East Dean, West Sussex


East Dean is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England, north east of Chichester on a narrow road between Singleton on the A286 and Upwaltham on the A285 road.
The village, set in a valley in the South Downs, has an Anglican parish church dedicated to All Saints, and a Nonconformist chapel. The village hall was formerly the school and bears the date 1782. There is one pub, The Star and Garter.
The church, the pub and most of the houses are built of flint, usually with brick quoins and window dressings. A fire in 1852 destroyed eight houses and several barns, leaving others damaged. Slate roofs replaced the thatch on some of these.
The pond is considered to be the source of the River Lavant. The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath crosses the parish on the downs to the south of the village.
The parish has a land area of 1663.5 hectares. In the 2001 census 217 people lived in 102 households, of whom 107 were economically active.

History

s from the Stone Age can often be found on the downs and there are a number of British Bronze Age round barrows in the parish. The outline of Celtic field systems can still be seen on Court Hill north of the village. Roman pottery and coins have been found near the village.
In his will of 899 King Alfred the Great left East Dean to his youngest son Aethelweard.

Parish church

The parish church of All Saints, to the north of the main village, is a Grade I listed building. It dates back to and has been described as "a substantially Medieval cruciform church with impressive central tower".

Sports

East Dean have a football team, founded in 1880, that plays in the West Sussex Football League.

Notable residents

The playwright Christopher Fry lived in the village in later life and died in Chichester on 30 June 2005 from natural causes.