Chiddingly is a village and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the Wealden

Wealden

For the stone, see Wealden GroupWealden is a local government district in East Sussex, England: its name comes from the Weald, the area of high land which occupies the centre of its area.-History:...

 District of East Sussex

East Sussex

East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

, some five miles (8 km) northwest of Hailsham

Hailsham

Hailsham is a civil parish and the largest of the five main towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the town of Hailsham has had a long history of industry and agriculture...

. The parish is rural in character: it includes the village of Chiddingly and a collection of hamlets

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

: the largest of these being Muddles Green and Thunder's Hill; others being Gun Hill, Whitesmith, Golden Cross, Broomham and Upper Dicker. It covers 7 square miles (18.1 km²) of countryside. Of the more than 340 dwellings in the parish, over fifty have the word "Farm" in their postal address.

Geography

The parish is in the Low Weald

Weald

The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...

. Like Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, it is founded upon seven hill

Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...

s: Thunders Hill; Gun Hill; Pick Hill; Stone Hill; Scrapers Hill; Burgh Hill and Holmes Hill, the latter being on the A22 road

A22 road

The A22 is one of the two-digit major roads in the south east of England. It carries traffic from London to Eastbourne on the East Sussex coast...

 in the south of the parish. Tributaries of the River Cuckmere

River Cuckmere

The River Cuckmere rises near Heathfield in East Sussex, England on the southern slopes of the Weald. The name of the river probably comes from an Old English word meaning fast-flowing, since it descends over 100 m in its initial four miles...

 flow both north and south of the village.

History

The presence of low-grade iron ore in the local sandstone

Hastings Beds

The Hastings Beds is a geological formation in southeast England whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.-Ornithischians:-Saurischians:-References:...

 supported Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 and smelting

Smelting

Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...

 in the area.

The Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 refers to Cetelingei: the final -ly of the name shows it to have had Saxon origins. There is a large number of manorial

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 buildings in the parish, including Chiddingly Place.

Points of interest

Burgh Hill Farm Meadow

Burgh Hill Farm Meadow

Burgh Hill Farm Meadow is a 0.95 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, located in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1984 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and is host to an uncommon type of grassland, among other features and species....

 is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the parish. This is a hedgerow-surrounded meadow of an uncommon grassland type.

The Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 at Chiddingly is of unknown date and dedication, but references to it occur from the 13th century. Today the parish is part of a united benefice with the neighbouring parish of East Hoathly

East Hoathly with Halland

East Hoathly with Halland is a civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The parish contains the two villages of East Hoathly and Halland, two miles to the west; it sits astride the A22 road, four miles north-west of Hailsham, although the original sharp bend on that road...

. A Congregational

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 was founded in Chiddingly 1901.

Chiddingly has a primary school.

The annual Chiddingly Festival includes various entertainments around the village. Chiddingly has four public houses: The Six Bells Inn in the village, The Gun Inn, The Golden Cross Inn, and The Inn on the Park at Golden Cross. Chiddingly has a village hall

Village hall

In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...

.

In 1971 the film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 Philip Trevelyan made the documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 The Moon and the Sledgehammer

The Moon and the Sledgehammer

The Moon and the Sledgehammer is a British 1971 cult documentary film directed by Philip Trevelyan and produced by Jimmy Vaughan which documents the eccentric lives of the Page family, consisting of Mr Page, and his adult children Jim, Pete, Nancy and Kath, who live in a forest near Chiddingly,...

about the Page family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

 who lived in a wood

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 outside the village and operated two traction engine

Traction engine

A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

s: an Allchin and a Fowler

John Fowler & Co.

thumb|right|John Fowler & Co. [[steam roller]] of 1923John Fowler & Co Engineers of Leathley Road, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England produced traction engines and ploughing implements and equipment, as well as railway equipment. Fowler also produced the Track Marshall tractor which was a...

.