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 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. Until 1998 there was a second pub, The Inn at Crowhurst.
