Hellingly, (East Sussex)

OPC for Hellingly is : David Packham

Email: David Packham.

Parish picture

Hellingly is a small village just off the A267, consisting only of the church and a few dwellings; the north side of the church yard is surrounded by very picturesque cottages.

Parish picture

The church, dedicated to St Peter & St Paul, started in 1190 has been built on the only remaining undamaged ciric in Sussex. A ciric is a circular Celtic burial ground, raised above ground level, to keep the dead dry. The circular form is believed to be the Celtic symbol of immortality. The mound at Hellingly is not now circular, but oval as some more land was given to the church in the 12th century.

The original wall surrounding the ciric was built during the 13th century, as the Bishops at the time required a churchyard to be surrounded by a wall, ditch or hedge. The wall has been replaced and the current wall was built fairly recently. The churchyard contains a number of Terracotta enhanced grave stones, created by Jonathan Harmer of Heathfield, in the early 1800's

Parish picture

During the reign of Queen Mary in June 1557 Hellingly's Vicar, John Mills, was burned at the stake in Lewes for his Protestant beliefs.

In 1897, 400 acres of land were sold by the Earl of Chichester to Sussex Council, to be turned into Hellingly Asylum the East Sussex County Mental Hospital - which is now closed and in 2004 was largely derelict.

Hellingly includes the settlement of Horsebridge where is situated a large former mill, which, following a fire between 1908 and 1910, was rebuilt as a roller mill which functioned until 1969.

Other Hellingly parishes:

Upper Dicker.

Places of worship:

Church details, together with baptism, marriage, monumental inscription & burial records can be accessed by clicking on the church name.

Hellingly Cemetery

St Luke, (Hellingly Asylum Chapel)

St Peter & St Paul

Census returns:

The OPC Database has no census returns for people residing in this parish yet.

People born in this parish but residing elsewhere:

17 individuals in the OPC Database for the 1851 census.

16 individuals in the OPC Database for the 1861 census.

2 individuals in the OPC Database for the 1871 census.

5 individuals in the OPC Database for the 1891 census.

1 individual in the OPC Database for the 1901 census.

1851 look up service offered

Maps:

Grid reference: 558500, 112500 ~ View on: Google Maps, Open Street Map, Streetmap, National Library of Scotland Map or Oldmaps.

Militia records etc:

1803 Militia list - look up service offered

War Memorial in the Cemetery, Hellingly

War memorials in the parish church

Other links relating to this parish:

Hellingly Parish Council have a website

Poll Registers:

The OPC database contains 164 poll register entries for people entitled to vote in this parish.

1641 Protestation Returns:

There are no protestation returns for this parish in the OPC database.

Gazettes:

The OPC database contains 60 entries for people associated with this parish mentioned in Gazettes.

Parish histories:

1785 - 1800 extracts from the Overseers account book - look up service offered
1800/01 complete accounts from the Overseers rate book with disbursements for the year - look up service offered
1728 schedule of church-marks and other extracts from parish chest documents - look up service offered
Selected 18th century poor rate schedules from the rate book - look up service offered

Hellingly Hospital - East Sussex Mental Asylum - an interesting site with lots of pictures, memories and other information about this now derelict Victorian complex of buildings

1727 Rate Schedule from the Churchwardens Account Book

Photographs:

There are 67 images depicting this parish in the OPC database.

POWPics (The new Roughwood churches album) contains 2 photographs of churches in this parish. This album will also display any postcards or other images of churches which are in the Sussex OPC database.

Postal directories:

The OPC database contains no postal directory entries for this parish.

1867 Kelly's Directory for Hellingly is available on the GENUKI site

Publications:

There are no books about this parish in the Sussex OPC Bibliography.

There are 3 articles about this parish in the OPC Sussex Archeaological Collections Index.

There are 5 people from this parish in the OPC Sussex Archeaological Society Members Index.

Wills:

The OPC database contains 1 will of someone who lived in this parish.

The OPC database contains 3 wills which mention this parish.

Interest in this parish:

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