My connection to the Hurst Pierpoint name…

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.

The Great Fire of Hurstpierpoint

HURST HISTORY ARTICLE

By Christopher Maidment

On Friday 27th January 1882 Hurstpierpoint witnessed one of the most dramatic days of its history. The building known as Holdens, now the Nationwide Building Society, and the three adjoining houses were extensively burnt down. This was Walter Fitch’s General Grocery, Drapery Store and Warehouse. The scene over the next few days was reported in the Sussex Daily News. These reports were collated by Ian Nelson and are abridged here.

At 5.15am in the morning a carpenter named Windus and Mr Waller, an ex-policeman, raised the alarm. Flames were already bursting out of the east windows of the store and warehouse and threatening to burn the North House, property of Lawrence Smith, a retired lawyer. North House is now divided into the three properties that are The Odd Corner, Chichester House and Bielside.

‘By the time the inmates of the surrounding houses and the employees at the shop could be roused, the fire had obtained such a hold as to defy the ordinary means of extinguishing.’

Besides the grocery and drapery goods in Mr Fitch’s store, there were quantities of wines and inflammable spirits in the cellar, along with oils and 8lbs of gunpowder on the first floor! Little could be done to save it, so efforts centred on saving Lawrence Smith’s house to the east, and Bank House to the west, the latter, now West End Cottage, belonged to Mr Pierce.

At the time, Hurst had no fire brigade. Brighton Police, who ran the Volunteer Fire Service, and Burgess Hill Waterworks were sent telegrams! A contingent of the Volunteer Fire Brigade caught a train to Hassocks, and horse drawn engines arrived soon after them.

[An excerpt from page 10, August 2019’s Hurst Life magazine]