Ditchling Village - Drone Flight

Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling.

An artistic community founded by the artist Eric Gill during the early 20th century, and known as The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic] survived until 1989.

The village lies at the foot of the South Downs in East Sussex, but very close to the border with West Sussex. The settlement stands around a crossroads with Brighton to the south, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath to the north, Keymer and Hassocks to the west, and Lewes to the east, and is built on a slight spur of land between the Downs to the south and Lodge Hill to the north. Ditchling Beacon, one of the highest points on the South Downs, overlooks the village.

Ditchling Common, north of the village, is the source of the eastern River Adur which meets with the western River Adur near Henfield and flows on to the English Channel at Shoreham-by-Sea.

In Saxon times, the people of Dicul settled here and King Alfred the Great held lands as a Royal Manor.

It is unknown exactly when the people of Dicul settled in the village, but Ditchling is first recorded in 765 as Dicelinga in a grant by King Alduuf of land bordering that of Ditchling. Later it is recorded that the Manor and its lands were held by King Alfred. When Alfred died in the year 900 it was given to a kinsmen named Osferth, and then reverted to the Crown under Edward the Confessor. After the Norman conquest, the land was held by William de Warenne. The Domesday book mentions a church and a mill in Ditchling and the population was approx 150 households. In 1095 there is mention of a manor house, what is now Wings Place. The land passed through several hands until in 1435 it was owned by the Marquess of Abergavenny who held it until the 20th century, when it was sold to developers who failed to get planning permission to build.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the Old Meeting House in Ditchling was an important centre for Baptists from the wider area, whose records and memorandum books allow a unique insight into a small rural religious community of the period. These records (in the East Sussex Record Office) bear witness to often fractious and heated debates about morality and religion.

In January 2007, Ditchling featured in a five piece BBC Documentary entitled Storyville: A Very English Village. This was filmed, produced and directed by a Ditchling resident, but the series itself came under criticism from local residents.[citation needed]

There are two public houses, The Bull and The White Horse and the café/eatery Ditchling Tea Rooms (previously known as Dolly's Pantry). It has a few shops. Ditchling has community groups and societies, including the Ditchling Film Society and the Ditchling Singers.

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