995, p. 7.
- ↑ BSES 2000, pp. 12–13.
- ↑ BSES 2000, pp. 15–16.
- BSES (2000). Brede Waterworks (3rd ed.). Brede Steam Engine Society.
- Clarke, Brian (1995). Brede Waterworks Tramway. Brede Steam Engine Society.
- Eddison, Jill; Gardiner, Mark, eds (1995). Romney Marsh: the Debatable Ground. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology (Monograph 41). ISBN 978-0-947816-41-4.
- Gardiner, Mark (1995). Mediæval Farming and Flooding in the Brede Valley. Romney Marsh Trust. (Chapter 10 of Eddison & Gardiner 1995)
