Cross-in-Hand

Cross-in-Hand
Cross-in-Hand
	; St Bartholomew's Church
	Cross-in-Hand Location within East Sussex
OS grid reference	TQ562216
• London	50 miles (80 km) NNW
Civil parish	Heathfield and Waldron ;
District	Wealden ;
Shire county	East Sussex ;
Region	South East ;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HEATHFIELD
Postcode district	TN21
Dialling code	01435
Police	Sussex
Fire	East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Bexhill and Battle ;
	List of places UK England East Sussex 50°58′25″N0°13′25″E / 50.97356°N 0.22355°E Coordinates: 50°58′25″N0°13′25″E / 50.97356°N 0.22355°E

Last updated December 10, 2021

Cross-in-Hand is a small village outside Heathfield town to its west, in the Wealden District situated in East Sussex. It is occasionally referred to as Isenhurst.

The village

Cross In Hand Inn sign Cross In Hand Sign cropped.JPG — Cross In Hand Inn sign

Cross-in-Hand is situated at the junction the A267 running between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne, and the B2102 which terminates in Cross-in-Hand but joins the A22 in Uckfield.^[1] It is the easternmost location of the A272 road, which continues west to the A30 in Hampshire. The village has a high street on the B2102 road that links Cross-in-Hand to Uckfield. Retail shops include a petrol station, wooden furniture shops, a motorcycle shop, a bakery, and a funeral director's. The Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Bartholomew, and there is one pub, the Cross in Hand. Other village facilities include a village hall, rugby football, bowls and tennis clubs.

History

The village historically provided services to the iron trade, and a windmill called the "New Mill" has stood at its current site since 1868, although it was built in Framfield in 1855. The reason for this time delay is that the mill was originally placed a quarter of a mile from its current location in its year of construction, and was moved on the command of the local squire at the time, Louis Huth.^[2]

The English Place-Name Society gives the earliest reference to the village as Cruce Manus, the Latin for Cross-in-Hand, recorded in 1547, which by 1597 was being rendered Crosse atte Hand and by 1656 was being called Crosse in the Hande.^[3] The name is believed to be based on a legend that Crusaders assembled here before sailing for the Holy Land from Rye to fight Saladin. An alternative explanation is that it is the place where some murderers managed to escape their pursuers by turning to face them with a cross in their hands.^[4]

The first Heathfield Agricultural Show was held there in 1946.^[5]

Cross-in-Hand Raceway

The village had its own Stock Car circuit ^[6] which opened for racing as a dirt track on 17 October 1965, Chichester's Trevor Carpenter winning the final. A second meeting, two weeks later, was cancelled due to bad weather and then the track remained closed until 20 July 1969 when the new concrete track was used for the first time. Neil Thomas of Ashford won all three races that day with Trevor Carpenter winning one of the Superstox heats and Del Stickings winning the final. The track closed after protests from local residents and the last meeting took place on 6 August 1972.^[7] During the 1971 and 1972 seasons the track had its own Auto Spedeway team called the Cross in Hand Tigers. They were managed by Spedeworth's managing director, Les Eaton and included drivers Dave Pierce (captain), Dave Hindle, Alan Cox, Biffo Sweeney, Art Fowler and Gordon Street.^{[ citation needed ]}

Related Research Articles

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Hailsham is a town, a civil parish and the administrative centre of the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book, where it is called Hamelesham. In one part yet, mentioned in other part of the same book as ‘’’Tilux’’’, the land of Ricard de Tunbrige. The town of Hailsham has a history of industry and agriculture.

Heathfield is a small, affluent market town in East Sussex, England.

King's Mill or Vincent's Mill, Shipley, West Sussex, England, is a smock mill built in 1879 which has been restored and was open to the public until its closure on 19 July 2009.

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Old Mill may refer to:

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Superstox is a type of single seat formula racing, similar to Sprint car racing developed in the 1960s in the United Kingdom. Racing is 'contact' whereby drivers can use the front bumper to help dislodge any car in front. Like most other forms of short oval racing, the higher rated drivers normally start at the back of the grid for each race.

References

↑ Google Maps
↑ Cross-in-Hand Windmill
↑ Glover, Judith (1974). The place names of Sussex. B. T. Batsford. p. 43. ISBN 0713428538 . Retrieved 9 December 2021.
↑ Simpson, Jacqueline (2010). texts Green men & white swans : the folklore of British pub names. Arrow Books. p. 63. ISBN 9780099520177 . Retrieved 9 December 2021.
↑ Chapman, Brigid (1999). People and places of the High Weald. S.B. Publications. pp. 81–82. ISBN 9781857701531 . Retrieved 9 December 2021.
↑ Backtrack, The Golden Years of Oval Racing - ISBN 0-7524-4080-2
↑ Living with Spede, The First Ten Years of Spedeworth International

External links

Media related to Cross in Hand at Wikimedia Commons

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[1] Google Maps

[2] Cross-in-Hand Windmill

[Glover_43-3] Glover, Judith (1974). The place names of Sussex. B. T. Batsford. p. 43. ISBN 0713428538 . Retrieved 9 December 2021.

[Simpson_63-4] Simpson, Jacqueline (2010). texts Green men & white swans : the folklore of British pub names. Arrow Books. p. 63. ISBN 9780099520177 . Retrieved 9 December 2021.

[Chapman_81-82-5] Chapman, Brigid (1999). People and places of the High Weald. S.B. Publications. pp. 81–82. ISBN 9781857701531 . Retrieved 9 December 2021.

[6] Backtrack, The Golden Years of Oval Racing - ISBN 0-7524-4080-2

[7] Living with Spede, The First Ten Years of Spedeworth International

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