Village in West Sussex, England
Village in England
Fernhurst
is a village and
civil parish
in the
Chichester District
of
West Sussex
, England, on the
A286
Milford, Surrey
, to
Chichester
road, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of
Haslemere
and 4 miles (6.4 km) north of
Midhurst
. The parish includes the settlements of Henley Common, Kingsley Green and Bell Vale, lies within the boundaries of the
South Downs National Park
and is surrounded by hills.
The area of the parish is 5,772 acres (2,336 ha). In the 2001 census there were 1,158 households with a total population of 2,765 of whom 1,244 were economically active.
[1]
The population had increased to 2,942 at the 2011 Census.
[2]
Geography
[
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]
Fernhurst lies in the valley of the
River Lod
whose feeder streams, known as ghyls, rise in the surrounding hills, that include Telegraph Hill at 676 feet (206 m), Marley Heights at 700 feet (210 m), Bexley Hill at 600 feet (180 m), Fridays Hill at 675 feet (206 m) and the highest hill in Sussex,
Blackdown
at 919 feet (280 m), which rises to the northeast. The valley soil is predominantly clay with greensand outcrops on Blackdown summit. There are dense wooded areas punctuated by miles of footpaths, the path to the summit of Blackdown commencing at the
Red Lion
pub.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
The village, on the
Weald
, originally developed around crossroads (
The Cross
) and the village green, and ancient remains (
Stone Age
and
Roman
) have been found here.
Iron working
took place in the 17th/18th centuries;
[4]
[5]
and a
turnpike
ran through the village. The church, dedicated to St Margaret, (
c.
1100
) and
Red Lion
pub are on the green, where several old houses still remain. With the coming of the railway to Haslemere, the village developed around and beyond The Cross, and since the 1960s the village has expanded further westwards. The village houses a commuter population, attracted by the proximity of
Haslemere railway station
.
In November 2006 the Fernhurst Society published a book, "Voices of Fernhurst", comprising edited extracts of oral history interviews with local villagers.
Governance
[
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]
An
electoral ward
in the same name exists. This ward includes
Linchmere
and had at the 2011 census a total ward population of 5,334.
[6]
St Margaret's Church
[
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]
The
Anglican
parish church, dedicated to
St Margaret of Antioch
, was rebuilt in the nineteenth century, the south aisle in 1859 and the tower and spire as part of a
general restoration
by
Anthony Salvin
in 1881. The interior is plain.
[7]
May Revels
[
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]
Every May the traditional "Revels" fete is held on the green, raising funds for village societies and some local charities. The event includes various local May-time celebrations, such as
maypole dancing
, and the May queen is elected from the local area. In May 2006 a film of the village for the Meridian ITV programme "Village voices" was filmed involving the revels and local craftsmen.
[8]
It was screened on 15 August 2006.
Verdley estate
[
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]
About a mile south east of the village lies the Verdley estate. Verdley Castle, probably a 14th-century fortified manor house, or hunting tower, now demolished, lay in present-day Henley Wood. Its concealed wooded location in a hollow afforded protection for smugglers bringing goods from the south coast.
[9]
Closer to the village, Verdley Place was built by architect Anthony Salvin in 1873?5, as a
country house
for
Charles Savile Roundell
.
[10]
Baron Davey
was living here with his wife, three daughters and a son in the
1891 census
. This
Grade II listed building
and the surrounding estate was the home of
ICI
's Plant Protection Division and its predecessors from 1945 at the
Fernhurst Research Station
and subsequently a
Zeneca
research and development centre.
[11]
It has since been sold and converted to a residential development.
[12]
Notable people
[
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]
- Louise (Lulu) Cartwright, formerly of
Ruby Flipper
and
Legs & Co.
dance troupes, grew up in Fernhurst where her father was a
GP
.
[13]
- Margaret Hutchinson
, teacher, naturalist and author lived in Kingsley Green and ran Yafflesmead
Froebel
School from 1931 to 1955.
[14]
- William Joyce
, otherwise
Lord Haw-Haw
, spent his honeymoon in Fernhurst and patronised the
Spread Eagle
pub.
[15]
- Baron Onslow of Woking
(1926-2001), former MP for Woking lived at Highbuilding in Vann Road, Fernhurst.
[16]
- Robert Pearsall Smith
(1827?1898), evangelist and lay leader in the
Higher Life movement
in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century.
[17]
- According to the Fernhurst Society,
[15]
"proof was found" that
Joachim von Ribbentrop
expressed his intention to live in Fernhurst "when Germany won the war".
- It is claimed that
Bertrand Russell
wrote
Principia Mathematica
in the house "Millhanger" about a mile south east of the village.
[18]
[19]
- Anthony Salvin
, a notable English architect, built and lived at Hawksfold and is buried in the village.
[20]
- Margaret Shaw, a diarist remembered for "A Countrywomans Journal: the sketchbook of a passionate naturalist" lived and recorded her diary in Fernurst in 1926?27.
[21]
- Hannah Whitall Smith
(1832-1911), evangelist and prominent member of the Women's suffrage movement moved to Fernhurst in 1888, wife of Robert Pearsall Smith.
[17]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Rickman, John
(1998),
The Land of Lod
, Peggy Rickman, Midhurst, England
[22]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"2001 Census: West Sussex ? Population by Parish"
(PDF)
. West Sussex County Council. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 8 June 2011
. Retrieved
12 April
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Civil Parish population 2011"
.
Neighbourhood Statistics
. Office for National Statistics
. Retrieved
15 October
2015
.
- ^
Ordnance Survey
- ^
Pearce, H (2012).
Hammer and Furnace Ponds ? Relics of the Wealden Iron Industry
. Lewes: Pomegranate Press. pp. 46, 48.
ISBN
978-1-907242-15-1
.
- ^
"History: FURNHURST FURNACE also known as NORTH PARK FURNACE, LINCHMERE"
. Retrieved
10 November
2012
.
- ^
"Ward population 2011"
. Retrieved
15 October
2015
.
- ^
Nairn, Ian
;
Pevsner, Nikolaus
(1965).
The Buildings of England
: Sussex
. Harmondsworth:
Penguin Books
. p. 220.
ISBN
0-14-071028-0
.
- ^
"Fernhurst Furnace Preservation Group"
(PDF)
. Fernhurst Society. May 2006.
- ^
Tollemache Roundell, Julia Anne Elizabeth (1884).
Cowdray: the history of a great English house
. London: Bickers & Son. p. 154.
- ^
Historic England
.
"Verdley Place, including terrace walls (1274920)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
25 January
2012
.
- ^
"Fernhurst History"
. The Fernhurst Society. 1 July 2000
. Retrieved
10 November
2012
.
- ^
"Fernhurst archives"
. The Fernhurst Society
. Retrieved
10 November
2012
.
- ^
"Lulu Cartwright ? Biography"
. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
18 January
2014
.
- ^
A Childhood in Edwardian Sussex: The making of a naturalist
. Saiga Publishing. 1981.
- ^
a
b
"Fernhurst Society ? Memories of Fernhurst ? War years"
. Retrieved
25 August
2014
.
- ^
Rickman, John (1998).
The Land of Lod: Fernhurst & Fridays Hill
. Fernhurst, West Sussex: Jane Rickman. pp. 68?69.
- ^
a
b
Rickman, John (1998).
The Land of Lod: Fernhurst & Fridays Hill
. Fernhurst, West Sussex: Jane Rickman. pp. 79?81.
- ^
Victor Davey, Helen and Kenneth Ouin:
Walks around Fernhurst
, 1981
- ^
Alexander Bologmolny (2010).
"Mathematics as a Language"
. Cut-the knot.org
. Retrieved
23 December
2010
.
- ^
Holder, Richard (2004).
"Salvin, Anthony (1799?1881)"
.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/24585
. Retrieved
3 July
2013
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Shaw, Margaret (2002).
A Countrywomans Journal: the sketchbook of a passionate naturalist
(Illustrated ed.). Constable.
ISBN
9781841196312
. Retrieved
25 July
2019
.
- ^
Rickman, John (1998).
The Land of Lod
. Midhurst, West Sussex: Peggy Rickman. pp. 65?90.
External links
[
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]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Fernhurst
.
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