Peasmarsh - (Black Death moves village)

General Details

Peasmarsh in East Sussex is situated 3 miles north west of Rye on the A268.

Its ancient church and Peasmarsh Place next door to it stand isolated down a lane one mile south of the village. This gives rise to the theory that an earlier community may have been wiped out by the Plague , with the survivors moving to the villages current location. This whole area seems to have been badly effected by the Black Death , as Sandhurst a village a few miles further north west shows similar properties. It is possible that the Black Death was imported into Rye perhaps by smugglers, from where it spread northwards towards London, via the main roads of the time.

The church of St Peter and St Paul is mostly Norman. It has a wonderful Norman chancel arch, decorated with carvings of stylised heraldic animals. The bells are of great antiquity, four of them were cast in 1631. Beneath a large oak tree at the far end of the graveyard stands a very rare survivor - a wooden grave-board. These were popular with poor families about 150 years ago.

In the early 1800's the vicar of Peasmarsh Dr John Lettuce drew up plans for the evacuation of the civilian population in the event of the expected invasion by Napoleon. (see also Icklesham ) This was to have been carried out by going inland across country, leaving the main roads clear of refugees, allowing free movement by the army. He also created a list of essential items for the refugees to have carried. The Lettuce plan was revised in the 1940's by Winston Churchill to counter the suspected invasion by Hitler.

Peasmarsh was the former home of the Liddell family. The Very Reverend H.G.Liddell was Dean of Christ Church Oxford. Edward his son, was the co-compiler of Liddell and Scott's Greek Dictionary. Alice his daughter, was the Alice for whom the famous story 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was written, by the Reverend Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carrol.

Views

Peasmarsh in East Sussex has a beautiful and very old church, which can be found on the Rye side of the village, on a lane that goes to Udimore and Broad Oak .

The Northiam side of the village has two unusual thatched cottages that lie on opposite sides of the main road.

Services

Peasmarsh in East Sussex has a few local services, together with a large supermarket.

The nearest main shopping centre is at Rye further east.

The nearest trains run from Rye , with an hourly service to Ashford and Hastings .

Map

Peasmarsh is shown as the red symbol on the map.

Nearby Villages
(click on symbol to see the village page)