Easebourne () 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 ...

, Anglican parish 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

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 ...

District 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 ...

, England. It is half a mile (0.8 km) north of

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...

, across the River Rother on the A272 and A286 roads. The parish includes the hamlet of Henley to the north. In the 2001 census there were 708 households with a total population of 1,717 of whom 785 were economically active.

History

Easebourne (''Eseburne'') 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 manus ...

of 1086 as an 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 des ...

, an extensive area reaching as far afield as

Graffham Graffham is a village and civil parish in West Sussex, England, situated on the northern escarpment of the South Downs. The civil parish is made up of the village of Graffham, part of the hamlet of Selham, and South Ambersham. It forms part of ...

and Cocking to the south, Stedham to the west and Tillington to the east, as well as two hamlets that were not parishes: Todham to the southeast and Buddington to the west; in total it included 12 settlements containing 276 households. In 1861, the population was 859, and the area of the parish .

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward includes Lodsworth and at the 2011 census had a population of 2,492.

Amenities

There is one public house in Easebourne, the ''White Horse'', and one in Henley, the ''Duke Of Cumberland''. The ''Rother Inn'' closed in 1994 and the ''Holly Tree'' in 2004. Cowdray Park, to the east of the village, has a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

course, and is home to a first-class polo club.

Parish

The parish church of St Mary is 13th century or earlier. The parish includes the hamlet of Henley to the north, where there was a Mission Hall established in 1885, since closed. In the 2001 census there were 708 households with a total population of 1,717 of whom 785 were economically active.

Notable buildings

Adjacent to the polo grounds lie the ruins of the Tudor

Cowdray House Cowdray House consists of the ruins of one of England's great Tudor houses, architecturally comparable to many of the great palaces and country houses of that time. It is situated in the Parish of Easebourne, just east of Midhurst, West Sussex s ...

, built as a Tudor mansion with castle features. Started in 1520, it was completed by 1542, but was devastated by fire in 1793. It has not been occupied since. Easebourne Priory was built for ten Augustinian canonesses and was founded before 1238 by the de Bohun family who were from St. Ann's Hill in nearby Midhurst. On the northern edge of Easebourne village on the A286 road Budgenor Lodge, recently converted into luxury flats, is the former Midhurst Union

Workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

which was opened in 1794 by a Gilbert Union of seventeen parishes. From 1835 it was run and enlarged by the Midhurst Poor Law Union, serving 26 parishes.

Notable people

Anti-apartheid activist

Helen Joseph Helen Beatrice Joseph (''née'' Fennell) (8 April 1905 – 25 December 1992) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Born in Sussex, England, Helen graduated with a degree in English from the University of London in 1927 and then departe ...

was born in the village in 1905. Rear-Admiral Francis Buller lived in Easebourne in retirement. Actors

Laurence Fox Laurence Paul Fox (born 1978) is a political activist and former actor, most well-known for playing the supporting role of DS James Hathaway in the British TV drama series '' Lewis'' from 2006 to 2015. A grandson of the actors Robin and Ange ...

and

Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman ...

were married in St Mary's Church in 2007.

References

External links

Further historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Chichester District