Fletching 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 Wealden 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 to the north-west of

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District, Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology "Uck ...

, near one of the entrances to Sheffield Park. The

A272 road The A272 is a road in southeast England. It follows an approximate east–west route from near Heathfield, East Sussex to the city of Winchester, Hampshire. Route The eastern end of the A272 starts at a junction with the A267, north-west ...

crosses the parish. The settlement of Piltdown is part of the parish. The Piltdown Man discovery in 1912 was thought to be the missing link between humans and apes. The significance of the specimen remained controversial until, amidst great publicity, and much embarrassment in scientific circles, it was exposed in 1953 as a forgery thought to have been committed by

Charles Dawson Charles Dawson (11 July 1864 – 10 August 1916) was a British amateur archaeologist who claimed to have made a number of archaeological and palaeontological discoveries that were later exposed as frauds. These forgeries included the Piltdown ...

. The village is 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Flescinge'', an Old English name meaning "(settlement of) the family or followers of a man called Flecci." Despite this, the name has given rise to a belief that the village was a medieval centre for arrow production. The hamlet of Sharpsbridge lies in the south of the parish. It has an historic church of St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin dating from the twelfth century. Simon de Montfort prayed there before the

Battle of Lewes The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made ...

. Historian

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

(1737–1794) is interred in the Sheffield Mausoleum attached to the north transept of the church, having died in Fletching while staying with his great friend,

John Baker-Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield, (21 December 1735 – 30 May 1821) was an Anglo-Irish politician and soldier. He was a leading authority on agriculture and commerce and appointed President of the Board of Agriculture in 1803. He i ...

. The school is Fletching CofE Primary school. There are two public houses in Fletching:The Griffin Inn (which calls itself a

gastropub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves food of high quality, with a nearly equal emphasis on eating and drinking. The term was coined in the 1990s in the United Kingdom. History The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coi ...

) and The Rose and Crown. Nearby is The Piltdown Man at Piltdown. The village was once the home of the comedian Jimmy Edwards (1920–1988). Fletching is home to Fletching Football Club, also known as The Archers. Fletching 1st team play in the

Mid-Sussex Football League The Mid Sussex Football League is an association football league formed in 1900. The league is headed by the Premier Division which is at level eleven of the English football league system and member clubs are based in East Sussex, West Sussex a ...

division 2 - South, with the 2nd team playing in Division 5 - South.

References

{{authority control Fletching