place

Chailey

Civil parishes in East SussexVillages in East Sussex
Chailey, East Sussex
Chailey, East Sussex

Chailey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located 7 miles north of Lewes, on the A272 road from Winchester to Canterbury. The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of Chailey. The parish consists of the settlements: South Chailey (which also incorporates South Common), South Street, Chailey (also known as Chailey Green) and North Chailey (which incorporates the North Common). The parish church is dedicated to St. Peter and is recorded as having been built in 1256. Recently a special service was held to commemorate its 750 years. At one time Chailey had more churches than pubs. The churches being St Peter's, St Martin's (within Chailey Heritage), Chailey Free Church, St John's (now housing in South Common), and St Mary's (now housing in North Common), and the pubs being the King's Head, Five Bells, Horns Lodge and the Swan House. In addition it is believed another chapel was sited near the Bluebell railway. Chailey is reputed to be the inspiration for the 1969 children's television series Chigley by Gordon Murray, (along with nearby Plumpton as Trumpton and Wivelsfield Green as Camberwick Green).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Chailey (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.96 ° E -0.01 °
placeShow on map

Address

Cinder Hill
BN8 4HS , Chailey
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Chailey, East Sussex
Chailey, East Sussex
Share experience

Nearby Places

Chailey Common
Chailey Common

Chailey Common is a 169 hectare (417.4 acre) biological site of Special Scientific Interest in the East Sussex. It is close to the village of North Chailey to the west of Newick. The site was notified in 1985 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is also a Local Nature Reserve.The site consists of five enclosures: Romany Ridge Common, Red House Common, Pound Common, Memorial Common and Land End Common. The areas are maintained for species diversity through careful grazing and management. Lane End Common, (grid reference TQ 403 223) was separated from the bulk of the Chailey Common enclosures in the nineteenth century. Its heathy and bosky spaces are now fenced and grazed by mild park cattle. The Common supports various heath communities, including ling, cross-leaved heath and bell heather and other rare botanical species. Fifty years ago Garth Christian saved the marsh gentian from going extinct from the area and its trumpets full of tiny stars can still be seen there today. Meadow thistle, sundew and round-leaved sundew are still present in the area thanks to careful nursing and it is one of the few sites left in the Sussex Weald with bog asphodel. The botanical richness in turn supports important and rare invertebrate including bloody-nosed beetles, minotaur beetles, purse web spiders and black headed velvet ants. Up the food chain, the area can also support rare bird species, including woodcock and nightjar. The habitat also supports various butterflies which are rare in the county. Chailey Common was one of the last sites in the Sussex Weald that you could find Silver Studded Blue butterflies, but they seem to be gone from the area now.

Sussex
Sussex

Sussex (), from the Old English Sūþsēaxe (lit. 'South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English Channel, and divided for many purposes into the ceremonial counties of West Sussex and East Sussex. Brighton and Hove, though part of East Sussex, was made a unitary authority in 1997, and as such, is administered independently of the rest of East Sussex. Brighton and Hove was granted city status in 2000. Until then, Chichester was Sussex's only city. The Brighton and Hove built-up area is the 15th largest conurbation in the UK and Brighton and Hove is the most populous city or town in Sussex. Crawley, Worthing and Eastbourne are major towns, each with a population over 100,000. Sussex has three main geographic sub-regions, each oriented approximately east to west. In the southwest is the fertile and densely populated coastal plain. North of this are the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, beyond which is the well-wooded Sussex Weald. Sussex was home to some of Europe's earliest known hominids (Homo heidelbergensis), whose remains at Boxgrove have been dated to 500,000 years ago. Sussex played a key role in the Roman conquest of Britain, with some of the earliest significant signs of a Roman presence in Britain. Local chieftains allied with Rome, resulting in Cogidubnus being given a client kingdom centred on Chichester. The kingdom of Sussex was founded in the aftermath of the Roman withdrawal from Britain. According to legend, it was founded by Ælle, King of Sussex, in AD 477. Around 827, it was annexed by the kingdom of Wessex and subsequently became a county of England. Sussex played a key role in the Norman conquest of England when in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, landed at Pevensey and fought the decisive Battle of Hastings. In 1974, the Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex was replaced with one each for East and West Sussex, which became 2 separate ceremonial counties. Sussex continues to be recognised as a geographical territory and cultural region. It has had a single police force since 1968 and its name is in common use in the media. In 2007, Sussex Day was created to celebrate the county's rich culture and history and in 2011 the flag of Sussex was recognised by the Flag Institute. In 2013, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles formally recognised and acknowledged the continued existence of England's 39 historic counties, including Sussex.