Beckley is a village 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Rother district of

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England. It is located on the B2088 minor road above the Rother Levels northwest of

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

and from

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

. The northern border follows the river Rother.

History

Beckley was part of the

Wealden iron industry The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the wrought iron, bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until abou ...

. An iron furnace was built in 1578, at the small settlement still called Beckley Furnace. A watermill powered the bellows. Production ceased in 1770. The 1830s saw a mass emigration of Beckley residents to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. At the time, the developing colony of New South Wales was in need of skilled agricultural labourers, whilst the English labourers were suffering hard times. Various schemes were introduced to provide finance for workers to emigrate. 165 Beckley residents took up the offer and emigrated. Amongst those residents were Thomas and Maria Ann Smith (née Sherwood), the cultivator of the

Granny Smith The Granny Smith is an List of apple cultivars, apple cultivar that originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who Fruit tree propagation, propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a Hybri ...

apple. Another of those residents who emigrated at this time was Henry Charles Packham, whose son Charles, in Molong, New South Wales, was the cultivator of the Packham pear. A young emigrant who did well was George Fielder (1827–1913) the illegitimate son of Hannah Bowlin and George Parsons of Yew Tree Farm, Northiam. He emigrated in 1838 on the "James Pattison" with his mother and stepfather, became a miller in Tamworth and founded the flour milling company George Fielder & Co. now controlled by the international conglomerate Wilmar The parish church is the All Saints church, which is located at the far west end of the town. The Revd William Glaister was the rector here in 1839 when his daughter Elizabeth Glaister was born. She would be an author and embroiderer.

Governance

The lowest level of government is the Beckley parish council which meets once a month. The parish council is responsible for local amenities such as the provision of litter bins, bus shelters and allotments. They also provide a voice into the district council meetings. The parish council comprises seven councillors with elections being held every four years. The May 2007 election was uncontested. Current details about the Parish can be found on the official Parish Council website. Rother District council provides the next level of government with services such as refuse collection, planning consent, leisure amenities and council tax collection. Beckley lies within the Rother Levels ward, which provides two councillors. The May 2007 election returned two Conservatives councillors. East Sussex county council is the third tier of government, providing education, libraries and highway maintenance. Beckley falls within the Northern Rother ward. Peter Jones, Conservative, was elected in the May 2005 election with 49.7% of the vote. The UK Parliament constituency for Beckley is Bexhill and Battle. Prior to

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

in 2020, Beckley was part of the

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

constituency in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

References

External links

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