Хенфилд: Деревня в Западном Сассексе

a village and civil parish in West Sussex

Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies 41 mile (66 km) south of London, 12 mile (19 km) northwest of Brighton, and 30 mile (48 km) east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. The parish has a land area of In the 2001 census 5,012 people lived in 2,153 households, of whom 2,361 were economically active. Other nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the east and Shoreham by Sea to the south. The population at the 2011 Census was 5,349. Henfield was already a large village, of 52 households, at the time of Domesday (1086).

One of the largest village communities in the Horsham district, Henfield has an old and attractive centre. It has a modern and intensely used village hall just off the High Street, the 13th century St Peter's church, old inns, a wide and attractive common, and many interesting houses in private ownership. There is a fire station, part of the West Sussex Fire Brigade, equipped with a single fire engine. Henfield has one of the oldest cricket clubs in the world, dating back to 1771. A women's team was formed from 2006. Henfield also officially has the oldest Scout group in the country (1st Henfield), dating from 1907. When officially registered in 1908 there were 36 scouts in the group. The group was started in winter 1907 8 by Audrey Wade, whose brother, A. G. Wade, had met Robert Baden Powell when both were travelling to the UK from Africa when they were in the army. A. G. Wade later had several administrative roles in the developing Scout movement. To the south is Woods Mill, a restored mill, now the headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, its attractions including an extensive nature trail. Also south of the village on the road towards Small Dole is a business park containing the Royal Mail Delivery Office, the Etwars and several notable small businesses. There is also a theatre company which is held in the village hall.

Henfield Leisure Centre at Northcroft has a sports hall and fitness suite. There is a small skate park located next to the sports centre. Near to the leisure centre is Henfield tennis club, founded in 1920.

The Cat House is at Pinchnose Green, so called because there used to be a tannery nearby and the process of tanning produces unpleasant odours. This house was once owned by George Ward who had a canary. This bird was killed by a cat belonging to the Anglican Canon Nathaniel Woodard who lived at nearby Martyn Lodge. So incensed was Ward that he painted his house with pictures of a cat holding a bird that would be seen by the canon every time he walked past on his way to the church. He also rigged up strings of sea shells to rattle, and a black figure would appear at a small window called the zulu hole when the hapless canon was seen approaching.

Started in the 1930s, Henfield Museum moved to its current location in the Henfield Hall in 1974. It contains collections related to local events and people from mesolithic times onwards as well as local natural history. It also contains materials linked to local people such as Marjorie Baker and William Borrer and enterprises including the Allen Brown Violet Nurseries and local railway station (closed in 1966). It is run by the Friends of Henfield Museum and the Henfield Parish Council.

Henfield is home to the Sussex Wildlife Trust headquarters, four commons, brooks, moors and tributaries to the River Adur.

Henfield Parish Council supports four Commons: Henfield Common, Broadmere Common, Oreham Common and the Tanyard. All are ecologically rich and support a diverse range of wildlife.

Broadmere Common is at the eastern end of Dag Brooks and is almost 5 hectares. The name derives from the old English term "broad mere" meaning broad lake due its wetness. It has many pools, many of which were originally dug for the clay needed for brick making. It has many precious plants though including yellow flag, goat willow, meadowsweet, occasional marsh woundwort and even scarce meadow brome. In the ponds there are water mint, greater bird's foot trefoil, common fleabane and swan mussels. Once it was famed by botanists for even rarer local plants including small fleabane, starfruit, mudwort and lesser marshwort, but of these only the lesser marshwort still exists and its survival is threatened by the invasive Australian swamp stonecrop. The richness of the Common fauna and flora will benefit from having the ponds cleared and the land grazed. Horn Lane runs through its centre, which is part of the longest section of the Greensand Way Roman road that still functions as a road (around 1 mile). It is rich in flora such as common meadow rue, sneezewort, pepper saxifrage, greater bird's foot trefoil, adder's tongue fern and common spotted orchids, many grasses and even more herbaceous plants. Like Broadmere Common the fauna and flora will benefit from having the ponds cleared and the land grazed. Additional traffic calming measures will help improve the area. ), water dropwort, arrowhead and flowering rush. The area can support common snipe, lesser spotted woodpecker and little owl.

Henfield was the home of Colonel Henry Bishop, who was appointed Postmaster General by King Charles II in January 1660–61. Bishop devised the first type of postmark used in England, which is known to collectors as a Bishop mark. His invention was commemorated in 1963, on the occasion of an exhibition by Henfield Stamp Club. A special date stamp, which included the wording HENRY BISHOP'S VILLAGE, was used. Bishop is buried in Henfield churchyard. The eighteenth century botanist William Borrer, who specialised in the flora of the British Isles, was born and died in Henfield. When the British government introduced the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913, local Suffragette Elizabeth Robins used her 15th century farmhouse at Backsettown, near Henfield, that she shared with Octavia Wilberforce, as a retreat for suffragettes recovering from hunger strike.