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Village in East Sussex, England

Piddinghoe is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located in the valley of the River Ouse between Lewes and Newhaven, five miles (8 km) south of the former, downstream of Southease. Piddinghoe is regularly visited by sailing enthusiasts as the body of water by the village is a fine location for dinghy sailing in particular but also windsurfing. An old saying of unknown origin says that "Piddinghoe people shoe their magpies".

Piddinghoe does not appear in the Domesday Book, but by 1220 a manor of that name was in the hands of William de Warenne. The village was part of the Holmstrow hundred until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century. In 1929 part of the parish on the coast was made into the parish of Peacehaven.

There are a number of notable areas around Piddinghoe. From east to west it runs from River Ouse, over the Downs to Peacehaven. Due north is Southease and south is Newhaven.

St John's Church is one of three in the Ouse Valley with a round Norman tower, the others being at nearby Southease and St Michael’s, Lewes. It may be built upon a large prehistoric burial mound, again like Southease upstream.

Court Farm once farmed much of the surrounding downland the land close to the farmstead is now a smallholding with pigs. The house is medieval and the derelict flint barns are similarly old. The little wildfowl lake was a Victorian brickfield.

Despite the Downs around Piddinghoe once being almost entirely old Down pasture, now the best surviving fragment is to the north of the parish on the Southease border on the north slope of Broadgreen Bottom The western end is scruffy and there were many rabbits until a few years ago, so you might find hound’s tongue and wild thyme and other open ground short lived species. The eastern end of the Downslope has old Down pasture perennials, like round headed rampion, horseshoe vetch, Devil's bit scabious and Autumn Ladies' tresses orchid. The south slope of Broadgreen Bottom has a long Gorse bank that is used for game bird cover. The Burgh still has round headed rampion and other old herbs upon it, although it is surrounded by the "improved" horse fields of Dean’s Farm. Next to Dean’s Farm are many game bird rearing pens and the gamekeepers’ cottages. Unfortunately, this part of the Downs is crawling with pheasant and partridge, which put major stress on native species.

Between north Peacehaven and Piddinghoe lies the peaceful Halcombe valley. It has chalk grassland on both its south and north slopes, and the lower valley has a finger of brook meadows, with old flint walls and reedy ditches. The south slope and the spur between Halcombe and Piddinghoe have very tall and steep medieval lynchets. The spur’s wooded slope overlooking the Newhaven Road is even steeper and is likely to be an ancient river cliff. although only four were filled in the uncontested May 2007 election. The next level of government is the district council. The parish of Piddinghoe lies within the Kingston ward of Lewes District Council, which returns a single seat to the council. The election on 12 May 2015 returned a Liberal Democrat

East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Piddinghoe is within the Newhaven and Ouse Valley West division, with responsibility for education, libraries, social services, civil registration, trading standards and transport. elections for the county council are held every four years. The Liberal Democrat Carla Butler was elected in the 2013 election. The UK Parliament constituency for Piddinghoe is Lewes. The Liberal Democrat Norman Baker served as the constituency MP from 1997 until 2015, when Conservative Maria Caulfield was elected. Prior to Brexit in 2020, the village was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.