East Grinstead, Sussex

Historical Description

Grinstead, East, a town and a parish in Sussex. The town stands on an eminence near the source of the river Medway, and not far from Ashdown Forest, with a station on the L.B. & S.C.R., 30 miles S by E of London. It has excellent railway facilities to all parts of Susses, Kent, and Surrey. The town is governed by a local board of twelve members, formed in 1884, is well supplied with water, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It is surrounded by fine scenery, is proverbial for salubrity, consists chiefly of one main street, contains many old timbered houses, was once a seat of assizes, is now a seat of petty sessions and county courts; is a borough by prescription, and sent two members to Parliament from the time of Edward II., but was disfranchised by the Act of 1832, and has three banks, two churches, three dissenting chapels, a free grammar school, national schools, a college or hospital, a workhouse, a cottage hospital, several good hotels, three weekly newspapers, and a literary and scientific institute. A market for corn is held every Thursday, a market for cattle on the alternate Thursdays of each month, and fairs for cattle on 21 April and 11 Dec. Many of the inhabitants are employed in two breweries and brick and tile works. The branch railway hither leaves the Brighton main line at Three Bridges station, is 8 miles long, was opened in 1855, and has stations at Rowfant and Grange Road. The church was rebuilt at the close of last century; was twice rebuilt at previous periods; has a lofty pinnacled tower which figures strikingly in distant views, and contains a brass of 1505 and the tomb of Speaker Abbott, the first Lord Colchester; the building was restored in 1874. The proceeds of the sale of the farm left in 1708 by Mr Robert Payne to found a grammar school, are now applied, under a scheme sanctioned by the Charity Commissioners, to giving exhibitions or scholarships to deserving boys or girls of East Grinstead, at schools chosen by the parents and sanctioned by the local governors. Sackville College was founded in 1608 by the second Earl of Dorset; stands on high ground commanding noble views toward Ashdown Forest; forms a quadrangle with apartments for a number of poor unmarried men and women; includes a hall and chapel, and has an endowed income. The workhouse-was built in 1859, and has capacity for 260 inmates. The parish includes the hamlets of Ashurst Wood and Forest RoWy and the manor of Brockhurst. Acreage, 15, 130; population of the civil parish, 7569; of the ecclesiastical, 5116. There are several manors held by Viscount Gage, Lord Amherst, Earl Delawarr, and others. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester; value, £300 with residence. Patron, Lord Sackville.

East Grinstead Parliamentary Division, or Northern Sussex, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons, Population, 52, 525. The division includes the following:- Cuckfield (except the parish of Crawley)-Ardingly, Bal-combe, Bolney, Clayton, Cuckfield, Horsted Reynes, Hurst-pierpoint, Reymer, Lindfield, Slaugham, Twineham, Wivels-field; East Grinstead-East Grinstead, Hartfield, West Hoathly, Withyham, Worth; Uckfield (except the parishes of East Hoathly and Waldron)-Buxted, Fletching, Fram-field, Isfield, Little Horsted, Maresfield, Uckfield.

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 East Grinstead from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Grinsted, East (St. Swithin))

Maps

Online maps of East Grinstead 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