[[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]]
432 (2011 Census){{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11127684&c=Poynings&d=16&e=62&g=6475018&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1475335594812&enc=1|title=Civil Parish population 2011|accessdate=1 October 2016|publisher=Office for National Statistics |work=Neighbourhood Statistics}}"},"population_density":{"wt":"{{convert|43|/km2|/sqmi|abbr=on}}"},"os_grid_reference":{"wt":"TQ264120"},"coordinates":{"wt":"{{coord|50.89443|-0.20351|display=inline,title}}"},"post_town":{"wt":"BRIGHTON"},"postcode_area":{"wt":"BN"},"postcode_district":{"wt":"BN45"},"dial_code":{"wt":"01273"},"constituency_westminster":{"wt":"[[Arundel and South Downs]]"},"london_distance":{"wt":"{{convert|42|mi}} [[Boxing the compass|N]]"},"shire_district":{"wt":"[[Mid Sussex District|Mid Sussex]]"},"shire_county":{"wt":"[[West Sussex]]"},"website":{"wt":"[http://www.poynings.net/ Poynings village]"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwCQ">Human settlement in England
Poynings | |
---|---|
Poynings from the South Downs | |
Location within West Sussex | |
Area | 6.66 km2 (2.57 sq mi) [1] |
Population | 287 [1] 2001 Census 432 (2011 Census) [2] |
• Density | 43/km2 (110/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | TQ264120 |
• London | 42 miles (68 km) N |
Civil parish |
|
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BRIGHTON |
Postcode district | BN45 |
Dialling code | 01273 |
Police | Sussex |
Fire | West Sussex |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Poynings village |
Poynings ( /ˈpɔɪnɪŋz/ or locally /ˈpʌnɪŋz/ ) [3] is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The parish lies wholly with the South Downs National Park. To its south is Brighton and Hove, to its west is the Fulking parish, to its east is the Newtimber parish and to its north is Albourne parish. The planning authority for Poynings is the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), the statutory planning authority for the National Park area. [4]
The village is located on the north side of the South Downs near Devil's Dyke, five miles (8 km) north-west of Brighton. The civil parish covers an area of 665.5 hectares (1,644 acres) and has a population of 287 (2001 census), including Newtimber and increasing to 432 at the 2011 Census. [2] The area was known as “Puningas” in 960AD. Some have suggested the name came from "sons of Puna" or "people of Puna", Puna being the nickname of a hammer-wielding Saxon leader. [5] Others have suggested it means, “The people of the pond”. [6]
The downland scarp, which includes the Fulking and Perching bostals (paths), is part of the Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Poynings civil parish contains ten listed buildings. Of these, one is Grade I and the remaining nine are Grade II. The parish contains four scheduled monuments.
Poynings is a little village on the north side of the Downs. Its church is cathedral-like and comparable to Alfriston church without the spire. There is a public house, the Royal Oak, in the village which is a popular stop off point for walkers ascending the scarp slope. Also of note are the large ponds fed from the Downs, including the Poynings springhead ( TQ 267 116 ), which has a little pumping station hidden in a lush gill wood and the old mill pond ( TQ 265 117 ), both to the southeast of the village.
Holy Trinity Church ( TQ 264 120 ) is Poynings’ parish church, located at the east end of the village, on The Street.. The church is in the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, Archdeaconry of Horsham.
The church is a Grade I listed building, described in the National Heritage List for England as 'One of the finest village medieval churches in Sussex' (List Entry Number 1285135, first listed 28 October 1957). [7]
The church was in the Domesday book but it was rebuilt by the de Poynings family in 1370. [12] Its similarity to Alfriston church have left some people speculating that it had the same master mason architect. [13] The church has an echoing empty interior and scant signs of the wealth of the donor family. There are only the smallest fragments of fourteenth century glass surviving in the plain glass windows. With its big, centralised, empty interior it has been noted that it feels more like a grand old mosque than the usual homely busy-ness of many medieval parish churches. [13]
In the village opposite Holy Trinity Church there is a small sheltered memorial called Cora's Corner, which pays tribute to a former resident of Poynings; two benches in the shelter, Judy's Seat and Merrilee's Seat, are tributes to Cora's two daughters.[ citation needed ] The road linking Cora's Corner to the Royal Oak is called Cora's Walk.
Within the parish of Poynings there are three ancient woods, which include Park, Stonestaples and Pondtail Wood. In the neighbouring parishes there are others which are part of the Poynings Crossways ( TQ 255 141 ) Woods' cluster. [14] These include Shaves Wood ( TQ 255 145 ), Holmbush Wood (grid reference tq 247 143 ), West Wood ( TQ 242 149 ), East Wood ( TQ 249 151 ) and Newtimber Wood ( TQ 266 134 ). Except Stonestaple which sits on Weald Clay, the woods all sit on Gault Clay and are all extremely biodiverse, containing many different ancient woodland indicator plants (up to twenty-five in each wood) including anemones, primroses, bluebells and wild orchids. In Holmbush Wood there is still a population of scarce and fairy-like giant lacewing. [14]
Unfortunately, as many areas of the natural world, the woods are under constant threat from development and have lost many of their most precious species. The woods were once famous for their moths and butterflies, including wood white, high brown fritillary, black-veined white (now extinct in the UK) and the Duke of Burgundy. [14] Change in land management means none of them live there now. The last Duke of Burgundy butterfly was seen in 1985 when a good proportion of Shaves Wood was bulldozed for pasture. Small pearl-bordered and pearl-bordered were also lost. [14] In 2016 a new owner illegally felled hundreds of tree in Pondtail Wood before being ordered to stop by the council. [15] The wood has since been sold to a more responsible owner in 2017. [16]
Stonestaples Wood ( TQ 252 135 ) is in the centre of the Poynings parish. It is the only one of the Poynings Crossways woods that sits on the Wealden Clay. It must have once joined to the other woods, but the intervening ground to its east is fertile Lower Greensand, and so was farmed and ploughed centuries ago. The wood is rich in fungi, often colourful, and has big old hornbeam stools under an ash canopy, over anemones, primroses, bluebells and orchids. [14] In the centre of the wood is a paintballing location.
Park Wood ( TQ 262 135 ) is to the east of the parish and next to Newtimber Wood. In medieval times formed part of the de Poynings family deer park, and may have been much more open. The ancient deer park bank forms a prominent boundary between Park and Newtimber Wood. After that, it was likely managed as coppice with standards until the last century, when much of it was coniferised, particularly with cypress. The northern section partly retains its hornbeam coppice structure, over plentiful bluebells and is botanically rich. [14] It is used as a scout camp. . The wood is currently being split and sold into fragments for large sums to new private owners, in a controversial process known as 'woodlotting'.
Pondtail Wood ( TQ 261 144 ) is at the north of the parish and is attached to Shaves Wood in the neighbouring parish of Albourne. The wood has a mixture of intact hazel coppice with very tall, clean oak standards at its east end, and heavy pine planting elsewhere. There may be as many as twenty three woodland indicator plants in the area. In 2016, the wood was sold to a new owner who started to bulldoze part of the centre of the wood and laid hardcore upon it, despite the binding legal requirements for permission for such felling. Demonstrators marched to the site, and several intrepid campaigners worked all one night to lift some of the hard core and dump it at the site entrance. [14] The council intervened and the owner fined. [17] There is now a new owner who is committed to the wood's restoration. [18]
To the south of Poynings is the scarp. On the eastern base of slope ( TQ 263 115 ) is an old hazel coppice and spring bluebells.
There are a number of ancient bostal paths going up the scarp. The most varied and interesting route is The Bostal Road, a bridlepath, which curves through the woods and at its top passes the Iron Age ramparts above the Dyke Valley. The Wickhurst Bostal starts at Wickhurst Barns, passes a tiny chalk quarry ( TQ 255 110 ) with a Victorian limekiln still intact, and tops at the junction with another bostal down to Fulking. Another path, which was called the Butter Track two centuries ago, takes you steeply up the scarp to the Dyke Pub.
The ancient terrace way (now a bridleway) that tracks down and across the south slope of the Dyke Valley is probably part of the Roman route starting at Southwick, on the coast, and joining the Roman road now called the Greensand Way south of Hurstpierpoint.
The Devil's Dyke Farm's barns and cottages were built around 1950 and are the very last generation of farm buildings to be built with relatively traditional uses and proportions. [13]
At the top of the scarp slope is the very special Devil's Dyke ( TQ 260 110 ). It Is a 300 feet (91 m) deep valley carved by water running off the Downs during the last Ice Age over freeze-thaw cycles. Over the last two centuries, there have been an amusement park and pleasure gardens, a hotel, three railways (the railway up from Hove; a funicular railway down the north scarp slope; and a cable car across the Dyke Valley), golf courses, and a zoo. [19] Despite this, it still has the well preserved ramparts of an Iron Age hill fort and much of its special biodiversity has been retained.
The Devil's Punch Bowl is the little rounded hill between Saddlescombe and the mouth of the Dyke Valley. It is a peaceful place and its steep northern slopes are covered in cowslips in spring and fragrant orchid in early summer. [13]
Adder Bottom ( TQ 253 101 ) has the lynchet lines of an Iron Age field system visible in good evening light. There is prehistoric bowl barrow ( TQ 252 101 ) called Scabes Castle which marks the corner of the Poynings and Fulking parishand the Brighton boundary. [8] It is now only detectable by a slight rise in the fence line as it crosses the ploughed-out mound.
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.
Hurstpierpoint is a village in West Sussex, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Burgess Hill, and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Hassocks railway station. It sits in the civil parish of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common which has an area of 2029.88 ha and a population of 7,112.
Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the 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 signed in Ditchling.
Hassocks is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. Its name is believed to derive from the tufts of grass found in the surrounding fields.
Barcombe is an East Sussex village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex. The parish has four settlements: old Barcombe, the oldest settlement in the parish with the parish church; Barcombe Cross, the more populous settlement and main hub with the amenities and services; the hamlet of Spithurst in the north east and Town Littleworth in the north west.
Newick is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located on the A272 road six miles (9.7 km) east of Haywards Heath.
Albourne is a village and civil parish in the 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 acres). In the 2001 census 600 people lived in 234 households, of whom 321 were economically active. The population at the 2011 Census was 644. The name comes from an alder-lined stream, which is likely to have been the Cutler's Brook.
Upper Beeding is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the northern end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of Shoreham-by-Sea and has a land area of 1877 hectares (4637 acres). The site is a bridging point over the river: on the opposite bank are Bramber and Steyning, making the whole area somewhat built-up. The civil parish also includes the smaller village of Small Dole to the north, and the village of Edburton to the northeast.
East Chiltington is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is centred four miles (5.9 km) south-east of Burgess Hill and five miles (8 km) north-west of Lewes. It is a strip parish of 3.76 square miles (9.7 km2), stretching northward from the crest of the South Downs. The village church is 13th century in origin; the vicar also has charge of two churches in Plumpton. Near the church there is a pub called The Jolly Sportsman. The Sussex Greensand Way, a Roman road, runs from east to west through the centre of the parish.
Hamsey is a civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The parish covers a large area and consists of the villages of Hamsey, Offham and Cooksbridge. The main centres of population in the parish are now Offham and Cooksbridge. Around the main settlements are enlarged fields, isolated old cottages and farms. The winding and undulating parish lanes between banks, old hedge rows, trees, flowery verges and ditches are rightly popular with cyclists and give good views of the Downs.
Plumpton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located five miles (8 km) north-west of Lewes. The parish measures 6.5 miles in length on its north–south axis and 1 mile at its widest on the B2116 Underhill Road. The southern half of the parish lies within the South Downs National Park and at the highest point, 214m (702 feet), the South Downs Way traverses the crest of Plumpton Plain. The parish includes the small village of Plumpton adjacent to the Downs and to the north the larger village of Plumpton Green where most of the community and services are based. Plumpton is known for its race course, and also Plumpton College, which farms over 2500 acres of land and has become one of the leading centres for land-based education in the UK.
Westmeston is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England heavily dependent in amenities on larger Ditchling to the near-immediate northwest. It is four miles (6 km) south-southeast of Burgess Hill and (10 km) west of Lewes, on the northern slopes of the South Downs.
Streat is a village and parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Burgess Hill and 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Lewes, within the South Downs National Park.
Fulking is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The parish lies wholly with the South Downs National Park.
Newtimber is a small village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located north-west of Brighton. The parish also includes the hamlet of Saddlescombe. The parish lies almost wholly with the South Downs National Park, 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.
Pyecombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The name 'Pyecombe' may derive from the Saxon "pic" meaning point or pike, in which case it may mean "valley marked by a projecting hill".
Hangleton is a residential suburb of Hove, part of the English city and coastal resort of Brighton and Hove. The area was developed in the 1930s after it was incorporated into the borough of Hove, but has ancient origins: its parish church was founded in the 11th century and retains 12th-century fabric, and the medieval manor house is Hove's oldest secular building. The village became depopulated in the medieval era and the church fell into ruins, and the population in the isolated hilltop parish only reached 100 in the early 20th century; but rapid 20th-century development resulted in more than 6,000 people living in Hangleton in 1951 and over 9,000 in 1961. By 2013 the population exceeded 14,000.
Clayton to Offham Escarpment is a 422.5-hectare (1,044-acre) linear biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which runs from Clayton in West Sussex to Lewes in East Sussex. Its ownership and management is divided between over fifteen landowners and farmers. Parts of Ditchling's Downs, e.g. TQ 323 133, and the scarp between Blackcap and Mount Harry, e.g. TQ 378 124, are owned by the National Trust. What remains of Ditchling Tenantry Down common at Ditchling Beacon is leased to the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
The Church of the Transfiguration is the Church of England parish church of the village of Pyecombe, in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The mostly 12th- and 13th-century building, in an isolated setting facing the South Downs, has been designated a Grade I Listed building.
Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill is a 321-hectare (790-acre) biological and geological Downland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) north of Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and it includes Devil's Dyke Geological Conservation Review site.
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