Poling 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 Arun 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, southeast of

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...

on a minor road south of the A27. About 25% of the parish is wooded foothill slopes of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...

which is the area north of the A27 here. The 2001 Census recorded 173 people lived in 75 households, of whom 96 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population had risen only marginally to 174. The small village has two

Grade I Listed buildings 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, Hi ...

: the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

, (in whose churchyard the

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 ...

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 1932 – 4 December 2000) was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975. He was born i ...

is buried), and part of St John's

Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

(founded by the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

s circa 1140) beside the main road. Many of the cottages are

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 ...

History

Poling was an agricultural part of the

Rape of Arundel The Rape of Arundel (also known as Arundel Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. The population of the rape of Arundel was 22,478 in 1801, falling to 24,276 in 1811. Locat ...

, one of the traditional sub-divisions of Sussex and a former Norman barony. In the

Anglo-Saxon era The territory today known as England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). BB ...

Poling, like most coastal villages, had outlying areas of land in

the Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High We ...

(forest) within Sussex used for summer grazing and timber production. Thus Poling gave its name to Pallingham north of

Stopham Stopham is a hamlet (place), hamlet and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), District of Chichester in West Sussex, England, about west of Pulborough on the A283 road. It is in the civil parish of Fittleworth. ...

and Pallinghurst west of

Rudgwick Rudgwick is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village is west from Horsham on the north side of the A281 road. The parish's northern boundary forms pa ...

. Poling also had land north of

Petworth Petworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex, Heat ...

, then known as ''"Palinga Schittas"'', mentioned in a charter of AD 953. in connection with the

pannage Pannage is the practice of releasing livestock- pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests ...

of pigs to feed on acorns.

Royal Air Force Station, Poling

RAF Poling was in use until July 1956. Thereafter, the cost of guarding the site was about £5,000, mostly before the technical equipment was removed in March 1957 when the guard was downsized; in February 1955, the wire fence was renewed for £2,000.

Parish church

St. Nicholas' parish church is on the south-east edge of the village next to Manor Farm and is reached by a footpath from Poling Street, next to the Old Vicarage. Sir Harry Johnston memorial plaque

Burials in St. Nicholas' churchyard include the

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 ...

and MCC

er and cricket administrator Colin Cowdrey (1932–2000) and the explorer, botanist, artist and colonial administrator Sir

Harry Johnston Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927) was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely across Africa to speak some of the languages spoken by people on that continent. ...

(1858–1927), who lived at St John's Priory. Johnston is also commemorated by a wall plaque in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

carved by the

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

sculptor and typeface designer

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as "the greatest artist-craftsma ...

, who lived at

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 ...

, East Sussex. The main typeface used on the plaque seems to be Gill's

Perpetua Perpetua and Felicity (; – ) were Christian martyrs of the third century. Vibia Perpetua was a recently married, well-educated noblewoman, said to have been 22 years old at the time of her death, and mother of an infant son she was nu ...

, which he designed in 1925 but did not release until 1929. The lower-case typeface used for the Latin quote below is not presently recognised.

History

Royal Air Force Station, Poling

Parish church

References

Sources and further reading

External links