This small but modest town occupies a small hill above the valley of the River Adur. In the 1930s, Arthur Mee, in his book”Sussex” said Henfield possessed a fine Post Mill. It did, at the south of the town but within my memory, it didn’t. It blew down in the 1950s. At about the same time, another of the town’s lifelines was lost, the railway. A line that meandered down the Adur Valley from Christ’s Hospital to Shoreham and on to Brighton but fell victim to the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. But the site of the Victorian station is still there and where its sidings were is now an estate appropriately called The Beechings. The nearby pub, now called The Old Railway used to be called The Cat and Canary which was a more significant name for Henfield.
Leading from the High Street to the fine church are a series of paths and alleys. Leading up to the church was one with a timbered cottage the beams of which were adorned with jangling, metal effigies of cats. This was to annoy the vicar whose cat had killed the occupant’s canary. The vicar at the time was Reverand Nathaniel Woodward, founder of the chain of Woodard schools (three of which are in Sussex, namely Ardingly College, Lancing College and Hurst College).
Henfield has an old history with a thriving High Street. There are several good pubs, some of which claim to have been coaching inns. During the coaching age (1760-1850), Henfield was on the cross-country route from the emerging Brighton to Windsor and on to Oxford. It also had some literary associations. To the north, at Mockbridge by the Adur, lived Michael Fairless, author of one well-known work The Roadmender. To the west, just over the river on the edge of Ashurst, was the final resting place of Sir Laurence Olivier where his widow Dame Joan Plowright still lives. And there is much history in the little lanes between the High Street and the church.
In particular, Henfield hosts an open arts festival when many local artists open their studios. There are also regular displays in the (modern) village hall just off High Street. There is also a celebrated greengrocer, Jeremy’s, who has a second branch, Jeremy’s Two, on the way to Cowfold. Going the other way is the related concern of Swains, and, further on, the garden centre and farm shop of Rushfield.
Despite the loss of the railway (still useful as a footpath in both directions), Henfield is still easily accessible to the coast, and the high parts of the town command striking views of the Adur Valley and the South Downs from Wolstonbury in the east to Chanctonbury and beyond in the west. Just to the south is Woods Mill, the headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Beyond is the quaintly named village of Small Dole which years ago was described as being a resort for poultry keepers and struck off solicitors! In the other direction, most of the commercial development is concentrated at Partridge Green.
Henfield remains a good place to explore with its many lanes and twittens and although the shops on the High Street change quite a lot, they are still good quality and offer lots of variety. But sadly, there are no stagecoaches any more.
If you like this post about Henfield, you may also like:
Things To Do In Henfield, West Sussex
The Downs Link, Sussex
A Sussex Rural Retreat
This post was contributed by Peter Benner
