The word 'Pyecombe' is thought to derive from the Saxon name "peac cumb" which means 'the peak valley'. The parish of Pyecombe comprises two settlements, one called 'Pyecombe' and the other 'Pyecombe Street'. These are about a quarter of a mile apart. The reason for the gap between the two parts of the village is unclear but it is generally thought to be a consequence of plague in the 17th century which necessitated the temporary abandonment of the main settlement and its church. The village lies on the London to Brighton WayRoman road, as well as on 18th and 19th century turnpike roads over Clayton Hill.
Pyecombe civil parish contains seven listed buildings. Of these, one is Grade I and the remaining six are Grade II. The parish contains five scheduled monuments.
The Parish Church . Chancel and nave 12th century, tower 13 century; 'an attractive small medieval building'.
Scheduled monuments
Roman road and 18th century coaching road north of Pyecombe church. The monument includes a Roman road and a late 18th century coaching road, the Brighton to Lovell Heath Turnpike, with 19th century realignments.
Cross dyke and bowl barrow 310m south east of Wolstonbury Camp, a univallate cross dyke and a bowl barrow situated on a chalk spur which projects to the south east from Wolstonbury Hill.
Platform barrow 300m south of Wolstonbury Camp, a roughly circular, flat-topped mound situated on a chalk spur which projects to the south east from Wolstonbury Hill.
Romano-British farmstead, field system and trackway on Wolstonbury Hill, a farmstead dating to the late Romano-British period and its associated field system and trackway, on the north eastern slope of Wolstonbury Hill.
Wolstonbury Camp: a Ram's Hill type enclosure on Wolstonbury Hill and associated later remains, a Late Bronze Age Ram's Hill type enclosure situated on Wolstonbury Hill, a clay-with-flints capped chalk hill.
is the Church of England parish church of Pyecombe. The chancel and nave are 12th century; the tower was built in the 13th century. A small kitchen / toilet extension was built on the south side of the church in 2014, finished in flint to match the rest of the church. The extension won the Sussex Heritage Trust ecclesiastical award in 2015. The church is a Grade I listed building, described in the National Heritage List for England as an ‘Attractive small medieval building’.
Opposite the church is the old forge where the Pyecombe hook was first made in the 19th century by Mr Berry, the blacksmith. The village inn is the Plough; and there is Pyecombe Golf Club just to the north of the village. There is also The Three Greysriding school and Brendon Stud in the locality.
