Editing Rodmell

{{Short description|Village and parish in East Sussex, England}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name            = Rodmell
| country                  = England
| region                   = South East England
| static_image_name        = Rodmell, Iford and Kingston from Itford Hill, Southease - geograph.org.uk - 1118880.jpg
| static_image_caption     = Rodmell, Iford and Kingston from Itford Hill, Southease
| area_footnotes           = -''inc Southease''<ref name=ESiF>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/ |title=East Sussex in Figures |access-date=26 April 2008 |publisher=East Sussex County Council}}</ref>
| area_total_km2           = 11.3
| population               = 527
| population_ref           = (Parish-2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11127993&c=BN7+3DN&d=16&e=62&g=6421134&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1444647017987&enc=1|title=Civil Parish population 2011|access-date=12 October 2015}}</ref>
| population_density       = {{convert|116|/sqmi|/km2|abbr=on}}
| os_grid_reference        = TQ418059
| coordinates              = {{coord|50.83581|0.01340|display=inline,title}}
| post_town                = LEWES
| postcode_area            = BN
| postcode_district        = BN7
| dial_code                = 01273
| constituency_westminster = [[Lewes (UK Parliament constituency)|Lewes]]
| london_distance          = {{convert|46|mi}} [[Boxing the compass|N]]
| shire_district           = [[Lewes]]
| shire_county             = [[East Sussex]]
| website                  = http://www.rodmell.net/
}}
'''Rodmell''' is a small village and [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in the [[Lewes (district)|Lewes District]] of [[East Sussex]], England. It is located three miles (4.8&nbsp;km) south-east of [[Lewes]], on the [[Lewes]] to [[Newhaven, East Sussex|Newhaven]] road and six and a half miles from the City of [[Brighton & Hove]] and is situated by the west banks of the [[River Ouse, Sussex|River Ouse]]. The village is served by [[Southease railway station]], opened in 1906. The [[Prime Meridian]] passes just to the west of the village.

The village name has been variously spelled as ''Ramelle'' or ''Redmelle'' (11th century), ''Redmelde'' (12th century), ''Radmelde'' (13th century) and ''Radmill'' (18th century).<ref name="history-sussex-salzman-v7"/> It most likely derives from Brittonic where ''Rhod'' denotes a wheel and ''Melin'' refers to a Mill, hence mill wheel. A less likely derivation is from Old English ''read *mylde'', "[place with] red soil".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mills|first1=A. D.|title=A Dictionary of English Place-Names|date=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=274}}</ref>
Before the time of the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]] the manor of Rodmell was held by [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold II]].<ref name="history-sussex-salzman-v7">[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56919 Rodmell], A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7, [[L. F. Salzman]] (editor), retrieved 21 April 2009</ref> Rodmell was a significant settlement at the time the [[Domesday Book]] was compiled in 1086, with 153 households.<ref>{{cite web|title=Open Domesday: Rodmell|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ4105/rodmell/|access-date=15 December 2024}}</ref> Between 1091 and 1095 the church was granted to [[Lewes Priory]] by [[William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey]].<ref name="history-sussex-salzman-v7"/> The early [[Norman architecture|Norman]] church is dedicated to [[Saint Peter|St Peter]]. The font is believed to be [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]], predating the building itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lewes.gov.uk/leisure/1499.asp |title=Places to visit |work=Tourism and Travel |publisher=Lewes District Council |access-date=16 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806123424/http://www.lewes.gov.uk/leisure/1499.asp |archive-date=6 August 2008 }}</ref> More recently, [[Monk's House]] was the home of the author [[Virginia Woolf]] for twenty-one years until her suicide in 1941.

The village is bisected by the road from [[Lewes]] to [[Newhaven, East Sussex|Newhaven]] which passes through [[Iford, East Sussex|Iford]]. This road also passes the neighbouring village of [[Southease]].

The village was part of the [[Holmstrow (hundred)|Holmstrow hundred]] until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 11|publisher=[[Office of Public Sector Information|H M Stationery Office]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzkSAAAAYAAJ&q=holmstrow+hundred&pg=PA205|date=1831}}</ref>

==Notable buildings and areas==
{{maplink
|frame=yes
|text=Notable areas around Rodmell
|frame-align=left
|type1=shape-inverse|id1=Q531102|frame-width=250|frame-height=200|frame-coord={{coord|50.8337|0.0032}}|zoom=12|stroke-color1=#AA1205| stroke-opacity1=0.3| stroke-width1=4
|type2=point|coord2={{coord|50.838484|0.017731}}|title2=St Peter's Church|marker2=religious-christian|marker-color2=#FF00FF
|type9=point|coord9={{coord|50|50|19.3|N|0|0|59.2|E}}|title9=Monk's House|marker9=museum
|type3=point|coord3={{coord|50|49|47.5|N|0|0|23|W}}|title3=Breaky Bottom|marker3=farm|marker-color3=#A3A300
|type4=point|coord4={{coord|50|50|26|N|0|0|14|W}}|title4=Northease Manor|marker4=farm|marker-color4=#A3A300
|type5=point|coord5={{coord|50|49|56.5|N|0|0|21.7|E}}|title5=Mill Hill|marker5=triangle|marker-color5=#999999
|type6=point|coord6={{coord|50.84411|0.02231}}|title6=Lewes Brooks|marker6=wetland|marker-color6=#008080
|type7=point|coord7={{coord|50|49|24.0|N|0|1|5.4|W}}|title7=Highdole Hill|marker7=triangle|marker-color7=#999999
|type8=point|coord8={{coord|50|49|29|N|0|0|18|W}}|title8=Fore Hill|marker8=triangle|marker-color8=#999999
}}
Like many of the county's southern parishes, Rodmell, is a long thin parish. From southeast to the northwest, it runs from [[Saltdean]] over the [[South Downs]] to the [[Lewes Brooks]] and as far as the [[River Ouse, Sussex|River Ouse]]. To the north is the [[Iford, East Sussex|Iford]] parish and to the south is [[Southease]].

There are many reasons why the Downland area is special as well. The [[South Downs Way]] crosses the scarp top. West from the track, on the Down between Highdole Hill and Fore Hill, there are many surviving marks from a busy [[Iron Age]] and Roman village. It used to be called ‘Isenden’, a Tolkienesque name, which sounds like it meant ‘Ouse dean’.<ref name=":0" /> Unusually, the long and convoluted dry valley behind the scarp does not drain southwards to the sea, but easterly, then northerly to the Brooks and the Ouse.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bangs|first=Dave|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701098669|title=A freedom to roam Guide to the Brighton Downs : from Shoreham to Newhaven and Beeding to Lewes|date=2008|publisher=David Bangs|isbn=978-0-9548638-1-4|location=Brighton|oclc=701098669}}</ref> There are also many surviving Down pasture sites that deserve to be known better. Michael Light, a worker at South Farm, has written a book/pamphlet with a number of editions recording the birds he has seen in the parish.<ref>Light, M., (2005) "Birds of Rodmell: An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of a Rural Parish in East Sussex England". St. Peter's Church Rodmell England. Third edition.</ref> In 2005 he recorded [[Streptopelia turtur|turtle dove]], [[Western barn owl|barn owl]] and [[little owl]] breeding in the area. He also recorded [[Eurasian dotterel|dotterel]] and [[Western yellow wagtail|yellow wagtail]] on passage on the flooded arable fields.

===St Peter's Church===
{{Main|St Peter's Church, Rodmell}}
[[File:Rodmell,_St_Peter's_Church.jpg|thumb|St Peter's Church|left]]
[[St Peter's Church, Rodmell|St Peter's Church]] is the parish church and dates from the 12th century. It is a Grade I [[listed building]] and unlike many churches it has retained its original features. Consequently it is among the earliest surviving examples of [[Norman architecture]] in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rodmell – St Peter – Sussex Parish Churches|url=https://sussexparishchurches.org/church/rodmell-st-peter/|access-date=2021-12-15|language=en-US}}</ref> 

===Lewes Brooks===
{{Main|Lewes Brooks}}
There is a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] (SSSI) within the parish. [[Lewes Brooks]] is of biological importance and is part of the flood plain of the [[River Ouse, Sussex|River Ouse]]. It provides a habitat for many other invertebrates such as water beetles and snails.<ref>{{cite journal|title=SSSI Citation – Lewes Brooks |publisher=Natural England |url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003002.pdf |access-date=12 October 2008}}</ref>

===Monk's House===
{{Main|Monk's House}}
[[File:Monk's_House,_Rodmell,_UK.jpg|left|thumb|Monk's House]]
Monk's House is 16th-century weatherboarded cottage that is owned by the [[National Trust]]. It lies on the village's eastern boundary with the Lewes Brooks. It was inhabited by members of the [[Bloomsbury Group]], [[Leonard Woolf|Leonard]] and the novelist [[Virginia Woolf]], from 1919 until Leonard's death in 1969.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Monk's House|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/monks-house|access-date=2021-12-15|website=National Trust|language=en}}</ref>

===Northease Manor===
[[File:Northease_Manor_School_-_geograph.org.uk_-_18305.jpg|thumb|Northease Manor School]]
The historic Northease Manor is located between Rodmell and [[Southease]]. Originally a chapelry and then a private house, it has been a private school since the late 1960s. The main building dates from the 17th Century; a large thatched barn known as the "Tudor Hall" and the walls of an adjacent building are significantly older.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56919|British History Online] citing Salzman, L.F., ''Parishes: Rodmell, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7: The rape of Lewes'' (1940), pp. 69–73.</ref>

===Mill Hill===
[[File:Mill_Hill_above_Rodmell_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1866106.jpg|left|thumb|Mill Hill]]
Running west from the Village up the scarp slope is Mill Hill ({{gbmappingsmall|TQ 412 052}}). This landscape is full of impressive viewpoints. Standing on Mill Hill is almost like being on a cliff from which you can see down to Seaford Bay and across to the long shoulder of Southease Hill. Often such steep slopes have been saved from [[intensive farming]] and the agrochemicals that implies, but unfortunately Mill Hill was not spared. Only at its base and along the old drove footpath on its northern edge does the old wildlife survive intact. Now it is well managed though and the herbs and insects are returning. Along the footpath edge you can still find [[bastard toadflax]] and [[horseshoe vetch]]. At the southern end the Northease White Way cuts a substantial bostal and there are two chalk pits by its side. The Down pasture above the Whiteway ({{gbmappingsmall|TQ 405 059}}) is a flowery spot in summer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bangs|first=Dave|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701098669|title=A freedom to roam Guide to the Brighton Downs : from Shoreham to Newhaven and Beeding to Lewes|date=2008|publisher=David Bangs|isbn=978-0-9548638-1-4|location=Brighton|oclc=701098669}}</ref>

===Breaky Bottom===
[[File:Breaky_Bottom_vineyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2135482.jpg|left|thumb|Breaky Bottom vineyard]]
Breaky Bottom is the name of a valley within the parish. It is owned by Peter Hall who created Breaky Bottom [[vineyard]] in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Breaky Bottom|url=https://www.breakybottom.co.uk/|access-date=2021-12-15|website=Breaky Bottom|language=en-GB}}</ref> The vineyard produces a well-known English wine and was a former gold medallist in the Wine Magazine International Wine Challenge.<ref>[http://www.breakybottom.co.uk/mainindex.htm Breaky Bottom Winery website]</ref> The slope to the southwest of the vineyard ({{Gbmappingsmall|TQ 401 050}}) has retained some of its old Down pasture flora. Above it on the spur is a round barrow ({{Gbmappingsmall|TQ 401 049}}).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bangs|first=Dave|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701098669|title=A freedom to roam Guide to the Brighton Downs : from Shoreham to Newhaven and Beeding to Lewes|date=2008|publisher=David Bangs|isbn=978-0-9548638-1-4|location=Brighton|oclc=701098669}}</ref> To the east of farm is [[Access land|Access Land]] which continues north into the [[Iford, East Sussex|Iford]] parish and Whiteway Bottom.

===Highdole Hill===
[[File:Old_sheepfold_between_Highdole_Hill_and_Fore_Hill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1866009.jpg|thumb|Old sheepfold between Highdole Hill and Fore Hill]]
You can walk to Highdole Hill ({{Gbmappingsmall|TQ 397 045}}) up the spine of Telscombe Tye. At the summit you have views of the sea, distant glimpses of the Weald and white cliffs and what strikes many walkers is the silence because, despite its height, the sound of roads do not reach here. 

The lost Romano-British village of Isenden sits on the hill. In the 1930s it was excavated and Roman bronze, iron, tiles, querns, pottery and two bronze coins were found. The huts of the village on the hilltop seem to have been arranged around a banked roadway, with other roadways nearby and many small fields and barrows.  The findings suggested that the village was occupied shortly before the Roman invasion and abandoned in about AD 350. It is now a designated [[scheduled monument]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=Highdole Hill, Romano-British settlement, Telscombe, East Sussex|url=https://ancientmonuments.uk/100485-highdole-hill-romano-british-settlement-telscombe|access-date=2021-12-15|website=Ancient Monuments}}</ref> Unfortunately, modern ploughing has destroyed most of these remains.<ref>Holleyman G.A.,(1936) ‘An early British agricultural village site on Highdole Hill, near Telscombe’ . S.A.C. 77, pages 202-21.</ref> The village remains are now more obvious towards Fore Hill, near the flint-walled sheepfold ({{Gbmappingsmall|TQ 404 043}}). There the pasture has preserved a muddle of field [[Lynchet|lynchets]] and [[Round barrow|round barrows]] there.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bangs|first=Dave|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701098669|title=A freedom to roam Guide to the Brighton Downs : from Shoreham to Newhaven and Beeding to Lewes|date=2008|publisher=David Bangs|isbn=978-0-9548638-1-4|location=Brighton|oclc=701098669}}</ref>
===Fore Hill===
[[File:Greenwich_Meridian_on_Mill_Hill_and_Fore_Hill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2264332.jpg|left|thumb|Greenwich Meridian on Mill Hill and Fore Hill]]
To the east of High Dole is Fore Hill. The [[Greenwich Meridian|Greenwich meridian]] line runs through it. On its steep northern slope ({{Gbmappingsmall|TQ 406 047}}) the chalk grassland is well preserved, with lots of [[Cowslip (European plant)|cowslips]], [[Campanula rotundifolia|harebells]], [[Devil's bit scabious|devil’s-bit scabious]] and [[Round-headed rampion|rampion]]. The steepest bit to the southeast overlooks Cricketing Bottom and many traditional flowers survive including dropwort, thyme and cowslips. [[Melanargia galathea|Marbled white]] and [[common blue]] butterflies enjoy the sunny slopes.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bangs|first=Dave|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701098669|title=A freedom to roam Guide to the Brighton Downs : from Shoreham to Newhaven and Beeding to Lewes|date=2008|publisher=David Bangs|isbn=978-0-9548638-1-4|location=Brighton|oclc=701098669}}</ref>

==Governance==
Rodmell Parish Council has seven councillors. Their responsibilities include footpaths, street lighting, playgrounds and minor planning applications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rodmell.net/sermon/rodmell-parish-council-3/ |title=Rodmell Parish Council |access-date=10 October 2016 |publisher=Rodmell Community Website }}</ref>

The next level of government is the district council. The parish of Rodmell lies within the Kingston ward of [[Lewes District Council]], which returns a single councillor.

East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Rodmell is within the Newhaven and Ouse Valley West division, with responsibility for Education, Libraries, Social Services, Civil Registration, Trading Standards and Transport. Elections for the County Council are held every four years. The [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] Carla Butler was elected in the 2013 election.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/yourcouncil/about/people/councillors/find/newhaven/ |title=Councillor David Rogers OBE |access-date=15 November 2008 |work=Find your Councillor |publisher=East Sussex County Council}}</ref>

The UK Parliament constituency for Rodmell is [[Lewes (UK Parliament constituency)|Lewes]]. The Liberal Democrat [[Norman Baker]] served as the constituency MP from 1997 but the Conservative [[Maria Caulfield]] was elected in 2015. As of July 2024, Liberal Democrat James MacCleary is the MP.

Prior to [[Brexit]] in 2020, the village was part of the [[South East England (European Parliament constituency)|South East England]] constituency in the [[European Parliament]].

== Notable people ==
* The lyrical novelist [[Virginia Woolf]] lived in [[Monk's House]] for twenty-one years until her death. She left the house for the last time on 28 March 1941, took a walk through the local fields, and drowned herself in the nearby [[River Ouse, Sussex|River Ouse]]. Her husband [[Leonard Woolf]] continued to live there until his death in 1969. The house was bought by the [[University of Sussex]] as Virginia's papers had been left to the university. It was acquired and restored by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]].
* The composer [[Benjamin Frankel]] and his wife Anna lived at Rodmell Hill, next door to Leonard Woolf, from 1952 until 1958.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KKNGMreR978C&q=%22Benjamin&pg=PA373 Glendinning, Victoria. ''Leonard Woolf: A Biography'' (2006), p. 373]</ref>
* Captain F. W. Hartman and his wife Dorothy lived at Northease Manor<ref name=BH>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56919 British History: Captain Hartman]</ref> during the 1930s. Captain Hartman was Master of the Southdown Hunt now the [[Southdown and Eridge Hunt]]. As Master of Fox Hounds, he hosted a Hunt Ball at Northease in January 1938 which was reported in ''The Times''. He and his wife were directors of [[Lendrum & Hartman]], sole concessionaires of imported [[Buick]] and [[Cadillac]] cars from America. They supplied [[King Edward VIII]] with a custom-built Buick in 1936, which was transported with him by warship to France on his [[Abdication of Edward VIII|abdication]].<ref>[http://www.gmhistory.chevytalk.org/THE_VANSITTARTS_Lord_and_GN_Van.html GM History: The Vansittarts]</ref>
* The Rev. Henry Goodman, a Nonconformist preacher, who was [[Great Ejection|ejected]] from the church after the 1660 [[Stuart Restoration]]. On 29 May 1670 he went down to Lewes to preach at the request of his friends. "Great caution was used to prevent danger; but some informers slyly mixed with the audience. He preached on Eph. v. 16, "Redeeming the time", whereas they fixed on the words following "because the days are evil". Mr. Goodman, living at a distance, escaped the fine; but unconscionable fines were levied on many of his hearers, and they were levied still more unconscionably."<ref name=BH/>

==In popular culture==

Rodmell was the venue of a local cricket match which was immortalised by [[A. G. Macdonell]] in his humorous novel ''[[England, Their England]]'', in which it was called "Fordenden, Kent".<ref>[http://ds.dial.pipex.com/l.j.hurst/agm_ete.htm L. J. Hurst, 'A.G. Macdonell's ''England, Their England'' (1933) Who was who?', ''The L. J. Hurst Home Pages''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927012726/http://ds.dial.pipex.com/l.j.hurst/agm_ete.htm |date=27 September 2011 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Lewes and Laughton Levels]]

{{Geographic Location 
|title     = '''Nearest parishes'''
|Centre    = Rodmell, East Sussex
|Northwest = [[Iford, East Sussex|Iford]]
|North     = [[Iford, East Sussex|Iford]]
|West       = [[Iford, East Sussex|Iford]]
|East      = [[Glynde and Beddingham|Beddingham]]
|South     = [[Telscombe]]<br>[[Southease]]
|Southwest     = [[Saltdean]]
|Southeast     = [[Southease]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist|28em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Rodmell}}
* [http://www.rodmell.net Village website]

{{Lewes district}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in East Sussex]]
[[Category:Civil parishes in East Sussex]]