England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Little Horsted St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Little Horsted lies in the eastern portion of central Sussex, within East Sussex' modern county, and located roughly 2 miles south of the small town of Uckfield. Little Horsted sits on the A26 road which connects Uckfield with Lewes. Little Horsted is rather distributed village with no real compact centre to it, rather the settlements is spread across a broad area either side of the A26 with a few properties alongside and gathered near the church. This dispersal is a function of the diverse economy of the parish which sits within the rather infertile Weald. Land-use was almost split into equal thirds with arable, pastures & meadow and woodland forming each portion. Woodland management for coppicing and forestry products was a major part of the economy more so than in many comparable rural communities with more fertile ground. The mixture of land-forms has attracted more modern sports with large areas of the parish dominated by the course of the East Sussex National Golf Club. Modern developments have come & gone from the parish, a railway line linking Uckfield with Lewes has closed and parts now are used as the "Lavender Line", a heritage steam line. Little Horsted is drained westwards for a short distance by the River Uck, then south as that joins the Sussex Ouse for the journey southwards to the English Channel arriving through the port of Newhaven. Little Horsted stands on a low knoll at around 40 metres above the sea, this being the amongst similarly high ground as the highest available until the South Downs are reached many miles south. Little Horsted parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering around 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. The Weald has few entries in Domesday Book but Little Horsted was one of the few, held by Count Robert of Mortain it offered merely 8 ploughs but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Michael's church sits east of the A26 almost on the highest point of the little knoll and accessed along a narrow lane which also serves the village school. Whilst the ashlar western tower is the church's main attraction it is not the oldest features within the building. That honour falls to the rather obscure chancel, lower than its adjoining nave and seemingly hiding away. The chancel is from the very earliest incarnation of this church, from the 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style. Other windows from the church show the 13th century styling of the Early English Gothic but whilst architecturally correct in their deployment of that style, Pevsner believes them to be an added artifact of Victorian restorations. The interesting western tower, however, is medieval but from the later Perpendicular period indicating a period of rebuild during that great church-building era and from the 15th century. A thorough restoration of 1863 saw not only the replacement of many windows but also replaced the chancel arch, the northern doorway and southern recess as well as a thorough restoration of everything else. Whilst the lane passing the church is narrow the verge opposite the gates is well-worn by folk parking. Sadly for the photographer the church sits uncomfortably close to the southern edge of the churchyard which is well supplied with trees and thus is a tricky subject especially on a sunny day.