Southease

Southease
Southease church
Southease Location within East Sussex
Area	11.26 km2 (4.35 sq mi) -Rodmell & Southease[1]
Population	502 (2007)[1]
• Density	115.5/sq mi (44.6/km2)
OS grid reference	TQ421053
• London	47 miles (76 km) N
District	Lewes
Shire county	East Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LEWES
Postcode district	BN7
Dialling code	01273
Police	Sussex
Fire	East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Lewes
List of places UK England East Sussex 50°50′N 0°01′E / 50.83°N 0.02°E / 50.83; 0.02Coordinates: 50°50′N 0°01′E / 50.83°N 0.02°E / 50.83; 0.02

Southease is a small village and civil parish in East Sussex, in South East England between the A26 road and the C7 road from Lewes to Newhaven. The village is to the west of the River Ouse, Sussex and has a church dedicated to Saint Peter. Southease railway station lies roughly a kilometre east over the river and may be reached via a swing bridge.

The church has one of only three round towers in Sussex, all of which are located in the Ouse Valley and all three built in the first half of the 12th century.

It is downstream of Lewes, the county town of East Sussex and upstream of Piddinghoe and Newhaven. Paths along both the banks of the river allow hiking in either direction along the river. The remains of a slipway on the west bank of the Ouse just north of the bridge faces Mount Caburn. The nearest village is Rodmell, about a kilometre to the northwest.

The South Downs Way winds its way through the village towards the nearby River Ouse and the railway station. A new bridge has been built over the A26.^[2]

Most cottages in the village date from the 17th century.^[3]

The population of the village is about forty.

History[]

Name[]

The name seems to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning "South land overgrown with brushwood".^[4]

Historical record[]

The village first appears in the historical record when King Edgar granted the manor of Southease (including Southease parish, 38 hides, a church and part of South Heighton) to Hyde Abbey.^[4] It was granted to the abbey again by King Æthelred in 996.^[3] The church dates from the year 966.^[5]

At the time of the Domesday Book a thriving community was in place and the village appears to have been the biggest herring fishery in the district, having been assessed for 38,500 herring while Brighton had a mere 4,000.^[4]

Village history is closely linked with the Ouse and Lewes Levels.^[4] In the 11th to 13th centuries drainage of the river allowed more crops to be grown, but subsequent flooding led to more relying on fishing.^[4]

16th century[]

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the manor probably remained in possession of the King and in 1546 one John Kerne was appointed bailiff and collector of the manors of Southease, Telscombe and Heighton.^[3] There was never a manor house in Southease as it was always owned by absentee landlords.^[5]

The manor passed to the Sackville family – it was held by Thomas Sackville, his widow Cicely and their grandson Robert.^[3]

18th century[]

The Lower Ouse Improvement Act of 1791 required the ferry to be replaced with a bridge substantial enough to allow cattle, people and vehicles to pass over while allowing ships to pass.^[4] The original bridge was a wooden cantilever bridge slightly to the north of the current one.^[4] The wooden bridge was demolished in 1879 when it was replaced by the current one.^[4]

19th century[]

The population of the parish declined through the 19th century.^[6] The census recorded a population of 120 in 1841 with the population falling with each census to 66 in 1891.^[6]

The village was part of the Holmstrow hundred until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century.^[7]

20th century[]

During World War II four Type 24 pillboxes were built, roughly at the corners of the village, with a Type 28 pillbox just to the north.^[4] The former were for rifles and light machine guns and the latter was for a 2-pounder anti-tank gun or a 6-pounder Hotchkiss gun.^[4] There was also a Prisoner-of-war camp containing 16 Nissen huts near the northern farm, the concrete bases of which are still visible.^[4] There was also an anti-aircraft gun.^[4]

The body of the writer Virginia Woolf was found on 18 April 1941, at Asham Wharf on the east bank of the Ouse, to the north of the bridge, after her suicide by drowning on March 28.^[8]

The church bells were rehung in 2000.^[5]

21st century[]

Itford Farm, between the railway and A26, became a Youth Hostel in 2013.^[9][10]

Listed buildings[]

Parish Church^[11][]

This is one of three churches in the Ouse valley to have a round 12th century tower - the others are in Lewes and Piddinghoe.^[4] The chancel and nave date from the 11th century and form the nave of the original building, the chancel and transepts having been demolished in the 14th century.^[4] There are remains of mural paintings from 1280 on the north and west walls.^[4] It is a Grade I listed building.^[4] The churchyard is surrounded by mature lime trees and bounded by a flint boundary wall.^[4]

Southease Place^[12][]

This is a 17th-century two-storey house with a tiled hipped roof.^[4][13] The lower floor has been refaced with flints, the upper with stucco.^[4][13] It is a Grade II listed building.^[4][13]

Rock Cottage and Barn Cottage^[14][]

The farmhouse to one of the two original farmsteads in the village is now two cottages, with the division having taken place between 1873 and 1899. Rock Cottage forms the western section of the building and Barn Cottage the eastern.^[15][14]

The earliest phase of the building dates back to the early 16th century, making it one of the oldest remaining dwellings in the village. The central stack and extension to the property eastwards was added in the early 17th century. The original timber frame frontage was faced with brick and hung with tiles in the first half of the 18th century. It is a Grade II listed building.^[4][15]

The cottages stand next to the old southern farmstead, which includes all the traditional 18th century buildings.^[16] The late 18th century threshing barn, on the southern boundary, is the dominant feature in views of the village from the South.^[16] It has recently been granted Grade II listed building status (Oct 2020).^[16]

Thatched Cottage^[17][]

These are two separate cottages that were combined into a larger one.^[4][18] It dates from the 18th century and has a thatched hipped roof.^[4][18] It is a Grade II listed building.^[4][18]

The Rectory^[19][]

This is an L-shaped building with a 16th-century frame that has been stuccoed and a 19th-century addition that has also been stuccoed.^[4][20] A western gable bears the date 1604 and the monogram of John Rivers.^[4][20] It is a Grade II listed building.^[4][20]

Black Lamb House^[21][]

This is an 18th-century two storey house formerly known as "The Rest".^[4] It is a Grade II listed building.^[4]

Southease swing bridge^[22][]

The bridge was built in the 1880s, is the second bridge on the site and though the swing mechanism remains, it has not been opened since 1967.^[23] In September 2009 the bridge was granted Grade II listed building status.^[24] The bridge was closed from 8 June to 26 November 2010 and a scaffold bridge was put in place for walkers and cyclists while the original bridge structure was lifted into the adjacent Environment Agency yard, restored and then replaced.^[25][26] Other traffic had to take a detour for 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).^[27] The wrought iron parts of the bridge were strengthened as it had suffered corrosion and twisting of the supports.^[27] The turntable, deck and supporting timbers were replaced.^[27]

Before bridges spanned the Ouse, the Stock Ferry, several hundred yards down stream of the current bridge, was the usual way of crossing.^[3]

Transport[]

Southease railway station is on the Seaford branch line. Compass Travel runs the 123 bus which stops on the C7 road.^[28][29]

Governance[]

On a local level, Southease parish is governed as a Parish Meeting with twice yearly meetings of the parish electorate.

The next level of government is the district council. The parish of Southease lies within the Kingston ward of Lewes District Council, which returns a single seat to the council. The election on 12 May 2015 elected a Liberal Democrat^[30]

East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Southease is within the Newhaven and Ouse Valley West division, with responsibility for Education, Libraries, Social Services, Civil Registration, Trading Standards and Transport. Elections for the County Council are held every four years. The Liberal Democrat Carla Butler was elected in the 2013 election.^[31]

The UK Parliament constituency for Southease is Lewes. The Liberal Democrat Norman Baker served as the constituency MP from 1997 until 2015, when Conservative Maria Caulfield was elected.

Prior to Brexit in 2020, Southease was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southease.

• Southease village website
• Page of local attractions and a map
• Details about the church at Online Parish Clerks
• South Downs Way page section covering Southease
• Details of church architecture from Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
• Photos of Southease from geograph.org.uk