By Alice de Pierpont de Burnot

When I arrived in Sayers Common in 1989 to improve my English language, I was far from thinking that I would come across places in England with the same name as my surname. Very early on in my stay, I noticed the village of Hurstpierpoint on one of my walks. I was very surprised and really interested in finding any connection with my family.

I decided to visit Lewes library, which I was told was one of the best places to find information about the area. I spent a whole day amongst old books and registers only to find that there is so much information to look at that it would take a very long time to ascertain whether Hurstpierpoint has any link with my family. There were various spellings of the name such as: Pierpont, Pierrepont, Pier Point, Pereppount, Perepond, Perpount. To this date I have no idea if these names all have the same root rather than various spelling due to the authors’ inconsistent spelling.

When I visited the little village church, Holy Trinity, with my parents who came to visit me during the year I spent in Sayers Common, we saw the two effigies of what is thought to be Sir Simon de Pierpoint in 13th century chain armour and 14th century plate armour. We were so fascinated that we asked the lady who was present in the church at the time and she led us to a gentleman who lived opposite the church. This gentleman, whose name escapes me after 30 years, welcomed us with open arms and we had a long chat with him over a cup of tea. It was so interesting listening to him that we left his company with a strong Find, follow and share us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram www.hurstlife.co.uk desire to find out more about Hurstpierpoint.

To read more about Alice’s discoveries about the village and her family, you can find the whole story inside this month’s (March) issue of Hurst Life Magazine.