Iping
| Iping | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
 Iping Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU852228 |
| Location: | 50°59’55"N, -0°47’9"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Midhurst |
| Postcode: | GU29 |
| Dialling code: | 01730 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Chichester |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Chichester |
Iping is a village in Sussex,[1] found just off the A272 road two miles west of Midhurst, in the west of the county. The village lies on the River Rother.
The Old English name Ipingas, meaning settlement of the family or followers of a man called Ipa.
Parish church
The parish church is St Mary's.[1][2] It is a solid sandstone Victorian church which was rebuilt in 1885. The church was built on the site of an old Saxon church and it is thought an even earlier church was on the site before this.
History
There is an Iron Age contour fort on the hill at Hammer Wood north of the village.
This rectangular earthwork with rounded corners lies astride the Roman road between two major British tribal centres at Noviomagus Regnorum (Chichester) and Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), which runs north–south through Iping. Measuring 282 feet x 367 feet, the area enclosed by the turf defences was about two acres, and would have contained the official posting station or mansio and perhaps an iron-smithy. It is similar in size to the way stations at Hardham and Alfoldean on Stane Street. The station (SU844261) is just over two miles to the north of Iping village and little over half a mile from the crossroads in the centre of the village of Milland, just south-east of the point where the Roman road crossed the Hammer Stream. Although unexcavated, surface finds of Roman material have been found within the confines of the earthwork. It could easily be confused with the Hammer Wood Iron Age contour fort which lies much closer to modern Iping.
Iping was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having 15 households: eight villagers, two smallholders and five slaves; with woodland, ploughing land, meadows, a church and a mill, it had a value to the lord of the manor of £4.[3]
About the village
In 1861, the population of the parish was 404 and its area was 1,925 acres.[1]
Iping is the setting for the classic H. G. Wells science fiction story (1897) The Invisible Man.
Iping Water Mill was producing paper until the 1920s when a fire ended 900 years of various types of milling.
Iping Common sits south of the A272 and is managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. This heathland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is part of the larger 'Iping and Stedham Commons'.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Iping) |