Barcombe
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 northeast and Town Littleworth in the northwest.
Barcombe was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Berchamp". The origins of the placename 'Barcombe' may have derived from two sources: the Saxon 'Berecampe', meaning 'barley land' and the Latin loan word 'campus', a field.
Barcombe is particularly noted to Sussex residents and tourists for 'Barcombe Mills', a reference to an old water-mill complex on the River Ouse at the base of the hill/plateau on which Barcombe Cross sits. The mills burnt down before the Second World War, but Barcombe Mills is still a popular Sunday outing for townsfolk from Lewes and Brighton.
History
Roman settlements
There have recently been two important excavations at old Barcombe. From 1999 onwards they have been excavating a Roman villa and surrounding buildings south of the church. The villa lay near the crossroads of the Roman Greensand Way. It was found on top of an earlier Iron Age roundhouse. The Roman inhabitants are likely to have benefited from the iron industry in the Wealden forests to the north. The villa was abandoned around 300AD.Even more recently the Culver Archaeological Project found a Roman defended settlement just across the Ouse at Bridge Farm, Upper Wellingham, corroborating the importance of the Roman presence here. Old Barcombe's landscape could be a continuation of the Roman settlements.
Domesday Survey
Barcombe was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as comprising 26 households, including two smallholdings. There were ploughlands for eleven plough teams, and included in the listing were three mills and a church.Disused railways
Two railway lines ran through the villages: the line between Lewes and Uckfield; and the line from East Grinstead, part of which is now the Bluebell Railway. There were stations on each of the two lines: Barcombe station on the East Grinstead line, and Barcombe Mills station on the Uckfield line, with a junction south of the latter before the line continued to Lewes. Barcombe closed on 28 May 1955, whilst Barcombe Mills closed on 4 May 1969. Part of the line is now a cycle track. Barcombe Cross only became the hub of the parish when the railway line opened; before such time it was just one of the dispersed hamlets. A few cottages survive from the pre-modern times including the 17th-century Mongers Farmhouse.In summer 2021 National Highways announced that they intended to infill the bridge over the old Lewes to Uckfield railway line that passes under Church Road. The bridge has been defined as "weak" for many years, with a 20 tonne weight limit for traffic. It is part of the Historical Railways Estate managed by National Highways on behalf of the Department for Transport, comprising 3,200 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, including 77 listed structures.
Infilling would entail pouring 1800 tonnes of concrete under the bridge to support it. The land under the bridge is in a conservation area, is used for walking and has many varieties of wildlife. Barcombe residents worked with the , to prevent the infill.
In Dec 2021 National Highways announced that they no longer intended to infill the bridge, but noted that they had an obligation to secure a weight limit of 24 tonnes for the bridge, so would be considering what action to take after devising a new method for assessing the structures it is responsible for.
Old Barcombe
Barcombe, the oldest settlement in the parish. It hosts the St Mary's parish church and there are a few old houses around it. The medieval church, with its fine shingled, broached spire, may incorporate some materials robbed from the Roman villa found nearby. The church was rebuilt in 1878–9. The agreement to restore the old church included a commitment to build a new church at Spithurst in the north of the parish. This was old St, Bartz.Shelley's Folly
Shelley's Folly was built by Theobald Shelley in 1686. The property passed through generations of the Shelley family until the early 19th century when the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley who was the next in line to inherit the property sold out to his younger brother in 1815, who himself sold it to Sir John Dodson, a well-known judge and politician, in the 1840s. The Dodson family retained ownership of the property for the next 150 years. Through much of this period, they let it with notable tenants including George Murray Levick, a surgeon on the ill-fated Terra Nova Antarctic expedition of Scott in 1912, and the Marchioness of Queensberry and family which included her grandson Lord Alfred Douglas, poet and former lover of Oscar Wilde. The Dodsons, now Lord Monk Brettons, moved back into the property in the late 1960s, refurbishing the property before selling up in 2004.Camoiscourt Shaw
North of the old Barcombe village towards Barcombe Cross is Camoiscourt Shaw, a woodland gill along which the derelict Bluebell Line ran. A footpath leads from Church Road across cow pasture and into the gill.Conyboro Park
Conyboro Park, Cooksbridge, is in the parish of Barcombe. It has some woods, and the south side had some old trees of impressive girth. The section of the North End Stream to the south has a bank side Bluebell wood, and more woodland the east.Barcombe Cross
The village has three main routes into the centre of the village and the buildings cluster around the crossroads. A 1724 map by Richard Budgen is the first time the place name Barcombe Cross is identified and the map has a pictorial depiction of the crossroads. Barcombe Cross expanded from 1839 onwards when the railway station opened and has since become the main village in the parish hosting the parish school, shops, amenities and services. Barcombe Cross is now just known as Barcombe in the local area and is signposted as such. It is only on maps is it shown in its full name.Barcombe Oil Mill and pasture
Barcombe Oil Mill which was in operation until 1909. It was demolished in 1917 leaving a few discarded millstones and the old mill leat. It is South of Barcombe Cross and north of Camoiscourt Shaw. Around the demolished mill is a pasture remarkable for its botanical richness, with a range of archaic meadow plants. There soils is very varied in this area which gives rise to the mix of grassland species, including plants which prefer acidic soils such as Tormentil, Heath Grass and Devil's Bit, through to those that prefer neutral grassland including Ox Eye Daisy and Pignut, to the alkaline loving Quaking Grass, Yellow-Oat Grass and Ladies Bedstraw. The area is in need of wildlife management.Bird's Hole Wood
To the west of Barcombe Cross is Bird's Hole Wood. It is Hazel coppice under Ash and has some fine oaks. It is a partially ancient woodland and partially descended from rough common. In spring the ground is half Bluebells and half Bramble.Blunt's Wood
Blunt's Wood is on the very west of the parish and southwest of Bird's Hole Wood. It has Beech and coppice shrubs, but has suffered from much replanting of conifers. In the early spring months woodland floor is covered in Bluebells.Barcombe Mills
Barcombe Mills is a conservation area and a popular spot for walking, kayaking and river swimming and an important area for its wildlife, natural environment and water storage. The Barcombe Reservoir is adjacent. The area includes a small hamlet and some farms, including Barcombe House, and a water treatment works.Spithurst
The hamlet of Spithurst is mainly on one lane, Spithurst Lane, running north of Barcombe Cross. The soil is Wealden Clay and three tiny-but-colourful old meadows still survive around Spithurst, including the old 'St Bartz' churchyard.In 1296 the hamlet was known as 'Splytherst' and this may have been after Alexander and Richard Splyherst. The name Spithurst could also be derived from the term 'split-wood' because the hamlet did indeed split two giant 'hursts': on the west side, Knowlands, Oldpark, The Butletts, Spithurst Wood and Slutgarden Woods and on the east side, Burtenshaw's, Agmond's and Down Coppice Woods.
Between Spithurst and Newick is the 2,000 acre Sutton Hall Estate.
Old 'St Bartz'
St Bartholomew's Church was built in 1879-80 of flint with masonry. The church was part of a unique experiment in inter-church co-operation when the Anglican minister allowed the local Russian Orthodox clergy to use it on the Sundays that he was not. The small Orthodox congregation was made up of Russian exiles and converts and the church became famous for their elaborate ritual.In 1969 plans were drawn to close and demolish the building until a year later the Queen signed an order withdrawing the scheme. The church finally did close in 1994 and it became a diocesan youth centre called St Bartz. A large extension has been added on the north side. St Bartz youth centre closed during the pandemic and the building is now standing empty.
Despite relatively small congregations, the churchyard is quite full and contains a large but anonymous family mausoleum. The relaxed management of the churchyard has given it the character of a woodland glade and a haven for wild flowers. Species recorded there include "Anemones, Bluebells and Goldenrod mixed in with Devils Bit and Betony, Ling Heather, Pepper Saxifrage, Bitter Vetch and Tormentil, lots of Birds Foot Trefoil, Mouse Ear Hawkweed and Red Clover". It is also famous for its display of Green-Winged orchids. More recently the churchyard has been split in two and damaged by 'improvement' in one part, and neglect in the other.