Rodmell is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located three miles (4.8 km) south-east of Lewes, on the Lewes to 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. 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).[ Rodmell, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7, L. F. Salzman (editor), retrieved 21 April 2009] Rodmell was a significant settlement at the time the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, with 153 households.
The village is bisected by the road from Lewes to Newhaven which passes through Iford. This road also passes the neighbouring village of Southease.
The village was part of the Holmstrow hundred until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century.
Notable buildings and areas
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. To the north is the 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’.[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.] In 2005 he recorded turtle dove, barn owl and little owl breeding in the area. He also recorded dotterel and yellow wagtail on passage on the flooded arable fields.
St Peter's Church
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.
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. It provides a habitat for many other invertebrates such as water beetles and snails.
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 and the novelist
Virginia Woolf, from 1919 until Leonard's death in 1969.
Northease Manor
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.
[ 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.]
Mill Hill
Running west from the Village up the scarp slope is Mill Hill (). 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 () is a flowery spot in summer.
Breaky Bottom
Breaky Bottom is the name of a valley within the parish. It is owned by Peter Hall who created Breaky Bottom
vineyard in 1974.
The vineyard produces a well-known English wine and was a former gold medallist in the Wine Magazine International Wine Challenge.
[ Breaky Bottom Winery website] The slope to the southwest of the vineyard () has retained some of its old Down pasture flora. Above it on the spur is a round barrow ().
To the east of farm is
Access land which continues north into the Iford parish and Whiteway Bottom.
Highdole Hill
You can walk to Highdole Hill () 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.[Holleyman G.A.,(1936) ‘An early British agricultural village site on Highdole Hill, near Telscombe’ . S.A.C. 77, pages 202-21.] The village remains are now more obvious towards Fore Hill, near the flint-walled sheepfold (). There the pasture has preserved a muddle of field Lynchet and Round barrow there.
Fore Hill
To the east of High Dole is Fore Hill. The Greenwich meridian line runs through it. On its steep northern slope () the chalk grassland is well preserved, with lots of cowslips, harebells, devil’s-bit scabious and rampion. The steepest bit to the southeast overlooks Cricketing Bottom and many traditional flowers survive including dropwort, thyme and cowslips. Marbled white and
common blue butterflies enjoy the sunny slopes.
Governance
Rodmell Parish Council has seven councillors. Their responsibilities include footpaths, street lighting, playgrounds and minor planning applications.
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 Democrat Carla Butler was elected in the 2013 election.
The UK Parliament constituency for Rodmell is 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 constituency in the European Parliament.
Notable people
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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. 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.
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The composer Benjamin Frankel and his wife Anna lived at Rodmell Hill, next door to Leonard Woolf, from 1952 until 1958.
[ Glendinning, Victoria. Leonard Woolf: A Biography (2006), p. 373]
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Captain F. W. Hartman and his wife Dorothy lived at Northease Manor
[ British History: Captain Hartman] 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.[ GM History: The Vansittarts]
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The Rev. Henry Goodman, a Nonconformist preacher, who was Great Ejection 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."
[
]
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".
[ L. J. Hurst, 'A.G. Macdonell's England, Their England (1933) Who was who?', The L. J. Hurst Home Pages ] Rodmell is the name of a traditional English tune given to the office hymn for Holy Innocents' Day 'When Christ was born in Bethlehem' by
Laurence Housman 1865-1959 (New English Hymnal #203).
See also
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Lewes and Laughton Levels
External links
