Farming in Sussex, growing food for self-sufficiency and to feed livestock

West Sussex, from the Old English Sūþsēaxe ('South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English Channel coast, and divided for many purposes into the ceremonial counties of West Sussex and East Sussex.

The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an area of 1,991 square kilometres (769 sq mi), West Sussex borders Hampshire to the west, Surrey to the north, and East Sussex to the east. The county town and only city in West Sussex is Chichester, located in the south-west of the county. This was legally formalised with the establishment of West Sussex Council in 1888 but within the ceremonial Sussex. After the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the ceremonial function of the historic county of Sussex was divided into two separate counties, West Sussex and East Sussex. The existing East and West Sussex councils took control respectively, with Mid Sussex and parts of Crawley being transferred to the West Sussex administration from East Sussex. In the 2011 census, West Sussex recorded a population of 806,900.

The county has a long history of human settlement dating back to the Lower Paleolithic era. The Romans conquered West Sussex's indigenous Britons, and incorporated the area as a Roman province. During the Early Middle Ages, the Saxons settled the area, establishing the Kingdom of Sussex in 477, which lasted until c. 827 when the kingdom was annexed by Wessex.

West Sussex has a range of scenery, including wealden, downland and coastal. The highest point of the county is Blackdown, at 280 metres (919 ft). It has a number of stately homes including Goodwood, Petworth House and Uppark, and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half the county is protected countryside, offering walking, cycling and other recreational opportunities.

SETTLEMENTS

Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, near the M23/A23 corridor. The town of Crawley is the largest in the county with an estimated population of 106,600. The coastal settlement of Worthing closely follows with a population of 104,600. The seaside resort of Bognor Regis and market town Horsham are both large towns. Chichester, the county town, has a cathedral and city status, and is situated not far from the border with Hampshire. Other conurbations of a similar size are Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district, Littlehampton in the Arun district, and Lancing, Southwick and Shoreham in the Adur district. Much of the coastal town population is part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation.

Rustington and Southwater are the next largest settlements in the county. There are several more towns in West Sussex, although they are of similar size to other villages. The smaller towns of the county are Arundel, Midhurst, Petworth, Selsey and Steyning. The larger villages are Billingshurst, Copthorne, Crawley Down, Cuckfield, Henfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint, Lindfield, Pulborough and Storrington. The current total population of the county makes up 1.53% of England's population.

HISTORY

the history of human habitation in Sussex goes back to the Old Stone Age. The oldest hominin remains known in Britain were found at Eartham Pit, Boxgrove. Sussex has been occupied since those times and has succumbed to various invasions and migrations throughout its long history. Prehistoric monuments include the Devil's Jumps, a group of Bronze Age burial mounds, and the Iron Age Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring hill forts on the South Downs.

The Roman period saw the building of Fishbourne Roman Palace and rural villas such as Bignor Roman Villa together with a network of roads including Stane Street, the Chichester to Silchester Way and the Sussex Greensand Way. The Romans used the Weald for iron production on an industrial scale.

With its origins in the kingdom of Sussex, the later county of Sussex was traditionally divided into six units known as rapes. By the 16th century, the three western rapes were grouped together informally, having their own separate Quarter Sessions. These were administered by a separate county council from 1888, the county of Sussex being divided for administrative purposes into the administrative counties of East and West Sussex. In 1974, West Sussex was made a single ceremonial county with the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. At the same time a large part of the eastern rape of Lewes (the Mid Sussex district which includes the towns of Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred into West Sussex.

WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county contains 7 district and borough councils (Adur, Arun, Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Worthing), and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils.

West Sussex County Council has 71 councillors; the majority of them being Conservative. There are 46 Conservative councillors, 10 UK Independence Party, 8 Liberal Democrats, 6 Labour Party councillors and 1 Independent councillor. The Chief Executive and his team of Executive Directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of the council.

West Sussex County Council is based at County Hall, Chichester and provides a large range of services including education, social services, fire and rescue, libraries, trading standards, town and country planning, refuse disposal and consumer services.

WEST SUSSEX YOUTH CABINET

The West Sussex Youth Cabinet is a group of local representatives and four UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) representatives, who are elected by young people in West Sussex. The Youth Cabinet represents the views of the young people West Sussex at county level. Elections for the Youth Cabinet and UKYP in West Sussex run every year in March.

PLACES OF INTEREST IN WEST SUSSEX

NATURE AND ZOOS

- Chichester Harbour

- Pagham Harbour – A protected area of wetland that is an important feeding ground for birds.

- RSPB Pulborough Brooks

- Selsey Bill

- South Downs Way – a long distance footpath

- Stansted Park

- St Leonard's Forest

- Tilgate Park

- Wakehurst Place

- Warnham Local Nature Reserve, a 92-acre site with visitor centre

- WWT Arundel (a nature reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust)

- Castles, houses and other buildings

- Arundel Castle

- Barnham Windmill

- Bramber Castle

- Christ's Hospital, an old charitable school notable for its archaic uniforms and picturesque campus.

- Goodwood House and Goodwood Motor Circuit

- High Salvington windmill

- Hurstpierpoint College, a public school, notable for its substantial Sussex flint buildings and large campus.

- Lancing College, a public school, notable for its substantial Sussex sandstone chapel and large campus.

- Seaford College, a public school known for its large campus

- Nymans house and gardens, a National Trust property near Handcross, Haywards Heath

- Petworth House and deer park.

- Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, where Sir Archibald McIndoe carried out reconstructive surgery for burns patients during the Second World War.

- Sackville College, a Jacobean almshouse in East Grinstead

- Shipley Windmill, (no longer open to the public).

- Standen, East Grinstead

- Uppark, a 17th-century mansion high on the South Downs.

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, otherwise called Chichester Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of the bishop was moved from Selsey Abbey. The cathedral has architecture in both the Norman and the Gothic styles, and has been called by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner "the most typical English Cathedral".

The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and St Philip Howard in Arundel is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. Built in French Gothic style and dedicated in 1873 as the Catholic parish church of Arundel, it was not designated a cathedral until the foundation of the diocese in 1965.

Bosham Church is partly of Saxon construction and is shown on the Bayeaux Tapestry as the local church of late Saxon and Danish kings of England. Many other Saxon and early Norman have survived in the county with little alteration including the Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting, an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon church with a Rhenish helm unique in England and St. Nicholas' Church, Worth, a 10th-century church in Worth, Crawley. Some Anglican churches and many of the numerous nonconformist chapels in the county have been converted to residential use. Cittaviveka is a Buddhist monastery in Chithurst.

MUSEUMS

- Worthing Museum & Art Gallery

- Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre

- Manor Cottage

- Steyning Museum

- Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

- Horsham Museum

- Weald and Downland Open Air Museum of historic buildings at Singleton

- Wings Museum, Balcombe

ARTS

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester houses one of the most significant collections of 20th-century British art outside London. It includes a substantial body of early and mid-20th-century work bequeathed by Walter Hussey and many later works donated by Sir Colin St John 'Sandy' Wilson.

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery houses a large collection of Georgian and Victorian costume. The Cass Sculpture Foundation has an outdoor sculpture park at Goodwood.

SUSTAINABILITY - AFFORDABLE HOUSING

There is an almost total lack of affordable housing in Sussex. Sustainability and the 'Blue' or Circular Economy, not being high on the agendas of local authorities. But then we must remember that Margaret Thatcher sold off our social housing, and the Conservative Party have continued to promote the build of expensive housing as investments to launder overseas money. So creating generations of financial slaves.

RARE SURVIVING TIMBER BUILDING - When Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, the dig was not much to look at. A lot of sand and a small entrance, amongst a desert of dunes. But once inside, the small chamber, the Egyptologist realised that the monument was intact. Hence was a treasure trove.

The old Generating Station in Lime Park, at Herstmonceux, is not of outstanding architectural design or construction (except for the use of redwood and extensive architrave). What is astonishing is that it remains extant, where other early electricity stations have been demolished by property developers, or rotted away.

Indeed, many former residents in Lime Park, and two recent newcomers, have not grasped that this is all that is left as evidence of our transition from coal, to electricity. It is believed to be the only example surviving anywhere on the planet of its kind, including load levelling via a giant battery store, comprising roughly half of the building, with substantial shelves where weighty lead-acid batteries were stored in glass containers, to power the whole village of Herstmonceux, and Lime Park estate, overnight.

The Trust that occupies the buildings, needs help to maintain this interesting industrial complex. The buildings have no reasonable or beneficial use, the local authority doing all they can to prevent conservation. Placing manifold obstacles in the way, where they should be helping those interested in restoring the historic asset, to achieve that ideal.

LINKS & REFERENCE

https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/