Lindfield 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 Mid Sussex District of

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. The parish lies to the north-east of

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath ( ) is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, ...

, and stands on the upper reaches of the River Ouse. The name 'Lindfield' means 'open land with lime trees.' The parish Church, All Saints, stands at the top of the High Street and its history goes back to 1098. One of the oldest houses in the village is Church House, formerly known as The Tiger, and still referred to as "The Tiger" by Lindfield residents. The two schools in Lindfield are Lindfield Primary Academy and Black Thorns. It is classified as an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

The village

The village stands on high ground above the upper reaches of the River Ouse. It is situated close to both the natural beauty of the High Weald and to Haywards Heath with its amenities and station on the main London-Brighton railway line. Lindfield has a rich historic and architectural heritage. The ancient High Street, lined with lime trees, has over forty medieval and post medieval timber-framed houses, with many individual shops. At the bottom of the High Street is a natural spring-fed pond with fish, ducks, and herons. Beyond lies the Common which, over the centuries, has witnessed many events – fairs, festivals, bonfire celebrations and sporting activities; cricket has been played there since 1747. Today, it is still central to village celebrations and leisure activities. In addition to the Common there is Pickers' Green, providing pitches for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stoolball Stoolball is a sport that dates back to at least the 15th century, originating in Sussex, southern England. It is considered a "traditional striking and fielding sport" and may be an ancestor of cricket (a game it resembles in some respects), b ...

and a children's play area.

Etymology

The place-name Lindfield is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''linden'' + ''feld'', meaning 'open land where lime-trees grow'. The name was first recorded in c.765 as ''Lindefeldia'' (see 'History' below). The name was later recorded as ''Lyndefeld Bardolf'' in 1327, Linfeld in 1590, and Lindfeild Dorchter in 1675. The Bardolf family were owners of one of the manors of Lindfield during the 13th and 14th centuries. 'Dorchter' is a corruption of 'd'arches', which was a scribal contraction of 'archiepiscopi', showing Lindfield to have once belonged to an archbishopric.

History

The High Street follows an ancient north–south track that has existed for thousands of years, long before the Romans built a major road, the London to Brighton Way, a mile to the west of the village. Lindfield first appeared as Lindefeldia, 'open land with lime trees', in a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

charter of 765 AD, in which King Ealdwulf granted lands for the building of a Minster church, which may be on the same site as the present All Saints Church, Lindfield. When 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 ...

was compiled the lands were held by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

King Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...

recognised the importance of medieval Lindfield and in 1343 granted the town a royal charter to hold a market every Thursday and two annual eight-day fairs. For centuries the fairs continued each April and August with the summer fair becoming one of the largest sheep sales in Sussex. Lindfield was once part of the thriving Wealden iron industry. As early as 1539, William Levett of Buxted, a county curate with a thriving sideline in iron and armaments, was recorded as extracting iron ore at Lindfield. Later the Henslowe family of Lindfield were actively engaged in the iron milling business in association with Ralph Hogge, parson Levett's former servant and later a major

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a larg ...

in his own right. In 1841 the London-Brighton railway opened, passing to the west of the parish with a 'Station for

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 ...

and Lindfield Towns' on open land that was to become the town of

. The construction of the Ouse Valley branch line reached Lindfield in 1866 with a proposed station to the north of All Saints' Church but the line was abandoned for financial reasons. Lindfield, a suburb of the Australian city of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, is likely named after the village by landowner Francis List after his cottage in the area.

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...

, a leading church stained glass designer and manufacturer lived at Lindfield until his death in 1907. Kempe renovated and redecorated an Elizabethan manor house near the village which he renamed Old Place, from where he entertained clients and professional partners. Internally the house was appointed to the highest standard of Victorian splendour. After his death in the 1930s, the house was partitioned into six individual residences, with the main reception rooms forming part of the new "East Wing".

Nature and the countryside

The Eastern Road Nature Reserve, off Lewes Road, is a reserve alongside the Scrase Stream, which provides a wetland habitat for birds, butterflies and insects. It is situated on the site of a former sewage treatment plant, and has been allowed to develop since the plant closed in 1975. The diverse vegetation supports populations of insects and butterflies, which together with autumn fruits, attract visiting birds such as warblers, finches and siskins. Frogs, newts, dragonflies and other aquatic insects occupy the wetland areas. The countryside around Lindfield is part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which runs through

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, Surrey and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The High Weald is an ancient landscape, characterised by small fields, woodlands, rolling hills, steep narrow valleys, heaths and sandstone outcrops, and this type of landscape is rare in Europe. Nearby is Ashdown Forest, some to the northeast of the village. Footpaths with views across the Ouse valley radiate into the High Weald from Lindfield. The High Weald Landscape Trail and Sussex Border Path pass close to Lindfield linking with these local paths.

Sports

Lindfield Football Club was established in 1898 and currently has three senior teams within the Mid-Sussex Football League, with the first team competing in the Premier Division, the Reserves competing in 3rd Division as well as a third side playing in the 7th Division. In the 2012–13 season, Lindfield Reserves won the Mowatt Cup Final as well as the Third team gained promotion from Division 6 as they finished runner's up. In 2014 the Reserves also won two cups and finished second in the league, gaining promotion. Last season the First team regained the Montgomery Cup which they followed up with the season opening Allen Washer Trophy in 2016. All teams currently play their home games on the Lindfield Common which houses two senior side pitches and a club house, which is shared with Lindfield Cricket Club who use the green during the Cricket season. The cricket club also play at Hickman's Lane, which also offers an additional senior pitch made available by the Mid-Sussex County Council, and at Great Walstead School. Lindfield Bowls ClubLindfield Bowls Club website
Retrieved 13 March 2016 is one of the oldest lawn bowling clubs in Sussex (founded in 1903), and is located close to the cricket club, at the top end of the Common, on the other side of Backwoods Lane. The club currently has over 120 members and has enjoyed success at county and national levels over the years. The club competes in the Sussex and Surrey "Border League", the Mid-Sussex League, the John Spriggs League, the Nellie Mercer League, and the Nicholas Soames League.

Notable residents

* Frank Reginald Carey, Royal Air Force ace fighter pilot. * John Bent, English Tory politician. *

Brett Anderson Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead singer and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted the Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004� ...

, English singer.

References

External links

Lindfield Life
- community magazine for Lindfield
Lindfield Parish Council Official Site
Retrieved 3 January 2020
Lindfield History Project Group
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Mid Sussex District