The community website of the village of Fulking, West Sussex
This former BT telephone kiosk was installed decades ago in .. a hamlet nestling in the South Downs .. For years it remained unused, .. It has now undergone months of restoration work and now displays a large-scale map of the area with details of local places of interest and local amenities. It would also dispense leaflets and brochures provided by the South Downs National Park Authority, various institutions and by businesses in the vicinity.
The show will be held on Saturday August 17th 2013 in the Mackley Sports Field. The show is open from 1.30pm, entry to the marquee commences at 2pm and the show will close at 5pm. There will be stalls from local charities and societies, childrens’ amusements, music from the Patcham Silver Band and refreshments. The marquee will hold the displays of local produce, handicrafts, photography and cooking that will be judged as part of the show’s events.
9:20am: It looks as if Fulking has lost mains water again.
9:40am: Restored.
Last night at around 3:00am, a car alarm was activated in The Street. When it was investigated, two or three men were seen hanging around by another parked car. The owner of this latter car went outside to check and the men disappeared. The police were called, but they were unable to find anything, although their tracker dog did trace a scent on to the bridleway at the rear of The Street.
Note also that the number plates were stolen from a car parked overnight at the Shepherd and Dog about ten days ago.
If you see or hear anything suspicious, please report it –- the non-emergency number is 101.
“The rock in the Weald is splendid, it’s extremely good for shale oil,” said Fivos Spathopoulos, a visiting lecturer of petroleum geology at London’s Imperial College who studied the basin for about seven years. “If it works, it’ll be big but we won’t know exactly how big until we drill.” [Bloomberg, July 1st]
“In November, Europa .. applied for an order to quash the decision of the appointed Inspector .. to dismiss an appeal, made by Europa, against Surrey County Council’s refusal to grant planning permission to drill one exploratory bore hole and undertake a short-term test for hydrocarbons at the Holmwood prospect. On Thursday judge Mr Justice Ouseley gave judgment in favor of quashing the Inspector’s decision .. Europa CEO Hugh Mackay commented .. ‘allowing conventional exploration to take place at Holmwood is consistent with recent government initiatives to promote hydrocarbon exploration in onshore UK.'” [RigZone, July 25th]
“Some privately talk of the Weald in the terms of a potential Eagle Ford of Europe, matching much of the same characteristics of the European Bakken just over the Channel in the Paris Basin [PDF]. At a private investor conference last year the Weald potential was described in just those terms and the speaker talked of similar production of 400,000 barrels a day. Never mind that the Eagle Ford this year is pushing 600,000. At 400,000 barrels a day at $105 Brent that’s a tax take of £6.2 billion.” [NotHotAir, July 28th]
If you wander around the churchyard at St. Andrew’s peering at graves, you will soon get the impression that certain families persisted in the parish over several generations. But many of the older graves are hard to read and some are missing altogether. To get a more accurate sense of how many residents had parents who also lived in the parish, we need to turn to the nineteenth century census returns. The first ‘modern’ census, in 1841, only asked respondents if they had been born in the county in which they were then living. But the 1851 and subsequent censuses asked for both the county and the parish of birth. These later censuses thus permit a rather fine-grained analysis of the relation between where people were living and where they were born.
| Year | EdFulk | AdjPar | ElsSus | OutSus | Total |
| 1851 | 57% | 14% | 26% | 3% | 288 |
| 1861 | 41% | 18% | 34% | 6% | 299 |
| 1871 | 41% | 11% | 38% | 10% | 300 |
| 1881 | 41% | 11% | 39% | 8% | 340 |
| 1891 | 39% | 9% | 38% | 14% | 358 |
Where were the residents of the parish born?
In this table[1], the rows correspond to the five censuses that took place in the second half of the nineteenth century. The columns show the census year; the percentage of the parish population who were born in the parish (i.e., in Edburton or Fulking, EdFulk); the percentage who were born in one of the immediately adjacent parishes (AdjPar), i.e., Poynings, Portslade, [Old] Shoreham, [Upper] Beeding, Henfield or Woodmancote; the percentage who were born elsewhere in Sussex (ElsSus); the percentage who were born outside Sussex (OutSus); and the total size of the population in the census year.
The first row is perhaps the most striking. In 1851, over 70% of the residents of the parish were living within easy walking distance of where they were born (i.e., in Edburton or Fulking or one of the immediately adjacent parishes) and only 3% had been born outside Sussex. By the last decade of the century, the corresponding figures were 48% and 14%, respectively, and the size of the local population had increased by nearly 25%.
The remaining four rows are notable more for their similarity each with the next than for any radical changes. As the total population increases, the proportion of residents born in the parish remains more or less constant, as does the proportion born in Sussex but outside the immediate area (ElsSus). The proportion born in the immediately adjacent parishes halves over the 1861-1891 period whilst the proportion born outside Sussex more than doubles.
The first table provides a good sense of where the population had come from in any given census year but it does not give us a sense of the family structure of the parish. To get that, we need to look at the way the main resident families[2] persisted over time:
Families resident in the parish for five contiguous censuses
These eighteen (extended) families comprised nearly two thirds of the population of the parish in 1851. By 1891, that proportion had declined to one third. The overall picture is thus rather what one would have expected: over the course of the second half of the nineteenth century, the outside world gradually made its presence felt in what had hitherto been a somewhat isolated rural parish.
Footnotes
[1] A couple of rows sum to 99% rather than 100% as a consequence of rounding.
[2] Family members are defined here by surname, not genetics. If Jane Paine marries Bert Burtenshaw and remains in the parish then she will be counted as a Burtenshaw, not as a Paine, in the following census. Where the census takers used alternant spellings for a surname, both are listed in the table.
References
If you’re interested in wildlife and enjoy working outdoors then Sussex Wildlife Trust is looking for conservation volunteers to help at local nature reserves. Every weekend, our Saturday Conservation Hit Squad, led by Sarah Quantrill, visits different nature reserves to carry out important conservation tasks. Summertime work includes path clearing, fencing repairs and bramble or bracken control. As well as learning new skills, getting out in the fresh air and meeting new people, our Saturday volunteers enjoy spotting plenty of wildlife including summer butterflies, wild flowers and birds. Although this is a weekly group working from 9-5pm on a Saturday, volunteers do not have to commit to helping every week. The only requirement is to be over 18 years old and reasonably fit. Lifts are available from Woods Mill nature reserve near Henfield or volunteers can go direct to the chosen nature reserve. If you’re interested in joining us for a taster day or finding out more then please get in touch with Liz Francis on 01273 497562 or email lizfrancis@sussexwt.org.uk
