"REMARKABLE NATURAL BEAUTY"
Much of Cowbeech is in an "area of remarkable natural beauty". The village is
surrounded by farmland, some under cultivation, some grazed by cattle or
sheep. There are public footpaths, one through a small bluebell wood.
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COWBEECH IN ABOUT 1878
CLICK HERE for the O.S. Landmark 1:10,560 County Series map of
Cowbeech. In the lower right quadrant are the houses clustered near the
"Merry
[sic] Harriers"
- from the Forge (now the
Old Forge)
to Cowbeech
House and Bimsells
Farm. A National School (Boys and Girls) is sited on the
road from Cowbeech to Foul Mile. ("Herstmonceux" is printed both west of these
houses and north of them, in what is Foul Mile.)
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THE NAME "COWBEECH"
"[T]he name [Cowbeech] refers to a 'capped' or pollarded... beech
[tree], once used to identify a particular location. It's recorded in 1261 as
Coppetebeche, then it gradually gets shortened - Coppebeche (1517) and Cobbeach (1622) -
until it finally appears as Cobeech in 1724" (Judith Glover, Sussex Place-Names
[Countryside Books: Newbury, 1997], pp. 59-60).
In the words of A. Mower and F.M. Stenton,
The place-Names of Sussex, Part II (Cambridge University Press, 1969), p. 481:
"COWBEECH is Coppetebeche 1261 Ass (p), Kopped(e)beche
1296 SR, 1316FA, Cop(pe)beche 1517, 1534 Ct, Cobbeach 1622 Ct,
Cobeech 1724 B. 'Pollarded beech,' v. coppede."
So the name "Cowbeech"
apparetnly doesn't stem from "copperbeech" (as some
think). Are any
"'capped' or pollarded... beech[es]" - or coppiced beeches - left in
Cowbeech? And just where was/were the original one/s?
Foul Mile is recorded as Fowle Myle in 1643, probably referring to a
bird but possibly meaning foul or muddy (Glover, p. 84).
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THE MILL
"Cowbeech
[smock or corn] mill was built in the early years of the 19th century and was
shown on Greenwood's map of Sussex in 1823.... [In] the Herstmonceux tithe award of
1839... Samuel Avery and William Brett were said to be the owner and the occupier of the
mill respectively. Avery was not in fact the owner but the leaseholder.... By 1851 the Bretts had been replaced [as millers] by 27-year-old
Samuel Dallaway Stonestreet.... In
1858 he was able to purchase the property, which was... described as 'all that piece of
land upon which a windmill hath lately (sic) been erected containing 6 rods'.... In 1860
he installed a steam boiler which drove two of the four pairs of millstones.... Shortly
after [1878]
Joseph Errey took over as tenant of both the mill and the mill house.... In
1911... Cowbeech mill was struck by lightning in a storm and damaged by fire. It was never
repaired.... The base of the old windmill is still standing, having been converted into
living accommodation in 1967" (M. Beswick, Cornmills in and around Warbleton
[Warbleton & District History Group Publication No 12, 1997], pp. 39-41; there are two
photographs of the mill, one after the fire).
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THE HUNDRED AND RAPE OF FOXEARLE
Cowbeech was in the hundred and rape of Foxearle (ant.
Folsarle). "Parts of Cowbeech and Stunt's Green were by Local Government Order of 25
March 1886 transferred from Wartling to Herstmonceux" (Victoria History of the
Counties of England, History of Sussex [Oxford University Press, 1937], IX, 131).
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OLD PHOTOGRAPHS OF COWBEECH
There are old photographs of Cowbeech on display in the
Merrie Harriers,
including photos of the pub itself, the Merrie Harriers barn,
Bimsells
& The Mill
and Corner Cottages.
There is a photograph of "Kemp's grocery store and delivery van
in Cowbeech", dated "around 1924" in Bygone Herstmonceux from Old
Photographs (1982). There is no longer a shop/post office in the village, though
Shaw's Agricultural
sells a
range of goods.
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THE
MERRIE HARRIERS
For the history of the Merrie Harriers pub,
CLICK HERE.
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INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Cralle furnace and forge (off Hammer Lane) "both operated in 1653
but were ruined by 1664" (Henry Cleere and David Crossley, Iron Industry of the
Weald [Leicester University Press, 1985], p. 324).
There are other evidences of the former Sussex iron ore industry in the village, if
only trickles of reddened water - e.g. adjacent to Sunnybank
on Hammer Lane
or at Furnace Brook
Fisheries.
Steve and Margaret write (14 March 2003):
"My
grandfather was born and lived in the Forge and has written his memoirs of the
surrounding areas. We have visited the site but cannot find any evidence of the forge. He
also said that Richard Woodman, the martyr, had lived there in the 1500s. I
notice that there is now a house called Forge Meadow and wondered if it had any connection
to the aforementioned building. I would be most obliged if you could let me have any local
history on the subject or if you have an thoughts on who I could contact."
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COWBEECH CHURCH AND CHAPEL
There was once a church in Cowbeech, on the road to Foul Mile, on the
north (woodyard) side of what is now 2 Thorndean Cottages. One
of its windows is preserved in the Merrie Harriers.
There was an Independent Baptist Chapel in "Cowbeach",
"Registered 1800, Licensed 1817" (Michael J. Burchall, ed, Index of East
Sussex Parish Records 1275-1870 [Brighton, 1975], p. 47: OR Births & C1812-36
B1879-36 PRO Cop: ESRO, SFHG, SAS). Chapel Cottage,
apparently the conversion, is extant.
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LISTED BUILDINGS
Contemporary Cowbeech has a number of listed buildings:
Court Horeham
(on
Hammer Lane) and Cowbeech
House are Grade II*. "Cowbeech House... is dated 1731. It is of five bays with a
broken three-bay pediment and has to the l. and r. of the doorway odd tall and narrow
niches, perhaps replacing windows in the Queen Anne tradition" (Ian Nairn and
Nikolaus Pevsner, Sussex [Penguin Books, 1965], p. 537).
The other listed buildings are Grade II: Batchelors
and the garden
wall E of Batchelors (Cowbeech Hill), 1 and 2 Corner Cottages, Cowbeech Farmhouse, the Merrie Harriers, Chapel Cottage, Moieties (Foul Mile),
1 and 2 Thorndean Cottages,
and Beadles
(Foul Mile).
See the Cowbeech Housefinder.
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MISCELLANEA
The relocation of the
village red telephone box,
now next to the Merrie Harriers car park, was the occasion of a village celebration in
1980.
A cedar tree in Cowbeech Farm (Cyprus Cedar C. brevifolia.
Rare.) is listed in Owen Johnson, The Sussex Tree Book (Wesmeston: the
Pomegranate Press, 1998), p. 54. See also the website "Remarkable
trees of East Sussex".
Please supply other items of Cowbeech history and environment.
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COWBEECH TUG-OF-WAR TEAM
Don Styles writes (2 March 2001): "The Cowbeech Tug-of-war
team... was very strong in the late 40's. It was run by Clifford Read (Reed) who was
the landlord of the Merry
Harriers [sic]. The team used to train at the back of the pub, and as far as I can
understand, used to pull a rope at the end of which was a large tank of soil or
concrete. The rope was run through a pully wheel attached to the branch of a large
tree. They were very successful at local fetes and even went to the White City to
pull in the UK national Championships. I think they were knocked out in the semi-finals.
My father Fred Styles, was in the team, as was Bill Goodsell, Bob Read, Stan Field, John
Field, and others who'se names I cannot remember. We have photos and medals in the
family which show how well the team performed, especially when you consider they were
mostly farm workers who could only train in the evenings and at weekends."
The team has been revived and in 2003 won the inter-village competition,
defeating (among others) Warbleton. For news of the team, and of events sponsored by the
Merrie Harriers Bonfire Society,
CLICK HERE
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