Ardingly, Sussex

Historical Description

Ardingly, a parish in Sussex, on the L.B. & S.C.R., 36 miles from London, and 3 NE of Cuckfield. It includes the hamlet of Hapsted, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office. Acreage, 3842; population, 1280. Wakehurst Place, a short distance NE of the church, was formerly the seat of the Wakehursts and the Culpeppers. The mansion was built in 1590 by one of the Culpeppers, and is a picturesque structure, stained with lichens. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; value, £466. The church is very old, but has been restored, and contains brasses to the families of Wakehurst and Culpepper. A Congregational chapel was built in 1886. A reading-room is open during the winter, and a recreation ground has been presented by the Marchioness of Downshire and Lord Arthur Hill. The parish contains a great lower middle school, called Ardingly College. The buildings of the college were completed in 1869, are in the First Pointed style, and comprise two quadrangles.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Ardingly from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ardingley, or Erthingley)

Maps

Online maps of Ardingly are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer