Kingston near Lewes

Infobox UK place
official_name=Kingston near Lewes
country=England
region=South East England
static_

static_image_caption=
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 = 5.7
population=843 (2007)
population_density= Pop density mi2 to km2|383|precision=0|abbr=yes
os_grid_reference=TQ394083
latitude=50.86
longitude=-0.02
post_town=LEWES
postcode_area=BN
postcode_district=BN7
dial_code=01273
constituency_westminster=Lewes
london_distance=convert|45|mi N
shire_district=Lewes
shire_county=East Sussex
website=http://www.kingston-lewes-pc.gov.uk/

Kingston near Lewes is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Lewes on the slopes of the South Downs.

The Norman parish church is dedicated to St. Pancras and has a distinctive Tapsel gate, with a central pivot which locals believe was designed to make it easy for funeral bearers to pass either side. [cite web |url=http://scm.pastfinders.org/scm_24_tapsel.htm |title=Tapsel: His gate |accessdate=2008-09-21 |last=Roberts |first=William J. |date=1950|work=Sussex County Magazine |publisher=]

The village is small and situated in the lee of a hill of the South Downs. Features include the primary school, village hall, riding stables, and the local pub "The Juggs", which is housed in two 14th-century cottages and now owned by Kentish brewer Shepherd Neame. The pub and Juggs Lane (a road used as a public path which runs by it), are named after the fish-carrying baskets used by Newhaven fishwives on their way through Kingston to the market at Lewes. The path may still be traversed by foot, but is unsuitable for vehicles (though legal for them), and continues almost to Brighton.

Many of the older houses are in the original village centre, "The Street", a picturesque mixture of cottages and larger farmhouses that leads past St Pancras Church and the village pound, where stray sheep were once kept, to the South Downs Way.

During the 1930s to 1950s, a number of substantial houses were built on Kingston Ridge and in the early 1960s orchard land was developed to form what is known locally as "the estate", family houses that helped serve the establishment of the University of Sussex at that time. During the construction of the estate, a new village green, St. Pancras Green, was built. It features tennis courts and a cricket ground, and in summer supports occasional rounds of the traditional Sussex game of stoolball. The radical reputation of the university influx earned this new green the nickname "Red Square" from some of the more traditional locals.

Landmarks

Castle Hill, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, lies within the parish. The site, which extends into the Brighton district, is listed as of biological interest because of its habitat of chalk grassland. Early spider-orchid and the wart-biter (a bush cricket) are two nationally rare species that are found here. [cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/sssi/sssi_details.cfm?sssi_id=1004468 |title=Natural England - SSSI |accessdate=2008-06-19|publisher=English Nature]

References

External links

* [http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Kingston/KingstonStPancras2004.htm Photos of Kingston church]
* [http://www.iford-kingston.e-sussex.sch.uk/ Iford-Kingston Primary School]