Henfield

This article is about a village and civil parish in West Sussex. For the hamlet in Gloucestershire, see Henfield, Gloucestershire.
Henfield

Henfield from the air
Henfield
 Henfield shown within West Sussex
Area  17.35 km2 (6.70 sq mi) [1]
Population 5,012 [1] 2001 Census
    density  289/km2 (750/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTQ215162
    London  40 miles (64 km) N 
Civil parishHenfield
DistrictHorsham
Shire countyWest Sussex
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town HENFIELD
Postcode district BN5
Dialling code 01273
Police Sussex
Fire West Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentArundel and South Downs
WebsiteOfficial Henfield Website
Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
West Sussex

Coordinates: 50°55′59″N 0°16′37″W / 50.933°N 0.277°W / 50.933; -0.277

Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies 33 miles (53 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.

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.[2]

Facilities

Looking north along the High Street

One of the largest village communities in the Horsham district, Henfield has an old and attractive centre.

It has a modern and intensely used village hall just off the High Street, the 13th-century St Peter's church, old inns, a wide and attractive common, and many interesting 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.

Henfield also officially has the oldest Scout group in the country (1st Henfield), dating from 1907.

To the south is Woods Mill, a restored mill, now the headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, its attractions including an extensive nature trail.

Sports facilities

Henfield Leisure Centre at Northcroft has a sports hall and fitness suite. There is a skate park located next to the sports centre where users like to build their own dirt jumps.

The Cat House

The Cat House

The Cat House is at Pinchnose Green, so called because there used to be a tannery nearby and the process of tanning produces unpleasant odours. This house was once owned by George Ward who had a canary. This bird was killed by a cat belonging to the Anglican Canon Nathaniel Woodard who lived at nearby Martyn Lodge. So incensed was Ward that he painted his house with pictures of a cat holding a bird that would be seen by the canon every time he walked past on his way to the church. He also rigged up strings of sea shells to rattle, and a black figure would appear at a small window called the zulu hole when the hapless canon was seen approaching.

History

Henfield was the home of Colonel Henry Bishop, who was appointed Postmaster General by King Charles II in January 166061. 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.

When the British government introduced the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913, local Suffragettes 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.[3]

References

External links

Media related to Henfield at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.