Lindfield, West Sussex

Coordinates: 51.0135°N 0.0833°W

Lindfield is a village and civil parish in the

Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, Lindfield
England. The parish lies 1 mile (2 km) to
the north-east of Haywards Heath,[3] and
stands on the upper reaches of the River
Ouse. The name 'Lindfield' means 'open
land with lime trees.'

The parish Church, All Saints, stands at the

top of the High Street and its history goes
back to 1098. One of the oldest houses in
the village is Church House, formerly
known as The Tiger, and still referred to as Lindfield High Street leading to All Saints Church
"The Tiger" by Lindfield residents.

It is classified as an Area of Outstanding

Natural Beauty. Lindfield

The village

Location within West Sussex

Area 2.24 km2 (0.86 sq mi) [1]

Population 5,394 [1] 2001 Census

5,836 (2011 Census)[2]
Village Pond
• Density 2,407/km2 (6,230/sq mi)

The village stands on high ground above the OS grid reference TQ345255
upper reaches of the River Ouse. It is • London 34 miles (55 km) N
situated close to both the natural beauty of
the High Weald and to Haywards Heath Civil parish Lindfield
with its amenities and station on the main
District Mid Sussex
London-Brighton railway line.
Shire county West Sussex
Lindfield has a rich historic and
Region South East
architectural heritage. The ancient High
Street, lined with lime trees, has over forty Country England
medieval and post medieval timber-framed Sovereign state United Kingdom
houses, with many individual shops. At the
bottom of the High Street is a natural Post town HAYWARDS HEATH
spring-fed pond with fish, ducks, and
herons. Beyond lies the Common which, Postcode district RH16
over the centuries, has witnessed many Dialling code 01444
events – fairs, festivals, bonfire celebrations
and sporting activities; cricket has been Police Sussex
played there since 1747.[4] Today, it is still Fire West Sussex
central to village celebrations and leisure Ambulance South East Coast
activities. In addition to the Common there
is Pickers' Green, providing pitches for UK Parliament Mid Sussex
cricket, football, stoolball and a children's
Website http://www.lindfieldparishcouncil.org.uk
play area.

Etymology
The place-name Lindfield is derived from the Old English linden + feld, meaning 'open land where
lime-trees grow'. The name was first recorded in c.765 as Lindefeldia (see 'History' below). The name
was later recorded as Lyndefeld Bardolf in 1327, Linfeld in 1590, and Lindfeild Dorchter in 1675. The
Bardolf family were owners of one of the manors of Lindfield during the 13th and 14th centuries.
'Dorchter' is a corruption of 'd'arches', which was a scribal contraction of 'archiepiscopi', showing
Lindfield to have once belonged to an archbishopric.[5][6]

History
The High Street follows an ancient north–south track that has
existed for thousands of years, long before the Romans built a
major road, the London to Brighton Way, a mile to the west of the
village.

Lindfield first appeared as Lindefeldia, 'open land with lime trees',

in a Saxon charter of 765 AD, in which King Ealdwulf granted
lands for the building of a Minster church, which may be on the
same site as the present All Saints Church, Lindfield.[7]
The Thatched Cottage, with the Old
When the Domesday Book was compiled the lands were held by Place visible behind
the Archbishop of Canterbury.[8]

King Edward III recognised the importance of medieval Lindfield

and in 1343 granted the town a royal charter to hold a market
every Thursday and two annual eight-day fairs. For centuries the
fairs continued each April and August with the summer fair
becoming one of the largest sheep sales in Sussex.[9]

Lindfield was once part of the thriving Wealden iron industry. As

early as 1539, William Levett of Buxted, a county curate with a
thriving sideline in iron and armaments, was recorded as
Interior of All Saints Church,
extracting iron ore at Lindfield. Later the Henslowe family of
Lindfield
Lindfield were actively engaged in the iron milling business in
association with Ralph Hogge, parson Levett's former servant and
later a major ironmaster in his own right.
In 1841 the London-Brighton railway opened, passing to the west of the parish with a 'Station for
Cuckfield and Lindfield Towns' on open land that was to become the town of Haywards Heath. The
construction of the Ouse Valley branch line reached Lindfield in 1866 with a proposed station to the
north of All Saints' Church but the line was abandoned for financial reasons.

Lindfield, a suburb of the Australian city of Sydney, is likely named after the village by landowner
Francis List after his cottage in the area.

Charles Eamer Kempe, a leading church stained glass designer and manufacturer lived at Lindfield
until his death in 1907. Kempe renovated and redecorated an Elizabethan manor house near the
village which he renamed Old Place,[10] from where he entertained clients and professional partners.
Internally the house was appointed to the highest standard of Victorian splendour. After his death in
the 1930s, the house was partitioned into six individual residences, with the main reception rooms
forming part of the new "East Wing".[11]

Nature and the countryside

The Eastern Road Nature Reserve, off Lewes Road, is a 9-acre
(3.6 ha) reserve alongside the Scrase Stream, which provides a
wetland habitat for birds, butterflies and insects.[12] It is situated
on the site of a former sewage treatment plant, and has been
allowed to develop since the plant closed in 1975.[13] The diverse
vegetation supports populations of insects and butterflies, which
together with autumn fruits, attract visiting birds such as warblers,
finches and siskins. Frogs, newts, dragonflies and other aquatic
Lindfield House
insects occupy the wetland areas.[14]

The countryside around Lindfield is part of the High Weald Area of

Outstanding Natural Beauty, which runs through Sussex, Surrey
and Kent. The High Weald is an ancient landscape, characterised
by small fields, woodlands, rolling hills, steep narrow valleys,
heaths and sandstone outcrops, and this type of landscape is rare
in Europe. Nearby is Ashdown Forest, some five miles (8.0 km) to
the northeast of the village.[14]

Footpaths with views across the Ouse valley radiate into the High
Weald from Lindfield. The High Weald Landscape Trail and
Lindfield High St
Sussex Border Path pass close to Lindfield linking with these local
paths.

Sports
Lindfield Football Club was established in 1898 and currently has three senior teams within the Mid-
Sussex Football League, with the first team competing in the Premier Division, the Reserves
competing in 3rd Division as well as a third side playing in the 7th Division. In the 2012–13 season,
Lindfield Reserves won the Mowatt Cup Final as well as the Third team gained promotion from
Division 6 as they finished runner's up. In 2014 the Reserves also won two cups and finished second
in the league, gaining promotion. Last season the First team regained the Montgomery Cup which
they followed up with the season opening Allen Washer Trophy in 2016.
All teams currently play their home games on the Lindfield Common which houses two senior side
pitches and a club house, which is shared with Lindfield Cricket Club who use the green during the
Cricket season. The cricket club also play at Hickman's Lane, which also offers an additional senior
pitch made available by the Mid-Sussex County Council, and at Great Walstead School.[15]

Lindfield Bowls Club[16] is one of the oldest lawn bowling clubs in Sussex (founded in 1903), and is
located close to the cricket club, at the top end of the Common, on the other side of Backwoods Lane.
The club currently has over 120 members and has enjoyed success at county and national levels over
the years. The club competes in the Sussex and Surrey "Border League", the Mid-Sussex League, the
John Spriggs League, the Nellie Mercer League, and the Nicholas Soames League.

Notable residents
Frank Reginald Carey, Royal Air Force ace fighter pilot.
John Bent, English Tory politician.

Gallery

The Old Place, The Thatched

Lindfield Cottage, Lindfield,
Sussex

References
1. "2001 Census: West Sussex – Population by Parish" (https://web.archive.org/web/201106080759
26/http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/communityandliving/census2001/pop_parish_summary.pdf)
(PDF). West Sussex County Council. Archived from the original (http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/co
mmunityandliving/census2001/pop_parish_summary.pdf) (PDF) on 8 June 2011. Retrieved
10 April 2009.
2. "Civil Parish population 2011" (http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKey
Figures.do?a=7&b=11125612&c=Lindfield&d=16&e=62&g=6475020&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&
m=0&r=1&s=1475327196406&enc=1). Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics.
Retrieved 1 October 2016.
3. AA Book of British Villages. Drive Publications Limited. 1980. p. 254. ISBN 9780340254875.
4. Lindfield Cricket Club Website (http://lindfieldcc.intheteam.com)
5. Glover, Judith (1975). The Place-Names of Sussex. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. ISBN 0713452374.
6. Mills, A.D. (1998). A Guide to English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0192800744.
 7. General History of Lindfield (https://lhp1.wordpress.com/general-history/) Retrieved 27 December
2019
8. " 'The Manorial Court Records of South Malling Lindfield and Walsted' " (http://www.felbridge.org.u
k/index.php/publications/manorial-court-records-south-malling-lindfield-and-walsted/). Retrieved
23 April 2018.
9. " 'Lindfield Historic Character Assessment Report ' " (https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/1733/li
ndfield_eus_report_and_maps.pdf) (PDF). pp. 14, 16. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
10. " 'One of the finest High Streets.....' " (http://www.lindfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/Core/LindfieldPC/Us
erFiles/Files/highstreetmap.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 24 September 2009.
11. "An Historic Heating System" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140202180603/http://www.bsw-bs.c
o.uk/latest-news2013/07/an-historic-heating-system/). BWS Building Services. Archived from the
original (http://www.bsw-bs.co.uk/latest-news2013/07/an-historic-heating-system/) on 2 February
2014.
12. "Lindfield, West Sussex" (https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=3184). Britain
Express. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170721032253/https://www.britainexpress.com/
attractions.htm?attraction=3184) from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
13. "A quintessential English summer in Lindfield" (http://www.sussexlife.co.uk/out-about/places/a-qui
ntessential-english-summer-in-lindfield-1-1646385). Sussex Life. 20 February 2013. Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20180607163805/http://www.sussexlife.co.uk/out-about/places/a-quintess
ential-english-summer-in-lindfield-1-1646385) from the original on 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June
2018.
14. "The Village of Lindfield" (http://www.lindfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/Core/LindfieldPC/Pages/The_Vil
lage_of_Lindfield_4.aspx). Lindfield Parish Council. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
15. Lindfield Cricket Club website (http://lindfieldcc.intheteam.com/modules/page/page.aspx?pc=hom
e1) Retrieved 27 February 2014
16. Lindfield Bowls Club website (http://www.lindfieldbowlsclub.co.uk/) Retrieved 13 March 2016

External links
Lindfield Parish Council Official Site (http://www.lindfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/) Retrieved 3
January 2020
Lindfield History Project Group (http://www.lindfieldhistory.org.uk)

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