Rottingdean
Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards.
Name
The name Rottingdean is normally interpreted as the valley of the people associated with Rōta. Rota was probably the leader of a band of Saxons who invaded the region in 450–500 AD and replaced the existing Romano-British inhabitants. The first recorded mention is Rotingeden, in the Domesday Book of 1086. Other variations to be found in ancient charters include Ruttingedene, Rottyngden and Rottendeane.The name was contrasted unflatteringly with Goodwood in a national 1970s advertising campaign for wood-preserver.
Geography
Rottingdean is in a dry valley whose sides in the upper reaches are quite steep, and this valley comes right down to the English Channel coast.Civil status and former extent of the area
The parish became part of county borough of Brighton in 1928. In 1996 it regained an independent parish council, the only one in what is now the city of Brighton and Hove. Within the parish lies the deserted hamlet of Balsdean. The adjacent village of Woodingdean was formerly part of Rottingdean parish. Also formerly in the parish were most of the district of what is now Saltdean; Roedean School, an independent school for girls; and the Blind Veterans UK Centre, a rehabilitation centre for blinded ex-Service personnel.History
The first settled inhabitants of Rottingdean were the Neolithic people, arriving around 2500 BC. They would have hacked down trees and scrub to make fields for the growing of cereals such as barley. Through the ages, from Neolithic to Bronze to Iron Age, from Roman to Anglo-Saxon the same fields were probably worked. A Bronze Age barrow and pottery fragments were found when houses were being built in the area now known as Rottingdean Heights, east of the village centre. On the other side of the village, an Iron Age burial site was uncovered in 1863 on Beacon Hill.The Celtic Iron Age mode of life probably continued much unchanged after the arrival of the Romans in 43 AD, but, from the middle of the third century, people living near the coast were terrorised by Saxon raiders. Some panic-stricken wealthy Romano-Britons took their money from their villas and buried it in pots on remote downland sites. One such hoard was unearthed at Balsdean and contained over a thousand coins dating from the years 275–287. After the Romans withdrew from Britain, Saxons started to settle in Sussex, the name Sussex being derived from the land of the South Saxons. In the sixth century, the South Saxons settled in Rottingdean, with their leader probably giving rise to the name of the village.
Five hundred years later, in 1066, the Normans invaded. The new king, William the Conqueror, rewarded his followers with land. Rottingdean was part of the Lewes district given to his brother-in-law Earl William de Warenne. From information in the Domesday Book of 1086 it can be estimated that Rottingdean had a total population of between 50 and 100 at that time.
In the summer of 1377, during the Hundred Years War, French forces attacked Rottingdean. This attack was part of a series of French raids under the command of The Admiral of France, Jean de Vienne who had a fleet of 120 ships. Earlier, his forces had sacked and burnt the port of Rye, the French even taking the church's bronze bells. The raiders landed at Rottingdean, probably intending to pillage the nearby Lewes priory. The Prior of Lewes, with a force of 500 men marched to Rottingdean. The French could see them coming and set an ambush with 300 horsemen. The outnumbered English lost at least 100 men, but inflicted sufficient casualties on the French to deter them from making an attack on Lewes itself. During the action, the Prior was captured, together with his subordinates; Sir John Falvesley, Sir Thomas Cheyne and the esquire John Brocas. The Prior and the two knights were later ransomed, but John Brocas died, probably of wounds received during the battle. The village suffered grievously. The French plundered and set fire to the houses and burnt the crops. Tradition has it that in their terror the villagers fled to the church where they sought sanctuary. The attackers then set the church alight, killing everybody inside.
In the 17th century, the rise of the Quaker movement was reflected in Rottingdean, with a number of villagers becoming Quakers. Their beliefs and codes of behaviour led to confrontations with authority. Nicholas Beard was one of the wealthiest landowners in the parish, who, in line with his Quaker beliefs, refused to pay his tithes. This led to a feud between him and Robert Baker who held the position of Vicar of Rottingdean for 52 years. Nicholas Beard and other Quakers suffered imprisonment on a number of occasions and it is recorded that, in 1659, the vicar took twelve oxen, six cows and a bull from Nicholas Beard to pay a year's tithes. However, Nicholas Beard remained a wealthy man. When he died he left a plot of land in the grounds of Challoners House to be a burial ground for Quakers.
Most histories of Rottingdean mention that its inhabitants were involved in smuggling. The smuggling was in both directions; wool would be smuggled out, and tea, spirits, tobacco and lace would be smuggled in. A number of documented seizures of contraband goods were made in Rottingdean in the second half of the 18th century. Contraband was most probably unloaded at Saltdean Gap rather than at Rottingdean as it was a more deserted spot. It would then be transported over the hill, down the present Whiteways Lane into the village and then inland for distribution. It is impossible to verify all the local stories or believe all the claims about secret passages under the village, but it is persistently rumoured that the 18th century vicar Dr Thomas Hooker was involved. However, the other face of Hooker was his devotion to education. He opened schools in the village both for the well-off and for the local children.
The village was once a centre for hunting, especially in the second half of the 19th century. The Brookside Hunt was based in the village until 1902, hunting hares and foxes with a pack of hounds.
For most of its history Rottingdean was a farming community, but from the late 18th century it attracted leisured visitors wanting a genteel alternative to raffish Brighton, among them people famous in English cultural life. Some, in the late 19th century, notably the painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones and his nephew Rudyard Kipling, made it their home. When farming collapsed in the 1920s, much of the farmland became available for building, and Rottingdean increased significantly in population, but especially in the area known as Saltdean. The Woodingdean area was made a separate parish in 1933 to cope with its expanding population.