Misplaced Pages

#522477

64-592: The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead , widely known as Hickstead , is an equestrian centre in West Sussex , England , principally recognised for its showjumping events. It hosts two international competitions: the Al Shira'aa British Jumping Derby Meeting and the Longines Royal International Horse Show . Opened in 1960, Hickstead was the first permanent showground for equestrian sport in

128-561: A 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) slope down the front. The British Jumping Derby is one of those events a bit like the Grand National where its not just the runners and riders that make the headlines but the course itself. It's an iconic showjumping contest, the like of which you won't find anywhere else in the world, no other course asks this much of a test of horse and rider and no other course creates this type of drama. — Clare Balding , BBC Sport The Royal International Horse Show

192-466: A defining feature of the county, crossing it from east to west and dividing the north and south. The downs are a chalk escarpment which falls away sharply into the Weald to the north and more gently toward the south, where there is a narrow strip of flat land between the hills and the coast. The coastal strip widens to the west, where it is punctuated by Chichester Harbour which is a ria . The county has

256-450: A land area of 1,991 square kilometres (769 sq mi) and a population of 892,336. Along the south coast is a near-continuous urban area which includes the towns of Bognor Regis (63,855), Littlehampton (55,706), and Worthing (111,338); the latter two are part of the Brighton and Hove built-up area , which extends into East Sussex and has a total population of 474,485. The interior of

320-534: A large all-weather cross-country course, which is available for hire from October to May. West Sussex West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England . It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley , and the county town is the city of Chichester . The county has

384-541: A lieutenant with the wider county from which they had been created. London had instead a commission of lieutenancy , headed by the Lord Mayor . The long-standing practice of appointing lieutenants jointly to the wider county and any counties corporate it contained was formalised by the Militia Act 1882. Apart from the inclusion of the counties corporate, the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy generally corresponded to

448-743: A long history of human settlement dating back to the Lower Paleolithic era. During the Roman conquest of Britain , Romans conquered the Atrebates , West Sussex's indigenous Britons, and incorporated the area as a Roman province . During the Early Middle Ages , the Saxons settled the area, establishing the Kingdom of Sussex in 477, which lasted until c.  827 when the kingdom was annexed by Wessex . It has

512-412: A new non-metropolitan county is created the 1997 Act is amended to redefine the existing areas of the lieutenancies in terms of the new areas. No such amendment was made in 1997 when Rutland was made a unitary authority or in 1998 when Herefordshire and Worcestershire were re-established; those three therefore have been given their own lieutenants again since the passing of the 1997 Act. The actual areas of

576-728: A number of stately homes including Goodwood , Petworth House and Uppark , and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle . The name Sussex, derived from the Old English 'Sūþseaxe' (' South Saxons '), dates from the Saxon period between AD 477 to 1066, and the history of human habitation in Sussex goes back to the Old Stone Age . The oldest hominin remains known in Britain were found at Eartham Pit, Boxgrove . Prehistoric monuments include

640-549: A population of 104,600. The seaside resort of Bognor Regis and the market town of Horsham are both large towns. Chichester, the county town, has a cathedral and city status , and is situated not far from the border with Hampshire . Other conurbations of a similar size are Burgess Hill , East Grinstead and Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district, Littlehampton in the Arun district , and Lancing , Southwick and Shoreham in

704-488: A separate county council from 1888, the county of Sussex being divided into the administrative counties of East and West Sussex. In 1974, West Sussex was made a single ceremonial county with the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972 . At the same time a large part of the eastern rape of Lewes (the Mid Sussex district which includes the towns of Haywards Heath , Burgess Hill and East Grinstead )

SECTION 10

#1732851341523

768-622: Is a group of local representatives and four UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) representatives, who are elected by young people in West Sussex. The Youth Cabinet represents the views of the young people West Sussex at county level. Elections for the Youth Cabinet and UKYP in West Sussex run every year in March. The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, otherwise called Chichester Cathedral , is the seat of

832-481: Is bordered by Hampshire to the west, Surrey to the north and East Sussex to the east. The English Channel lies to the south. The area has been formed from Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rock strata, part of the Weald–Artois Anticline . The eastern part of this ridge, the Weald of Kent, Sussex and Surrey has been greatly eroded, with the chalk surface removed to expose older Lower Cretaceous rocks of

896-482: Is home to Fontwell Park Racecourse . The county has one Football League club located in Crawley , that is Crawley Town F.C. BBC South television covers the county excluding Haywards Heath , Burgess Hill , East Grinstead and Shoreham-by-Sea which are covered by BBC South East . ITV Meridian also covers the county. Crawley is covered by both regions and by BBC London and ITV London . BBC Radio Sussex

960-451: Is located adjacent to the hamlet of Twineham , west of Burgess Hill and next to the main A23 road from London to Brighton . The All England Jumping Course was established by Douglas Bunn, a multi-millionaire and former barrister who amassed his wealth by running a caravan business. Bunn acquired a site known as Hickstead Place with the intention of creating a facility comparable to those in

1024-683: Is located within the borders of Crawley , and is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom. There is also a considerably smaller local airport at Shoreham Airport and a grass airfield handling light aircraft and helicopters at Chichester/Goodwood Airport . There are three main railway routes: the Brighton Main Line , the Arun Valley Line and the West Coastway Line . The Portsmouth Direct Line serves and occasionally enters

1088-485: Is one of the premier Arena Polo venues in the country and has hosted international test matches on several occasions. Hickstead is also rented out to various show organisers throughout the year, including NSEA competitions, local branches of The Pony Club, British Riding Clubs, and other unaffiliated competitions. Each September, the Sunshine Tour unaffiliated championships take place there. In 2019, Hickstead introduced

1152-558: Is the BBC local radio station for the county, broadcast from studios in Brighton . The commercial local radio station is Heart South , and community radio stations in the county are More Radio Worthing (serving Worthing , Shoreham , and Littlehampton ), More Radio Mid-Sussex (serving Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath ), 107 Meridian FM (for East Grinstead ) and V2 Radio (for Chichester ). Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial counties , formally known as counties for

1216-817: Is the official horse show of the British Horse Society and consists of both showing and showjumping events. The event is held during July each year. It is one of only three CHIO 5* events in the world, and home to the Longines FEI Nations Cup of Great Britain and the Longines King George V Gold Cup, also known as the British Grand Prix. In 1993, the showground saw the establishment of a dressage arena and programme known as Dressage at Hickstead . In 1998, it hosted Junior and Young Rider European Dressage Championships, and in 2003 it welcomed

1280-625: The Adur district. Much of the coastal town population is part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation . Rustington and Southwater are the next largest settlements in the county. There are several more towns in West Sussex, including Arundel , Midhurst , Petworth , Selsey , Steyning , Henfield , Pulborough and Storrington . Other notable villages include Billingshurst , Copthorne , Crawley Down , Cuckfield , Hassocks , Hurstpierpoint and Lindfield . West Sussex

1344-689: The Anglican Bishop of Chichester . It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of the bishop was moved from Selsey Abbey . The cathedral has architecture in both the Norman and the Gothic styles, and has been called by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner "the most typical English Cathedral". The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and St Philip Howard in Arundel is the Roman Catholic cathedral of

SECTION 20

#1732851341523

1408-626: The Courts Act 1971 which abolished the quarter sessions and assizes . Sheriffs continued to be appointed for each county despite the loss of the judicial functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate appointing their own sheriffs. The counties corporate were all included in a wider county for lieutenancy purposes, except the City of London which had its own lieutenants. The geographical counties were relatively stable between 1889 and 1965. There were occasional boundary changes, notably following

1472-682: The Devil's Jumps , a group of Bronze Age burial mounds, and the Iron Age Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring hill forts on the South Downs. The Roman period saw the building of Fishbourne Roman Palace and rural villas such as Bignor Roman Villa together with a network of roads including Stane Street , the Chichester to Silchester Way and the Sussex Greensand Way . The Romans used

1536-638: The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton . Built in French Gothic style and dedicated in 1873 as the Catholic parish church of Arundel, it was not designated a cathedral until the foundation of the diocese in 1965. Bosham Church is partly of Saxon construction and is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry as the local church of late Saxon and Danish kings of England. Many other Saxon and early Norman churches have survived in

1600-569: The Lieutenancies Act 1997 . When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas. The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although the definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997. In legislation

1664-613: The Local Government Act 1894 which said that parishes and districts were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. After that most boundary changes were primarily to accommodate urban areas which were growing across county boundaries, such as when Caversham was transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire as a result of being absorbed into the County Borough of Reading in 1911. The lieutenancies and judicial / shrieval counties were defined as groups of administrative counties and county boroughs, and so were automatically adjusted if

1728-515: The Wealden Group . In West Sussex the exposed rock becomes older towards the north of the county with Lower Greensand ridges along the border with Surrey including the highest point of the county at Blackdown . Erosion of softer sand and clay strata has hollowed out the basin of the Weald leaving a north facing scarp slope of the chalk which runs east and west across the whole county, broken only by

1792-445: The militia , overseen by a sheriff . From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriff's functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate , which gave them the right to appoint their own sheriffs and hold their own courts. Whilst in theory the counties corporate could have had separate lieutenants appointed for them, in practice all of them except London shared

1856-653: The City of London, which has two sheriffs ). The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (created by the Local Government Act 1972 , as amended) as well as Greater London and the Isles of Scilly (which lie outside the 1972 Act's system). Although the term is not used in the act, these counties are sometimes known as "ceremonial counties". The counties are defined in Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 as amended (in 2009, 2019 and 2023). Generally, each time

1920-775: The FEI European Dressage Championships. Although Dressage at Hickstead was officially closed in 2020, the main All England Jumping Course hosted its first British Dressage Premier League show, known as the ICE Horseboxes All England Dressage Festival, in May 2021. In 2006, the All England Polo Club established. The arena, which is designed for winter polo, measures 100m x 50m and is equipped with an all-weather surface. It

1984-478: The United States and Europe. The venue opened in 1960. Today, it features six arenas, permanent seating for over 5,000 spectators and 26 corporate hospitality suites. It has hosted the 1965 Ladies World Championships , the 1974 World Championships and several European Show Jumping Championships . This four-day event attracts around 40,000 spectators a year, who come to watch the skill, bravery and precision of

All England Jumping Course at Hickstead - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-519: The Weald for iron production on an industrial scale. The foundation of the Kingdom of Sussex is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year AD 477; it says that Ælle arrived at a place called Cymenshore in three ships with his three sons and killed or put to flight the local inhabitants. The foundation story is regarded as somewhat of a myth by most historians, although the archaeology suggests that Saxons did start to settle in

2112-412: The area in the late 5th century. The Kingdom of Sussex was absorbed into Wessex as an earldom and became the county of Sussex. With its origins in the kingdom of Sussex , the later county of Sussex was traditionally divided into six units known as rapes . By the 16th century, the three western rapes were grouped together informally, having their own separate Quarter Sessions . These were governed by

2176-463: The areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area. The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997 , and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887 . Both are defined as groups of local government counties. The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising

2240-451: The boundaries of those administrative areas changed. There were two exceptions to this rule (one only briefly). The county borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes until 1891 when it was placed entirely in Norfolk for those purposes. The county borough of Stockport straddled Cheshire and Lancashire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes - it

2304-483: The ceremonial counties have not changed since 1998. These are the 48 counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies in England, as currently defined: After the creation of county councils in 1889, there were counties for judicial and shrieval purposes, counties for lieutenancy purposes, and administrative counties and county boroughs for the purposes of local government. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to

2368-399: The coast and lower inland. July tends to be the warmest month when mean daily maxima tend to be around 20 °C. A maximum temperature of 35.4 °C occurred at North Heath, Pulborough on 26 June 1976. Coastal high temperatures are often moderated by cooler sea breezes. Monthly rainfall tends to be highest in autumn and early winter and lowest in the summer months, with July often being

2432-496: The country . West Sussex is the sunniest county in the United Kingdom, according to Met Office records. Over the 29 years to 2011 it averaged 1902 hours of sunshine per year. Sunshine totals are highest near the coast with Bognor Regis often having the highest in mainland England, including a total of 2237 hours in 1990. Mean annual temperature for southern coastal counties is around 11 °C. The coldest month, January, has mean daily minimum temperatures of around 3 °C near

2496-459: The country. The first Hickstead Derby was held in 1961. Hickstead is renowned as the home of British showjumping, but its major fixtures also feature other disciplines such as showing, carriage driving, scurry driving, side-saddle and arena eventing. Over the years, the venue has expanded its operations to include additional equestrian sports like dressage and arena polo , and it now also hosts functions and conferences all year round. Hickstead

2560-478: The county councils. In counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, such as the Parts of Lincolnshire , each part was given its own county council. The area administered by a county council was called an administrative county . As such, some of the judicial or lieutenancy counties comprised several administrative counties and county boroughs. The Ordnance Survey adopted

2624-475: The county include Christ's Hospital near Horsham , whose students wear Tudor style uniform, Seaford College , Lancing College and Hurstpierpoint College . Tertiary education is provided by the University of Chichester and Chichester College . At least 40 sports are active in West Sussex. Sussex CCC was the first first-class county cricket club, formed in 1839, and was a cradle for club cricket. Sussex

All England Jumping Course at Hickstead - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-505: The county include Rolls-Royce Motor Cars , a substantial employer near Chichester. Gatwick Airport , with associated airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic , is a major source of direct and indirect employment. Thales Group also has a presence in the county. Nestlé has their UK headquarters in Crawley. West Sussex developed distinctive land uses along with its neighbours in

2752-448: The county is generally rural; the largest towns are Crawley (118,493) and Horsham (50,934), both located in the north-east; Chichester is in the south-west and has a population of 26,795. West Sussex contains seven local government districts , which are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county administered by West Sussex County Council . West Sussex and East Sussex were historically the single county Sussex . The South Downs are

2816-492: The county makes up 1.53% of England's population. West Sussex has a comprehensive education system, with a mix of county-maintained secondary schools and academies and over twenty independent senior schools. In addition primary education is provided through a mix of around 240 infant , junior , primary , first and middle schools. Colleges include The College of Richard Collyer , Central Sussex College , Northbrook College and The Weald School . Independent schools in

2880-739: The county with little alteration including the Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting , an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon church with a Rhenish helm unique in England and St. Nicholas Church, Worth , a 10th-century church in Worth , Crawley . Some Anglican churches and many of the numerous nonconformist chapels in the county have been converted to residential use. Cittaviveka is a Buddhist monastery in Chithurst . Pallant House Gallery in Chichester houses one of

2944-412: The driest month. There is less rainfall from summer convective showers and thunderstorms than in inland areas. The county can suffer both from localised flooding caused by heavy rainfall and from water shortages caused by prolonged periods of below average rainfall. Winter rainfall is needed to recharge the chalk aquifers from which much of the water supply is drawn. The M23 motorway runs from London to

3008-432: The group of administrative counties and county boroughs created within each judicial county. The Ordnance Survey used the term 'geographical county' to refer to this wider definition of the county. Yorkshire had three lieutenancies, one for each riding, but was a single judicial county with one sheriff, and was counted as one geographical county by Ordnance Survey. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972 under

3072-435: The judicial counties. The exception was Yorkshire, which was one judicial county, having a single Sheriff of Yorkshire , but from 1660 onwards each of Yorkshire's three ridings had its own lieutenant. In 1889 elected county councils were established under the Local Government Act 1888 , taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions . Certain towns and cities were made county boroughs , independent from

3136-474: The lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996. The shrieval counties are defined by the Sheriffs Act 1887 as amended, in a similar way to the lieutenancies defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. Each has a high sheriff appointed (except

3200-403: The lieutenants were appointed to the new versions of the counties. The counties of Avon , Cleveland and Humberside , each of which had only been created in 1974, were all abolished in 1996. They were divided into unitary authorities ; legally these are also non-metropolitan counties. As part of these reforms, it was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from

3264-533: The local government counties in some cases, effectively reverting to the pre-1974 arrangements for lieutenancies. Whereas the lieutenancies had been defined slightly differently from the shrieval counties prior to 1974, it was decided in 1996 that the high sheriffs and lieutenants should be appointed to the same areas. Regulations amending the Sheriffs Act 1887 and specifying the areas for the appointment of lieutenants were accordingly brought in with effect from 1 April 1996. The regulations were then consolidated into

SECTION 50

#1732851341523

3328-428: The main functions of the counties were the administrative functions of local government. Despite the loss of their functions, sheriffs continued to be appointed to the former judicial counties up until 1974. In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a new system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was introduced instead. Sheriffs were renamed 'high sheriffs' and both they and

3392-590: The majority of them being Conservative. There are 46 Conservative councillors, 11 Liberal Democrats , 9 Labour Party councillors and 4 Green and Independent Alliance councillors. The Chief Executive and their team of executive directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of the council. West Sussex County Council is based at County Hall, Chichester and provides a large range of services including education, social services, fire and rescue, libraries, trading standards, town and country planning, refuse disposal and consumer services. The West Sussex Youth Cabinet

3456-475: The most significant collections of 20th-century British art outside London. It includes a substantial body of early and mid-20th-century work bequeathed by Walter Hussey and many later works donated by Colin St. John Wilson . Worthing Museum and Art Gallery houses a large collection of Georgian and Victorian costume. The Cass Sculpture Foundation has an outdoor sculpture park at Goodwood . Significant companies in

3520-510: The national and international show jumpers competing for trophies (and substantial prize money). A highlight of the meeting is the British Jumping Derby, known as the Al Shira'aa Derby, which is a 1,195-metre course with tricky jumps, including the aptly named Devil's Dyke – three fences in short succession with a water-filled ditch in the middle and the difficult Derby Bank , a jump with 3 ft 5 in (1.04 m) rails on top and

3584-437: The previous census. It also shows the proportion of residents in each district reliant upon lowest income and/or joblessness benefits, the national average proportion of which was 4.5% as at August 2012, the year for which latest datasets have been published. It can be seen that the most populous district of West Sussex is Arun containing the towns of Arundel , Bognor Regis and Littlehampton : The current total population of

3648-421: The purposes of the lieutenancies , are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch 's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being

3712-747: The south of Crawley . The A23 and A24 roads run from London to Brighton and Worthing respectively with the A29 a little further west ending in Bognor Regis . Other major roads are the A272 which runs east to west through the middle of the county and the A27 which does the same but closer to the coast. The A259 is a local alternate route to the A27 in the eastern coastal strip. Gatwick Airport , which handled over 33 million passengers and had over 250,000 aircraft movements in 2011,

3776-576: The term 'geographical county' to describe the widest definition of the county. In most cases this was the lieutenancy county; the exceptions were Yorkshire, where the judicial county was larger on account of it being split into its three ridings for lieutenancy purposes, and the County of London where the administrative county was larger on account of the City of London and the rest of the county being separate for both judicial and lieutenancy purposes. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972, after which

3840-517: The valleys of the River Arun and River Adur . In addition to these two rivers which drain most of the county a winterbourne , the River Lavant , flows intermittently from springs on the dip slope of the chalk downs north of Chichester. Some intermittent streams are known in the local dialect as "rifes". The county makes up 1.52% of the total land of England , making it the 30th largest county in

3904-469: The weald. The Landrace cattle transformed into Sussex cattle and Sussex chickens emerged about the time of the Roman conquest. Some of the earliest evidence of horses in Britain has been found at Boxgrove , dated to 500,000 BC. Viticulture is a part of the economy, with wineries producing mainly sparkling wine of varied quality. The table below shows the population change up to the 2011 census, contrasting

SECTION 60

#1732851341523

3968-601: The westernmost part of West Sussex, although it has no railway stations in the county. Since the 2024 general election , West Sussex has been represented by two Conservative , Three Labour and three Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament (MPs). West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county contains 7 district and borough councils ( Adur , Arun , Chichester , Crawley , Horsham , Mid Sussex and Worthing ), and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. West Sussex County Council has 70 councillors ;

4032-565: Was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes in 1956 but continued to straddle the two counties for lieutenancy purposes until 1974. More significant changes to the geographical counties were made in 1965 with the creation of Greater London and of Huntingdon and Peterborough , which resulted in the abolition of the offices of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex , Lord Lieutenant of the County of London , and Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire and

4096-591: Was transferred into West Sussex. Until 1834, provision for the poor and destitute in West Sussex was made at parish level. From 1835 until 1948 eleven Poor Law Unions , each catering for several parishes, took on the job. Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, near the M23 / A23 corridor. The town of Crawley is the largest in the county with an estimated population of 106,600. The coastal settlement of Worthing closely follows with

#522477