- Firle
Infobox UK place
official_name=Firle
country=England
region=South East England
static_
static_image_caption=The Street, Firle
area_footnotes=cite web |url=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/ |title=East Sussex in Figures |accessdate=2008-04-26 |publisher=East Sussex County Council]
area_total_km2=13.9
population=327 (Parish-2007)
population_density= Pop density mi2 to km2|61|precision=0|abbr=yes
os_grid_reference=TQ494067
latitude=50.84
longitude=0.12
post_town=LEWES
postcode_area=BN
postcode_district=BN8
dial_code=01273
constituency_westminster=Lewes
london_distance=convert|47|mi NNW
shire_district=Lewes
shire_county=East Sussex "For the suburb ofAdelaide ,South Australia , seeFirle, South Australia ."Firle is a village and
civil parish in the Lewes District ofEast Sussex ,England . Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word "fierol" meaning overgrown with oak. [cite web |url=http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Verrill |title=Surname: Verrill |accessdate=2008-09-19 |work=SurnameDB |publisher=Name Origin Research] The original division of East Firle and West Firle still remain, however East Firle is now simply confined to the houses of Heighton Street which lie to the east of the Firle Park. West Firle is now generally referred to as Firle, although West Firle remains its official name. It is located south of theA27 road four miles (9 km) east of Lewes. [cite web |url=http://www.westfirle.com/interest.htm |title=Firle Village |accessdate=2008-09-19 |date=2008-04-11 |publisher=westfirle.com]History of the village
During the reign of
Edward the Confessor (1042–66) Firle was part of the Abbey of Wilton's estate. Following theNorman conquest of England the village and surrounding lands were passed toRobert, Count of Mortain . Half-brother of King William I, Robert was the largest landowner in the country after the monarch. [cite web |url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/landownersm-o.html |title=Landowner M–O |accessdate=2008-07-05 |work=The Domesday Book Online |publisher=domesdaybook.co.uk ] The village is mentioned in theDomesday Book , referred to as 'Ferla'. The value of the village is listed as being £44, [cite web |url=http://www.secretsofthenormaninvasion.com/part60.htm |title=Table of Domesday Values |accessdate=2008-07-05 |publisher=secretsofthenormaninvasion.com ] which was amongst the highest values in the county.The manor house, the site on which Firle Place now stands, was occupied from the early fourteenth century by the 'de Livet' (
Levett ) family, an ancient Sussex gentry family of Norman descent who owned the manor. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=x-MrAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA139&lpg=RA1-PA139&dq=inquisitions+and+assessments+johannis+lyvett+ferles&source=web&ots=M9E2UJIDXM&sig=soR9BEfxfy5CS97-B4FXXTMOKqQ&hl=en Johannis Lyvett, Lord of Firle, 1316, Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids, Great Britain Public Record Office, 1908] ] (The same family would produce founders of Sussex's iron industry, royal courtiers, knights, rectors, an Oxford University dean, a prominent early physician and medical educator, and even a lord mayor of London). [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=NTLj3Y0knlIC&pg=PA437&lpg=PA437&dq=levet+sussex&source=web&ots=F8O5eFjRkZ&sig=aMVxmD68yn4MVDstFckB-0RN7k4 Le Neve's Pedigrees of the Knights] ] An ancient bronze seal found in the 1800s near Eastbourne (now in the collection of the Lewes Castle Museum) shows the coat-of-arms of John Livet, and is believed to have belonged to the first member of the family named lord of Firle in 1316. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=rbAHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=john+livet+lewes&source=web&ots=0bUJBlFNKk&sig=kHqRsi2S4zy1Kv_9sDRLVbY4OEg&hl=en A Handbook for Visitors to East-bourne, George Frederick Chambers, 1868] ] On the bankruptcy oflord of the manor Thomas Levett in 1440, the lordship passed to the Bolney family, whose daughter married William Gage. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=L0oJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=%22john+livet%22&source=web&ots=nOx1cFG2Q9&sig=D-Y92x0O26lMNLTpfLkPYCbpsR0 John Livet's arms] ]The Greengage at Firle
The word
greengage almost certainly derives from one of the Gage family, though there is some confusion over whether it was the Reverend John Gage who is credited with their import from France in the 17th century or William Hall Gage, who is credited with initiating their import into England from France.Notable residents
The writer
Virginia Woolf visited nearby Lewes in December 1910 cite web |url=http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/localandfamilyhistory/localhistory/authors/woolf.htm |title=Virginia Woolf (1882 1941) |accessdate=2008-09-19 |date=2008-07-15 |publisher=East Sussex County Council] and decided to relocate in Firle, where she rented a house and renamed it "Little Talland House". [cite web |url=http://www.virginiawoolfsociety.co.uk/vw_res.firle.htm |title=Virginia Woolf - Firle Village |accessdate=2008-09-19 |last=Wilkinson |first=Sheila M. |date=2001|publisher=Virginia Woolf Society GB] Pointz Hall, a fictional manor from her novel "Between the Acts", is believed to be inspired by Firle Place. Woolf's sister, painter and interior designerVanessa Bell , moved to Firle in 1916 taking residence with her live-in loverDuncan Grant inCharleston Farmhouse , which subsequently became a regular haunt of theBloomsbury Group . Vanessa Bell, her sonQuentin Bell , and Duncan Grant are all buried in the churchyard of St Peter's, Firle.Writer
Katherine Mansfield , who had close ties with the Bloomsbury Group, also lived in Firle for a brief time. Her landlord was economistJohn Maynard Keynes , who moved to Firle in 1925 and died there in 1946. Keynes was cremated and his ashes scattered above the downs of nearby Tilton.Village features
St Peters Church notably contains an alabaster effigy of Sir John Gage wearing his Order of the Garter and lying beside his wife Philippa. It also has a
John Piper stained-glass window in warm colours, depicting Blake's Tree of Life. There are also memorials for those named Bolney, Moreton, Levett, Swaffield and others. The current vicar is The Reverend Peter Owen-Jones."The Ram Inn" is the only remaining one of the village's three original
public house s, that previously all acted as resting stops on theLewes toAlfriston coach road. It used also to be the village court room where the rents for tenants farmers were collected and set.Firle Cricket Club was founded in 1758 and is said to be one of the oldest in the country. Even earlier in 1725 Sir William Hall Gage challenged the Duke of Richmond to a game of cricket, one of the first recorded matches. The club continues to be central to village life and has two teams which both compete in the East Sussex Cricket League. The Firle 1st XI are in ESCL Division 8 and the Firle 2nd XI are in ESCL Division 12. Previously both teams played in the Cuckmere Valley League; 2007 was their first year in the ESCL.
South of the village lie the South Downs and Firle Beacon, which reaches a height of 217 m. The beacon was once a lighting beacon used as part of a warning system during the Spanish Armada. On the site there are also around fifty
bronze age burial barrows. Firle Bonfire Society is first mentioned in 1879 in a diary of the then vicar of Firle, Reverend Crawley. The society forms part of a network of bonfire societies in the Lewes area which serve the purpose both of remembering theGunpowder Plot and of recalling the fate of the Sussex Martyrs. The village holds its celebrations in October before the main event in Lewes. Traditionally the Firle Bonfire Society Pioneers wear Valencian costumes. Other costumes include Spanish Ladies and a Military Contingent. It is customary for the bonfire night to feature the burning of some effigy other than Guy Fawkes; in 2003 they sparked controversy by burning an effigy of a gypsy caravan. [BBC News item, 30 October 2003 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3228833.stm] ]Landmarks
Firle Escarpment is aSite of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the parish which extends into the neighbouring parish ofGlynde and Beddingham . The site is an extensive area of chalkland which hosts a wide range of flora. The rarest of these is the early spider orchid "Ophrys sphegodes ". [cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/sssi/sssi_details.cfm?sssi_id=1000986 |title=Natural England - SSSIs |accessdate=2008-05-25|publisher=English Nature]References
External links
* [http://www.escl.org.uk/ East Sussex Cricket League]
* [http://www.firlebonfire.com Firle Bonfire Society]
* [http://www.charleston.org.uk Charleston Farmhouse]
* [http://www.firleplace.co.uk Firle Place]
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