Saddlescombe Farm
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Newtimber is a small
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in the
Mid Sussex District Mid Sussex is a local government district in the English non-metropolitan county of West Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex. It contains the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill. The district was created on 1 A ...
of
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
, England. It is located north-west of Brighton. The parish also includes the
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
of Saddlescombe. The parish lies almost wholly with the
South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamp ...
, with the exception of a small section of the parish north of the B2117 road. The planning authority for Newtimber is therefore the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), the statutory planning authority for the National Park area. The downland scarp, which includes Newtimber Hill, Newtimber Holt, Saddlescombe chalk quarry and Summer Down, is mostly part of the Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill, designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. The parish covers an area of . At the 2011 Census the population was included 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
of Poynings.


Listed Buildings and Scheduled Monuments

Newtimber civil parish contains 12
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s. Of these, one is Grade I, one is Grade II* and the remaining 10 buildings are Grade II. The parish contains three
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
s.


Listed buildings

Grade I listed buildings: * Newtimber Place (List Entry Number 1025629), a moated house; the oldest portion was built by the Bellingham family in the 16th century, but the main portion dates from the late 17th century. Grade II* listed buildings: * The Parish Church of St John Evangelist (List Entry Number 1354879), essentially 13th century, though the medieval work has been largely overlaid by restoration work in 1875; the tower was added in 1839.


Scheduled monuments

* Bowl barrow on North Hill (List Entry Number 1014949), a circular mound with a deep central hollow, indicating partial excavation in the past. * Group of three bowl barrows and an Anglo-Saxon mixed cemetery on Summer Down (List Entry Number 1014952), a linear group of three prehistoric barrows and a later Anglo-Saxon cremation and inhumation cemetery. * Cross dyke on Newtimber Hill (List Entry Number 1015717), a roughly north–south aligned cross dyke constructed across a chalk ridge, partly disturbed by flint diggings, tree roots and downland tracks.


Notable buildings and areas

Newtimber is a small parish with a scattered population, which may be as low as seventy five inhabitants. It stretches from the
Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
downland to its south to the Albourne parish in the
Sussex 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, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
to its north. To its west is the Poynings parish and to its west lies
Pyecombe Pyecombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The name 'Pyecombe' may derive from the Saxons, Saxon "pic" meaning point or pike, in which case it may mean "valley marked by a projecting hill". Pyeco ...
.


Saddlescombe

Saddlescombe () is a
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in the Newtimber parish; it lies on the road from Poynings to Brighton, 5.4 miles (8.7 km) northwest of Brighton. Saddlescombe Farm is a busy little place sitting at the base of the Downs which has been owned by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
along with the surrounding countryside since 1995. It has lots of history having been listed as a working farm since 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
, belonging to the Knights Templar for around 100 years and being one of the two manors of Newtimber Parish. The ancient well in middle of the village green is probably the only visible relic of the manor and the donkey wheel above it that wound up the hamlet's water is still intact. There are rusting iron oxen shoes tacked to the old doorway farmhouse. The hamlet consists of several threshing barns, large storage barns, a variety of houses, forge, cattle yard and dairy, duck pond, donkey wheel, pig sties, chicken coops and old stables.


Newtimber Place

Newtimber Place () is a 16th-century house, likely built by the sheriff of Sussex, Richard Bellingham. It has a wide moat which goes right up to its walls, with white bridge that is fed by clear, chalk spring water. It has a giant
turkey oak Turkey oak is a common name for several species of oaks and may refer to: *''Quercus cerris'', native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor *''Quercus laevis ''Quercus laevis'', the turkey oak, is a member of the red oak group of oaks. It is n ...
tree outside. To the west of the house is Newtimber Wood (). This is an intact hazel and
hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornbeam ...
coppice with fine oaks and
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
that borders on Park Wood in the neighbouring parish of Poynings. Both woods are botanically rich.


Down and scarpland

With the exception of the Dyke Golf Course, the Downland scarp is owned by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and most of it is Open Access.


Newtimber Holt

Newtimber Holt () is a rich and ancient woodland with a history possibly going back ten thousand years. There are at least twenty ancient woodland indicator species including
wych elm ''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches i ...
,
maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
and even
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 old ...
(usually found on the
Weald Clay Weald Clay or the Weald Clay Formation is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock unit underlying areas of South East England, between the North and South Downs, in an area called the Weald Basin. It is the uppermost unit of the Wealden Group of ro ...
). The Holt doesn't have
large-leaved lime ''Tilia platyphyllos'', the large-leaved lime or large-leaved linden, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae (Tiliaceae). It is a deciduous tree, native to much of Europe, including locally in southwestern Great Britain, growing ...
anymore, but it does have some very tall large-leaved / small-leaved lime hybrids and these, with the good representation of other trees and shrubs, is indicative of the Holt's age. There are lots of bluebell in spring, with some wood anemone, goldilocks buttercup, yellow archangel, early purple orchis, polypody fern, redcurrant,
nettle-leaved bellflower ''Campanula trachelium'', the nettle-leaved bellflower, is a species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the la ...
as well as other indicator herbs and grasses of ancient woodland. In May one can find both species of red
cardinal beetle The name cardinal beetle typically refers to three different species of beetles. The red-headed or 'common' cardinal beetle ('' Pyrochroa serraticornis'') is a red to orange beetle with, as the name suggests, a red head. It is about long, and is ...
sunning themselves on fallen beech boles, for there is an abundance of dead wood. The rotting timber hosts many interesting fungi and slime moulds in autumn. The Holt is in two very steep combes on the Hill's north eastern corner, but since Victorian times most of the rest of the Hill's northern slope has also grown over into
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
, beech and hazel secondary woodland. The Holt is bounded on its south side by the rising bostal bridlepath. There are some big trees including an old beech boundary pollard halfway up the bostal. Sycamore is invading more and more of the wood and is changing its character over time.
Roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
enjoy the deeper parts of the Holt and bird song fills the air at dawn in springtime, but the noise of the nearby A23 means it is no longer a wholly tranquil place. At the bottom of the Holt is the sunken Beggar's Lane () surrounded by high beech trees. The quiet road runs round the north west corner of Newtimber Hill. One can find white helleborine orchis, wood millet and wood melic on its banks. At its southern end it joins the Saddlescombe road, but that is not its original course that the Romans took. Just a few yards to the west and below the busy lane back to Poynings is a wooded terrace which is the original Roman path. If one finds the path, one may also come across a very old and big beech pollard ().


Newtimber Hill

Views from Newtimber Hills western slopes extend all along the ocean wave of the chalk scarp to
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, and across the dim blue forest to Blackdown on the Surrey border. One can find tiny frog orchids and a funny late-flowering form of burnt-tip orchids in its turf. There's a ribbon of
tormentil ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 300Guillén, A., et al. (2005)Reproductive biology of the Iberian species of ''Potentilla'' L. (Rosaceae).''Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid'' 1(62) 9–21. species of annual, biennial and perenni ...
where the chalky slopes break to meet the acidic plateau top. There are anthills, cattle terracettes and some years
dark green fritillary The dark green fritillary (''Speyeria aglaja'') is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. The insect has a wide range in the Palearctic realm - Europe, Morocco, Iran, Siberia, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan. Description in Seit ...
, the rare silver-spotted skipper butterfly and a big populations of
glowworm Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also o ...
. On the west flank of Newtimber Hill, above and below the Saddlescombe Road, are disused braided trackways, that are known locally as the ‘Devil's Stairs’. In this area lives a population of ancient juniper, our most special and rarest native bushy species. Some of the bushes may be as old as four hundred years, despite being only ten metres (thirty foot) or so high. The bushes' ancestors are likely some of the first woody species re-colonizing postglacial Britain, as it is a classic species of the cold tundra grasslands. Unfortunately, the Newtimber junipers are the only native ones on the Brighton Downs, despite Wolley-Dod in 1937 recording it as being abundant to the west of Brighton and present if rare to the east. The
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and the
Sussex Wildlife Trust The Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) is a conservation charity which aims to protect natural life in Sussex. It was founded in 1961 and is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the UK and the Isle of Man and Alderney. , it has 33,000 members and manages ...
are now bravely restoring the juniper's old Down pasture habitat and it is being planted on the A27 bypass at Stanmer and Devil's Dyke. On the top of Newtimber Hill there are two dew ponds (), one which is dried and now covered with colourful with
waxcaps ''Hygrocybe'' is a genus of agarics (gilled fungi) in the family Hygrophoraceae. Called waxcaps in English (sometimes waxy caps in North America), basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are often brightly coloured and have dry to waxy caps, white spores, a ...
and the other a restored dew pond with much pond life. South of the dew ponds the plateau descends by a staircase of medieval strip
lynchet A lynchet or linchet is an Terrace (earthworks), earth terrace found on the side of a hill. Lynchets are a feature of ancient field systems of the British Isles. They are commonly found in vertical rows and more commonly referred to as "strip lyn ...
s to the combe of sheltered Saddlescombe. The lynchets are chalky in character with nice flowers and old meadow fungi, with waxcap (
meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
, crimson and scarlet hood) with scatters of earth tongues and clumps of five or six species of coral fungi.


North, East and West Hill

North, East and West Hill all surround Saddlecombe. North Hill () has two prominent
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
barrows in which, despite being previously robbed, archeologists found pottery vessels, a skeleton and a dagger. The barrows themselves sit at the top of the hill in an island of old acid grassland. There are treasures still there in the form of betony, eggs and bacon,
tormentil ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 300Guillén, A., et al. (2005)Reproductive biology of the Iberian species of ''Potentilla'' L. (Rosaceae).''Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid'' 1(62) 9–21. species of annual, biennial and perenni ...
and
knapweed ''Centaurea'' () is a genus of over 700 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding re ...
, and in autumn (in a good year) a real cornucopia of colourful
waxcaps ''Hygrocybe'' is a genus of agarics (gilled fungi) in the family Hygrophoraceae. Called waxcaps in English (sometimes waxy caps in North America), basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are often brightly coloured and have dry to waxy caps, white spores, a ...
, coral fungi and earth tongues, including several old pasture indicator species. West Hill has some pristine old chalk grassland with an up-slope fringe of scrub and some rare dyer’s greenweed.


Saddlescombe chalk quarry

Saddlescombe chalk quarry () still has the old limekilns under some big old bushes. There are chalk-loving mosses,
waxcaps ''Hygrocybe'' is a genus of agarics (gilled fungi) in the family Hygrophoraceae. Called waxcaps in English (sometimes waxy caps in North America), basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are often brightly coloured and have dry to waxy caps, white spores, a ...
and earth tongues on the
terracette A terracette is a landform consisting of a hillside ridge arranged as part of sub-parallel "step-like sequences" of such ridges. Terracette occur on step hillsides and are regularly spaced. Various causes have been suggested to explain their origi ...
s. There are many butterflies, including the adonis blue, in summer but the grayling butterfly has now gone and there is only one site in Sussex where it remains.


Cross Dyke

There's a
cross dyke A cross dyke or cross-dyke (also referred to as a cross-ridge dyke, covered way, linear ditch, linear earthwork or spur dyke) is a linear earthwork believed to be a prehistoric land boundary that usually measures between in length. A typical cr ...
()) between West Hill and Newtimber Hill, along the line of the bridlepath, which is believed to be a prehistoric land boundary. It is now a scheduled monument.


Summer Down

Summers Down () is a bushy acid grassland with lots of sheltered places and a good view of the Poynings Gap. The place was a pagan Saxon cemetery, the site of an old windmill, and a small cross dyke, but they are difficult to make out. South of the road, the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
car park has three
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
bowl barrows still upstanding, both with their tops dug out by treasure seekers of the past. Part of Summer Down () is fenced off from Summer Down road on its south side, though it is scored with the deep-cut braided paths of that road. The cut up tracks are three metres (ten feet) deep caused by centuries of passage by pack horse trains, carts and flocks. These are deeper than the ditches of the Devil's-Dyke hillfort.


Ewe Bottom

Most of Ewe Bottom () used to be part of Saddlescombe's sheep pastures, although the area west of the bridlepath was part of Poynings’ pastures. Since the construction of the golf course, it has been left largely derelict and the gorse and thorn on its valley sides have spread across the entire valley. Now the side of the valley itself is growing into ash woodland in the next stage of this long succession. There are very large, old hawthorn bushes in these thickets, which can be seen along the footpath on the south-east perimeter of the golf course ().


Pond Brow

Pond Brow () has two peaceful old dew ponds which watered these great pastures, which were known as West Down. Now they are fenced off from the golf course and are used by the sheep on the ex-arable land below. The ponds’ are fringed with flote grass, shaded by gorse and thorn draped with
honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both conti ...
. The valley sides south of Pond Brow were also part of West Down and tiny fragments of old flower-rich pastures survive on the steepest parts. Where those pastures met the road () the verges are still colourful with old Downland herbs including swarms of spotted orchid, many vetches, including grass vetchling, and pea family herbs.


Dyke Golf Course

The Devil's Dyke Golf Course () was founded in 1908, although there was a women's course that pre-dated it. It was badly damaged in the Second World War when it was used for tank training, but Brighton Council rebuilt it. The course has lost almost all of its old Down pasture flowers, but remarkably, many of the old meadow fungi seem to have survived. At least fourteen have been found there including
waxcaps ''Hygrocybe'' is a genus of agarics (gilled fungi) in the family Hygrophoraceae. Called waxcaps in English (sometimes waxy caps in North America), basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are often brightly coloured and have dry to waxy caps, white spores, a ...
and coral fungi. East of the bridlepath there is a spot, now largely forgotten, which used to be called Beggar's Haven () where a curled up skeleton was unearthed in Victorian times with a necklace of beads of lignite and tubular beads of bronze.Accompanying it was a decorated pottery ‘beaker’ nearly five inches wide of a type found at several sites on these Downs.Curwen, E.C. 1954. The Archaeology of Sussex. London, Methuen and Co. Ltd. Page 159 Probably a burial mound once rose above this early Bronze Age burial, but it isn't there anymore.


References


External links


Newtimber Parish websiteThe Downland Benefice: Newtimber Church

Saddlescombe Farm and Newtimber Hill - National Trust

'Parishes: Newtimber', A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7: The rape of Lewes (1940), pp. 204-208.
Mid Sussex District Villages in West Sussex Civil parishes in West Sussex {{WestSussex-geo-stub