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Piddinghoe is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located in the valley of the River Ouse between Lewes and Newhaven, five miles (8 km) south of the former, downstream of Southease.
Piddinghoe is regularly visited by sailing enthusiasts as the body of water by the village is a fine location for dinghy sailing in particular but also windsurfing.
An old saying of unknown origin says that "Piddinghoe people shoe their magpies". One theory is that this refers to the habit of shoeing oxen, which if black and white, were called magpies. Newhaven to Lewes
In the 13th century the village name appears as Peddinghowe or Pidingeho and in the 14th century as Pydynghowe. It means "hill-spur of the family or followers of a man called Pyda".
The village was part of the Holmstrow hundred until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century.
In 1929 part of the parish on the coast was made into the parish of Peacehaven. Piddinghoe, Louis Francis Salzman, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7
The Burgh itself is large and oval in shape. The mound is 32m by 10m (12m at the eastern end) and towards the northeast end the mound stands over 2m tall although much it is well dug over by people looking for any remaining treasure they can find. In the past a skeleton has been found in it and a number of other artefacts. The Burgh still has round-headed rampion and other old herbs upon it, although it is surrounded by the "improved" horse fields of Dean’s Farm. Next to Dean’s Farm are many game bird rearing pens and the gamekeepers’ cottages. Unfortunately, this part of the Downs is crawling with pheasant and partridge, which put major stress on native species.
The south slope of Halcombe () is the best Down pasture site on the Peacehaven Downs. The variety of the place means that in some summers it can be dancing with dark green fritillary, marbled white, Chalkhill Blue, and many other butterflies as well as many varieties of moths, bees, and spiders. It has old anthills, mossy turf and rich scrub fringe and in spring there are early purple orchid. However the area has been threatened. In 2005 the farmer placed a large pheasant pen on these pastures. Activists were quick to inform DEFRA who instructed the farmer to remove it, although the pen is still on a part of the site. The north slope of Halcombe () has lost much of its old pasture to scrub, but the turf that remains is very rich. There is Dyer’s greenweed, round-headed rampion, squinancywort, Common Gromwell and hound’s tongue. The site is at risk from scrub encroachment although some chalkhill blue are still present in high summer.
The next level of government is the district council. The parish of Piddinghoe lies within the Kingston ward of Lewes District Council, which returns a single seat to the council. The election on 4 May 2023 returned a Liberal Democrat
East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Piddinghoe 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 Democrat Sarah Osborne was elected in the 2021 election.
The UK Parliament constituency for Piddinghoe is Lewes. Conservative Tim Rathbone represented the constituency from 1973 until the Liberal Democrat Norman Baker became the constituency MP from 1997 until 2015, when Conservative Maria Caulfield was elected. 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 constituency in the European Parliament.
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