Cowbeech
| Cowbeech | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Merrie Harriers, Cowbeech | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ6190214466 |
| Location: | 50°54’25"N, -0°18’5"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 280 |
| Post town: | Hailsham |
| Postcode: | BN27 |
| Dialling code: | 01323 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Wealden |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Wealden |
Cowbeech is a small village near Herstmonceux in Sussex. Its nearest town is Hailsham, about four miles south-west of the village.
The village
The village has a pub with 16th Century origins, The Merrie Harriers.[1] It is also home to the Cowbeech Bonfire Society,[2] a Charitable Trust which organises a series of events each year to raise funds for local causes. These events include, among others, the village show (called Dig for Victory[3]) and a pantomime[4] in addition to the annual bonfire which gives the Society its name.
History
The name Cowbeech is first recorded in 1261 as Coppetebeche, referring to a 'capped' or pollarded beech tree, also recorded as Kopped(e)beche in 1296 and 1316. This was then shortened over the years to Coppebeche (recorded in 1517 and 1534), Cobbeach (recorded in 1622) and then to Cobeech (recorded in 1724), before taking its contemporary form of Cowbeech.[5]
The village was once a site of Wealden iron production. Cowbeech Forge (otherwise known as Crawle or Cralle Forge) stood alongside Hammer Lane, close to where it intersects with the Cuckmere River and produced iron between 1559 and 1693. In 1653 the forge was casting shot for the Office of Ordnance.[6]
Before 1826, when the village pub was renamed The Merry Harriers, it was known at different times as The Old House or The Cow.[7]
A conveyance document from 3 October 1417 transfers lands and tenements at Cowbeech in Wartling (Coppedebeche, Wortlynghe) from Thomas de Hoo, knight to Thomas Huchon of Uckfield (Ukkefeld), to Thomas Werm for the rent of a red rose at midsummer for Thomas' life. This document makes reference to Stephen Synderford, William Stodenne, and Richard Stodenne whose family names live on in the Cowbeech area today as Cinderford Lane and Studdens Lane.[8]
Outside links
References
- ↑ "Merrie Harriers, Cowbeech". https://whatpub.com/pubs/HES/COWBE-1000/merrie-harriers-cowbeech.
- ↑ Cowbeech Bonfire Society - Registered Charity no. 1163843 at the Charity Commission
- ↑ "Step back in time at Dig For Victory" (in en). https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/step-back-in-time-at-dig-for-victory-1-6877621.
- ↑ "Success at Cowbeech panto" (in en). Sussex Express. https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/raise-a-grand-oh-yes-we-did-success-at-cowbeech-panto-1-5815021.
- ↑ "The Place-Names of Sussex, Part 2 (EPNS 7)". 1930. http://placenames.org.uk/browse/mads/epns-deep-07-c-mappedname-002054.
- ↑ "Wealden Iron Research Group". http://www.wirgdata.org/searchsites2.cgi.
- ↑ "The Sussex Advertiser". The Sussex Advertiser. 1826-11-27. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000256/18261127/007/0003. "The Old House, at Cowbeach, once the sign of the Cow, (and noted, not indeed for its Supply of milk, but for the sale a certain genuine extract, now very rarely to be met with) has been recently re-opened under the sign or designation of The Merry Harriers, and at which last week, the House-warming Dinner Served up to all the principal persons in the neighbourhood, is reported to have been such would have done credit to the larder and culinary department the first Tavern in Brighton."
- ↑ "Conveyance in tail male". East Sussex County Council. http://www.thekeep.info/collections/getrecord/GB179_AMS5647_7. Retrieved 28 June 2018.