Willingdon and Jevington

File:The Village Pump, Willingdon - geograph.org.uk - 43527.jpg

Willingdon is two villages, Upper and Lower Willingdon. The ancient ecclesiastical parish of Willingdon stretched across the north of the town of Eastbourne, reaching the English Channel at Langney Point. The original part of the village is located around the present day ‘Church Street’ and ‘Wish Hill’, as shown on an [https://maps.nls.uk/view/102347779 old map] of the area. The old parish of Willingdon included Hampden Park, now also part of the Eastbourne area. See map here:[http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/SSX/Willingdon/ParishMap.html Parish boundaries]

Willingdon is the name of the village in George Orwell's Animal Farm and the pub in the book is also The Red Lion.

File:The Red Lion pub, Willingdon Village - geograph.org.uk - 43571.jpg

Jevington lies on a minor road between Polegate and Friston. The Jevington Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Andrew and is a Grade I listed building.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1043127|desc=Parish Church of St Andrew, Willingdon and Jevington|grade=I}} It contains Saxon elements (including a tower) as well as many other medieval architectural features, including a 14th-century font. A rare elm cultivar 'Serpentina' grows in the grounds.Johnson, O. (1998). The Sussex Tree Book. Pomegranate Press, {{ISBN|0-9533493-0-6}} The parish takes in the hamlet of Filching and also Wannock.

File:St. Andrew's Church, Jevington, UK - April 2012.jpg

Jevington is a former estate village owned in the nineteenth century by the Duke of Devonshire who used part of it as a training centre for his race-horses.{{Cite journal | last1 = Whiddington | first1 = R. | title = Victor Christian William Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire. 1868-1938 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1939.0016 | journal = Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 2 | issue = 7 | pages = 557–559| year = 1939 | doi-access = free }} In 1896 he sold the estate village and 1,000 acre farm to Charlie Wood, one of the premier jockeys of the late -Victorian period who continued to train horses on the Sussex Downs until 1919.{{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=Josephine Carr |title=Our Honest Charlie Wood |date=2019 |publisher=Mabel Press |location=Jevington |isbn=9781916130104 |pages=236 |url=https://www.mabelpublishing.com}} Race horse training continues at Jevington in the early twenty first century containing the yard of trainer Anna Newton-Smith.{{cite web |last1=Newton Smith |first1=Anna |title=Season Record |url=https://www.racingpost.com/profile/trainer/10700/anna-newton-smith |website=Racing Post |access-date=12 December 2023}}

The village currently contains a four hundred year old pub called the Eight Bells. In the 1970s a local restaurant claimed to be the originator of banoffee pie. Credit for the pie's invention was claimed by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding, owner and head chef, respectively of the former Hungry Monk Restaurant{{cite web |last1=Dowding |first1=Ian |title=The Completely True and Utter Story of Banoffi Pie |url=https://iandowding.co.uk/the-completely-true-and-utter-story-of-banoffi-pie/ |website=Ian Dowding |access-date=7 December 2022}}[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/mar/25/joys-jam-roly-poly-british-pudding "The joys of jam roly-poly, a very British pudding"]. The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2018 They claimed to have created the dessert in 1972, basing it on a San Francisco recipe for "Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie"{{cite web |last1=Dowding |first1=Ian |title=Consultant chef, writer and the inventor of Banoffi Pie. |url=https://iandowding.co.uk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925111050/https://iandowding.co.uk/ |archive-date=September 25, 2022 |website=Ian Dowding |access-date=7 December 2022}}

The restaurant closed in 2012 with the building now forming the Hungry Monk cottages.{{cite web |title=The Hungry Monk: The Sussex restaurant where banoffee pie was invented that is no more |url=https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/whats-on/hungry-monk-sussex-restaurant-banoffee-5014951 |website=Sussex Live |access-date=12 December 2023}}

File:Tapsell gate in the churchyard of St. Andrew's Church, Jevington - geograph.org.uk - 57814.jpg in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church, Jevington]]

File:Wannock sign - geograph.org.uk - 46455.jpg

File:Wannock Glen - geograph.org.uk - 47197.jpg

Wannock below the South Downs between the villages of Polegate and Jevington. It has a village hall, but no church, pub or shops. It has 300 suburban homes, mainly bungalows housing elderly residents. There were once two tea gardens in Wannock which were popular with coach parties visiting from nearby Eastbourne. A dance hall stood on stilts over the local beauty spot of Wannock Glen. Wannock may be a Saxon place name; according to one source, Wannock supposedly contains the element "Wan" from "Woden"Castleden, Rodney. 'The Wilmington Giant: The Quest For a Lost Myth. Turnstone Press, 1983, The University of Michigan. {{ISBN|0-85500-184-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-85500-184-1}}. Length: 208 pages. page 62{{cite journal |first=Frederick Ernest |last=Sawyer |title=S. Wilfrith's Life in Sussex and the Introduction of Christianity |journal=Sussex Archaeological Collections |volume=33 |year=1883 |page=103 |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-285-1/dissemination/pdf/Vol_33_1883/SAC33_Sawyer.pdf |doi=10.5284/1086070 |doi-access=free}} Wannock is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) and in an Napoleonic assessment/inventory of the British south coast defences. There is a manor Wannock Place, two medieval cottages and a cottage which was a watermill. One medieval cottage is called "Stream Cottage", the other medieval cottage is owned by Nigel Waterson, former local MP. The area was once known for its walnut groves and some house gardens still contain walnut trees.

{{redirect|Filching|the crime|Theft}}

File:Filching Manor - geograph.org.uk - 168767.jpg

File:Filching - geograph.org.uk - 168758.jpg

Filching lies at the other end of the Wannock Glen from Wannock along the Polegate to Friston road. It consists of a few houses, Gibby's Tea Gardens, a chalk quarry and a medieval manor house. Filching Manor was built around 1450.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Filching Manor Motor Museum is the home of Blue Bird K3, the last remaining intact Bluebird boat – a Rolls-Royce engined speedboat driven by Sir Malcolm Campbell to take the World Water Speed Record in 1937. This is the only world record boat surviving intact. A long term restoration project is ongoing. The museum also has Bluebird Electric 2 vehicle on display.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Filching Manor is also the site of the annual Jevington Fête, and it houses a public karting track (the Campbell Circuit) in the grounds for arrive-and-drive sessions, and other race events.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

The parish contains Folkington Reservoir, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), although the village of Folkington lies in the neighbouring Long Man parish. Folkington Reservoir is a covered reservoir built within the chalk of the South Downs. Its surrounding area contains a diverse chalk flora including the protected hairy mallow Althaea hirsuta.{{cite web |url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1002742&SiteName=Folkington%20&countyCode=&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea=|title=Natural England – SSSI|access-date=24 May 2008|publisher=English Nature}}

The Polegate Airship Station was in the parish between July 1915 and April 1919.{{Cite web|url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?sectionid=488&articleid=3085392|title=Polegate Airship Station}}

The Labour cabinet minister George Brown lived in the area and when elevated to the peerage became Lord George-Brown of Jevington.

• The Hoo, Willingdon and Jevington
• Willingdon Down, a 67.5-hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest

{{Commons category|Willingdon and Jevington}}

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{{Wealden}}

Category:Civil parishes in East Sussex

Category:Wealden District