ALBOURNE
ALBOURNE (fn. 1) lies on the west side of the London-
Brighton road two miles (3.2 km.) north of the South
Downs, and forms a salient of Bramber rape into
Lewes rape. In 1881 it had 1,763 a., and in 1971 the
area was given as 713 ha. (fn. 2) In 1985 some land was
gained from Woodmancote. (fn. 3) Albourne was in West
Sussex from 1889, but in 1908 was transferred to
East Sussex, (fn. 4) being returned to West Sussex in 1974.
The ancient parish was roughly rectangular in shape,
c. 2½ miles (4 km.) from north to south and 1¼ miles
(2 km.) from east to west. The western boundary had
an irregular outline near Wick Farmhouse, through
the dining room of which it ran; (fn. 5) Wick manor was
apparently said to be in Albourne in 1267, (fn. 6) but seems
always thereafter to have been described as in Woodmancote. After 1985 the whole farmhouse lay in Albourne. Much of the eastern boundary followed the modern London-Brighton road.
Albourne and Woodmancote c.1875
The southern half of the parish, (fn. 7) lying on the
Gault clay and Lower Greensand outcrops, is rolling
country with steep-sided valleys, rising to over
150 ft. near the southern boundary, and dominated
by Wolstonbury Hill on the south-east horizon. The
Lower Greensand, which is capped by thin spreads
of plateau gravel, forms two ridges, one of which
carries Albourne Place and Bishops Place, the two
chief manor houses of the parish, while the other
gives the site for the modern village at Albourne
Street, as it does for the village of Hurstpierpoint
further east. The northern half of the parish, on
Weald clay, is flatter and lies mostly below 100 ft.
The parish drains northwards and westwards to
the river Adur. The chief stream runs roughly east-
west between the two Lower Greensand ridges. It
seems likely to be the 'alder stream' from which the
parish derives its name, (fn. 8) and was certainly the
Albourne brook in which trout were caught in 1715; (fn. 9)
it may also be the Spertbrook river mentioned in
1650. (fn. 10) It was called Cutlers brook in 1758 and
later. (fn. 11) In 1875 it was said to overflow periodically,
when it prevented many parishioners from attending
church. (fn. 12) Tenants evidently of Bishopshurst manor
in 1737 had the right to take water from a spring
south-west of Albourne Street beside the cottage
called Spring Cottage; (fn. 13) by 1976 the spring had been
enclosed in a brick structure. (fn. 14) The soil of the parish
was said in 1830 to be more productive than was
usual in the Weald. (fn. 15) In 1984 land use was divided
nearly equally between pasture and arable. (fn. 16)
Shooting in woods at Albourne and at Wick (in
Woodmancote) was mentioned in 1714-15. (fn. 17) The
Albourne woods were presumably in the south,
where most woodland lay later. (fn. 18) In 1838 there were
120 a. of woods in Albourne. (fn. 19)
A park at Albourne manor was mentioned in
1502; (fn. 20) in 1578 (fn. 21) and apparently earlier (fn. 22) it was
leased. It still seems to have existed as a park in the
17th century, (fn. 23) but by 1743 had been thrown into
Albourne Place farm. (fn. 24) The park seems to have surrounded Albourne Place on all sides, extending
northwards as far as Northpark Farm; (fn. 25) land called
North parks formed part of Albourne Place farm in
1779. (fn. 26) A serpentine fish pond lay north of the house
c. 1840; (fn. 27) by 1875 it had been divided into three
linked ponds. (fn. 28) There was still parkland all round
Albourne Place in the 1870s, but by 1909 its extent
had been reduced, (fn. 29) and by the mid 20th century the
park had gone. (fn. 30)
Albourne church lies in the centre of the parish,
on a road running north-south which seems to be
old, (fn. 31) and near the alder stream which gave the
parish its name. (fn. 32) There is no evidence, however, for
a nucleated settlement near it in the Middle Ages,
and the manor house and Albourne Place farm are
¼ to ½ mile to the south-west. In 1679 there were two
houses by the church, the rectory to the south-west,
and a house to the west (fn. 33) which survived in 1850,
when there was also a house north of the church. (fn. 34)
The house to the west had gone by 1875. (fn. 35) In 1984
there were only the former rectory and a house
north-east of the church. Traces of other houses are
said to have been found along the road south of the
former rectory. (fn. 36)
The modern village lies ½ mile north-east of the
church near the eastern parish boundary. The name
Albourne Street was used in 1594, apparently to
describe what was later the village street; it was
called the village street of Albourne in 1619. (fn. 37) The
fact that that street lies parallel to the then existing
main road, the modern London-Brighton road, and
the regular layout of houses and plots there, all of
which in 1681 apparently belonged to tenants of
Bishopshurst manor, (fn. 38) suggests the possibility that
Albourne was a planned settlement laid out by the
lord of Bishopshurst. There were c. 13 houses in
1681, (fn. 39) and in 1984 several buildings of the 17th
century or earlier survived in the Street, which forms
a hollow-way at its southern end. A notable example
is Gallops on the east side, whose low north range
may incorporate part of the timber frame of a late
medieval hall house. The south cross wing is 17thcentury, and is contemporary with a rebuilding of
the north range, in which some earlier features,
notably a dais beam, were incorporated. The former
entrance door has the date 1661 formed in nails, together with the initials E.K., presumably for Edward
Kempe, a mid 17th-century tenant of Bishopshurst. (fn. 40)
There is much red brick herringbone infill, and some
sandstone. The house was restored by W. H. Godfrey c. 1935, when 17th-century figured paintings,
perhaps representing the story of the Prodigal Son,
were discovered on the parlour wall plaster; they
were transferred to Barbican House Museum,
Lewes, where they remained in 1986. (fn. 41) Bounty
Cottage and Souches on the west side are 16thcentury in origin. Bounty Cottage was a four-bayed
house whose two central bays, one long and one
short, were for a hall and smoke bay. A plain crownpost roof survives over all but the north end. A
chimney was inserted into the smoke bay perhaps in
1713, (fn. 42) and the house has also been extended at both
ends and at the back. Souches, of five bays, had a
central hall of one and a half bays and a smoke bay.
In the later 16th century or earlier 17th a brick
chimneystack was built in the smoke bay and a
further bay was added on the north. Manor Cottage,
south-east of the village on the London-Brighton
road, was a small four-bayed building perhaps of the
14th century, containing a two-bayed hall with a
central truss consisting of large arched braces, a
sharply cambered collar beam, and a diminutive
crown post; there was a two-storeyed bay at each
end. The house was last inhabited c. 1937, and was
used in 1956 as a nurseryman's store; (fn. 43) it was later
demolished. Yew Tree House at the south end of the
village was built c. 1830.
Around Albourne Green 300 yd. north of Albourne Street there were three or four houses in
1681 (fn. 44) and six or seven in the mid 19th century. (fn. 45)
Goldsmiths, on the east side of the former green, is
a 15th-century house of four-bayed plan, the two
central bays being an open hall with crown-post
roof. One hall bay was later made into a smoke bay,
and perhaps c. 1600 a brick chimneystack was inserted in it, and an upper floor put into the hall.
Inholmes Cottage, on the north side of the green, is
probably 17th-century, and like Goldsmiths is faced
with brick.
Further houses were built around Albourne Street
and Albourne Green in the later 19th century and
the 20th, including estates of privately owned and
council houses. The two settlements thus by the mid
20th century became a single one, which in 1984 was
still secluded despite its nearness to the London-
Brighton road.
There has been much scattered settlement in the
parish besides. Gardenland Farm and Holland were
settlement sites in the 13th century; (fn. 46) Gardenland
farmhouse remained in 1984, when it was called
Priestfield Farm, but Holland had then been demolished. Albourne Place Farm is a timber-framed
house, probably of the 17th century, with 19th- and
20th-century alterations. At least one house stood
beside the modern London-Brighton road in 1679, (fn. 47)
and by c. 1840 there were three or four, including the
King's Head inn, on the Albourne side of the road,
besides others on the Hurstpierpoint side. (fn. 48) Land
fronting the Brighton road was offered for sale for
building in 1899. (fn. 49) There was ribbon development
along other roads by 1813, (fn. 50) which continued in the
later 19th and 20th centuries. (fn. 51) A terrace of four
brick cottages was built c. 1925 at High Cross in the
north-west corner of the parish for workers on Reeds
farm, (fn. 52) and two small groups of council houss were
put up nearby in 1933. (fn. 53) Two larger houses were
built on isolated sites in the 19th century: Lanehurst, on a low ridge in the north-west corner of the
parish, an early 19th-century stuccoed building,
which had a small park by 1896; and Clifton Down,
built south of High Cross before 1896 (fn. 54) and replaced in 1918 (fn. 55) by the house called Woodpeckers in
1984, which has 'half-timbering' and hung tiles.
Thirty-five persons were taxed in Albourne in
1327, 24 in 1332, (fn. 56) and 33 in 1524. (fn. 57) There were c.
80 communicants in 1603 (fn. 58) and 100 adults in 1676; (fn. 59)
33 adult male parishioners took the protestation in
1642. (fn. 60) In 1724 there were 25 families. (fn. 61) The population rose from 253 in 1801 to 395 in 1841, afterwards
falling to 277 in 1901. A rapid and unexplained rise
to 369 in 1911 was followed by another fall, after
which the population rose steadily from 319 in 1921
to 637 in 1971. In 1981 it was 541. (fn. 62)
The Roman Greensand Way crossed the south
end of the parish, traces of its agger being visible east
of Shaves Farm. (fn. 63) The medieval east-west road from
Hurstpierpoint to Henfield (fn. 64) passed through the
parish further north; its route is not certain, though
Church Lane was called the road from Hurstpierpoint to Albourne church in 1615. (fn. 65) The road from
High Cross in the north-west to Sayers Common in
Hurstpierpoint existed by 1681, (fn. 66) and that from
High Cross to Albourne Green by 1724. The place
name High Cross was recorded in 1724, (fn. 67) but the
crossroads apparently alluded to does not lie on high
ground. The High Cross to Albourne Green road
was a turnpike between 1777 and 1868. (fn. 68) Hog Lane,
named in 1620, (fn. 69) survived in 1984 as a footpath
leading west from Albourne Street.
The north-south road which forms part of the
western boundary of the parish was described as the
Bolney-Poynings road in 1768. (fn. 70) The section south
of High Cross was turnpiked in 1777 (fn. 71) and the northern continuation in 1798; (fn. 72) both sections were disturnpiked in 1876. (fn. 73) Much of the eastern boundary
of the parish follows the modern London-Brighton
road, of which that section is therefore old. It was
called the road from Newtimber to Sayers Common
c. 1680. (fn. 74) The road was a turnpike between 1808 and
1880. (fn. 75) The section which bounds the parish was
widened in the early 1930s. (fn. 76) A third north-south
road was that past the church, which seems also to
be old. (fn. 77) It was called Copyhold Lane in the 18th
century (fn. 78) and in 1984.
The road through the southern tip of the parish
from Muddleswood in Newtimber on the London-
Brighton road towards Woodmancote was a turnpike
from 1834, part being of new construction. (fn. 79)
There were three carriers to Brighton in 1903 and
1922. Motor buses ran to Brighton daily by 1927, (fn. 80)
and in the early 1960s there were daily services to
Lewes and Haywards Heath as well. (fn. 81)
The King's Head inn existed by 1825. (fn. 82) The
original building, with two polygonal bay windows
in its faôade, fronted directly on the London-
Brighton road. (fn. 83) It was replaced in the 1930s by a
new building set back from the road, in modernistic
style, and with canted wings and a copper dome. (fn. 84)
An iron reading room at Albourne Green was
built by the Borrer family before 1909, (fn. 85) and survived in 1984 as a house. A building east of the
Street belonging to Sidney Hole of Inholmes Farm
was used as a village hall between c. 1925 (fn. 86) and 1977;
in the latter year a new village hall was built nearby, (fn. 87) with a recreation ground to the east. There was
a cricket ground south of Albourne Street c. 1955. (fn. 88)
In 1959 the village cricket club amalgamated with
that at Sayers Common in Hurstpierpoint, where
matches were later played. (fn. 89)
Water was supplied to part of the parish from the
Burgess Hill waterworks by 1909. (fn. 90)
James Starley (1831-81), inventor of the differential gearing used in bicycles, was born at Albourne. (fn. 91)