Horsted Keynes
| Horsted Keynes | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ387278 |
| Location: | 51°2’5"N, 0°1’36"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,507 (2011) |
| Post town: | Haywards Heath |
| Postcode: | RH17 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mid Sussex |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mid Sussex |
| Website: | http://www.horstedkeynes.com/ |
Horsted Keynes is a village and parish in Sussex. The village is located about five miles north-east of Haywards Heath, in the Weald. The civil parish is largely rural, covering 3,908 acres, and has a population of 1,507 persons (2001 census). The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Horsted Keynes.
Origin and history
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Guillaume de Cahaignes, one of the French knights who'd landed with William, the Norman conqueror and fought at Hastings (and Lord of the Manor of what is now Cahagnes) was given Milton in Buckinghamshire and the Sussex village of Horstede (The Place of Horses in Saxon) which became Horstede de Cahaignes and in time Horsted Keynes. The place-name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village has been formally twinned with the Normandy village of Cahagnes since 1971. The Horsted Cahagnes Society promotes social and cultural links, and organises annual exchange visits between the two communities.
On Saturday, 28 August 1624, Horsted Keynes hosted what is believed to be the earliest known organised cricket match in Sussex. Knowledge of it stems from the death thirteen days later of Jasper Vinall, on whom an inquest was held. He had suffered a head injury during the game when accidentally hit by the bat. As Vinall came from West Hoathly, it is assumed that the event was a village cricket match between the two parish teams.[1]
A couple of months before being assassinated, U.S. President John F. Kennedy slept in the parish when he stayed one Saturday night at Birch Grove, the home of the former Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. The American Secret Service closed the village that night, siting their communication hub in the Lounge Bar of "The Crown Inn".[2][3]
Amenities
Horsted Keynes is centred on a village green with pubs, Post Office and village store. The Post Office was to be closed down for lack of use but was bought up by a group of villagers who invested in its continued use for the community. It now serves a large rural area.
The two principal churches are: the Anglican Parish Church dedicated to St Giles[4] and the Roman Catholic church of St Stephen which is unoccupied and controlled from the nearest town, Haywards Heath. Harold Macmillan was buried in the churchyard of St Giles after his death in December 1986, alongside his wife Dorothy] who died 20 years previously.[5]
The railway station, three-quarters of a mile from the village, is now owned and operated by the Bluebell Railway, which is largely run by volunteers and operates using vintage steam trains. The station originally also had a connection with Haywards Heath, between 1883 and 1963.
This part of Sussex was known for its iron industry long before the industrial revolution and the coming of the railways. Little remains of this now, except for the hammer ponds and other traces of this activity dotted around the surrounding countryside, although iron working is remembered in many local place names.
References
- ↑ McCann, pp. xxxiii–xxxiv.
- ↑ The lowdown on Haywards Heath | Sussex Life
- ↑ The Crown - Horsted Keynes
- ↑ Kerrigan, Michael (1998). Who Lies Where - A Guide to Famous Graves. London: Fourth Estate Limited. pp. 163. ISBN 1-85702-258-0.
- ↑ Harold Macmillan (1894 - 1986) - Find A Grave Memorial
Bibliography
- McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Keynes Horsted Keynes) |
- HorstedKeynes.com - website for the village
- The Horsted Cahagnes Society
- St Giles Church, Horsted Keynes
- The Bluebell Railway