Harting is a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the
Chichester District
Chichester is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in the city of Chichester and the district also covers a large rural area to the north.
History
The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Go ...
of
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, England. It is situated on the northern flank of the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...
, around southeast of
Petersfield
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. It comprises the village of
South Harting
South Harting is a village within Harting civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing D ...
and the hamlets of
East Harting
East Harting is a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the South Harting to Elsted road 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Petersfield. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil p ...
,
West Harting
West Harting is a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of Harting. It lies just off the B2146 road 2.4 miles (4 km) southeast of Petersfiel ...
and
Nyewood
Nyewood is a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England situated in the Western Rother valley. The village is on an unclassified road between Rogate and South Harting, the hub of the Harting civil parish that also includes the smal ...
.
The area of the parish is . At the
2011 Census, the population was 1,451, an increase from 1,407 at the
2001 Census.
History
Harting was listed in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
(1086) under the ancient
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of
Dumpford as the large Manor of ''Hertinges'', which included 196 households encompassing South, West and East Harting. They were 134 villagers, 42 smallholders and 20 slaves. With resources including ploughing lands, meadows, woodland and nine mills, it had a value to the lords of the manor of £100. The joint lords were the church of St Nicholas, Arundel, and Earl Roger of Shrewsbury.
Apart from three generations of the Earls Montgomery the manor was in the possession of the Crown until 1610 when it was granted to the Caryll family. In 1746 the manor was purchased by the Featherstonhaugh ( ) family, in whose possession it remains.
Harting Down
The villages are overlooked by
Harting Down, a common owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and part of the
Sussex Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
. Rising to , it offers panoramic views over the
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
to the north, to the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
and the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
to the south.
Archaeological evidence has suggested that Harting Down was first occupied around 5000 years ago. Neighbouring
Beacon Hill is home to a hillfort from the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, built around 500 BC as an animal enclosure and refuge. In addition, a
cross ridge dyke was built around the same time, may have been used to control movement of people and animals along the ridgeway.
Because of its elevation Beacon Hill, just to the east of Harting Down, hosted a station in the
shutter telegraph chain, from 1796 to 1816, which connected the Admiralty in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to its naval ships in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. This was replaced in 1822 by a semaphore station which operated on a slightly different route until 1847.
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
and his wife Dora founded the experimental Beacon Hill School at Telegraph House, which was their residence in 1927.
West of Beacon Hill is Tower hill, on top of which is the
Vandalian Tower
The Vandalian Tower at Harting, West Sussex, England, is an 18th-century folly, built to commemorate the British colony of Vandalia, a short-lived colony that disappeared with the spread of America. It sits on the summit of Tower Hill.
Today th ...
, a folly dating to the 18th century which is in the grounds of
Uppark
Uppark is a 17th-century house in South Harting, West Sussex, England. It is a Grade I listed building and a National Trust property.
History
The house, set high on the South Downs, was built for Ford Grey (1655—1701), the first Earl of ...
house. It was built to celebrate the founding of the American colony of
Vandalia in 1774, though the events of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
meant that the colony never got off the ground. The tower is in ruins and cannot be entered, but can be seen from outside.
A large portion of the down has never been used for modern intensive farming and is thus an important site representing the
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
grassland that once covered the downs. Plants found on the site include
quaking grass and the
common spotted orchid
''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'', the common spotted orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae.
''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'' is one of Europe's commonest wild orchids. It is widespread across much of Europe, with the range ...
. The down supports animals such as
adders,
skylark
''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...
s and several species of
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
.
Governance
An
electoral ward
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...
of the same name covers this parish and the neighbouring parishes of
Elsted and Treyford
Elsted and Treyford is a civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, west of Midhurst. It contains the settlements of Elsted
Elsted is a village and Anglican parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies within t ...
and
Trotton with Chithurst. The ward's population at the 2011 Census was 2,026.
See also
*
Harting Old Club
*
Torberry Hill
Torberry Hill (also spelled Tarberry Hill and Torbery Hill) is an British Iron Age, Iron Age hillfort in the county of West Sussex, in southern England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1015966. The hi ...
References
External links
Further historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control
Villages in West Sussex
Chichester District
Napoleonic beacons in England