Woodmancote 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. The village is south-east of

Henfield Henfield is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at ...

on the A281 road. It should not be confused with the other West Sussex village of

Woodmancote Woodmancote may refer to more than one place in England: Gloucestershire * Woodmancote, Dursley, a village * Woodmancote, Cirencester, a village * Woodmancote, Tewkesbury Borough, a village and civil parish West Sussex * Woodmancote, Chichester ...

near

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

. This scattered community has no village centre. The parish includes the

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 ...

of Blackstone. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church, St Peter's, which stands alone beside the A281 road, dates to the thirteenth century, and was largely rebuilt in 1868. Close to the church is Woodmancote Place, a large house used as a country club. There is also a parish hall. Woodmancote is recorded 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 "Odemancote". Two of the

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

martyrs, burnt at the stake in the

Marian Persecutions Protestants were executed in England under heresy laws during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509–1547) and Mary I (1553–1558), and in smaller numbers during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–1553), Elizabeth I (1558–1603), and James I (1603 ...

of 1556, Thomas Harland and John Oswald, came from Woodmancote. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 478 people lived in 189 households, of whom 248 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population was 543.

Blackstone

The hamlet of Blackstone () has many ancient houses and barns, in a still largely farmed landscape. To its north, Blackstone Lane widens to a linear green for much of its length to Blackstone Gate. There was a little triangular common at the Gate that was enclosed around 150 years ago.^:172

Notable buildings and areas

In early medieval times this was a lonely countryside of commons, marshes and woods. The

Saxons 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 ...

commonly noted thorn bushes as boundary marks between estates and many of the boundary mark names survive here such as Eaton Thom () (a half-timbered 'gingerbread' house), which may be a corruption of'Heathen Thorn'), Wodesmansthorne (the old alternative name for Woodmancote) and Paythorne (Paga's thorn). It is now largely farmland with three notable woods and some big houses.^:172

Woodmancote church

Woodmancote church () is dedicated to

St. Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

. It was originally built in the 13th century. In about 1228 the church was given to the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

, and in 1312 it passed to the

Knights of St John 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 u ...

. It was largely rebuilt in 1869 and very little remains from the earlier periods of the church history. The bowl, drum and pillars of the font are

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

and the remainder dates back to the 14th century. It has some fossil

winklestone Sussex Marble is a fossiliferous freshwater limestone material which is prevalent in the Weald Clay of parts of Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex in southeast England. It is also called Petworth Marble, Bethersden Marble or Laughton Stone in relat ...

in its south wall.

Woodmancote Place

Woodmancote Place () sits next to the church and its surrounding outbuildings, are of many periods, right back to

Chaucerian Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

times. It was owned by Countess Guda at the times of the

and then the notorious Sir Edward Seymour, otherwise known as Edward the Protector.

Bylsborough

Just north of Furners's Lane is Bylsborough (). It was once a hamlet, but is now reduced to a big house, outbuildings and an old cottage. It 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 ...

. In front of the house is a giant

sweet chestnut The sweet chestnut (''Castanea sativa''), also known as the Spanish chestnut or European chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A ...

pollard.

Streams

There are two notable streams in the parish. The Cutler's Brook runs through the parish to its north. It is a tributary of the

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 ...

that rises near Clayton. It then runs through

Hurstpierpoint Hurstpierpoint is a village in the Mid Sussex district, in the county of West Sussex, England, southwest of Burgess Hill, and west of Hassocks railway station. It sits in the civil parish of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common which has an ...

, south of

Albourne Albourne is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A23 road three miles (4.8 km) east of Henfield. The parish has a land area of 772.9 hectares (1909&nbs ...

and north of Woodhouse Wood, north of

and joins the Adur at Betley Bridge. The Pokerlee Stream runs through the south of parish. It then runs into

and into the Beeding Brooks where it joins the

. It runs through an area called the Moors (), which is a low plain with some unimproved wet rush pastures. There is

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

in the fence lines and bog pondweed in two ditches. To the north of the Moors is a pony-grazed western fields behind the Swains Farm Shop hold a large and well-managed population of the rare

meadow thistle Meadow thistle is a common name for several thistles and may refer to: *''Cirsium dissectum'', native to Europe *''Cirsium scariosum'', native to North America {{Short pages monitor