BALCOMBE
Balecumba (xii cent.); Baldcombe (xiii cent.); Baulcombe, Bawcombe (xvii cent.); Bolkham (xviii cent.).
The parish of Balcombe has an area of 4,718 acres,
stretching down in one part to touch the River Ouse
in the south, and rising high up on to the forest ridge
in the north and north-west. The village is situated
on a spur of land coming down from the ridge, at an
altitude of 316 ft. It lies just to the east of the main
road from Cuckfield to Redhill, where another road
branches off and runs south-east along the spur and
down to Haywards Heath. Balcombe Place, the residence of Lord Denman, lies to the east of this road,
lower down the slope. The church is north-west of
the village, beside the main road, and opposite it a road
branches off west to Handcross. Near the church is
the former rectory, an early-18th-century house of
brick with stone dressings. On the forest slope farther
north is Highley Manor, with Balcombe Forest behind
it, rising to a height of 460 ft. The western part of the
forest ridge is Brantridge Forest, with Brantridge
Park, the seat of the Earl of Athlone, on the slopes to
the south of it. Stanford Brook here forms the northwest boundary of the parish. To the east of the main
road is the Warren, occupying a little valley running
down from Paddockhurst; and part of Paddockhurst
Park, and Little Strudgate Farm, are included within
the eastern boundary of the parish. The stream running
down this little valley, joining with a stream from
Highley, forms a lake to the north of the village, and
continues south-east to join the Ouse, being crossed
by the road from Balcombe to Ardingly. The north
and north-western parts of the parish are all high forest
land, and the main road on the eastern edge leaves
the parish at an altitude of 440 ft. Just south of this
point a road leaves it, curving south-west through the
forest to join the road to Handcross. The tunnel of
the Southern Railway line from Brighton to London
passes underneath this part.
There are several chalybeate springs in the parish,
one of them near Balcombe House, and there are good
building-stone quarries. There is a Congregational
Church in the village, built in 1893. The station, on the
Southern Railway, is a short distance south-west of the
village.
In 1934 a detached part of the parish, including
Brantridge Park, was attached to Cuckfield, and a
portion of Ardingly was annexed to Balcombe.
In the village itself the houses are of no great antiquity, but two tenements (nos. 34 and 35) were an
early-17th-century house of square timber-framing
with plaster infilling and mullioned windows. The
roof is covered with Horsham slabs and has a central
chimney-stack of thin bricks and of cross plan. Similar
stacks exist at Bagpitts Farm and in two neighbouring
cottages, and such a stack is all that remains of Yew
Tree Farm, an ancient timber-framed house recently
burnt down.
Great Coopers Corner Farm, west of the church, is
of L-shaped plan. (fn. 1) The eastern main part appears to
have been built about 1550. It is of square timberframing with brick nogging and is roofed with Horsham slabs. At the junction of the wings is a rebated
chimney-stack; this has wide fire-places, and the rooms
have open-timbered ceilings: next south of the chimneystack is an ancient winding stair about a central newel.
On the farmstead is a large 15th-century barn of five
bays with tie-beams with curved braces below them,
king-posts, and curved braces below a central purlin;
some of the original flat wide rafters remain.
Bowders Farm, 1¼ miles south-south-east of the
church, is of c. 1600 and of T-shaped plan. The walls
are of brick and tile-hanging on timber-framing, and
at the back is a projecting chimney-stack of brick.
Naylands, just east of Bowders, is mostly of modern
rebuilding but retains a fragment of the seat of the
Culpepers: (fn. 2) this is a great projecting chimney-stack,
on the west front, of brick, gathered in above with
crow-stepping to a rectangular block on which is a row
of three detached square shafts close together. The
fire-place inside is 15 ft. wide and has a 20-inch bressummer, cambered on the upper edge. In the grounds
south of the house is the chimney-stack of a former
south wing; it is of stone and has two defaced fireplaces, one over the other. These remains are of c. 1580.
Stone Hall, near Naylands, is a house of about
1700. The front has a main block recessed between
slightly projecting wings. The walls are of red and
black bricks with stone plinths and rusticated stone
angle-dressings: at the first-floor level is a moulded
string-course, and the eaves have wooden cornices
with brackets or modillions. The entrance in the middle
has a shell-hood and the windows are mullioned and
transomed. The entrance hall has a stone fire-place in
which is an iron fire-back dated 1598, and the hall is
lined with oak panelling of the same period. The main
staircase is of c. 1700, but a back staircase has some
silhouette flat balusters of the earlier period. The head
of a three-light wood-mullioned window in an internal
wall at the north end of the house suggests that possibly
some walls of an earlier building are incorporated in
the present one.
Edmonds Farm, West Hill, is an early-15th-century
house facing approximately south. The much-cambered
tie-beam of the middle roof-truss of the hall is in place:
it is chamfered and has in the middle of it the chamfered 'stiffener', cut in the solid, that connected the
curved braces which formed the arch below it: the braces
have been removed, but mortices in the tie-beam indicate
their position. The king-post, &c., are hidden above
the upper ceiling. The pointed doorway—like those
at Slipe in Twineham and the Priest House at West
Hoathly—remains in position in the north wall, but is
now filled in; but both the original east and west end
walls of the hall have been removed to enlarge the
rooms. The central chimney-stack with a 9½ ft. fireplace was inserted in the 17th century in the eastern
bay of the hall; the first floor was then, or later, remade and has chamfered beams. Externally, typical
large curved braces remain in the three walls of the
east (buttery) wing, but elsewhere the framing has been
somewhat altered. The west wall is of stone of the
18th century; apparently half the solar wing has been
obliterated and the remainder incorporated in the
present rooms. At the back is a 17th-century wing,
making the plan T-shaped: it shows square timberframing in its east wall, the west being of stone with
tile-hanging above.
Woodwards Farm, to the north of Edmonds Farm,
is of modified L-shaped plan. The main block, dating
from about 1600, faces east. The back wing projecting to the west from near the south end of it is earlier.
The chamber forming its westernmost bay has the
typical rough wide flat ceiling joists of a 15th-century
solar or buttery wing, and there is a great 14-in. chamfered beam above the partition dividing it from the
room next east, which may have been the great hall,
but there are no visible traces of the usual roof-truss
of the hall. A great chimney-stack, 9 ft. thick and with
9-ft.-wide fire-places, was built in, in the probable east
bay of the hall, and the main block added east of it in
place of the other original wing. The front block is
of square timber-framing with brick infilling to the
lower story and plaster infilling to the upper story. The
back wing has mostly brick and tile-hung walls, but
some framing is exposed in the north side-wall. The
main room of the back wing has a 17th-century opentimbered ceiling including two longitudinal main
beams, and the west room the earlier wide flat joists
mentioned. The upper story of this part has moulded
joists, and the other rooms have open-timbered ceilings.
Spicers Farm, near Pilstye, is of T-shaped plan. The
main block, dating from about 1580, faces north. The
back part, the stem of the T, is of the 15th century and
had the normal great hall of two bays with solar and
buttery wings. It retains the original moulded wallbeam of the north end of the hall and the framing above
with curved braces, but the middle roof-truss has disappeared: the cross-beam on the ground-floor ceiling,
marking the position of the former roof-truss, is a little
way in front of the chimney-breast in the great stack
inserted in the south bay late in the 16th century. The
front block was built against the solar wing of the
original range, which is now the entrance-and stairhall. The north front is of square timber-framing and
has a two-storied middle porch-wing, also of timberframing and with a gable-head. The end walls of the
range are tile-hung and gabled. The east gable-head
projects on a moulded bressummer and has a moulded
barge-board. The rooms have moulded beams and
stop-chamfered joints in the ceilings, and in this later
range are two stairs, from first floor to attic, of solid oak
balks; the roof construction over this range has queenpost trusses and side-purlins.
'The White House', ¼ mile west of Spicers Farm, is
mostly modern, but it incorporates as its west wing a
late-16th-century house of two rooms (on each floor)
with a central chimney between them. The southern
fire-place is of stone and has an arched lintel, and the
room it serves has moulded ceiling beams and chamfered joists, the other room, now the entrance-hall, having a chamfered beam. There are interesting remains
of Elizabethan wall-paintings. Over the northern fireplace, ground floor, in a scrolled frame is the inscription:
'Behold the whole state of man, Who is borne to dye
but dyes he knows not when, How flower like doth
flourish in decay, How soon death's sithe doth cut him
down like hay Who is borne with greefe brought up
with paine And with a sob doth leave the world againe.'
On the first floor, above the south fire-place, another
reads: 'Man remember Watch and Pray, Think upon
your dying day.' There is another smaller painting
east of the last. There is also some late-16th-century
panelling in the south room and elsewhere. The east
part of the house shows some old framing, perhaps of
an out-building now absorbed by the enlargement of the
plan.
Manors
There was no manor of Balcombe, but a
large part of the parish was included in the
manor of Ditchling, held by the Earls de
Warenne (fn. 3) and their successors. In 1279 John de
Warenne claimed free warren in the vill of Balcombe. (fn. 4)
In 1439, when the forest of Worth was partitioned
among the three heirs to the barony, it was agreed that
each should take a corresponding portion of the manor
of Worth, 'if there be any beyond that forest'. (fn. 5) About
a century after the division HIGHLEY (fn. 6) had replaced
Worth as the seat of the forest-manor. (fn. 7) There is a
single earlier mention of it, in 1326, when Ralph de
Cobham was holding lands in Worth of John, Earl of
Surrey, 'by service of rendering 2s. at the manor of
Heghlegh, and suit there'. (fn. 8) And in 1476 John, Duke
of Norfolk, died seised of the manor of Hylegh, held
of the king by knight service and worth 20s.; (fn. 9) but it
is not named among the manors surrendered to the
Crown by his widow. (fn. 10) By the second half of the 16th
century, however, the name Highley was regularly
used for this manor, to which the forest of Worth was
appurtenant. (fn. 11) It was then, like the barony, in three
portions, half being in the hands of Lord Bergavenny,
and a quarter each in the possession of the Duke of
Norfolk and the Earl of Derby. (fn. 12) The Bergavenny
moiety of the manor, separated from the forest of
Worth (q.v.), was still with that family in 1624, (fn. 13) and
seems now to be part of their manor of Ditchling. (fn. 14)
The quarter of Highley Manor belonging to Henry,
Earl of Derby, was sold by him
to Edward More and Thomas
Eversfield and the heirs of Edward More in 1582. (fn. 15) In 1585
John Eversfield and the same
Thomas, his son and heir, were
dealing by fine with a moiety of
a fourth part of the manor, (fn. 16) but
in 1595, on John's death, it was
claimed that the quarter of the
manor, with half the forest of
Worth, had been settled in 1582
to the use of John and Thomas
and the heirs of Thomas and Anne his wife, (fn. 17) and in
1612 Sir Thomas Eversfield and his son Herbert made
a conveyance of what was described as the quarter
manor, (fn. 18) and the family evidently continued to claim
it down to 1668. (fn. 19) Meanwhile in 1589 Edward More
also made a conveyance of a moiety of the fourth part
of the manor, (fn. 20) which portion, along with a moiety of
half the forest of Worth, continued to descend with the
manor of Worth (q.v.), until at least 1696, when John
Smith was holding it. (fn. 21)
Eversfield. Ermine a bend sable with three molets pierced or thereon.
The Norfolk quarter, with half the forest of Worth,
was conveyed in 1583 by Philip, Earl of Arundel, and
his brothers to John Farnham, (fn. 22) who in 1584 sold it to
Sir Thomas Sherley. (fn. 23) Sir Thomas, being in debt to
the Crown, surrendered it to Queen Elizabeth and it
was re-granted in 1602 to John Middleton and Anthony
Fowle and the heirs of Anthony. (fn. 24) John Middleton
and his wife Frances and Thomas their son, with his
wife Barbara, were holding a moiety of a fourth part
of the manor in 1630, (fn. 25) and in 1669 John Middleton (fn. 26)
joined with Edward Eversfield (see above) and others
in conveying what was described as a moiety of the
manor of Highley to Timothy Shelley (fn. 27) (see below).
Anthony Fowle's eighth share was in the hands of
Humphrey Fowle in 1672 (fn. 28) and was subsequently
acquired by John Newnham, who was holding it in
1777, and who is said to have made a partition with the
trustees of Smith's charity. (fn. 29) By 1786 a quarter of the
manor has been acquired by the Rev. George Bethune, (fn. 30)
rector of Worth, and it was in the hands of his son
Dr. George Maximilian Bethune in 1834. (fn. 31)
Shelley. Sable a fesse engrailed between three shells or.
When Timothy Shelley's son John died in 1739 (fn. 32)
he left to his wife Helen for life his quarter of the manor
and half of the forest. (fn. 33) After
her death it went to his son
Timothy, who was succeeded by
his sons John (d. 1790) and
Bysshe, who was made a baronet
in 1806 and lived until 1815. (fn. 34)
Sir Timothy, son of Bysshe, was
the father of the poet Percy Bysshe
Shelley, who in 1814 was dealing
by fine with a fourth part of the
manor, though his father was still
alive. (fn. 35) The poet was drowned in
1822 and his property descended
to his son Sir Percy Florence Shelley. (fn. 36) The other
quarter of Highley Manor seemed either to have been
absorbed into other estates in the parish of Worth or
to have been acquired by the Shelleys, (fn. 37) for there is
no further mention of the Bethune portion and in 1867
Sir Percy Florence Shelley conveyed what was called
the Manor of Highley to George Smith of Paddockhurst. Before 1880 it was acquired from the trustees
of George Smith by Robert Cradock Nicholls, and at his
death in 1892 passed to his widow, who married Henry
Faure Walker and died in 1907. Mr. H. F. Walker
then purchased Highley from the trustees of R. C.
Nicholls and is the present lord of the manor. (fn. 38)
A RECTORY MANOR has existed in Balcombe at
least from 1614, and has always belonged to the incumbent for the time being. (fn. 39) The custom of Borough
English obtained in the rectory manor. (fn. 40)
Church
The church of ST. MARY is a small
structure, of which the present south aisle
is said to have been the original nave with
the south chapel as its chancel. There is no ancient
masonry by which they can be dated, but the wide
splays of the windows suggest a 13th or early- 14thcentury origin. The west tower is of the 15th century.
In 1847–50 the nave and chancel were rebuilt and the
present nave was added as a north aisle. In 1872 the
chancel was added east of this and the present north
aisle and organ chamber built. The whole of the
masonry is modern unless otherwise mentioned.
The chancel (26½ ft. by 18¼ ft.) has a traceried east
window and two single-light side windows: farther
west are archways into the organ-chamber and south
chapel. The chancel-arch is pointed, with short marble
shafts in the responds. The nave (46½ ft. by 20¼ ft.)
has a north arcade of four bays of 14th-century character, and a south arcade of three bays, the north side of
the west tower forming a fourth bay. In the west
wall is a doorway and a traceried four-light window.
The organ chamber has a single-light east window and
twin north windows, and the north aisle four side
windows of three lights and tracery. In the west wall
is a single light and above it a bulls-eye window. There
is an archway between the two parts. The roofs are
tiled.
The south chapel (16 ft. 9 in. by 14 ft. 8 in.) has
an east window of three lights and tracery and a south
window of two lights under a square head, both
modern. It has no western archway. The gabled roof,
of trussed rafter type, has a plastered ceiling and a
western tie-beam. The south aisle (39 ft. 10 in. by
16 ft. 8 in.) has two south windows, the eastern of
three cinquefoiled lights and tracery on a segmentalpointed arch and the western a similar single light.
Both have wide internal splays. The south doorway
has plain chamfered jambs and pointed head: the inner
reveals are chamfered with broach base-stops and have
ancient dressings: the outer stone-work and the reararch are modern. The wall is 3 ft. 4 in. thick, and is
of squared rough ashlar. The roof is of collar-beam
type with plastered soffit and has modern tie-beams
and principals. Both roofs are covered with old Horsham slabs.
The tower (11 ft. east to west by 10 ft. 3 in. north
to south) is built of ancient squared rough ashlar and
has a chamfered plinth: at the west angles are diagonal
buttresses of three stages, and north and south of the
east wall are square buttresses, the former projecting
into the nave. The pointed archway to the south aisle
is of two chamfered orders. The west doorway has
jambs and a pointed head of two hollow-chamfered
orders and an external hood-mould: the four-centred
rear-arch is chamfered: the doorway has been filled in
to form a modern window. Above it is a window of two
trefoiled ogee-headed lights under a square head with
a moulded label. In the south wall is a four-centred
light in a square head. The clock-chamber has a north
window of one light with a square head, and in the east
wall is a blocked four-centred doorway which opened
into the roof-space of the aisle. In the south and west
walls are clock-faces and no traces of windows. The
bell-chamber is lighted by four four-centred lights with
square heads. The tower has a pyramidal roof from
which rises a dwarf octagonal spire, all covered with
oak shingles. Above the apex is a leaded post and
weather-cock.
The south porch is modern and has a pointed
entrance.
In the chancel are two chairs with carved high backs,
one with turned and the other with twisted posts, legs,
and rails: possibly late-17th-century. In the south
aisle is a 17th-century oak chest with panelled front
and ends, and three locks. The font is modern, of
octagonal plan. In the westernmost window of the
south aisle is an oval cartouche of the Crucifixion,
foreign, of c. 1700.
On the west wall of the north aisle is a war memorial
of alabaster with a figure of St. George, framed in
wood.
South of the church in the graveyard are 28 tabletombs of the 17th and later centuries, and there are
several 18th-century head-stones.
There are eight bells, one of 1628 and the others of
1936. (fn. 41)
The communion plate includes a cup, paten, and
flagon of 1733, the gift of William Ellman, citizen
and grocer of London. The flagon appears once to
have had a whistle in the handle. There are also two
contemporary leather cases with hinged lids, for the
set. (fn. 42)
The registers begin in 1539: they include the original
paper-leaved volumes, one only 6 in. by 4¼ in., and
also the parchment transcription of 1597, continued
on to 1676. There is also a rectorial-manor book with
accounts from 1614 to 1892.
Advowson
The church of Balcombe was given
to the priory of St. Pancras at Lewes by
Ralph de Chesney about 1091 and
confirmed to them by William de Warenne. (fn. 43) It
remained with the Priory until surrendered to the
king at the Dissolution in 1537, (fn. 44) and the advowson
was then granted to Thomas Cromwell. (fn. 45) After his
attainder in 1540 it reverted to the Crown, who presented in 1549 and 1553. (fn. 46) In the latter year, however, it was granted to Sir Henry Sidney, (fn. 47) who sold
it almost immediately to William Charnock. (fn. 48) The
latter conveyed it for a time to his brother Roger, but
eventually sold it in 1560 to Sir Richard Sackville. (fn. 49)
The advowson of Balcombe Rectory then descended
in the family of Sackville, Earls of Dorset, (fn. 50) until 1663,
when Richard, Earl of Dorset, sold it to the rector Henry
Whiston. (fn. 51) From him it came in 1677 to his son
Nicholas Whiston, who died in 1689 leaving two
daughters, Elizabeth and Jane, who presented in
1692. (fn. 52) The advowson, however, was claimed, as part
of her marriage settlement, by Dorothy, sister of
Nicholas, who married first Timothy Parker and
secondly Walter Gatland, and in 1699 it was given
up to Dorothy and Walter by the two nieces and their
mother and her second husband Thomas Staunton. (fn. 53)
But the claim was again disputed by Mildred Bray, who
was eventually successful, and in 1701–2 she conveyed
it to her daughter Sarah and her husband Thomas
Chatfield. (fn. 54) Sarah survived her husband, presented in
1730 and 1746, and died in 1766, (fn. 55) when the advowson descended to her son John, and in 1778 to his son
the Rev. Henry Chatfield, who died in 1819. (fn. 56) He
left three daughters, Mary, Harriet, and Caroline, who
with their mother sold the advowson in that year to
the Rev. George M. Bethune, of Worth. (fn. 57) After the
death of the latter in 1840, and of his widow in 1849,
it descended to their two sons, of whom the younger,
Charles Goodwin, sold his right in it to the elder, George
Cuddington Bethune. The latter conveyed it in 1861
to Thomas Joseph Torr, who sold it three years later
to John Clutton, (fn. 58) who held it until the end of the
century. Early in the present century it was acquired by
Mr. P. Secretan, (fn. 59) from whom it passed to the Rev.
Douglas Liston Secretan, the present holder and rector.