Woolbeding is a village and ecclesiastical parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England, north-west of Midhurst and north of the River Rother and A272 road. The civil parish of Woolbeding with Redford has a land area of . The 2001 census recorded 158 people living in 70 households, of whom 83 were economically active.

History

Woolbeding was listed in the Domesday Book (1086) in the ancient hundred of Easebourne as having 24 households: 14 villagers, 5 smallholders and five slaves; with woodland, ploughing land, meadows, a mill and church, it had a value to the lord of the manor of £6. Woolbeding Bridge across the River Rother is a medieval one, with three arches and two cutwaters. The large 18th century

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Woolbeding House Woolbeding House is an 18th-century country house in Woolbeding, near Midhurst, West Sussex, England. It is a Grade I listed building. It was probably built by Sir Richard Mill Bt between 1711 and 1760 and was originally of a quadrangular pla ...

, is a Grade I listed building. It was the home of the late

Simon Sainsbury Simon David Davan Sainsbury (1 March 1930 – 27 September 2006) was a British businessman, philanthropist and art collector. Early life Sainsbury was born in London,Sainsbury supermarket family. The National Trust owns the Woolbeding Estate, which includes

Woolbeding and Pound Commons Woolbeding and Pound Commons is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Midhurst in West Sussex. The commons have areas of wet and dry heath, woodland, ponds and wet flushes. Invertebrates include a number of Red Data Book spe ...

which are Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Telegraph Hill, from Woolbeding, was the site of a station on the

semaphore line An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...

from London to Portsmouth which operated from 1822 to 1847. It was previously called "Holder" or "Older" Hill. In 1861, the parish's area was , with a population of 338.

Parish church

All Hallows parish church is a Grade I listed building. The oldest parts of the church are

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

. The tower is small, with eight short pinnacles in a vaguely medieval style. It was built in 1728 but it has

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s that look like re-used Saxon or

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

ones. The present chancel is

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and was built in 1870 but the nave has tall Anglo-Saxon proportions, with plain pilasters from ground to roof, and a blocked doorway. There are more pilasters on the north wall, including a truncated one with traces of a filled-in window above it. The quoins are of large stones. These features suggest a Saxon date for the main body of the church. Inside the church is a wall monument to Lady Dame Margaret Mill, wife of Sir Richard Mill of Woolbeding, daughter of Robert Knollys, Esq., of "Grove Place, Co. Southampton", died 1744, aged 56. The coat of arms shown is ''Per fesse Argent and Sable, a pale, and three bears salient, two and one, counterchanged, muzzled and chained Or'', impaling ''Gules, on a chevron Argent three roses of the field, a canton Argent'' (recte: ''Ermine'' ). Next to a wall that separates the churchyard from the grounds of the manor house is a miniature mausoleum with Tuscan columns and square pilasters, with a frieze of military trophies such as pikes, rifles, cannon, battleaxes, drums and a helmet. There is a line of ancient yew trees near the church.

Woolbeding poets

The English Romantic poet

Charlotte Turner Smith Charlotte Smith (née Turner; – ) was an English novelist and poet of the School of Sensibility whose ''Elegiac Sonnets'' (1784) contributed to the revival of the form in England. She also helped to set conventions for Gothic fiction and wro ...

lived at Woolbeding House in the mid-1780s. Two poets grew up in the parish, each the son of a Rector of All Hallows parish, but in different centuries: Thomas Otway (1652-1685) and Francis William Bourdillon (1852-1921); whose father was Rector from 1855 to 1875.

References

Sources

External links

Woolbeding with Redford Parish CouncilFurther historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Civil parishes in West Sussex Chichester District