page_title: Lindfield, West Sussex
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Lindfield, West Sussex / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Grade II* listed 16th century thatched cottage, Lindfield, West Sussex
context_page_description: Lindfield is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The parish lies to the north-east of Haywards Heath, of which the village is a part of the built-up area. It stands on the upper reaches of the River Ouse. The name 'Lindfield' means 'open land with lime trees.'
  The parish Church, All Saints, stands at the top of the High Street and its history goes back to 1098. One of the oldest houses in the village is Church House, formerly known as The Tiger, and still referred to as "The Tiger" by Lindfield residents.
  It is classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
context_section_description: The High Street follows an ancient north-south track that has existed for thousands of years, long before the Romans built a major road, the London to Brighton Way, a mile to the west of the village.
  Lindfield first appeared as Lindefeldia, 'open land with lime trees', in a Saxon charter of 765 AD, in which King Ealdwulf granted lands for the building of a Minster church, which may be on the same site as the present All Saints Church, Lindfield.
  When the Domesday Book was compiled the lands were held by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
  King Edward III recognised the importance of medieval Lindfield and in 1343 granted the town a royal charter to hold a market every Thursday and two annual eight-day fairs. For centuries the fairs continued each April and August with the summer fair becoming one of the largest sheep sales in Sussex.
  Lindfield was once part of the thriving Wealden iron industry. As early as 1539, William Levett of Buxted, a county curate with a thriving sideline in iron and armaments, was recorded as extracting iron ore at Lindfield. Later the Henslowe family of Lindfield were actively engaged in the iron milling business in association with Ralph Hogge, parson Levett's former servant and later a major ironmaster in his own right.
  In 1841 the London-Brighton railway opened, passing to the west of the parish with a 'Station for Cuckfield and Lindfield Towns' on open land that was to become the town of Haywards Heath. The construction of the Ouse Valley branch line reached Lindfield in 1866 with a proposed station to the north of All Saints' Church but the line was abandoned for financial reasons.
  Lindfield, NSW a suburb of Sydney is likely named after the village by landowner Francis List after his cottage in the area.
  Charles Eamer Kempe, a leading church stained glass designer and manufacturer lived at Lindfield until his death in 1907. Kempe renovated and redecorated an Elizabethan manor house near the village which he renamed Old Place, from where he entertained clients and professional partners. Internally the house was appointed to the highest standard of Victorian splendour. After his death in the 1930s, the house was partitioned into six individual residences, with the main reception rooms forming part of the new "East Wing".
caption: The Thatched Cottage, with the Old Place visible behind
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