On Blatchington Hill is local author Rodney Castleden’s fortieth book. It is also the first book to tell the story of East Blatchington, and it describes 2000 years of village history.
Not long after the Romans arrived, pagan funeral pyres burned where St Peter’s Church now stands. In the middle ages, Blatchington was nearly wiped out by the Black Death. It survived only by the skin of its teeth while the plague reduced other villages (like Sutton, Chyngton and Exceat) to single farms. Some surprising things have come to light - in the eighteenth century, Blatchington was on the main road, with stage coaches running up the village street on their way from Seaford to Lewes.
Rodney brings the story up to the present day, with East Blatchington village struggling to maintain its identity while Seaford surrounds it, and the case for its status as a Conservation Area to be given a higher priority.
The book draws on many different sources: manor court books, old newspapers, maps, photographs, memories of residents. A paper trail of title deeds reveals a maze of property deals that brought the last squire, Robert Lambe, to the brink of ruin – and to the end of the village as a rural community.
• How old is the village? How old are the houses?
• Were there lepers in the village in the middle ages?
• When was the church built?
• Who lived at the manor house, Blatchington Court?
• When was Blatchington Court built? Who laid out its gardens?
On Blatchington Hill by Rodney Castleden is published by Blatchington Press at £12.95. A 306pp paperback with more than 90 black and white illustrations.
On Blatchington Hill is available from Seaford Museum. Or you can get it direct from the author, Rodney Castleden, Rookery Cottage, Blatchington Hill, Seaford BN25 2AJ. Send a cheque for £12.95 payable to ‘Rodney Castleden’, together with a note of your address and a time when it would be convenient to deliver: free delivery by hand.
