Fittleworth
Encyclopedia
Fittleworth is a village and civil parish
in the District of Chichester
in West Sussex
, England
located seven kilometres (3 miles) west from Pulborough
on the A283 road and three miles (5 km) south east from Petworth
. The village has an Anglican church, a primary school and one pub, the Swan. It is within the ancient divisions of the Bury Hundred and the Rape (county subdivision) of Arundel. The village is bounded south by the Rother Navigation .
In the 2001 census the parish covered 1,164 hectares (2,875 acres) and had 405 households with a total population of 931 people, of whom 434 were economically active.
as nephew of mythological hero Sigmund
.
The manor of Fittleworth, in the reign of Edward I, was held by William Dawtrey and subsequently by the Bishopric of Chichester
The Lee and Stanley families were major landowners in Fittleworth through the centuries, as well as the Duke of Norfolk. Also among major property owners were the families of Levett
and Edsaw.
From 1536 The Swan Inn was the coaching-inn, and permitted a change of horses for the royal couriers of the King's Post en route from London to the coast, before the long climb up the South Downs at Bury Hill.
The village was served by Fittleworth railway station
, on a branch line of the now-defunct Midhurst Railways
, from 1889 to 1963.
There are two bridges at Fittleworth, both of stone; one of two arches, the Clappers Bridge, belongs only to the mill stream; the other, of three, spans the River Rother and is sixteenth century, though the piers may be older. The middle span was enlarged in the 1780s to take barge traffic through to Midhurst. When the road was widened in 1967 the Clappers Bridge was rebuilt in entirety. Fittleworth Bridge was partially rebuilt to take a 25' road about twice the previous width.
The Swan Inn on the north side of the Rother Navigation is a coaching inn with a history possible as far back as the late 14th century. The Ancient Order of Froth Blowers (Motto: "Lubrication in Moderation") was founded here in 1924. The guild was created "to foster the noble Art and gentle and healthy Pastime of froth blowing amongst Gentlemen of-leisure and ex-Soldiers. It attracted an extraordinary half a million members in the 1920s and 1930s. Lager beer was ineligible, The Swan Inn rule book stating: "it is unseemly and should be avoided always excepting by Naval Officers visiting German Colonies.". Many Victorian Artists have left paintings on the panelling of the lounge, including George Cole
, Rex Vicat Cole
(who sub-let his nearby cottage Brinkwells to Edward Elgar
in 1917), A.W. Weedon
and Philip Stretton. One of the Visitors' Books contains music and words to 'A Song to the River' by composer Sir Hubert Parry visiting for a boating trip. E.V. Lucas, Lamb's biographer, thought it the most ingeniously-placed inn in the world. "It seems to be at the end of all things. The miles of road that one has travelled apparently have been leading nowhere but the Swan."
Coates Castle in the village of Coates, West Sussex
is a Grade-II mansion about one and half miles south east from the southern boundary of Fittleworth. An area around Coates Castle has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
which contains the entire known remaining British population of the Field Cricket Gryllus campestris
.
lived in the village for over 40 years until his death in 2004.
The composer Edward Elgar
lived in a house called "Brinkwells" near Fittleworth from 1917 to 1921. It was here that he composed his last four major works: the Violin Sonata in E minor
, the String Quartet in E minor
, the Piano Quintet in A minor
and the Cello Concerto in E minor
.
A. B. Simpson rediscovered the tuning of bells, publishing two papers in the Pall Mall Magazine in 1895 and 1896. These two articles revolutionized bell tuning, and allowed for the great growth of carillons and other tower bell instruments that began in the early part of the twentieth century. The first set of bells founded under Simpson's principles, cast by the Taylor foundry in Loughborough, England, now form the basis of the carillon at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
The artist Charles Henry Sims
lived there in the early 20th century.
Sculptor Alan Thornhill
spent his childhood, between 1925 and 1936 here, his family building 'Rotherwood'.
Reginald Rex Vicat Cole
(1870–1940) was an English landscape painter, and founded a School of Painting together with Byam Shaw. The Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art was based in Kensington.
Architect Clough Williams-Ellis
produced designs in 1914 and 1929 for Little Bognor's Maxse family. He also made a design for a Hesworth Common War Memorial.
Bryan Ferry
, the iconic English singer owns the substantial house and grounds called Little Bognor House.
; knowledge of this area may be a clue to his inventiveness.
Author Hugo Donnelly spent a year in Fittleworth in the 1960s as a young waiter at the Swan Inn and his writings are included in the anthology Sussex Seams. References to a resting Explorer - perhaps Carse - and revisting the sites of Elgar's newfound creative inspiration in Fittleworth Woods are accompanied by notes on other famous visitors to stay at the Swan Inn, including Elgar and Rudyard Kipling
, who motored from Rottingdean - 3 hours and noted this in the visitor's book in 1901. Writer Algernon Blackwood
visited Elgar at Brinkwells, and Elgar's wife Alice noted that the slow movement of Elgar's new Violin Sonata
composed at "Brinkwells" seemed to be influenced by the 'wood magic' or genii loci of Fittleworth woods.
Donnelly also refers to the Explorer lending him the book Some West Sussex Superstitions Lingering in 1868 collected by Charlotte Latham from the cottage-people of Fittleworth while she lived at the Old Rectory of St. Mary's Church. The village has a rich tradition of snake lore. As late as 1860 there are sincere accounts of an 'audaciously large' dragon which would rush out of its lair in Fittleworth woods 'with a terrible hissing', to terrorise passing cottage-people.
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 District of Chichester
Chichester (district)
Chichester is a largely rural local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in the city of Chichester.-History:The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Chichester and the Rural Districts of...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
located seven kilometres (3 miles) west from Pulborough
Pulborough
Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north-south A29 and the east-west roads.The village is near the...
on the A283 road and three miles (5 km) south east from Petworth
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
. The village has an Anglican church, a primary school and one pub, the Swan. It is within the ancient divisions of the Bury Hundred and the Rape (county subdivision) of Arundel. The village is bounded south by the Rother Navigation .
In the 2001 census the parish covered 1,164 hectares (2,875 acres) and had 405 households with a total population of 931 people, of whom 434 were economically active.
History
Fittleworth is noted in 1167-8 as Fitelwurda, by 1279 Fyteleworth, 1438 Fetilworth and 1488 Fitelworthe. The Olde English FitelanweorJ translates as " the enclosure of Fitela." A Fitela happens to be mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem BeowulfBeowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
as nephew of mythological hero Sigmund
Sigmund
This article is about the mythological hero Sigmund; for other meanings see: Sigmund .In Norse mythology, Sigmund is a hero whose story is told in the Völsunga saga. He and his sister, Signý, are the children of Völsung and his wife Hljod...
.
The manor of Fittleworth, in the reign of Edward I, was held by William Dawtrey and subsequently by the Bishopric of Chichester
The Lee and Stanley families were major landowners in Fittleworth through the centuries, as well as the Duke of Norfolk. Also among major property owners were the families of Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
and Edsaw.
From 1536 The Swan Inn was the coaching-inn, and permitted a change of horses for the royal couriers of the King's Post en route from London to the coast, before the long climb up the South Downs at Bury Hill.
The village was served by Fittleworth railway station
Fittleworth railway station
Fittleworth railway station served the village of Fittleworth in the county of West Sussex in England. It was on the London Brighton and South Coast Railway's line between Pulborough and Midhurst....
, on a branch line of the now-defunct Midhurst Railways
Midhurst Railways
The Midhurst Railways were three Branch lines which were built to serve the market town of Midhurst in the English county of West Sussex. The three lines radiated from the town; south to Chichester, west to Petersfield, and east to Pulborough....
, from 1889 to 1963.
Landmarks
The Swan Inn on the north side of the Rother Navigation is a coaching inn with a history possible as far back as the late 14th century. The Ancient Order of Froth Blowers (Motto: "Lubrication in Moderation") was founded here in 1924. The guild was created "to foster the noble Art and gentle and healthy Pastime of froth blowing amongst Gentlemen of-leisure and ex-Soldiers. It attracted an extraordinary half a million members in the 1920s and 1930s. Lager beer was ineligible, The Swan Inn rule book stating: "it is unseemly and should be avoided always excepting by Naval Officers visiting German Colonies.". Many Victorian Artists have left paintings on the panelling of the lounge, including George Cole
George Cole
George Edward Cole, OBE is a veteran British film and television actor whose successful career has spanned over 70 years in show business....
, Rex Vicat Cole
Rex Vicat Cole
Reginald Rex Vicat Cole was an English landscape painter, son of the artist George Vicat Cole and Mary Ann Chignell. He was educated at Eton and began to exhibit in London in 1890. In 1900 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. His work to 1906 is extensively reproduced...
(who sub-let his nearby cottage Brinkwells to Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
in 1917), A.W. Weedon
A.W. Weedon
Augustus Walford Weedon was born in 1838 in London. He was a landscape painter in watercolour, and was the auditor of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1887 when James McNeill Whistler was President....
and Philip Stretton. One of the Visitors' Books contains music and words to 'A Song to the River' by composer Sir Hubert Parry visiting for a boating trip. E.V. Lucas, Lamb's biographer, thought it the most ingeniously-placed inn in the world. "It seems to be at the end of all things. The miles of road that one has travelled apparently have been leading nowhere but the Swan."
Coates Castle in the village of Coates, West Sussex
Coates, West Sussex
Coates is a downland village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. Coates lies one mile southwest from Fittleworth and four miles south-east-by-south from Petworth...
is a Grade-II mansion about one and half miles south east from the southern boundary of Fittleworth. An area around Coates Castle has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
which contains the entire known remaining British population of the Field Cricket Gryllus campestris
Gryllus campestris
Gryllus campestris is one of many crickets known as the Field cricket. These insects are dark colored and slightly less than one inch in length. The males range from 19 to 23 mm and the females from 17 to 22 mm....
.
Famous residents
Explorer and broadcaster Duncan CarseDuncan Carse
Duncan Carse was born in 1913 and attended Sherborne School. A British actor and explorer, he died on 2 May 2004, aged 90. He had lived in Fittleworth, West Sussex, for over 40 years. His father was the artist A...
lived in the village for over 40 years until his death in 2004.
The composer Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
lived in a house called "Brinkwells" near Fittleworth from 1917 to 1921. It was here that he composed his last four major works: the Violin Sonata in E minor
Violin Sonata (Elgar)
Sir Edward Elgar wrote his Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82, in 1918, at the same time as he wrote his String Quartet in E minor and his Piano Quintet in A minor...
, the String Quartet in E minor
String Quartet (Elgar)
The String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83, was one of three major chamber music works composed by Sir Edward Elgar in 1918. The others were the Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82, and the Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84. Along with the Cello Concerto in E minor, Op...
, the Piano Quintet in A minor
Piano Quintet (Elgar)
The Quintet in A minor for Piano and String Quartet, Op. 84 is a chamber work by Edward Elgar.He worked on the Quintet and two other major chamber pieces in the summer of 1918 while staying at Brinkwells near Fittleworth in Sussex. W. H...
and the Cello Concerto in E minor
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
.
A. B. Simpson rediscovered the tuning of bells, publishing two papers in the Pall Mall Magazine in 1895 and 1896. These two articles revolutionized bell tuning, and allowed for the great growth of carillons and other tower bell instruments that began in the early part of the twentieth century. The first set of bells founded under Simpson's principles, cast by the Taylor foundry in Loughborough, England, now form the basis of the carillon at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
The artist Charles Henry Sims
Charles Sims (painter)
Charles Henry Sims was a British painter of portraits, landscapes, and decorative paintings...
lived there in the early 20th century.
Sculptor Alan Thornhill
Alan Thornhill
Alan Thornhill is a British artist and sculptor whose long association with clay developed from pottery into sculpture. His evolved methods of working enabled the dispensing of the sculptural armature to allow improvisation, whilst his portraiture challenges notions of normality through rigorous...
spent his childhood, between 1925 and 1936 here, his family building 'Rotherwood'.
Reginald Rex Vicat Cole
Rex Vicat Cole
Reginald Rex Vicat Cole was an English landscape painter, son of the artist George Vicat Cole and Mary Ann Chignell. He was educated at Eton and began to exhibit in London in 1890. In 1900 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. His work to 1906 is extensively reproduced...
(1870–1940) was an English landscape painter, and founded a School of Painting together with Byam Shaw. The Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art was based in Kensington.
Architect Clough Williams-Ellis
Clough Williams-Ellis
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was an English-born Welsh architect known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.-Origins, education and early career:...
produced designs in 1914 and 1929 for Little Bognor's Maxse family. He also made a design for a Hesworth Common War Memorial.
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
, the iconic English singer owns the substantial house and grounds called Little Bognor House.
Cultural references
George ‘Boko’ Fittleworth - Bertie Wooster's friend - was a fictional character of P.G. Wodehouse. Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born near GuildfordGuildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
; knowledge of this area may be a clue to his inventiveness.
Author Hugo Donnelly spent a year in Fittleworth in the 1960s as a young waiter at the Swan Inn and his writings are included in the anthology Sussex Seams. References to a resting Explorer - perhaps Carse - and revisting the sites of Elgar's newfound creative inspiration in Fittleworth Woods are accompanied by notes on other famous visitors to stay at the Swan Inn, including Elgar and Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, who motored from Rottingdean - 3 hours and noted this in the visitor's book in 1901. Writer Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
visited Elgar at Brinkwells, and Elgar's wife Alice noted that the slow movement of Elgar's new Violin Sonata
Violin Sonata (Elgar)
Sir Edward Elgar wrote his Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82, in 1918, at the same time as he wrote his String Quartet in E minor and his Piano Quintet in A minor...
composed at "Brinkwells" seemed to be influenced by the 'wood magic' or genii loci of Fittleworth woods.
Donnelly also refers to the Explorer lending him the book Some West Sussex Superstitions Lingering in 1868 collected by Charlotte Latham from the cottage-people of Fittleworth while she lived at the Old Rectory of St. Mary's Church. The village has a rich tradition of snake lore. As late as 1860 there are sincere accounts of an 'audaciously large' dragon which would rush out of its lair in Fittleworth woods 'with a terrible hissing', to terrorise passing cottage-people.
External links and further reading
- Parish council website
- Fittleworth Railway Station pictures
- Fittleworth - A Time of Change 1895-1916 (2009) Ed. A. Brookfield ISBN 978-0-9564125-0-8 Reuniting the Photographic Albums and Notes of John Smith 1852-1925