| Petworth | |
|---|---|
 Lombard Street looking towards St Mary's Church | |
  Petworth Location withinWest Sussex | |
| Area | 26.90 km2 (10.39 sq mi) [1] |
| Population | 3,027 (2011)[2] |
| • Density | 103/km2 (270/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | SU9721 |
| • London | 41 miles (66 km)NNE |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PETWORTH |
| Postcode district | GU28 |
| Dialling code | 01798 |
| Police | Sussex |
| Fire | West Sussex |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
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Petworth is a town andcivil parish in theChichester District ofWest Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of theA272 east–west road fromHeathfield toWinchester and theA283Milford toShoreham-by-Sea road.
The parish includes the settlements ofByworth andHampers Green and covers an area of 2,690 hectares (6,600 acres). Twelve miles (21 km) to the south west of Petworth along theA285 road liesChichester and the south-coast. In 2001 the population of the parish was 2,775 persons living in 1,200 households of whom 1,326 were economically active.[1] At the 2011 Census the population was 3,027.[2]
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The town is mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086 as having 44 households (24 villagers, 11 smallholders and nine slaves) with woodland and land for ploughing and pigs and 24 acres (9.7 ha) of meadows. At that time it was in the ancienthundred ofRotherbridge.[3]
Petworth is the location of the 17th-centurystately homePetworth House, the grounds of which (known as Petworth Park) were the work ofCapability Brown. The house and its grounds are now owned and maintained by theNational Trust.[4]
In the early 17th century, the question of Petworth's status as anhonour or a town came up when theAttorney General charged WilliamLevett of Petworth, Gent., son of Anthony Levett, with "having unlawfully usurped divers privileges within the town of Petworth, which was parcel of the Honour of Arundel."[5] William Levett's son Nicholas became rector ofWestbourne, West Sussex.[6]Leconfield Hall, which was formerly Petworth Town Hall, was completed in 1793.[7]
Another historic attraction in the town,Petworth Cottage Museum in High Street, is a museum of domestic life for poor estate workers in the town in about 1910. At that time the cottage was the home of Mrs. Cummings, a seamstress, whose drunkard husband had been afarrier in theRoyal Irish Hussars and on the Petworth estate.[8]
Petworth fell victim to bombing in theSecond World War on 29 September 1942, when a lone GermanHeinkel He 111, approaching from the south over Hoes Farm, aimed three bombs at Petworth House. The bombs missed the house, but one bounced off a tree and landed on the Petworth Boys' School in North Street, killing 28 boys, the headmaster, Charles Stevenson, and assistant teacher Charlotte Marshall.[9][10]
Anelectoral ward in the same name exists. This ward includesFittleworth andEbernoe with a total ward population as taken at the 2011 census of 4,742.[11]
Therailway line between Pulborough and Midhurst once had astation at Petworth, but the line was closed to passenger use in 1955, and finally to freight in 1966, though the station building survives as a bed and breakfast establishment.[12]
Public transport access is currently provided by an hourly bus betweenMidhurst andWorthing, operated byStagecoach South.[citation needed]
Petworth Primary School is the only school in the town. The school is at the south of the town and takes pupils up until Year 6. Until 2008 the Herbert Shiner School took pupils in years 6, 7 and 8 before they moved on toMidhurst Grammar School but this closed when the newMidhurst Rother College was opened.[citation needed]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC South andITV Meridian. Television signals are received from theMidhurst TV transmitter.[13] Local radio stations areBBC Radio Sussex,Heart South,Greatest Hits Radio West Sussex, V2 Radio and Radio Kirdford, a community based station.[14] The town is served by the local newspaper,Midhurst and Petworth Observer, which publishes on Thursdays.[15]
The town's amateur dramatics group is known as the Petworth Players, and their past productions have includedThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, andThe Sleeping Beauty.[citation needed]
Petworth has also been the home to the Petworth Town Band for over 100 years.[citation needed]
Petworth House was one of the main locations for the 2014Mike Leigh filmMr. Turner, which putTimothy Spall as the artistTurner in the actual locations where he painted in the early 19th century.[citation needed]
The Petworth Society was founded in 1974 to protect the character and amenities of the parishes of Petworth and Byworth.[16]
_The_Lake%2c_Petworth%2c_Sunset%3b_Sample_Study_-_William_Turner_-_Tate_Britain.jpg)
Newlands House Gallery, a gallery of modern and contemporary art, photography and design, opened in 2020.
On 20 November (St. Edmund's day) each year, the market square is closed off to traffic so that a fun fair can be held. This is the modern survival of an ancient custom. In earlier centuries the fair lasted several days and may have been wholly or partly held on a field on the south side of the town called fairfield. TheLondon Gazette of November 1666 announced that a fair would not be held that year because of plague still infesting the county, and shows that the fair was then a nine-day event.[17]
Local tradition tells of a lost charter for the fair, but this is myth because it was determined by travelling justices ofKing Edward I in 1275 that the fair, then lasting eight days, had already been in existence since time immemorial and no royal charter was needed. At that time tolls on stalls for the sale of cattle provided an income for theLord of the Manor. The traders of Arundel claimed a right to sell their wares at the fair as Petworth was in the Honour of Arundel.[18]
The village of Byworth in the parish is just to the east of Petworth, across the Shimmings valley.Further east still, on the border with Fittleworth, isEgdean, which has a small church dedicated to St. Bartholomew.
Petworth is twinned withRanville inNormandy, France andSan Quirico d'Orcia inTuscany, Italy.
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