Kingston near Lewes

Kingston near Lewes

Original Ashcombe Mill
Kingston near Lewes
 Kingston near Lewes shown within East Sussex
Area  5.7 km2 (2.2 sq mi) [1]
Population 831 (2011)[2]
    density  383/sq mi (148/km2)
OS grid referenceTQ394083
    London  45 miles (72 km) N 
DistrictLewes
Shire countyEast Sussex
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town LEWES
Postcode district BN7
Dialling code 01273
Police Sussex
Fire East Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentLewes
WebsiteKingston PC
List of places
UK
England
East Sussex

Coordinates: 50°52′N 0°01′W / 50.86°N 0.02°W / 50.86; -0.02

Kingston near Lewes is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Lewes on the slopes of the South Downs.

Overview

The village is small and situated at the base of the South Downs. Features include the primary school, village hall, riding stables, and the local pub The Juggs, which is housed in a 14th-century cottage and now leased to the Kentish brewer Shepherd Neame. The pub and Juggs Lane (a road used as a public path which runs by it), are named after the fish-carrying baskets used by Brighton fishwives on their way through Kingston to the market at Lewes. The path may still be traversed by foot, but is unsuitable for vehicles (though legal for them), and continues almost to Brighton.

Many of the older houses are in the original village centre, "The Street", a picturesque mixture of cottages and larger farmhouses that leads past St Pancras Church and the village pound, where stray sheep were once kept, to the South Downs Way.

During the 1930s to 1950s, a number of substantial houses were built on Kingston Ridge and in the early 1960s orchard land was developed to form what is known locally as "the estate", family houses that helped serve the establishment of the University of Sussex at that time. During the construction of the estate, a new village green, St. Pancras Green, was built. It features tennis courts and a cricket ground, and in summer supports occasional rounds of the traditional Sussex game of stoolball. The radical reputation of the university influx earned this new green the nickname "Red Square" from some of the more traditional locals.

The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Kingston near Lewes.

Governance

At a local level Kingston is governed by Kingston Parish Council. Its responsibilities include footpaths, playgrounds and minor planning applications. The parish council has seven seats available which were uncontested in the May 2007 election.[3]

The next level of government is the district council. The parish of Kingston lies within the Kingston ward of Lewes District Council, which returns a single seat to the council. The election on 4 May 2007 elected a Liberal Democrat.[4] This ward stretches south to Piddinghoe and had a total population of 2,106 as of the 2011 Census.[5]

East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Kingston 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 David Rogers OBE was elected in the 2005 election.[6]

The UK Parliament constituency for Kingston is Lewes. The Liberal Democrat Norman Baker has been serving as the constituency MP since 1997.

At European level, Kingston is represented by the South-East region, which holds ten seats in the European Parliament. The June 2004 election returned 4 Conservatives, 2 Liberal Democrats, 2 UK Independence, 1 Labour and 1 Green, none of whom live in East Sussex.[7]

Landmarks

Tapsel gate at St Pancras Church, Kingston near Lewes
Rebuilt Ashcombe Mill

References

  1. "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  2. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  3. "Results – Town and Parish Council Elections" (PDF). Lewes District Council. 3 May 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  4. "Election Results". Lewes District Council. 2007-05-04. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
  5. "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  6. "Councillor David Rogers OBE". Find your Councillor. East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
  7. "UK MEPs". UK Office of the European Parliament. Archived from the original on 2007-09-17. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  8. Roberts, William J. (1950). "Tapsel: His gate". Sussex County Magazine. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  9. John Houghton (2000), The Parish Church of St. Pancras. Kingston-Near-Lewes, Kingston Parochial Church Council
  10. "Kingston, Near Lewes". Sussex Mills Group. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  11. "Parishes, Kingston near Lewes". British History Online. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  12. "Natural England - SSSI". English Nature. Retrieved 2008-06-19.

External links

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