Hangleton

Hangleton
Sussex
The 12th-century St Helen's Church
Location
Grid reference:	TQ267072
Location:	50°51’3"N, 0°12’1"W
Data
Population:	14,720
Post town:	Hove
Postcode:	BN3
Dialling code:	01273
Local Government
Council:	Brighton and Hove
Parliamentary constituency:	Hove

Hangleton is a residential suburb of Hove, the coastal resort on the south coast of Sussex. The area was developed in the 1930s after it was incorporated into the borough of Hove, but has ancient origins: its parish church was founded in the 11th century and retains 12th-century fabric, and the mediæval manor house (now Hangleton Manor Inn) is Hove's oldest secular building. The village became depopulated in the mediæval era and the church fell into ruins, and the population in the isolated hilltop parish only reached 100 in the early 20th century; but rapid 20th-century development resulted in more than 6,000 people living in Hangleton in 1951 and over 9,000 in 1961. By 2013 the population exceeded 14,000.

The church and manor house (now a pub) are now surrounded by modern development. Following the parish's incorporation into the Borough of Hove in 1928, a mixture of council housing and lower-density private houses were built between the 1930s and the 1950s, along with facilities such as shopping parades, schools and more churches and pubs. Regular bus links were developed to other parts of Hove and Brighton, but a short-lived railway ran through the area had closed by the time residential development got underway.

Name

The spelling of Hangleton has varied over the centuries: ten variants were recorded between the time of the Domesday Book (Hangetone or Hangeton) and the 17th century. The meaning of the name is not known for certain, but most sources suggest an Old English phrase meaning "the farm by the sloping wood".

Churches

St Helen's Church, the Church of England parish church, is a Grade I listed building. It is a simple flint building with dressings of Caen stone, originally with a thatched roof, and is similar to other downland churches in Sussex. Lord of the manor Richard Bellingham, who built Hangleton Manor, is commemorated by a memorial in the chancel.

Situated in a "bleak and isolated spot", the church only reopened fully in 1949 after a long period with infrequent services. It has been separately parished since 1955.

St Richard's Church, a brown-brick building designed by architects Carden and Godfrey, opened in 1961 to serve the southern part of Hangleton known as The Knoll. In the mid-1990s it was converted into a combined church and community centre. Between 1932 and 1961 The Knoll had been served by a combined church and hall within the parish of St Leonard's Church, Aldrington. It became part of Hangleton parish in 1955.

• Church of England:
  • St Helen's
  • St Richard's
• Baptist: built in 1957 as Hangleton Free Church; founded by members of Holland Road Baptist Church in Hove
• Independent / evangelical:
  • The Vine Fellowship
  • Oasis Church
• United Reformed church: Hounsom Memorial United Reformed Church, built in 1938; founded by the Sussex Congregational Union and Cliftonville Congregational Church in central Hove

History

The present Hangleton Lane is an ancient trackway used since prehistoric times. It was also used by the Romans as part of their route from London to their port at the River Adur in present-day Southwick.

A small village gradually developed around a bend on this trackway, close to the church and original manor house. The rest of the parish, rectangular in size, longer from north to south and covering 1,120 acres, was downland forming part of the South Downs; Round Hill, around which the track ran and which has traces of ancient field systems, rises to 445 feet. The parish of Portslade is to the west; West Blatchington is to the east; the parishes of Hove and Aldrington lie to the south and south-east; and Brighton is further to the south-east, beyond Hove.

St Helen's Church was first documented in 1093 as a possession of Lewes Priory, to which it was granted by William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey. In the 16th century its parish was united with that of St Nicolas Church, Portslade and later (in 1585) with that of St Peter's Church, West Blatchington before becoming a separate parish again. Hangleton and Portslade were united again between 1757 and 1951. The nave was built in the 12th century, the west tower was added a century later and the chancel dates from around 1300. The last significant alteration to the structure was the removal of the chancel arch in the 14th century.

By 1300, this was "a thriving community of approximately 200 people", but during the 14th century decline set in: the population was unsustainably large, and a series of poor harvests around 1320 followed by the effects of the Black Death meant the village was almost wiped out. Only two householders were recorded in 1428, and even by the mid-19th century only about 80 people lived in the parish. The Ministry of Public Buildings and Works undertook an archaeological dig in summer 1954 and uncovered eight 13th- and 14th-century buildings and the remains of the parsonage north of the church, which had been destroyed by fire in 1666. The original manor house near the church also vanished and was replaced by a new building (Hangleton Manor Inn) a quarter of a mile to the southwest in the 1540s. Richard Bellingham, Lord of the manor at the time, incorporated stones from Lewes Priory (partly demolished in 1537) in the front of the house.

20th century

At the time of the census in 1931 the population of the parish was still only 109, but during that decade residential and commercial development started apace and continued after Second World War. Housing spread north-westwards from Hove and Aldrington, especially from 1936 onwards, and the whole area was built over by the end of the 1950s. St Helen's Church, which was "still entirely isolated" in 1929 when it was kept locked except during services, became surrounded by houses; it was reopened for regular worship in 1949, having been used irregularly (sometimes as infrequently as once per year) since the mid-19th century. Housebuilding in the parish was largely complete by the end of the 1950s, although the population has continued to grow: at the 1951 census it was 6,158, rising to 9,006 in 1961 and an estimated 14,270 in 2013.

Hangleton Manor became a farmhouse and was still used as such until 1930 when the farm was broken up and the land allocated for residential development. The 16th-century building went through various uses—a private house, a hotel and a restaurant—and was requisitioned by the Army in Second World War. It became a listed building in 1956, but it was in such poor condition that demolition was anticipated. Between 1964 and 1967 it was empty and suffered repeated vandalism, but in the latter year a plan to convert the building into flats was announced. Nothing came of this, but the following year a hotelier from Worthing bought the building and converted it into a country club. By 1976 it was a pub called the Hangleton Manor Inn and had been extensively restored. In the pub garden is a dovecote, also a listed building, dating from the 1680s. It was restored in 1988.

Hangleton downland

From the slopes of Round Hill, above Hangleton

To the north of the A27 is the Old Dyke Railway Trail which follows part of the route taken by the old Dyke Railway Branch Line and takes walkers and cyclists up to Devil's Dyke beauty spot. It runs between two golf courses, the West Hove and Brighton and Hove Golf courses. Much of the trail across the Downs is on a hard surface.

There are many archaic Down pastures in the area. To the west is Benfield Hill (TQ261078), a local nature reserve which is famous for its glowworm displays on midsummer evenings. On the steep east side of the hill there is large thyme, autumn gentian and many butterflies. Bee orchids can be also found in some years. On the western side of the Hill the gentle slope has longstanding populations of small blue and brown argus butterflies. The tall grass encourages magnificent displays of burnet moths.

To the north of the City boundary this secondary chalk grassland continues on Devil's Dyke Farm land (TQ260095). A prehistoric barrow (TQ258094) marked that boundary, but is now only detectable by a slight rise in the fence line as it crosses the ploughed-out mound. In a good evening light you can see the lynchet lines of an Iron Age field system in Adder Bottom (TQ253101) just west of the Devil's Dyke Farm.

Round Hill to the north-east bears signs from a number of periods of history and prehistory. There are many old barrows in the area and even the name Skeleton Hovel for the old flint barn (TQ269085) is thought to commemorate a prehistoric burial site unwittingly discovered during farming work. Round Hill's eastern slope (TQ269085) is the richest chalk grassland site in Hangleton.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hangleton)

References

• Carder, Timothy (1990). The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. ISBN 0-86147-315-9. 
• Dale, Antony (1989). Brighton Churches. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00863-8. 
• Middleton, Judy (2002). The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade. Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries. 
• Officers of Hounsom Memorial Church (1948). Roberts, G.N.. ed. The First Ten Years 1938–1948: The Story of the Hounsom Memorial Congregational Church, Hove, Sussex. Brighton: Pell (Brighton) Ltd. 
• Stuart, Donald (2005). Old Sussex Inns. Derby: The Breedon Books Publishing Co. ISBN 1-85983-448-5. 
• Thompson, F.G. (1963). Cliftonville Congregational Church 1863–1963. Hove: Cliftonville Congregational Church.