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"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.

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.)

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).

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).

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).

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.

THE MERRIE HARRIERS

For the history of the Merrie Harriers pub, CLICK HERE.

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."

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.

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.

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".

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.

see the Herstmonceux Parish history & environment page
Cowbeech Village is part of Herstmonceux Parish

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