Place:Ifield, Sussex, England

Watchers
NameIfield
TypeParish
Coordinates51.123°N 0.207°W
Located inSussex, England
Also located inWest Sussex, England     (1865 - )
See alsoBramber Rape, Sussex, Englandrape in which it was located
Burbeach Hundred, Sussex, Englandhundred in which it was located
Horsham Rural, Sussex, Englandrural district 1894-1974
Crawley District, West Sussex, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog

NOTE: There is also an Ifield in the neighbouring county of Kent. They should not be confused.


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Ifield is a former village and now a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Ifield is located in the west of Crawley and is bordered by the neighbourhoods of Ifield West, Horsham, and Langley Green to the northeast, West Green to the east across the ring road and Gossops Green and Bewbush to the south across the Arun Valley railway line.

According to the UK census of 2011 Ifield had a population of 8,882.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The name Ifield is derived from "Yew-field". There were many Yew trees in the parish, and some can be seen in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church. Ifield contains some of the most historic parts of Crawley, and there is a mention in the Domesday Book: "it is and was worth 20 shillings", where Ifield was spelt Ifelt. Locally there is much evidence of Saxon iron works and a stretch of Roman Road still exists today known locally as the "Quarter Mile". St Margaret's Church was built in the 13th century. It contains both the grave of Mark Lemon (the first editor of Punch), and the Holles family vault. Adjacent to St Margaret's Church is the Ifield Barn Theatre. The old parish of Ifield contained most of the western part of modern-day Crawley, and the old village is on the very western edge of the new town. As well as containing two modern churches - St.Leonards in Langley Green and St.Albans in Gossops Green - Ifield Parish also contains a Friends' Meeting House. Founded in 1676 it was the first purpose-built meeting place for the Quakers anywhere in the world.[1] A V-1 flying bomb landed in Ifield during World War II. It damaged the village school and wounded one local man who remained slightly brain damaged for the rest of his life.

Denzil Holles was created Baron Holles of Ifield in 1661, after his part in the restoration of Charles II of England. The peerage became extinct after his grandson died unmarried and without issue. Denzil was buried in Westminster Abbey, but his family are interred here.

Research Tips

  • The West Sussex Record Office is located in Chichester. Because it holds the records of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, which covers the whole of Sussex, it has church records relating to both parts of Sussex.
  • An on-line catalogue for some of the collections held by the West Sussex Record Office is available under the Access to Archives (A2A) project (a nationwide facility housed at The National Archives, Kew).
  • West Sussex Past - database of 2 million records from West Sussex heritage organizations.
  • The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies' Sussex Collection (PDF). This is a 9-page PDF naming the files relating to Sussex in their collection-a possible first step in a course of research.
  • The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Ifield, West Sussex. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.