St Peter's Church, Henfield

Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies 41 miles (66 km) south of London, 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Brighton, and 30 miles (48 km) east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. The parish has a land area of 4,285 acres (1,734.1 ha). 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 town, 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 was a railway station on the Steyning Line which served the village of Henfield. It was equipped with a siding which received coal to serve the Steam Mill and Gas Works. The station closed as a result of the Beeching Axe in 1966 and now forms part of the Downs Link path. Nothing remains of the station today other than the name "Station Road". A housing estate named "Beechings" occupies much of the station's site, somewhat ironically given that it was British Rail Chairman Richard Beeching whose report recommended closure of the line.Henfield Station was used in the Second World War as the loading point for locally grown sugar beet to be transported North to London, and Betley Bridge where the line crossed the River Adur about a mile to the North was a strategic target for German bombers.

Betley Bridge is a disused railway bridge, now a rail trail bridge, which crosses the confluence of the East and West Adur rivers North of Henfield in West Sussex. The Steyning Line from Shoreham to Guildford passed over it, and is now the part of the Downs Link, a public footpath. During the Second World War the Steyning Line was an important route to move sugar beet from Sussex farms from Henfield station towards the capital, and Betley Bridge was a strategic target for German bombers. Two pillboxes were created, one North and one South, to defend the bridge. A Junkers 88 which was attacking the bridge crashed in Partridge Green to the North West.

Woods Mill is a 19-hectare (47-acre) nature reserve south of Henfield in West Sussex. It is managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.This is the headquarters of the trust and an environmental education centre. The main feature of the nature reserve is a lake, which has many damselflies and dragonflies, such as the scarce chaser and downy emerald. There is also a large area of ancient woodland, with oak, silver birch and coppiced hazel.The Reserve celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2018 with the support of Scottish Power. [1]

St Giles' Church is a Church of England parish church in the small village of Shermanbury, West Sussex. Placed on the same site as a church recorded in Domesday Book, the present church was largely built in the 13th century but was heavily restored and partially rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance. The church historian John E. Vigar described it as "one of our Sussex gems" which he had "no hesitation in recommending...to all". Services for the parish continue and also cover the parishes of St Peter's, Henfield and St. Peter's, Woodmancote, which form its united benefice.

Small Dole is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, in England. It lies on the A2037 road two miles (3.2 km) south of Henfield. In the late 1970s the Church of England altered its ecclesiastical parish boundaries, transferring Small Dole from the parish of Upper Beeding (where the population at the 2011 Census is included) to the parish of Henfield. The civil parish boundary continues to use the older ecclesiastical boundary. Thus Small Dole is part of the civil parish of Upper Beeding and the ecclesiastical parish of Henfield, adding to the local feeling of being torn between the two larger communities.

Shermanbury is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A281 road approximately 2 miles (3 km) north of Henfield. The present day village consists mainly of a ribbon development of bungalows on the east side of the A281, while the ancient parish church is to the east by Shermanbury Place. Between these is Ewhurst Manor, a 16th-century house on an old moated site with a 14th-century stone gatehouse and nearby artificial lake and farmstead. The eastern River Adur flows through Shermanbury, where it is met by the Cowfold Stream. The Normal Tidal Limit is at the footbridge near the church although a weir further downstream means only the highest tides reach this far. Boats could reach Mock Bridge (where the A281 crosses the river) until the early 1800s. The parish has a land area of 775 hectares (1,915 acres). In the 2001 census 454 people lived in 182 households of whom 253 were economically active. The population at the 2011 Census was 542.

The Sussex Greensand Way is a Roman road that runs east-west linking the London to Lewes Way at Barcombe Mills to Stane Street at Hardham. The road, which has almost entirely fallen out of use, follows the free draining ridge of greensand which lies north of the South Downs. It is a planned route rather than a Romanised Iron Age track, following a few straight alignments without any steep gradients, which linked various north-south roads and tracks. A number of important Roman villas and their farming estates were linked by the road. It is not known at what time during the Roman period the road was built.

Tottington Wood is a 5.1-hectare (13-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Small Dole in West Sussex. It is owned by Hopegar Properties and managed by The Tottington Woodlanders.This semi-ancient wood is recorded back to 1600 and it has an oak tree which is over 250 years old. Mammals include roe deer and bats and there are birds such as woodpeckers and blue tits.There is access by a footpath from Henfield Road.

Horton Clay Pit is a 0.4-hectare (0.99-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Small Dole in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It was once much bigger and a popular area for looking for fossils and many marine creatures have been found in the Gault Clay by professional and amateur fossil hunters alike, especially molluscs - ammonites and belemnites, bivalves and gastropods.This site displays a thick and stratigraphically important sequence of rocks dating to the Folkestone Beds of the Early Cretaceous. It shows evidence of a major structural basin which controlled sedimentation in the western Weald.In 1913 a series of beetle fossils were recovered from its peaty bed. Researchers have used these fossils to suggest a detailed picture of the local environment during the Weichselian glaciation period and have concluded that a sour pool existed here in open heathland with a few coniferous trees. Through Mutual Climatic Range analysis they have predicted that although July was only a mean 1 degree cooler, January was 6 degree cooler.In 1991, the clay pit was granted planning consent for restoration using landfilling. The landfill lies on one side of a shallow excavation with the SSSI lying on the other side. More recently plans have been drawn to bury the SSSI with inert infill to prevent further erosion. This has been agreed in principle by Natural England if the Gault Clay is protected by a marker layer. Additional grassland and woodland planting have been promised that will enable habitat linkages across the restored landfill.

Woodmancote is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village is 1 mile (1.5 km) southeast of Henfield on the A281 road. It should not be confused with the other West Sussex village of Woodmancote near Chichester. This scattered community has no village centre. The parish includes the hamlet of Blackstone. The Anglican parish church, St Peter's, which stands alone beside the A281 road, dates to the thirteenth century, and was largely rebuilt in 1868. Close to the church is Woodmancote Place, a large house used as a country club. There is also a parish hall. Woodmancote is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Odemancote". Two of the Lewes martyrs, burnt at the stake in the Marian Persecutions of 1556, Thomas Harland and John Oswald, came from Woodmancote.The parish has a land area of 849 hectares (2096 acres). In the 2001 census 478 people lived in 189 households, of whom 248 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population was 543.

Henfield is an electoral division of West Sussex in the United Kingdom and returns one member to sit on West Sussex County Council. The current County Councillor, Lionel Barnard, is also Deputy Leader of West Sussex County Council.