Billingshurst
Billingshurst is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village lies on the A29 road (the Roman Stane Street) at its crossroads with the A272, south-west of Horsham and north-east of Pulborough. The civil parish has a land area of and at the 2001 Census had 2,677 households and a population of 6,531 people, which increased to 8,232 at the 2011 Census. Toponymy. The village's name derives from Anglo-Saxon and means 'a wooded hill of Billa's people', most likely referring to the sandstone hillock that St Mary 's Church is sited on in the historical centre of the village. 'Bill' is the head of a family, 'ing' means of the people, and 'hurst' means wooded hill. It is most likely that it was a small family settlement, not yet being a large community or a parish, headed by one 'Billa' - someone of unestablished origin, and not by a populous Saxon tribe. Community facilities. The village has a secondary school and a sixth form college, known together as The Weald School. Billingshurst Primary School (formerly separate infant and junior schools, amalgamated in 2010) is situated near to The  Weald. New housing development on the eastern side of the village will include a spine road linking the A29 road north of the village with the A272 road to the east. 550 new homes will be built along with a school, dentists' surgery, play areas and improvements to the railway station. Transport. Billingshurst is at the junction of the A29 and the A272 which are routes to Petworth, Petersfield, Haywards Heath, Pulborough and Bognor Regis. Billingshurst railway station on Station Road is on the main line from London Victoria to Bognor Regis and Chichester between Christ's Hospital railway station  and Pulborough railway station. The village is to the east of a remaining section of the Wey and Arun Canal; the canal has not been fully navigable since the 1890s. Religious sites. Billingshurst has four churches. St Mary's Church (Church of England) is the oldest, with a mix of service styles, ranging from Book of Common Prayer communion services to informal family worship. Other churches are St Gabriel's Church (Catholic), Billingshurst Family Church (Evangelical; part of the Commission family of churches) and Trinity Church (United Reformed). Billingshurst Unitarian Chapel, set back behind the High Street, was founded in  1754 and is one of south-east England's oldest Nonconformist places of worship. Sport. The local football team is Billingshurst FC who based at Jubilee Fields on the western junction of the A29 & A272. The club was established in 1891 and is running senior sides and a thriving youth section with teams running from Under 8's right through to U16's. Second World War. Kingsfold Camp, a prisoner-of-war camp, was set up in Billingshurst during the Second World War (see List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United Kingdom).