Ифорд: Шығыс Сассекс ауылының тарихы мен сипаттамасы

Village in East Sussex, England

Iford /'//aɪ//f//ər//d/ is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Lewes. The parish lies on slopes of the South Downs in the valley of the River Ouse.

Iford parish sits to the north of Rodmell and to the south of Kingston near Lewes. To the east (and on the other side of the River Ouse) is the Glynde parish and to the far west, over the South Downs, is Brighton and Hove. The parish has many notable buildings. Indeed, it has eighteen listed structures in Iford, including Sutton House of circa 1800. The Greenwich meridian runs through the village which is marked by a sundial, provided for by a Millennium Commission Lottery Fund grant.

The parish church of St Nicholas is a Norman church and dates from the 12th century, although much restored in the 19th century. It has an unusual arrangement of nave and chancel separated by the tower, possibly formerly at the crossing, though transepts and a north aisle have been demolished. It is a Grade I listed building.

Iford Manor is a neo gothic house built in 1830 by Henry Burley. It is three storeys with three gables and a tiled roof. It is a Grade II listed building.

Swanborough Manor is also Grade I listed building. It incorporates fabrics which date back to 1200 from the Grange of St Pancras, a dependency of St Pancras Priory, Lewes.

Iford Estate at , owns most of the surrounding area around Iford. It lies within the South Downs National Park and comprises Iford Farm, Swanborough Farm, Rise Farm to the southeast of Lewes and Houndean Farm to the northwest. The estate is heavily diversified. Its principle enterprises are still the production of cereals and beef, but is also has a range of properties and leisure facilities, which includes shooting, fishing lakes, light aircraft and luxury accommodation. It is owned by John Robinson. The Estate claims to be environmentally friendly. His brother, David Robinson, owns Northease Farm. Lewes Brooks sits to the east of the village. It is of biological importance and part of the flood plain of the River Ouse. It provides a habitat for many other invertebrates such as water beetles and snails. The Downs to the west of Iford are impressive. It is the most treeless part of our Downs without the deep cut bostals (tracks) visible in other parts, as medieval traders and herders descended these slopes comparatively rarely. At the top of the scarp in this area are three hills: Front Hill, Iford Hill and Swanborough Hill. Across the ridge is the line of the South Downs Way. Unfortunately despite passing close to the designated Iford Hill slopes, it does not actually pass ancient Downland pasture, nor benefit from the flowers and wildlife that survives off it. Three ancient barrow clusters have also been lost to the plough on Front Hill.

Located to the east of Iford village, Lewes Brooks, known locally as the Vale of the Brooks, works as a flood plain of the River Ouse between Lewes and Southease. The Brooks support a wide diversity of invertebrates, with water beetles (Coleoptera) being particularly well represented. There are also several rare snails (Mollusca), flies (Diptera) and moths (Lepidoptera). The brooks at Iford are less biodiverse than the brooks in the surrounding parishes due to the intensive farming they have sustained in the last fifty years. The Sussex Ouse Valley Way, a track between Lower Beeding in West Sussex and the sea at Seaford in East Sussex, runs along the eastern most boundary of the parish along the west bank of the Ouse and the eastern edge of the brooks.

Swanborough Hill is the northern most peak of the parish and borders Kingston near Lewes. The hill itself was not named after swans. The name came from the Saxon ‘swan’, as in ‘swain’ and so its origin is not the ‘swan’s hill’, but the ‘herdsman’s hill’. It once had a barrow field, including a cluster of small Saxon tumps, but it has been intensively farmed since the war, ploughed and sprayed with agro chemicals. The tumps and ancient vegetation is now gone. In summer, now, the ragwort has taken hold, sometimes in dense patches.

Front Hill is to the southern most peak of the parish and borders Southease. The south slopes of Front Hill has retained a Down pasture. Unfortunately, it lies one thousand metres to the south of the South Downs Way and so this area of natural beauty is missed by the majority of walkers. However, it is sun soaked and south facing Access land and in July the turf can be spangled pyramidal orchids, rampion and harebells. The two parts of the site are grazed and well managed although the unremitting grazing of the northern half does not allow for flower displays. East Sussex County Council is the next tier of government, for which Iford 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 Conservative Keith Glazier was elected in the 2017 election. The UK Parliament constituency for Iford is Lewes. The Conservative Maria Caulfield has been serving as the constituency MP since 2015. Prior to Brexit in 2020, the village was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.