Herstmonceux, Sussex

Historical Description

Herstmonceaux or Hurstmonceaux, a village and a parish in Sussex. The village stands 3½ miles NE of Hailsham station on the L.B. & S.C.R., 5½ N by W of Pevensey Bay, and 8 WSW of Battle. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Hailsham. The parish is scattered, and consists of several hamlets, the principal of which is Gardner Street. It comprises 6507 acres; population of the civil parish, 1454; of the ecclesiastical, 1152. The manor belonged anciently to a family who came from Monceaux in France; passed to the De Fiennes, one of whom was at Agincourt; descended from them to the Lords Dacre, who held it till 1708; and has passed since that time through many hands, chiefly the allied families of Hare and Naylor. Herstmonceaux Castle was built in the time of Henry VI.. by Sir Roger de Fiennes; is a brick edifice, the largest and oldest baronial mansion of that material in England; became much decayed about 1777, and was then gutted to supply materials for Herstmonceaux Place; is still, in its mere shell, a very interesting" specimen of the fortified mansion of the later feudal tunes; retains flanking towers 84 feet high, capped by watch turrets; measures 206 feet along the grand front, and 214 along the sides; comprises one large court and two small courts; and was surrounded by a moat which, expanded on one side into a large pond. A row of very ancient Spanish chestnuts is beyond the moat, and possibly shadowed the walls of a manor house which preceded the castle. There is a trug-basket manufactory. Lime Park and Herstmonceux Place are chief residences. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £500 with. residence. The church is mainly Early English, stands on high ground commanding a distant view of Beachy Head, and contains a splendid monument of the Dacres, two recumbent figures under a richly-worked canopy, a fine brass of 1405, and a monument to the mother and family of Archdeacon Hare. A great yew tree with a cluster of tomb crosses under it is in the churchyard. Archdeacon Hare, who died in 1855, was rector, and John Sterling, biographies of whom were written by him and by Carlyle, was his first curate.

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 Herstmonceux from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Herstmonceaux (All Saints))

Maps

Online maps of Herstmonceux 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