Shipley is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

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

Horsham District Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. It is named after the town of Horsham, which is its largest settlement and where the council is based. The district also includes the surrounding rural area and contains many villa ...

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 lies just off the A272 road north-east of

Storrington Storrington is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Storrington and Sullington, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. it had a population of around 6 ...

. The parish includes the village of Coolham and the hamlets of Dragon's Green, Brooks Green and Broomer's Corner.

History

Shipley is first mentioned in a charter of 1073 as ''Scapeleia'', and 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 ''Sepelei''. The name derives 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 ...

''scēap'' ('sheep') and ''lēah'' ('open ground, such as meadow, pasture, or

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

'). Thus it means 'sheep-clearing' or 'sheep-pasture'. Shipley was home to

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc ( ; ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a French-English writer, politician, and historian. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. His Catholic fait ...

who in 1906 purchased Kings Land, with a house, and Shipley Windmill, which was used in the television series ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery fiction, mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician whi ...

'' as Creek's residence.

Geography

The western

River Adur The Adur () is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river, which is long, was once navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large Saxon port, but by the 11th centur ...

flows through the village, where it meets a significant tributary, Lancing Brook. Free-ranging_longhorn_cattle_at_Knepp_Wildland

The parish has a land area of . Knepp Wildland is a rewilding project in the parish.

Demography

In the 2001 census 1,075 people lived in 448 households of whom 596 were economically active. At the 2011 census the population included the hamlet of Coolham and increased to a total of 1,147. This had increased to 1,200 as of the 2021 census.

Landmarks

The parish contains the ruins of the medieval

Knepp Castle The medieval Knepp Castle (sometimes referred to as 'Old Knepp Castle', to distinguish it from the nearby 19th-century mansion) is to the west of the village of West Grinstead, West Sussex, England near the River Adur and the A24 road (Great Bri ...

which was likely established by the Braose family and in the 13th century was confiscated by the Crown. King's Mill was built in 1879 and is a

Grade II* listed building 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 ...

Education

There are two schools in the parish: William Penn School in Coolham and Shipley CE Primary School. The William Penn School is a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

foundation opened in 1973 and named after

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

. It is a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

and as of its 2024

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspection it had around 80 pupils. The school was rated as requiring improvement. Shipley CE Primary School is a Church of England school which had around 80 pupils when it was inspected in 2024; Ofsted rated the school as good.

Religion

The church of St Mary the Virgin was established in the 12th-century. Some elements survive from this period including the tower,

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, and a door at the west end of the church. The building was extensively renovated in the late 19th century. It is protected as a

Grade I listed building 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 churchyard is the burial place of composer

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in New York City, he came to prominence with film audiences for his supporting roles i ...

(1879–1962).

References

External links

Shipley Windmill WebsiteShipley Church WebsiteShipley Parish Council Website
{{authority control Horsham District Villages in West Sussex