Чейли: деревня в Восточном Сассексе, Англия

Village in East Sussex, England

Chailey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located 7 miles north of Lewes, on the A272 road from Winchester to Canterbury. The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of Chailey. The parish consists of the settlements: South Chailey (which also incorporates South Common), South Street, Chailey (also known as Chailey Green) and North Chailey (which incorporates the North Common). The parish church is dedicated to St. Peter and is recorded as having been built in 1256. Recently a special service was held to commemorate its 750 years. At one time Chailey had more churches than pubs. The churches being St Peter's, St Martin's (within Chailey Heritage), Chailey Free Church, St John's (now housing in South Common), and St Mary's (now housing in North Common), and the pubs being the King's Head, Five Bells, Horns Lodge and the Swan House. In addition it is believed another chapel was sited near the Bluebell railway. Chailey is reputed to be the inspiration for the 1969 children's television series Chigley by Gordon Murray, (along with nearby Plumpton as Trumpton and Wivelsfield Green as Camberwick Green).

The parish of Chailey is large. It is so special because it is one of the remaining areas of the Sussex Weald with heathland Commons. Chailey Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest that is located within the parish. It also has many areas with ancient woodland. To the north are the parishes of Haywards Heath and Fletching, to its east are Newick and Barcombe. To its south it borders the parishes of Hamsey, St John Without and East Chiltington and to its west, Wivelsfield.

The parish has a 13th century church dedicated to St. Peter at Chailey Green The large graveyard has two fine old Yews that are over three span girth. The little archaic grassland is unimproved and a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SCNI), but the parts nearest the church are mown too often and the southern extension are in poor condition. It is worth recording that at least one part of the SNCI , a relict wet meadow, just north west of The Hooke has been destroyed only recently (2017). There used to be a mill on the South Common in South Chailey, opposite where Chailey School is situated, but it has worn away over time.

Second World War D Day airfield was on the west side of the parish by Townings farm. The RAF cleared the ground in 1942 for the Chailey Advanced Landing Ground. It was largely manned by Polish exile Spitfire squadrons, which supported the Normandy D Day landings in June 1944.

The two largest estates in Chailey are the Hooke Estate which covers around a 1000 acres and the Hurst Barns Estate, South Chailey, which covers around 500 acres. The Hooke Estate is between South Chailey and Chailey Common and they include a cluster of working farms in this landscape. There are many fine old oak, beech and hornbeam veterans in the area and there are a few significant clusters of farm fields that have been preserved from the effects of traditional farming by their difficult terrain, or by sympathetic land managers, and which are very different to the 'improved' green dairy pastures we are used to seeing. At Sedgebrook Farm, south west of Chailey Common, seven fields remain unimproved and are managed for nature. The farm's fields are the centre of a series of wet woods, damp meadows and carr that extend east to Godleys Green In late spring the cotton grass and marsh cinquefoil covers many square metres of quaking bog amongst the carr. In Spring the perfume of water mint is widespread and you can find angelica, marsh pennywort, purple moor grass tussocks, sharp flowered rush, black sedge and bog stitchwort. In late May, a southern meadow has swarms of meadow/marsh plume thistle with soft shaving brush carmine flowers on white woolly stems, and there's ladys smock, spotted orchids, creeping willow and rare spring sedge. The higher and drier meadow in July, is yellow with bird's foot trefoil. There are bush crickets, cone headed heads, large marsh and meadow grasshoppers and 'bloodsucker' soldier beetles. The rushy meadows have water horsetail, sneezewort and clumps of narrow buckler fern in the shadier places. You may see white park cattle, ponies, or heath sheep out on the common for conservation, maintaining the natural equilibrium of species through grazing. The site, which is part of a nature reserve, is of biological interest due to its heath habitat, defined by its cover of ericaceous species (ling, cross leaved heath and bell heather). Ericaceous vegetation occurs over about a mile, from south to north. The area has glorious displays of purple heathers in high summer, and it hosts many rarities. Fifty years ago Garth Christian saved the marsh gentian and they can still be seen there today with their trumpets full of tiny stars. Meadow thistle, sundew and round leaved sundew are still just present also, thanks to careful nursing. It is one of the few sites left in the Sussex Weald with bog asphodel too. Woodcock, nightjar, bloody nosed beetles, minotaur beetles, purse web spiders and black headed velvet ants frequent Chailey Common. There are a number of bat colonies on the Common including the very rare 'old forest' Bechstein's bat colony recently discovered. Comps Wood is primarily a bluebell wood of hazel coppice, under ash and oak. Wickham Wood is carpeted with wild garlic throughout. There are beautiful lime longhorn beetle that come from the line of Limes at Hurst Barns, just across the fields. house martin and skylark play in the nearby fields.

Swan Wood is behind the old Swan inn (now a private residence). It has many oak trees, hazel, bluebells and brambles. It is twinned with Oldbarns Wood, which is an ash wood, to its south west. Just north, alongside the playing fields of Chailey Secondary School, is Draper's Wood, a classic old hornbeam coppice wood over bluebells, .

To the south east of the parish are Hovel and Sawpit Wood Both made up off Hornbeam coppice, with young oaks. Sawpit Wood is on a hill to the north of Hurst Barns and has wild daffodils, scented sweet violets and bluebells.

The fate of the once beautiful and ancient woodlands of Balneath and Wilding has been rather sad. Balneath Wood was largely a hornbeam wood, fuelling the brickwork's kilns, but between 1980 and 1981, it was destroyed by the farmer landowner. He was persuaded to leave the woodland gill and boundaries intact, for cosmetic reasons and for game. At least 16 ancient woodland species are still evident from it rich past with remaining midland hawthorn, wild service trees, aspen and crab apple and, where fragments of the wood survive, old hornbeam stools survive. Three more councillors were later co opted to the council. The next level of government is Lewes District Council. The District council supplies services such as refuse collection, planning consent, leisure amenities and council tax collection. Chailey is covered by the Chailey and Wivelsfield ward which returns two seats. In the May 2007 election, two councillors from the local Conservative party were elected. This ward is called Chailey and Wivelsfield and had a population of 5,068 at the 2011 Census. Chailey lies within the Chailey ward for the next tier of government, East Sussex County Council. The ward also includes Ditchling, East Chiltington, Newick, Plumpton, St John Without, Streat, Westmeston and Wivelsfield. The County Council provides services such as roads and transport, social services, libraries and trading standards. The June 2009 election resulted in a win for the Conservative Meg Stroude, in 2013 and 2017 the Conservative Jim Sheppard and in 2021 the Conservative Matthew Milligan. The UK Parliament constituency for Chailey is Lewes. The Liberal Democrat Norman Baker served as the constituency MP from 1997 to 2015 when it was won by Maria Caulfield. Prior to Brexit in 2020, the village was part of the South East England constituency in the European Parliament.

There are three schools in the village: Chailey St Peters Primary School, which is the primary school in South Chailey; Chailey School, which is the secondary school in South Chailey; and Chailey Heritage School, which is a special needs school on Chailey Common.