Herstmonceux ( , ; ) is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, England, which includes Herstmonceux Castle. The Herstmonceux Medieval Festival is held annually in August.

History

The name comes from

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

''hyrst'', "wooded hill", plus the name of the Monceux family who were

lords of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seigno ...

in the 12th century. In 1086, the manor, simply called Herste, was in the ancient hundred of Foxearle. In 1677, Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex, was paid £3 when he went to a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

match played at "ye Dicker", a common near Herstmonceux, one of the earliest references to the sport. The Herstmonceux area is known for the making of trugs, baskets made from split willow boards set in an

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

frame. A number of local people continue this tradition.

Governance

The parish council consists of eleven elected members. 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 exists. This ward had a population at the 2011 census of 2,852. Education is provided at Herstmonceux Church of England Primary School.

Geography

The village (previously called Gardner Street) is part of the larger Herstmonceux civil parish, which includes

Cowbeech Cowbeech is a small village in the civil parish of Herstmonceux in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Its nearest town is Hailsham, which lies approximately south-west from the village. The village The village has a pub with 16th ...

and the hamlets of Foul Mile, Trolliloes, Cowbeech Hill, Stunts Green, Ginger's Green, Flowers Green and part of Windmill Hill where the Windmill Hill Windmill is situated. Cowbeech village is north-west of the parish. Eastbourne is south-west of the village, and Brighton and Hove south-west. Herstmonceux Castle, south-east of the village, is a former site of the

Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...

. It is now home to the Bader International Study Centre of Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, and the area therefore enjoys an influx of Canadian and other international students each school year. The castle grounds are also home to the Observatory Science Centre and the Herstmonceux Mediaeval Festival.

Buckwell Place Buckwell Place is a Grade II* listed country house in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. A former rectory, the original wing of the house was built in 1792 by Reverend Robert Hare, whose family owned Herstmonceux Castle. A parlour wing was added b ...

was the seat of the Hare family. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the parish.

Herstmonceux Park Herstmonceux Park is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Herstmonceux in East Sussex. This narrow stream valley has seven examples of wetland habitats on Tunbridge Wells sandstone and it is notable for its fen vegetation. ...

is of importance because of its wetland habitat and fen vegetation. It is the only known location of Milk Parsley ''(

Peucedanum palustre ''Peucedanum palustre'' (milk-parsley) is an almost glabrous biennial plant in the family Apiaceae. It is so called in English because of the thin, foetid, milky latex found in its young parts and is native to most of Europe, extending eastwards ...

)'' in the south-east. The second site, Pevensey Levels, lies partially in the parish. The site is of biological interest consisting of low-lying grazing meadows, hosting a wide variety of wetland flora and fauna.

Religion

All Saints' ( Church of England) parish church, with its 12th-century west tower and 13th/14th century nave, overlooks the Castle. Herstmonceux

Congregational Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

, just outside the village on the way to the castle, was erected in 1811 and is now a listed building.

Twinning

The village is twinned with

Varengeville-sur-Mer Varengeville-sur-Mer (, literally ''Varengeville on Sea'') is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography A forestry and farming commune situated by the coast of the English Channel and ...

, in Normandy, France.

References

External links

Cowbeech village website
{{Authority control Villages in East Sussex Cricket in Sussex English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District