Goddards Green (Goddards' Green on Ordnance Survey maps) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the

Mid Sussex District Mid Sussex is a non-metropolitan district, local government district in West Sussex, England. The largest town is Haywards Heath, where the council is based. The district also contains the towns of Burgess Hill and East Grinstead plus surroundin ...

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

, England. It is in the

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 ...

Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common is a civil parish in Mid Sussex District, West Sussex, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, o ...

, and lies just off the A2300 road 1.7 miles (2.8 km) west of

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill () is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. ...

. The hamlet consists of the Sportsman Inn, a few cottages, a water treatment works,Investment to prevent flooding at Goddards Green - West Sussex Gazette
/ref> a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

and a timber depot. The hamlet has become considerably quieter since the building of the A2300 as the roads through the hamlet were used by traffic taking shortcuts from the A23 to Burgess Hill. Today only the north–south

Cuckfield Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northea ...

– Hurstpierpoint road is operational.

Etymology

The root ''god'' may link the name to the town of

Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is east of Reigate, west of Oxted, east of Guildford and south of London. Close to the North Downs, both the North Downs Way ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, with which it was connected via one of the old

Roman roads Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

. It may also suggest an association with the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

, though this is uncertain. The town appears to have been part of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Sub-Roman The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

network that included Godstone and

Ditchling Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was sign ...

Surrounding area

The area around Goddard's Green is extremely rich in biodiversity, ancient woodlands and clean streams. At the very north of the parish is Pond Lye which is a little lake that in the 1970s was earmarked to become a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, but it never did. The Pook Bourne is a special, biodiverse stream and the area. Just north of the Bourne () is a fragment of old meadow, with a colourful tapestry of flowers, including

Pepper Saxifrage ''Silaum silaus'', commonly known as pepper-saxifrage, is a perennial plant in the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) (the carrot family) found across south-eastern, central, and western Europe, including the British Isles. It grows in damp grasslan ...

and Sneezewort. Just west of the

Ring Road are several derelict fields, some in Council ownership. With management they could become places with rich biodiversity but they look set to succeed to scrub thickets. The verges of Malthouse Lane as it turns east to join the Ring Road () were rich in archaic flowers at the turn of the century, but by 2012 the encroaching scrub had left only the Water Dock, Betony and Saw Wort surviving. The lack management only increases the risk that the area will be developed. All the area south of Goddard's Green was threatened by a proposal for a massive new settlement of over 3000 homes. Local people had fought it off by 2017, but the area is still under pressure from developers.Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common neighbourhood plan
(2015) South Downs National Park Authority Campaigners are working hard against the 'Northern Arc' development around the countryside north of the Burgess Hill Link. Many recognise that the current hyper-development pressures might spreading to fill the whole gap between A23 and Burgess Hill ultimately destroy the ancient woodlands and the rich biodiversity around the Pook Bourne and the ancient woods around Goddard's Green.

Pook Bourne

West of Burgess Hill the Pook Bourne (Saxon for 'Goblin Stream') e.g. (), makes a shallow meandering valley between small ancient woods. is a unifying feature and strongly influences the character of the area resulting in an enclosed localised valley setting. It would be the best of our English countryside, if it was not for the noise of the London Road and the Burgess Hill Link Road. The lush brook meadows have escaped 'improvement' in some spots. There is Gipsywort and Corn mint, Spearwort and Reed Canary Grass. On a bank on the south side () stands the best Wild Service Tree in Hurstpierpoint parish, with

in the turf. A shallow pond has Spike rush (and unfortunately invasive

Himalayan balsam ''Impatiens glandulifera'', Himalayan balsam, is a large annual plant native to the Himalayas. Via human introduction it is now present across much of the Northern Hemisphere and is considered an invasive species in many areas. Uprooting or cutt ...

). Wild Hop clambers all over the bushes by Pook Bourne Bridge (). It is possible that archaeological remains may be present within the area. There is a designated Heritage Asset in the form of a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

barn, of mid to late 18th century date, is located at North End Farm. Until 2012, the old Pookbourne Barn still stood () sheltering its roosting

barn owl The barn owls, owls in the genus '' Tyto'', are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. The ter ...

Woods

There are a number of ancient woods in the area. Great Wood () is a

bluebell wood A bluebell wood is a woodland that in springtime has a carpet of flowering bluebells (''Hyacinthoides non-scripta'') underneath a newly forming leaf canopy (biology), canopy. The thicker the summer canopy, the more the competitive ground-cover is ...

, with springtime carpets of ''

Hyacinthoides non-scripta ''Hyacinthoides non-scripta'' (formerly ''Endymion non-scriptus'' or ''Scilla non-scripta'') is a bulbous perennial plant found in Atlantic areas from the north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula to the British Isles, and also frequently used ...

'', the 'common bluebell'. These, along with wood anemone (''

Anemonoides nemorosa ''Anemonoides nemorosa'' (syn. ''Anemone nemorosa''), the wood anemone, is an early-spring flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe. Other common names include windflower, European thimbleweed, and smell fox, an all ...

''), grow under a

coppice Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

-with-standards tree-cover. On the south side of the Pook Bourne is the part-ancient, part-plantation Blackhouse Wood (). The secondary part has a ground cover of

dog's mercury ''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

and

hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

, with at least one wild service tree. To the east, Parson's Withes (), in the angle between Gatehouse and Pangdean Lanes, has varied flora and much thorn, both

Midland hawthorn ''Crataegus laevigata'', known as the Midland hawthorn, English hawthorn, woodland hawthorn, or mayflower, is a species of hawthorn native to western and central Europe, from Great Britain (where it is typically found in ancient woodland and o ...

and

common hawthorn ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, whitethorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It grows to about tall, producing hermaphrodite flowers in late spring. Th ...

and their hybrids. The landowner allowed the public to use the woods for recreation until 2021, since when "Private: Keep out" notices have been put up. Locals have suggested this is so the land can ultimately be sold to developers with less protests from a concerned public.

References

External links

Save Parson's Withe Woods
{{authority control Hamlets in West Sussex Mid Sussex District