Ticehurst is both a village and a large

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 Rother 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 ...

, England. The parish lies in the upper reaches of both the Bewl stream before it enters Bewl Water and in the upper reaches of the River Rother flowing to the south-east. The parish includes the parish wards of Ticehurst,

Flimwell Flimwell is a village in the civil parish of Ticehurst, in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located close to the border with Kent at the junction of the A21 road with the A268 and the B2087. The village is situated in an A ...

and Stonegate. The linear settlements of Berner's Hill and Union Street lie between Ticehurst and Flimwell. It lies to the south-east of

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

, and is about ten miles (16 km) distant.

History

Ticehurst is not mentioned 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 ...

''; the manor came into being in the 14th century. ''Pashley Manor'' is also mentioned at the same time, and is within the parish. The village's name derives from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

; there are two possible derivations. The most plausible one is that it means ''wood on the Teise'' from the river; the second roughly translates as 'The wooded hill where young goats graze', ''ticce(n) + hyrst''. (1248, Tycheherst)

Governance

Ticehurst is part of the

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 ...

called Ticehurst and Etchingham. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,679.

The villages

Ticehurst

There is an active village club, which runs regular social events, and a monthly newsletter "News & Views" which is produced by a team of volunteers. The village school serves both Ticehurst and Flimwell. There is also a comprehensive websit

covering most of the activities in the community.

Ticehurst House Hospital Ticehurst House Hospital was a mental health facility. It opened in 1792 and was owned and run by five generations of members of the Newington family until 1970. In 2000, the hospital name changed from Ticehurst House Hospital to The Priory Ticehu ...

(now part of the Priory Group) specialises in the treatment of psychiatric disorders and is located on the western edge of the village. Samuel Newington opened the original Ticehurst House in 1792, as a place dedicated to the care and treatment of psychiatric illness. From 1974 to July 2018 the village was home to the headquarters of the

Antiquarian Horological Society The Antiquarian Horological Society, abbreviated to AHS, is the UK-based learned society for scholars and enthusiasts of horology. Its administrative office is at 4 Lovat Lane, a listed building close to the Monument, in the City of London. In earl ...

, at New House, on the village square. The village is also home to the first ''pick-your-own fruit'' farm to open in Britain, Maynard's Fruit Farm, made ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' "Top 50 places to eat outside in Britain" list. Outside the village there are dairies at

Northiam Northiam is a village and civil parish in the Rother district, in East Sussex, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Hastings in the valley of the River Rother. The A28 road to Canterbury and Hastings passes through it. Governance Northiam ...

and Stonegate, a bakery at Bodiam, family butcher in Etchingham, a smokery in

and two more pubs at Three Leg Cross and Dale Hill. One claim to fame is that the Scottish singer/guitarist Bert Jansch lived in Ticehurst in the late 1960s and recorded tracks for his 1971 '' Rosemary Lane'' album in his house in the village. Ticehurst was also the final residence of

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

's first wife, Evelyn Nightingale. The village church, St Mary's, was the venue for the wedding of her son, the journalist and theatre critic Benedict Nightingale, to the author Anne Redmon. Pashley Manor Gardens is promoted by the Historic Houses Association and by the

Campaign to Protect Rural England CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a charity in England with over 40,000 members and supporters. Form ...

. The gardens hold an annual tulip festival each spring. The event in 2016, between 22 April and 7 May, has 30,000 tulips, with over 100 varieties.

Flimwell

The village is linear in shape and is the largest of a group of settlements. Some of which contain some large residential properties, to both west and east of the main road. Other settlements are Union Street and Dale Hill to the west, and Seacox Heath to the east. Including the surrounding woods and fields, Flimwell covers an area of approximately , of which approximately 5% is built-up.

Stonegate

South-east from Ticehurst and due north-east from

Burwash Burwash, archaically known as Burghersh, is a rural village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. Situated in the High Weald of Sussex some 15 miles (24 km) inland from the port of Hastings, it is located five ...

, is the small village of Stonegate. It came into being at the same time as the railway line from Tunbridge Wells. The station at Stonegate has hourly train services to London (Charing Cross and Cannon Street) and to

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

. The next stop from Stonegate to London is

Wadhurst Wadhurst is a market town in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of the civil parish of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood and Tidebrook. Wadhurst is twinned with Aubers in France. Situation Wadhurst is situated ...

and towards Hastings is Etchingham. In Stonegate, there is a Church of England primary school, and the Anglican parish church of St Peter.

Religious sites

The three village churches are: *

St Mary's Church, Ticehurst St Mary's Church is a 14th-century parish church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin in Ticehurst, East Sussex, England. Part of the Diocese of Chichester, the church has grade II* listed building status. In the church is a brass memorial to John Wy ...

, a 14th-century parish church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin * St Peter's Church, Stonegate *

St Augustine's Church, Flimwell St Augustine's Church is the Anglican parish church of Flimwell, a village in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It was consecrated in 1839 after architect Decimus Burton had built the nave and tower, which was then topped with a sp ...

St Augustine church, Flimwell
/ref> * Hail Burwash

Transport

There is a railway station nearby, at Stonegate (until 1947 it was called ''Ticehurst Road''; and before that ''Witherenden''); and there is a bus link to Wadhurst railway station.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Rother District