South Harting is a village within

Harting Harting is a civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is situated on the northern flank of the South Downs, around southeast of Petersfield in Hampshire. It comprises the village of South Harting and the hamlets of ...

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 Chichester () is a 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. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

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 ar ...

, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It lies on the B2146 road, 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 ...

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 ...

. South Harting has two churches, one Anglican and one Congregational, plus a school and a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. 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 ...

property

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 ...

sits high on 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. ...

, south of the village on the B2146.

History

South Harting, along with the hamlets of West Harting and East 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 ...

of 1086 as the large Manor of Harting (''Hertinges''). 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. In 1861 the parish covered and had a population of 1,247.

Amenities

Churches

St Mary and St Gabriel, Harting, from outside gate

The

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church of St Mary and St Gabriel is at the southwestern end of the village street, in an elevated position. It has a coppered spire on the tower and a peal of six bells. Major restoration work was carried out in the 1850s, and In 2010 further improvements were made including the building of an attached room for the Sunday school. South Harting War Memorial by Eric Gill

In the churchyard is the tall South Harting War Memorial Cross, (1920) a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

memorial by

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

with the bas relief of St Patrick attributed to Gill being by

Hilary Stratton Hilary Byfield Stratton FRBS (29 June 1906 – 20 May 1985) was an English sculptor, stonemason and teacher working in the 20th Century. He is best known for his stone carvings and memorials but experimented in other media that included: persp ...

. South Harting has a Congregational Church.

Education

Harting Church of England Primary School takes children from four to eleven years old. Alongside the school is the village hall from which a pre-school group operates.

Public houses

Harting now has just one pub, ''The White Hart'', a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

that includes six bedrooms (and bathrooms). Only forty years ago the village had three pubs. The White Hart is owned and operated by Upham Breweries, a local Hampshire company.

Sport

In the 1920s Harting Hill (now the B2141 road) was the venue for one of the most important motor

hill climbs Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the fir ...

in the country, with Frazer Nash, Aston Martin and

Raymond Mays Thomas Raymond Mays (1 August 1899 – 6 January 1980) was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. He attended Oundle School, where he met Amherst Villiers, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service i ...

(Bugatti) participating. The event was founded by

Earl Russell Earl Russell, of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 July 1861 for the prominent Liberal politician Lord John Russell. He was Home Secretary from 1835 to 1839, Foreign ...

in 1905. Harting Cricket Club serves all the Hartings. Harting have a football Club playing in the West Sussex Football League.

Events

Every

Whit Monday Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter. I ...

Harting celebrates the ''Festivities''. Since 1880, the Harting Old Club has had its annual meeting on Whit Monday and the village Festivities started in 1961, replacing a traditional funfair which used to take centre stage in the street. All money raised at the Festivities goes to local groups and charity. In 2022, for this year only, the Festivities will be held on Friday 03 June.

Notable people

The painter Theodore Garman worked and painted in the village and is buried in the parish church graveyard. The Victorian writer

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

spent the last years of his life in South Harting. He moved here in 1880 and lived at The Grange. His pen, paperknife and letter scales are on display in the parish church. H.G Wells sometimes lived at Uppark as a young man; his mother was a lady's maid there.

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. Admiral Sir

Horace Law Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Sir Horace Rochfort Law (23 June 1911 – 30 January 2005) was Commander-in-Chief, Naval Home Command (Royal Navy), Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command. Naval career Educated at Sherborne School and the Britannia ...

lived in South Harting and was a lay preacher at the parish church, where a room is named after him. Television presenter and producer

Cliff Michelmore Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme ''Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's tel ...

(1919-2016) was a local resident and was buried in the graveyard of the parish church in 2016.

References

External links

South Harting Parish Council

History of South Harting on GENUKI

History and old photographs of Harting
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex