WESTMESTON
Westmaestun (viii cent.); Westmestun, Westmyston (xi-xv cent.).
This parish is a long narrow strip, about a mile wide, running parallel with Ditchling and having Streat on its eastern side. It has an area of 2,095 acres. In 1934 a detached portion including Novington was transferred to East Chiltington, a parish which for many centuries had been a chapelry of Westmeston. The soil is loam, chalk, and clay, with a subsoil of chalk and ironstone, and the chief crops are wheat, oats, peas, beans, and turnips. The southern end of the parish is downland, rising abruptly to an altitude of 800 ft. on the eastern side of Ditchling Beacon, and running south to High Park Corner. At the foot of the Downs a road runs eastward to Lewes, the church and the few cottages of the village being situated at its junction with Underhill Lane, coming from the west, and the road from Ditchling, coming from the northwest. The altitude of this part of the parish is about 325 ft., and it slopes gradually down to 129 ft., rising again to 200 ft. at the northern end. At that end it is crossed by the road from Burgess Hill to Chailey, and the railway line from Haywards Heath to Lewes. There is a good deal of woodland in the north of the parish. There is a church mission room in the north of the parish, on the edge of Ditchling Common. Hailey Farm lies north of the village, on the boundary of Streat parish.
Westmeston Place stands on the west side of the road from Ditchling, a little north of the church. The house is of two stories with attics; the walls are chiefly flint, plastered in part, with tile-hanging; the roofs are tiled, with Georgian and later chimneys. The plan is Lshaped, with the ends to north and east, the west wing, with a westerly projection, containing the kitchen and offices. The south range contains the principal rooms and incorporates work of several periods, with a modern addition to the east. The west gable and most of the south wall date from c. 1500, and there was alteration in the mid 16th and early 17th centuries. This gable contains two windows lighting the parlour; to the south an early-16th-century two-light with four-centred heads, chamfered mullion, and ovolo label, and north of it a mid-16th-century three-light with filleted-roll mullion and ogee-moulded label. Over each is a twolight window, the south of mid-16th and the north of early-16th-century type. The attic window may be possibly of the late 15th century, having three pointed lights in a square head with hollow-chamfered mullions. The scullery projection on this side shows at first-floor level a remnant of 15th-century cinquefoil tracery in three slender panels reset as ornament.
The south front, disguised beneath plaster or modern brick, with tile-hanging, has a wide chimney projection. The porch west of this is of flint with sandstone dressings, not central with the entrance, and is of doubtful date, its openings, of 16th-century type, being possibly insertions. A chamfered four-centred doorway opens eastwards, at right angles to the main entrance, which is of similar form; the south wall has a fourcentred light in a square head with ogee-moulded jambs, and in the west wall is an oblong chamfered window. The north exterior shows work of various dates and projections in flint and modern brick, with a bay window to the hall. The kitchen range is in flint pebble with brick quoins and has tile-hanging on the north wall at first-floor level.
The early-16th-century hall was probably open to the roof, with a two-storied parlour block to the west; the main fire-place remains, though modernized, on the south wall. The first floor may have been inserted when the staircase was added, c. 1560–70; this shows an early type of Elizabethan newel—one square central post with a large finial at first-floor level; there is a turned balustrade above. The staircase curtails the bay window on the east side, but this six-light transomed window has square heads and filleted-roll mouldings, original only on the first floor, and does not seem much earlier. Joining the bay to the hall are contemporary moulded posts, the easternmost forming, on each floor, the jamb of a square opening spanning a passage. These suggest that the stairs led to a gallery along the north side of the hall. The square opening is not in line with the wall between the present dining-and sitting-rooms, but that above aligns with the thinner wall between two bedrooms. The easternmost of the bedrooms has early-17th-century panelling, and a typical Jacobean overmantel. The fire-place is apparently later. The parlour, now the lounge, is separated from the entrance passage by a screen, now open, with Elizabethan balusters. In the north-west angle of this room is a stone fire-place, probably contemporary with the staircase; it has a four-centred head and cavetto- and ogeemoulded jambs. The letters I and M are carved in shields in the spandrels, probably for John Michelborne. (fn. 1) There is an iron fire-back dated 1571. The attic stair is in a projection west of the bay window. There is a wattle-and-daub partition between the hall and parlour attics, with a four-centred opening in it. The kitchen wing shows a wide blocked fire-place, and some stop-chamfered ceiling beams.
Old Middleton, off the main road to Lewes, has a late-18th-century brick front to a probably 17thcentury house.
There are a few early-17th-century cottages in the north of the parish, on the road from Wivelsfield Green to Streat. One, in a field near North America Farm, is timber-framed with later brick and tile-hanging and contains a central chimney-stack with wide lintelled fire-places, and exposed ceiling beams. Whitecote, opposite North America Farm, is probably contemporary, and has a wide fire-place and external stack.
Middleton Common Farm lies on the north side of the road from Burgess Hill to Chailey. It is a timberframed house of two bays, with square panels, tiled roof, and a modern brick extension to the north. The central chimney is partly of 17th-century date, and serves a wide fire-place with bread oven.
WESTMESTON
Westmaestun (viii cent.); Westmestun, Westmyston (xi-xv cent.).
This parish is a long narrow strip, about a mile wide, running parallel with Ditchling and having Streat on its eastern side. It has an area of 2,095 acres. In 1934 a detached portion including Novington was transferred to East Chiltington, a parish which for many centuries had been a chapelry of Westmeston. The soil is loam, chalk, and clay, with a subsoil of chalk and ironstone, and the chief crops are wheat, oats, peas, beans, and turnips. The southern end of the parish is downland, rising abruptly to an altitude of 800 ft. on the eastern side of Ditchling Beacon, and running south to High Park Corner. At the foot of the Downs a road runs eastward to Lewes, the church and the few cottages of the village being situated at its junction with Underhill Lane, coming from the west, and the road from Ditchling, coming from the northwest. The altitude of this part of the parish is about 325 ft., and it slopes gradually down to 129 ft., rising again to 200 ft. at the northern end. At that end it is crossed by the road from Burgess Hill to Chailey, and the railway line from Haywards Heath to Lewes. There is a good deal of woodland in the north of the parish. There is a church mission room in the north of the parish, on the edge of Ditchling Common. Hailey Farm lies north of the village, on the boundary of Streat parish.
Westmeston Place stands on the west side of the road from Ditchling, a little north of the church. The house is of two stories with attics; the walls are chiefly flint, plastered in part, with tile-hanging; the roofs are tiled, with Georgian and later chimneys. The plan is Lshaped, with the ends to north and east, the west wing, with a westerly projection, containing the kitchen and offices. The south range contains the principal rooms and incorporates work of several periods, with a modern addition to the east. The west gable and most of the south wall date from c. 1500, and there was alteration in the mid 16th and early 17th centuries. This gable contains two windows lighting the parlour; to the south an early-16th-century two-light with four-centred heads, chamfered mullion, and ovolo label, and north of it a mid-16th-century three-light with filleted-roll mullion and ogee-moulded label. Over each is a twolight window, the south of mid-16th and the north of early-16th-century type. The attic window may be possibly of the late 15th century, having three pointed lights in a square head with hollow-chamfered mullions. The scullery projection on this side shows at first-floor level a remnant of 15th-century cinquefoil tracery in three slender panels reset as ornament.
The south front, disguised beneath plaster or modern brick, with tile-hanging, has a wide chimney projection. The porch west of this is of flint with sandstone dressings, not central with the entrance, and is of doubtful date, its openings, of 16th-century type, being possibly insertions. A chamfered four-centred doorway opens eastwards, at right angles to the main entrance, which is of similar form; the south wall has a fourcentred light in a square head with ogee-moulded jambs, and in the west wall is an oblong chamfered window. The north exterior shows work of various dates and projections in flint and modern brick, with a bay window to the hall. The kitchen range is in flint pebble with brick quoins and has tile-hanging on the north wall at first-floor level.
The early-16th-century hall was probably open to the roof, with a two-storied parlour block to the west; the main fire-place remains, though modernized, on the south wall. The first floor may have been inserted when the staircase was added, c. 1560–70; this shows an early type of Elizabethan newel—one square central post with a large finial at first-floor level; there is a turned balustrade above. The staircase curtails the bay window on the east side, but this six-light transomed window has square heads and filleted-roll mouldings, original only on the first floor, and does not seem much earlier. Joining the bay to the hall are contemporary moulded posts, the easternmost forming, on each floor, the jamb of a square opening spanning a passage. These suggest that the stairs led to a gallery along the north side of the hall. The square opening is not in line with the wall between the present dining-and sitting-rooms, but that above aligns with the thinner wall between two bedrooms. The easternmost of the bedrooms has early-17th-century panelling, and a typical Jacobean overmantel. The fire-place is apparently later. The parlour, now the lounge, is separated from the entrance passage by a screen, now open, with Elizabethan balusters. In the north-west angle of this room is a stone fire-place, probably contemporary with the staircase; it has a four-centred head and cavetto- and ogeemoulded jambs. The letters I and M are carved in shields in the spandrels, probably for John Michelborne. (fn. 1) There is an iron fire-back dated 1571. The attic stair is in a projection west of the bay window. There is a wattle-and-daub partition between the hall and parlour attics, with a four-centred opening in it. The kitchen wing shows a wide blocked fire-place, and some stop-chamfered ceiling beams.
Old Middleton, off the main road to Lewes, has a late-18th-century brick front to a probably 17thcentury house.
There are a few early-17th-century cottages in the north of the parish, on the road from Wivelsfield Green to Streat. One, in a field near North America Farm, is timber-framed with later brick and tile-hanging and contains a central chimney-stack with wide lintelled fire-places, and exposed ceiling beams. Whitecote, opposite North America Farm, is probably contemporary, and has a wide fire-place and external stack.
Middleton Common Farm lies on the north side of the road from Burgess Hill to Chailey. It is a timberframed house of two bays, with square panels, tiled roof, and a modern brick extension to the north. The central chimney is partly of 17th-century date, and serves a wide fire-place with bread oven.