LANDSCAPE AND HERITAGE

Executive Summary

This section briefly summarizes the history and landscape of Washington and examines some of the steps necessary to preserve its character in times when so much has been irreversibly lost in this part of Sussex.

• The Parish encompasses a rich variety of geology and consequent topography. The Chalk, Upper Greensand, Gault Clay and Lower Greensand have been variously exploited over millennia. The consequent landscape, in addition to its visual charm, supports a wide cross-section of flora and fauna.
• Washington Village and its surrounds nestle unspoilt in the lee of the South Downs below the historic Chanctonbury Ring, which is a superb viewpoint over the Weald to the north.
• It incorporates areas of outstanding natural beauty and boasts a wealth of old buildings, many of which are listed.
• The proposed inauguration of the South Downs National Park is awaited with interest, although some boundary issues remain to be resolved.
• Heath Common Ward, located to the north-west of the Parish, was incorporated into the Parish in May 2003. It contrasts with Washington Ward by being more populous and less “concentrated”. It has its own unique and interesting heritage.

1. LANDSCAPE AND HERITAGE

1.1 Introduction: The Setting and the Parish in Early Times

Washington, like so many historic Sussex villages and hamlets, grew up a few hundred yards north of the abrupt chalk escarpment of the South Downs, on the so called ‘spring line’. Chalk is porous and generally lacks available water needed for human habitation; below the chalk, however, is a band of harder rock (Upper Greensand) that gives rise to copious springs and streams. The Upper Greensand forms a slight ridge along which runs The Street, an ancient roadway continuing in the form of a bridleway towards Sullington. To the north of it is a narrow band of dense, sticky Gault Clay. Beyond that in turn - though still only a mile or so from the Downs - is the beginning of the various strata of Lower Greensand, that in West Sussex characteristically forms picturesque, sandy, pine-covered hills and ridges (often quarried, as in Washington). Not much exploited for agriculture in the past, parts of the Lower Greensand attracted extensive development of detached houses in the 20th century, including the whole 'Sanctuary’ and Heath Common area. These parallel geological bands, each with its own characteristic vegetation, end at the northern tip of our parish with the Weald Clay that extends over much of the middle of Sussex. It is typical of Downland parishes to slice through such a range of landscape-zones, each contributing to their remarkable scenic and human variety.

Washington has an ancient history, signs of which are still apparent. The most eye-catching is Chanctonbury Ring, an oval Iron Age hillfort on one of the most prominent hills of the South Downs. It was planted with a crown of beech and other trees in 1760; at that time the prehistoric ridgeway running past it formed part of the main road from Chichester to Lewes. The Romans established a sanctuary with at least two temples in the older hillfort: recent excavations have revealed the remains of a vast number of pigs’ heads that served a ritual purpose at the site (the wild boar seems to have been a local Romano-British emblem). An important East-West Roman road (the ‘Greensand Way', not identified until the 1930s) bisects the parish and still delineates part of its boundary.

The fine terraceway that descends Chanctonbury to the North-West seems to have linked up with the Greensand Way near Upper Chancton, via an old hollow way through The Rough - a small hill which, incredibly, was destroyed with the connivance of WSCC to make a landfill site in the 1990s, though not before rescue archaeology revealed a mid-Stone Age ‘tool factory’, that yielded over 50,000 flint fragments.

Chanctonbury Ring after The Storm of 1987

The name Washington is Anglo-Saxon (= 'Wassa's people's farmstead') and our parish first appears in - probably - its historic shape as an Anglo-Saxon estate, well over 1,000 years ago. Most unusually, two charters (of AD 947 and 963) contain independent, though overlapping, surveys of its boundaries: between them 22 boundary-points are recorded. Two names are recognizable from their modern forms (Ramsdean, Biggen Holt), so others can be guessed, including ‘Dragon’s Lair’, probably for Chanctonbury Ring. A famous hoard of several thousand late Anglo-Saxon coins, doubtless hidden at the time of the Norman conquest, was found west of Upper Chancton in 1866; a Saxon ghost was said to haunt the Ring, searching for the lost treasure. The Washington estate, like many in the Downland area, had extensive 'swine pastures', utilized seasonally, in the sparsely-inhabited Weald around Horsham - an important resource.

The subsequent history of Washington is bound up with two factors: agriculture and communications. Agriculture seemed changeless, but its scope could always be expanded in case of need onto the Downland southwards and common land northwards: it began to prosper when growing population on the coastal plain led to a demand for market gardening. Communications were significant here: Washington has neither river-transport nor a railway (though it nearly got the latter), but standing close to one of the rare ‘wind-gaps’ through the Downs, it was a staging post towards Worthing and environs. Before the A24 (a 19th century turnpike), the chief southbound road went via Highden and through the village by Beggar's Lane beside the church. The three ancient East-West roads - the Downland ridgeway, the Greensand Way and the medieval underhill route along the Upper Greensand ridge - were all ignored when a similar early 19th century turnpike (now the A283) was made from Storrington to Steyning.

For the more recent history of Washington (with its two great houses, Highden and Rowdell), using much oral testimony, The Washington Story (WPC, 2000) by Chris Hare is essential reading (as is The Victorian County History). As for the parish itself, it kept its ancient ‘lozenge-shaped’ form (with minor adjustments) until 1960, when its northern salient, that included much of modern Ashington (formerly common land) was lopped off. In 2003 it acquired small portions of Ashington, Sullington and Thakeham, thereby consolidating the Heath Common area as a ward of the parish and greatly increasing the parish's population. But most of the boundary - including, e.g., the ancient Hamper's Lane and the long trackway from Chanctonbury towards Findon - still follows its Anglo-Saxon lines: traces of its ancient boundary bank can be found.

1.2 The Environmental and Human Heritage

1.2.1 Flora and Fauna

Washington, with its varied zones of landscape, shares the diversity of plant and animal life characteristic of the Downland region.. Though much of the parish is now arable farmland, there is a fine relic of the heathland - that was formerly much more extensive - at Washington Common, mostly owned by the National Trust. The Chanctonbury ridge retains areas of the old chalk Downland turf, now uncommon, that is particularly rich in plant species. There are several old woods, notably Biggen Holt (west of Glaseby Lane, above a dry valley) that was attested over 1000 years ago. The Triangle, at the north end of the old village, is an interesting ‘island’ of 20th century self-generated wilderness, whose tall white poplars are a notable village landmark. Several orchid species (Spotted, Bee, Pyramidal and others) are found on The Triangle and, in great numbers, on the Chanctonbury ridge. The Triangle supports at least 25 bird species, among which the most welcome and uncommon are the nightingales that often visit in May.

There are extensive designated SSSI areas (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) on both sides of the Chanctonbury ridge. The old chalk pits a little further west (with their characteristic flora of juniper, wild roses and orchids) form a Site of Nature Conservancy Interest (SNCI); there is another at the west end of Biggen Holt, and part of another at the western tip of Heath Common. There are many Preservation Orders in force on stands and belts of trees in the northern half of the parish, including (e.g.) along almost all the length of Merrywood Lane.

1.2.2 Buildings

The built environment is equally characteristic of Downland parishes. There are few spectacular buildings, but a wealth of vernacular cottages and farmhouses. Of the old manor-houses only Highden (Windlesham House School) survives, somewhat altered. There is a fine smock windmill of 1826, formerly home to the composer John Ireland, and a parish church (St Mary's) that retains an interesting I5th century tower, despite extensive Victorian rebuilding. St Mary's is a 2* listed building; some 40 buildings in the parish are listed Grade II (mostly old cottages, but including the red telephone kiosk). The centre of the village, including most of The Street and all of School Lane, is a designated Conservation Area. An interesting relic of rural industry is the lime-burning complex, now sadly derelict, standing by the track (once a main road) just above The Bostal. There are a few remains of the 20th century ‘Sanctuary’ utopian settlement on Heath Common.

A timber-framed Washington building (Poplar Cottage, formerly near Lock’s Farm) has been reconstructed at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

1.2.3 Sites and Monuments

The Sites and Monuments Record, compiled and held by West Sussex County Council, lists around 80 historical / archaeological sites (excluding standing buildings) in the parish: tumuli, banks, ditches, tracks etc., of many periods, but also (e.g.) locations of finds of coins, pottery, figurines etc. Some objects have been quite recently destroyed / ploughed out (or in the case of The Rough, dug up to provide half-a-dozen years of landfill); some are unexpected (Second World War pillboxes of uniquedesign).

1.3 The South Downs National Park

The concept of a National Park in, or centred on, the South Downs has long been discussed, and in 2002 the Designation Order for the SDNP was signed. A lengthy Public Inquiry into objections of whatever kind is taking place at the time of writing, and we shall have to await the report and the recommendations of the Inspector before the SDNP is finalized. In any event it is likely to have considerable importance for Washington: the Countryside Agency’s proposed boundary includes well over half the Parish within the Park (everything, save "The Triangle", south of the A283, plus a stretch of land east and west of Upper Chancton). For these areas the SDNP is likely to become the chief Planning Authority. The Parish Council has consistently supported the principle of the SDNP, and is pressing for the additional inclusion within its boundary of Washington Common, Warren Hill, The Triangle and Rock Windmill.

1.4 Rock Common Sand Pits

After their exhaustion, the old sand extraction pits to the east of Rock Mill became a waste disposal landfill site for many years. This operation ceased in 2003 and the capping and restoration of the area are now almost complete.

Tarmac will continue to extract sand from the extensive and very deep pit between Rock Mill and the Village for a few years. Thereafter it is obliged to restore it for amenity use, and plans for this are under discussion with WSCC and other agencies.

It is understood that the owners have objected to the current restoration plan and would like to see this site included in the Local Waste Plan as a landfill site.

1.5 Washington and the Arts

Rock Mill, a prominent and attractive local landmark, was converted into a private house in the first half of the 20^th century and was the final home (1953 -1962) of John Ireland - the important composer who wrote "A Downland Suite" and other Sussex-inspired music.

We are pressing for its inclusion within the South Downs National Park; a long-term goal would be for it to be a museum, in part dedicated to Ireland and his fellow major British composer, Arnold Bax, who lived in Storrington. Clearly such an outcome would depend on adequate funding.

Rudyard Kipling partly located his story They (1904) in Washington, which he describes obliquely (and incorrectly) as "that precise hamlet which stands godmother to the capital of the United States" he refers also, to "that great Down

whose ringed head is a landmark for fifty miles across the low countries" (i.e. Chanctonbury). Hilaire Belloc, in The Four Men (1902), famously claimed that:

The swipes they take in
At the Washington inn
Is the very best beer I know

As for visual artists and photographers, scarcely any who have worked on Sussex themes can have failed to find Chanctonbury a magnet.

1.6 Washington Lime Kilns

The remains of these four lime kilns are located to the south of the Village, just off the track leading from The Bostal past Elbourne House up to Frieslands car park on the South Downs Way.

Lime kilns were extensive throughout Sussex, but frequently operated on a very small scale. Local farmers Thomas and Herbert Floate developed the production and sale of lime from this site into a profitable sideline.

The four kilns survive relatively intact, with their own wagon-loading bay.

1.7 Vera’s Sanctuary

Heath Common presented a very different view in the 1920s. A community of huts, caravans and tents sprung up under the benevolence of Vera Pragnall (daughter of the textile magnate, Sir George Pragnall). She used her inheritance to buy 50 acres of remote Sussex countryside to found her "Sanctuary".

The ideals evaporated and the area changed significantly over the following decades. Nowadays, the original shacks and old railway carriages are all gone – replaced by increasingly modern and desirable residences.

However, Sanctuary Cottage (which was Vera’s home as well as the Community Headquarters) remains, and opposite is the shelter, containing an information board commemorating Vera and her times.