Chiddingly

Chiddingly is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of the administrative county of East Sussex, within historic Sussex, some five miles (8 km) northwest of Hailsham. The parish is rural in character: it includes the village of Chiddingly and a collection of hamlets: 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 sqmi 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. Like Rome, it is founded upon seven hills: Thunders Hill; Gun Hill; Pick Hill; Stone Hill; Scrapers Hill; Burgh Hill and Holmes Hill, the latter being on the A22 road in the south of the parish. Tributaries of the River Cuckmere flow both north and south of the village.

History
The presence of low-grade iron ore in the local sandstone supported Roman mining and smelting in the area.

The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to Cetelingei: the final -ly of the name shows it to have had Saxon origins. The "Chiddingly Boar", found in 1999, was apparently a silver hat badge of a supporter of Richard III, probably lost or discarded in the 1480s; it is now in the British Museum There is a large number of manorial buildings in the parish, including Chiddingly Place, rebuilt c 1574 Sir John Jefferay, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1577; scattered remnants of its E-shaped wings remain, as the east wing, later called "The Chapel/Chapel Barn" now known as 'Jefferay House', and sections of the main range west of the demolished Great Hall.

Points of interest
Burgh Hill Farm Meadow 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 parish church 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. A Congregational chapel was founded in Chiddingly in 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.

Chiddingly also has a museum and archive. The Farley Farm House gallery features the lives and work of Roland Penrose and Lee Miller and is open for guided tours on pre-determined days.

In 1971 the film director Philip Trevelyan made the documentary film The Moon and the Sledgehammer about the Page family who lived in a wood outside the village and operated two traction engines: an Allchin and a Fowler.