Crowhurst, East Sussex
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Crowhurst is an isolated village situated 5 miles (8km) north-west of Hastings in East Sussex. It has a parish council and is located within the Rother District Council.
[edit] History
The earliest mention of the settlement is in 771, when King Offa of Mercia, gave the Bishop of Selsey a piece of land here; a church was then built by the Bishop. Crowhurst (then called Croghyrst) itself remained the king's land until 1412, although various landowners were given possession of it over that time:
- Robert Count of Eu, after the Norman Conquest of England
- the Fitz-Lambert family, until the 12th century
- Walter de Scotney, given by Richard 1 after the Third Crusade, although Walter forfeited it in 1259, having been found guilty of a crime
- Sir John Pelham, given to him by Henry IV in 1412; Pelham built the present parish church
[edit] The village
The parish church is dedicated to St George. The ruins of the manor house lie to the south of it, although the new owners refuse to allow the public anywhere near them.
Although small and isolated, the village does have a railway station. It was built in 1902 as a junction station for a branch line to Bexhill. The line crossed nearby marshes on a 17-arch viaduct; the line was closed under the so-called "Beeching cuts" in 1964, and the viaduct was demolished in 1969.
The village has a Post Office, which until recently served as a convenience store, though this has since been scaled down to confectionery and postal services, and may soon close down completely. There is a pub, The Plough, which appeared in the 2006 Good Beer Guide. Until 1998 there was a second pub, The Inn at Crowhurst, although this closed down due to declining trade.
