Henfield

Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 5,012 people lived in 2,153 households, of whom 2,361 were economically active. Other nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the east and Shoreham-by-Sea to the south. The population at the 2011 Census was 5,349. Just west of the village, the two branches of the River Adur, the western Adur and the eastern Adur, meet at Betley Bridge. From Henfield the Adur flows on into the English Channel at Shoreham-by-Sea. Henfield was already a large village, of 52 households, at the time of Domesday (1086).

Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 5,012 people lived in 2,153 households, of whom 2,361 were economically active. Other nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the east and Shoreham-by-Sea to the south. The population at the 2011 Census was 5,349. Just west of the village, the two branches of the River Adur, the western Adur and the eastern Adur, meet at Betley Bridge. From Henfield the Adur flows on into the English Channel at Shoreham-by-Sea. Henfield was already a large village, of 52 households, at the time of Domesday (1086).

Facilities

Henfield has an old centre. It has a modern village hall just off the High Street, the 13th-century St Peter's church, old inns, a wide common, and many houses in private ownership. There is a fire station, part of the West Sussex Fire Brigade, equipped with a single fire engine. Henfield has one of the oldest cricket clubs in the world, dating back to 1771. A women's team was formed from 2006¹. Henfield also officially has the oldest Scout group in the country (1st Henfield), dating from 1907. When officially registered in 1908 there were 36 scouts in the group. The group was started in winter 1907-8 by Audrey Wade, whose brother, A. G. Wade, had met Robert Baden-Powell when both were travelling to the UK from Africa when they were in the army. A. G. Wade later had several administrative roles in the developing Scout movement. To the south is Woods Mill, a restored mill, now the headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, its attractions including an extensive nature trail. South of the village on the road towards Small Dole is a business park containing the Royal Mail Delivery Office, the Etwars and small businesses. There is a theatre company which is held in the village hall.

Henfield's Commons

Henfield Parish Council supports four Commons: Henfield Common, Broadmere Common, Oreham Common and the Tanyard. All are ecologically rich and support a diverse range of wildlife.

Henfield Moors

Between Henfield Common and Woodmancote Place is a low plain with fine unimproved wet rush pastures known as The Moors. The ground is made from the Sussex Gault Clay. gorse and birch line the fences and the two ditches support bog pondweed. Behind the Swains Farm shop, in the pony-grazed western fields there is the largest population of (and best managed) meadow thistle in Sussex. You can also find heath spotted orchid, lousewort, tormentil, ragged-robin, marsh pennywort and at least six sedges.

The Pokerlee stream

The Pokerlee Stream is a lovely tributary of the Adur that runs through the Beeding, Horton, and Dag brooks, south of Henfield, Nep Town and The Pools meadows and ends up going through a tiny triangular bluebell wood on the north side of Horn Lane. It separates the Wealden Clay of Oreham from the fertile Greensand ridge's large arable fields. The best access is from the south of Henfield. Like many of the steams of east of the Adur, parts have been straightened, partly for mill leats and partly for land drainage. There was a farmstead and barns of the same name ( ). Only the farm pond and a little holloway leading down to the Horton brooks survives. The name, Pokerlee, is first recorded (indirectly) in 1327. The first element might be the word poker, 'hobgoblin', which is of Scandinavian origin and survives as the Durham place-name 'Pokerley'. However, as this is a southern usage this is not very likely. Thus, it could alternatively mean "one who has to do with a poke or bag", which survives in its diminutive form as 'pocket' and in the saying 'a pig in a poke' (sack) which refers to something bought without inspection or through a confidence trick. The second element of word, lee, refers to a meadow or a clearing.

History

Henfield was the home of Colonel Henry Bishop, who was appointed Postmaster General by King Charles II in January 1660–61. Bishop devised the first type of postmark used in England, which is known to collectors as a Bishop mark. His invention was commemorated in 1963, on the occasion of an exhibition by Henfield Stamp Club. A special date stamp, which included the wording HENRY BISHOP'S VILLAGE, was used. Bishop is buried in Henfield churchyard. The eighteenth century botanist William Borrer, who specialised in the flora of the British Isles, was born and died in Henfield. When the British government introduced the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913, local Suffragette Elizabeth Robins used her 15th century farmhouse at Backsettown, near Henfield, that she shared with Octavia Wilberforce, as a retreat for suffragettes recovering from hunger strike. Robins was the first president of the Henfield Women's Institute which was founded in 1917¹.

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1324367882 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.