Eridge Park

Eridge Park (/ˈɛrɪdʒ/) is a village and historic park located north of the parish of Rotherfield, to the north-east of Crowborough in East Sussex, England. The adjoining home of the same name is the seat of the Marquess of Abergavenny. The area is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Eridge Park
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Area of SearchEast Sussex
Grid referenceTQ 575 345[1]
InterestBiological
Area396.8 hectares (981 acres)[1]
Notification1986[1]
Location mapMagic Map

History

The name Eridge derives from 'Eagle ridge', or 'ridge frequented by eagles'.[2]

Eridge was the seat (main home) of the Earls and Marquesses of Abergavenny.[3] In 1792 Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny converted the old Eridge House into a Gothic castle, which he named Eridge Castle. The castle was replaced by a neo-Georgian mansion in the 1930s. As a 20th-century structure on an ancient site, the house is not a listed building.

Parkland and woodland

The area is with Eridge Green, a 396.8-hectare (981-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.[1][4] It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I,[5] and is Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.[6]

Eridge Park's undulating parkland is densely wooded to its north (Whitehill Wood) and south (Saxonbury Hill).[7] The site includes gardens, parkland, and ancient woodland. It is of national importance for its lichens, with 167 recorded species in one of the richest epiphytic lichen floras of any park in Britain. It is also of interest for its 22 species of dragonflies and 60 species of breeding birds.[8]

Village and surroundings
Main article: Rotherfield § Eridge

Eridge Park is directly north of Rotherfield, and largely overlaps the ecclesiastical parish of Eridge Green. Eridge Castle, the predecessor property, had its own ecclesiastical parish until 1856.[3]

On the village street of Eridge Park is the church, which is Grade II listed,[9] and six other listed buildings including the public house, the Nevill Crest and Gun.

The area also contains several follies, including the Saxonbury Tower and several ornamental buildings near the Sham Farm industrial estate. Sham Farm, an arable farm, gets its name from a wall built there to hide imposing farm buildings, which was intended to make the farm look like a very large house when viewed from Eridge Castle.[10] The industrial estate at Sham Farm includes businesses such as Chalybeate Springs Trout Fishery and the Speldhurst Quality Foods sausage factory.[11][12]

References
  1. "Designated Sites View: Eridge Park". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  2. Glover, Judith (1975). The Place Names of Sussex. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 53. ISBN 0-7134-2853-8.
  3. Nevill Estate Company Ltd. "History". Eridge Park. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  4. "Map of Eridge Park". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  5. Ratcliffe, Derek, ed. (1977). A Nature Conservation Review. 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 0521 21403 3.
  6. "Eridge Park". Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. Historic England. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  7. "Grid square map". Ordnance Survey. UK.
  8. "Eridge Park citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  9. Holy Trinity Church, Eridge, Grade II, Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1028329)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  10. BBC (1986). "Sham Farm". Domesday Reloaded. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016.
  11. "Chalybeate Springs Trout Fishery" (official website).
  12. "Our Story". Speldhurst Quality Foods.
  • "Nap Wood" (PDF). National Trust. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  • Willoughby, Leonard (1907). "Deer-taking at Eridge Park". The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes. Vol. XXIV no. CXXXIX. pp. 183–196.

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