Harting

Harting
South Harting seen from Harting Down
Harting
Harting shown within West Sussex
Area	32.16 km2 (12.42 sq mi) [1]
Population	1,451 (2011)[2]
• Density	44/km2 (110/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU786215
• London	48 miles (77 km) NE
Civil parish	Harting
District	Chichester
Shire county	West Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PETERSFIELD
Postcode district	GU31
Dialling code	01730
Police	Sussex
Fire	West Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Chichester
Website	Parish Council

Harting is a civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is situated on the northern flank of the South Downs, around 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southeast of Petersfield in Hampshire. It comprises the village of South Harting and the hamlets of East Harting, West Harting and Nyewood.

The area of the parish is 3,216 hectares (7,950 acres). At the 2011 Census, the population was 1,451, an increase from 1,407 at the 2001 Census.^[3]

History

Harting is mentioned in the Domesday Book as the Manor of Hertinges. Apart from three generations of the Earls Montgomery the manor was in the possession of the Crown until 1610 when it was granted to the Caryll family. In 1746 the manor was purchased by the Featherstonhaugh /ˈfænʃɔː/ family, in whose possession it remains.^[4]

Harting Down

The villages are overlooked by Harting Down, a 550-acre (2.2 km²) common owned by the National Trust and part of the Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Rising to 229 metres (751 ft), it offers panoramic views over the Weald to the north, to the English Channel and the Isle of Wight to the south.

Archaeological evidence has suggested that Harting Down was first occupied around 5000 years ago. Neighbouring Beacon Hill is home to a hillfort from the Iron Age, built around 500 BC as an animal enclosure and refuge. In addition, a cross ridge dyke was built around the same time, may have been used to control movement of people and animals along the ridgeway.^[5]

Because of its elevation Beacon Hill, just to the east of Harting Down, hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain, from 1796 to 1816, which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in Portsmouth and Plymouth. This was replaced in 1822 by a semaphore station which operated on a slightly different route until 1847. Bertrand Russell and his wife Dora founded the experimental Beacon Hill School^[6] at Telegraph House, which was their residence in 1927.^[7]

West of Beacon Hill is Tower hill, on top of which is the Vandalian Tower, a folly dating to the 18th century which is in the grounds of Uppark house. It was built to celebrate the founding of the American colony of Vandalia in 1774, though the events of the American Revolution meant that the colony never got off the ground. The tower is in ruins and cannot be entered, but can be seen from outside.

A large portion of the down has never been used for modern intensive farming and is thus an important site representing the chalk grassland that once covered the downs. Plants found on the site include quaking grass and the common spotted orchid. The down supports animals such as adders, skylarks and several species of butterfly.

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name covers this parish and the neighbouring parishes of Elsted and Treyford and Trotton with Chithurst. The ward's population at the 2011 Census was 2,026.^[8]

See also

• Torberry Hill

References

External links

Media related to Harting at Wikimedia Commons