Billingshurst is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

and

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 authorit ...

in the

Horsham District Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in Horsham. The district borders those of Crawley, Mid Sussex, Mole Valley, Chichester, Arun and Adur, and the unitary authority of Brighton & Hove. The ...

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 ...

, England. The village lies on the

A29 road A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

(the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Stane Street) at its crossroads with the A272, south-west of Horsham and north-east of

Pulborough Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–sout ...

. The civil parish has a land area of and at the 2001 Census had 2,677 households and a population of 6,531 people, which increased to 8,232 at the 2011 Census. High Street, Billingshurst

Toponymy

The village's name derives from Anglo-Saxon and means 'a wooded hill of Billa's people', most likely referring to the sandstone

hillock A hillock or knoll is a small hill,The Free Dictionary
"hillock" entry, retrieved December 18, 2007 ...

that St Mary's Church is sited on in the historical centre of the village. 'Bill' is the head of a family, 'ing' means of the people, and 'hurst' means wooded hill. It is most likely that it was a small family settlement, not yet being a large community or a parish, headed by one 'Billa' – someone of unestablished origin, and not by a populous Saxon tribe.

Community facilities

The village has a secondary school and a sixth form college, known together as

The Weald School The Weald School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form. It caters for around 1,700 pupils in years 7 to 13, including over 300 in its sixth form. The school opened in 1956, and celebrated its 60th anniversary in the academic year ...

. Billingshurst Primary School (formerly separate infant and junior schools, amalgamated in 2010) is situated near The Weald. New housing development on the eastern side of the village will include a spine road linking the A29 road north of the village with the A272 road to the east. 550 new homes will be built along with a school, dentists' surgery, play areas and improvements to the railway station.

Transport

Billingshurst is at the junction of the A29 and the A272 which are routes to Petworth,

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 ...

, Haywards Heath,

and

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns i ...

. Billingshurst railway station on Station Road is on the mainline from

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

and

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

between Christ's Hospital railway station and

Pulborough railway station Pulborough railway station serves the West Sussex village of Pulborough. It is at the western end of the village, just off the A283 road. It is down the line from via . History The first railway to reach Pulborough was that from Horsham to ...

. The village is to the east of a remaining section of the

Wey and Arun Canal The Wey and Arun Canal is a partially open, 23-mile-long (37 km) canal in the southeast of England. It runs southwards from the River Wey at Gunsmouth in Shalford, Surrey to the River Arun at Pallingham, in West Sussex. The canal compri ...

; the canal has not been fully navigable since the 1890s.

Religious sites

Billingshurst has four churches. St Mary's Church (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

) is the oldest, with a mix of service styles, ranging from

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

communion services to informal family worship. Other churches are St Gabriel's Church (

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), Billingshurst Family Church (

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

; part of the Commission family of churches) and Trinity Church (

United Reformed The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

). Billingshurst Unitarian Chapel, set back behind the High Street, was founded in 1754 and is one of south-east England's oldest Nonconformist places of worship.

Sport

The local football team is Billingshurst FC based at Jubilee Fields on the western junction of the A29 and A272. The club was established in 1891 and is running senior sides and a youth section with teams running from Under 8's through to U16s.

Second World War

Kingsfold Camp, a

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

camp, was set up in Billingshurst during the Second World War (see

List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United Kingdom This is an incomplete list of Prisoner of War (POW) Camps located in the United Kingdom during World War II. German POWs in England were graded as follows: "Grade A (white) were considered anti-Nazi; Grade B (grey) had less clear feelings and we ...

Notable people

Paul Darrow Paul Darrow (born Paul Valentine Birkby; 2 May 1941 – 3 June 2019) was an English actor. He became best known for playing Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series ''Blake's 7'' between 1978 and 1981. His many television rol ...

(1941–2019), actor and author, lived in Billingshurst * Edward Enfield (1929–2019), television and radio presenter, newspaper journalist, and educational administrator, lived in Billingshurst *

Harry Enfield Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including '' Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' and ''Harry & Paul'', and for the creation and ...

(1961–), comedian, lived in Billingshurst * Janet Lees-Price (1943–2012), actress, lived in Billingshurst * Pom Oliver (1952–), filmmaker and arctic explorer, lived in Billingshurst *

Frank Patterson Frank Patterson (5 October 1938 – 10 June 2000) was an internationally renowned Irish tenor following in the tradition of singers such as Count John McCormack and Josef Locke. He was known as "Ireland's Golden Tenor". Early life Patterson wa ...

(1871–1952), illustrator, lived in Billingshurst *

Connor Swindells Connor Ryan Swindells (born 19 September 1996) is an English actor and model. He gained prominence through his role as Adam Groff in the Netflix comedy-drama ''Sex Education'' (2019–present). He has since starred in the BBC One historical dram ...

(1996–), actor, lived in Billingshurt * James Tilley (1998–), footballer, born and lived in Billingshurst and went to school in Billingshurst at The Weald School

Film and cultural appearances

* Billingshurst's Dell Lane was the location for the BBC sitcom ''

Ever Decreasing Circles ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' is a British sitcom which ran on BBC1 between 1984 and 1989, consisting of four series and one feature-length special. It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and it reunited them with Richard Briers, who ha ...

'' starring

Richard Briers Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...

. * Michael Lugg (1956) in British Pathé "Boy's Traction Engine" * Paul Adorian (1965) in British Pathé "Vintage Fire Brigade"

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Billingshurst Parish CouncilFurther information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex